Favourite movies of 2023 so far?

[Heeeere's Olesker!]

Super Mario Bros. movie by default. Thanks in part to my open hatred of most modern cinema, I hardly ever see any "new" movies. By the time I see them, they're "old movies".

I liked Evil Dead Rise well enough, but it wasn't groundbreaking as far as horror movies go, and I can't see anyone but fans of the franchise caring enough to even bother with it. And a LOT of franchise fans completely hate it; I don't agree, but I completely see why they feel that way.

I don't think there's anything besides Flash and Blue Beetle I'm even the least bit interested in seeing for the rest of the year, and I don't expect those to blow me away. So I have a strong feeling that Super Mario Bros. is going to take the crown for this year. I had a permanent grin on my face for the entire runtime of that movie both times I saw it in theaters, and frankly, there's no chance that's gonna happen with anything else.

Trust me, with regard to movies overall, imo, you're not missing much.

[Rikki Roxx]

Trust me, with regard to movies overall, imo, you're not missing much.

I know, I don't watch the movies but I do see trailers. I'd sincerely rather watch Young Guns I and II for the 572nd time than I'd watch just about anything released in the past decade.

I'm not a crab, I swear. I just have taste.

[Heeeere's Olesker!]

I know, I don't watch the movies but I do see trailers. I'd sincerely rather watch Young Guns I and II for the 572nd time than I'd watch just about anything released in the past decade.

I'm not a crab, I swear. I just have taste.

I get it. That's how I feel about Patton and The Usual Suspects.

- - - Updated - - -

Look, it's just my opinion and I know I'm not in the key demographics, but where I think films went off the rails is when they started caring too much about saving the entire freaking universe and blowing villains and heroes up to gargantuan sizes...like constantly, over and over and over, ad nauseam.

Films like Aliens, Predator, Rocky and Rudy -- how's that for a mix -- are in more tightly controlled environments, which increased their tension, and they deal with Man vs. Man and Man vs. Himself rather than this vast almost incapable-to- grasp universe-saving and colossal villains scenario.

Same was even true for The Usual Suspects. And yeah, I get that I'm dating myself -- which is okay since I enjoy my own company on a date -- but I just think those kinds of films resonate more. Just my opinion.

[dan1980]

I think over the years we have these time periods that we get a glut of certain movies. Look at the 80s where we got 100s of horror movies, then they got really crappy and sort of disappeared in the early 90s until scream emerged and catapulted teen horror into the spotlight again. Then they pushed those out until we got sick of those.
But also saying that we now have the ability to create huge movies on epic scales with cgi and special effects. Movies we just couldn’t make in 30/40 years ago. And now I guess movies are commodity that they weren’t before, once upon a time we had film makers who wanted to make great stories and now we have accountants and major companies who want to churn out films to make money. Yes it’s always been about money I know but now 4/5 companies make most of the movies coming out.
We seem to have lost the heart of movies, rating them on special effects and budgets instead of stories. I can’t count the times I’ve come out of a cinema and gone ‘wow special effects great! Storyline, poor’
I think of Rocky horror picture show and how low budget and how the film bombed but every weekend somewhere at midnight it’s playing to a packed audience dressed in their girlfriends knickers. And it’s not because it’s packed with sfx but because it has a huge heart and characters you just love with a great but simple story and an awesome soundtrack.

[Rikki Roxx]

I get it. That's how I feel about Patton and The Usual Suspects.

- - - Updated - - -

Look, it's just my opinion and I know I'm not in the key demographics, but where I think films went off the rails is when they started caring too much about saving the entire freaking universe and blowing villains and heroes up to gargantuan sizes...like constantly, over and over and over, ad nauseam.

Films like Aliens, Predator, Rocky and Rudy -- how's that for a mix -- are in more tightly controlled environments, which increased their tension, and they deal with Man vs. Man and Man vs. Himself rather than this vast almost incapable-to- grasp universe-saving and colossal villains scenario.

