2023 was quite the year in entertainment, full of strikes, flops and giant Japanese lizard monsters. Join me for a whistlestop tour of the year that was.
You critical Drinker fans are so toxic. Most of those films being bad has nothing to do with woke pandering. Just bad writing. But grifters gotta grift I guess. It gets views
@@MsHydnain those times Disney was just “meh”, people had lukewarm opinions and no one actively hated them. Nowadays they’re absolutely trash, people loathe and resent them for what they’ve done to culture and society (the lasting impact on the kids that have watched their racism in recent years) and actively strive to disinfect themselves from everything Disney. It’s starkly different than 30-40 years ago.
@@MsHydnaThey've been sustained by Tax Evasi… I mean Tex exemptions, bribes and Government bailouts back then; sadly that well too had started to dry out.
The fact how dreamworks just pulled puss in boots out of nowhere just for it to be an absolute banger and be leagues better than Disney’s recent films is absolutely crazy
i actually wish they had doubled down on the new snow white and continued to release it in its original form instead of delaying it by a year to re-shoot it into something halfway palatable- it could have been the most epic, hilarious, disastrous box office release ever
I kind of wish Dailywire would release their version to theaters at the same time for a head to head matchup. But they’ll just release it on their plus service.
@@el_killorcure I can see why they didn’t take Lady Ballers. Probably don’t want insane leftists camping outside the theater stinking the place up. But Snow Whites pretty tame if they stick to the sanitized fairy tale version of the story.
As someone who has an amateur interest in history, it's funny to watch Hollywood behave like a collapsing empire. They grew big, they dominated, they prospered and they lived good. Then they became arrogant, assumed they would succeed instead of working for success, indulged in infighting, ignored every existential threat, and will be utterly surprised when they get toppled by newer, more agile, and more actually modern competitors.
Suzume was the first film I had seen in theaters in years. It's been huge lately. The other film I had enjoyed was Wonka. It's just an added reminder that you don't have to make your films grim and dark or just superhero movies to bring people in.
And we’re on a HOT streak starting the year with Frieren, Shangri-la Frontier, Apothecary Diaries, Classroom do the Elite, Dangers in My Heart, and Solo Leveling. What a stacked start of the year!
As a lifelong Godzilla fanatic, I can't describe how satisfying it is to know that a serious Godzilla movie is a rightful contender for the best movie of the year.
I don't think audiences are tired of superheroes. I think audiences are tired of bad movies. The real change is that we've gone from getting good superhero movies to getting bad ones. The audience and what it wants hasn't necessarily changed at all.
Agreed. I had zero interest in the marvels, flash, aquaman but enjoyed Spiderverse and love The Boys. Marvel and DC have just been making crap recently. They need quality control
The other issue is that the story has been told, and now we're just in sequel hell. The Avengers story ended with Thanos, and now they have absolutely no idea what their new "end game" is supposed to be.
Dungeons and dragons honor among thieves was one of the most enjoyable films I’ve seen in a long time. Greatly underrated and sad there won’t be a sequel. Sometimes a simple, fun, well-written movie is just fine.
It was dumb and utterly forgettable, but surprisingly fun as hell. I don't watch fast food cinema very often, but this one was a shining example of how to do it right.
Exactly, some films are so good and completed they don't need a sequel: Jaws, Star wars, Ghostbusters. (I'm showing my age here) as they, as far as can remember didn't sow the seed for a sequel and yet money talks to millionaire franchise owners. @@axelhens7831
@dcmastermindfirst9418 Nah. Comics were beloved for 50+ years until Disney and it's woke activists in Marvel and WB and theirs destroyed them. If the movies stayed true to the pre woke era source material they would be doing just fine. It's definitely THE MESSAGE fatigue!
@Spiderclaw74 Still don't entirely agree. After Endgame there was no story or direction in the mcu and still isn't and then they just pumped out twice as much content during the epidemic which just made the mcu into homework for normies. So that was over half marvels audience lost. It's definitely fatigue.
Thank you for helping on saving so much money on cinema Drinker, even good movies are ridicously expensive so being able to avoid the really cringy ones is a relieve to my wallet
@@maskedman5657I disagree. He just highlights bad writing, directing, acting etc. It is possible to make a political message while telling a compelling story but Hollywood and the entertainment industry more generally in the last decade or so seem to think you have to choose one or the other.
I literally just finished rewatching Pirates of the Carribean - Curse of the Black Pearl. The credits roll as I'm writing this. Boy oh boy, what a different experience this is, compared to today's movie landscape.
It blows my mind to watch movies like this made 20 years ago, and think of them as 'classic cinema'. But it really is, they made things differently, and better. The LOTR movies, Pirates, Inside Man, the earliest MCU movies, the Nolan Batman trilogy, even the Star Wars prequels. Comparing the early 00s to today is like a completely different landscape.
The similarities between the Superhero and Westerns genre are amazing. Westerns were popular to the point of saturation during the 1950s and 1960s before dying out in the 1970s. There are still people who watch westerns but they have never regained the popularity they had back then. The same thing is now happening with the Superhero genre.
The crazy thing is, if that happens, DC and Marvel are screwed. The video game adaptations are on thin ice, and nobody is really reading the comics anymore.
Nah, Eyebrow Cinema has a really good breakdown of how they're different entitled "No, Superhero Movies are NOT Like Westerns". Short answer, Westerns didn't take up nearly as much oxygen as Superhero scholck did/does even at their worst.
@@redpillnibbler4423 I'm a 50s child and liked Westerns a lot, but indeed both tv and the movies became saturated. I can't even remember all the westerns on tv, well enough the movies. It started on Sunday night with Bonanza and ended on Saturday night with Gunsmoke. There've been some real classics in the past few decades, but IMO the "spaghetti Westerns" genre was the end of the line for them. I'm not into superhero movies and never watched any of the M-she-U stuff, but yes it does seem that its oversaturated the market and is burning out. Can it be brought back?
The fact that the damned Spider-Verse movies are arguably better and more successful than anything the MCU has put out since Endgame is honestly a bit hilarious. Sony is handling Marvel's characters better than Marvel is handling their own characters at this point. And, surprisingly enough, the Spider-Verse movies show that it's totally possible to create an enjoyable, entertaining superhero movie with a diverse cast instead of making it a political statement. They're just fun and comically absurd, which they can get away with due to being animated.
The Japanese have been on the right course with their comic book film adaptations for half a century, making them ANIMATED. So, it doesn't surprise me that the animated Spiderman film did so well. It's what Hollywood studios should have been doing in the first place.
I know the Drinker doesn't cover anime much but I think it deserves a shoutout for the big, almost renaissance year it had in 2023. Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, One Piece(even got a successful live action remake) and Jujustu Kaisen just to name a few, all came out swinging and quite possibly birthed a new generation of anime fans while reminding long time lovers such as myself why it's one of the best art forms and how Hollywood just can't compare at the moment.
I think you've got a case of the hopium. Attack on Titan was lame, nothing like the previous seasons, Vinland saga was just as lame as its previous seasons, and one piece belongs in the trash. Jujustu Kasien is a good anime, but I would hardly say we are on our way back to the golden age we had pre-covid.
@@ethanwilliams1880 are you crazy? Vinland saga s1 was awesome. S2 was lame and nothing like the first season. Also, you’re crazy if you don’t like one piece. Unless all you seen is the anime. Then I don’t blame you. The anime is trash.
As much as I enjoy seeing Drinker talk about films he loved, it's even more entertaining to watch him drag horrendous movies through the coals! The fact most movies in this tier list are Disney property is absolutely priceless.
Disney's fault they failed instead of making good movies they rather push "the message" let Disney continue to burn and any company that tried push wokeness trash, looking at AB with budlight, target, ben and jerries, etc. All lost money in 2023
I love how this was a year where I was way more excited for the reviews for most films than the actual films, and another dozen of CZcams careers have been launched for real. My respect for the Drinker for saving me tons of money, time, and energy from all the crap films this year be like: 📈📈
It was the fuckaroundist of times, it was the findoutiest of times. Box office flops, narcissistic actor-vists, South Park destroying them, stock prices in the toilet & utterly embarrassed by a $15 million budget Japanese monster movie. This is the price Hollywood pays for The Message. Great vid, Drinker
On a semi-related note at the end, I really do hate the stigma against video games as a story telling medium. It quite literally enables active participation in a story, letting those interested have a sturdy layer of connection. Sure “shooty shooty bang bang” are there, but you find that in a good chunk of stories and movies too.
Rechel Zegler was on this new years show i watched where the show clips of people saying what their resolutions are and she fucking said "to be more humble as i grow through blah blah." I started dying laughing. Shes clearly been reprimanded 😅
She was probably correctly told that if this movie tanks thats going to be her career with it. How many new pictures does PWB have lined up after dial of derp?
Congratulations to Christopher Nolan and the team behind Oppenheimer. Congratulations to the team behind Godzilla Minus One. Congratulations to the team behind Anatomy of A Fall. Thanks for making great films that I genuinely enjoyed and loved.
