In 2009 I learned about my friend's habit of logging every movie he watched into an annual list. Starting mid-year, I took up this task and recorded every feature-length film I viewed. Not long after that, I was introduced to Steven Soderbergh's "media diet," which inspired me to expand my list and include novels and TV series. In addition are the stats on most-viewed directors, as well as my lists for top releases of the year, top new discoveries, and least favorite overall.
Only full viewings are included.
KEY:
Asterisk*: Repeat viewings
Bold: TV series (season)
Underline: books
2023 Media Diet
January
1. The Sound of Music (Wise, 1965)
2. Dual (Stearns, 2022)
3. Cobra Verde (Herzog, 1987)
4. White Noise (Baumbach, 2022)
5. Ticket to Paradise (Parker, 2022)
6. Lost in America (Brooks, 1985)
7. Hardcore (Schrader, 1979)
8. Clueless (Heckerling, 1995)
9. An Actor’s Revenge (Kon Ichikawa, 1963)
10. Kenji Miyazawa’s Night on the Galactic Railway (Gisaburô Sugii, 1985)
*11. Without Warning (Iscove, 1994)
12. 1900 (Bertolucci, 1976)
13. The Menu (Mylod, 2022)
*14. Robocop 2 (Kershner, 1990)
*15. Tampopo (Jûzô Itami, 1985)
16. The Fabelmans (Spielberg, 2022)
17. Lenny (Fosse, 1974)
18. Bamboozled (Lee, 2000)
19. Elvis (Luhrmann, 2022)
February
20. Dressed in Blue (Rico, 1983)
21. The Quiet Girl (Bairéad, 2022)
22. Rumble Fish (Coppola, 1983)
23. The Round-Up (Jancsó, 1966)
24. Waves (Schults, 2019)
25. Bodies Bodies Bodies (Reijn, 2022)
*26. Brick (Johnson, 2005)
*27. Shaolin Soccer (Chow, 2001)
28. EO (Skolimowski, 2022)
29. Smile (Finn, 2022)
30. The Red and the White (Jancsó, 1967)
31. Cosmos (Zulawski, 2015)
32. The McPherson Tape (Alioto, 1989)
32. Babylon (Chazelle, 2022)
33. Nitram (Kurzel, 2021)
34. The Confrontation (Jancsó, 1969)
March
35. Suburban Commando (Kennedy, 1991)
36. Winter Wind (Jancsó, 1969)
37. School of Rock (Linklater, 2003)
38. Edge of Seventeen (Craig, 2016)
The War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells, 1898)
39. The Brainiac (Urueta, 1962)
40. Tragedy Girls (MacIntyre, 2017)
*41. 5 Centimeters per Second (Makoto Shinkai, 2007)
42. Red Psalm (Jancsó, 1972)
43. The Day It Came to Earth (Thomason, 1977)
44. Detention (Kahn, 2011)
45. 22 Jump Street (Miller, 2014)
46. Werewolves Within (Ruben, 2021)
47. Beyond the Mat (Blaustein, 1999)
48. Piranhas (Giovannesi, 2019)
49. But I’m A Cheerleader (Babbit, 1999)
April
50. The Hatchet Man (Wellman, 1932)
*51. Mean Girls (Waters, 2004)
52. FernGully: The Last Rainforest (Kroyer, 1992)
53. All Cheerleaders Die (McKee, 2013)
54. Cats (Hooper, 2019)
55. The Fox and the Hound (Berman, 1981)
56. Malena (Tornatore, 2000)
57. 24 Hour Party People (Winterbottom, 2002)
58. Luxembourg, Luxembourg (Lukich, 2022)
59. World War III (Seyyedi, 2022)
60. Blue Jean (Oakley, 2022)
61. Manticore (Vermut, 2022)
62. Mami Wata (Obasi, 2023)
63. Tommy Guns (Conceição, 2022)
64. Showing Up (Reichardt, 2022)
65. The Land Before Time (Bluth, 1988)
66. The Ref (Demme, 1994)
67. How To Blow Up A Pipeline (Goldhaber, 2022)
68. Electra, My Love (Jancsó, 1974)
69. Hellzapoppin’ (Potter, 1941)
70. Aftersun (Wells, 2022)
Rogue Male (Household, 1939)
*71. Coraline (Selick, 2009)
May
72. The Slumber Party Massacre (Jones, 1982)
73. Slumber Party Massacre II (Brock, 1987)
74. Infinity Pool (Cronenberg, 2023)
75. Runaway Train (Konchalovskiy, 1985)
76. The Return of Martin Guerre (Vigne, 1982)
*77. Possession (Zulawski, 1981)
78. To the Ends of the Earth (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2018)
79. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (Stahelski, 2019)
80. Delirious (Mankiewicz, 1991)
81. Hidden Agenda (Loach, 1990)
92. Happy End (Haneke, 2017)
93. Beau is Afraid (Aster, 2023)
94. Project X (Kaplan, 1987)
95. Mad Love (Zulawski, 1985)
96. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Horvath, 2023)
97. Inherit the Wind (Kramer, 1960)
June
98. Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 (Shinji Aramaki, 1987)
*99. Wings of Desire (Wenders, 1987)
100. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Dos Santos, 2023)
101. Tarzan the Ape Man (Van Dyke, 1932)
102. Barbara (Petzold, 2012)
*103. Dunston Checks In (Kwapis, 1995)
104. Faraway, So Close! (Wenders, 1993)
105. Rollerball (Jewison, 1975)
106. Run Silent, Run Deep (Wise, 1958)
107. O Fantasma (Rodrigues, 2000)
108. Screamers (Duguay, 1995)
109. Shadows and Fog (Allen, 1991)
110. Control (Corbijn, 2007)
111. Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (Junta Yamaguchi, 2020)
*112. World on a Wire (Fassbinder, 1973)
July
113. To Die Like A Man (Rodrigues, 2009)
114. Lured (Sirk, 1947)
115. This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection (Mosese, 2019)
116. A Special Day (Scola, 1977)
117. The Ornithologist (Rodrigues, 2016)
118. Fantasia (Algar, 1940)
119. Asteroid City (Anderson, 2023)
*120. Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack (Takayuki Hirao, 2012)
121. Avatar 2 (Cameron, 2022)
122. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Gunn, 2023)
123. They Cloned Tyrone (Taylor, 2023)
*124. Natural Born Killers (Stone, 1994)
August
125. Barbie (Gerwig, 2023)
126. The Wiz (Lumet, 1978)
*127. Lady in the Lake (Montgomery, 1946)
128. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (Øvredal, 2023)
129. The Sleeping City (Sherman, 1950)
*130. The Killing (Kubrick, 1956)
131. Hard Times (Hill, 1975)
132. Oppenheimer (Nolan, 2023)
September
133. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Mangold, 2023)
134. The Flash (Muschietti, 2023)
*135 The Quick and the Dead (Raimi, 1995)
*136. The Midnight Meat Train (Kitamura, 2008)
*137. Highlander (Mulcahy, 1986)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (Hideaki Anno, 1995)
138. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (Anno, 1997)
139. Weekend (Haigh, 2011)
October
140. Sadako vs Kayako (Shiraishi, 2016)
141. The Toxic Avenger (Herz, 1984)
142. The Scapular (González, 1968)
143. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Mankiewicz, 1947)
144. The Black Phone (Derrickson, 2021)
145. Candyman (DaCosta, 2021)
146. Wolf (Nichols, 1994)
147. The Uninvited (Allen, 1944)
*148. House on Haunted Hill (Malone, 1999)
*149. The Serpent and the Rainbow (Craven, 1988)
150. El Conde (Larrain, 2023)
151. The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (Argento, 1970)
152. The Cat o’Nine Tails (Argento, 1971)
1Q84 (Haruki Murakami, 2009)
*153. Zombi 2 (Fulci, 1979)
154. The Legend of Hell House (Hough, 1973)
155. Sweet Home (Kiyoushi Kurosawa, 1989)
156. Black Christmas (Morgan, 2006)
157. The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Barilli, 1974)
*158. The Exorcist III (Blatty, 1990)
*159. The Grudge (Takashi Shimizu, 2004)
160. Ghosthouse (Lenzi, 1988)
*161. Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997)
162. X (West, 2022)
163. Pearl (West, 2022)
November
164. Holy Spider (Abbasi, 2022)
165. Demonia (Fulci, 1990)
166. The Unholy Three (Browning, 1925)
167. Nine Days (Oda, 2020)
168. Killers of the Flower Moon (Scorsese, 2023)
169. The Invisible Man (Whannell, 2022)
170. The Time of Their Lives (Barton, 1946)
*171. The Ghost and the Darkness (Hopkins, 1996)
172. Awakenings (Marshall, 1990)
173. Anatomy of a Fall (Triet, 2023)
174. The Lawnmower Man (Leonard, 1992)
175. Utu (Murphy, 1983)
176. La Llorona (Bustamante, 2019)
177. Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (Hiroyuki Kobayashi, 2021)
*178. Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995)
179. Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (Mamoru Oshii, 2004)
*180. White Material (Denis, 2009)
