Biskuik

 Bisquik for the Sin Eater in the idea of "can we change? "

                                       "You don't yell at a boulder for being a rock"

Top albums 2023

...well, it's them... The Usual Suspects...Keef, the Coop, Iggy, a lot of  septagenuarians, even octogenarians there...All the young Dudes ! even Metallica !                                                                       Keeping on rocking in (not so much) a Free World anymore, agree Neil-yo;)? 

Top 2022 albums here. Top 2023 Soundtracks here. 

Song of the year is but, yes, The Beatles-Now and Then 

1. The Rolling Stones-Hackney Diamonds -well Mick and Keef are 80 ! 

Ronnie is the young gun here ;) -76!

and that brings me to the Music Video of the year (hey, for me, OK?): not Angry, but

Mess it Up , featuring a Nicholas Hoult on the run...directed by Calmatic !

2. Peter Gabriel -I/o (after 20 years...) -73 ! 

3. Alice Cooper -The Road -at 75 !!!

&

-Iggy Pop-Every Loser -76!  (sorry, I missed ya man in EC, hopefully catch-up this year!!!)

Ian Hunter -Defiance part One -83 !!!

Paul Simon-Seven Psalms (82 !!!)

Yusuf (Cat Stevens)-King of a Land (75!)

Nils Lofgren -Mountains (72!)

***also Neil Young (78!) put not one, not two but three albums out, Before and After, an album with Lofgren, Molina and Talbot (All Roads Lead Home) and a re-release of Chrome Dreams. 

Metal album of the year (that's how Metal I can get;) : well, Hetfield is 60 now but the meaning of 72 is Eighteen-Forever !!!

Metallica-72 Seasons

Mention for Jonas Akerlund's b & w video of Black Moonlight. Cool one ! 

Greta Van Fleet-Starcatcher 

(third album of the band, same Zeppelin, some Queen, still epigonic but better...their best yet)  -well, these guys are so young (but old souls;) it doesn't even compute ;)

Pop:

Duran Duran -Dance Macabre (well, these guys are just in their sixties, so...), espc. for Supernature and Psycho Killer with a touch of Paint it Black...;)

Madness-Theatre of the Absurd Presents C'est la Vie 

(1st album since 2016)

***

Guilty pleasure (and not only GP) album of the year: 

Dolly Parton -Rockstar  (Dolly is 78 !!!), now, that's a cover album if there ever was one ;)

Try the super extended version (30 songs!!!). So many great guests here. Top RnR royalty. Loved her duet with Rob Halford (Bygones)! Also World on Fire, great song. Magic Man, with Ann Wilson. Heart of Glass, with Debbie Harry. And that duet with Stevie Nicks, bad-ass witches, no Eastwick. "What has Rock and Roll ever Done for You". Indeed :D

Re-issue/Anniversary of the year: 

Mike Oldfield -Tubular Bells -50th Anniversary Edition 

& with that Mike announced his retirement too, at 70, last May 15....

Guitar top three:

Steve Lukather-Bridges

Trevor Rabin-Rio

Steven Wilson-The Harmony Codex

Blues

Danny Bryant-Rise

*****

Danny Bryant will be playing for the 1st time in Romania for Transilvania Blues Nights in Brasov at Rockstadt on Jan. 20th 2024 !!!!

well, that gig was cacelled, but we got this instead -Copeland & Wragg -The Last Sundown, definetly will be on my list of albums of 2024 !!! 

Gov't Mule - Peace Like A River 

Eric Sardinas-Midnight Junction 

Top 5 series of 2023 (+2)

 Top films of 2023 here.

Top 5 SERIES/2023:

Fargo season 5 -fx -amazingly how this can be so good...though there is on more episode, it will end on Jan. 16 2024 ! Funf**k*ng fantastik Finale ! See the Biskuik post here...

Fargo series have been my favorite year by year (season 1 back in 2014 wow, ten years now !!!, season 2 in 2015, and also I watched again season 2 & 3 during the pandemic on prime (where they ain't anymore). My favourite it's still season Two. Season 3 was on #7 in 2017, and season 4 on #1 in 2020. Season 5 is an absolute rewatchable jewel, with Jon Hamm's career's best as sheriff Roy, "he's Gary Cooper", a freaky Tiger-Juno Temple and a mesmerizing Sam Spruell as Ole Munch.

"When i was a child freedom was a potato" (Munch), that reminded me of The Tin Drum. 

Succession (I saw it all this year) HBO max, greatness (see my thoughts here)

Justified: Primeval City -on A. Prime , a spin-off mostly but made me recoup the Justified series too.

Copenhagen Cowboy -miniseries, Netflix, I guess it wont be a series 2;) -NWR (see my thoughts here)

Barry -season 4 (final season) HBO Max -weirder than all before, but just to to put a coda on Bill Hader's odyssey. Barry was on my top 2022 too. 

*****

also saw older fares, but great stuff !!!

