π¬πΏ 2023 at the Movies
...and other bests of the year
Iβll be updating this post through the rest of the year.
I did a year-end review like this in 2020 so maybe itβs fitting to do one for 2023 as we fully leave the pandemic era. Hopefully it becomes an annual fD tradition (the reviews, not the pandemics).
Last year I logged 160 movies, limited series, shorts. That felt like too much so this January I set out with the goal of capping this year at a nice round 100 and watching as many as I could in theaters. I ended up watching 147 this year (133 movies, 45 in theaters). So not a success and something to improve on next year. I want to be more intentional about my movie-watching, mostly save it for the theatrical experience, and read more books instead.1 If youβre on Letterboxd, you can follow along to see how Iβm doing here.
Favorite 2023 Released Movies
49 new releases this year: 42 narrative feature films, 2 documentary features, 1 stand-up special, and 4 short films
20 Days in Mariupol directed by Mstyslav Chernov βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
Theater Camp directed by Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022) directed by Daniel Goldhaber
Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan
Blackberry directed by Matthew Johnson
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Maestro directed by Bradley Cooper
Shane Gillis: BeautifulΒ Dogs directed by John McKeever
The Boy and the Heron directed by Hayao Miyazaki
βKodamaβ directed by Brian Tang
Anatomy of a Fall directed by Justine Triet
Rye Lane directed by Raine Allen Miller
Honorable mentions: The Holdovers, John Wick: Chapter 4, Riceboy Sleeps (2022), Blood & Gold, Return to Seoul (2022)
Stuff I missed and wanted to see: Showing Up (2022), Godzilla Minus One, Monster, Beyond Utopia, The Iron Claw, Menus-Plaisirs LesΒ Troisgros, May December, Hit Man, The Taste of Things, American Fiction, Problemista, Dream Scenario, Asteroid City, Passages, The Bikeriders, Americana, Ballerina, Shortcomings, Dumb Money, Reality, Anyone But You, Sound of Freedom, El Conde, Fair Play
Favorite Shows I Saw This Year
14 seasons of TV this year. I didnβt watch many new shows this year, not enough to rank anyway. Towards the second half of the year, I gravitated towards golden-age HBO shows and limited series that Iβve always wanted to watch. Iβm watching John Adams and Deadwood right now.
*Band of Brothers (2001) βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
*Mad Men S1 (2007) βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
I saw almost all of Mad Men in college when everyone was wearing Ray-Ban Clubmasters and bought at least one bottle of Canadian Club to try. The experience of rewatching it after having worked in an office (and having worked on a few TV shows) was night and day. The writing in this show is masterful and the workplace dynamics even in their period settings felt so relatable. I had a lot more sympathy for Pete Campbell this time around and a lot less for Don Draper.
*Mad Men S2 (2008) βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
Our Boys (2019) βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
Generation Kill (2008) βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
*Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022)
Pluto (2023)
Succession S4 (2023)
The Pacific (2010)
Alice in Borderland S2 (2022)
Favorite Movies I Saw This Year
I was going to do a top 10 but I rated all of these movies above 4 stars, including the rewatches.
Porco Rosso (1992) directed by Hayao Miyazaki
My favorite watch of the year and one of my favorite Letterboxd reviews. I watched this one dubbed and have to say the voice performances in English are great. Thanks to PRC for the rec.
The Fly (1986) directed by David Cronenberg
I donβt like body horror and for that reason most Cronenberg movies but I was moved by this one
Gyeongju (2014) directed by Zhang Lu
A beautiful and quiet film
Irreversible (2002) directed by Gaspar NoΓ©
Intense double feature of this and La Haine the New Beverly Cinema. My first NoΓ© film. Probably the most graphic and upsetting film Iβve ever seen. Thanks to Yuri for the rec.
*Chungking Express (1994) directed by Wong Kar-wai
Iβve always really liked this movie but watching it for the fourth time this year I started loving it
Boogie Nights (1997) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Iβd been saving this one for a long time to watch in a theater. Ended up watching it with a great crew at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica for the world premiere of the 70mm version. PTA and Maya Rudolph were sitting right behind me. Couldnβt have dreamt it up better
*Arrival (2016) directed by Denis Villeneuve
Hadnβt seen it since it came out and didnβt think Iβd like it as much. I was wrong. Itβs so impressive how Denis made a commercial and auteur film adaptation out of the original story.
