January | 2024 | Life Vs Film

Remember when I’d have this list and my new year’s resolution post published on the first few days of the month? What blissful days they were, sat up typing on New Year’s Eve with my wife scrolling Instagram next to me, Interstellar playing in the background turned up loud so the dogs wouldn’t get terrified by the surrounding fireworks. Alas, things change and time marches on, but it brings with it a whole load of new films every year. Here’s my ranking of all the 2023 new releases I’ve seen so far (a significant selection have been watched in 2024). As always, as I’m in the UK I’m only counting films that were released in the UK in 2023, hence why some of these films might count for earlier years for some of you and, whilst I have seen the likes of Poor Things, American Fiction and The Holdovers, they weren’t released here until 2024, so you’ll find their placements around this time next year. Let’s go!

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I’m still here! And so are you! That’s awesome, welcome back. To give you an idea of time, I’m starting writing this on Sunday 7th January, fully a week into the new year. It’s unlikely I’ll finish it today, and with the aim of posting this as soon as possible (before February would be great) I’m going to keep things comparatively brief this year. As years go, 2023 wasn’t the best. In my personal life there were some massive dips (the only grandfather I’ve ever known passed in February, the first truly significant death I’ve experienced in well over two decades) and I don’t think my year ever fully recovered, but we’ve all kept going, life goes on, and the rest of the year saw us take some wonderful trips back to Scotland, see some shows (Back to the Future and Groundhog Day are both excellent) and welcome a new nephew into the family. None of this sounds like it has anything to do with the resolutions I set this time last year, or my plans for the future, so let’s curtail this and move things along, shall we?

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