LOUDERMILK -3 seasons (2017-2020), with a great Ron Livingston (thanx, Doc ;) 

and 

Documentary Now! (2015-2019, 4 seasons x 6 eps.), the spoof by Bill Hader, Seth Meyers & Fred Armisen, hilarious mockumentary stuff. Loved especially the takes on Robert Evans (Mr. Runner Up), Herzog/Kinski (Soldier of Illusion) , Nanuk the Esqimo (Kanuk), The Talking Heads (Final Transmission), The Eagles (the Blue Jean Commitee). I guess it was too smart and sophisticated but I had a blast !!! Highly recommended. You just got to know the originals...it helps ;)

Rolling Stone named it:  Documentary Now!' Is Pure, 100-Percent Film-Nerd Catnip !!!

Top films of 2023

Tough year. 4 me...saw way less movies and series than in 2022, almost like half !!! but it was a much better year for films IMO. More 2023 tops to come-series, soundtracks, albums & concerts. 

Killers of the Flower Moon-Martin Scorsese

& Oppenheimer -Christopher Nolan, 

I would put these two ex aqueo I guess there are very important films that will stay on. Cillian Murphy should win his Oscar (but there's the Giamatti factor and I go for that), as Nolan, Downey jr., Gorranson and all involved. It already started well, all Critics society, Golden Globes, BAFTA and Guilds awards included. For Killers it's again Scorsese's losing streak (Irishman style).

----------------------------------------- not seen yet (at that date): 

The Zone of Interest, Perfect Days, Monster (saw it in Feb. 2024 and it's not my cup of cinema), Io Capitano, Poor Things. Waiting for them in theaters, yet. 

*Later Jan. 28th Note: Just saw Perfect Days, in the cinema, an Ozu film by Wenders :), and it would've made the top of the top, it's clearly one of 2023's best films and more than that. My review here. 

**Later later note -Feb. 13-saw Poor Things in the cinema, it's a curio and a stunt but fascinating nonetheless arthouse shock Cinema ! My review here.

***Later later Later note (Feb. 20th) -The Zone of Interest, clearly one of the year's best, a true masterpiece of avant-garde and essential cinema. My review here.

-----------------------------------

*Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves -I wasn't so impressed, it's the same film all over again, but with lesser cultish actors, liked better Le Havre and The Lights of Dusk. I mean, good, warm, heartfelt, uberminimalistic, but same tour of Aki's pub we know so well. Also, didn't do much with the dog....and the fact they watch The Dead don't Die :( when on the posters there's so much better films...

& the rest: 

Xmas film if there was one: The Holdovers-Alexander Payne-Paul Giamatti and Payne at their best. 

guilty pleasure? Babylon -though technically it's from 2022, saw it in 2023, January. My review here.

Action film of the year: Sisu -Jalmari Helander 

Sequel/franchise; Indiana Jones and the Dialof Destiny -James Mangold

Psychotronic film of the Year: Nu aștepta prea mult de la sfârșitul lumii/Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World by Radu Jude. Just saw this apocaly-pic (in the cinema sense ;) in a theater, with people, and so I had to change /add this item to the Top. More on this here.

***

Mentions for acting: May December -Todd Haynes -Julianne Moore & Natalie Portman (& for the Michel Legrand theme from The Go-Between)

Ferrari - Michael Mann- might be Adam Driver's best part and most restrained, or at least of recent date.

& Saltburn -Emerald Fennell -Barry Keoghan, which I loved in The Banshees of Inisherin (my top film of 2022), and a proof he will make a good Joker !

One-character piece film of the year- Inside-Vasilis Katsoupis -with a most brilliant Willem Dafoe.

Curio of the year: Beau is Afraid-Ari Aster (& my review here).

Super-hero flick: Guardians of theGalaxy vol. 3 (James Gunn) & my Review here

Film romanesc/Romanian film: Libertate-Tudor Giurgiu (at the time i had no Jude screening) -here's the review in Romanian, and here in English !

Thriller: The Killer-David Fincher, if Fassbender's character would've listened  to a different band than The Smiths I would've liked it better-like if he listened to The Pixies for ex ;), -also discovered a really cool comix through this ! -my review here  

Musical of the year-Wonka (also prequel)

Animation-The Boy and the Heron-Hayao Miyazaki

Horror -When Evil Lurks / Cuando acecha la maldad, Demian Rugna -Argentina

Nicolas Cage Award of the year: Sympathy for the Devil. 

Dream Scenario , I saw in cinema and wasn't too impressed, Cage did it before in Adaptation, it's like a sort of Beau is Afraid 2 (no wonder Ari Aster is involved), film ain't too funny and loses breath fast, rather liked him in Butcher's Crossing, with his shaved head. 

Comedy:  Beau (mostly, when he is not afraid :), Next Goal Wins -Takia Waititi with a great Michael Fassbbender, also having the time of his life, The Holdovers. 

Disapointment of the year -Napoleon-Ridley Scott, totally miscast , out of breath, all over the place but nowhere where it should be. Beau is not Nap...

*** gotta mention Paul Schrader's Master Gardner -which even played in Romanian Theaters for about...a week :( , I saw it in 2023 but the film is from 2022, premiered at the Venice film Fest. It's Schrader's best since Auto Focus (2002) and Better than The Card Counter and First Reformed, his last two films which were also wriiten by Schrader. A great Joel Edgerton performance too. 

Documentary of the Year (4 me): 

Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan (2020, Julian Temple)  -because I saw it after Shane died...