Keep track of the 2023 releases you watch here

Lots of upheaval in my life + catching up on older movies + so little that appeals released so far = not much yet, but I may as well log the handful of films I’ve caught so far. 

Barbie - 7/10. A real treat, genuinely hilarious in points and perfectly cast. Makes a few missteps and I’m still undecided whether the ending works or not. 

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - 6/10. Dazzling animation and a lot of energy but starts to outstay its welcome, and did not need to be this long.

Air - 6. Breezy, passably witty, well-acted and thoroughly enjoyable… undermined a little because we all know how it ends, but a pleasant experience. 

Oppenheimer - 6/10 - …and talk about outstaying it’s welcome… there’s an outstanding movie in this bloated thing somewhere, and it is of course visually a wow at times, but Nolan cannot write dialogue, the characters are mostly stick figures… and it’s bum-numbingly long. 

Blue Jean - 5/10. Nice to see a film shot and set in my home town, and Rosy McEwan is excellent in the lead role. Some clumsy direction and subpar supporting performances torpedo it, sadly, but a nice try. 

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - 5/10. Can’t decide what tone it’s aiming for, and some of the CGI is pretty poor. Some funny moments and an engaging enough plot, but it’s yet another movie this year that’s at least 20 minutes too long. 

Rye Lane - 5/10.  The leads are charismatic and the London locations work is fab.  Tries too hard for a quirky/goofy tone and I found the end result patchy at best. 

How to Blow Up a Pipeline - 4/10. The pacing has some urgency to it but the characters are so wall-to-wall unlikeable, and the dialogue often lame, that I stopped caring pretty quickly. A few standout scenes. 

Lonesome - 4/10. Superbly shot, but it’s such a slow, humourless story that it becomes rather boring. 

Tetris - 4/10. Good performance by Nikita Yefremov in a muddled, misguided film. 

65 - 1/10. Truly dreadful in so many levels that it almost has to be seen to be believed. Could be taken as a parody of bad movies if it were more entertaining.