This Week in Rankings

Since the last update, it was announced that I’ve written another liner notes essay. This time, it’s for the Chameleon Films release of Johnnie To’s Sparrow and it’s available for preorder right now. Over at InReview Online, I contributed write-ups of George Miller’s Furiosa and Soi Cheang’s Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In to their Best of the Year countdown.

At The Chinese Cinema, I wrote about Hong Sangsoo’s A Traveler’s Needs and By the Stream, the Yuen Clan’s Magic Movies (Miracle Fighters, Shaolin Drunkard, Taoism Drunkard, Young Taoism Fighter), Qin Pengfei’s The Bodyguard and Blade of Fury, Yamada Naoko’s The Heike Story, and Tsai Ming-liang’s Abiding Nowhere.

You can get all those reviews and much much more by subscribing to The Chinese Cinema today for the low price of only $1/month or $10/year.

These are the movies I’ve watched and rewatched over the last few months, and where they place on my year-by-year rankings.


A Charlie Brown Christmas (Bill Melendez) – 3, 1965
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Bill Melendez) – 1, 1966
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Chuck Jones) – 15, 1966
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Bill Melendez & Phil Roman) – 40, 1973

The Miracle Fighters (Yuen Woo-ping) – 4, 1982
Shaolin Drunkard (Yuen Woo-ping) – 41, 1983
Taoism Drunkard (Yuen Cheung-yan) – 51, 1984
The Young Taoism Fighter (Chen Chi-hwa) – 62, 1986
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Kevin Reynolds) – 54, 1991

The Heike Story (Yamada Naoko) – 1, 2021
Hundreds of Beavers (Mike Cheslik) – 5, 2022
Woman of the Hour (Anna Kendrick) – 34, 2023

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (George Miller) – 1, 2024
Juror #2 (Clint Eastwood) – 6, 2024
A Traveler’s Needs (Hong Sangsoo) – 7, 2024
The Colors Within (Yamada Naoko) – 8, 2024
By the Stream (Hong Sangsoo) – 14, 2024

God Hates a Coward (Jon Bois) – 15, 2024
Abiding Nowhere (Tsai Ming-liang) – 17, 2024
Look Back (Oshiyama Kiyotaka) – 18, 2024
Here (Robert Zemeckis) – 21, 2024
Vengeance Most Fowl (Merlin Crossingham & Nick Park) – 23, 2024

Anora (Sean Baker) – 25, 2024
Trap (M. Night Shyamalan) – 26, 2024
Crisis Negotiators (Herman Yau) – 30, 2024
Dahomey (Mati Diop) – 32, 2024
Drive-Away Dolls (Ethan Coen) – 33, 2024

The Fall Guy (David Leitch) – 34, 2024
The Bodyguard (Qin Pengfei) – 37, 2024
Blade of Fury (Qin Pengfei) – 38, 2024
Made in England (David Hinton) – 39, 2024
Challengers (Luca Guadagnino) – 43, 2024

Conclave (Edward Berger) – 49, 2024
Would You Like to Buy a Mattress (Jon Bois) – 50, 2024
A Complete Unknown (James Mangold) – 51, 2024
Alien: Romulus (Fede Álvarez) – 52, 2024
The Brutalist (Brady Corbet) – 53, 2024

Rainier: A Beer Odyssey (Isaac Olsen) – 57, 2024
Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary (Garret Price) – 58, 2024
Nosferatu (Robert Eggers) – 59, 2024
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Tim Burton) – 60, 2024
Treasure Hunting (Qin Pengfei) – 64, 2024

Civil War (Alex Garland) – 65, 2024
Deadpool & Wolverine (Shawn Levy) – 66, 2024
Madame Web (SJ Clarkson) – 69, 2024
SWAT Angels in Mission (Liu Meng & Xue Wen Hua) – 70, 2024

This Week in Rankings

Since the last update it was announced that I’ve written another liner notes essay for a Criterion Collection release. This one is for Sammo Hung’s Eastern Condors, and it’s available for pre-order right now. I’ve continued on the festival beat over at InReview Online, where I reviewed Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s Cloud, Yang Li’s Escape from the 21st Century, Huang Xi’s Daughter’s Daughter, John Hsu’s Dead Talents Society, Jia Zhangke’s Caught by the Tides, and Timo Tjahjanto’s The Shadow Strays.

