What I watched in 2023

Due to the restrictions and difficulties of pandemic filming, 2023 saw many films and tv shows finally be released. Many of these films and shows I enjoyed, as well as enjoying some older ones too. The criteria I had for a TV series was I could either rank the entire show if I watched all of it, or a season I completed, so, not including if I was half way through a second season, for example.

Here is my official tier list:

S Tier: Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021), Our Flag Means Death Season 1 (2022), The Last of Us (2023), Guys & Dolls at The Bridge Theatre, Narcos (2015), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), Good Omens Season 2 (2023), Heartstopper Season 2 (2023), Loki Season 2 (2023), The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023), Sing 2 (2021) and Barbie (2023)

A Tier: The Menu (2022), The King's Man (2021), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), The Witcher Season 3 (2023), Wham! (2023), Red, White and Royal Blue (2023), Ghosts Season 5 (2023), Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023), Doctor Who 60th Anniversary special - Wild Blue Yonder & The Giggle (2023), Doctor Who Christmas special - The Church on Ruby Road (2023), Shadow and Bone Season 2 (2023)

B Tier: Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre, The Mandalorian Season 1 (2019), Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Narcos: Mexico Season 1 (2018), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse (2023), Asteroid City (2023), The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die (2023), Linda veut du poulet (2023), Wicked at the Victoria Palace Theatre, Doctor Who 60th anniversary special - The Star Beast (2023), Lot. 249 (2023)

C Tier: The Tourist Season 1 (2022), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), Vikings: Valhalla (2022)

D Tier: Amsterdam (2022)

F Tier: The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

S Tier spotlight

Since these all made it to the heights of my esteem, this section is a dedicated few words on each of these.

Tick, Tick… Boom!

I was so annoyed at myself for having waited so long to watch this film. I had heard a couple of the songs, but I had decided to refrain from fully listening to teh soundtrack until I had seen the film, as not to spoil the film. This meant I went into the film only really knowing that there was a green dress, and that the main character was scared about turning 30, but little else. Whilst I am glad I got to experience the songs and scenes together for the first time, I just couldn't believe I had deprived myself of them for so long. This film was beautifully shot, the songs so well integrated, and so emotive. A beautifully tragic story that was the first new thing I saw in 2023.

Our Flag Means Death Season 1

This rom-com, come workplace drama, come history, come tragedy, is one of the best shows, full-stop. There is so much talent packed into this show, the comedy is so well observed, and the story is completely compelling. The romance between Stede Bonnet (The Gentleman Pirate) and Ed Teach (Blackbeard) is so unexpected and yet they so seamlessly fit together. Musical motifs are used wonderfully and over the 10 half hour episodes, you really get a chance to know the whole crew of The Revenge. Rory Kinnear is perfect as the bitter naval officers (twin brothers, you see). It has rightly become a bit of a cult classic!

The Last of Us

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in 'The Last of Us' | HBO

Never before has a show been so worth all the hype, excitement, and praise it has received. It is one of the best shows and stories and the credit has to go to everyone that was involved into transforming it from its much loved video game format. I was an absolute emotional wreck after just the first 20 minutes, which continued across the whole season. Episode 3, Long, Long, Time was a beautiful contained story of falling in love and surviving in an apocalypse, about learning to accept love and accept you can have it. Everyone should watch this show in their lifetimes and it deserved all the Emmy's it swept up this year.

Guys & Dolls at The Bridge Theatre

I have always loved the different plays The Bridge Theatre has put on ever since it opened as a theatre. Guys and Dolls is the most ambitious, and successful, show they have ever put on. It could, indeed, be the most cutting-edge West End show in its long history of entertaining. This immersive West End classic has been updated and presented in a totally new way. It is bursting with colour, humour, and talent. The cheapest tickets are the immersive standing tickets. This ticket puts you right in the centre of the action, giving you moments such as Nathan Detroit (Nathan Detroit) asking you to move in a New York accent, sprayed with water, confetti, dancing along with the cast at the end… Get yourself to Guys & Dolls before it leaves!

Narcos

Having very much been swept up into the Pedro Pascal appreciation wave that defined the winter of 2023, Narcos was naturally high up on my list to watch after The Last of Us. Depicting the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, and the expansion and politics of the Colombian drugs trade, this series wonderfully combined drama and archival footage. Pascal portrays DEA agent Javier Peña brilliantly, but it is Wagner Moura as Escobar who entirely steals the show. Moura - and the show writers - deftly handled Escobar and his legacy. They did not go for the typical binaries of good vs evil, blurring and complicating the lines, exploring what it is to do good and bad and the moral chasms that are borne when doing bad in the name of good.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson in 'Mission: Impossible' | Paramount Pictures

This film is an example of one that had to rapidly adapt through the pandemic, and succeeded at those complications not affecting the quality of the filmmaking. Tom Cruise had some truly brain-melting stunts, and it is clear - and somewhat staggering - he never loses sight of the viewer's enjoyment cinematic experience. Another strength of this film is that despite being a part one, you don't feel like you've just watched a filler film, or that you've achieved little in watching the film. It was a flaw I felt the newest Spider-Man film in that tension and expectation is built up, but then falls flat by the sudden cut off for its final instalment. This film was a story of its own and provides a fantastic set up for the final of this iconic series. The villain of the film will only become ever more relevant and foreboding. A triumph.

