Tag / Ghosted

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2023: The Year In Movies

The return of my annual long December vacation helped push a healthy increase in movie watching for me, with my highest total since the lockdown in 2019.  I managed to watch 88 movies last year, my third consecutive year under 100, despite being home all day and not needing to bother with pesky things like a commute.  Or exercise.  The extended WGA and SAG strikes limiting new output probably didn’t help either.

Here’s a look back at the first 50 movies I watched last year and what recollection, if any, I have of them. The films are listed in the order I saw them.

Luckiest Girl Alive (2022)
Mila Kunis stars as a woman who sees her life start to unravel when she is faced with a years-old trauma.

Do Revenge (2022)
Two high school girls decide to trade off and get revenge on each other’s bully.

Orphan: First Kill (2022)
A long-delayed sequel to the 2009 horror film.

Margaux (2022)
A smart house sets its targets on a group of friends who have rented it for the weekend.

American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules (2020)
The latest sequel to the comedy hit flips the script and has a trio of girls looking to lose their virginity before graduation.

Sick (2022)
Two friends quarantine at a lake house, but they quickly find out they are not alone.

The Menu (2022)
A chef prepares his final meal, taking out his frustrations on his diners on the way out.

Death on the Nile (2022)
Hercule Poirot takes on another case, based on the Agatha Christie novel.

Unhuman (2022)
A bus full of high school students try to survive after a crash leaves them vulnerable to an attacker.

Shotgun Wedding (2023)
A destination wedding goes off the rails when the wedding party is held hostage. Continue reading →

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You Ought To Be In (11) Pictures

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 107 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of July 1.

We continue today with the fourteen actors that have starred in exactly 11 movies that I have seen, up one from 3 years ago.

Kevin Bacon

Our first newcomer of the week, Bacon first showed up on my screen prior to the start of my database, either with 1988’s She’s Having a Baby or 1991’s He Said, She Said.  After that, he showed up in spurts, with two films each in 1996, 1998, and 2001.  He laid fallow for 17 years before returning in 2018 with 2017’s Patriots Day.  His eleventh, and most recent appearance, came earlier this year in 2020’s You Should Have Left.

Halle Berry

Berry moves up, having racked up starring roles in four different decades now.  I first saw Berry in 1992’s Boomerang, which I saw in a screening at Stewart Center at school.  After notching five films during the 2000’s, she had a seven-year quiet period before returning to my screen in 2020 with John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.  Her most recent film that I’ve seen was last year’s Moonfall.

Jim Carrey

There has been no change for Carrey since I last encountered him back in 2009, when I saw the previous year’s Yes Man.

Jennifer Connelly

As a 16-year-old in the spring of 1991, I fell in love with Jennifer Connelly thanks to the ads for Career Opportunities, which is very likely the first film of hers that I saw.  2000 was my most prolific Jennifer Connelly year, when I saw a whopping two movies starring her, followed by pretty consistent appearances throughout the decade.  After a thirteen-year absence, she returned to my screen in a starring role last year alongside Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick.

Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig first appeared on my radar in a starring role in 2007, when I watched his initial outing as James Bond in Casino Royale.  I had two three-year mini-streaks, with films in 2007 through 2009 and 2011 through 2013.  His two most recent appearances both came in 2022, thanks to the two franchises that account for seven of his eleven films: 2021’s No Time To Die, his final film appearance as James Bond, and 2022’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, his second go-around as Benoit Blanc.

Chris Evans

Chris Evans first appeared on my screen in 2002 thanks to the previous year’s Not Another Teen Movie and has been a pretty steady presence ever since.  In 2011, he debuted as Captain America in Captain America: The First Avenger and picked up an additional five films for the remainder of the decade, ending with his final appearance in Avengers: End Game in 2019.  His most recent appearance came earlier this year in Ghosted.

Hugh Grant Continue reading →

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FOX Upfronts

For the second straight year, FOX has shifted their game plan, abandoning their single camera comedies and, instead, moving closer ideologically with its sister news network.  The end result is a fall schedule with only one show that interests me, and even that 9 unwatched episodes from this season still sitting on my DVR.

Monday has two returning shows, The Resident and 9-1-1, which didn’t pull me in last year.  The Gifted, based on Marvel’s X-Men characters, moves to Tuesdays, followed by a revamped Lethal Weapon.  Wednesday’s lineup remains consistent, with Empire followed by Star.

Thursdays get turned over to the NFL, as the much-reviled game moves over from CBS.  Friday has the revival of Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing and The Cool Kids, about a group of friends in a retirement community, followed by Hell’s Kitchen.  Sunday’s animated block remains mostly the same, with a new comedy, REL, closing off the night.

The second season of The Orville will return to Thursday after the NFL season.  Gotham will also appear at some point for its final season.  Also on tap for mid-season are The Passage, a post-apocalyptic thriller starring Mark-Paul Gosselar, Proven Innocent, a legal drama from Danny Strong, and the return of Cosmos.

Gone and mostly forgotten are Brooklyn Nine-Nine (which was saved by NBC), The Exorcist, Ghosted, Kicking & Screaming, The Last Man On Earth, LA To Vegas, Lucifer, The Mick, New Girl, Superhuman, Wayward Pines, and The X-Files.

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FOX Upfronts

A year after banking their season on the return of old favorites, FOX has gone a different route this year.  Gotham loses its longtime home on Monday nights, replaced by The Gifted, based on Marvel’s X-Men characters, which will follow Lucifer.  Tuesdays will lead off with the second season of Lethal Weapon, followed by The Mick and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.  Wednesday takes a musical cue, with Empire followed by Star.

Gotham lands on Thursdays, followed by Seth MacFarlane’s first live-action show, The Orville.  Friday remains the same, with Hell’s Kitchen followed by The Exorcist.  A new comedy, Ghosted, moves in between The Simpsons and Family Guy on Sundays.

The final season of New Girl will appear at some point.  Also on tap for mid-season are The Resident, a groundbreaking medical drama starring, amongst others, Matt Czuchry and Emily VanCamp, and LA to Vegas, a comedy about a flight crew going back and forth between LA and Vegas.

Gone and mostly forgotten are APB, Making History, Pitch, Prison Break (which may return again in the future), Son of Zorn, 24: Legacy (again, may return in the future), Bones, Rosewood, Scream Queens, and Sleepy Hollow.