FILMS I MISSED: 2023 EDITION

2023 has come and gone and at the year's twilight it comes time for me do my annual list of the films I didn't get to watch this year. The criteria of this list is as follow...

1. The films must have been released in a cinema. Not to be used as a slight against films released via streaming or direct-to-video but I feel like that if I have access to a film then just haven't gotten round to watching it then I'm not missing it. Especially if it's on a streaming service I can't access. Also if the film was released in cinemas and had a streaming release down the line, then same thing falls on them. 2. Must have been released in the United Kingdom. Release schedules get confusing if the film isn't a big blockbuster, sometimes they get released months after it's original release in it's country of origin or released a year later. Confounding this also is how a lot of prestige films get released in the UK around January which muddled things even further. That's the criteria out of the way, now let's look at the following films I missed this year.

ANATOMY OF A FALL

Well let's start off with an acclaimed film from France that's getting all the prestige awards buzz that I didn't get to see. It looks good seems to be going in a Rashomon direction with it's storytelling. Wished I got to see it. But it wasn't on my radar, but after hearing all the praise now I got to seek out this film out.

BEAU IS AFRAID

Ari Aster's follow up to Midsommar and Hereditary look weird and scary, but the nearly three hour runtime put me off. I haven't got anything against long movies, I liked Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon, but the weirdness might've been too much to contend with in a long sitting and, like a lot of films on this list, there were other films I wanted to see at the time.

BLACKBERRY

Recently this year there was a spew of movies about the making of brands or products. Ben Affleck directed, Air the movie about the making of Air Jordans and how they got Michael Jordan to sign on to the endorsement and Apple TV+'s Tetris movie with Taron Edgerton which is about the eventful origins of the video game, this film from Canada looked interesting but I never got round to it. Looked good though with a good cast of actors and having it be based around Canada which is a change of pace from American based films.

BOTTOMS

This film's release was a bit confusing to keep track of it was released in August in the United States, originally going to be a Prime Video film but then got a cinema release in the UK in November but by then there other films I wanted to see by then. I think the film looked good, Emma Seligman's follow up to Shiva Baby looked off the hook and most importantly funny.

DREAM SCENARIO

I wanted to see this with somebody else, but they were sick and later busy so I didn't get to watch this. The film looks very charming and I'm always ready for Nicolas Cage and this film is also another Ari Aster related project I missed out on this year. Strange

INFINITY POOL

Brandon Cronenberg's follow up to Possessor looked to be more off-kilter and strange than that film. Mia Goth seems to be on a great run of horror films and she seems to be good in this. I didn't get to see this due to the mass release of Oscar films around the time of release.

PAST LIVES

I had a holiday in America when this came out in the United Kingdom so I didn't get to see this beautiful looking film. I heard a lot of good things about this, wished I did see it. I think I would've been misty eyed in the cinema.

STRAYS

As a youngster I loved talking animal movies. Didn't care about the quality, didn't know what quality was but I was fond of them and this R-rated riff on the genre with Will Ferrell was right up my ally. Again, lots of other films took priority so I didn't get to see it, but I would've been giving a hefty laugh.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM

Lots of good animated stuff came out this year. Films, TV, online, etc. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is one of those projects getting those flowers, but I didn't watch the film because I'm not big on the whole TMNT brand. But I should give this a chance the animation looks good and has a good looking, or sounding, cast.

THE PEASANTS

Another animated film I missed because it wasn't released near me but it caught my eye because it's made by the same people who did Loving Vincent which I loved. The film was also made during the war in Ukraine, with blackouts effecting production, which really shows an amazing effort that people put into this film. It also looked good.