2023 Film, TV, Music, and Gaming Faves
As is the annual tradition (since 2009 in at least a vaguely co-ordinated fashion), my favourite films, TV, music, and games from the past 12 months. Apologies in advance for adjective overload but I have saved you from lots of detail.
Films
Not a big year for cinema, both in terms of my viewings and generally speaking. I watched 98 films, 65 of which were new to me, and 47 from 2023. Only three films from 2023 that scored a 5/5: Elemental, Wonka, and a last minute entry from The Boy and the Heron. The first two are great family films with lovely messages, whereas the latter is just more magic from Miyazaki.
Honourable mentions to: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and The Whale - even though technically a 2022 film, I think I watched it at the first opportunity for UK viewers. Ditto for The Quiet Girl.
TV
Lots of TV watched this year, 69 seasons, in part making up for the dirth of films, plus there's so much great TV around. Only four seasons of those 63 were from 2023 and scored a 5/5: the crazy, imaginative, and brilliant Foundation season two, ditto on the adjectives for Scavengers Reign season one, the continued madness and brilliance of Mike Rowe and Dirty Jobs season ten, and the fab story and animation of Blue Eye Samurai season one. Great to hear that there will be new seasons for Foundation and Blue Eye Samurai. Here's hoping we get the same for Dirty Jobs and Scavengers Reign.
Honourable mentions to the following from 2023: Inside No. 9 season eight, Good Omens seasons one and two (with the latter from 2023), Reservation Dogs seasons one to three (with the last season from 2023), Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing season six, and the final season of Ghosts.
Also an honourable mention to a non-2023 series that was new to me: The Terror season one.
Music
There's me thinking there wouldn't be any music on the list from 2023, but Apple Music tells me I favourited 125 tracks released this year. Picking the favourites out of that, there's Amber Run's How to be Human; still not as good as their first album, but a couple of cracking tracks on this album. The Chemical Brothers' For That Beautiful Feeling, which had three great tracks. Great to see a new album from Dengue Fever, Ting Mong. M83's Fantasy, where he still managed to create something that felt both fresh and M83-y. Also great to see a new album from Penguin Café, Rain Before Seven. There was the gradual release of Peter Gabriel's I/O, which although a frustrating way to release an album, on reflection it did give a chance to properly listen to and digest each track, and there were three tracks on that I loved. And finally, Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Japan inspired HANA, with another three favourited tracks.
Honourable mentions to the soundtracks from Elemental, Wonka, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and The Boy and the Heron.
Games
Lots of game playing this year, 34 in total. Of the best that I played, I started the year with Hardspace: Shipbreaker and Satisfactory. We bought a Switch and all became addicted to Mario Kart 8. I was sufficiently addicted to both Dredge and Dave the Diver that I completed those.
Honourable mentions to the continued nuttiness of Fallout in the shape of Fallout 4, the rain soaked Against the Storm, and the environmentally friendly Terra Nil.
What were your favourites from 2023?