@@skizeranosk True, I’m really excited for the Ghost of Tsushima movie being directed by the same guy who directed the John Wick movies. Everything I’ve heard about it sounds great. Also a series of Metal Gear Solid films, done right, would be amazing.
@@skizeranosk100% they will make Samus gay if Nintendo isn't there to stomp their foot down like with Mario. We could all just imagine how that movie would have turned out if Nintendo didn't watch over their shoulder to ensure they were faithful to the source material
No one is sick of Super movies. We are sick of them being made by folks who hate the genre and the heroes themselves. If they can get back to the folks who love them, they will swing back as a massive success once again. We want more of these stories, just not poorly made by haters.
Agreed, I'm definitely going to be there when Deadpool 3, The Batman II, Beyond the Spider-Verse and Superman: Legacy come out in the next six months to a year and a half from now. They're really the only superhero movies I'll be lining up to see in the near future, especially since it looks like everyone involved genuinely loves the source material and doesn't want to give us basic, boring slop but real, genuinely moving entertainment that'll stick with you.
I somewhat agree, in particular the big 3 of Batman, Spiderman and Superman will always have a strong core audience. Matt Reeve's The Batman made $800m and Spiderverse 2 crushed it. But on the other hand, in isolation these were also just really great movies that tried to entertain us rather than brainwash us with THE MESSAGE. I want to see DC keep its more R-rated tone The Joker and The Batman had and let Marvel have its wisecracking PG13 pandering superhero movies. Marvel has basically killed off all its best characters now and doubling down on the pandering means they are all but finished, but I have some hope for DC and Sony's Spiderman stuff.
Sound of Freedom was the movie that got me back in theaters. In years gone by I’ve been known to see a movie more than a dozen times while in its original theatrical run and that wishing the first months or two. Those days were long gone until Sound of Freedom came out. And I heard about it years before just waiting for it to see the light of day. So glad it got a mention for the impact it had.
The Boy and the Heron was amazing this year. Migration was an enjoyable family film free from "the message". I loved Renfield! It was super gory fun. I also enjoyed the Netflix film Spyderhead but I can't remember if it was a 22 or a 23 film. Past Lives was a good romantic drama made for adults.
Well it should have gotten the IMAX screens instead of the silly super close up shots of Oppenheimer where the camera cuts every 2.5 seconds I can say that much
Plus it had Hayley Atwell, who I kinda love. I honestly didn’t find it to be a drop in quality from six, outside of the villain. But I think there’s generally a backlash against 2-part movies now. I heard people moan loudly when I saw Spider-Verse and indicating they didn’t know ahead of time. I know the first part of Dune bored the shit out of me and I couldn’t give a shit about 2. (“Oh look. Sand. Never seen that in a movie before.”) The only reason I am in for Fast XI (they’re starting to sound like popes as they get long in the tooth) is that, like Shirley from Community with the Hellraiser franchise, at this point I’m just along for the ride.
I think as long as Nintendo Executives have their hand in the making of their movies, like Miyamoto's involvement in Super Mario Bros and the upcoming Legend of Zelda movies, I think those movies are positioned to dominate the theaters. The Japanese based company won't let the Western "message" destroy their brand. Miyamoto stepped in and changed the Mario movie quite a bit from my understanding so that it wouldn't be tainted by that garbage.
Japanese are so based, this year they send a men to a Congress about women fighting climate change or when a Spanish leftist moment demanded that dragon ball should be removed from tv because it was masculine and racist and they didn’t give a f
great point. I think we'll see a couple sequels or variations of Super Mario Bros. to follow the movie from '23...Also, a game Franchise like Zelda would absolutely be 100% successful.
The same thing happened with Eiichiro Oda and One Piece. He made Netflix rewrite a good bit of it to keep tHe MeSsAgE out of it and keep it faithful to the source material
@@Original-Juice Any Zelda game would be a great choice! And honestly, we don't need an "adaptation". Just put the game on the screen. Condense it a bit... maybe. But otherwise hands off. I truly believe that a good Zelda movie would beat even Super Mario Bro's 1.4B total.
The funniest part of the Haunted Mansion, is that the movie wasn't bad. It is what you would expect from a ghost movie, based on a ride, marketed for kids/family. The problem is it came out in July, instead of October.
Elemental was my surprise film. Didn't expect a migration film hit so close to home and even though it couldve been better it was a good sweet spot and great to enjoy with the family.
quick note on the DnD movie. I am a DnD nerd and I know what was going on in the DnD fan community at the time. the big reason for it's failure, besides being sandwiched between some big releases the week before and after it came out, was that there was a massive attack on the DnD community by the owners of DnD, Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast. they had manage to turn their whole community against them with venom and rage, so none of us were going to go see the movie or even recommend it. (if you want to look into it, start looking into the DnD OGL scandal - it's a rather lengthy topic - so the TLDR is that the OGL is a document that gave protections to 3rd party publishers big and small to make DnD content without being sued into the ground - and hasbro got greedy and wanted to destroy it. they basically tried to backstab the community and destroy all 3rd party content going forwards - and when that failed they had severely upset the community.)
Talk about sticking your foot into your mouth and from a year where a historical Cleopatra drama fanfiction is sued by a who,e country for inaccuracies, Ziegler proves further the deluded Los Angeles bubble of spoiled celebrities and the strikes halting productions, it had stiff competition!
WotC and Hasbro has done nothing but sabotage themselves in 2023. First the attempted stealth implementation of the OGL change, then talks about centralizing all of D&D into an online space controlled only by them, then they sent THE PINKERTONS after a guy who leaked some Magic: The Gathering cards, then they scheduled their movie to be sandwiched between Mario and John Wick 4 (while also repelling general audiences with talk about emasculating their male characters), then just as the movie released, they called literally EVERYTHING in the game racist, including half-elves (even though they got Justice Smith to play a half-elf in the movie), then they started censoring M:tG into OBLIVION (no more “witch” “Druid” “native” “tribal” etc) And that’s just the stuff I can remember off the top of my head!
@@VodPJ24uEgkkZT I wouldn't mind seeing more of the forgotten realms either, I like the depth of the lore in that setting and only recently got into the Drizzt books. I will also point out that this whole OGL thing would have had a major impact on Critical Role, the DnD podcast/stream that created the story that is Vox Machina. they were and still are the biggest advertisements for DnD and their DnD 3rd party books sell pretty well from what I know. This OGL thing is also why they started developing their own tabletop gaming systems to play instead of DnD (I haven't looked too much into it or it's quality). literally all major third party publisher started to do something like this as kind of an abandon ship moment. and I don't blame them - sure Hasbro and WotC didn't backstab them this time... but who's to say there won't be a round 2.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish deserves a mention. It was my favorite film after Godzilla Minus One, maybe because it was a surprise that it was so good.
1st January 2024: Public: “Surely Disney have learnt their lesson and will spend this year focusing on making good films rather than pushing messages and forced diversity quotas”. 2nd January 2024: Disney - “The new Rey movie will have a female director because its about time a female told some stories” 😂😂😂
It's just an error : they wanted to say, 'it's about time a female director SOLD a story'. They found back the why (producing a movie)! I suppose they won't find the HOW just this year...
100%. You almost have to admire Disney for going down on the diversity ship and their insistence on giving their audience the finger at every opportunity.
A big thanks to you Drinker, for providing perspective on this crazy TV/Film landscape we find ourselves in. It saves me a lot of time by not watching the "big things" that turn out to be mediocre products. Because of it, I find myself turning to other, lesser known films or classics I haven't seen where I find my time more well spend. I'm personally looking forward to see Kore-eda's newest film (Monster) in the theater soon. So much more to see in the world of film than the produce from the barking Hollywood studios. Hoping to find some more hidden gems in 2024
"Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning" is underrated, in my opinion. I freakin' loved that movie; I think it just came out at unfortunate timing, having to compete against both "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie".
Agreed, I loved it. Wasn't as good as Fallout but still a great movie that had the misfortune of coming out at the wrong time. Only thing I disliked was what happened to Ilsa.
its underrated for sure, but it is flawed as a movie, and much harder to sell to an audience than Fallout was, which was chase the bomb essentially, this is chase the spooky AI that knows everything before it happens, so you have to assume everyone is playing 3d chess with it,which wont be answered till a film 2 years later.
