2023 was a year of surprises. There were some things I didn’t expect to like that I ended up loving, and some things I wanted to love but ended up hating. But many of the things that stood out to me the most gave me hope for the future of the industry because of the ways they pushed boundaries. Comedies like The Blackening, Joy Ride and Bottoms did things with that genre I’ve never seen before and breathed a bit of life into the Hollywood comedy formula. Meanwhile filmmakers like Jonathan Glazer, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emerald Fennell, Todd Haynes, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig have proven that there is still room for experimentation and bold ideas in the film industry.

A lot of the big players in animation came out with new films, including Studio Ghibli, Aardman, Pixar and Disney, but this year it was the less conventional films from less acclaimed animation studios that impressed me the most, including Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Nimona.

Another thing I noticed about 2023 is that video game adaptations are kind of having a huge moment. Not only did Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy’s reach stratospheric levels of popularity at the box office, but some of the best TV shows of 2023 happened to be The Last of Us, Twisted Metal, Castlevania: Nocturne, Captain Laserhawk, Pokémon Concierge and Sonic Prime. I think it’s safe for me to declare the video game adaptation curse officially over. Something I’ve been waiting for since I was a kid.

Finally, it was obviously a tense year for the entertainment industry due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, but it was the most satisfying moment ever when they officially ended with a deal and I’m so happy that happened before 2024. Proof that sometimes seemingly impossible things can be achieved through determination, patience and laughing in the faces of greedy corporations. Here’s to more labor unions and more fair wages in all types of industries all around the world.

And now here is my list of the movies, TV series, games and more that I have personally loved and enjoyed the most in 2023:

The Last of Us – Eli’s favorite series of 2023

This post-apocalyptic drama based on the 2013 video game by Naughty Dog might just be the best video game adaptation ever made. The fact that the game’s creator Neil Druckmann is involved as a showrunner, writer and director helps, and so does the fact that the game has some incredible writing for the filmmakers to pull from, but the ways in which Druckmann and company deviated from the game and emphasized the human drama, the emotional devastation and even the lore that the game did not elaborate on were smart and helped elevate this show to the status of one of HBO’s best.

Hi-Fi Rush

This video game from Tango Gameworks came out in January but it remains one of the biggest surprises of the year. It was literally released for the Xbox Series X and PC worldwide the same day it was announced! And it is not only full of charm, great visuals, great characters, great voice acting and genuinely funny moments but the way it combined the rhythm game genre with the action game genre made for some outstanding gameplay.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

In a year full of impressive superhero animation, the Disney Channel series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur stood out as the most stylish and witty. Not only is it a visual feast (courtesy of Flying Bark Productions, the Australian studio behind the animation of equally beautiful shows like Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Lego Monkie Kid) but this also has some excellent writing and taught young viewers some genuinely valuable lessons.

History of the World, Part II

This Hulu sketch comedy series and long-awaited follow-up to History of the World, Part I (we finally get to see Hitler on Ice!) is even funnier than the 1981 Mel Brooks movie it is based on. Like that movie, it explored various points in history and constantly made me laugh, thanks to an all-star team of talented writers and actors that included Ike Barinholtz, Wanda Sykes, Nick Kroll and countless others from Danny DeVito to Florence Pugh, with Mel Brooks providing the narration.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Surprisingly fun take on Dungeons & Dragons from the visionary team of Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley refreshingly leans away from Game of Thrones-like seriousness towards something more lighthearted with clever results. Plus Hugh Grant plays the villain, and you can’t go wrong with that.

Tetris

If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that I’m fascinated with video game history, but this drama starring Taron Egerton based on the true story of the complicated behind-the-scenes fight for ownership of the famous game Tetris is just a fascinating political espionage thriller in its own right, and the fact that such a harmless puzzle game was responsible for so much international tension between Russia, America, Britain and Japan just adds an extra layer of amusement and intrigue to watching the story unfold.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

Brought to you by producer James L. Brooks and writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig, the same team behind the equally brilliant film The Edge of Seventeen, this film based on the 1970 Judy Blume novel is another authentic, funny and rich look at adolescent girlhood that I thought handled tricky subject matter really well, and it did such a good job putting me into the mindset of a little girl that even I felt the emotional stakes of having your period!

