Month: January 2024

A NEW PODCAST AND MY CO-HOST’S TOP FILMS OF 2023


In July 2023, my friend Adam Nightingale and I released the first episode of our new podcast:
PUNCHING UP THE MOVIE PODCAST

Adam and I have known each other for 33 years.
We met in 1990 at drama school and have remained firm friends ever since.
We love films and have been writing emails about cinema to each other dating back to 2000. The emails got longer and longer and I had the idea that it might make a good book (edited obv) and Adam proposed we start a podcast.

The idea behind Punching Up is that each episode we choose a classic, cult or beloved film from the treasure trove of cinema that one or both of us have a problem with and then we discuss, dissect, debate, discover and sometimes disassemble the perceived classic.

So far, we have released 7 official full episodes.
You can find the pod where you get your usual podcasts (Spotify, Apple Podcasts etc) or click the links below to jump to an episode of your liking:

2001:A Space Odyssey
Raging Bull
Young Frankenstein
Once upon a Time in the West
Cat Ballou
Inception
Shaft

We have a few in the bag coming soon and will get back to recording more in a few weeks so keep an eye out and please email us with any comments or questions at:
punchingupmoviepodcast@gmail.com

AND NOW………………

THE MOMENT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR
Adam Nightingale’s best (and worst) films of 2023, this is a bit of a continuation of our email correspondence, a bitesize edition if you will…..

IT’S TIME FOR THE ADDZIES:
Over to my Punching Up co-host, Adam…….

Prepare to be delighted and utterly outraged in equal measure. 

The Addzies 2023 (based on movies I have seen in the cinema in 2023)

Best Films

Tar 
Obviously Blanchett is brilliant but there is something very Kubrickian about the way this is filmed that I think you would like, Damian.

Unwelcome  
This was my B horror movie of the year. It mashes up urban and rural horror wonderfully and alternates between three contrasting types of monster, (a terrifying London street gang, a family of Irish rural gangster led by Colm Meany and tiny Irish leprechaun monsters). It narrowly edged out Talk to Me (a better movie) and Suitable Flesh. It has stuck in my mind all these months more than those two arguably superior films.   

Women Talking  
Best ensemble of the year. I go to church and would love to show this in church in a series of movies about faith that I doubt many Christians have seen. So pleased that Sarah Polley nabbed the Oscar for her screenplay on this.

Pearl  
Only film on the list I’ve seen twice at the cinema this year. Only film on the list I’ve bought. There’s nothing out there quite like it. My film of the year and the apex of A24’s female centric horror cycle. 

John Wick 4  
Reeves vs Yen vs Adkins and Sanada. Who could ask for anything more. Best action film of 23.

Strays*  
So sorry Damian, but I had to put it in. It was the film that made me laugh the most in 2023.
Go to the bottom of the list and look at what I excluded to put this in and hate the movie even more.

Maigret 
Exceedingly low key gentle period police procedural but it lingered.
Great, weary, weight of the world performance by Gerard D.

Past Lives  
I’ve never seen such an intimate film that looks so stunning on a large screen. I loved that this beautiful movie didn’t take sides. Its resolution was beautiful, right and fair to all three parties with the supernatural intimation of closure for two of the three characters.
Were it not for Pearl being released in the UK in 23, this would have been my film of the year.

The Eternal Daughter  
The twin Tilda Swinton show. Damian, as a Hogg agnostic, why not give this one a go?

Eileen 
Again, of the rush of movies seen to round out the year, this one was the one I thought about the most. Second best ensemble of the year.

Godzilla Minus One 
Best blockbuster of the year. Delivers spectacle equally matched by heart breaking family drama.
An example to all western makers of big budget franchise movies. Aquaman take note.

Wonka  
Damian, you’ll never see this, but it is wonderful. Included as much for the great time I had watching it with my nephew and niece as for the movie itself (which is wonderful). Chalamet out Wonkers Wilder. 