Good Omens Season 2

Waiting for Good Omens Season 2 transported me back to the years of waiting for BBC’s Sherlock instalments between seasons. I was so pleased when Season 2 dropped that it truly felt worth the wait. The places in which Season 1 dipped were when Aziraphale and Crowley found themselves in the background Season 2 saw them truly as the heart of the show where Michael Sheen and David Tennant can produce magic. The way the angel and demon's relationship developed, both in the present day but also for the viewer as we had our flashbacks in time, was a delight. Renewed for a third and final season, Neil Gaiman can finally finish the story that himself and Terry Pratchett devised, and hopefully Aziraphale and Crowley can successfully communicate!

Heartstopper Season 2

This show has really grown into its second season, reaping the benefits of a more confident cast who have more experience together. You know the characters, you know the relationships, you know whose pining for whom, but you also get to learn so much more. I think this was especially true of Darcy's character. Kit Connor and Joe Locke are the anchors of the show, but their co-stars get the opportunities to grow and expand for the best. This show is just simply lovely.

Loki Season 2

The saviour of the MCU has arrived. Marvel's output ever since Infinity War/Endgame has been turbulent to say the least. After the disappointment of Secret Invasion, Loki simply needed to be a hit. It delivered. Season 2 was ambitious, warm, emotional, visually stunning, pacey, fun and utterly cinematic. Tom Hiddleston and Mobius were brilliant focal points of the show and Ke Huy Quan's Ourobouros was perfectly off-kilter. The world and hierarchies of the TVA was expanded and that ending... oof I'm still getting over it.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Benedict Cumberbatch in the Roald Dahl adaptation | Netflix

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar encapsulates Wes Anderson's style so perfectly, and it is an absolute triumph. Benedict Cumberbatch delivers his rapid-fire lines completely on point. Dev Patel as Dr. Chatterjee and Richard Ayoade as Dr. Marshall is an unlikely but effective on screen partnership. There is an abundance of colour and coolness that is Wes's trademark. In some ways, it feels the perfect response to the Wes Anderson aesthetic videos that went viral in 2023. It feels like a marker to say this is my style and this is what I can do in under an hour.

Sing 2

A celebration of music, colour, and friendship. It is a complete joy to watch and its creativity is what I found to be completely infectious. It is bags of fun whilst also being unexpectedly deep and moving, balancing the both perfectly. It has an extra something that steps it above the equally enjoyable Sing.

Barbie

Barbie is such an important film. I have never come out of a cinema feeling so seen as a person. America Ferrera's monologue in the film was so moving, and every woman I have spoken to about said monologue has said how much it affected them.

You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can't ask for money because that's crass. You have to be a boss, but you can't be mean. You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas. You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people.

You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It's too hard! It's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.

I'm just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don't even know.

Knee-jerk critics will see Barbie simply as a movie the beats down on men, but it does not do this, and in fact gives time to how men are also affected in patriarchal systems too. Whilst delivering and breaking down such big ideas, it is also fun and playful with great physical sets. Everyone should see this film.

Other spotlights

New Moon (F Tier)

I never got into the Twilight saga when I was younger and so have begun the process of watching them with friends who love the franchise. I had seen the first film that I could just about enjoy through the questionable acting and cringe-shatteringly bad dialogue. New Moon is without doubt the worst thing I watched in 2023. There is so little plot, the film only remembers that it needs one in the last 20 minutes, when it is too late. The film stagnates and offers so little. It has a good soundtrack, and the transitions from human to wolves was interesting, but that is all the praise I can offer this film. I will never watch it again. If I do, I think it would be under severe duress.

Vikings: Valhalla Season 2 (C Tier)

This season was interesting, but it just lost its way compared to the first season. The first season had the relatively contained clear objective of a Cnut's assault on London in the aim to become King. We meet the Greenlander group and destiny's intertwine. Season 2 felt a little too expansive and it was hard to know what everyone was striving for. I think perhaps it suffered as being a transitional journey to get people set up in places they need for season 3. Queen Emma was a standout in Season 1, and was a really compelling female character in season 1, but was made to be highly unlikeable this season. I hope that Season 3 delivers more than this season.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (B Tier)

This movie was a surprising amount of fun. Having grown up on a lot of Mario games, it felt like one of the first 'nostalgia' films I had seen. It was not a perfect movie, but it was entertaining. The relationship between Mario and Luigi was really touching, and Jack Black absolutely stole the show as Bowser. I didn't expect to leave the cinema with an ear worm of a song!

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Tier)

This prequel genuinely added so much to the Hunger Games-verse. By following Snow, we got to see the other side of life in Panem that we simply did not have access through from Katniss. The music was amazing and the pacing of the movie worked well. It is fantastic at manipulating the viewer and fully immersing them. I did not expect to enjoy this film as much as I did. A great addition to the Hunger Games.

Closing thoughts...

I really enjoyed documenting all the things I watched in 2023. I think this year I want to try and watch some older films, and go through the long list of things I say I want to watch and but never seem to get round to!