Best film I watched in December turned out to be one of the best of 2023. Godzilla Minus One was a shining ray of light in a mostly depressing year in cinema. Before any triggered cinéaste's blood boils over that statement, I'll double down on my claim with a fresh load of critical and popular darlings listed below which all had me never wanting to watch them ever again.
Lewis Teague's gangster drama The Lady in Red was the only other notable discovery for me this month.
Other than Paul Giamatti's wonky glass eye, the best thing about The Holdovers was it inadvertently sending me on a slasher binge and inspiring me to blog about should've been final girls.
Finally, I watched an obscene amount of old and new Doctor Who episodes this month; way too many to name individually.
Dada Debaser Notes:
- Stumbled across Cut on Plex, an Australian slasher starring Molly Ringwald and Kylie Minongue. Nowhere near as potentially entertaining as that sounds. Goes from a meta film à la Scream to Freddy Krueger rip-off and falls flat on its arse.
- Best thing about Todd Haynes's critically overrated drama May December is its recycling of the The Go-Between (1971) soundtrack, which in turn made me rediscover Ill Advised's Through the Eye this month.
- Negative review bombing of Nefarious by angry atheists was the reason I even checked it out in the first place. The whiners were right about it, however - below average film.
- Turns out third time really is a charm as I ended up enjoying Popcorn much more after a recent viewing of it. Reggae music doesn't really fit in a slasher, however.
- Some great creative kills in Thanksgiving and bonus points for the fictional fantasy of modern teens listening to The Pharcyde's Oh Shit, but I can't help thinking how potentially great the film might’ve been if it was made around ten years earlier in the vein of the 2007 fake trailer.
- Priscilla was another nice looking snoozefest. Luhrmann's Elvis (2022) was way more entertaining.
- File Killers of the Flower Moon under the list of Scorsese's films where once is enough, like Silence (2017).
- Saltburn is essentially Letterboxd-core Brideshead Revisited x The Talented Mr. Ripley.
- Really enjoyed Mitsutake's erotic giallo Maniac Driver (2020), but Lion-Girl is atrocious. Posthumously added to my Worst Films of 2023 list.
- With Disciple of Death ticked off the list, I've finally watched all four films featuring pirate radio deejay turned actor turned sculptor Mike Raven AKA Bootleg Christopher Lee. A weak film, but immensely fun, regardless.
Other notable highlights this month were: Ashton's Tales That Witness Madness and Black Christmas reviews; Unpopped Cinema's Top 25 Best Discs of 2023; and The Martorialist's Best Movies and TV of 2023.