Same was even true for The Usual Suspects. And yeah, I get that I'm dating myself -- which is okay since I enjoy my own company on a date -- but I just think those kinds of films resonate more. Just my opinion.

I agree to a point, Jack... but I do love "Save the world/Universe" stuff when it's done well.

My opinion of "Done Well" doesn't mesh with most people's. I prefer it be played straight, with total verisimilitude, and not be treated like a lark, at which point yes, I agree that it's preposterous and overblown and overdone and ultimately pointless because we KNOW the bad thing isn't gonna happen because everyone is constantly cracking jokes. If you're going to use "The Universe Is In Peril!" as your plot device, and then constantly undercut the tension of it all with bad jokes, over and over again, your movie is wasting my ****ing TIME. I have come to truly, TRULY loathe this.

When I watch a movie, I want to believe in it. I want to pretend it's real. I want to feel things. I don't need to be patted on the head, winked at, and reminded "It's all just for fun, nothing bad is gonna happen!" I KNOW THAT, IT'S A ****ING MOVIE! Just let me PRETEND for two hours or so and get totally immersed like I did when I was 5! Stop coddling me, Action Movies, I'm NOT that sensitive that I need you to cradle me and hold my hand!
JAAAAY-ZUS!

That is a huge reason why, as "controversial" as it is to say out loud on the internet, only Zack Snyder's comic book movies are gonna get any significant time from me going forward. They're the only ones that refuse to treat the audience like a child who needs his blankie. They don't undercut the premise of the stories they present. Bad things happen before the inevitable Good Guys Win moment, and they never win without serious loss. Characters grow and change and learn... and they don't just "forget" all that development in the very next movie, thus ruining the entire point. I could go on, but that's the meat of it. They feel REAL, whereas every other super-hero movie is simply a live-action cartoon.

There IS a place for live-action cartoons, and there are plenty of those I also enjoy. But I'd rather that "Save The World/Universe!" live-action movies be played entirely straight; otherwise, I don't see the point in them, not when there's a million of them and they're all the same. I want more than "The ILLUSION of High Stakes." Give me Actual High Stakes or I don't have time for your silly romp where you pretend the hole in the sky is gonna blow up the world while the guy with the bow and arrow talks about how dumb it all is. I'm too old, I've seen too many movies, and I'm simply Not Impressed by such bare-minimum effort anymore. I work as much as 80 hours a week, these days. You want my time, you better WOW me.

That's why as I've gotten older I've spent more and more time looking backwards the last few years, getting into more "smaller" movies that I'd always missed for whatever reason. Too immature to care at the time, I guess. I loved Apocalypse Now, finally saw The Godfather I and II a ways back... so far, I've never seen a bad David Lynch movie. I could go on. First half of my life, comic book and action movies were my jam, I had little time for anything else. Now, I'm just... over it. I know it comes off as elitist, but Scorsese and the rest are right - they may be fun, but they're not "cinema" and they're barely even "art", considering how everything about them is focus-grouped into existence via committee until not a single original thought can be found.

And anyone who starts typing about how I'm a joyless crab who "hates everything", I absolutely have more DVDs and Blu-rays than you have hair downstairs, so don't even start. I just have very particular tastes. They're mine, they don't have to be yours, that is Zero Percent my concern.

[Benedict Judas Hel]

I just have taste.

Good or bad?

Look, it's just my opinion and I know I'm not in the key demographics, but where I think films went off the rails is when they started caring too much about saving the entire freaking universe and blowing villains and heroes up to gargantuan sizes...like constantly, over and over and over, ad nauseam.

Yeah! Who do they think they are?! Thinking we want them to be masters of the galaxy. Or masters of the entire universe even!

