Most Anticipated New Shows of 2023

1. Archie-Biographical drama about the life of Archie Leach, better known as Cary Grant.

2. Ahsoka-Rosario Dawson reprises her role from The Mandalorian about one of the most well loved characters in Star Wars.

3. Secret Invasion-The MCU's adaptation of the comic book storyline will be lead by Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn.

4. Echo-Spinoff to Hawkeye that sees one of the biggest standouts of the MCU lead her own show.

5. Avatar: The Last Airbender 2023-Live action remake of the legendary Nickelodeon show.

6. The Last of Us-Adaptation of the highly acclaimed video game with Pedro Pascal.

7. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew-A coming-of-age Amblin inspired story set in the Star Wars universe.

8. White House Plumbers-Historical drama about the Nixon political operatives who ended up exposing the president's crimes.

9. Gen V-Spinoff to The Boys centering on younger superheroes.

10. Kaos-A comical approach to Greek and Roman mythologies with Jeff Goldblum as Zeus.

Honorable Mentions:

Velma

The Walking Dead: Dead City

Love and Death

Nautilus

The 39 Steps

The Winter King

Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai

The Idol

The Rig

Queen of Oz

Krapopolis

Kaleidoscope

That '90s Show

Fatal Attraction

American Born Chinese

Hello Tomorrow!

Time Bandits

The Power

Poker Face

Lessons in Chemistry

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies

Gotham Knights

Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

Shrinking

Daisy Jones & The Six

Wolf Pack

Mayfair Witches

Mrs. Davis

The Company You Keep

Grimsburg

Most Anticipated 2023 Films

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse-The sequel to the best movie of the 2010s will have so many different versions of the wall crawler and done in different animation styles.

2. Cocaine Bear-Based on the true story of a bear going on a rampage after ingesting a bag of cocaine. The title says it all.

3. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania-Scott Lang's adventure through the Quantum Realm will introduce Kang the Conqueror and set up the next Avengers movies.

4. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny-Harrison Ford returns and James Mangold takes on directing duties in the fifth installment that will involve the Nazis that took part in the Space Race of the late 60s.

5. Oppenheimer-No doubt a powerful biopic about the man who helped create the atomic bomb.

6. Dune: Part Two-Sand Worms, Denis Villeneuve, and Spice.

7. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3-James Gunn's last project with Marvel will see the end of the current iteration of the team in what will no doubt be an emotional and over the top rump.

8. Elemental-Pixar and anthropomorphic elements.

9. Creed III-Michael B. Jordan takes over in his directorial debut as he takes on an old friend, played by Jonathan Majors.

10. Inside-An entire movie mostly with just Willem Dafoe.

Honorable Mentions:

Asteroid City

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

The Marvels

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

The Flash

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Evil Dead Rise

John Wick: Chapter 4

The Expendables 4

Renfield

Scream VI

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

The Color Purple 2023

The Last Voyage of the Demeter

Chevalier

Wonka

M3GAN

When You Finish Saving the World

Blue Beetle

Knock at the Cabin

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Barbie

The Blackening

The Little Mermaid 2023

Marlowe

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Spinning Gold

Fast X

Kraven the Hunter

65

Infinity Pool

Haunted Mansion 2023

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Saw X

Nope

Nope is Jordan Peele's third feature length film and reunites him with Daniel Kaluuya since his debut with Get Out. This movie combines new-Western elements with the science fiction horror genre that Peele is best known for. Kaluuya plays OJ Haywood, a horse wrangler for movie and tv productions whose ranch is under threat by a mysterious creature that hides in the clouds. Together with his sister, played by Keke Palmer, they try to find proof of its existence while also defending themselves from its attacks. A lot of elements of this film definitely give a Jaws-of-the-sky vibe but Peele's writing makes it more than just a standard monster film. Using the combination of the ranch's decline, the story of a sitcom set attacked by the show's chimp star as told by Steven Yeun's character and him then getting eaten by the monster he was trying to profit from is a great use of metaphor for how the entertainment industry tries to look around safety standards to not spend so much. The performances from Kaluuya, Palmer, Yeun and the rest of the cast are all strong thanks to Peele's direction being so precise. One huge plus is the strong cinematography that helps enhance Peele's visual style as well as the effects in showing off the monster and its many changes. With Nope, Jordan Peele continues to perfect his craft that first began with the small sketches from Key & Peele. Over all: 100%

