Out with the Old, In with ...

Happy New Year of the Dragon all. I feel recovered enough from the holidays that I am ready to sum up 2023. Or maybe I don't, because I just want to say that it sucked. 

Partly recency bias, because Ms. Spenser caught COVID on Christmas, and is still suffering - mildly, because vaccinated and all,  but still. Also, when we returned from the vacation, we realized how old and unwell our dog actually was. And so we had to call the vet and let her go. So, maybe I'm in a grumpy mood.

As for our movie watching, losing Netflix kind of messed everything up. My habit, my ritual was disrupted. I no longer have a specific, curated set of DVDs for each weekend. I need to fish around on whatever streaming service we are subscribing to this week, pick something up at the library, look through my home discs, etc. It shouldn't be that different, but it is, somehow. We'll see if I get used to it, and if I change this blog's tagline.

It looks like I watched fewer movies from 2023 in 2023 - 13 or 14, depending on whether you count Meg 2, which I slept through. Lots of stupid action movies. The best of the batch was probably John Wick 4, or maybe Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Anything that wasn't a sequel? How about The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster? Perhaps not the greatest movie, but it was original, and showed a lot of heart. See also Slash/Back, the Inuit girls hunting monsters movie. 

Best movie we watched this year? Best movie ever: Bringing Up Baby. We actually watched it this year - borrowed it from Netflix and didn't send it back, mwahaha! Just as good as ever. 

Some notable movies from 2022 saw in 2023 we: Nope and Three Thousand Years of Longing. Both were by directors we love, but showed an advance in the use of the cinematic medium. Nope used realistic images of the wide-open fields and skies of California to instill uneasy dread. Three Thousand Years had a maximalist, baroque vision of beauty attached to a somewhat cold and intellectual story. 

Oddball movie of the year: Dave Made a Maze. Low budget fun. And recyclable!

Best movie first seen in 2023: I'm going to say Spies, the Fritz Lang silent. Just for the incredible visuals.

Trends: we watched a few more rom-coms than usual (usual is 0) in 2023. Most were only so-so, but I did like Down with Love, both for the way it referred back to the classics, and for the fine execution.

I feel like I watched a lot of movies that I should have already seen, but none were big revelations. Some I enjoyed, but I never felt like I'd been missing out.

As usual, I watched too many stupid action pictures (not Ms. Spenser, though. She has standards). Most were forgettable, but I did enjoy Dungeons and Dragons. 

Not much new on the cocktail front. I've been making some Singapore Sling variations. We got a Ninja blender, so I even made a few frozen Slings. Around this time of year, I tend to drink a lot of sparkling wine, and usually mix it into French 75s, etc. This time, I just enjoyed it straight.

And what to expect in 2024? I hope I'll get my viewing habits stabilized. I hope I watch some good movies but I'll be happy with a lot of stupid action movies that aren't as bad as, say, Red Notice. I blame streaming. 

Oh, and I haven't blogged it, but I've been watching a few Carry On movies (I have bootleg copies of the entire run). They are both worse (jokes, sexism) and better (some sweet romantic touches) than I expected. I'll probably watch more as the year goes on.

OK, I'll close out dregs of 2023 by wishing all a happy, healthy 2024 - and good viewing!