John Mulaney: Baby J

John Mulaney’s Netflix comedy special was unique in a memorable way because Mulaney chooses to risk destroying his clean-cut image with a candid series of jokes about his very real experience going into rehab after his comedian friends staged an intervention due to his excessive alcohol consumption and use of cocaine. Of course even when he dives into these serious topics in his personal life he discusses them in the most “John Mulaney” way with his signature comedic wit intact. It’s a high-wire balancing act but he pulled it off smoothly.

The Muppets Mayhem

Musical comedy series starring Lilly Singh as a junior record executive tasked with managing the famous Muppet band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem is one of the most funny, enjoyable and surprisingly heartfelt series I watched this year, and I haven’t said that about the Muppets in a long time. I wouldn’t say it was executed perfectly, but it did what the Muppets do best. It brought the laughs, the music, the heart and the absurdity.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Follow-up to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse does the seemingly impossible and matches the level of quality of the first movie with a story that is just as visually striking but bigger in scale and emotion. The journey of Miles Morales is even more heartbreaking with some surprising revelations this time around, and the expansion of Gwen Stacy’s role adds equally compelling weight to the drama. The only thing I didn’t like is how it ended on a cliffhanger, but I can’t wait to see how things wrap up in Beyond the Spider-Verse.

Once Upon a Studio

Walt Disney Animation Studios really celebrated Disney’s 100th anniversary in a memorable way when they came out with this short featuring Disney characters from throughout Disney’s history coming to life and posing for the biggest group photo ever. Better than I expected, it actually felt like a genuinely heartfelt homage to the studio’s legacy with most of the fun coming from spotting which Disney characters will show up (this is the most I’ve ever used rewind and pause while watching a film). And it wasn’t just the obvious characters like Goofy, Cinderella and Tinker Bell who showed up but also characters like Jim Hawkins, Chicken Little and Bowler Hat Guy! This was truly one for the Disney fans.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

This film instantly won me over with its unique art style but what kept me the most engaged was the authentic banter of the teenage voice cast, the infectious energy and the amount of laughs it provided, with a heartfelt story about the Turtles feeling like outsiders in the streets of New York being the cherry on top that made this one of my favorite films of the year.

Nimona

I’m so glad Netflix and Annapurna saved this movie from oblivion after Disney unceremoniously cancelled its production and shut down Blue Sky, not only because this is highly entertaining and brilliantly animated but also because this is one of the best and most well-executed queer allegories I’ve ever seen on screen, and even though the film might be too unconventional for some, that third act gutted me emotionally. The whole film smartly expands on the graphic novel by ND Stevenson in ways that flesh out the characters as well as the themes.

Final Fantasy XVI

It’s always an event when the Final Fantasy series comes out with another mainline entry, and while I admit I haven’t been the most enthusiastic for the last few entries in the series, this 16th one really impressed me with its ambitious scale, stylish gameplay and cinematics, good writing and impossibly detailed lore. All things that have often been true of the Final Fantasy series but are taken to rich new heights here, even if it is occasionally just as flawed, melodramatic and over-the-top as many of the previous games in the series.

Barbie

It’s no surprise how subversive this movie is given Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach are the ones behind it, but it is surprising how imaginative and truly hilarious it is, with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling doing fantastic work playing Barbie and Ken as fish out of water who leave Barbie Land and visit the real world. The movie says deep things about womanhood, commercialism and toxic masculinity but most importantly it is just plain fun.