I’ve compiled all my InRO Festival Reviews from this year into one convenient spot over at The Chinese Cinema, where I’ve also recently reviewed Soi Cheang’s Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, John Woo’s remake of his own The Killer, the documentary about cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-ping Let the Wind Carry Me, Corey Yuen’s The Bodyguard from Beijing, Jason Yu’s Sleep, Ryoo Seungwan’s Veteran 2: I, the Executioner, and a handful of movies that are streaming on the iQIYI channel (Fight Against Evil 2, Black Storm, Drunken Prodigy, Second Life, An Arrow through the Heart).

You can get all those reviews and much much more by subscribing to The Chinese Cinema today for the low price of only $1/month or $10/year.

These are the movies I’ve watched and rewatched over the last few months, and where they place on my year-by-year rankings.

The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin) – 1, 1925
The Untouchables (Brian De Palma) – 28, 1987
The Bodyguard from Beijing (Corey Yuen) – 79, 1994
Bad Boys (Michael Bay) – 66, 1995
The Waterboy (Frank Coraci) – 72, 1998

Let the Wind Carry Me (Kwan Pung-Leung & Chiang Hsiu-Chiung) – 48, 2009
Prometheus (Ridley Scott) – 65, 2012
Veteran (Ryoo Seungwan) – 37, 2015
Alien: Covenant (Ridley Scott) – 144, 2017
The Night Comes for Us (Timo Tjahjanto) – 64, 2018

Dune (Denis Villeneuve) – 35, 2021
Fight Against Evil (Qin Pengfei) – 56, 2021
Hundreds of Beavers (Mike Cheslik) – 23, 2022
Sleep (Jason Yu) – 27, 2023
Fight Against Evil 2 (Qin Pengfei) – 78, 2023
Anyone But You (Will Gluck) – 82, 2023

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (Kevin Costner) – 2, 2024
Eephus (Carson Lund) – 3, 2024
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Soi Cheang) – 4, 2024
Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola) – 6, 2024
Caught by the Tides (Jia Zhangke) – 8, 2024

Chime (Kurosawa Kiyoshi) – 9, 2024
The Shadow Strays (Timo Tjahjanto) – 10, 2024
Cloud (Kurosawa Kiyoshi) – 13, 2024
The Kadarius Toney Fan Club (Jon Bois) – 14, 2024
The Killer (John Woo) – 15, 2024

Escape from the 21st Century (Yang Li) – 16, 2024
Second Life (Chris Huo) – 18, 2024
Dead Talents Society (John Hsu) – 22, 2024
Veteran 2: I, the Executioner (Ryoo Seungwan) – 24, 2024
Dune 2 (Denis Villeneuve) – 25, 2024

Daughter’s Daughter (Huang Xi) – 26, 2024
Drunken Prodigy (Ashton Chen) – 29, 2024
Black Storm (Qin Pengfei) – 32, 2024
An Arrow through the Heart (Guo Yubo) – 37, 2024

This Week in Rankings

Since the last update I wrote the liner notes essay for Vinegar Syndrome’s release of Johnnie To’s Lifeline. I’ve got a couple of other essays in the works, expected announcements for those in the next couple of months. In the meantime, I’ve been covering film festivals. At InReview Online, I wrote about Guan Yu’s Black Dog, which played Cannes, and for the New York Asian Film festival I covered Baby Assassins: Nice Days, Customs Frontline, and The Lyricist Wannabe. I covered Japan Cuts over at my own site, with reviews of Shin Godzilla: Orthochromatic, Kubi, Kyrie, Between the White Key and the Black Key, Sayonara Girls, Shadow of Fire, Mermaid Legend, August in the Water, and Moving.

Also over at The Chinese Cinema, I wrote about Only the River Flows, Beijing Watermelon, July Rhapsody, Nothing Can’t Be Undone by a Hotpot, The Valiant Ones, and three movies called Once a Thief.

