Month: December 2023

2023 Endy Awards

These are the 2023 Endy Awards, wherein I pretend to give out maneki-neko statues to the best movies, performances, etc of this year in film. Awards for many other years can be found in the Rankings & Awards Index. Eligibility is determined by imdb date and by whether or not I’ve seen the movie in question. Films are presented in alphabetical order, and the winners are in bold. As always, the winners and nominees are subject to change as I watch more movies. And the Endy goes to. . .


Best Picture:

1. 100 Yards
2. Afire
3. Baby Assassins: 2 Babies
4. Godzilla Minus One
5. Hidden Blade
6. Jigarthanda DoubleX
7. Killers of the Flower Moon
8. Oppenheimer
9. Rocky aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani
10. The Taste of Things

Best Director:

1. Xu Haofeng & Xu Junfeng, 100 Yards
2. Sakamoto Yugo, Baby Assassins: 2 Babies
3. Karthik Subbaraj, Jigarthanda DoubleX
4. Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
5. Karan Johar, Rocky aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani

Best Actor:

1. Lee Kang-Sheng, Absence
2. Dayo Wong, A Guilty Conscience
3. Tony Leung, Hidden Blade
4. Shah Rukh Khan, Jawan
5. Raghava Lawrence, Jigarthanda DoubleX
6. Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Flower Moon
7. Vijay, Leo
8. Gordon Lam, Mad Fate
9. Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
10. Ranveer Singh, Rocky aur Rani

Best Actress:

1. Paula Beer, Afire
2. Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
3. Margot Robbie, Barbie
4. Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
5. Julianne Moore, May December
6. Natalie Portman, May December
7. Ogawa An, Plastic
8. Emma Stone, Poor Things
9. Alia Bhatt, Rocky aur Rani
10. Juliette Binoche, The Taste of Things

Supporting Actor:

1. Michael Cera, Barbie
2. Glenn Howerton, Blackberry
3. Marshawn Lynch, Bottoms
4. Michael Wong, A Guilty Conscience
5. Donnie Yen, John Wick Chapter 4
6. Robert DeNiro, Killers of the Flower Moon
7. Charles Melton, May December
8. Jason Clarke, Oppenheimer
9. David Krumholtz, Oppenheimer
10. Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things

Supporting Actress:

1. Bea Hayden Kuo, 100 Yards
2. Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
3. Anne Hathaway, Eileen
4. Penelope Cruz, Ferrari
5. Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
6. Hayley Atwell, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
7. Vanessa Kirby, Napoleon
8. Jaya Bachchan, Rocky aur Rani
9. Hamabe Minami, Shin Kamen Rider
10. Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire, The Taste of Things


Original Screenplay:

1. All Ears, Liu Jiayin
2. Hidden Blade, Cheng Er
3. Jigarthanda DoubleX, Karthik Subbaraj
4. River, Ueda Makoto
5. Rocky aur Rani, Ishita Moitra, Shashank Khaitan & Sumit Roy

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Baby Assassins: 2 Babies, Sakamoto Yugo
2. Barbie, Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
3. Killers of the Flower Moon, Eric Roth & Martin Scorsese
4. Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan
5. The Taste of Things, Trần Anh Hùng

English Language Film:

1. Asteroid City (Wes Anderson)
2. Barbie (Greta Gerwig)
3. Ferrari (Michael Mann)
4. Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese)
5. Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan)

Non-English Language Film:

1. 100 Yards (Xu Haofeng & Xu Junfeng)
2. Baby Assassins: 2 Babies (Sakamoto Yugo)
3. Godzilla Minus One (Yamazaki Takashi)
4. Hidden Blade (Cheng Er)
5. Rocky aur Rani (Karan Johar)

Non-Fiction Feature Film:

1. Elegies (Ann Hui)
2. The Final Game of Death (James Flower)
3. The History of the Minnesota Vikings (Jon Bois)
4. Menus plaisirs-Les Troisgros (Frederick Wiseman)
5. Onlookers (Kimi Takesue)

Animated Feature Film:

1. Across the Spider-verse (Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson)
2. The Boy and the Heron (Miyazaki Hayao)
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever (Luke Cormican)

Unseen Film:

1. Close Your Eyes (Victor Erice)
2. Music (Angela Schanelec)
3. Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (Lijo Jose Pellissery)
4. The Shadowless Tower (Zhang Lu)
5. Viduthalai Part 1 (Vetrimaaran)


Film Editing:

1. The Final Game of Death
2. Fist of the Condor
3. Hidden Blade
4. Killers of the Flower Moon
5. Oppenheimer

Cinematography:

1. Godzilla Minus One
2. Hidden Blade
3. In Water
4. Jigarthanda DoubleX
5. Rocky aur Rani

Art Direction:

1. Asteroid City
2. Barbie
3. Godzilla Minus One
4. Poor Things
5. The Taste of Things

Costume Design:

1. Barbie
2. Hidden Blade
3. Ponniyin Selvan Part 2
4. Poor Things
5. Rocky aur Rani

Make-Up and Hair:

1. Barbie
2. Jawan
3. Ponniyin Selvan Part 2
4. Poor Things
5. Rocky aur Rani


Original Score:

1. The Boy and the Heron
2. Full River Red
3. Godzilla Minus One
4. Killers of the Flower Moon
5. Oppenheimer

Adapted Score:

1. Asteroid City
2. The Final Game of Death
3. Godzilla Minus One
4. The Killer
5. Plastic

Choreography:

1. 100 Yards
3. Baby Assassins: 2 Babies
2. Fist of the Condor
2. Jawan
4. Leo

Sound:

1. Full River Red
2. Godzilla Minus One
3. Killers of the Flower Moon
4. Oppenheimer
5. The Taste of Things

Sound Editing:

1. Godzilla Minus One
2. Jawan
3. John Wick Chapter 4
4. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
5. Pathaan

Visual Effects:

1. Godzilla Minus One
2. Poor Things
3. Raid on the Lethal Zone
4. Shin Kamen Rider
5. The Wandering Earth II

The Best Older Movies I Saw in 2023

An annual tradition here at The End, this is a look at my favorite film discoveries of the year, any movie more than a few years old that I saw for the first time in 2023. Previous years include: 2022,2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006. I watched just over 270 films this year, roughly a third of which qualified for this list. Here are 50 of my favorites.