@jmbcorp20 i think the studio figured it would be great counterprogramming to Barbie. While Barbie drew in a female audience, M:I was supposed to bring in the male audience. It did... just not as whopping as Barbie
Thank you Critical Drinker for the brilliant content this year. I’ve loved watching your videos and your open bars. BELIEVE THAT! There’s a great CZcamsr: Greg Owen. Would be great to have him on the bar, or do a video with him. He has great opinions and does great videos like you. Here’s to many more years of content. Cheers 😊
Just wanted to give a belated best wishes for 2024 Drinker, and also to Tatiana, for her contribution to your rest and relaxation between videos and streams 😉 I also think that the superhero genre is going through what has occurred in the entire history of film, first we had the western genre dominate, then we had the musical, then we had the epic, then we had the monster craze of the 50's and early 60's, then we had the spy genre of the late 60's and early 70's, we then had the drive in b-movies such as those by Roger Corman and which included blackxploitation, we then had the horror trend which began with Psycho in the 60's but really picked up with the Exorcist, we then had a short faze with comedies such as Blues Brothers, Caddyshack, Stripes, vacation and so on, which led to the action movie genre, then we that was extended with a sub genre of Die Hard rip offs, and finally the 1990's genre of more realistic films which included relatable films like Falling Down, Boys In The Hood, Do The Right Thing and the like, and that led us to the superhero films of the early part of this century. Eventually Hollywood overexpose that genre, and that genre of film still gets made but not quite as often, and it usually coincides with another genre making an impact and the executives and film makers moving on. If you want my thoughts, probably not but who cares, I think more story driven films such as Moonlight, Parasite, Three Billboards and the like will be the next trend. There will still be superhero and blockbuster CGI filled films but they will be made alongside of, instead of before those other type of films I mentioned.
I totally agree with your point about the implosion of the superhero genre. I think it's healthy to see a shift in focus and explore other forms of storytelling that have been overshadowed for over a decade. Video game and manga adaptations seem to open up a whole new world of stories that can captivate audiences. I'm excited to see how Hollywood will adapt to these changes going forward.
Mario wasn't so widely successful just because it was a videogame movie and that's what people want, it was successful because Mario is such a Global mascot and everybody knows the character. In a way, people have been waiting decades for a decent film, and they made the right move by doing it in animation. It was just nice to see something done right for a change.
To be fair, the basic idea of the 1993 movie was not that bad. A paralell universe where dinos evolve to humans and live in a cyberpunk city sounds pretty cool. The problem is, that it was suppose to be a mario movie.
@@liamphibiaI believe that a live action movie would fit Zelda, mainly since their more serious tone allows live action to feel, I don't know what word to use, maybe believable? Personally I feel a live action adaptation would fit it better than an animation (unless they were planning on doing a windwaker movie, in that case just do an animated movie haha)
Entertaining vid. Great reflect. Happy new year! I've watched almost every marvel movie and I was really looking forward to Kang. I watched the trailer so many times (loved the music - goodbye yellow brick road), but was very surprised how the movie turned out. My family loved the Mario movie. For the most part, we were just simply entertained. It felt like a movie, not someone lecturing me.
Thank you for that list of positivity in 2023. It made me smile and appreciate that everything being thrown at us isn't *always* terrible. Appreciate you, Drinker.
Thank you for a great 2023 with you Drinker! I do love your criticism and I agree on a lot of points across mostt films. If you havent, Id love to hear your opinion on the Loki series. I feel like it was the only good one Disney x Marvel series recently... Thanks and heres to a good '24
@@def3ndr887I loved Mission Impossible 7, I admit Mission Impossible 6 was better but 7 was a good movie, it didn’t deserve to fail in the box office the movie got overshadowed by the damn Barbie/ Oppenheimer Hype, I never saw Oppenheimer so no comment on that one, as for Barbie it’s overhyped I gave it a 6/10
I’ve just switched to Japanese and South Korean content over the past few years. I’ve watched Western content, like Sisu, Barbie, and across the Spiderverse, but other than that I’ve been quite happily immersed in subtitles and East Asian voices. It’s been excellent.
Would you by chance have any recommendations? I watched (and loved) Train to Busan, All Of Us Are Dead, Alice in Borderland, and of course Squid Game, but I kind of don't know where to move next. 🤔
Finally someone mentioned something outside and not just or most about American movies and people expecting some changes while not watching more movies from diffrent coutries
Absolutely! China is my go-to for movies with strong character arcs, old school comedy and romance, epic fantasy/historical dramas and always on-point crime thrillers. Even when they drop the ball, they're still streets ahead of Hollywood, which seems to drop the ball even before their damn movies get greenlit! South Korea and Japan are still going strong, though Japan seems to have faltered with drama. The Golden Age may have passed, except for anime. It's South Korea who have been consistently good over the past five or more years with some hard hitting dramas. But really, any country can be seen to be producing excellent work. Even the USA, outside of the Hollywood sausage factory, produces good work. The problem is Hollywood and the total clusterf--k it's become. It has finally reached its level of incompetency. It may have to collapse in order to be reborn as something viable.
Thanks for your sharp and hilarious film industry commentary. What I'd like to see one day is a summary of movies (from any era) that do tick all your boxes ✔️
There is a channel that reviews movies and shows using scientific studies, and even in that channel the host used a clip of the Drinker saying "THE MESSAGE" Aydin Paladin is the channel.
Watching this episode reminded me of just how weird, funny (not in a good way) and infuriating 2023 was in cinema and TV. Last year was so bad that I found myself screaming weekly... Ahhh COME ON! REALY? Thanks for staying on top of it Drinker. Cheers! Dood
I was pretty sorry for mission impossible, an amazing and entertaining movie. Well acted by great actors, Vanessa Kirby is just astounding, but yes they have like two weeks before vanishing from the theatres
Yeah I loved it. Such an interesting concept that really rivals the Terminator series. It really suffered from the Barbenheimer launch window Super excited for part 2 either this year or next
Yes, it had unfortunate timing, coming out when two highly promoted, meme-fueled movies did. And also having one of said films beat it to the IMAX screens. I'm sure the latter in particular hurt it a lot.
ya, but the 40 kilo female-terminator was hilariously bad, instantly took me out of the movie. Also, very weakly written villain (who was very dumb in the decisions he consistently took). Plus, it was no Fallout, as the drinker pointed out
I think what crushed the movie as well was it's mega-inflated budget since it was mostly produced during peak covid. There were definitely scenes evident of this, where they generally limited the screen to 2, maybe 3, characters at a time. Despite that, I had a blast watching it and am definitely looking forward to part 2 (or whatever it's been renamed to)
I feel like we're at the end of T2. Looking out at an open highway, in uncharted territory. I feel like better things are coming, just keep pushing forwards! Thanks for an awesome year, Drinker! Cheers
It’s going to be a rocky road ahead for some time yet though. It will take a couple of years to cycle through all the woke projects, reboots and sequels that are still in the production pipeline. The release schedule for 2024 looks AWFUL!
Sadly, the Terminator franchise is lost on wanting to retell the same story over and over again instead of trying to give the audience something new and different. I’m probably one of the few who like Salvation and what we need is an expansion on the future war instead of going back in the past and rehash those events over and over again. And then of course, this analogy fits perfectly with where cinema is nowadays. The audience wants new and fun stuff, but instead we keep getting studios going back into the past and trying to retell stories already told by much better storytellers.
I started watching Critical Drinker in 2022 and I was a little bit brainwashed. I often disagreed with his point of view, but I kept watching anyway because I don't live in my own echo chamber. However, last year I realized my taste in movies started to morph and blend with Drinker's, and now I take his suggestions to heart when deciding what to watch. Cheers, and here's to another year 🍻
you were not brain washed. maybe you had different tastes. and if you let some youtube critic convert your opinion for you.. then THAT would be brainwashed. It is always good to have tastes and minds of our own. and the drinker is not always right
Lol. Sheep went from one brainwash spectrum to another. Told my wife it's like so many of you have sawdust in your heads just waiting on some source or the other to fill up the emptiness inside
@@andrewfairweather4742 Drinker types help unlock that critical eye. Normies don't look at stuff that critically. They are the last to jump ship. I dipped out of the MCU at crappy End Game. Normies gave that shit two more phases to die as a fart in the wind with the Marvels.
The best film I watched in 2023 was The Holdovers. A small budget indie film with about 10 characters. Not an ounce of forced diversity in sight ( the supporting character is a well written and real character who just happens to be black). The dialogue was well written and very funny, all the characters felt believable and the whole film had such a feelgood vibe to it. I can see why it is in most critics top 5 lists and on course for Oscar success. Also individual winner of the year has to surely be Barry Keoghan, looks to be on a fast track to A list with smart project choices and good performances. Loser of the year Rachel Zegler and Disney by a country mile.
Omg dude I LOVED Holdovers! First movie to get me emotional in a long time. They took their time with each character and showed how they developed throughout the movie and helped each other with each personal problem they had. Dope movie!
They used to have movies like this every year, now it's a joy to behold just to have ONE in the last 5 or 10 years. You know, back when Hollywood was original. A good story about the hero's journey.
I agree with both @JuliusSpell93 and @neonthunderbird. I loved the bittersweet ending of that movie and how satisfying it was to see a great teacher that all the warmth of the fish he shared a nicked name with get both a full arc that celebrated both is accomplishments without trying to make him all that likeable. So refreshing.
As a historical romantic suspense novelist, I'll own my biases, so what I would love to see is more grounded storytelling - romances and character studies of the type made by George Cukor back in the day. If studios want to attract a female audience, there is a whole world of plot-driven stories in the romance genre that would translate to film really well. And as for new properties, I would pay good money to see a Will Jordan novel film adaptation any day of the week.
