scaryblog

  So, what did I think of Empire's  top 20 films of 2023 ? This is the first year I've completed Empire's list before The Guardian's and it's so much less of a slog - no, I don't agree with all of their choices but there were very few that I just didn't understand how they made the cut. Looking first at those films that make both lists, we have seven films (down from eleven in 2022) which feels pretty low considering The Guardian has fifty films on their list. I'd say all of these were "good" films and worthy of their place on the lists, but not all of them were particularly enjoyable - length was a particular problem, with four of them being over 2.5 hours long. I have to mention Past Lives first because it came top of both lists - I thought it was a very decent film with a lot going for it, it maybe a little lacking in story. Anatomy Of A Fall and Marcel The Shell With Shoes On were easily my favourites, with  Oppenheimer  getting a special...

Completing my trip up Empire's   top 20 films of 2023 #1 :    Past Lives If you wanted to be reductive, Past Lives is essentially just a love triangle movie. But there’s so much more to it: Celine Song’s extraordinarily powerful film finds its impact in its understatement.  This is a drama in which not much happens, in which people simply talk and catch up and occasionally exchange meaningful looks, in which there is no dramatic bust-up or fights or explosions. But with gorgeous performances from the three leads, sumptuous yet minimalistic cinematography from Shabier Kirchner, a swooning score from Christopher Bear and Daniel Rossen, and an astonishingly confident steady hand from debut writer-director Song, Past Lives leaves an impact as deep as an asteroid crater: a quiet film that rings loudly in your ears, long after the moving finale. I was surprised to see this at #1 because I'd never heard of it - and doubly surprised because The Guardian had it at #1 as well....

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 films of 2023 #2 :    Killers Of The Flower Moon Every second of Scorsese’s latest opus thrums with purpose. His telling of the story of the Osage Murders – the 1920s killings that saw the oil-rich Native American Osage people systematically slaughtered by White Americans intent on inheriting their headrights – is a supremely powerful piece of work, unflinching in portraying the callous capitalistic history of the United States with clear resonances in the present day. While the headline event is Scorsese finally uniting Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro in one of his features – as the cowardly Ernest Burkhart and his sinister scheming uncle ‘King’ Hale, respectively – it’s Lily Gladstone who looms largest. Her Mollie Burkhart – an Osage woman, wife of Ernest, watching her family members fall one-by-one around her – is a force of nature, Gladstone imbuing her with equal parts fight and fear. There’s undeniable care and conscienti...

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 films of 2023 #4 :    How To Have Sex British independent cinema is in the rudest of health right now, and Molly Manning Walker’s feature debut is a standout example. An energetic drama about the trials and tribulations of teenage girldom and female friendship, it follows Tara (an outstanding Mia McKenna-Bruce) as she goes on a pivotal holiday to Malia with friends Skye (Lara Peake) and Em (Enva Lewis). They drink, they dance, they drink again – but when things heat up with their hotel neighbours, Tara is pushed to (and beyond) her limits. It’s a riveting, emotional, stomach-churning story of one girl’s discomfiting experience with sex and consent, but has had such an impact because of how deeply it resonates with so many. The highs and lows of the trip are executed in equal measure, euphoric club sequences and drunken laughter giving way to quiet, sombre reckonings. It’s a sign of incredible things to come from Manning Walker and M...

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 films of 2023 #5 :     Spider-man : Across The Spider-Verse Into The Spider-Verse should have been an impossible bar to cross – but the minds behind Miles Morales’ animated adventures somehow pushed it to even greater heights with the sequel. Across The Spider-Verse is a bold, brilliant blockbuster that feels lightyears ahead of the competition — boasting mind-boggling animated action, whip-smart gags, and touching character beats.  There’s spine-tingling spectacle (Miles’ escape from Spider Society), achingly emotional moments (Rio’s speech about watching her son grow up), and art styles to literally take your breath away – most notably, the blossoming watercolour splashes of Gwen’s world. An audacious work of art, and a top-tier superhero story to boot. This is one I watched early in the year because my eldest requested it - I really enjoyed the previous one (which didn't make Empire's Best of 2018 list, but that was probably...

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 films of 2023 #6 :    Tár Time, is the thing. And even though Tár was released in the UK all the way back in January, its impact lingers on. Cate Blanchett gives an all-time best performance as Lydia Tár, a conducting maestro on the cusp of the biggest recording of her career — but it all falls apart when her past indiscretions and controversial teaching techniques catch up with her. Forcing you to sit in the glorious, uncomfortable nuances of themes like gender politics, power dynamics and cancel culture, Todd Field’s epic character study is brimming with stuff to make you think, as well as plenty to make you feel — seeing Lydia’s mastery of her conducting craft is a thing to behold. Come for the long takes and impeccable writing, stay for the standout movie song of the year: ‘Apartment For Sale’. I've heard this is great with an excellent central performance, but I feel it's unlikely I'd have watched it under normal circumstance...