The Boy and the Heron 
First Miyazaki I’ve seen since The Wind Rises. Beautiful, so imaginative, heart breaking and deeply elliptical. Shades of The Tempest and Alice in Wonderland but all Miyazaki.
No one else could make parrots threatening.

Apologies to The Fablemans, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie and The Killer that almost made it in, but I loved the others just a little bit more.

Worst Films

Empire of Light  
So many people I like delivering incredulous and sometimes down-right bad work. A big blot in Sam Mendes copy book completely erased by the amazing work he did on on stage I witnessed in the shape of The Motive and the Cue at the National Theatre.

Cocaine Bear  
Should have been a great work of supreme bad taste. Settled on being simply bad.

Creed 3   
Good set up squandered by weird crassly metaphoric visually arthouse pretensions in the final fight (and an annoyingly conciliatory ending that wastes a great villain) that undermines all that has gone before.

Elvis 
First film in years I’ve ever walked out of.

Chevalier 

Indiana Jones of the Dial of Destiny 

The Blackening  

Five Nights at Freddy’s 
Horrible film. Equally horrible audience.

Exped4bles

Saltburn 
Never has so much great work been so utterly undone by a horrible and witless last 20 mins.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 
I was tired when I saw this and didn’t try too hard to stop the sleepy dust from settling.

Best Cinema Experience

Nosferatu at Nottingham Contemporary

Blood and Sand-silver nitrate 35mm screening at the National Film Theatre in London

Best Reissue 

Stop Making Sense 
Second time I’ve seen this in a cinema. Pure joy and weird invention. Might be on its way to being a favourite. Certainly, now my favourite concert movie and Jonathan Demme movie.

Enter the Dragon 
Bruce Lee on the big screen is something to behold.

John Carpenter’s Christine 

Most Disappointing Re-issue

Le Mepris  
It’s now official. I don’t like Godard (but I do like Bardot). Our next Punching Up episode ought to be a Godard. I suggest again Bande a Part.

Best Guilty Pleasure

Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance.  Craig Fairbrass is the British Charles Bronson.

Tiger 3   

Saw X

Best Performances

David Lynch (The Fablemans)
Best cameo of the year. Who would have ever thought to cast him as John Ford.

Cate Blanchett (Tar)

Zahra Amir Ebrahimi and Mehdi Bajestani (Holy Spider)

Claire Foy and Jesse Buckley (Women Talking)

Mia Goth (Pearl and Infinity Pool)
Actress of the year for me. There isn’t a performance out there like Pearl. The monologue, the audition dance piece, the rictus grin over the end credits. Add to that her incredible turn in the otherwise disappointing Infinity Pool, utilising her normal posh English baby voice to terrifying effect. The scene where she taunts Alexander Skarsgard at gunpoint while he cowers in a bus is on a par with her work in Pearl.

Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jnr (Oppenheimer)

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling (Barbie)

Gerard Depardieu (Maigret)

Greta Lee, Tao Yoo, John Magaro (Past Lives)

Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall)

Rosamund Pike and Carey Mulligan and Paul Rhys (Saltburn)

Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby (Napoleon)

Tilda Swinton (The Eternal Daughter and The Killer)

Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, Shia Whigham and Marin Ireland (Eileen)
Shia Whigham is my favourite supporting actor of the year.  Marin Ireland also does great work on tv this year in Justified City Primeval.

Penelope Cruz (Ferrari)

Above and Beyond Award
Tobin Bell in Saw X 
I feel that actors that are so good in movies like this are the true deserving recipients of Academy Awards.


So, there you have the Addzies of 2023.

Do you agree? Disagree?

*I loathed this film by the way.

All emails or comments will be forwarded on to him for him to retort.

Here’s to 2024, y’all. Let’s punch up together.

Be good, be gentle and remember:
“In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities.
In the expert’s mind, there are few”
Zen master, Shunryu Suzuki (1904-1971)

THE MOVIE MUSINGS’ FAVOURITE FILMS OF 2023


2023 was a mixed bag. I saw 186 films during the year.
There were a lot of old films, the oldest being made in 1931 (Frankenstein).
I finally got round to watching for the first time: Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960), De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948), Brook’s The Producers (1968), Levinson’s Diner (1982) and Kurosawa’s Ran (1985) and I loved them all (except for parts of Diner).