She didn’t show him how to run and jump, but rather taught him about the obstacles in that world, given that Mario is from the real world in this movie. But I suppose you see a woman teaching a man something and automatically hate it
Im from America and all i have to say is i always agree you always tell the truth and you don't lett woke politics get in your way keep it up my friend
As the drinker said, the generation that grew up on these film's have outgrown them, I grew up in the undisputed golden era of balls to the wall non apologetic action movies (the 80s) commando, Rambo, bloodsport, lethal weapon etc, but as i got older and the 90s arrived i leaned towards different movie's like gooodfellas, heat, Shawshank, speed and bad boys although still great action movies, didn't have that flair and no nonsense approach of the 80s, but were still enjoyable in the genre, what i mean here is it's good to grow up with a certain genre but its also good to grow out of it and try new things, I'll always watch the classics like predator and Delta force but I will also look towards new stuff.
As a long time fan of the nostalgic critic, Listening to you has been a breath of fresh air drinker. You are clear and concise without needing to take 20 minutes, And your opinions match mine almost identically
Yeah, Nostalgia critic don't do much nostalgia anymore. Plus I had a hard time going back to some of his old stuff. Some of the humour really drags on.
When Barbie is the centerpiece of the Movie Year, you can officially call it a Shit year for Cinema. Though watching Onyx the Fortuitous in the Theater was definitely the high point.
Definetly I tried so hard to make myself like that movie and all I can think of is ick I wonder how much of a simp Greta gerwig husband is to have co written such a man hating turd of a movie
Probably the best series I've seen in a long time is Mr Inbetween. If you haven't seen or even heard about this series, you're in for a treat. It's funny, visceral, and a compelling crime drama. In short, its utterly brilliant.
I was already enjoying the video (so many good points!), but your Teletubbies line reminded me to hit the Like button. Cheers, man! I raise my glass of wine to you!
I watched 5 movies in the cinema this year: 1) Oppenheimer - gripping, intense, captivating, a brilliant film. Probably in my top 10 of all time now. Fantastic cast and fantastic performances too 2) Godzilla minus one - a pleasant surprise, gripping characters and a great film 3) Mission Impossible - a fun movie which delivers what’s on the tin 4) Barbie - bland social commentary disguised as satire, not impressed 5) Guardians of the Galaxy 3 - the weakest of the 3 movies, nice to see the best of the Marvel stories (imo) come to an end
I think animation of late has had some of the best stuff I've seen. Starting with Puss in Boots Last Wish which came out December 2022. Across the Spider-Verse, Suzume and of course The Boy and the Heron. Also the series Blue Eye Samurai on Netlix was amazing as well. As for normal movies I really enjoyed Dead Reckoning, The Holdovers and my favorite Godzilla Minus One. I thought Loki season 2 was a pretty good turn around and finished off spectacularly as did Picard.
Most people are really missing out on this front. This year we also had Pluto, Bucket list of the dead and Undead Unluck, the last one Chainsaw Man and Cyberpunk Edgerunners. These last two years have been great for animation.
I really enjoyed Dead Reckoning and the scenes in John Wick were crazy. I just get bored to tears with fight scenes in comic book movies now; doesn't feel like there are any real stakes.
Unfortunately, I don't think Rachel Zegler is going anywhere. The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes is making its way to profit fairly consistently and this is also a reminder that they're going to continue to mine other existing material in addition to video games. We likely still won't see many originals for a while.
depends on their marketing budget, if its 100M, the movies need to make 400M to break even, and its not close to that, if it 50M then it make a little money but most likely not even close to what they were expecting
Yeah I agree plus Zegler clearly listened to the execs and pr team since she’s a lot less obnoxious than her past interviews and has seemingly done a complete 180
I mean, even if it didnt loose money it still wasnt the huge success they were expecting after giving they nade write a whole book about it. The hunger games franchise isnt at the Best in 2023 and i dont know if they are willing to throw it money for making more
Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was amazing. Rachel is kind of a turd, yes. But I think Disney let her take the blame for the movie. They knew it was going to suck, so they had her take the heat for it
It’s actually good you waited until the year was actually over & we were into January to do a year in review. Such things should be done when the year is actually & for real over. I hate seeing these things on magazines shelves right after Thanksgiving; there’s always something that happens in December they miss because a rush to publication. By the way, there were clips from “Gran Turismo” but no words from you, a film you had recommended earlier. I thought it deserved a mention. Anyway, sorta a video game adaptation but also another possible genre that may rise is the true life story like Turismo & “Sound of Freedom.”
Do you know what did deliver this year? Anime. I got into it 2 years ago and i'm absolutely hooked. One Piece was a great Netflix adaptation as you mentioned. Boy and the Heron is an obvious example. Vinland Saga was amazing. Jujutsu Kaisen was an absolute spectacle and Attack on Titan brought a conclusion, that solidified it as my favorite piece of media ever. Not to mention new Stuff like Pluto, Scott Pilgrim, or Zom 100. I don't need Hollywood anymore for entertainment.
Yes it feels like a golden age of animation, not just traditional anime, is upon us. Lots of great animated series have been coming out in the last two years.
Knowing that Disney lost billions thanks to bad movies filled with *THE MESSAGE* brings bittersweet joy to me
Disney also lost its number one position to Universal for the first time in years.
You critical Drinker fans are so toxic. Most of those films being bad has nothing to do with woke pandering. Just bad writing. But grifters gotta grift I guess. It gets views
LOL
@maskedman5657 what do you think bad writing entails?? Being woke is part of it
@@maskedman5657show me on the doll where the drinker touched you
Disney's 100th anniversary was easily one of the worst years they've ever had.
And to cap it off, Steamboat Willie became public domain.
Can’t wait to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse in the next Whinny the Poo, Blood and Honey.
They were in pretty rough shape in in the 70s and 80s.... they're still a juggernaut even with some stumbles.
@@MsHydnain those times Disney was just “meh”, people had lukewarm opinions and no one actively hated them. Nowadays they’re absolutely trash, people loathe and resent them for what they’ve done to culture and society (the lasting impact on the kids that have watched their racism in recent years) and actively strive to disinfect themselves from everything Disney. It’s starkly different than 30-40 years ago.
@@MsHydnaThey've been sustained by Tax Evasi… I mean Tex exemptions, bribes and Government bailouts back then; sadly that well too had started to dry out.
@@barnabusdoyle4930apparently there is a slasher flick already utilizing the IP it seems. Plans to release soon I think?
The fact how dreamworks just pulled puss in boots out of nowhere just for it to be an absolute banger and be leagues better than Disney’s recent films is absolutely crazy
I watched it on a flight because I was bored and I was shocked by how mature and emotionally intelligent it was. And fun!
@@AndrewThoesen yeah, much more than what you would expect from a shrek side character 😭
One of my favorite movies ever....not just recently, but all time. SO good!!
DreamWorks is great. They've always been great. ❤
@@Zamkat013the how to train your dragon movies are among one of my favourite franchises in animation. 🐉
i actually wish they had doubled down on the new snow white and continued to release it in its original form instead of delaying it by a year to re-shoot it into something halfway palatable- it could have been the most epic, hilarious, disastrous box office release ever
Yah, spend more money for less views, Disney needs to run a CZcams channel with original content to actually realize their potential audience😂
I kind of wish Dailywire would release their version to theaters at the same time for a head to head matchup. But they’ll just release it on their plus service.
@@franciscodanconia4324They just might if the movie theaters take the movie (they refused to take Lady Ballers).
@@el_killorcureand the fight to get sound of freedom in movies theaters. Despicable.
@@el_killorcure I can see why they didn’t take Lady Ballers. Probably don’t want insane leftists camping outside the theater stinking the place up. But Snow Whites pretty tame if they stick to the sanitized fairy tale version of the story.
As someone who has an amateur interest in history, it's funny to watch Hollywood behave like a collapsing empire. They grew big, they dominated, they prospered and they lived good. Then they became arrogant, assumed they would succeed instead of working for success, indulged in infighting, ignored every existential threat, and will be utterly surprised when they get toppled by newer, more agile, and more actually modern competitors.
Thank you for giving my daily reminder to think about the Roman Empire
this is basically every big entertainment company these days
Reminds me of the song King Nothing by Metallica.
Sounds like the United States.
If my only video gets 1000 likes I'll do 1000 push ups and post it on CZcams.
Despite the billions lost, it appears Disney hasn't learned a thing.
Critical Drinker doesn't want them to learn. Because he benefits from the Grift
@@maskedman5657Man you're one angy boi
They never will, they'll keep denying that they're in the wrong.
Disney “My lust! My greed!!! I deserve this!”
@@maskedman5657He really hit a nerve with you being in every comment thread lol
I never liked movie reviews like ever but *Critical Drinker* and *Nerdrotic* changed my mind, it's more entertaining than actual movies mentioned.
