December 12, 2023

Top 10 Films of 2023

1. "About Dry Grasses" (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey)

2. "Perfect Days" (Wim Wenders, Japan)

3. "The Zone Of Interest" (Jonathan Glazer, UK)

4. "The Holdovers" (Alexander Payne, USA)

5. "Past Lives" (Celine Song, South Korea)

6. "Oppenheimer" (Christopher Nolan, USA)

7. "Poor Things" (Yorgos Lanthimos, USA)

8. "Smoke Sauna Sisterhood" (Anna Hints, Estonia)

9. "Asteroid City" (Wes Anderson, USA)

10. "Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World" (Radu Jude, Romania)


Other great films:

Anyone But You (Australia)
BlackBerry (Canada)
Chlopi (Poland)
Chuzhaya (Russia)
Concrete Utopia (South Korea)
El Conde (Chile)
The Delinquents (Argentina)
L'Ete dernier (France)
Fallen Leaves (Finland)
Farador (Canada)
Frontières (Canada)
Godland (Iceland)
Infinity Pool (Canada)
Io Capitano (Italy)
Jour de merde (Canada) 
Monster (Japan)
Robot Dreams (Spain)
Rojek (Canada)
Solo (Canada)
Suzume (Japan)
Testament (Canada)
Yannick (France)

Top 3 Shorts:

1. "The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar" (Wes Anderson, USA)

2. "The Swan" (Wes Anderson, USA)

3. "Poison" (Wes Anderson, USA)


Other great shorts:


Top 3 Music Videos:

1. "Kill Bill" (Christian Breslauer, SZA)

2. "Flowers" (Jacob Bixenman, Miley Cyrus)

3. "The Beatles: Now And Then" (Peter Jackson, The Beatles)


Other great music videos:


Top Commercial:

"Breaking Good" (PopCorners)


Other great commercials:

Busch Guide

TV Top 5:


6. "Life On Our Planet" (Netflix)

7. "The Crown: Season 6" (Netflix)

8. "Fargo: Season 5" (FX)

9. "MH370: The Plane That Disappeared" (Netflix)

10. "Succession: Season 4" (HBO)


Top 3 Cartoons:

1. "Once Upon A Studio" (Dan Abraham, Trent Correy, Disney)

2. "Letter To A Pig" (Tal Kantor, Israel)

3. "Our Uniform" (Yegane Moghaddam, Iran)


Other great cartoons:

I Am From Palestine
Pachyderme (France)
Papercut (UK)

Top VR film:

"Colored" (Stéphane Foenkinos, Pierre-Alain Giraud)


Top Stand-Up Comedy Show:

"Chris Rock: Selective Outrage" (Joel Gallen, Netflix)


Weak films of 2023:

Le Plongeur (Canada)
Richelieu (Canada)
Sweet Dreams (Holland)

Weak shorts: 

Invincible (Canada)
Muscat (Canada)

Weak cartoons:

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Top 3 Musicals of 2023

1. "Barbie" (Greta Gerwig, Warner)


2. "Wonka" (Paul King, Warner)


3. "The Color Purple" (Blitz Bazawule, Warner)

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November 11, 2023

About Dry Grasses (2023) *****

Complex and fascinating film about a Turkish teacher in a small Kurdish village and his ambiguous relationships with a young female student, a handicapped woman and a male colleague. Gorgeous cinematography, profound philosophical discussions, and surprising narrative developments.
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The Holdovers (2023) *****

Fabulous film set during a winter break in a New England college at the end of 1970. Profound, surprising and very touching.
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Perfect Days (2023) *****

A Japanese film directed by Wim Wenders.
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The Zone Of Interest (2023) *****

Winner of the Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. A chronicle of a quiet family life in an idyllic house and a beautiful garden located next to a wall. The film is based on the testimonies provided by survivors and individuals who had been employed by the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig.
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October 10, 2023

Past Lives (2023) ****

Wonderful, very understated and de-dramatized film about human relationships. 
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Poor Things (2023) ****



Emma Stone gives the greatest performance of her career as a a young woman in Victorian era London who, after being crudely resurrected by a scientist following her suicide, runs off with a debauched lawyer to embark on an odyssey of self-discovery and sexual liberation. A masterpiece of steampunk cinema, with amazing art direction and eccentric cinematography.
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American Fiction (2023) ****

Excellent film about an African-American writer.
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Asteroid City (2023) ****

Another brilliant and self-reflexive masterpiece from Wes Anderson.
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The Boy And The Heron (2023) ****

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Barbie (2023) ****

Definitely not for kids, this is a rather cynical satiric comedy about feminism and patriarchy. Many jokes try very hard for a second or even a third degree, but don't always succeed. In fact, by subverting everything and refusing to take anything at face value in the first half of the film, "Barbie" might confuse some viewers in the second half, when it suddenly strives for some first degree humour with decidedly mixed results. For instance, if Barbieland is supposed to be a mirror image of the real world, as the first half of the film suggests, then logically, in the second half of the film, the feminist revolt led by all the Barbies could be interpreted as encouraging men in our world to revolt against the feminists who are, after all, trying to do exactly the same things as the Kens in Barbieland.
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A Brighter Tomorrow (2023) ****

Nostalgic film about Italian Communists in 1956 slowly realizing the totalitarian nature of the Soviet system of government.
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Perdidos en la noche (2023) ****


Constantly surprising Mexican drama directed by Amat Escalante.
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