The "Unofficial" Best Films/TV Series of 2023

 

2023 has been a crazy year in films as there was a lot that had happened with the SAG/WAG strike definitely impacted a lot of things for film and television as films would be delayed, actors didn't take part in any promotion for the films they're in, and other things. Still, the year was chaotic as there were some major events in cinema but also burn-out as it relates to superhero films as Marvel is in need to take a step back while DC ended their cinematic universe with a whimper of sorts. Overall, I saw 13 films in 2023 in the theaters with a lot of them being great but a couple of screenings of films that weren't so good at all. Yet, there were a lot of films that I didn't get the chance to see though I hopefully will in the coming months and years to come.

Here are the 2023 films that I haven't seen yet: Past Lives, Ferrari, The Iron Claw, Bottoms, May December, Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon, They Cloned Tyrone, Four Daughters, Saltburn, The Boy and the Heron, Godzilla Minus One, Foe, Next Goal Wins, Hitman, Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest, Shoshana, The Peasants, Wicked Little Letters, Close to You, Wonka, Dream Scenario, Irena's Vow, Memory, The Bikeriders, Janet Planet, Wildcat, All of Us Strangers, Teachers Lounge, The Holdovers, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, Origin, The Royal Hotel Green Border, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, Scrapper, Magic Mike's Last Dance, Polite Society, Evil Does Not Exist, Backspot, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Earth Mama, Maestro, Dumb Money, Blackberry, Flamin' Hot, Strange Way of Life, Occupied City, Grenfell, The Beast, Bad Behaviour, Strange Way of Life, The Taste of Things, How to Have Sex, Fallen Leaves, About Dry Grasses, Club Zero, Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret,The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Joy Ride, Close Your Eyes, Inside, The Crime is Mine, Afire, No Hard Feelings, The Starling Girl, Reality, The Eternal Memory, A Thousand and One, Sometimes I Think About Dying, Cat Person, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, Rye Lane, Cassandro, Landscape with Invisible Hands, Mami Wata, Monster, Magazine Dreams, Creed III, La Chimera, The Killer, Eileen, You Hurt My Feelings, Fingernails, Consecration, Coup de Chance, The Palace and She Came to Me.

Here are the top films that I saw for 2023 so far...

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

2. Poor Things

3. Oppenheimer

4. Barbie

5. Infinity Pool

6. Air

7. Elemental

8. Priscilla

9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

10. John Wick: Chapter 4

11. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

12. Asteroid City

13. Jackals & Fireflies

14. The Marvels

15. Once Upon a Studio

16. Eyes Two Times Mouth

17. Stane

18. boygenius: the film

Honorable Mentions: Now and Then: The Last Beatles Song & Maggie Simpson in "Rogue Not Quite One"

Dishonorable Mentions: Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania & Beau is Afraid

The world of TV has been just as crazy with some new shows coming though there's an uncertainty into whether they will have 2nd seasons though sadly Willow will not have one as the strike did impact a lot of those shows as there's been some good ones and there was one that was really disappointing as here are the best TV shows I saw in 2023:

1. Ted Lasso (Season 3)

2. Ahsoka (Season 1)

3. Loki (Season 2)

4. Dark Side of the Ring (Season 4)

5. The Mandalorian (Season 3)

6. What If...? (Season 2)

7. I Am Groot (Season 2)

8. That 90s Show (Season 1)

9. Willow

Dishonorable Mention: Secret Invasion

© thevoid99 2024

The Year-End Reflections of 2023

 

2023 has been an insane year and definitely one that I wouldn’t forget as well as things I would like to forget as it was crazy. Notably as the rise of inflation which has angered my mother while she had lost one of her jobs a few months ago mainly because its owner didn’t want to run two dry cleaners as it was too much for him. Fortunately, she still has a job with one of those cleaners as well as another as things aren’t too bad. Still, the year saw a lot of bad shit happening as well as a lot of deaths and all sorts of shit. It’s been fucking insane and honestly, let’s hope it ends quicker and hope the New Year is much better.

In the year of 2023, I saw a total of 278 films in 161 first-timers and 117 re-watches with 67 first-timers being films directed/co-directed by women as part of the 52 Films by Women pledge and thirteen theatrical viewings all being first-timers. Not a bad year though it was down from the previous year due to the fact that I have a niece and nephew to watch over and they’ve been all over the house. Plus, there was also financial difficulties that prevented me from renting or seeing films though it was the year that I finally ended my time with cable TV as that is gone for good. There weren’t a lot of first-timers from the past that I saw which is why there won’t be a list because there’s so little great films pre-2015 that I saw. Still, one of the highlights of the year has been my Blind Spot Series as here is the final ranking for that series:

1. Eight Hours Don't Make a Day

2. Tetsuo the Iron Man

3. La Chinoise

4. Buck and the Preacher

5. La Haine

6. Kiki's Delivery Service

7. One-Eyed Jacks

8. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

9. The Seduction of Mimi

10. Polyester

11. The Quiet Man

12. India Song

The year was a big deal towards late in the year as it marked the return of the Auteurs series where I went back to my first essay on Sofia Coppola where I expanded and updated as it got me back into finally finishing the essay on Kelly Reichardt that began in 2019 but was stopped because of my dad’s passing then COVID and writer’s block. With the completion of the Reichardt essay, I’ve already prepped work on the next two essays in both J.C. Chandor and Michael Mann respectively with David Lean to follow later in the year and a new subject in Damien Chazelle.