"Like Teletubbies" 8:58 I just wish they wouldn't give the Disney execs ideas - even opposite ideas.
the Uncharted film with Tom Holland wasn't that bad though
Oh how very true 🤣🤣
That used to be Nostalgia Critic for me
same. i barely watch movies but this man provides more entertainment value than any current marvel movie out now (excluding the miles morales ones)
While Hollywood was terrible last year, Japan was steady kicking ass in content. 2023 was a great year for anime.
Suzume was the first film I had seen in theaters in years. It's been huge lately. The other film I had enjoyed was Wonka. It's just an added reminder that you don't have to make your films grim and dark or just superhero movies to bring people in.
Surprisingly in that Netflixs been having a good time with Bastard!, Baki and Shuumatsu no Valkyrie being good that year..
And we’re on a HOT streak starting the year with Frieren, Shangri-la Frontier, Apothecary Diaries, Classroom do the Elite, Dangers in My Heart, and Solo Leveling. What a stacked start of the year!
boy and the heron was pretty cool too
And we finally had the adaptation of Pluto into anime
As a lifelong Godzilla fanatic, I can't describe how satisfying it is to know that a serious Godzilla movie is a rightful contender for the best movie of the year.
Best movie all year
It was AMAZING.
No doubt!
Godzilla Minus One is the best film I've seen in the theater since Avengers End Game.
👍👍
You and me both!
I don't think audiences are tired of superheroes. I think audiences are tired of bad movies. The real change is that we've gone from getting good superhero movies to getting bad ones. The audience and what it wants hasn't necessarily changed at all.
Agreed. I had zero interest in the marvels, flash, aquaman but enjoyed Spiderverse and love The Boys. Marvel and DC have just been making crap recently. They need quality control
@@bobxyzp You just replied to a sexbot.
The other issue is that the story has been told, and now we're just in sequel hell. The Avengers story ended with Thanos, and now they have absolutely no idea what their new "end game" is supposed to be.
Agreed.
Agreed the world is looking forward to the Boys this year, and Invincible has been great so far. I'm not done with Superhero
Dungeons and dragons honor among thieves was one of the most enjoyable films I’ve seen in a long time. Greatly underrated and sad there won’t be a sequel. Sometimes a simple, fun, well-written movie is just fine.
It was dumb and utterly forgettable, but surprisingly fun as hell. I don't watch fast food cinema very often, but this one was a shining example of how to do it right.
I liked it, but It's good there won't be a sequel. The story was told.
They did cuck all the men lol
Exactly, some films are so good and completed they don't need a sequel: Jaws, Star wars, Ghostbusters. (I'm showing my age here) as they, as far as can remember didn't sow the seed for a sequel and yet money talks to millionaire franchise owners. @@axelhens7831
There is more "message" fatigue than superhero fatigue.
Nah there's definitely a super hero fatigue.
15 years of the same goddamn formula.
The message will always find an audience as there are many grifters that benefit from it.
@dcmastermindfirst9418 Nah. Comics were beloved for 50+ years until Disney and it's woke activists in Marvel and WB and theirs destroyed them. If the movies stayed true to the pre woke era source material they would be doing just fine. It's definitely THE MESSAGE fatigue!
@Spiderclaw74 Still don't entirely agree.
After Endgame there was no story or direction in the mcu and still isn't and then they just pumped out twice as much content during the epidemic which just made the mcu into homework for normies.
So that was over half marvels audience lost.
It's definitely fatigue.
@@dcmastermindfirst9418 That's cause everything after Endgame was total garbage. It's BAD MOVIE fatigue. Not Superhero.
Thank you for helping on saving so much money on cinema Drinker, even good movies are ridicously expensive so being able to avoid the really cringy ones is a relieve to my wallet
Yeah. I can nearly pay a gas bill
That's because he believes nearly every movie that comes out is woke
@@maskedman5657 They are! Tool.
@@maskedman5657I disagree. He just highlights bad writing, directing, acting etc. It is possible to make a political message while telling a compelling story but Hollywood and the entertainment industry more generally in the last decade or so seem to think you have to choose one or the other.
@duncanbick6732 also political messages don't have to be in every show and movie, Hollywood doesn't understand that
I literally just finished rewatching Pirates of the Carribean - Curse of the Black Pearl. The credits roll as I'm writing this. Boy oh boy, what a different experience this is, compared to today's movie landscape.
Great Film.
Dead Man’s Chest was my pick of the series.
It blows my mind to watch movies like this made 20 years ago, and think of them as 'classic cinema'. But it really is, they made things differently, and better. The LOTR movies, Pirates, Inside Man, the earliest MCU movies, the Nolan Batman trilogy, even the Star Wars prequels. Comparing the early 00s to today is like a completely different landscape.
@@lancebaylis3169 I hear you mates and Dead Man's Chest is reserved for tomorrow. Drink up me hearties. YO HO!
The CGI was superior too.
I got the blu-ray trilogy for christmas. Stoked to watch it again.
The similarities between the Superhero and Westerns genre are amazing. Westerns were popular to the point of saturation during the 1950s and 1960s before dying out in the 1970s. There are still people who watch westerns but they have never regained the popularity they had back then. The same thing is now happening with the Superhero genre.
The crazy thing is, if that happens, DC and Marvel are screwed. The video game adaptations are on thin ice, and nobody is really reading the comics anymore.
Nah, Eyebrow Cinema has a really good breakdown of how they're different entitled "No, Superhero Movies are NOT Like Westerns". Short answer, Westerns didn't take up nearly as much oxygen as Superhero scholck did/does even at their worst.
Yes they did it to death and churned out dull generic westerns by the dozen.
@@redpillnibbler4423 I'm a 50s child and liked Westerns a lot, but indeed both tv and the movies became saturated. I can't even remember all the westerns on tv, well enough the movies. It started on Sunday night with Bonanza and ended on Saturday night with Gunsmoke. There've been some real classics in the past few decades, but IMO the "spaghetti Westerns" genre was the end of the line for them. I'm not into superhero movies and never watched any of the M-she-U stuff, but yes it does seem that its oversaturated the market and is burning out. Can it be brought back?
@@indy_go_blue6048
Sure fresh movies can be made,there will always be an appetite for good stuff.Same with music,paintings etc etc.
The fact that the damned Spider-Verse movies are arguably better and more successful than anything the MCU has put out since Endgame is honestly a bit hilarious. Sony is handling Marvel's characters better than Marvel is handling their own characters at this point. And, surprisingly enough, the Spider-Verse movies show that it's totally possible to create an enjoyable, entertaining superhero movie with a diverse cast instead of making it a political statement. They're just fun and comically absurd, which they can get away with due to being animated.
Can’t believe there was a time when I wanted Marvel to re acquire Spider-Man. Thank god Sony kept it.
Don't give Sony too much credit. They also gave us Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Morbius, and the upcoming Madame Web.
@@todderickson2435Was gonna say the same thing!
Marvel's "bland TV shows that felt more like homework than entertainment". Perfect 👌
Yeah and since most of us didn't like doing homework as kids, we skipped over it and got the cliffs notes versions elsewhere (like this channel)
Literally everyone but Disney saw this coming.
Because they reaching their own demise, unless Disney want to learn about its mistake
I kinda wonder if they saw it coming and just decided to sacrifice to their Idol
The Japanese have been on the right course with their comic book film adaptations for half a century, making them ANIMATED. So, it doesn't surprise me that the animated Spiderman film did so well. It's what Hollywood studios should have been doing in the first place.
I know the Drinker doesn't cover anime much but I think it deserves a shoutout for the big, almost renaissance year it had in 2023. Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, One Piece(even got a successful live action remake) and Jujustu Kaisen just to name a few, all came out swinging and quite possibly birthed a new generation of anime fans while reminding long time lovers such as myself why it's one of the best art forms and how Hollywood just can't compare at the moment.
based
Except Vinland saga s2 sucked
Don't forget the adaptation of Pluto into anime
I think you've got a case of the hopium. Attack on Titan was lame, nothing like the previous seasons, Vinland saga was just as lame as its previous seasons, and one piece belongs in the trash. Jujustu Kasien is a good anime, but I would hardly say we are on our way back to the golden age we had pre-covid.
@@ethanwilliams1880 are you crazy? Vinland saga s1 was awesome. S2 was lame and nothing like the first season. Also, you’re crazy if you don’t like one piece. Unless all you seen is the anime. Then I don’t blame you. The anime is trash.
As much as I enjoy seeing Drinker talk about films he loved, it's even more entertaining to watch him drag horrendous movies through the coals! The fact most movies in this tier list are Disney property is absolutely priceless.
Biden won.
Disney's fault they failed instead of making good movies they rather push "the message" let Disney continue to burn and any company that tried push wokeness trash, looking at AB with budlight, target, ben and jerries, etc. All lost money in 2023
I love how this was a year where I was way more excited for the reviews for most films than the actual films, and another dozen of CZcams careers have been launched for real. My respect for the Drinker for saving me tons of money, time, and energy from all the crap films this year be like: 📈📈
Perhaps you just enjoy The Narrative™.
