My 22 Favorite Movies of 2023

Air
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
John Wick: Chapter 4
The Killer
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Master Gardener
Missing
Nyad
Past Lives
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Theater Camp
Wonka

Honorable mention

AKA (French crime drama)
Barbie
Champions
Fair Play
Knock at the Cabin
Leave the World Behind
May December
No One Will Save You
Reality

Third Tier : Done well, no regrets, probably will not watch again

65 - Adam Driver elevates most films he’s in, including one set 65 million years in the past. Like a few other films this year (The Killer, Inside), it’s a simple concept executed well.
Inside - companion to Willem Dafoe’s The Lighthouse. Art thief trapped in a high rise. An exercise in patience.

Miscellaneous

Coming soon.

Documentary

Coming soon

All ages-ish

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
The Little Mermaid
Wonka

Holiday

Your Christmas or Mine 2
Violent Night. I did not greatly enjoy this very graphic unfunny Die Hard wannabe.

Guilty pleasures

Plane.
Pilot’s plane goes down in jungle. Pilot (Gerard Butler) has to protect his passengers against an onslaught of drug cartel baddies. Straight homage to any number of ‘80s action flicks. Executed well.

Sharper.
Nifty little Manhattan con thriller with solid cast and a little treat at the end. Not as clever as I’d hoped. Reminiscent of any number of 1990s thrillers. Think: Malice.

Not great, but worth a once-through

coming soon

Want to see

A Haunting in Venice
A Thousand and One
Anatomy of a Fall
Asteroid City
Beau Is Afraid
BlackBerry
The Covenant
Dumb Money
Flora and Son
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Linoleum
Napoleon
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre
Oppenheimer
Paint
The Pigeon Tunnel
Polite Society
R.M.N.
Rye Lane
Skinamarink
The Starling Girl
The Taste of Things
You Hurt My Feelings

Underwhelming / disappointing / plain bad

Knock at the Cabin.
Okay. I know this is strange, but I have this on this list and on Honorable Mention. Why? I’m still trying to articulate why. Some of the strongest performances in a Shyamalan film. All his trademark craft on display - and I’m a fan, I say that at as a compliment. I read the book before - yeah yeah, one of those people - and he did a great job of adapting. In fact, I prefer his ending to the novel’s. There’s all sorts of spiritual, relational, parental, familial levels to process. What if you had to choose between saving the world and between saving somebody you love - in fact, what if you had to choose to sacrifice one of the people you love most in the world…in order to save the world. It’s bleak and dark and dripping at the edges with Flannery O’Connor. I don’t know what else I’d want. It’s hard to watch. And hard not to watch. And hard to think about. What should Shyamalan have done different? Maybe nothing. Maybe it doesn’t belong on this list. I don’t know where it belongs. I’ll probably move it to a list of one at some point.

The Little Mermaid

Saltburn. I can appreciate a great deal of this movie. Gorgeous to look at, snappy dialogue occasionally, a location to soak up. But: at a certain point I need to believe in humanity. This is personal opinion, not a judgment on certain scenes or on what Emerald Fennell was trying to see about class, obsession, privilege, etc. It’s about the unrelenting bleakness of human nature presented; a toxic, slow burning, falling out of trust and faith in those around. I am glad I watched. And I am glad it ended. Rosamund Pike was magnificent.

The Super Mario Brothers Movie
Underwhelmed. Everything I expected.

Violent Night
It seems obvious that a movie with the world “violent” in the title would be violent. It also seems obvious that a movie with the noxious, on-the-nose naming convention of a thousand 90s action thrillers would be somewhere in the terrible-to-mediocre range. But these things were not as obvious to me as perhaps they should have been before watching. I like David Harbor. Perhaps it is the mix of tone and (very, very graphic violence) that put me off. Did not really enjoy - and I expected to get some satisfaction out of Santa with a sledgehammer. One note trick riffing off Die Hard and Home Alone that kept going and going.