Before I close this piece, the recent passing of Tom Smothers of the Smothers Brothers and Tom Wilkinson as there has been a lot of people that has passed so here is a farewell to those who have passed as we will never forget them



Well, that is all to say for 2023. It’s been a wild year where the Atlanta Braves had a good year until the playoffs where we were burned out while the Hawks and United did fine. Let’s hope 2024 is a better year for all of these teams. Until then, this is thevoid99 signing off…

© thevoid99 2023

Blog News: Blog Plans for 2023

 

2022 is coming to an end as I'm currently taking it easy while trying to finish my final Blind Spot films for the year. This was a year where things sort of got back to normal but also the fact that a lot of things are changing and it's become quite chaotic. Especially as I'm around two kids who run around a lot as I barely have time to watch anything though so far, I have managed to nearly fulfill everything that I wanted to do while long-gestating projects again fell by the wayside. Still, I ended up venturing into places that I didn't expect to go into but also make some discoveries and finish a few things along the way. All of which is also leading to a new world and going beyond as I'm saying goodbye to the world that is cable as that has become a financial burden that I want no part of anymore as my mother and I are trying to figure out the next step in having access to a lot of things that is available on cable television but without the burden of a cable service as we want to go full-on streaming.

Thanks to Disney+, MUBI, Netflix, Amazon Prime, AppleTV+, and many others, I was able to see that there is a world out there where I can watch what is available without having to download something illegally. 2023 will be another year where the usual happen as I've already announced my Blind Spot Series for the new year while I will also take part in the 52 Films by Women pledge as I was able to fulfill it this year. There's also the list from Criterion DVD/Blu-Ray special features as it is something I hope to venture into as a way to have something to watch without the need to write a full review of it.

There won't be as many full reviews for 2023 mainly due to timing and the fact that it takes me 2 days to finish a full review depending on the film as I'm also taking part in watching TV shows and such where there is just other things I want to do. That is something I'm doing where I will take a step back from doing more full reviews in favor of just watching things, logging it on my Letterboxd account, and then reflect on it and maybe write a full review it later on. Then there's the Cannes Film Festival marathon where instead of doing it for the duration of the festival, I will do it for the entirety of May instead as it would give me more time to watch these films and not put any pressure into watching it on a certain day.

Then there's the Auteurs series as I've been struggling to get back to it as my piece on Kelly Reichardt remains 1/4 finished as the reason I'm stalling it is because she premiered a new film this year that will arrive in theaters in 2023 as I want to include that into the Auteurs essay on her. Other subjects such as J.C. Chandor and Michael Mann also have new films coming as it's another reason they've been postponed and then there's David Lean as I know own Summertime on Blu-Ray and with a short film of his available online as I will get to him once I finish the other three first. There are a lot of other filmmakers that I do want to profile like Celine Sciamma whom I've become a fan of as well as Ari Aster and Robert Eggers as those 3 are definite future profiles for the Auteurs series. There are also unfinished projects as Twin Peaks is something I do want to finish and I want to get around to it while the MCU is Cinema thing that I did in 2019 and stopped in 2020 is something I will get back to in a few years when the Multiverse Saga is finished. Aside from these unfinished projects, there is one big project I do plan on doing for 2023.

2023 will be the 20th anniversary of the release of Lost in Translation as anyone who has read this blog know about my love for this film as I've watched it once every year (except for 2020) as I've thought about doing something for its 20th anniversary. Now that I have purchased a Blu-Ray copy of the film, I hope to go into depth about this film and its impact on myself and cinema itself. It's currently in the pre-production stage through an outline as I plan to present this whole thing from August 29 to September 21st. It's going to feature lists, scene analysis, tidbits on the collaborators and other things. It is something that I want to do and I hope to do and hopefully never do again unless I'm asked to do something for its 25th, 30th, 50th anniversary.

Well, I think that is all for what is to come as 2022 isn't over yet. I'm again doubtful about the status of The Void-Go-Round as I've lost interest in writing about music though I do plan on subscribing to Apple Music as I'm now planning to get a new laptop within the new year or the year after. Until then, this is thevoid99 signing off...

© thevoid99 2022

2023 Blind Spot Series Announcement

 

Another year is coming to an end as this year's Blind Spot Series is set to close with Pedro Costa's Letters from Fonthainas trilogy as it was better than the previous year due to the fact that I was able to watch films that were available on streaming services or on DVD/Blu-Ray. The next year will be no different but once again, I decide to mix things up as all of these films are set in the second half of the 20th Century. This time, no more film series or trilogies for the time being with the exception of one film being a TV miniseries. Rather than have all of the films be from the Criterion Collection as it was difficult to obtain some of these films on DVD/Blu-Ray. I decided that the 2023 edition will have films as half of them are available on Criterion as so far I have 4 of those films for next year's series. Then there's other Blu-Ray labels and such but also films available on various streaming services as I am set to leave the world of cable television for good and more into the unknown of the streaming world. Once again, I wanted to mix things up in not just genres but also in diversity as two of the Blind Spots are films directed by women. Here are the films for the 2023 Blind Spot Series in chronological order:

The Quiet Man by John Ford

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Howard Hawks

One-Eyed Jacks by Marlon Brando

La Chinoise by Jean-Luc Godard

The Seduction of Mimi by Lina Wertmuller

Buck and the Preacher by Sidney Poitier

Eight Hours Don't Make a Day by Rainer Werner Fassbinder

India Song by Marguerite Duras

Polyester by John Waters

Tetsuo: The Iron Man by Shinya Tsukamoto

Kiki's Delivery Service by Hayao Miyazaki

La Haine by Mathieu Kassovitz

© thevoid99 2022