It was the fuckaroundist of times, it was the findoutiest of times. Box office flops, narcissistic actor-vists, South Park destroying them, stock prices in the toilet & utterly embarrassed by a $15 million budget Japanese monster movie. This is the price Hollywood pays for The Message. Great vid, Drinker
On a semi-related note at the end, I really do hate the stigma against video games as a story telling medium. It quite literally enables active participation in a story, letting those interested have a sturdy layer of connection. Sure “shooty shooty bang bang” are there, but you find that in a good chunk of stories and movies too.
Rechel Zegler was on this new years show i watched where the show clips of people saying what their resolutions are and she fucking said "to be more humble as i grow through blah blah."
I started dying laughing.
Shes clearly been reprimanded 😅
And she's a terrible liar.
She was probably correctly told that if this movie tanks thats going to be her career with it.
How many new pictures does PWB have lined up after dial of derp?
If my only video gets 1000 likes I'll do 1000 push ups and post it on CZcams. 😢
Congratulations to Christopher Nolan and the team behind Oppenheimer.
Congratulations to the team behind Godzilla Minus One.
Congratulations to the team behind Anatomy of A Fall.
Thanks for making great films that I genuinely enjoyed and loved.
Congratulations to Angel Studios and the team behind Sound of Freedom
Thanks Critical Drinker for the heads up on Blue eye Samurai 🙏 My favourite show of 2023
I only went to the cinema once this year, and saw Oppenheimer. It was amazing. More of that, please.
Same here
As a lifelong gamer I’m excited yet terrified for the era of videogame adaptations
Same. Metroid could be awesome source material for a good sci fi action adventure, but I fully expect they'd find a way to ruin it.
@@skizeranosk True, I’m really excited for the Ghost of Tsushima movie being directed by the same guy who directed the John Wick movies. Everything I’ve heard about it sounds great. Also a series of Metal Gear Solid films, done right, would be amazing.
Uwe Boll: "Somebody call me?"
@@skizeranosk100% they will make Samus gay if Nintendo isn't there to stomp their foot down like with Mario. We could all just imagine how that movie would have turned out if Nintendo didn't watch over their shoulder to ensure they were faithful to the source material
@@SeSeReRfRf and black
No one is sick of Super movies. We are sick of them being made by folks who hate the genre and the heroes themselves. If they can get back to the folks who love them, they will swing back as a massive success once again. We want more of these stories, just not poorly made by haters.
Agreed, I'm definitely going to be there when Deadpool 3, The Batman II, Beyond the Spider-Verse and Superman: Legacy come out in the next six months to a year and a half from now.
They're really the only superhero movies I'll be lining up to see in the near future, especially since it looks like everyone involved genuinely loves the source material and doesn't want to give us basic, boring slop but real, genuinely moving entertainment that'll stick with you.
Critical Drinker will have you believe that they all fail because of "the message"
I somewhat agree, in particular the big 3 of Batman, Spiderman and Superman will always have a strong core audience. Matt Reeve's The Batman made $800m and Spiderverse 2 crushed it. But on the other hand, in isolation these were also just really great movies that tried to entertain us rather than brainwash us with THE MESSAGE.
I want to see DC keep its more R-rated tone The Joker and The Batman had and let Marvel have its wisecracking PG13 pandering superhero movies. Marvel has basically killed off all its best characters now and doubling down on the pandering means they are all but finished, but I have some hope for DC and Sony's Spiderman stuff.
@@maskedman5657Though Message isn't the only reason, it certainly didn't help
@@maskedman5657thats part of the reason
Sound of Freedom was the movie that got me back in theaters. In years gone by I’ve been known to see a movie more than a dozen times while in its original theatrical run and that wishing the first months or two. Those days were long gone until Sound of Freedom came out. And I heard about it years before just waiting for it to see the light of day. So glad it got a mention for the impact it had.
The Boy and the Heron was amazing this year. Migration was an enjoyable family film free from "the message". I loved Renfield! It was super gory fun. I also enjoyed the Netflix film Spyderhead but I can't remember if it was a 22 or a 23 film. Past Lives was a good romantic drama made for adults.
Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning didn’t deserve to flop. It was an excellent action film and another solid entry in a solid franchise.
Definetly one of the better films from 2023.
Well it should have gotten the IMAX screens instead of the silly super close up shots of Oppenheimer where the camera cuts every 2.5 seconds I can say that much
Agreed 💯
By far the worst MI movie since #2
Plus it had Hayley Atwell, who I kinda love. I honestly didn’t find it to be a drop in quality from six, outside of the villain. But I think there’s generally a backlash against 2-part movies now. I heard people moan loudly when I saw Spider-Verse and indicating they didn’t know ahead of time. I know the first part of Dune bored the shit out of me and I couldn’t give a shit about 2. (“Oh look. Sand. Never seen that in a movie before.”) The only reason I am in for Fast XI (they’re starting to sound like popes as they get long in the tooth) is that, like Shirley from Community with the Hellraiser franchise, at this point I’m just along for the ride.
I think as long as Nintendo Executives have their hand in the making of their movies, like Miyamoto's involvement in Super Mario Bros and the upcoming Legend of Zelda movies, I think those movies are positioned to dominate the theaters. The Japanese based company won't let the Western "message" destroy their brand. Miyamoto stepped in and changed the Mario movie quite a bit from my understanding so that it wouldn't be tainted by that garbage.
Japanese are so based, this year they send a men to a Congress about women fighting climate change or when a Spanish leftist moment demanded that dragon ball should be removed from tv because it was masculine and racist and they didn’t give a f
great point. I think we'll see a couple sequels or variations of Super Mario Bros. to follow the movie from '23...Also, a game Franchise like Zelda would absolutely be 100% successful.
The same thing happened with Eiichiro Oda and One Piece. He made Netflix rewrite a good bit of it to keep tHe MeSsAgE out of it and keep it faithful to the source material
@@Original-Juice Any Zelda game would be a great choice! And honestly, we don't need an "adaptation". Just put the game on the screen. Condense it a bit... maybe. But otherwise hands off. I truly believe that a good Zelda movie would beat even Super Mario Bro's 1.4B total.
@cainemarko5021 Wind waker would make an amazing movie. i love the art style they used in the game
The funniest part of the Haunted Mansion, is that the movie wasn't bad. It is what you would expect from a ghost movie, based on a ride, marketed for kids/family. The problem is it came out in July, instead of October.
Elemental was my surprise film. Didn't expect a migration film hit so close to home and even though it couldve been better it was a good sweet spot and great to enjoy with the family.
quick note on the DnD movie. I am a DnD nerd and I know what was going on in the DnD fan community at the time. the big reason for it's failure, besides being sandwiched between some big releases the week before and after it came out, was that there was a massive attack on the DnD community by the owners of DnD, Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast. they had manage to turn their whole community against them with venom and rage, so none of us were going to go see the movie or even recommend it.
(if you want to look into it, start looking into the DnD OGL scandal - it's a rather lengthy topic - so the TLDR is that the OGL is a document that gave protections to 3rd party publishers big and small to make DnD content without being sued into the ground - and hasbro got greedy and wanted to destroy it. they basically tried to backstab the community and destroy all 3rd party content going forwards - and when that failed they had severely upset the community.)
Talk about sticking your foot into your mouth and from a year where a historical Cleopatra drama fanfiction is sued by a who,e country for inaccuracies, Ziegler proves further the deluded Los Angeles bubble of spoiled celebrities and the strikes halting productions, it had stiff competition!
Got reminded that Lizards of the Coast still exists.
Day fucking ruined.
Corporate greed never fails to disappoint
WotC and Hasbro has done nothing but sabotage themselves in 2023. First the attempted stealth implementation of the OGL change, then talks about centralizing all of D&D into an online space controlled only by them, then they sent THE PINKERTONS after a guy who leaked some Magic: The Gathering cards, then they scheduled their movie to be sandwiched between Mario and John Wick 4 (while also repelling general audiences with talk about emasculating their male characters), then just as the movie released, they called literally EVERYTHING in the game racist, including half-elves (even though they got Justice Smith to play a half-elf in the movie), then they started censoring M:tG into OBLIVION (no more “witch” “Druid” “native” “tribal” etc)
And that’s just the stuff I can remember off the top of my head!
@@VodPJ24uEgkkZT I wouldn't mind seeing more of the forgotten realms either, I like the depth of the lore in that setting and only recently got into the Drizzt books.
I will also point out that this whole OGL thing would have had a major impact on Critical Role, the DnD podcast/stream that created the story that is Vox Machina. they were and still are the biggest advertisements for DnD and their DnD 3rd party books sell pretty well from what I know.
This OGL thing is also why they started developing their own tabletop gaming systems to play instead of DnD (I haven't looked too much into it or it's quality). literally all major third party publisher started to do something like this as kind of an abandon ship moment. and I don't blame them - sure Hasbro and WotC didn't backstab them this time... but who's to say there won't be a round 2.
What lessons will Hollywood learn from Barbie’s success? All the wrong ones - BELIEVE THAT 😬
May the new year keep you unbiased as always Drinker, hats off to you
Father Jack is such an inspirational character.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish deserves a mention. It was my favorite film after Godzilla Minus One, maybe because it was a surprise that it was so good.