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Back to Film Index by Year

ESSENTIAL MUSIC OF 2023

My favourite 11 albums

Sparks - The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte

Honorable Mention

Boygenius - The Record
The Hold Steady - The Price of Progress
Muse - Will Of The People

Disappointments & underperformers

coming soon

Haven’t listened / haven’t spent enough time with yet

MGMT
Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
Sharon Van Etten

My 44 Favorite Tracks

All We Ever Do Is Talk - Del Water Gap
Bending Hectic - The Smile
Borrow Trouble - Feist
Bug Like An Angel - Mitski
Chosen to Deserve - Wednesday
Compliance - Muse
County Road - Margo Price
Dancer - Idles & LCD Soundsystem
Emily I’m Sorry - Boygenius (E)
Euphoria - Muse
Ghosts (How Can I Move On) - Muse
The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte - Sparks
Goodbye Evergreen - Sufjan Stevens
Happy - NF
Here - Soccer Mommy
Hope - NF
Houdini - Dua Lipa
Hunter - Jess Williamson
I Remember Everything - Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves
I Saw - Young Fathers
Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift
Liberation - Muse
Love is Embarrassing - Olivia Rodrigo
My Love Mine All Mine - Mitski
The Narcissist - Blur
Nearly Daffodils - English Teacher
None of Us Have But a Little While - Lonnie Holley f. Sharon Van Etten
Not Strong Enough - boygenius
Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is - Sparks
Nothing Matters - The Last Dinner Party (E)
Padam Padam - Kylie
Stage of Love - Mary Jane Dunphe
Vampire - Olivia Rodrigo (E)
Verona - Muse
Will Anybody Ever Love Me? - Sufjan Stevens
The World’s Biggest Paving Slab - English Teacher (E)

January

Gee, That Was Fun - Sparks
Here - Soccer Mommy
Borrow Trouble - Feist
Liberation - Muse

February

Nothing Left to Lose - Everything But the Girl
You Were Meant For Me - Sparks
All We Ever Do Is Talk - Del Water Gap
My Love Mine All Mine - Mitski
Hunter - Jess Williamson
Will Anybody Ever Love Me? - Sufjan Stevens
Tough Love - Flyte
Without You Without Them - boygenius
What Was I Made For? - Billie Eilish

March

White Horse - Chris Stapleton
I Remember Everything - Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves
Sleep on My Side - Megan Moroney
County Road - Margo Price
Knockin’ - MJ Lenderman
Vampire Empire - Big Thief
Chosen to Deserve - Wednesday

April

Goodbye Evergreen - Sufjan Stevens
None of Us Have But a Little While - Lonnie Holley f. Sharon Van Etten
Bug Like An Angel - Mitski
I Believe - Caroline Polachek
Verona - Muse
Emily I’m Sorry - Boygenius (E)
The Mona Lisa's Packing, Leaving Late Tonight - Sparks

May

I’m Just Ken - Ryan Gosling
Flowers - Miley Cyrus
Home to Another One - Madison Beer
Miracle - Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris
Sability - Ayra Starr
Borderline - Tove Lo
Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift

June

Pa Que Baile - Kiko el Crazy (E)
Chanel - Becky G and Peso Pluma
Sober - SIPHO
Hemlocke Springs - Enknee1
Set the Roof - Hudson Mohawke / Nikki Nair f. Tayla Parx
A Love Story - Sparks
Padam Padam - Kylie
Houdini - Dua Lipa
Smog - Indigo De Souza
On a Beach - Hayden f. Feist
What Was I Made For? - Billie Eilish
Younger & Dumber - Indigo De Souza

July

Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is - Sparks

August

Dancer - Idles & LCD Soundsystem
The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte - Sparks
I Saw - Young Fathers
Not Strong Enough - boygenius
Nearly Daffodils - English Teacher
Take Me For a Ride - Sparks

September

It Doesn’t Have To Be That Way - Sparks
Happy - NF
The Narcissist - Blur
Euphoria - Muse
Nothing Matters - The Last Dinner Party (E)
King of the Slugs - Fat Dog
The World’s Biggest Paving Slab - English Teacher

October

Stage of Love - Mary Jane Dunphe
Go Dig My Grave - Lankum
Ghosts Again - Depeche Mode
I Want It All - The Drums
Late Night Love - Octa Octa
Ghosts (How Can I Move On) - Muse
Installation - Pangaea
The Slab - Slowdive
Gave Up The Dream - Apollo Ghosts
You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween - Muse

November

Kisses - Slowdive
Bending Hectic - The Smile
Name of God - Mustafa
Not That Well-Defined - Sparks

December

Hope - NF (thank you, Jonny, for introducing this track on Dec 8. Love)
Snowman - Blonde Redhead

Spiritual

Name of God - Mustafa

Covers

Here - Soccer Mommy

2023 Happenings

October 7 - Hamas attacks Israel. 1,200 killed, 240 taken hostages into Gaza. War begins.