20 Days in Mariupol directed by Mstyslav Chernov
La Haine (1995) directed by Mathieu Kassovitz
*Ghost in the Shell (1995) directed by Mamoru Oshii
Had this on mute in the background and ended up watching the whole thing without turning on the sound. Beautiful visuals
*Oldboy (2003) directed by Park Chan-wook
*Interstellar (2014) directed by Christopher Nolan
Hadnβt seen this one in a while. I still feel that itβs a flawed film with some super corny lines. But that doesnβt take away from the fact that this movie has some of the best scenes Christopher Nolan has ever put together
*The Godfather: Part II (1974) directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Aliens (1986) directed by James Cameron
Kind of a rewatch. I think Iβve seen most of the major scenes before on cable. Still, a great action movie
Tokyo Story (1953) directed by YasujirΕ Ozu
*Sicario (2015) directed by Denis Villeneuve
Theater Camp (2023) directed by Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
*Taken (2008) directed by Pierre Morel
*Se7en (1995) directed by David Fincher
The Sixth Sense (1999) directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Canβt believe it took me so long to watch this one. I avoided it thinking if enough time passed I might be able to forget how the Lonely Island song spoiled it for me. I never forgot but the movie was still great
Honorable mentions: Sorcerer (1977), King of New York (1990), Rio Bravo (1959), The Insider (1999), The Conformist (1970), Targets (1968), Microhabitat (2017), How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Two reviews where I had something to say
I donβt really write proper reviews but some notes and unstructured thoughts on various aspects of the movie. But sometimes, for certain movies that leave me confused and challenged coming out of the theater, Iβll be able to put together some thoughts in a more cohesive way.
April 16 - How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022) directed by Daniel Goldhaber
βI was complaining to a friend recently about the trend of eat-the-rich movies and TV shows that are critically acclaimed, socially approved, and commercially successful. How threatening and subversive can those works really be if they are celebrated by the very people and systems that are supposed to be the targets of their mockery? In what way is their production and consumption just another cultural product that services passive expiation for class guilt and economicΒ exploitation?β
August 13 - Certified Copy (2010) directed by Abbas Kiarostami
βAnd maybe that structure is supposed to reflect marriage. You get into it under a certain understanding and then after time you realize suddenly that youβre in a different story altogether with characters who are familiar but also now alien and you find yourself struggling to make meaning of not only your present situation but the forgotten story of how you got here and how your past connects to your present. A sort of narrative Capgras syndrome. Maybe you canβt fill in gaps logically but they can be bridged instead by emotional and spiritual needs that can help you find your way home. Loneliness and companionship for one, even with someone whoβs become aΒ stranger?β
Dishonorable mentions
All movies that I rated lower than 2 stars. Really did not enjoy these. Marvel really fell off this year
Moonfall (2022) directed by Roland Emmerich
Blows right past bad into βso bad itβs goodβ and then past that back into βitβs really badβ
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) directed by Michael Jelenic, Aaron Horvath
Good animation but incredibly boring, ChatGPT story
Glass Onion (2022) directed by Rian Johnson
for me, night and day from Knives Out which I really liked
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) directed by James Gunn
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) directed by Peyton Reed
Some of the worst CGI Iβve seen in Marvel, in a movie that should get excited about the inventive world-building opportunities
Bonus List
werenβt mentioned above
I saw and didnβt think much at the time of but kept on thinking about long after I had seen it
Werenβt necessarily my favorite but caught my attention with some unique aspect of tone, character, story, visuals, etc.
The Gambler (1974) directed by Karel Reisz
Meekβs Cutoff (2010) directed by Kelly Reichardt
3-Iron (2004) directed by Kim Ki-duk
*rewatch
In my defense, a good chunk of my movie watching this year came from my new habit of watching movies on the treadmill which I thought was a fair cheat