[Rikki Roxx]

I think over the years we have these time periods that we get a glut of certain movies. Look at the 80s where we got 100s of horror movies, then they got really crappy and sort of disappeared in the early 90s until scream emerged and catapulted teen horror into the spotlight again. Then they pushed those out until we got sick of those.
But also saying that we now have the ability to create huge movies on epic scales with cgi and special effects. Movies we just couldn’t make in 30/40 years ago. And now I guess movies are commodity that they weren’t before, once upon a time we had film makers who wanted to make great stories and now we have accountants and major companies who want to churn out films to make money. Yes it’s always been about money I know but now 4/5 companies make most of the movies coming out.
We seem to have lost the heart of movies, rating them on special effects and budgets instead of stories. I can’t count the times I’ve come out of a cinema and gone ‘wow special effects great! Storyline, poor’
I think of Rocky horror picture show and how low budget and how the film bombed but every weekend somewhere at midnight it’s playing to a packed audience dressed in their girlfriends knickers. And it’s not because it’s packed with sfx but because it has a huge heart and characters you just love with a great but simple story and an awesome soundtrack.

These are all great points. You get a gold star for today.

- - - Updated - - -

Good or bad?

I've decided to leave that up to a vengeful God to decide!

But seriously anyone who would imply that The Estevez isn't immaculate is simply not breathing clean air. EMILIOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Heeeere's Olesker!]

I agree to a point, Jack... but I do love "Save the world/Universe" stuff when it's done well.

My opinion of "Done Well" doesn't mesh with most people's. I prefer it be played straight, with total verisimilitude, and not be treated like a lark, at which point yes, I agree that it's preposterous and overblown and overdone and ultimately pointless because we KNOW the bad thing isn't gonna happen because everyone is constantly cracking jokes. If you're going to use "The Universe Is In Peril!" as your plot device, and then constantly undercut the tension of it all with bad jokes, over and over again, your movie is wasting my ****ing TIME. I have come to truly, TRULY loathe this.

When I watch a movie, I want to believe in it. I want to pretend it's real. I want to feel things. I don't need to be patted on the head, winked at, and reminded "It's all just for fun, nothing bad is gonna happen!" I KNOW THAT, IT'S A ****ING MOVIE! Just let me PRETEND for two hours or so and get totally immersed like I did when I was 5! Stop coddling me, Action Movies, I'm NOT that sensitive that I need you to cradle me and hold my hand!
JAAAAY-ZUS!

That is a huge reason why, as "controversial" as it is to say out loud on the internet, only Zack Snyder's comic book movies are gonna get any significant time from me going forward. They're the only ones that refuse to treat the audience like a child who needs his blankie. They don't undercut the premise of the stories they present. Bad things happen before the inevitable Good Guys Win moment, and they never win without serious loss. Characters grow and change and learn... and they don't just "forget" all that development in the very next movie, thus ruining the entire point. I could go on, but that's the meat of it. They feel REAL, whereas every other super-hero movie is simply a live-action cartoon.

There IS a place for live-action cartoons, and there are plenty of those I also enjoy. But I'd rather that "Save The World/Universe!" live-action movies be played entirely straight; otherwise, I don't see the point in them, not when there's a million of them and they're all the same. I want more than "The ILLUSION of High Stakes." Give me Actual High Stakes or I don't have time for your silly romp where you pretend the hole in the sky is gonna blow up the world while the guy with the bow and arrow talks about how dumb it all is. I'm too old, I've seen too many movies, and I'm simply Not Impressed by such bare-minimum effort anymore. I work as much as 80 hours a week, these days. You want my time, you better WOW me.

That's why as I've gotten older I've spent more and more time looking backwards the last few years, getting into more "smaller" movies that I'd always missed for whatever reason. Too immature to care at the time, I guess. I loved Apocalypse Now, finally saw The Godfather I and II a ways back... so far, I've never seen a bad David Lynch movie. I could go on. First half of my life, comic book and action movies were my jam, I had little time for anything else. Now, I'm just... over it. I know it comes off as elitist, but Scorsese and the rest are right - they may be fun, but they're not "cinema" and they're barely even "art", considering how everything about them is focus-grouped into existence via committee until not a single original thought can be found.

And anyone who starts typing about how I'm a joyless crab who "hates everything", I absolutely have more DVDs and Blu-rays than you have hair downstairs, so don't even start. I just have very particular tastes. They're mine, they don't have to be yours, that is Zero Percent my concern.

