The Best of TV in 2023

I don’t always recap the TV shows I’ve watched over the year, but when I do, it’s because I watched something particularly great, or a number of great shows. A couple of the older shows I watched for the first time in 2023 included Euphoria season one and the first three seasons of Gilmore Girls, and I was about halfway through my umpteenth time re-watching Friends when Matthew Perry passed away. I’m going to focus on the new shows from the past year and go through them in the order I watched them.

 

The Last of Us

Every time this show comes up lately there’s this moment of realization that it came out this year, but it came out so early it feels like longer ago. There was a lot of hype surrounding HBO’s adaptation of the hit video game, and it not only lived up to the hype, it ended up being what I think is unarguably the best adaptation of a video game made up to this point. It is leaps and bounds beyond the best video game movies (a short list), with excellent writing, acting, and high production value. I really appreciated that it didn’t just feel like HBO’s solution to The Walking Dead—The Last of Us is its own thing, with a new take on the tired zombie subgenre that really worked for me. I hope the second season can live up to the first, but even if it can’t, the first season will stand on its own as a very special show for years to come. 

 

You

I had only seen the first episode of this Netflix mystery-drama back in 2021 and then never continued with it, but prior to the new season dropping I watched every episode, and the first season ended up being a pretty suspenseful story from the point of view of a compelling unreliable narrator, but with the way it ended I was quite intrigued for season two, which I think was even better in several ways and didn’t go in the direction I expected the story to take. Season three was not quite as good, but still entertaining enough that I wanted to see how it would all go down at the end, and then season four started…The show should have ended after three seasons. It became too farfetched and too uninspired for me to care about the main character anymore or the lackluster storyline he had fallen into. I barely got through half of season four, and don’t anticipate finishing it.

 

Succession

The HBO satirical drama Succession is the best TV show from beginning to end that I have seen since Breaking Bad, and that is the highest praise I can give it. Breaking Bad remains my personal benchmark for the most compelling long-form narrative I’ve seen, never dipping in quality and constantly building up the characters to be more interesting and the story to be more dramatic until reaching a wholly satisfying conclusion. Succession managed to do the same thing, never declining in quality over the course of four seasons and ending with a wholly satisfying and unexpected finale. I don’t want my comparative praise of Succession to be misconstrued, though, because even though it’s the best show I’ve seen overall since Breaking Bad, the shows aren’t really that comparable. Succession is politically charged, over-the-top in all the right ways, and hilarious in very specific ways. It’s a show I will be thinking about for a long time, and I would not hesitate to watch it all again from beginning to end.

 

The Bear

Just when I thought it couldn’t get better than Succession, along came FX’s The Bear. If you don’t know it, no, it’s not about the animal. It’s the story of a chef in Chicago working to revive a restaurant that belonged to his late brother, and it started off instantly compelling, only growing more so as it became more stressful and more was revealed about the characters. The first season was incredible, and the second season that dropped this summer was even better. The hour-long episode “Fishes” which steps into the past for a Christmas family dinner is one of the most intense episodes of TV I’ve seen in years. The casting for The Bear is so good I feel like I’m watching real people, and I really appreciate how the show can be whatever it needs to be for each episode in terms of length and pacing. Most are around a half hour, but there’s one episode in season one that’s less than twenty minutes, and the aforementioned “Fishes” episode is over an hour. I hope season three can maintain the quality and heights of intensity the first two seasons have managed to reach.

 

Skull Island

I already reviewed the first season of this anime-style show set in the MonsterVerse, so I’ll include the link here. It was a decent show that probably won’t win over anyone who isn’t already a King Kong fan or locked in to the MonsterVerse movies/shows, but I found it quite enjoyable.

