Top 10 Films of 2023

In my 2022 round-up, I tentatively asked if movies were back. In 2023, movies were back in a way I never saw coming. Last year, my favorite movie of the year was a film I think only 16 people have seen. This year, for the first time in my life, my favorite film is the frontrunner to win the Best Picture Oscar. How in the world did we get here?

Top 10 Films of 2022

Are movies “back”? Are studios allowed to stop blaming COVID for keeping people away from theaters? Was 2022 an encapsulation of where cinema is today? 

I’ll answer with a soft Yes to all of the above. I think 2022 was a far better year in film than the last two, and I’ll admit that the strength of this year gives me hope for 2023. 

Favorite Films of 2007

It just dawned on me that I began this blog in September 2007 (wow does time fly) and while I spend more of my movie time on my podcast, I thought it be fun to circle all the way back to my (refined) list of the best movies released in 2007. 

Favorite Romantic Comedies

I love highlighting intense films. Movies that are emotionally brutal, devastating, gut-wrenching, you get it. I’ve done that for years on this blog, and now continue to do on my podcast. Because I tend to focus so much on the films that capture the dark sides of human nature, it’s fun to occasionally do a complete 180 and discuss a handful of films that bring pure joy. 

The Departed Commentary

The two things I miss most about blogging regularly is, first and foremost, being able to engage with the wonderful readers in the comment section (hi!), and the other is drafting my No One Talks About posts.

The No One Talks About posts take a long time to research and write, but now that Blogger has destroyed their interface and made it absurdly complex to post content with a lot of pictures, I’ve all but abandoned that very fun blog series.

Top 10 Films of 2021

We made it through another year of pandemic cinema. In general, I think the industry found its footing a little better following a disastrous 2020 movie year. Here are some of my favorites I saw in 2021. What were some of your favorite movies from last year? 

Favorite A24 Films

When I started podcasting in July 2020, I promised myself that I wouldn’t let this blog fall off. But it only took me a few weeks to learn that podcasting and blogging with equal weight is not something I can sustain. 

The main downside to this is that I’m not regularly talking to the many amazing people I’ve met on this blog. People whose movie opinions I highly respect. 

Top 10 Films of 2020

Who could have guessed that when we sat down in the theater to watch The Invisible Man, or Bad Boys 3, or The Lodge, that it would be the last time we would set foot in a movie theater in 2020? While COVID kept theaters closed and pushed the release dates of several notable films, there was some movie gold to be found. Below are the 10 films I liked best from the mad-shit year that was 2020.

Top 58 Things I Love About The Wrestler (that no one talks about)

Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler is one of my favorite character studies of the last 15 years. It remains my favorite film of 2008, and one of my favorites of that decade. And while this may be Aronofsky’s most realistic and grounded film, there’s still a lot to explore here. I recently talked about this movie on my podcast (link at the bottom of this post!), and I thought it’d be fun to share some of my thoughts here as well.

Top 10 Films of the 2010s

Well it’s about damn time I post my top 10 of the 2010 decade. Pro tip: Recording and editing your own podcast takes up a shit load of personal time. But I told myself when I started that podcast that I wouldn’t neglect this blog and my followers’ blogs. So, apologies for the brief absence, but I’m so excited to see what everyone has been writing lately.

On to the list. I should have published this in January, but the good news is that these movies will never get old, to me anyway. I remember the first time I saw each of these movies so vividly; a few of them even changed how I approach my own filmmaking. This was a good decade for film, perhaps not as influential as the two decades prior, but a solid 10 years for films all the same. Here were my favorites, and if you posted your list and I missed it, please let me know so I can check it out!

Podcast: What Are You Watching?

Well, it looks like I’m just another asshole who started a movie podcast. For two years, my best friend and filmmaking partner, Nick Dostal, has been on my ass about starting a film podcast. I rejected the idea for all the obvious reasons, market saturation and time commitment being two major ones. But my biggest drawback was that I didn’t want Nick and I to just talk about how cool movies are. If we were going to talk movies, then we were going to talk about the genuine emotion we feel toward them.

Why is Terminator 2 one of Nick’s Top 10 Films of All Time? Why will I weep every time I watch Phantom Thread? Sure, we love these movies as movies, but beyond that, these films and countless others have touched us deeply, for incredibly personal reasons. So, my number one rule for the podcast was that we always tell the truth. And if Nick and I ever have something personal to say about a movie we love, then we should seriously consider disclosing it.

Oscars Breakdown: Best Actor

The only issue with watching every movie that has won an Oscar for acting, Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay is that by the time I’m ready to actually write about the category, I’m burnt the hell out. I apologize for the delay with this post, and promise the remaining Oscar posts will come much sooner. I hope you enjoy my thoughts on Best Actor, and please share yours as well!

Oscars Breakdown: Best Actress

I’ve been taking a little blogging break because, hell, I don’t know, it seems weird to write about movies when so many American streets look like fucking war zones. I’ve found a little comfort among the chaos by diving into old Oscar flicks. Please feel free to share your thoughts, and please be safe out there, wherever “there” is.

Oscars Breakdown: Best Director

My Oscar binge continues, this time with thoughts on every Best Director Oscar. Best Director and Best Picture have gone to different films 26 times in Oscar history, and I was interested to find that I far prefer the Best Director winners.

Please enjoy my thoughts and the trivia below, and be sure to share any opinions you have about these races as well!

Oscars Breakdown: Best Picture

I’m been making use of my COVID-19 quarantine the best way I know how, by watching a ton of movies and writing about them.

When I was a teenager, I watched every movie that won the Oscar for Best Picture, and when the pandemic hit, I figured I’d try to watch as many additional Oscar movies as possible, just for the hell. Below are thoughts on every Best Picture winner, along with tons of fun trivia. Other category breakdowns will follow soon!