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The 1st half of 2023 is officially in the books. What are everyone's favorite films thus far? Here's my list that will surely shock each and every one of you:

1.John Wick: Chapter 4
2.Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3
3.Creed III
4.Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
5.Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
6.Past Lives
7.Cocaine Bear
8.Scream VI
9.Air
10.Extraction 2

Honorable Mentions: A Thousand and One, No Hard Feelings, Sanctuary

I've only given three movies this year a 9 or above.

A Thousand and One
Little Richard: I Am Everything
It Ain't Over

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
3. John Wick: Chapter 4
4. Scream VI
5. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
6. Air
7. Extraction 2
8. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
9. Creed III
10. Plane
11. Evil Dead Rise
12. Cocaine Bear
13. Jesus Revolution
14. Renfield

Those are the 2023 movies so far that I'd rate a 7/10 or higher.

I haven't seen a hige amount compared to previous years, and to be honest nothing has really impressed me. The best I've seen are

Rye Lane
You Hurt My Feelings
Huesera: The Bone Woman
Little Richard: I Am Everything
Of An Age

With some honorable mentions to: Inside, Skinamarkink, Evil Dead Rise, Perpetrator

Here are my favorite 2023 releases so far :

- Chien de la casse (French)
- Dalva (French)
- Suzume
- Trenque Lauquen (Argentine)
- Just the Two of Us (French)
- Sleep (Korean)
- To Catch a Killer
- The Three Musketeers : D'Artagnan (French)
- Joyland

They were released in 2023 in the US but I saw and loved them in 2022 :
- The Night of the 12th
- The Passengers of the Night
- Full Time
- Godland
- Pacifiction

Really enjoyed Night of the 12th, and thanks to your recommendation, Chien, I watched The Beasts and loved it, and it's out in the US this month.

Skinamarink is still the worst movie I've seen this year and I find it hilarious that it has defenders. It's the definition of lazy filmmaking.

It's a clever way of constructing a horror, and had genuinely unnerving moments. Bypassing actors and relying on particular framing and sound is a great way to bypass poor actors, poor sets, etc, and instead focus on atmosphere. Granted, it's about 20 mins too long but it's surprisingly innovative ane effective

I think I would have preferred the poor actors, as I can make fun of that. It would have been preferable to long shots of ceilings and public domain cartoons I could watch on YouTube without having the bottom half cropped off.

I don't like this trend of Tiktok horror.

To Catch a Killer has been an interesting movie to monitor from afar. It got crushed by American critics, but the reception outside of that group has been pretty damn good. I'm intrigued to check it out once it shows up on some streaming service in a few months.

Also, six how did Rye Lane play with a UK crowd? It seems like something that could really pop with an engaged audience.

Buscemi2 wrote: ↑

July 4th, 2023, 4:37 pm

I think I would have preferred the poor actors, as I can make fun of that. It would have been preferable to long shots of ceilings and public domain cartoons I could watch on YouTube without having the bottom half cropped off.

I don't like this trend of Tiktok horror.

I think if you don't like what Tiktok and Youtube are doing with horror, then yeah, Skinamarink is not for you. There's lots of bad stuff on there but at least they're trying to find new ways of dealing with horror, even if it doesn't entirely work!

transformers2 wrote: ↑

July 4th, 2023, 4:48 pm

Also, six how did Rye Lane play with a UK crowd? It seems like something that could really pop with an engaged audience.

It didn't do hugely well, and was mostly a London movie, but the feeling was that it wasn't given a chance to build an audience. The WOM was great, but it felt like it wasn't being pushed as a theatrical release.

numbersix wrote: ↑

July 4th, 2023, 4:55 pm

transformers2 wrote: ↑

July 4th, 2023, 4:48 pm

Also, six how did Rye Lane play with a UK crowd? It seems like something that could really pop with an engaged audience.

It didn't do hugely well, and was mostly a London movie, but the feeling was that it wasn't given a chance to build an audience. The WOM was great, but it felt like it wasn't being pushed as a theatrical release.

That's a shame, but not exactly surprising since the UK/Ireland was the only place it was released theatrically and Disney doesn't exactly have a reputation for giving smaller movies the time they need to find an audience.

Rye Lane almost sounds like the exact same movie as Past Lives. That might be why it didn't take off.

Nobody outside of the US has had the opportunity to see both (Past Lives isn't even out in the UK until September!) and thus, I can't provide any real explanation as to why, so I'll just say that they share absolutely zero DNA.