Review: https://cccmovies.blogspot.com/2023/07/skull-island-season-1-review.html

 

Arnold

The Netflix miniseries documentary that dropped in the summer about the body builder turned actor turned politician whose voice everyone loves to poorly imitate was a pretty comprehensive overview of the life of this iconic individual. Personally, I wish a bit more time had been spent on episode two, which focused on his career as an actor, but I get that time had to be spent on his early life, which I found very interesting, and his post-movie-star political career, which I did not find as interesting. It was quite a revealing documentary, though ultimately not loaded with all that much incredible new information, and clearly designed to uphold the best image of Arnold possible in spite of some of the not-so-great things he’s done. If you’re at all interested in Arnold Schwarzenegger in any capacity, I think it’s worth watching.

 

Five Star Chef

When I was a really young kid I used to watch cooking shows here and there, but not until the past year had I really sat down and closely watched any. It’s a genre of TV my girlfriend enjoys, so it’s often something that’s just on now, and I’ve been casually watching shows like Top Chef and Masterchef this past year. In 2022 I quite enjoyed Iron Chef: Quest For an Iron Legend and Drink Masters on Netflix, but this year the new Netflix cooking show was Five Star Chef. A few of the contestants were annoying, and the host was also a bit annoying at times, but the premise of the show was a little different than some of those other shows I mentioned, which I appreciated, and the dishes the contestants cooked were creative and interesting. Overall it wasn’t as good as Iron Chef, but still good enough that I watched it all the way through.

 

GAMERA – Rebirth

Just like with Skull Island, I already reviewed this giant monster anime, so here is the link. Compared to Skull Island, Gamera felt like a more authentic anime viewing experience, which isn’t surprising since it was actually made in Japan, and as a reboot to the long dormant Gamera series, it was pretty great.

Review: https://cccmovies.blogspot.com/2023/11/gamera-rebirth-anime-series-review.html

 

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Back in my Godzilla Minus One review I said 2023 will go down in history as one of the best years for the Godzilla franchise. This show is the other half of the reason why. Godzilla Minus One was one of the best character-driven Godzilla movies to come out of Japan, and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is the best human-driven Godzilla story by an American production company. Hollywood has had success as of late in creating financially successful Godzilla movies with fun monster action, but the human stories have not been that great. Monarch seemed like it would be a Godzilla adjacent show at most, filling in some of the blanks on the edges of the stories told in Godzilla 2014 and Kong: Skull Island, but the show has proven to be so much more than that. It is a compelling prequel and sequel to Godzilla 2014, exploring the secretive government organization Monarch and the people behind it in a way that actually justifies being told episodically. The nonlinear narrative jumping back and forth through time works surprisingly well, and the focus on the characters works in a way that has not worked in the MonsterVerse movies thus far. It’s not perfect, not all the characters are great, and some of the story points are a little questionable, but the visual effects are on par with the films, and the amount of Godzilla and other monsters has been surprisingly satisfying, too. As of writing this the season has not concluded, but it’s over halfway through, and it is one of the most entertaining and most satisfying entries in the growing MonsterVerse so far. 

 

2023 Movies: The Year of the Double Strike

 

I was going to call this something like “anyone else disappointed?” but upon reflection (been doing a lot of that on my blog this year) it really wasn’t a bad year for movies, but there definitely aren’t many that stand out as being uniquely excellent—kind of like last year, but for different reasons. One of the biggest reasons, I think, is due to the actor’s strike and the writer’s strike. For the first time since 1960, two major Hollywood labour unions went on strike at the same time, and it impacted not only some future releases, but movies that were released during the strike.

I was hoping to include Dune: Part Two as one of the best movies of the year, but it was delayed (again) until 2024. The Marvels became the lowest grossing MCU movie to date, which is significant for a number of reasons (not the least of which being the first Iron Man came out in 2008, which started the MCU, when mainstream audiences had never seen a live-action Iron Man before and most didn’t even know the character, and it still made more than The Marvels, which starred multiple characters introduced in previous movies/shows), but one of the reasons blamed for this is because the actors couldn’t promote it leading up to its release. Actors had to walk out of the premiere of Oppenheimer when the actor’s strike was first declared. Kraven the Hunter was delayed until next year, perhaps the most tragic outcome of all (BIG SARCASM). So, it seems to me this year will be remembered more for the double strike and the beginning of the end of the superhero movie fad than for any particular Hollywood movies released.

