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2023 Year In Review: Film

What do people want to see in the cinema?

Note: I have not seen Barbie, Oppenheimer, Aquaman 2, or The Marvels, so I can’t comment on those.

  1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
  2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
  3. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
  4. John Wick 4
  5. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
  6. The Flash
  7. The Creator

GOTGV3 literally had me sobbing one minute and laughing the other, and that’s not an exaggeration. I’m sure that the change in mood was not much more than a minute or two. That’s Gunn’s superpower, the ability to not only tell a compelling story, but his interpersonal relationships are so believable and real. Within mere moments I’m attached to the characters in his films and if one of them passes after a scant few minutes of screen time I find myself ugly crying. Never mind that the story itself was excellent and that the action was enthralling, GOTGv3 just hits on all cylinders.

When people say that the public is getting tired of comic book movies I point to this film. Yes, the ROI on comic book films may not be what it once was, but I think that what we’ve seen over the last few years is too much quantity and not enough quality (I’m looking at you, Black Adam). So no, people aren’t done with comic book movies, they’re done with mediocre comic book movies.

Case in point: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, another excellent comic book movie from this past year that made plenty of money.

As to anything to do with Sony’s animated Spider-Verse, I am all in. Both of the films thus far have been excellent. Yeah, they take a little longer to produce, but if quality of this nature takes time, so be it. These films definitely give the Marvel-helmed, Sony-released, Tom Holland Spidey films a real run for their money, and we have a third one yet to come (when? TBD).

There is so much attention to detail in this movie, just like its predecessor. Notice how whenever the focus of the film changes the animation style also changes.

And kudos to Sony Animation for having the balls to start the movie with Spider-Gwen before switching over to who everyone assumed was the star of the film, Miles Morales, which, he is, but it was a fun bait-and-switch to begin the film. Sometimes when a film is this strong it just makes sense when all the money comes pouring in.

What didn’t make sense, to me, was the tepid response to the latest Indiana Jones film. I saw it, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and yes, it was 100% an Indy film and fits nicely amongst the original trilogy. The fact that …Kingdom… has somehow made more money that this fifth and final film blows my mind. Yes, I get that Lucas and Spielberg worked on the fourth film and replaced the Nazis with Communists, and honestly, I have no issue with bringing in sci-fi to reflect the 50s aesthetic of that film, but for me, despite the fan pandering of going back to Nazis as the bad guys yet again, this film has all the hallmarks of a classic Indiana Jones film. I loved it, but apparently I am in the minority on this one.

There’s not much more to be said for what is apparently the final John Wick film; if you liked the first three, you’ll like this one. I did, and (SPOILER ALERT) if it happens to truly be the end of the character, it’s a fitting ending (even though we already know we’ll see him again in The Ballerina when it comes out in 2024, though that film takes place in between these other Wick films).

As to Ant-Man… and The Flash, I liked them, I thought they were good, not great, and as I said, ultimately, I enjoyed them. Lots of people like to slam on them online, and yeah, both should be noted for some of the shoddy SFX in their respective films, but man, if Ezra Miller wasn’t apparently a shitty person they should definitely be considered for some sort of acting award for his portrayal of the two Barrys from alternate timelines. Sadly, their offscreen antics have poisoned the well and this film suffered for it (and maybe that’s how it should be).

Paul Rudd is not a shitty person as far as I can tell, and yet his film also struggled (see above about shoddy SFX work). Was it great? Nope, but I don’t expect great when it comes to Ant-Man/Wasp films, I just expect popcorn entertainment. In that light, I thought this was by far the best of the Ant-Man/Wasp films, but the box office does not reflect that.

Lastly, I just wanted to note that I really wanted to love The Creator, but oof, I didn’t. The film looks fantastic, even with the more modest budget compared to other blockbusters ($80mil is a lot to you and me, but not so much when it comes to tentpoles). The story, such that it is, comes across a bit like a child playing with action figures at home: this cool thing happens, oh, and this cool thing happens, oh, OH!, and then THIS other really cool thing happens. A bit of editing and script tightening would have done wonders for this film. Still, it’s a valiant attempt. The ideas are great, the visualizations are awesome, and the fact that this was an original story instead of a sequel or adaptation earns it major points in my book, but man, it’s THE STORY, stupid.

© 2024 Michael A. Diaz

Up next 2023 Year In Review: Music, part 01 of 02 For the most part these are mainly albums that came out in 2023, but there are a few that came out previously that I only just discovered in 2023, Who Wants to Watch Me Open Boxes of Comics on YouTube? Several weeks ago I started a video blog wherein I chronicle myself opening boxes of comics that I began ordering back in 2020 and yet remained
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