I saw Raging Bull in 4K at the cinema and there were a tonne of rewatches, highlights being Cape Fear (1991), J.S.A. Joint Security Area (2000), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Wages of Fear (1953), Angel Heart (1987), The Consequences of Love (2004), Memories of Murder (2003), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), State of Grace (1990), Kundun (1997) and I saw The Wicker Man-The Final Cut (1973) in December. All in all a top film watching year.

This year my top 17 came from South Korea, Japan, Denmark, France, Finland, Ireland and the U.K., Australia and America.

The list below is in no hierarchical order of quality or preference.
They are merely in the order that I saw them throughout the year.
Each of the films I loved for different reasons and this list reflects that.

So, here goes……..


JOHN WICK 4
In March 2023 I saw John Wick 4 at a screening on a huge screen at Event Cinemas, George St in Sydney that I had been kindly invited to by Studio Canal, the Australian distributors of the film and I had SO much fun. So much so, that when it was released proper a few weeks later I went to the cinema again to revisit the ride. And at 10 minutes shy of a 3 hour running time, that’s impressive.
So good, I saw it twice.
Check my review out HERE.


MONSTER
The latest film from Japanese director, Kore-eda Hirozaku is a film about the information we receive and how we fill in the blanks to end up with a conclusion that is wrong more than it is right.
I saw it at the Sydney Film Festival and loved it. I was a big fan of the director’s previous work, Shoplifters and this one was thought provoking and moving.
Monster is beautiful, tender and unfolds with skill and depth.


REALITY
Sydney Sweeney is a top actor. As Cassie in the excellent Euphoria she manages to display an insecurity and vulnerability that we rarely see so well played and in The White Lotus Season 1 she imbues Olivia, an entitled girl, a humanity that we would not have gotten from a lesser performer. She was nominated for both of these roles at the Emmys in 2022.
In 2023, she became the brand ambassador for everyone, made this indie film (Reality) based on a play, based on the transcript of the F.B.I. interrogation of the American Intelligence Agent, Reality Leigh Winner and a Christmas rom com that is doing well at the box office.
Here, she brings a layered take in a brilliant film about truth, deception and national security. 
This is a tense thriller that runs in at 82 minutes and takes you on a journey that unearths the feelings many have about national security and what the public should be aware of. Well worth a watch.
So good I saw it twice.


COBWEB
This was a joyous farce. A film about the making of a film within the film. One of my favourite actors Song Sang-ho stars as the director Kim who dreams that his recently finished film will become a masterpiece if only he can film the ending again to make it perfect. Comic absurdity follows as he tries to navigate 1970s South Korean Government Film censors, need and emotional actors, the studio head who hasn’t given him permission to film the extra days and his own (maybe justified) insecurities.
So good I saw it twice.
Read my review HERE.


TALK TO ME
The best, most original and entertaining horror film of 2023. Made by a couple of Australian brothers, Michael and Danny Philippou AKA YouTubers, Rakka Rakka.
This film about grief and the ‘other side’ was scary, well acted and became the horror film of the year. Check my review out HERE.


SISU
Visceral, satisfying and violent. An absolute romp. 
The killing of Nazis has never been so enjoyable.


SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE
The sequel to the excellent Into the Spider-Verse brings us more, much more.
So. Many. Spider-Mens. And Women’s.
Smart, beautifully realised and maybe the best animated action film of the year.


BARBIE
I didn’t do a review of this because everyone has said EVERYTHING about it already. Brief thoughts; this film was so much more important than it seemed. A Barbie movie that very smartly and succinctly commented on feminism, the patriarchy and the status quo in a way that was never preachy, mean or lacking a massive sense of humour. Absolutely brilliant.
Maybe my favourite film of the year.
So good I saw it twice.