You can get all those reviews and much much more by subscribing for the low price of only $1/month or $10/year.

These are the movies I’ve watched and rewatched over the last few months, and where they place on my year-by-year rankings.

Baseball Bugs (Friz Freleng) – 10, 1946
Pickpocket (Robert Bresson) – 7, 1959
The World of Suzie Wong (Richard Quine) – 21, 1960
Topkapi (Jules Dassin) – 21, 1964

Once a Thief (Ralph Nelson) – 32, 1965
Le Samouraï (Jean-Pierre Melville) – 5, 1967
The Thomas Crown Affair (Norman Jewison) – 16, 1968
Le cercle rouge (Jean-Pierre Melville) – 5, 1970

Harry in Your Pocket (Bruce Geller) – 31, 1973
The Valiant Ones (King Hu) – 7, 1975
Carry On Pickpocket (Sammo Hung) – 22, 1982
Fantasy Mission Force (Kevin Chu Yen-ping) – 34, 1983

Mermaid Legend (Ikeda Toshiharu) – 16, 1984
The Killing Fields (Roland Joffé) – 38, 1984
Beverly Hills Cop (Martin Brest) – 48, 1984
Typhoon Club (Somai Shinji) – 6, 1985
Rambo: First Blood Part II (George P. Cosmatos) – 45, 1985

Golden Eighties (Chantal Akerman) – 14, 1986
Eastern Condors (Sammo Hung) – 10, 1987
Beverly Hills Cops II (Tony Scott) – 51, 1987
Beijing Watermelon (Obayashi Nobuhiko) – 6, 1989
Field of Dreams (Phil Alden Robinson) – 23, 1989

She Shoots Straight (Corey Yuen) – 36, 1990
Once a Thief (John Woo) – 26, 1991
The Raid (Tsui Hark) – 43, 1991
Moving (Somai Shinji) – 4, 1993
August in the Water (Ishii Gakuryu) – 40, 1995

Once a Thief (John Woo) – 90, 1996
Can’t Hardly Wait (Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont) – 69, 1998
Go (Doug Limon) – 56, 1999
July Rhapsody (Ann Hui) – 18, 2002

Yesterday Once More (Johnnie To) – 17, 2004
Sparrow (Johnnie To) – 2, 2008
Linger (Johnnie To) – 41, 2008
Open City (Lee Sang-gi) – 81, 2008

Shin Godzilla (Anno Hideaki & Higuchi Shinji) – 8, 2016
Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold (Griffin Dunne) – 121, 2017
Destination Wedding (Victor Levin) – 79, 2018
The Booksellers (DW Young) – 100, 2019

Sayonara, Girls. (Shun Nakagawa) – 25, 2022
Kubi (Kitano Takeshi) – 2, 2023
Kyrie (Iwai Shunji) – 14, 2023
Only the River Flows (Wei Shujun) – 24, 2023

Hit Man (Richard Linklater) – 39, 2023
The Lyricist Wannabe (Norris Wong) – 45, 2023
Shadow of Fire (Tsukamoto Shin’ya) – 59, 2023
Between the White Key and the Black Key (Tominaga Masanori) – 76, 2023

Furiosa (George Miller) – 1, 2024
Baby Assassins: Nice Days (Sakamoto Yugo) – 2, 2024
Black Dog (Guan Hu) – 3, 2024
I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun) – 4, 2024
The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel (Jenny Nicholson) – 5, 2024
Reform! (Jon Bois) – 6, 2024
That’s Not Entirely Accurate (Jon Bois) – 7, 2024
Nothing Can’t Be Undone by a Hotpot (Ding Sheng) – 10, 2024

The History of Slipping on Banana Peels (Jon Bois) – 11, 2024
Twisters (Lee Isaac Chung) – 12, 2024
Customs Frontline (Herman Yau) – 13, 2024
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (Mark Molloy) – 15, 2024
Jim Henson Idea Man (Ron Howard) – 17, 2024
Brats (Andrew McCarthy) – 18, 2024

