What I watched in 2023!

What I watched in 2023!

This year has been interesting for me.

The plus points were, 

This was my first full year with my 4K TV and a 4K UHD Player, I got organised with my physical media collecting, and I made some good progress with my viewing for the 1001 Movies to See Before I Die project.

I also started this blog.

Negatives, my physical and mental health have both been particularly poor this year so it massively affected my ability to get out to the cinema so my cinema attendance has been abysmal. 

I am a fan of video games but normally I am a very casual gamer BUT in 2023 Zelda Tears of the Kingdom came out and I pretty much lost 4 months of the year to Link and his adventures. 

Don’t get me wrong I loved it but it did impact my movie consumption causing my 2023 performance to be on the low side.

Shawn J. Skinner Movie Stats 2023. (Up to 21st December 2023)

Including feature films, shorts, documentaries, comedy specials, and limited series

I Watched 439 titles this year. 

That’s an average of 9 a week. I would be happier with 12 or 13 a week. 

I need to work on that but I do blame Nintendo.

I only visited the cinema 8 times this year.

I saw Meg3an, The Fablemans, Cocaine Bear, John Wick Chapter 4, Renfield, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Oppenheimer and The Creator.

I am ashamed of that stat, but I will be going again in 2023 to see The Boy and the Heron in very late December. 

I take comfort in thinking that if everyone went to the cinema 9 times a year, the cinema business would be in a much better place. I am going to be better in 2024.

Out of the new films I saw this year, These were the real standouts.

Oppenheimer (2023)

Directed by Christopher Nolan… it’s amazing! I don't think I need to write more I'm sure you have seen it and know how good it is. 

The Creator (2023)

Directed by Gareth Edwards and starring John David Washington.

I loved this! A very talented English director making a sci-fi movie not based on a preexisting I.P. not even based on a novel. The kind of film so many people say we don't get anymore.

It explores the theme of the ethics surrounding A.I. which feels more relevant than ever. 

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)

Directed by Guillermo del Toro 

Yes! I saw it in late December 2022! but as far as I am concerned it counts. It’s amazing, 

Any film that can remind people everywhere that fascism is bad can only be a good thing.

It’s also del Toro if he directed Ron Perlman’s colonoscopy I would probably love it. 

The Quiet Girl (2022)

Directed by Colm Bairead Starring Catherine Clinch.

This film is so beautiful and moving. It is a deliberately paced family drama about an underappreciated young girl finding herself and discovering what it's like to be cared for. 

Yes! I had a wee cry. If that sounds appealing I Highly, highly recommend it.

Aftersun (2022)

Directed by Charlotte Wells Starring Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio.

(I need to extend the same sentiment as I did for the last film but I will mix it up)

This film is moving and beautiful. It is a truly stunning and important work and it blows me away that this is Charlotte Wells’s debut feature film. I say it is important because it explores the under-talked-about subject of men's mental health. Not only did it move me to tears I needed to have a nap after. 

Triangle of Sadness (2022)

Directed by Ruben Ostlund, Starring Harris Dickinson, Woody Harrelson and Dolly de Leon.

We have had a few films come out highlighting how disgusting, odious and ridiculous very rich people actually are. I like to call them “Wealthploitation” movies and I think they are something we need in society. We had Glass Onion, The Menu, this one and we just got Saltburn. 

It is just wonderful. If “Influencers” make your skin crawl or you loathe the 1% who feather their nests off the back of exploiting working people this is the film for you.

Just by writing this, it made me want to rewatch it.        

Now! This is very interesting! In the same year we got two documentaries about the same subject assembled from footage taken from the same library of existing film stock and made two very different projects.

Both films are made by reviewing the writings, film footage and photographs by the husband and wife volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft who dedicated their adult lives to the study of volcanos and died together on the 3rd of June 1991 when they were engulfed in a pyroclastic flow which is a fast-moving cloud of volcanic gas and matter that is heated to 1000 degrees Celsius.

Fire of Love (2022)

Directed by Sara Dosa

The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft (2022)

Directed by Werner Herzog

Both are brilliant and well worth watching Dosa’s “Fire of Love” is more about the Krafft’s life together, their love and their shared obsession.

Whereas Werner Herzog’s documentary is more the story of the extraordinary and unique images that the couple captured over their lengthy career in the field.  