Agreed I would go as far as to rank it among my favourite animated movies I've ever seen
That came out in 2022, not 2023. But yes, it's a phenomenal film.
@@Samaru163 Where did the time go? I guess it shows how little I've seen has stuck with me in 2023.
1st January 2024:
Public: “Surely Disney have learnt their lesson and will spend this year focusing on making good films rather than pushing messages and forced diversity quotas”.
2nd January 2024:
Disney - “The new Rey movie will have a female director because its about time a female told some stories”
😂😂😂
It's just an error : they wanted to say, 'it's about time a female director SOLD a story'.
They found back the why (producing a movie)!
I suppose they won't find the HOW just this year...
Disney will never learn their lesson as long as there is a *message* to be pushed.
And don't call me Shirley. ;-)
100%. You almost have to admire Disney for going down on the diversity ship and their insistence on giving their audience the finger at every opportunity.
@@bobross1829 yep, who knew that Diversity actually IS an old, old wooden ship?...sinking into the abyss.
Nailed it!!!
A big thanks to you Drinker, for providing perspective on this crazy TV/Film landscape we find ourselves in. It saves me a lot of time by not watching the "big things" that turn out to be mediocre products. Because of it, I find myself turning to other, lesser known films or classics I haven't seen where I find my time more well spend. I'm personally looking forward to see Kore-eda's newest film (Monster) in the theater soon. So much more to see in the world of film than the produce from the barking Hollywood studios. Hoping to find some more hidden gems in 2024
Thanks for the year mate.
"Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning" is underrated, in my opinion. I freakin' loved that movie; I think it just came out at unfortunate timing, having to compete against both "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie".
Agreed, I loved it. Wasn't as good as Fallout but still a great movie that had the misfortune of coming out at the wrong time. Only thing I disliked was what happened to Ilsa.
Totally agreed, loved the concept and the action was thrilling. Movie would have popped off if it weren't for Barbenheimer
its underrated for sure, but it is flawed as a movie, and much harder to sell to an audience than Fallout was, which was chase the bomb essentially, this is chase the spooky AI that knows everything before it happens, so you have to assume everyone is playing 3d chess with it,which wont be answered till a film 2 years later.
@jmbcorp20 i think the studio figured it would be great counterprogramming to Barbie. While Barbie drew in a female audience, M:I was supposed to bring in the male audience. It did... just not as whopping as Barbie
True. Of all the movies he mentioned it was the best.
One thing is for certain. You made it much better for all of us! THANKS DRINKER!
Did he though? Dude is a colossal asshole.
He will definitely thank you too, and he also cares about you. Keep worshipping people you don't know!
Thank you Critical Drinker for the brilliant content this year. I’ve loved watching your videos and your open bars. BELIEVE THAT!
There’s a great CZcamsr: Greg Owen. Would be great to have him on the bar, or do a video with him. He has great opinions and does great videos like you.
Here’s to many more years of content. Cheers 😊
Just wanted to give a belated best wishes for 2024 Drinker, and also to Tatiana, for her contribution to your rest and relaxation between videos and streams 😉 I also think that the superhero genre is going through what has occurred in the entire history of film, first we had the western genre dominate, then we had the musical, then we had the epic, then we had the monster craze of the 50's and early 60's, then we had the spy genre of the late 60's and early 70's, we then had the drive in b-movies such as those by Roger Corman and which included blackxploitation, we then had the horror trend which began with Psycho in the 60's but really picked up with the Exorcist, we then had a short faze with comedies such as Blues Brothers, Caddyshack, Stripes, vacation and so on, which led to the action movie genre, then we that was extended with a sub genre of Die Hard rip offs, and finally the 1990's genre of more realistic films which included relatable films like Falling Down, Boys In The Hood, Do The Right Thing and the like, and that led us to the superhero films of the early part of this century. Eventually Hollywood overexpose that genre, and that genre of film still gets made but not quite as often, and it usually coincides with another genre making an impact and the executives and film makers moving on. If you want my thoughts, probably not but who cares, I think more story driven films such as Moonlight, Parasite, Three Billboards and the like will be the next trend. There will still be superhero and blockbuster CGI filled films but they will be made alongside of, instead of before those other type of films I mentioned.
This man is always so fun to watch. Never stop Drinker, you are making me stay away from bad and unnecessary garbage movies since 2020. Thank you
He never fails to deliver
BLUE BEETLE DIRECTOR BATMAN IS A FASCIST LINE.
the takeaway for me would be no matter how much money the studios throw at a film, it will rely on the script and a good story to sell it.
5:54 -- Drinker, you nailed it. GM1 has shattered Hollywood's snow globe and put the entire industry on notice. Never underestimate the Japanese.
I totally agree with your point about the implosion of the superhero genre. I think it's healthy to see a shift in focus and explore other forms of storytelling that have been overshadowed for over a decade. Video game and manga adaptations seem to open up a whole new world of stories that can captivate audiences. I'm excited to see how Hollywood will adapt to these changes going forward.
I don't care what they tell you in school, pee is stored in the balls.
- Netflix, probably
That was what we were told in school though
Sex wee.. And it's white
@@WayStedYou Did u even pay attention to school?
Mario wasn't so widely successful just because it was a videogame movie and that's what people want, it was successful because Mario is such a Global mascot and everybody knows the character. In a way, people have been waiting decades for a decent film, and they made the right move by doing it in animation. It was just nice to see something done right for a change.
True, like we've all know how much of a stinker the 1993 live action Mario movie was.
To be fair, the basic idea of the 1993 movie was not that bad. A paralell universe where dinos evolve to humans and live in a cyberpunk city sounds pretty cool. The problem is, that it was suppose to be a mario movie.
I wonder why Nintendo would make their next upcoming film The Legend of Zelda live action. Guess we'll wait and see.🤔
It just didn’t suck. Bar is low
@@liamphibiaI believe that a live action movie would fit Zelda, mainly since their more serious tone allows live action to feel, I don't know what word to use, maybe believable? Personally I feel a live action adaptation would fit it better than an animation (unless they were planning on doing a windwaker movie, in that case just do an animated movie haha)
Entertaining vid. Great reflect. Happy new year! I've watched almost every marvel movie and I was really looking forward to Kang. I watched the trailer so many times (loved the music - goodbye yellow brick road), but was very surprised how the movie turned out. My family loved the Mario movie. For the most part, we were just simply entertained. It felt like a movie, not someone lecturing me.
Been bloody waiting for this. Thanks drinker
Thank you for that list of positivity in 2023. It made me smile and appreciate that everything being thrown at us isn't *always* terrible. Appreciate you, Drinker.
I wanna have a discussion with you.
Agony and ecstasy are two feelings that Drinker experiences whenever he has to watch a superhero movie made within the last 3 years.
The Suicide Squad is probably the best one
Would t that just be agony though?
@@smelltheglove2038 Depends on if he ingested it or not.
Zack Snyder's Justice League the only good superhero movie we've gotten in the 2020s.
@@theunknowncommenter725only when compared to the mess of the original.
Thank you for a great 2023 with you Drinker!
I do love your criticism and I agree on a lot of points across mostt films.
If you havent, Id love to hear your opinion on the Loki series. I feel like it was the only good one Disney x Marvel series recently...
Thanks and heres to a good '24
The accuracy on this is astounding. Love to see it
Oppenheimer, Barbie, and the unexpected/deserved success of Sound of Freedom all had a significant impact on Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning.
I honestly like Mission impossible more than Barbie
@@def3ndr887I loved Mission Impossible 7, I admit Mission Impossible 6 was better but 7 was a good movie, it didn’t deserve to fail in the box office the movie got overshadowed by the damn Barbie/ Oppenheimer Hype, I never saw Oppenheimer so no comment on that one, as for Barbie it’s overhyped I gave it a 6/10
I’ve just switched to Japanese and South Korean content over the past few years. I’ve watched Western content, like Sisu, Barbie, and across the Spiderverse, but other than that I’ve been quite happily immersed in subtitles and East Asian voices. It’s been excellent.
Would you by chance have any recommendations? I watched (and loved) Train to Busan, All Of Us Are Dead, Alice in Borderland, and of course Squid Game, but I kind of don't know where to move next. 🤔
@@Eris_Norregard Did you watched Old Boy original version, I Saw the Devil, The Man from Nowhere, The Wailing...
Finally someone mentioned something outside and not just or most about American movies and people expecting some changes while not watching more movies from diffrent coutries
Absolutely! China is my go-to for movies with strong character arcs, old school comedy and romance, epic fantasy/historical dramas and always on-point crime thrillers. Even when they drop the ball, they're still streets ahead of Hollywood, which seems to drop the ball even before their damn movies get greenlit!
South Korea and Japan are still going strong, though Japan seems to have faltered with drama. The Golden Age may have passed, except for anime. It's South Korea who have been consistently good over the past five or more years with some hard hitting dramas.