Compared to last year, though, I saw a few more new movies, though most were in the first half of the year. I’ve only been to three new movies at the movie theater in the past four months, but some of the new movies I saw in the second half of 2023 were on streaming, which steadily continues to build with more big new releases every passing year. I’m going to go through everything I saw, give the briefest summaries I can, and specify whether or not I would recommend any.

Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania – meh

I almost didn’t see this one. My expectations were rock bottom, and it wasn’t as bad as I expected, but it was still a sporadically entertaining MCU movie at best. The visuals were inconsistent, the writing was quite poor, and the villain who was supposed to be the new Thanos was easily defeated by a C-tier hero. This came out so early in the year, and after all the turmoil Marvel faced in 2023, the pointless third Ant-Man movie feels even more inconsequential and forgettable now.

Cocaine Bear – better than expected but still just OK

A lot of people really didn’t like this movie, and I get why. It was a B-movie very loosely based on a real story of a bear that consumed a massive amount of cocaine, but it swung wildly from super gory and sort of trying to be scary to purposefully goofy and funny. It had some pretty fun moments and a couple memorable characters, but even though I enjoyed it, I don’t think it’s something I’ll revisit anytime soon. It seems like the kind of movie that might be better if I leave it in my memory as something I enjoyed once but it might be best if I don’t watch it again and ruin that memory.

65 – fun but forgettable

Adam Driver stars in a glorified remake of Planet of Dinosaurs? Obviously I was intrigued from the start. This was yet another B-movie that didn’t seem to know how to be a good B-movie. There were too few memorable dinosaur action/horror scenes and too many scenes of Adam Driver and a dull child actor just hiking through a prehistoric landscape. It was entertaining enough, with a reasonably cool finale, but unlike Cocaine Bear, I would check it out again. Still, it’s not something unique enough or skillfully crafted enough to recommend.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – unexpectedly fun and entertaining

This one is up there as one of the biggest surprises of the year. Not only do you not require any understanding of the role-playing game it’s based on to get into this movie and enjoy it, you actually come to care about the characters and the story they are in, even amid all the fun creatures, decent special effects, and surprising amount of genuinely funny jokes and gags. Chris Pine’s warped face during the spell break when he’s playing the mandolin was one of the hardest laughs I had during any movie in 2023.

Recommended!

The Super Mario Bros. Movie – remember Mario?

When I was watching Mario and Luigi traverse the Mushroom Kingdom, I kept thinking “oh cool, yeah, I remember that from the games” but it got to the point where it seemed like that was the primary intention of the movie, and everything else was secondary. Of course it was fun to see Mario fight Donkey Kong, or a bunch of Nintendo characters speeding along the rainbow road a la Mario Kart, or Mario actually platforming and trying levels over and over again like a real video game, but it all rang so hollow because of the paper thin story and the surplus of characters. Bowser was a great villain, and the movie set up the universe in terms of potential future movies, but as its own movie, I found it to be light entertainment that I don’t feel I need to see ever again. I don’t care if it’s supposed to be for kids—I’d argue it’s more for adults who remember growing up on Nintendo games, anyway, and all its issues made it come off as a lesser animated feature, though still one of the better video game movies in recent memory, I guess.

Renfield – gorier and funnier than expected

I don’t have a lot else to say about this one, other than my favourite part was early in the movie when shots from the 1931 Dracula were recreated in black-and-white using Nic Cage as Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as Renfield. Because it was so clearly intentioned as a comedy, I can’t really fault the movie for its standard plot and generic human villains, but aside from some clever humour and shocking violence, it didn’t have a whole lot going for it to make it significant. That being said, it was still decidedly good, and I would check it out again as a gory-but-not-scary Halloween watch.

Recommended!

