2023: The Year In Movies Part 2

159 different people starred in the 88 movies I saw last year (starring in being the first two named stars, a tradition dating back to the old Chicago Tribune TV guide which populated the early days of my database), and a whopping twelve of them were in more than one film. Those twelve thespians are:

Films Per Actor Per Year

Actor Name Films
Margot Robbie 3
Sebastian Stan 3
Joanna Arnow 2
Kevin Bacon 2
Neve Campbell 2
Josh Duhamel 2
Gal Gadot 2
Madison Pettis 2
Saoirse Ronan 2
Paul Rudd 2
Lulu Wilson 2
Reese Witherspoon 2

Now let’s take a look at the remaining movies that I saw in 2023, following up on last week’s post.

They/Them (2022)
A killer is attacking people at a gay conversion therapy camp.

The Apparition (2012)
A couple is haunted by a supernatural presence that is unleashed during a college experiment.

You’re Killing Me (2023)
A high school girl finds herself in a fight for her life when she finds out her classmates killed someone and recorded it on their phones.

The Passenger (2023)
A man goes off, killing his co-workers and then takes the one remaining one on a trip down memory lane.

Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023)
A man gets a new job guarding a closed down arcade/restaurant with animatronic entertainment.

The Final Wish (2018)
A man returns home after his father’s death and finds a mysterious artifact.

No Hard Feelings (2023)
Jennifer Lawrence stars as a woman who agrees to take a high school senior’s virginity in exchange for a car, but instead finds herself becoming his friend.

Fingernails (2023)
When a test is developed to determine if two people are truly in love, one of the administrators wonders if she should be with her husband or her co-worker.

Heart of Stone (2023)
A spy tries to stop a hacker from stealing a dangerous weapon.

Last Sentinel (2023)
A group of soldiers on an abandoned base wait for someone to relieve them. Continue reading →

Book 27 (of 52) – Pretty Baby

Pretty Baby – Mary Kubica

Last December, I read the debut novel from Chicago-based novelist Mary Kubica.  Based on the strength of that work, I purchased her next two offerings over the past year and finally decided it was time to break in to one.  Sadly, it was a bit of a let down.

Pretty Baby tells the tale, slowly, of a Chicago family, a runaway with a baby, and the slow descent into madness that comes from their intersection.  The only plot point that comes as something of a surprise is the parentage of the baby, but the twist wasn’t all that interesting.  Also, and I don’t know if this was an issue with the print version as well as the eBook, but the name of Halsted St. was consistently misspelled.  I’m sure this bothered nobody outside of the Chicagoland area, but bother me it did.

I still have Kubica’s latest waiting on the Kindle, though I’m not particularly looking forward to it at this point.  I can only hope that she returns to the promise of her previous work and that this isn’t an indicator of what is to come.