This Week in Rankings

Since the last update, I handed out the 2023 Endy Awards. Over at the Criterion Collection’s online magazine Current, I wrote about Hou Hsiao-hsien’s early films. And for InReview Online I reviewed Ann Hui’s latest film, Elegies, which played at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

At The Chinese Cinema, I reviewed: Onlookers, The Heroic Trio and Executioners, Death Notice, Eye for an Eye 2, The Mystery of Chess Boxing, Beach of the War Gods, Visible Secret, Dancing with the Dead, The Mad Monk, Art College 1994, The Roundup: Punishment, Sailor Suit and Machine Gun, and Casino Raiders. You can get all those and much much more for the low price of only $1/month or $10/year.

These are the movies I’ve watched and rewatched over the last few months, and where they place on my year-by-year rankings.

Seven Samurai (Kurosawa Akira) – 1, 1954
Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean) – 6, 1962
The Taming of the Shrew (Franco Zeffirelli) – 26, 1967
The Italian Job (Peter Collinson) – 13, 1969
Beach of the War Gods (Jimmy Wang Yu) – 24, 1973

Cloud of Romance (Chan Hung-lit) – 22, 1977
The Fall of Ako Castle (Fukasaku Kinji) – 18, 1978
Lover on the Wave (Chen Kun-hou) – 30, 1978
The Mystery of Chess (Joseph Kuo) – 13, 1979
Chu Lien (Lai Cheng-ying) – 27, 1979

Cute Girl (Hou Hsiao-hsien) – 18, 1980
Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (Somai Shinji) – 17, 1981
Cheerful Wind (Hou Hsiao-hsien) – 38, 1981
Conan the Barbarian (John Milius) – 6, 1982
The Green, Green Grass of Home (Hou Hsiao-hsien) – 21, 1982
The Boys from Fengkuei (Hou Hsiao-hsien) – 7, 1983

Bull Durham (Ron Shelton) – 2, 1988
Les sièges des l’Alcazar (Luc Moullet) – 15, 1989
Major League (David S. Ward) – 37, 1989
Casino Raiders (Wong Jing & Jimmy Heung) – 50, 1989
Hamlet (Franco Zeffirelli) – 28, 1990

Backdraft (Ron Howard) – 47, 1991
Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven) – 25, 1992
Noises Off… (Peter Bogdanovich) – 34, 1992
Wayne’s World (Penelope Spheeris) – 59, 1992
When Cinema Reflects the Times: Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang (Kore-eda Hirokazu) – 30, 1993

Executioners (Johnnie To & Ching Siu-tung) – 33, 1993
The Heroic Trio (Johnnie To) – 43, 1993
The Mad Monk (Johnnie To) – 93, 1993
Loving You (Johnnie To) – 38, 1995
Get Shorty (Barry Sonnenfeld) – 44, 1995

Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann) – 10, 1996
Twister (Jan de Bont) – 44, 1996
Lifeline (Johnnie To) – 22, 1997
Expect the Unexpected (Patrick Yau) – 10, 998
Out of Sight (Steven Soderbergh) – 18, 1998
Shakespeare in Love (John Madden) – 47, 1998

The Matrix (Lilly and Lana Wachowski) – 2, 1999
Help!!! (Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai) – 29, 2000
Center Stage (Nicholas Hytner) – 43, 2000
Visible Secret (Ann Hui) – 10, 2001

Ocean’s Eleven (Steven Soderbergh) – 24, 2001
Ocean’s Twelve (Steven Soderbergh) – 40, 2004
Red Eye (Wes Craven) – 32, 2005
Classic Albums: Nirvana – Nevermind (Bob Smeaton) – 66, 2005
Ocean’s Thirteen (Steven Soderbergh) – 54, 2007

Burn After Reading (Joel & Ethan Coen) – 35, 2008
The Lone Ranger (Gore Verbinski) – 20, 2013
Gyeongju (Zhang Lü) – 34, 2014
The Intern (Nancy Meyers) – 53, 2015
Love and… (Zhang Lü) – 126, 2015

