One day before the solstice, and it’s time to start turning out the lights on 2023. I never got used to writing that number in my journal — I still feel like I’m waiting to get used to it — which feels strange as I’m about to start needing to get used to writing the next one. Given all the personal life change stuff that happened this year, you’d think I’d be centering 2023 for a long, long time to come.
This entry isn’t about that. It’s about:
The movies
This one’s easy, thanks Letterboxd! I keep a running best-of list throughout the year and then hone it down when voting season arrives. Since I’m writing this on the 20th and I haven’t seen Ferrari yet, it’s possible the list will change a bit between now and the new year; but, the Screen Anarchy nominations are due in a few days (I’m emailing mine in as I write this) so, it’s time to start putting some stakes in the ground. Here’s my top 12.
Across the Spider-Verse was the best film I saw this year, edging Barbie by just a smidgen, and the fact that my top two are both, for (dire) need of a better term, “IP,” should tell you something about where we are. Both films “exploited” (ugh) their “IP” (ughhhh) with the kind of versatility, idiosyncrasy, and strength that used to be reserved for “original” (ugh?) projects. Funny how everyone claims to be fatigued by this stuff, huh?
A short makes the top five — and a Star Wars short, no less! — and no documentaries made the cut. Neither of these are really my area, so it’s worth calling out the omission/submission in both cases. (And on the subject of Star Wars Visions, I did a watch/rewatch here.)
As usual, there are some special Matt categories of achievement, some of which don’t fit into most awards categories. Here goes:
Best shot: the banner image, above. Although arguably, nearly anything in Across The Spider-Verse could win this, an idea I just proved by hunting through a google drive of screencaps for the above upside-down image, and finding myself stopped dead by pretty much every still I opened.
Breakout performer: I’m giving this to Ariana Greenblatt this year, who kind of came out of baby-Gamora nowhere to a) co-star in the biggest film of the year, b) turn up as Young Ahsoka in Ahsoka‘s best episode, and c) was in that Adam Driver dinosaur movie I didn’t see. That’s a big year for a young actor, and suggests that Greenblatt is on the launchpad for a big, big decade.
Breakout feature: Nida Manzoor’s been a going commodity in television for a while — I Am Lady Parts is exceptional, and she also happened to helm the best episode of the Thirteenth Doctor’s tenure — but her debut feature, Polite Society, was both the film I looked the most forward to seeing all year, and the one that ate its way the most completely into my heart.
Best song: Pretty much the entire Barbie album could get nominated here but obviously “I’m Just Ken” is an all-timer.
Best score: There’s no version of the world where this doesn’t go to Across the Spider-Verse (they even scratched a goose!), but I want to call out Naoki Satô’s exemplary work on Godzilla Minus One… when you’re competing with actual tracks from Akira Ifukube’s original music and holding your own, you’re doing something right. Plus, a real gold star to all-time MVP John Williams: Dial of Destiny might have sucked, but his music for it was lovely, and probably the album I listened to the most this year.
Best disc: The one that most completely blew my hair off this year was the Lawrence of Arabia 4K steelbook, but I think that’s a 2022 release; for 2023 proper, I’d go to Criterion’s The Last Picture Show, which was endless fun to go through, and the 4K restoration on the original feature is superb. I’m also pretty thrilled that Disney is in such dire straits that they’re releasing Disney+ shows on disc; but, they’ve gotta get over their aversion to Dolby Vision and proper levels mastering before I’d put any Disney disc on this list.
The TV shows
This one’s less easy: when are we getting to log shows, Letterboxd?? (Sidebar: actually, the thing right now where you can log some shows and not other shows is probably more problematic than a rigid decision in one direction or the other. Yes, I recognize the product complexity I am describing by this request. If anyone from Letterboxd is reading and wants to hire me, reach out! I think TV logging is inevitable at some point in the product’s future; or worse, by a competitor.)
I owe a longer “TV that makes me want to write TV” piece for this blog, but in the meantime, here’s some stuff from this year that took me to school on the art form:
The Wire: Haha, yup, not from this year. But also, this year was the year I finally submitted to two decades of “it’s the best show ever!” pressure, and watched David Simon’s five-year run. And hey: it’s fucking great.
The Bear: Probably no single series this year had a bigger impact on my emotional self or my sense of creative purpose than The Bear. The entire second season is wall-to-wall bangers. The Christmas episode might have changed my life.
Reservation Dogs: Still one of the best things to ever exist, and brutally under-covered in year-end lists and awards. Honestly: might be the perfect model for what television is, does, and can be. You could teach this series in a classroom and never run out of incredible lessons; and if that makes the series sound at all like “homework,” please, reconsider. It’s as light as tiramisu.
Obviously Succession, obviously The Last Of Us: yeah yeah yeah HBO, you’re great. Logan’s death and the Storm Reid episode, respectively, are masterclasses in television storytelling.
Poker Face: Well I for one did not know I needed the weekly murder mystery back in my life, but it’s goddamn delightful. Rian Johnson’s episodes are (of course) great, but also a big shout out to the VFX episode, “The Orpheus Syndrome,” helmed by Natasha Lyonne and giving vivid post-ILM vibes.
“Those Old Scientists” on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Sorry everyone, I remain resolute that SNW is still a B, most of the time. Which is fine! Good, enjoyable television is a blessing! But that crossover episode with Lower Decks knocked the cover off the ball as hard as anything I’ve seen a Trek episode do in 30 years. Taken with Lower Decks‘ overall fourth season (which was an A, as Lower Decks tends to be), it was a good summer for Star Trek.
“Wild Blue Yonder,” the second Doctor Who anniversary special: Ruled. My favourite Doctor Who episode since “Heaven Sent,” and top five new-Who overall.
Not an episode, but: Shauna beating Lottie’s young face to a pulp while their older selves danced to “Lightning Crashes” on Yellowjackets this year was a moment in time (arguably, two of them), and one which I shall remember for a while.
The writing
In lieu of one of those roundup posts on Xitter whoops BlueSky, here’s some stuff I wrote this year that I am generally very proud of:
- Exhuming my Rise of Skywalker feelings. Hey, it finally happened! I feel better!
- Blogging the Next Generation: Picard. I knew I was gonna regret doing this… but, I’m glad I did.
- The Fierce Paradox of Letting Go: on Buddhism in Ahsoka‘s fifth episode
- That good blogging: I like this one and this one a lot
- Those good blu-ray reviews: I like this one and this one a lot
The year to come
Dune? One Marvel movie?? The continued and one might say long-overdue reckoning within the studio heads that they’ve chased a bad business model for over a decade and it isn’t the unions’ fault or the customers’ fault or anyone’s fault but their own, really, that they’re losing money??? It’s gonna be a hell of a year, this 2024 gig!