Ethan asked to do a favorite movies of 2023 episode with me. Since we recorded, we’ve both started watching stuff for our Oscars episode, so there’s definitely stuff we’d have done differently if we recorded today.
Our Letterboxd profiles:
https://letterboxd.com/sethheasley/
https://letterboxd.com/bevold/
Ethan’s List:
10. The Killer
9. Barbie
8. Creed 3
7. Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One
6. Dream Scenario
5. John Wick: Chapter 4
4. Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse
3. Oppenheimer
2. Past Lives
1. The Iron Claw
10. The Boys in the Boat
9. Renfield
8. Creed 3
7. Air
6. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
5. The Iron Claw
4. Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One
3. Barbie
2. Oppenheimer
1. Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse
Favorite First-time watches in 2023:
Ethan:
- High and Low (Kurosawa)
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-wai)
- Old Boy
Seth:
- The Hunt (2020) and The Game of Death (1945)
- Margin Call
- Nosferatu (1922) and Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog)
- Metropolis
Yes Seth, I hope your lists change after you see the Oscar nominees as other than Oppenheimer I disliked most things on your lists! Sorry.Actually Renfield was good for the most part. I most despised the overlong and sappy Spider-man and Past Lives bored me. So far my favorite films from last year are- I can’t believe I’m saying this- Knock at the Cabin- because I usually don’t like the genre or Shamalayan- and May/December. Maestro and Asteroid City were pretty good, The Creator was ok. An animated movie I liked a lot more- Nimona on Netflix. And Mr. Sugar by Wes Anderson which despite being a short I could see as deserving of a BP nom.
I also enjoyed Nimona. In my Oscar watching, I would’ve added Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, and Past Lives to my list. The Zone of Interest would be close to making the list, and Maestro was very good as well.
I watched the animated and live action shorts yesterday and my favorite was Knight of Fortune. Though I enjoyed Henry Sugar as well.
I also enjoyed Knock at the Cabin. It was fun to cover on Take Me To Your Reader.
Thanks I’ll look for that podcast. I too watched
the shorts as were available. I enjoyed Knight of Cups too- although I don’t buy the funeral home letting the guy hang around for years. The After was rather pointless. Short docs- I really liked the Repair Shop,didn’t care at all for the Island one or the Barber one. There was one on the short list – The Last Vote which was better. Feature docs Bobi Wine was very good, couldn’t take 20 Days in Maripoul. Zone and Anatomy are the ones I most look forward to seeing. I wish May/December had received BP and Actress/Supporting Actress nods. I found Barbie to be too silly, in particular I hated the Will Ferrell and Kate McKinnon characters.
I haven’t agreed with a BP winner since No Country for Old Men – largely because they expanded to 10 nominees soon after. I think that streak will continue. Oppenheimer was certainly an achievement- I had the same problem with Maestro- but I found it a bit cold and not as involving as say May/Dec. which was provocative as well as disturbing of course.
Other movies: Did you see a little sci-fi movie called Jules- really nice, I didn’t realize it starred an unrecognizable Ben Kingsley until afterI I saw the movie. He can do anything.
Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning- just ok, more of a stunt movie than an effects movie I thought.
Blue Beetle – not good but all I kept thinking was how great Susan Surandon looks at almost 80.
Elemental and The Little Mermaid Are you there God… were too much of kiddie movies for me.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3- again too silly.
Golda- interesting history but mostly an ego trip for the great Helen Mirren
You hurt my feelings- ok but Holofcenter has done better.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny-started and ended well but too long and too much Phoebe Waller Bridge-who everyone but me likes- the score could have just been transported from the earlier movies.
I should have known better than to have watched the latest Scream – that’s why I won’t see John Wick and Creed- I hated the previous films. The Iron Claw’s subject matter doesn’t appeal to me.
Older stuff I’ve rewatched in the past weeks- Altman’s Short Cuts-great, Simon’s The Cheap Detective- ugh, Advice and Content, Lifeboat, and White Heat- because Drew Casper does sensational commentaries- even though he’s a USC prof! Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe-great.
And The Godfather- great but not as great as it’s rep- I would have voted for Deliverance that year.
I was listening to your Alas Babylon pod and I recalled my favorite movie of last year -I know not an apocalypse movie – Triangle of Sadness in that the cleaning woman became the leader because of her skills in getting food-fishing- as might happen after the apocalypse. I would be in trouble.
I also enjoyed Triangle of Sadness last year. I haven’t seen Jules. I remember seeing the trailer and think it’d be interesting.
I wasn’t a huge fan of May/December, honestly. Good performances but there was something with the score (strange I know) that put me off.
Jules was nominated for a Saturn which is why I watched it, good performances all around and it’s less than 90 minutes. Other acclaimed sci-fi movies I haven’t seen that are available for streaming are Aporia and They Cloned Tyrone.
I neglected to mention Nyad- the movie felt as long as her swim. I don’t know why Foster is supporting even though she’s doing a lot of the talking while Bening is underwater.
Domingo was good in Rustin although the movie wasn’t much. I would have preferred DiCaprio and even Robbie nominated- which would have meant all the best actress/actor nominees would be in a Best Picture nominee- unprecedented I guarantee.
And I saw you covered Renfield on your other podcast -I enjoyed that until the gross-out at the end- although I had vowed not to watch Nic Cage after the abomination that was Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.