They have a combined run time of 177 minutes so I would highly recommend them as a double bill.  

Classics I have seen this year for the first time that knocked my socks off!

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)

Directed by Albert Lewin

I had just heard of this film when I read an interview with Quentin Tarantino when he cited it as his favourite British film of all time. I wouldn't go that far but it is delightful. It strikes me as a very competent pastiche of a Powell and Pressburger film it blends romance with magical realism and it's even shot by legendary cinematographer Jack Cardiff who is most famous for shooting the best colour Powell and Pressburger films. Thank you, Mr Tarantino. 

Audition (1999)

Directed by Takashi Miike 

Not really my usual kind of thing I'm more a psychological horror/thriller fan than films with this torcher/gore vibe. But I watched it and it's quite a ride. 

Rolling Thunder (1977)

Directed by 

I make no secret of my love for 70s thrillers and this is a brilliant specimen. A brutal revenge-o-matic with a stunning cast that pulls no punches.     

The Leather Boys (1964)

Directed by Sidney J. Furie. Starring Rita Tushingham, Colin Campbell and Dudley Sutton.

I know it is an acquired taste but I really enjoy 1960s “Kitchen Sink” dramas. They are a fantastic slice of social history. This one is great, A young woman marries her cafe racer biker boyfriend but quickly becomes disenchanted with their working-class existence. She also struggles to come to terms with her new husband maintaining his biker lifestyle and his closeness with his fellow biker best friend.

This film stands out because the Duddle Sutton character is quite obviously queer and the film doesn't make a big deal about it he is not displayed as a villain or a freak because of it it’s amazing for 1964.    

Paper Moon (1973)

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, Starring Ryan O’Neal, Tatum O’Neal and Madeline Kahn.

Set during the great depression Ryan O’Neal plays a con man who ends up with a kid who may be his daughter who ends up being a chip off the old block. Utterly charming film. The real-life father and daughter duo have fabulous chemistry and 9-year-old Tatum smoking cigarettes is just hilarious.      

Sorcerer (1977)

Directed by William Friedkin, Starring Roy Scheider.

Wow! This is really amazing! 

I bought this on Blu-ray because it is never streaming. It is technically a remake of the French film “Wages of Fear” but this is next-level stuff. It was released in cinemas in America the same summer as George Lucas’s Star Wars in 1977 and was completely buried. I can't help but wonder how different Friedkin’s career may have been if this film was the hit it should have been. I think we all lost out. 

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

Directed by Chantal Akerman, Starring Delphine Seyrig

Yes! I had seen the name in books about films and stuff… but it was voted as the best film ever in sight and sound so I had to check it out and because it was voted best film ever in sight and sound it appeared on streaming so I could check it out. I can see why this is divisive but I enjoyed it. It's so clever and it was such an experience to live through. It is a rewarding watch and I can see why it inspires so many filmmakers.

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)

Directed by and Starring Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid.

This 14-minute black and white short film was a revelation for me. A little Surreal, avant-garde masterpiece. It is so haunting and seems to so accurately depict dream logic. The film itself draws influence from Cocteau, Bunuel and Dali but you can see how much this was a massive influence on the works of David Lynch. 

Check it out it is on YouTube.    

When I looked at 2022 stats at the start of this year I identified I needed to try and reduce the amount of American films I watch. I also wanted to increase the amount of British and World Cinema titles and try and see more films by female directors.

I think I have been pretty successful. 38% of the films I watched in 2023 were British 5% were world cinema but still 57% were American. 

Looking back on what I have watched over the past 12 months I appear to have seen 30 films directed by women. So that’s 7% so that is not terrible.

So wrapping up! my takeaways from reviewing my stats,

I need to go to the cinema more! 

Try to further increase the amount of films I see that are made by female filmmakers. 

Try to decrease my intake of American movies. 

Increase the amount of world cinema I see. 

So in 2024, 

I am aiming to watch 676 films (13 a week) 

16 (minimum) of them need to be watched in a cinema. 

No more than 50% should be American-made movies (338) 

30% British (202)

20% World Cinema (136)

In an ideal world, 10% of what I watch would be directed or co-directed by female filmmakers. But that would be 67 but if I have the opportunity to see 50 I would be more than satisfied.

This is just setting goals to expand my horizons within the world of cinema and see stories from as many points of view as possible.  

Thanks for reading this far and I hope you have a great 2024!