Evil Dead Rise – solid reboot

I won’t reiterate everything I packed into my review. Instead, I’ll add the link to the review below and say it ranks as one of my least-favourite Evil Dead entries so far, but is a bit above the 2013 remake, and that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it or I don’t think it’s good.

Review: https://cccmovies.blogspot.com/2023/10/evil-dead-rise-2023-review.html

Recommended!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – satisfying end to the MCU

I sort of mean this as a joke, but I also don’t. Guardians 3 came off as more of an epilogue to Endgame than Spider-Man: Far From Home did, because it was the first MCU movie I genuinely loved since Spider-Man: No Way Home, and I think story-wise it’s the best one since Endgame. It was an actual ending to the only MCU trilogy that spanned the entire Infinity Saga and made it into the Multiverse saga that feels like a proper trilogy and has three good entries in it (sorry, Ant-Man). It has great effects, great humour, great action, emotional resonance, and classic James Gunn creativity and weirdness. Now that Gunn is done with Marvel and the original team of Guardians is no more, I don’t see much else in Marvel’s future that will live up to these movies. I also enjoyed Vol. 3 more than Vol. 2. 

Recommended! 

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – best Spidey sequel since Spider-Man 2

I really, really liked Into the Spider-Verse, but I loved Across the Spider-Verse, and after seeing it a second time, I decided I like it more than the first movie. Even though there are more Spider-characters to keep up with this time and it’s unresolved at the end (which didn’t surprise me, I remember when the title previously carried “Part One” so I was ready for the cliff hanger), the animation, music, action, and story were all so fresh and popping and unique I was thrilled the entire time, and I cannot wait for the epic conclusion.

Recommended!

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – another good one

Kind of like with Renfield, I don’t really know what else to say about the seventh Mission: Impossible. I was worried it would feel too long with a nearly three-hour runtime, but it didn’t, I wondered if it might be unsatisfying with only being part one, but it wasn’t, and I was unsure if the action could outdo anything from the previous three, but it did. If you haven’t liked these movies up to this one, it might not change your mind, but you could probably still watch it and enjoy it even if you have never seen a Mission: Impossible movie before, and if you have…

Recommended!

Oppenheimer – awesome action-movie-style biopic

Christopher Nolan brought his action-movie-making sensibilities to a story about the man who invented the atomic bomb, and I really dug it. Despite being three hours and subverting expectations in some typical Nolan ways, I found it an immensely engrossing film, and one of the few this year that felt truly worth seeing on the big screen. It’s hard not to talk about Oppenheimer without also mentioning Barbie, so here is what I wrote about the Barbenheimer phenomenon back in July, which includes mini reviews of both movies. https://cccmovies.blogspot.com/2023/07/barbenheimer-cinematic-phenomenon.html

Recommended!

Barbie – funny but familiar

Again, refer back to my Barbenheimer explanation/review for more, but in short I found the Barbie movie to be a fun enough movie, though not really something I can see myself going back to watch anytime soon. It reminded me of several other comedies and had a few jokes that didn’t hit, but for a movie based on a toy line originally meant for little girls, the creators did a pretty decent job making something with plenty of access points for people of all ages and genders and crafting some memorable comedic moments.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem – style over substance

I felt like I missed something with this one, but I think I just like a specific take on the turtles, and this was quite different than some of the previous versions, but never before have they lived up to the teenage part of their name so strongly, which I found both good and bad. I loved the animation style and was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t just aping off the look/success of Spider-Verse, but the rejigging of some of the characters felt unnecessary and annoying at times, and the story was just OK. I loved the kaiju-sized final battle, but it didn’t leave things off in a way that made me want to see a sequel. I think there was a lot of influence from the more recent TV iterations, and maybe that’s why I didn’t love it. I don’t think I’ll recommend it, but I wouldn’t say it’s worth avoiding. It has enough merits that if you wanted to check it out, you probably should, but if you were merely curious about it, I don’t think it’s necessary. 