1. School in the Crosshairs (Obayashi Nobuhiko, 1981)
2. Swordsman and Enchantress (Chor Yuen, 1978)
3. Bio-Zombie (Wilson Yip, 1998)
4. The Red Detachment of Women (Pan Wenzhan & Fu Jie, 1970)
5. Eighteen Springs (Ann Hui, 1997)
6. High Risk (Wong Jing, 1995)
7. The Returning (Jacob Cheung, 1994)
8. The Ghost Hill (Ting Shan-hsi, 1971)
9. The Imp (Dennis Yu, 1981)
10. Yellow Dragon’s Village (Sakamoto Yugo, 2021)
11. The Red Detachment of Women (Xie Jin, 1961)
12. Classic Albums: Steely Dan – Aja (Alan Lewens, 2000)
13. The Swordsman of all Swordsmen (Joseph Kuo, 1968)
14. Radioactive Dreams (Albert Pyun, 1984)
15. Living in the Material World (Martin Scorsese, 2011)
16. Take Care of My Cat (Jeong Jae-eun, 2001)
17. A Hen in the Wind (Ozu Yasujiro, 1948)
18. The Lake House (Alejandro Agresti, 2006)
19. Avengement (Jesse V. Johnson, 2019)
20. Heart of Dragon (Sammo Hung, 1985)
21. Woman Basketball Player No. 5 (Xie Jin, 1957)
22. Tower of Death (Ng See-yuen, 1981)
23. Mr. Vampire III (Ricky Lau, 1987)
24. Future Cops (Wong Jing, 1993)
25. Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (Ozu Yasujiro, 1941)


26. The Debt Collector (Jesse V. Johnson, 2018)
27. Runnin’ Down a Dream (Peter Bogdanovich, 2007)
28. Boyka: Undisputed IV (Todor Chapkanov, 2016)
29. A Study in Choreography for the Camera (Maya Deren, 1945)
30. Revengeful Swordswoman (Artis Chow, 1979)
31. Close Range (Isaac Florentine, 2015)
32. The Avenging Eagle (Sun Chang, 1978)
33. Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan, 2017)
34. Treasure Hunt (Jeffrey Lau, 1994)
35. Undisputed III: Redemption (Isaac Florentine, 2010)
36. Saviour of the Soul (Jeffrey Lau, Corey Yuen & David Lai, 1991)
37. Record of a Tenement Gentleman (Ozu Yasujiro, 1947)
38. Heaven and Earth (David Lai, 1994)
39. The Bravest Revenge (Chien Lung, 1970)
40. Shaolin Invincibles (Hou Cheng, 1977)
41. Savage Dog (Jesse V. Johnson, 2017)
42. A Janitor (Sakamoto Yugo, 2021)
43. Mr. Vampire Saga 4 (Ricky Lau, 1988)
44. Bend it Like Beckham (Gurinder Chadha, 2002)
45. Bumblebee (Travis Knight, 2018)
46. Gen-X Cops (Benny Chan, 1999)
47. Hydra (Sonomura Kensuke, 2019)
48. Draft Day (Ivan Reitman, 2014)
49. El Gringo (Eduardo Rodriguez, 2012)
50. Undeclared War (Ringo Lam, 1990)

Books of 2023

This is a ranked list of the books I finished reading in 2023.

1. Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy
2. Tune In – Mark Lewisohn
3. The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones – Stanley Booth
4. The Idiot – Elif Batuman
5. Before the Storm – Rick Perlstein
6. A Snake Lies Waiting – Louis Cha
7. The Pickwick Papers – Charles Dickens
8. Nightfly – Peter Jones
9. Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock – Jesse Jarnow
10. Charles Dickens: An Introduction – Jenny Hartley
11. A Furious Devotion: The Authorised Story of Shane MacGowan – Richard Balls
12. Appointment with Death – Agatha Christie
13. The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions – Mark Lewisohn
14. Fight, Magic, Items – Aidan Moher

And this is a ranked list of the books I read but did not finish in 2023.

1. Against the Day – Thomas Pynchon
2. The Path to Power – Robert Caro
3. Suttree – Cormac McCarthy
4. Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
5. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
6. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
7. Orientalism – Edward Said
8. American Prometheus – Kai Bird & Martin Sherwin
9. Quantum Criminals – Alex Pappademas & Joan Lemay
10. The Radetzky March – Joseph Roth
11. Haroun and the Sea of Stories – Salman Rushdie
12. Ozu – Donald Richie
13. Typee – Herman Melville
14. The Classical Style – Charles Rosen
15. A Heart Divided – Louis Cha
16. A Gravity’s Rainbow Companion – Steven Weisenberger
17. Arabian Nights: A Companion – Robert Irwin
18. God Only Knows – David Leaf
19. Killing Floor – Lee Child
20. Dickens – Peter Ackroyd