181. Master Gardener (Schrader, 2022)
182. The Horse’s Mouth (Neame, 1958)
183. Godzilla Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki, 2023)
184. Past Lives (Song, 2023)
185. Return to Seoul (Chou, 2022)
December
*186. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000)
*187. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai, 2004)
188. Dream Scenario (Borgli, 2023)
189. Broadcast News (Brooks, 1972)
*190. The Frighteners (Jackson, 1996)
191. Days of Being Wild (Wong Kar-wai, 1990)
192. Rouge (Kwan, 1987)
193. Home for the Holidays (Moxey, 1972)
194. When Evil Lurks (Ragna, 2023)
195. May December (Haynes, 2023)
196. The Doom Generation (Araki, 1995)
197. The Killer (Fincher, 2023)
198. Suzume (Makoto Shinkai, 2022)
199. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (McQuarrie, 2023)
200. The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki, 2023)
201. Rye Lane (Allen-Miller, 2023)
202. The Creator (Edwards, 2023)
203. Sick of Myself (Borgli, 2022)
*204. Seoul Station (Sang-ho Yeon, 2016)
205. Poor Things (Lanthimos, 2023)
*206. The Brood (Cronenberg, 1979)
207. Peninsula (Yeon Sang-ho, 2020)
FIVE FAVORITE NEW RELEASES (in alphabetical order)
Poor Things - A kaleidoscopic odyssey across familiar civilizations but stripped to its naked philosophy and colored with deadpan ridiculousness.
Return to Seoul - A stark examination of individual identity, across time and nations, juxtaposing the ease of modern communication against emotional disconnection.
Tommy Guns - Mysticism and magic compliment the brutal consequences of generational war and the manipulation from perpetual machismo.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Anatomy of a Fall
Manticore
Dream Scenario
Boy and the Heron
Suzume
Rye Lane
FIVE FAVORITE NON-NEW RELEASES (in alphabetical order)
Electra My Love - Poetic folklore blends a transcendent message of revolution with radiant eastern-European culture dress, choreography, and metaphors.
O Fantasma - A quiet confrontation of eyes and expressions which speak more deeply than words, this outsider’s journey transverses the chorale howl of urban wildlife and the grain of 90’s existential survival.
The Return of Martin Guerre - A bygone civilization of sun-bleached set pieces and sweaty lifestyles establishes a fresh procedural dilemma full of surprises without dependence on character tropes.
The Unholy Three - Immersed in dark themes and deafening suspense, the playful use of text and sound effects elevate the emotional impact until its devastating conclusion.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Bamboozled
Lenny
To Die Like A Man
Kenji Miyazawa’s Night on the Galactic Railway
Detention
Hellzapoppin’
Aftersun
Fantasia
Holy Spider
The Doom Generation
Sick of Myself
FIVE LEAST-FAVORITE FILMS (in alphabetical order)
The Brainiac - Throwaway characters and laughable costumes overshadowed by a spontaneous flame thrower that should have roasted all prints of this mundane talkie.
Cosmos - A meandering, stuffy vomit of dialogue dribbling down empty walls in lifeless locations.
The Day It Came To Earth - Misogynist teenage cliches and amateur acting are all mercifully lost within the underexposed abyss of bad lighting
The Lawnmower Man - Shameless theft from a Stephen King short story for an offensive mess with the most clueless special effect representations of technology.
Nine Days - An unsatisfying regurgitation of a popular abstract cliche, with formulaic characters and unearned melodrama that remind us why you don’t give film students a budget.
DISHONORABLE MENTIONS
Cats
The Last Voyage of the Demeter
STATS:
Movies: 207
Books: 3
TV shows/seasons: 1
Most viewed directors:
Miklos Jancsó 6
João Pedro Rodrigues 3
If anyone can find a typo/misspelling, please report for credit.