Meg 2: The Trench – the best 90’s action movie of the year

I can’t recommend this giant shark sequel from a place of sincerity, but I can honestly say I was very entertained by it. The opening scene was straight out of one of the books, which was surprising, considering the first movie strayed pretty far from the source material, but everything that followed the opening was even further from anything in the novels. I did not expect the number of Megs to be increased plus have amphibious lizards and the freaking kraken thrown in, as well, but I wasn’t mad about it. The whole thing was completely ridiculous. Some of the characters were pretty fun, the action was abundant, and I will absolutely watch Meg 3 when/if it comes out.

You Are So Not Invited to my Bat Mitzvah – biggest surprise of the year (in a good way)

This movie should not have even been good. A new Adam Sandler movie on Netflix? That combination of words normally turns me off instantly, but I heard strangely positive reviews for this Sandler-centric coming-of-age-dramedy (starring his real-life daughters and wife), so I gave it a chance. It is one of the funniest and most wholesome movies I saw in 2023. It was a nice surprise to have Adam Sandler as a secondary character, too, and being funny but not annoyingly so, while his talented daughter Sunny Sandler took the spotlight. Y.A.S.N.I.T.M.B.M is seriously one of the best coming-of-age movies since Booksmart.

Recommended!

The Creator – great visuals, completely forgettable

Director Gareth Edwards did a pretty good job when he directed 2014’s Godzilla, but his next movie, Rogue One, was not so great, depending on which Star Wars fans you ask. For me, his first new movie in seven years (and first movie not based on an IP in thirteen years) was just like Rogue One in a lot of ways, but mainly in terms of being great to look at and not great in most other regards. It wasn’t the Terminator rip-off that I was expecting it to be, but it didn’t have the narrative thrust needed to make it something that felt truly unique and worth the time. My eyes were dazzled, but it didn’t get to my heart or stay in my head for very long. 

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour – three-hour Swiftie Extravaganza

I didn’t think I would be seeing this in a movie theater in 2023, let alone actually enjoy it. I’m not a Taylor Swift fan, but I appreciated how well directed and produced this concert film was, and of all the places to see it, the movie theater felt most fitting, with people dancing down in the front row and the sound absolutely cranked up to 11. It went on too long (even for the Swiftie I saw it with) and the crowd noise got a little hard on the ears after a while (both from the speakers and the real audience) but this was another big surprise, for me, in how much I enjoyed it.

Believe it or not, recommended!

The Killer – simplistic thriller

I really don’t have much to say about director David Fincher’s new movie. I mean, I liked it more than his last one, Mank, but they aren’t comparable at all, and there isn’t much to The Killer, so I guess the generic, simplistic title is fitting. We don’t ever really get to know the main character—who, as you can guess by the title, is not exactly all that sympathetic, but Michael Fassbender does a great job in the role, and the direction by Fincher is typically calculated and perfected. I liked it well enough, but it’s a far cry from his best work.

Godzilla Minus One – best movie of the year?

I’m not saying this just because it’s the most recent new movie I’ve seen. It’s not just because I’m a huge Godzilla fan, either. I don’t normally care all that much about what other people think of movies, especially monster movies, but in this case, I have to point out that the majority of audiences agree: Godzilla Minus One is one of the best movies of the entire year. Here’s my full review: https://cccmovies.blogspot.com/2023/12/godzilla-minus-one-review.html

Recommended!

 

As usual, I have to get ahead of the inevitable pointer-outers. You don’t have to point out that I didn’t talk about Killers of the Flower Moon or Napoleon, or how could I have not seen Creed III or Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny yet, or I didn’t mention if I hated the new Exorcist or Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, or how could I have left out so many other movies that were on my 2023 movies preview back in January? I know I’m behind on quite a few, as I always seem to be, but I will catch up. That’s another factor in my layered reasoning for no longer doing a top 10 movies of the year list anymore. By the time I see all the greatest ones the year had to offer, that year has already passed me by. Like Steve Miller, I find time keeps on slipping into the future.