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alright might as well get in on it. I'm doing movies I saw for the first time this year, and I'm probably forgetting some. 10: The Booth A bottle movie, done in real time! A hotshot radio host has to do his show in the old haunted recording booth, and things immediately get spooky. The slow rollout of what he Did is done super well, and it works alongside the guy's unravelling as the guilt gets heavier and heavier and his paranoia grows. A fantastic, tight thriller. 9: It Follows Gotta love an original monster, and this one is original as all hell and really spooky to boot! The tall guy jumpscare is the best jumpscare I think I've ever seen. Very well plotted and paced, with just enough dashes of weirdness to give the movie an especial spookiness without going overboard and being too weird. 8: Elvis This is a movie that set out to explain to young people not really who Elvis was, but what he was. It attempts to translate that transgressive sexual youthful energy that Elvis embodied to modern eyes that grew up on the Tiktok. And, in my mind, succeeds fantastically. It crackles with energy all throughout pulling you along on the whirlwind Elvis ride. 7: Tremble All You Want Technically a romcom, but really a fantastic movie about living inside your own head, about projecting stuff on to other people. The part where she realizes how lonely she is and she turns it into this big dramatic musical number, but it's clearly a coping mechanism where she's still making herself the star of some dramatic story and when she gets home she can't even keep that up anymore and just starts sobbing was one of the most honest depictions of life I've seen in a movie 6: Night Creatures Just a lovely warm story. That's the best way to describe it, a movie that makes you feel all snuggled up and cozy. Peter Cushing is so good as the priest with a secret, the way he cycles through his priest act, his actual genuine priestlyness, and his no-nonsense criminal nature is a joy to watch 5: Death Proof Just a fantastic wild time. It's so much about being in this space with this characters, it's almost like a prototype for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Just creating a place for the audience to inhabit for a little while. And then the last like 20 minutes is the most epic car fight I've ever seen. Just exhilarating and thrilling and wild. Genuine get your fist pumping in the air action. And the absolute last frame being the heel going into the guy's skull, just the absolute bare minimum to let you know that he is 100% loving dead was exquisite stuff. 4: The Vast of Night A wonderful little sci-fi movie that blends old school and modern sensibilities perfectly. Long static shots of people on the phone, amazing tracking shots that would feel show offy if they weren't done so well, all for the purpose of pulling and keeping you in the moment with this characters. A movie that leaves you vibrating on it's wavelength long after it ends. Watch it at night, so when it's done you can go outside and look at the stars. 3: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse An absolute visual masterpiece anchored by super strong emotional character cores. The sheer style and creativity and diversity on screen is often overwhelming, but always in a good way. It's a movie that surrounds you and pulls you in, you don't want to look away for a second. It's a two and a half hour long superhero movie that I didn't want to end. 2: Godzilla Minus One Just an absolute loving solid movie. I'm a Godzilla fan, so I'm happy to watch Godzilla movies and grade them on Godzilla criteria, but Minus One is just a great movie. The characters, the action, the emotions, it's like the prototypical crowd pleasing blockbuster. But it does that without sacrificing depth or refusing to get dark at times. Just an absolute four quadrant humdinger of a movie 1: All That Jazz Holy poo poo. I am a very elderly man so it's not often I go "you can do that with a movie?" but that was my reaction to All That Jazz. I don't know much about Bob Fosse but this is extremely obviously Bob Fosse just making a movie about himself. It is a laser focused unflinching analysis of a man's soul. And luckily the soul is pretty cool, so it's a lot of fun. Fosse digs so deep into himself he hits basic ecstatic truth about life and death. The last 20 minutes had my jaw hanging open at how much sheer entertainment he wrung out of one man's death. I've seen three movies starring Roy Scheider, Jaws, Sorcerer, and All That Jazz. All three of them can make a decent case for being the best movie ever made, but All That Jazz takes the cake. Split Second and Ride Your Wave were strong contenders for the list too. Also the entire Fast and Furious franchise. Gripweed fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Dec 28, 2023 |
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Dec 27, 2023 05:51
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 05:44 |
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Depth! I meant sacrificing depth!
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Jan 1, 2024 23:08
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I knew it, All That Jazz is the number one movie of 2023!
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Jan 1, 2024 23:31
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Y’all need to watch The Booth, let’s get that on some 2024 lists.
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Jan 1, 2024 23:53
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I liked how it was set up this time. You do get a solid best of the year list, but letting people count first time watches gets you a way more interesting spread. It also means people who didn't watch a ton of new movies don't have to stretch or include movies they weren't really crazy about to fill out all ten spots. Plus, this will net some interesting data going forward.
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Jan 2, 2024 01:31
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 05:44 |
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Maybe there should be three lists. Movies released this year, movies released in the past, and movies released in the past but only getting a wide release this year. And if you don't have ten good entries for all three lists you get banned.
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Jan 2, 2024 15:39
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