All my respect to you, Rikki. Your incisive and articulate posts are always a pleasure to read, whether I agree with you or not. And as an aside, I would advise anyone who doesn't agree with you to figuratively wrap their arms around you and give you a big hug for making them think -- that is if they're open to thinking. Gosh, I'd hate to live in a world where everyone thought like me and agreed with me. What fun would that be? Sometimes, when we encounter opinions different than our own and think about them, we might even learn something and occasionally change our minds. To me that's called growth and I think it's something be be grateful for rather than knee-jerk angry about. Unfortunately, there's all too much of that in the world. It's why I and many others left The Tar Swamp, leaving it to only people who agree with each other. Some may call the place self-affirming. I'd call it boring.

Of course everyone has a right to like what they what. I just don't get why there are so many people are incapable of simply doing that -- liking what they like -- without dissing and railing at others who have a different opinion. I'm old enough that the term 'tribalism' didn't exist when I was young. We just talked, debated and had fun hanging out. I guess I'm just too old and come from a different time and place, when people could agree to disagree without being disagreeable.

As for movies and genres, all I'm saying is it feels to me -- yes, without dissing anyone who disagrees -- like the Save the Universe things has been done to death. Just plug in new characters. It was kind of the same with the James Bond franchise, with Bond too often trying to save the whole world. But there are many who like that sort of plot line, the continuing success of the Bond franchise supporting that.

I'd just like something new and totally different for a change and you're spot on about special effects. Gag!

[Rikki Roxx]

These are Good Words.

We have many years and miles apart in age but in many ways we're not at all very different.

Sometimes, I think a person's worldview comes not from When they lived, but HOW, and Who they encountered along the way. Who challenged them, who simply played along, who "made them think" and who couldn't be bothered.

We come from a different time and place... but I'd bet even money, we met and learned from a lot of similar-minded people.

Cheers, Ace.

[Heeeere's Olesker!]

These are Good Words.

We have many years and miles apart in age but in many ways we're not at all very different.

Sometimes, I think a person's worldview comes not from When they lived, but HOW, and Who they encountered along the way. Who challenged them, who simply played along, who "made them think" and who couldn't be bothered.

We come from a different time and place... but I'd bet even money, we met and learned from a lot of similar-minded people.

Cheers, Ace.

Amen, my brother.

[Dragon78]

The D&D movie and The Super Mario bros movie.

[Heeeere's Olesker!]

These are Good Words.

We have many years and miles apart in age but in many ways we're not at all very different.

Sometimes, I think a person's worldview comes not from When they lived, but HOW, and Who they encountered along the way. Who challenged them, who simply played along, who "made them think" and who couldn't be bothered.

We come from a different time and place... but I'd bet even money, we met and learned from a lot of similar-minded people.

Cheers, Ace.

Agreed on all. But I'd be remiss if I didn't say I also learned a lot from individuals who hold opposing views from mine. If they are civil and respectful, there is a lot to be gained in discussions and debate. It used to be that way in The Tar Swamp. Sadly, not any longer.

I always appreciate passion, whether it is my own or that of someone I stand diametrically opposed to. That's part of the reason I like Bernie and AOC (GASP!)...plus AOC can dance, so there's that. Bernie, not so much.

Okay, we're skirting close to The Tar Swamp territory, so I'm going to move on.

[felgekarp]

Anyone seen Sisu, I’ll add that to my list.

[Heeeere's Olesker!]

Anyone seen Sisu, I’ll add that to my list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGbr-aAnKTo

Killer (pun intended) trailer. This makes Inglourious Basterds looks like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Tartentino look like Mr. Rogers directing the same.

I'll have to see the whole film, but I'm betting this is going to eclipse Scarface for a total body count. That aside, I'm happy to say that the storyline, at first glance, sounds compelling.

How is it possible I didn't read any buzz about this film? Am I really that detached, and where has this studio been all my life?!!!!!

