The Slatest for Dec. 12: The Must-Watch Movies That Came Out This Year

Slate Staff
·2 min read
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In 2023, the movies went big. They were artistically ambitious. They became entire viewing events. And, more literally, many of them had epic runtimes.

Dana Stevens takes a look back and picks out 10 movies that towered over the rest this year. “I hope watching any of these will serve as a reminder of how outsized the pleasures of cinema can be,” she writes.

And in case you missed it: Check out Slate’s other Best of 2023 lists, including the best TV shows, the best albums, the best audiobooks, and more.

The illustration is divided into two parts. On the left side, a woman holds a microphone to her mouth and reads something off of her smartphone, which says "Google." On the right side, another woman, connected to the first by a string or chord, holds a receiver to her ear. The woman on the right is wearing a prison jumpsuit that says "inmate."
Illustration by Christopher Levitt.

For years, people incarcerated in American prisons lived a life largely cut off from technology. Now, accelerated by the pandemic, life in prison is starting to be defined by tech.

A new Future Tense package—largely composed of essays and illustrations written and created by currently and formerly incarcerated people—examines how tech is changing what it means to be in prison.

• Series editor Mia Armstrong-López kicks things off with a moving essay introducing the emotions that come along with prison tech.

• For a decade, Heather C. Jarvis was forced to outsource her Googling to people on the outside. She shares how it complicated her relationship to information—and to the people who helped her get it.

• Lyle C. May describes what happened when streaming came to his prison.

• And Nitish Pahwa takes a close look at the name-changing, monopoly-holding, profit-raking companies that control what it’s like to be in prison.

Jack Smith is asking the Supreme Court to make a quick decision on an issue that’s threatening to delay the start of Trump’s federal 2020 election interference trial: whether, as Trump’s lawyers are arguing, a president actually has absolute immunity from prosecution for actions taken while in office. The court is already taking it seriously. Shirin Ali explains what’s going on.

Ohtani watches his shot as he follows through at the plate.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Shohei Ohtani has secured a jaw-dropping $700 million contract—and, Alex Kirshner argues, it’s actually a great deal for the Dodgers. He explains how the deal will change baseball.

You might find the very idea of Molly, a husband’s memoir of his wife’s suicide, upsetting or objectionable. Rebecca Onion read it and found it astonishing.

… much like Megan Moroney’s album, Lucky. Carl Wilson picked out 11 other albums that came out this year that you might find equally charming.

Thanks so much for reading! We’ll see you back here tomorrow.