Everybody Wants Some!! (Richard Linklater) – 26, 2016
A Quiet Dream (Zhang Lü) – 31, 2016
Table 19 (Jeffrey Blitz) – 147, 2017
Ode to the Goose (Zhang Lü) – 12, 2018
Fukuoka (Zhang Lü) – 25, 2019
Sound! Euphonium the Movie: Our Promise – A Brand New Day (Ishihara Tatsuya) – 57, 2019
Yanagawa (Zhang Lü) – 34, 2021

Evil Does Not Exist (Hamaguchi Ryusuke) – 5, 2023
Death Notice (Herman Yau) – 41, 2023
Onlookers (Kimi Takesue) – 44, 2023
Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest (Ishihara Tatsuya) – 49, 2023
Art College 1994 (Liu Jian) – 56, 2023
Self-Reliance (Jake Johnson) – 76, 2023
The Marvels (Nia DaCosta) – 78, 2023

Eye for an Eye 2 (Yang Bingjia) -2, 2024
The Roundup: Punishment (Heo Myeong-haeng) – 3, 2024
Steve! (Morgan Neville) – 4, 2024

Predictions for the 96th Annual Academy Awards

These are my Oscar predictions. I’m not sure yet if I’m going to live-tweet the Endy Award winners during the ceremony again this year. Maybe. Nominees listed in alphabetical order, predicted winners in bold. Guaranteed to get 16-18 correct, no more, no less.

BEST PICTURE

American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro 
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest 

BEST DIRECTOR

Anatomy of a Fall
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest 

BEST ACTOR

Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Colman Domingo, Rustin
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

BEST ACTRESS

Annette Bening, Nyad
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Emma Stone, Poor Things

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
America Ferrera, Barbie
Jodie Foster, Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Maestro
May December
Past Lives 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

American Fiction
Barbie
Oppenheimer
Poor Things 
The Zone of Interest 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

El Conde
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things 

BEST FILM EDITING

Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

The Creator
Godzilla Minus One
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Napoleon 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things 

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Golda
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Society of the Snow 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

American Fiction
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things 

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot
“I’m Just Ken” from Barbie
“It Never Went Away” from American Symphony
“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)”
from Killers of the Flower Moon
“What Was I Made For?” from Barbie 

BEST SOUND

The Creator
Maestro
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Oppenheimer
The Zone of Interest 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Bobi Wine: The People’s President
The Eternal Memory
Four Daughters
To Kill a Tiger 
20 Days in Mariupol 

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Io Capitano
Perfect Days
Society of the Snow
The Teachers’ Lounge
The Zone of Interest 

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

The ABCs of Book Banning
The Barber of Little Rock
Island in Between 
The Last Repair Shop 
Nai Nai & Wai Po

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

The After
Invincible
Knight of Fortune
Red, White and Blue
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar 

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Letter to a Pig
Ninety-Five Senses
Our Uniform
Pachyderme
WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko 

This Week in Rankings

Since my last update, the end of 2023 came and went. I nominated a bunch of movies for the Endy Awards, and listed my favorite Film Discoveries and Books of the past year. I submitted a list to the annual Sense of Cinema World Poll and wrote about Rocky aur Rani for InReview Online’s end of the year list. And I wrote about Ozu Yasujiro’s A Hen in the Wind for Criterion.

Over at The Chinese Cinema, I wrote about Where the Wind Blows, Silent Night, Raid on the Lethal Zone and Moscow Mission, All Ears, Last Hero in China, I Did It My Way, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

If you like what I do here, there, or anywhere else, please consider subscribing to The Chinese Cinema. It’s only $1/month or $10/year for a whole lot of exclusive reviews.

These are the movies I’ve watched and rewatched over the last few months, and where they place on my year-by-year rankings.