One Piece

Color me shocked by this one. We all know that the One Piece manga translates well to anime but it also makes a surprisingly good live-action adaptation. The people in charge of this Netflix series seem to genuinely know what they are doing and they have struck a fine balance translating the wacky tone of the manga in a way that retains the sense of fun, danger and heart that the series is known for, and everyone in the cast nails the personalities of their characters without feeling like cartoon caricatures. I can’t wait for season 2.

The Holdovers

Alexander Payne has a great track record for directing rich, rewarding and deeply human films and this one about a cranky history teacher (Paul Giamatti) who forms a surprising bond with one of his troublesome students (Dominic Sessa) at a New England boarding school is one of Payne’s best. This resonated with me and touched me emotionally way more than I was expecting it to. A true gem and easily one of the best films of the year.

Poor Things

Yorgos Lanthimos is a director who I have slowly begun to like more and more. I found The Lobster, while imaginative, to be more strange than deeply compelling, but I thought The Favourite was a brilliant love triangle story and now I think Poor Things is his greatest masterpiece, off-kilter as it may be. Although that certainly contributes to its appeal, and Emma Stone conveys child-like wonder to often hilarious results playing a reanimated corpse who slowly learns to be free and independent as she ventures out into the world beyond the laboratory where she was created.

Klickbait Kat

Vincent Alexander’s six-minute animated YouTube short provided some of the biggest laughs I’ve had watching a film all year. As a huge fan of classic Hollywood cartoons I appreciated the ways that this satirized the cat and mouse trope with a sharp sense of humor worthy of the wit of a Looney Tunes cartoon while simultaneously making fun of internet culture.

Godzilla Minus One – Eli’s favorite movie of 2023

By far my favorite Godzilla film ever made but even more surprisingly, I’m pretty sure this is my favorite movie of the year. More than just a kaiju disaster film, it’s a war story, a love story and a deep human drama, and all these elements made the scenes involving Godzilla all the more terrifying and emotionally devastating. In fact this reminded me of a Spielberg film with the way it combined authentic human drama with genuinely scary monster action, and by the final act, I wanted to stand up and cheer. This is the definition of the reason why I love movies.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Eli’s favorite game of 2023

The definitive Mario platformer of the Nintendo Switch, this game reminded me of how I felt playing Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World. That’s how good it is. Clever and challenging level designs make up the bulk of its brilliance but the introduction of the reality-bending Wonder Flower is by far the most memorable addition to the Mario series. If you touch a Wonder Flower, something will happen. But you won’t know what happens until you touch it. If that isn’t the most brilliant mechanic for making a game as fun as possible, I don’t know what is.

American Arcadia

A surprisingly compelling PC platformer developed by Out of the Blue Games about a man named Trevor who is the resident of a Tomorrowland-like utopia but realizes the city is not as idyllic as it seems and tries to escape back into ordinary society. This is like The Truman Show meets Disneyland and it is full of clever puzzles as well as a few surprising story twists. As the game goes on and more mysteries are unlocked, it becomes more and more addictive.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

All the actors from Edgar Wright’s 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World reprise their roles in this anime adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels, but as the title of the series suggests, Scott Pilgrim isn’t in this show a whole lot, as it takes a new turn with a different spin that focuses more on Ramona Flowers, which will probably disappoint some fans but fortunately didn’t bother me because the series is still consistently entertaining from episode to episode and retains much of the humor and charm of the comics.

Carol & the End of the World

This Netflix miniseries is unlike any other American animated series I’ve ever seen. It’s science fiction aimed at adults but it’s not a comedy like Rick and Morty. Carol, who is voiced by Martha Kelly, is a more quiet and reserved lead character than I’m used to seeing in American animation and also more three-dimensional, which only contributes to how subversive this apocalyptic sci-fi series is. This is basically a show about people who are about to die, and they know they are about to die, and that leads to a series full of depth that serves as a great reflection of who we are as a species, and I found it deeply captivating and surprisingly realistic across all ten of its episodes.