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 films of 2023 #7 :    Barbie Sublime! What better way to describe Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie in just one word? Packed with pure invention, comedy, drama, dancing, and tons of heart, this is not the film based on the iconic doll that we were expecting – but one that absolutely delivered as one half of the summer’s oddest double-bill. Margot Robbie simply is stereotypical Barbie, a perfect feminine creation enjoying her life in the matriarchal Barbie Land, until the anxiety and fear from the woman playing with her in the real world – America Ferrera’s Gloria – starts to seep in, and turns everything upside-down. Robbie is exceptional, Ryan Gosling is having perhaps the most fun anyone’s ever had on screen, and the whole cast of Barbies and Kens commit entirely to this heightened, hilarious world. And, underneath that pink, plastic exterior lie genuinely moving musings on being a woman, a mother, a partner, and a human. Like we said: ...

Continuing my trip up   Empire's top 20 films of 2023 #8 :     Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Deep breaths, everyone — this one blindsides you. Whatever your knowledge, or memory, of Judy Blume’s (and excuse us but it is practically the law that we have to use the next word) seminal 1970 novel about a 12-year-old American girl’s coming of age, this is an absolute heart-smashing gem from writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig. Are You There God? brings you in to Margaret’s (Abby Ryder Fortson, a future superstar) little world – where cup-sizes and impending menstruation mean everything – from the start, charming and enchanting you, making you feel like you’re one of the family until, at the end, when it’s time to let go, you can’t bear to leave. And know this: if you feel this isn’t the subject matter for you, that you’re not the demographic, you do yourself a disservice — this is a wonderful, fully-realised, perfectly executed piece of work that gets you right in the g...

Continuing my trip up   Empire's top 20 films of 2023 #9 :     Rye Lane When London gets romanticised, it always tends to be the same bits of the capital. Snooze. Raine Allen-Miller’s debut feature brings some Before Sunset vibes south of the river and reinvents the British romcom in the process. Over a day and night spent around Peckham and Brixton – shot with real wide-eyed love by Allen Miller, who moved to Brixton aged 12 – weepy sadsack Dom (David Jonsson) and peppy, impetuous Yas (Vivian Oparah) meet-cute in a gender neutral bog and wander around comparing love-scars before planning a caper to get Yas’s copy of A Tribe Called Quest album The Low End Theory back from an ex. On the way, there’s a cameo from a certain member of Brit romcom royalty which is delicious in more ways than one, and a soundtrack which bangs very, very hard. Dazzlingly inventive and with wit and energy to burn, Rye Lane is smart, sharp and very funny. This is the highest film on Empire's list ...

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 films of 2023 #10 : Talk To Me How does it feel watching Talk To Me? Well, half of it is a pure cinematic high, gripping you by the hand before dragging you into its wildly kinetic world. But in its most painful moments – and boy, does it have those – it also feels like your head being repeatedly slammed onto a table while a nefarious soul corrupts your very being from the inside. So, an instant horror classic then. Director brothers Danny and Michael Philippou arrive fully formed with their feature debut, transferring the anything-goes anarchy of their YouTube work into a film that is remarkably controlled, teeming with life – and thrumming with death. Sophie Wilde is exceptional as teen Mia, who gets more than she bargained for when she and her friends mess around with a spooky hand that can channel lost spirits. When it – inevitably – goes horribly, nightmarishly wrong, you’ll be wishing for it all to stop, but desperate to see it to the b...

So, what did I think of  Empire's   top 20 TV of 2023 ? Considering first the overlap between Empire and The Guardian, there are thirteen shows that appear on both lists (down three from last year) and, of these, I liked all but one of them which seems like a good hit rate - I just didn't get all the praise for The Curse , but maybe I just didn't give it enough time . Of the ones that The Guardian chose to ignore, Slow Horses is the only one I find to be an unforgivable omission (The Guardian gave it four stars) but I enjoyed the animated duo of Scott Pilgrim (four stars) and Blue Eye Samurai (four stars). I also liked Foundation (three stars) and was quite surprised The Guardian didn't, which was also the case for Interview With The Vampire (three stars), which was well done but just not my sort of thing. I also liked Gen V (four stars), but The Guardian were never going to include that and I've absolutely no idea what Empire were thinking putting Doctor Who ...