Godzilla (Honda Ishiro) – 9, 1954
A Charlie Brown Christmas (Bill Melendez) – 3, 1965
Don’t Look Back (DA Pennebaker) – 4, 1967
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Bill Melendez & Phil Roman) – 38, 1973

Mad Max (George Miller) – 22, 1979
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (George Miller) – 6, 1981
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Obayashi Nobuhiko) – 5, 1983
Gremlins (Joe Dante) – 7, 1984
This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner) – 12, 1984

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (George Miller & George Ogilve) – 32, 1985
The Magic Crystal (Wong Jing) – 58, 1986
A Muppet Family Christmas (Eric Till & Peter Harris) – 67, 1987
Scrooged (Richard Donner) – 56, 1988
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (Chris Columbus) – 80, 1992

Last Hero in China (Wong Jing) – 37, 1993
From Beijing with Love (Stephen Chow & Lee Lik-chi) – 20, 1994
Made in Hong Kong (Fruit Chan) – 2, 1997
Sideways (Alexander Payne) – 20, 2004
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson) – 3, 2009

Skyline (Colin & Greg Strouse) – 67, 2010
The Muppets (James Bobin) – 41, 2011
Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller) – 2, 2015
One Shot (James Nunn) – 24, 2021
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Swinton O. Scott III) – 82, 2021

Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt) – 1, 2022
Trenque Lauquen (Laura Citarella) – 6, 2022
Where the Wind Blows (Philip Yung) – 37, 2022
Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman (Yang Bingjia) – 56, 2022

Bad City (Sonomura Kensuke) – 57, 2022
Death on the Nile (Kenneth Branagh) – 81, 2022
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules (Luke Cormican) – 94, 2022

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (Karan Johar) – 1, 2023
Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan) – 4, 2023
Godzilla Minus One (Yamazaki Takashi) – 5, 2023
The Taste of Things (Trần Anh Hùng) – 6, 2023
Afire (Christian Petzold) – 7, 2023

Jigarthanda DoubleX (Karthik Subbaraj) – 8, 2023
Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese) – 10, 2023
The Boy and the Heron (Miyazaki Hayao) – 12, 2023
Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros (Frederick Wiseman) – 14, 2023
Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismaki) – 15, 2023

Jawan (Atlee) – 16, 2023
All Ears (Liu Jiayin) – 19, 2023
Ferrari (Michael Mann) – 26, 2023
May December (Todd Haynes) – 28, 2023
Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos) – 30, 2023

Perfect Days (Wim Wenders) – 32, 023
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (Kelly Fremon Craig) – 37, 2023
Ballerina (Lee Chung-hyeon) – 38, 2023
Leo (Lokesh Kanagaraj) – 41, 2023
The Holdovers (Alexander Payne) – 42, 2023

Pathaan (Siddharth Anand) – 45, 2023
Silent Night (John Woo) – 47, 2023
A Haunting in Venice (Kenneth Branagh) – 49, 2023
Napoleon (Ridley Scott) – 50, 2023
Eileen (William Oldroyd) – 52, 2023

The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer) – 56, 2023
Moscow Mission (Herman Yau) – 57, 2023
No Hard Feelings (Gene Stupnitsky) – 58, 2023
I Did It My Way (Jason Kwan) – 68, 2023

Albert Brooks: Defending My Life (Rob Reiner) – 69, 2023
Maestro (Bradley Cooper) – 71, 2023
The Pigeon Tunnel (Errol Morris) – 72, 2023
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever (Luke Cormican) – 81, 2023

One More Shot (James Nunn) – 2024

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. Evil Does Not Exist
5. Godzilla Minus One
6. Hidden Blade
7. Jigarthanda DoubleX
8. Oppenheimer
9. Rocky aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani
10. The Taste of Things

Best Director:

1. Xu Haofeng & Xu Junfeng, 100 Yards
2. Hamaguchi Ryusuke, Evil Does Not Exist
3. Karthik Subbaraj, Jigarthanda DoubleX
4. Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
5. Karan Johar, Rocky aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani

Best Actor:

1. Omika Hitoshi, Evil Does Not Exist
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. Evil Does Not Exist (Hamaguchi Ryusuke)
4. Godzilla Minus One (Yamazaki Takashi)
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. Art College 1994 (Liu Jian)
3. The Boy and the Heron (Miyazaki Hayao)
4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever (Luke Cormican)
5. Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest (Ishihara Tatsuya)