2022 top list so far:

1. Top Gun: Maverick

2. The Black Phone

3. Nope

4. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

5. The Northman

6. The Batman

7. Lightyear

8. Dog

9. Everything Everywhere All at Once

10. X 2022

11. Scream 2022

12. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

13. Thor: Love and Thunder

14. Jurassic World: Dominion

15. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

16. Uncharted

Thor: Love and Thunder

Being the first fourth entry of an individual superhero series in the MCU, Thor: Love and Thunder sees the Norse god of thunder reunite with his old love, a cancer stricken Jane Foster who has gained Thor's powers from Mjolnir, to take on a god killing alien. Taika Waititi returns to direct, cowrite, and costar as Korg while bringing back and upping his over the top comedic style. While a lot of Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson's script does work in terms of storytelling, some of it gets weaker due to having way too many jokes that either distract or clash with certain dramatic scenes. The same feeling is felt with Taika's direction as even though he has a really fun and energetic technique, the gags he employs happen too often. Never missing a beat since 2011, Chris Hemsworth shines as he always does playing Thor with a good balance of drama and comedy. Alongside him are Natalie Portman portraying Jane with great tragedy as she suffers from cancer but trying so hard to hide the pain, Tessa Thompson having a lot of fun as Valkyrie, and Christian Bale in a dark and terrifying performance as this entry's villain Gorr the God Butcher. For the most part the visuals are really good and often stunning, but due to so many projects the MCU has been doing lately and needing just as much VFX it does start to show in small parts that do look poorly and rushed. Similar to the previous entry, this one also has a kick-ass soundtrack and score reminiscent of 80s fantasy films and using music by Gun N' Roses and others of that era that go with what's going on throughout the movie. This does not reach the heights of Ragnarok or the first Thor, but Thor: Love and Thunder is still better than Dark World and is a lot of fun despite its overuse of jokes and the tone going all over the place. Over all: 87%

2022 top list so far:

1. Top Gun: Maverick

2. The Black Phone

3. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

4. The Northman

5. The Batman

6. Lightyear

7. Dog

8. Everything Everywhere All at Once

9. X 2022

10. Scream 2022

11. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

12. Thor: Love and Thunder

13. Jurassic World: Dominion

14. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

15. Uncharted

The Black Phone

Adapted from the short story of the same name by Joe Hill, The Black Phone is the film that Scott Derrickson took on after departing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This horror film, set in 1978, sees a young boy, Finney Blake, get kidnapped by a child serial killer known as The Grabber, played by Ethan Hawke. As The Grabber feeds him for a while before he kills him, Finney gets help from the ghosts of the past victims by talking to them through a broken phone. At the same time, Finney's younger sister, Gwen, tries to help find him thanks to having latent psychic abilities inherited from her mother but feared by her alcoholic father. Derrickson's direction and his writing with C. Robert Cargill gives us such a superb, meticulous, and frightening production. But, also having some really good laughs here and there between the more dramatic and frightening moments that work well. The characters are well liked and never feel one dimensional and you get a sense of each person's motivations, fears, and needs. Besides Hawke, you also have Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw as the Blake siblings who give just as big and powerful performances as the more older actors. In fact, all of the child actors involved all play their roles so believably, whether they're the bullies or the spirits that help Finney. Capturing the right look for 1978 isn't easy, but thanks to the cinematography from Brett Jutkiewicz and the production design not only captures the time period but helps elevate the horror. Another factor is the good use of effects depicting the ghosts that help Finney and the minimal score from Mark Korven. One great factor that makes this film so great is its slow, yet well executed pacing thanks to Frederic Thoraval's cinematography. While horror is often a genre often not well respected due to being cheap and quick to make, The Black Phone is proof that the genre isn't just constant jump scares. Over all: 100%

2022 top list so far:

1. Top Gun: Maverick

2. The Black Phone

3. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

4. The Northman

5. The Batman

6. Lightyear

7. Dog

8. Everything Everywhere All at Once

9. X 2022

10. Scream 2022

11. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

12. Jurassic World: Dominion

13. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

14. Uncharted