I’m back with the 2023 Year in Review – entertainment edition. Things were a little less goal-oriented this time as I didn’t set out to watch a certain number of titles compared to 2022. Let’s see where the year in entertainment took me!
We’ll start with the movie stats since Letterboxd has such good tracking capability. Check it out if you haven’t and follow me at tgrgolftraveler.
The 2023 numbers shook out to 212 “new to me” films and 40 limited series/specials. With a renewed focus on revisiting some movies that I didn’t have a strong remembrance of, I rewatched 85 films. For comparison, 2022 totals were 259 new movies and 44 specials/limited series.
The link above goes over some of my thoughts on ratings if you want to revisit that before getting into the information below.
Now it’s on to the TGT highlights and lowlights from 2023!
Favorite Movie of the Year
This was a hard one for me and it came down to two films. I’ll give the nod to a 2023 release and go with Barbie. It did huge numbers at the box office but I don’t let that sway my opinion. Even after a rewatch late in December, I still came away laughing and enjoying this movie more than anything else I saw. Is it silly and on the nose at times? Absolutely, but it still rules!
Worst Movie of the Year
We had 11 half-star ratings this year as I continue to seek out anything regardless of quality 🤣. Hard to choose just one, but let’s go with Meg 2: The Trench. I’m giving it the title because of the other movies, this was the only one that I believe was trying to be decent. Some of the worst CGI I’ve ever seen and an awful script. Watch if you dare!
Biggest Surprises
RRR: This year wasn’t full of surprises for me and I had heard good things here. But a 3+ hour epic in a foreign language was one of the most delightful movies I’ve seen in a long time.
Honorable Mentions: Tar / Women Talking / Aftersun
Biggest Disappointments
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Maybe its just Marvel fatigue, but I’m not so sure. I go into these with an expectation to be entertained. We’re not looking for Casablanca. But this was so bad to me. So much exposition!
Dishonorable Mentions: Copshop / Ghosted
General Stats and Lists
Movies By Star Rating
*Note – 2.0 stars is my baseline for saying something is worth watching. I am saddled with a compulsion to finish anything I start, so take that with a grain of salt before you start watching something! I don’t rate short films, specials, and documentaries.*
0.5 – 11
1.0 – 13
1.5 – 11
2.0 – 29
2.5 – 35
3.0 – 39
3.5 – 26
4.0 – 25
4.5 – 7
5.0 – 2
Movies Watched
Marry Me / The Menu / Samaritan / Ambulance / The Northman / Dog / Gang Related / Robocop (2014) / Army of One / The Outfit / Honest Thief / Ski School / In Hell / The Oh in Ohio / Sun Dogs / The Green Knight / Ticket to Paradise / All Together Now / Navalny / Aftersun / Everything Everywhere All at Once / Elvis / Summer Days, Summer Nights / Imperium / All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) / To Leslie / Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness / Whiskey Tango Foxtrot / Digging For Fire / Triangle of Sadness / The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker / Empire of Light / Inferno / Your Place or Mine / Closed For Storm / The Sea Beast / The Voices / Black Panther: Wakanda Forever / Mrs Harris Goes To Paris / All That Breathes / Man Up / The Believer / Women Talking / About Fate / Tar / She Said / The Bouncer / M3GAN / Violent Night / Money Shot: The P*rnhub Story / Galveston / Blow Out / The Hard Corps / Copshop / Kite / House Party (2023) / The Greatest Beer Run Ever / RRR / Cocaine Bear / The Guns of Fort Petticoat / After Hours / Tucker and Dale vs Evil / Baked in Brooklyn / Nightmare Alley / A Star Is Born / Replicant / Knock at the Cabin / Ghostbusters: Afterlife / Emancipation / Primer / The Silencing / Terminal / The Mother / The Thing (2011) / White Noise / The Last Seduction / Cha Cha Real Smooth / Summer ’03 / Unlocked / The Giant Mechanical Man / Armageddon Time / Ghosted / Outside In / Zola / Bama Rush / Black Butterfly / Tetris / Raw Deal / Scorched / Beast / Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! / The Vanishing / Above Suspicion / Extraction 2 / Black Water / Wheels of Fortune / The Mitchells vs The Machines / You People / 65 / IO / 80 For Brady / I, Frankenstein / In the Electric Mist / Creed III / Enemy / North by Northwest / Fire on the Amazon / Somebody I Used to Know / Barbie / Big Trouble in Little China / Happthankyoumoreplease / Puss In Boots / Decision to Leave / They Cloned Tyrone / Air / Come and Find Me / Black Bear / Landline / The Running Man / Spectral / The Woman King / He Never Died / Waiting for the Barbarians / Three Thousand Years of Longing / A Better Life / Bones and All / Lovelace / Heart of Stone / Best Man Down / The Out-Laws / The Mauritanian / Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food / Glitch: The Rise and Fall of HQ Trivia / Colors / Visioneers / The Fabelmans / The Ritual / Happiness for Beginners / Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves / The Courier (2019) / The Art of Self-Defense / Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues / Operation Fortune: Rose de Guerre / Solace / Luther: The Fallen Sun / Anon / London / The Yellow Birds / All Nighter / John Wick: Chapter 4 / Meatballs / Labor Day / The Breaker Upperers / King of Thieves / Flawless / Shazam! Fury of the Gods / You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah / Sorry to Bother You / The Apartment / Fed Up / BS High / The Kentucky Fried Movie / Cry Macho / Father Figures / Spread / The Titan / No Hard Feelings / Trespass Against Us / Meg 2: The Trench / Murder Mystery 2 / Don’t Worry Darling / Buffaloed / The Infiltrator / Valley Girl / Fair Play / Mortdecai / American Gigolo / The Machinist / Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. / Chinatown / No Time to Die / Pain Hustlers / Cut Bank / Reptile / Four Rooms / The Killer / The Covenant / River Wild (2023) / Old Dads / Morbius / The Champion of Auschwitz / Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street / Leo / The Devil to Pay / Black Crab / Honor Society / Dude / After the End / The English Teacher / May December / Chungking Express / The Layover / Leave the World Behind / Nerve / Clue / Blood Ties / Scrooged / Love & Other Drugs / Lucky / Three Days of the Condor / The Two Jakes
Movies Rewatched
The Package / A Few Good Men / St Vincent / Kickboxer / The Warriors / The Nice Guys / Crazy, Stupid, Love / I Am Legend / The Big Lebowski / Edge of Tomorrow / Moneyball / Escape From New York / Molly’s Game / The Departed / 50/50 / No Escape / The Gentlemen / Scott Pilgrim vs the World / With Honors / Inside Man / Gone Girl / City of God / Baby Driver / The Royal Tenenbaums / Semi-Pro / Win It All / The Tuskegee Airmen / The Patriot / Blankman / The Beautician and the Beast / Extraction / Haywire / The Proposal / We’re The Millers / Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby / Prisoners / Overnight Delivery / Bad Words / Kate / The Sweetest Thing / Project Power / Cooties / Top Gun: Maverick / Spectre / Almost Famous / Black Snake Moan / Wrath of Man / The Tender Bar / Bright / The Huntsman: Winter’s War / Uncle Buck / The Landlord / Twister / Hell or High Water / This Is The End / Children of Men / Sex Tape / Michael Clayton / Safe House / Forgetting Sarah Marshall / War of the Worlds / The House Bunny / Major League / The Adjustment Bureau / 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi / Long Shot / Wind River / Bulworth / Goon / Downsizing / V For Vendetta / Snowpiercer / Lone Survivor / Role Models / Donnie Brasco / Sidekicks / Good Boys / A Simple Favor / Legion / The Gambler / Licorice Pizza / The Pianist / Blockers / Neighbors / The Fugitive
Limited Series Watched
Einsatzgruppen: The Nazi Death Squads / Q: Into the Storm / Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp / Redefined: JR Smith / Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later / Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators / Hijack / Crashing / Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul / Untold: Johnny Football / Justified: City Primeval / How To Get Rich / Jeopardy: Masters
Short Films Watched
The Flying Sailor / An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It / Ice Merchants / Night Ride / The Red Suitcase / Haulout / Stranger at the Gate / How Do You Measure a Year? / The Elephant Whisperers / The Martha Mitchell Effect / If Anything Happens I Love You / The Dress / Mass Ave / The Rat Catcher / The Swan / The After / Poison
Stand-Up & Event Specials Watched
Adam Devine: Best Time of Our Lives / Andrew Santino: Cheeseburger / Best of Stand-Up 2022 / Nate Bargatze: Hello World / Tom Segura: Ball Hog / John Mulaney: Baby J / Chris Rock: Selective Outrage / Amy Schumer: Emergency Contact / Tom Segura: Sledgehammer / Mark Normand: Soup to Nuts / Pete Holmes: I Am Not For Everybody / Ralph Barbosa: Cowabunga
TV Seasons Watched
Abbott Elementary S1-2 / Archer S13 / Atlanta S4 / Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens S3 / Barry S4 / Better Call Saul S6 / Blockbuster S1 / Fear The Walking Dead S7 / Full Swing S1 / I Think You Should Leave S1-3 / Inside The World’s Toughest Prisons S7 / The Last of Us S1 / The Mindy Project S1-6 / My Next Guest Needs No Introduction S4 / The Neighborhood S5 / Platonic S1 / Quarterback S1 / Resident Alien S2 / Rich & Shameless S 1-2 / Severance S1 / The Sex Lives of College Girls S1-2 / Shadow & Bone S2 / Tacoma FD S3-4 / Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan S3 / Never Have I Ever S4 / Silicon Valley S3-6 / Ted Lasso S3 / The Walking Dead S11
Books Read
Quentin Tarantino: The Iconic Filmmaker & His Work (Ian Nathan)