Unseen Film:

1. Close Your Eyes (Victor Erice)
2. Music (Angela Schanelec)
3. Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (Lijo Jose Pellissery)
4. The Shadowless Tower (Zhang Lü)
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. Evil Does Not Exist
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. Evil Does Not Exist
2. Full River Red
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

This Week in Rankings

Since the last update, I wrote about some more festival films at InReview Online: Following the Sound, The Breaking Ice, 100 Yards, and A Light Never Goes Out. At SeattleScreenScene I wrote about Boudica: Queen of War. Over at The Chinese Cinema, I wrote about The White Storm 3: Heaven or Hell, The Imp, Gen-X Cops and Gen-Y Cops, The Mr. Vampire Sequels, The Arrow Bruce Lee Boxset, New Fist of Fury, and Baby Assassins: 2 Babies. I appeared, along with my daughter, on The Wiseman Podcast to talk about Ballet, and I recorded a commentary track for the upcoming Kino/Metrograph Bluray of Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong.

These are the movies I’ve watched or rewatched over the last few weeks, and where they place on my year-by-year rankings.

Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (Ozu Yasujiro) – 14, 1941
Record of a Tenement Gentleman (Ozu Yasujiro) – 15, 1947
A Hen in the Wind (Ozu Yasujiro) – 23, 1948
Zulu (Cy Endfield) – 4, 1964
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Bill Melendez) – 1, 1966

The Big Boss (Lo Wei) – 6, 1971
The Way of the Dragon (Bruce Lee) – 15, 1972
Fist of Fury (Lo Wei) – 19, 1972
Enter the Dragon (Robert Clouse) – 11, 1973
New Fist of Fury (Lo Wei) – 36, 1976
Game of Death (Robert Clouse) – 36, 1978

The Happenings (Yim Ho) – 20, 1980
The Imp (Dennis Yu) – 26, 1981
Once Bitten (Howard Storm) – 50, 1985
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (John Hughes) – 30, 1986

Mr. Vampire II (Ricky Lau) – 53, 1986
Mr. Vampire 3 (Ricky Lau) – 36, 1987
Mr. Vampire Saga 4 (Ricky Lau) – 45, 1988
Vampire vs. Vampire (Lam Ching-ying) – 67, 1989

Searching for Bobby Fischer (Steven Zaillian) – 18, 1993
Heaven and Earth (David Lai) – 49, 1994
Made in Hong Kong (Fruit Chan) – 2, 1997
Bio Zombie (Wilson Yip) – 21, 1998

Gen-X Cops (Benny Chan) – 61, 1999
Gen-Y Cops (Benny Chan) – 50, 2000
Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien) – 1, 2001
U-Man (Cheung Chi-sing) – 52, 2002

La La Land (Damien Chazelle) – 82, 2016
Murder on the Orient Express (Kenneth Branagh) – 141, 2017
In Search of Ozu (Daniel Raim) – 105, 2018
Hydra (Sonomura Kensuke) – 67, 2019
Ponniyin Selvan Part 1 (Mani Ratnam) – 3, 2022

100 Yards (Xu Haofeng and Xu Junfeng) – 1, 2023
Baby Assassins: 2 Babies (Sakamoto Yugo) – 2, 2023
The Final Game of Death (James Flower) – 5, 2023
Ponniyin Selvan Part 2 (Mani Ratnam) – 8, 2023
Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet) – 15, 2023

The Killer (David Fincher) – 20, 2023
Blackberry (Matt Johnson) – 22, 2023
The History of the Minnesota Vikings (Jon Bois) – 23, 2023
Raid on the Lethal Zone (Herman Yau, 26, 2023
Bottoms (Emma Seligman) – 27, 2023

Boudica: Queen of War (Jesse V. Johnson) – 37, 2023
The Breaking Ice (Anthony Chen) – 39, 2023
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Davis Guggenheim) – 41, 2023
The White Storm 3: Heaven or Hell (Herman Yau) – 43, 2023