BOTTOMS
So much anarchic merriment. Two high school loser lesbians start a fight club to meet girls. The teen romp that we didn’t know we needed. Starring Rachel Sennott (who also co-wrote it) and Ayo Edibiri (so so good in The Bear, one of my favourite tv shows of the year), this film isn’t afraid to have heart and stupidity playing at the same time. Brilliant.


PAST LIVES
Greta Lee is wonderful. Here, she gets to play the lead in the best romantic film of the year directed by first timer, Celine Song, a film that bypasses all of the usual tropes and delivers an emotionally intelligent, honest take on a ‘could they’, ‘would they’, ‘should they’ romance.
So good I saw it twice.


TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM
I think I may have enjoyed this more than the Spider outing. But only just. I definitely laughed out loud a lot by myself in the cinema. The first Turtles film I have ever seen and the only one I need to. The voice cast has heaps of fun with the teen toitles this time actually played by teens and having actual chemistry that brings a massive heart to the film.
Jackie Chan has a blast as Splinter, Ayo Edibiri gives humour, comic timing and dimension to April O’ Neil and Ice Cube probably has the time of his life playing the villain, Superfly.
Hands down, the best needle drops of the year with M.O.P.’s Ante Up, De La Soul’s Eye Know, O.D.B.’s Shimmy Shimmy Ya and A Tribe Called Quest’s Can I Kick It?
Absolute quality.


ANATOMY OF A FALL
The best courtroom film we have seen for many years. This drama about the death of a father and husband at a chalet at the foot of the French alps that leads to the mother being accused of his murder is a masterclass in acting especially from Sandra Hüller, who is magnificent.


THE BOY AND THE HERON
When this was announced 5 years or so ago I bought the book, How Do You Live by Genzaburo Yoshino that it was going to be based on. The book is lovely and when I read that the film would be VERY loosely based on it, I was a touch disappointed but when I finally saw the film, I rejoiced. It is pure Miyazaki, his greatest hits and if it really is his final bow, it’s an incredible one.
Strange, beautiful, touching and magical. 


POOR THINGS
There are very few, if any, film-makers like Yorgos Lanthimos. He evokes Terry Gilliam’s set design and strangeness in this Emma Stone-athon. She is utterly fabulous and free in this strange Frankenstein-like tale of a young woman discovering the world and all its joys and despairs.
Who else out there would commit like Stone did? Willem Dafoe is an acting God, Facts!!!! and Mark Ruffallo gives the best man-child performance of many a year. Surreal and sublime.


GODZILLA MINUS ONE
The Zilla film I have been waiting for. Finally, they understood that the sight of Kaiju mashing up the town, city or world is nothing without the human, the acting and the heart elements.
Here, we get the Godzilla film we deserve. 


LEAVE THEM ALL BEHIND
This was a late contender as I only watched it on the 28th December and really wished that I had gone to the cinema to see it. Netflix only gave us a week to see int on the big screen, I think.
Hey Netflix. Not good enough!!! 
The film that brings ALL the conspiracy theories together and chills you to the bone. Written and directed by Mr Robot’s Sam Esmail this film is helped along by a great script, top actors; Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, Myha’la and Kevin Bacon, and a wonderfully ominous and eerie musical score by Mac Quayle. Tension at its finest. Quality apocalyptic fare.


HOLY SPIDER
A serial killer film that is brutal, gritty, tense and has something to say about society.
Set in Mashhad, a holy city in Iran and based on an actual killer from the early 2000s, this takes you on an ugly journey directed by Ali Abbas, who directed the last two episodes of the excellent video game HBO adaptation of The Last of Us earlier in the year. 
Maybe a Holy Spider/Barbie double bill?????? Holy Barber, Batman.

And that’s the list. 2023 in a bag. I missed a few, I saw a few.
Let me know your favourites in the comments. It’d be lovely to hear from you other movie lovers.

Happy 2024. May it be filled with the best of movies, joy, happiness and creative satisfaction.