[Mikey]

The Little Mermaid is also one of my favourite movies of 2023. I absolutely LOVED it! I cannot imagine how anyone could take issue with Halle Bailey as Ariel, she is extraordinarily beautiful and talented. Also, Jonah Hauer-King was perfect as Eric, and I loved his original song Wild Uncharted Waters. Having seen him in Little Women previously, I was already a fan of his. I was dubious about Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, at first but she was absolutely perfect in the role and I can't think of anyone who could have done better, other than Queen Latifah who appeared in the filmed live stage version. The visuals were beautiful, and I love aquatic themes. The rest of the music, including the new songs were amazing. I have the CD soundtrack and I can't wait for the DVD release.

[dan1980]

Anyone seen Sisu, I’ll add that to my list.

Just watched Sisu this morning. It was enjoyable and it was violent and gory. However it wasn’t as gory or violent as the trailers made it out to be, which left me a little disappointed. The story is simple and straightforward forward and the lead is great, there are no big names in it or huge cgi shots to distract and it’s a fun 90min. But like I said I went in with expectations that weren’t fully met, probably partly my own problem and partly the trailer selling me slightly more than I was going to get. Worth watching though if you like war films or just like a decent action/revenge with plenty of red stuff.

[felgekarp]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGbr-aAnKTo

Killer (pun intended) trailer. This makes Inglourious Basterds looks like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Tartentino look like Mr. Rogers directing the same.

I'll have to see the whole film, but I'm betting this is going to eclipse Scarface for a total body count. That aside, I'm happy to say that the storyline, at first glance, sounds compelling.

How is it possible I didn't read any buzz about this film? Am I really that detached, and where has this studio been all my life?!!!!!

It's not got what I would call a high body count Jack.

Just watched Sisu this morning. It was enjoyable and it was violent and gory. However it wasn’t as gory or violent as the trailers made it out to be, which left me a little disappointed. The story is simple and straightforward forward and the lead is great, there are no big names in it or huge cgi shots to distract and it’s a fun 90min. But like I said I went in with expectations that weren’t fully met, probably partly my own problem and partly the trailer selling me slightly more than I was going to get. Worth watching though if you like war films or just like a decent action/revenge with plenty of red stuff.

That's fair enough, I think it's something that's gone under a lot of people's radars, if you want some decent action it's worth a watch.

[Heeeere's Olesker!]

It's not got what I would call a high body count Jack.




That's fair enough, I think it's something that's gone under a lot of people's radars, if you want some decent action it's worth a watch.

Well then I agree with dan1980 that the trailer is misleading. It looked like Fury to me. I'm not someone who likes being disappointed.

[felgekarp]

Well then I agree with dan1980 that the trailer is misleading. It looked like Fury to me. I'm not someone who likes being disappointed.

I don’t think the trailer is misleading, it was as violent as what the trailer showed, if anything the trailer shows too much. People have been going on in this thread about how they don’t watch modern movies because……… but here’s one that entertained me at least.

[Benedict Judas Hel]

Well then I agree with dan1980 that the trailer is misleading. It looked like Fury to me. I'm not someone who likes being disappointed.

Well, there was no way any movie could come even close to the bloodiest movie ever. Any experienced gore lover will know the legend of Hot Shots Part Deux:

[Heeeere's Olesker!]

Well, there was no way any movie could come even close to the bloodiest movie ever. Any experienced gore lover will know the legend of Hot Shots Part Deux:

https://i.makeagif.com/media/1-31-2017/0nmrLW.gif

No doubt filmed in "The Ninth Level of Hell".

[Mike Osborn]

Haven't seen many movies this yr. Only Super Mario Bros. and Across The Spider-Verse as of last night.

[Dice]

Watched Air this weekend. If you have any interest at all in sneakers or are a fan of Michael Jordan, it's very interesting. Overall really enjoyed it.

Great movie if you're into the subject matter. If not, it's probably not going to entertain you.

[zodak74]

I haven't seen SISU yet, but I'm excited to... this team's Rare Exports is one of the best "Santa" movies of all time!

[Catra2017]

Nimona or Spiderverse

Maybe both?