But really, any country can be seen to be producing excellent work. Even the USA, outside of the Hollywood sausage factory, produces good work. The problem is Hollywood and the total clusterf--k it's become. It has finally reached its level of incompetency. It may have to collapse in order to be reborn as something viable.
@@Eris_Norregardsomeone else mentioned it but I second I Saw The Devil - GREAT movie
Thanks for your sharp and hilarious film industry commentary. What I'd like to see one day is a summary of movies (from any era) that do tick all your boxes ✔️
Thank you.
If there's one thing I like about all this, it's that almost everyone calls it "The Message" now, whether they're for it or not. It's wild, man.
There is a channel that reviews movies and shows using scientific studies, and even in that channel the host used a clip of the Drinker saying "THE MESSAGE"
Aydin Paladin is the channel.
Watching this episode reminded me of just how weird, funny (not in a good way) and infuriating 2023 was in cinema and TV. Last year was so bad that I found myself screaming weekly... Ahhh COME ON! REALY? Thanks for staying on top of it Drinker. Cheers! Dood
Me being quite a young gun a huge history and car guy, Oppenheimer and Gran Turismo were 2 enjoyable movies.
Gran Turismo that was cool & sad & uplifting.
I was pretty sorry for mission impossible, an amazing and entertaining movie. Well acted by great actors, Vanessa Kirby is just astounding, but yes they have like two weeks before vanishing from the theatres
I agree! I genuinely loved the movie! Maybe the second half will do better.
Yeah I loved it. Such an interesting concept that really rivals the Terminator series. It really suffered from the Barbenheimer launch window
Super excited for part 2 either this year or next
Yes, it had unfortunate timing, coming out when two highly promoted, meme-fueled movies did. And also having one of said films beat it to the IMAX screens. I'm sure the latter in particular hurt it a lot.
ya, but the 40 kilo female-terminator was hilariously bad, instantly took me out of the movie. Also, very weakly written villain (who was very dumb in the decisions he consistently took). Plus, it was no Fallout, as the drinker pointed out
I think what crushed the movie as well was it's mega-inflated budget since it was mostly produced during peak covid. There were definitely scenes evident of this, where they generally limited the screen to 2, maybe 3, characters at a time. Despite that, I had a blast watching it and am definitely looking forward to part 2 (or whatever it's been renamed to)
I feel like we're at the end of T2. Looking out at an open highway, in uncharted territory. I feel like better things are coming, just keep pushing forwards! Thanks for an awesome year, Drinker! Cheers
Let’s just hope our future winds up better than the Terminator franchise.
@@vincent207 yeah, the thought occurred to me as well...
It’s going to be a rocky road ahead for some time yet though. It will take a couple of years to cycle through all the woke projects, reboots and sequels that are still in the production pipeline. The release schedule for 2024 looks AWFUL!
And Terminator 3 hits you and you wonder what meat exactly was in that last kebab?
Sadly, the Terminator franchise is lost on wanting to retell the same story over and over again instead of trying to give the audience something new and different. I’m probably one of the few who like Salvation and what we need is an expansion on the future war instead of going back in the past and rehash those events over and over again.
And then of course, this analogy fits perfectly with where cinema is nowadays. The audience wants new and fun stuff, but instead we keep getting studios going back into the past and trying to retell stories already told by much better storytellers.
I'm so glad you recommended "Sisu," because I would never have heard about it otherwise. Incredible movie, my favorite of the year.
Brilliant Reflect
I started watching Critical Drinker in 2022 and I was a little bit brainwashed. I often disagreed with his point of view, but I kept watching anyway because I don't live in my own echo chamber.
However, last year I realized my taste in movies started to morph and blend with Drinker's, and now I take his suggestions to heart when deciding what to watch.
Cheers, and here's to another year 🍻
you were not brain washed. maybe you had different tastes. and if you let some youtube critic convert your opinion for you.. then THAT would be brainwashed. It is always good to have tastes and minds of our own. and the drinker is not always right
@@dizzlegrizzle1919 Yeh some of his recommendations are rank
@@dizzlegrizzle1919I know but he meant to say he had his eyes opened probably
Lol. Sheep went from one brainwash spectrum to another. Told my wife it's like so many of you have sawdust in your heads just waiting on some source or the other to fill up the emptiness inside
@@andrewfairweather4742 Drinker types help unlock that critical eye. Normies don't look at stuff that critically. They are the last to jump ship. I dipped out of the MCU at crappy End Game. Normies gave that shit two more phases to die as a fart in the wind with the Marvels.
The best film I watched in 2023 was The Holdovers. A small budget indie film with about 10 characters. Not an ounce of forced diversity in sight ( the supporting character is a well written and real character who just happens to be black). The dialogue was well written and very funny, all the characters felt believable and the whole film had such a feelgood vibe to it. I can see why it is in most critics top 5 lists and on course for Oscar success. Also individual winner of the year has to surely be Barry Keoghan, looks to be on a fast track to A list with smart project choices and good performances. Loser of the year Rachel Zegler and Disney by a country mile.
Omg dude I LOVED Holdovers! First movie to get me emotional in a long time. They took their time with each character and showed how they developed throughout the movie and helped each other with each personal problem they had. Dope movie!
They used to have movies like this every year, now it's a joy to behold just to have ONE in the last 5 or 10 years. You know, back when Hollywood was original. A good story about the hero's journey.
I agree with both @JuliusSpell93 and @neonthunderbird. I loved the bittersweet ending of that movie and how satisfying it was to see a great teacher that all the warmth of the fish he shared a nicked name with get both a full arc that celebrated both is accomplishments without trying to make him all that likeable. So refreshing.
Thanks!
My favorite year review, witty and funny
As a historical romantic suspense novelist, I'll own my biases, so what I would love to see is more grounded storytelling - romances and character studies of the type made by George Cukor back in the day. If studios want to attract a female audience, there is a whole world of plot-driven stories in the romance genre that would translate to film really well.
And as for new properties, I would pay good money to see a Will Jordan novel film adaptation any day of the week.
I couldn't get past Peach showing Mario how to run and jump. I was out right there.
Were you expecting her to be a wimp?
She didn’t show him how to run and jump, but rather taught him about the obstacles in that world, given that Mario is from the real world in this movie. But I suppose you see a woman teaching a man something and automatically hate it
Yeah, Peach's characterization was pretty sad. Didn't ruin the movie, but it probably would have if Nintendo hadn't stepped in
Im from America and all i have to say is i always agree you always tell the truth and you don't lett woke politics get in your way keep it up my friend
As the drinker said, the generation that grew up on these film's have outgrown them, I grew up in the undisputed golden era of balls to the wall non apologetic action movies (the 80s) commando, Rambo, bloodsport, lethal weapon etc, but as i got older and the 90s arrived i leaned towards different movie's like gooodfellas, heat, Shawshank, speed and bad boys although still great action movies, didn't have that flair and no nonsense approach of the 80s, but were still enjoyable in the genre, what i mean here is it's good to grow up with a certain genre but its also good to grow out of it and try new things, I'll always watch the classics like predator and Delta force but I will also look towards new stuff.
As a long time fan of the nostalgic critic, Listening to you has been a breath of fresh air drinker. You are clear and concise without needing to take 20 minutes, And your opinions match mine almost identically
Yeah, Nostalgia critic don't do much nostalgia anymore.
Plus I had a hard time going back to some of his old stuff. Some of the humour really drags on.
@@kri249to paraphrase Dan Olson, Doug Walker is basically CZcams's Tommy Wiseau.
When Barbie is the centerpiece of the Movie Year, you can officially call it a Shit year for Cinema.
Though watching Onyx the Fortuitous in the Theater was definitely the high point.
Definetly I tried so hard to make myself like that movie and all I can think of is ick I wonder how much of a simp Greta gerwig husband is to have co written such a man hating turd of a movie
The best I saw all year was Sisu. It's sad because it had almost no advertising for it. While crapfests like The Marvels were everywhere.
Appreciate you Drinker 🍻
Probably the best series I've seen in a long time is Mr Inbetween. If you haven't seen or even heard about this series, you're in for a treat. It's funny, visceral, and a compelling crime drama. In short, its utterly brilliant.
I couldn't agree more. Godzilla was simply a masterpiece. What I would love to see is some better movies based off of the Bioshock universe
9:00 lets go TELETUBBIES
I was already enjoying the video (so many good points!), but your Teletubbies line reminded me to hit the Like button. Cheers, man! I raise my glass of wine to you!
“Flopbuster”. Love it! 🤣
3:49 velma was this year damn it felt so long ago
I watched 5 movies in the cinema this year:
1) Oppenheimer - gripping, intense, captivating, a brilliant film. Probably in my top 10 of all time now. Fantastic cast and fantastic performances too
2) Godzilla minus one - a pleasant surprise, gripping characters and a great film
3) Mission Impossible - a fun movie which delivers what’s on the tin
4) Barbie - bland social commentary disguised as satire, not impressed
5) Guardians of the Galaxy 3 - the weakest of the 3 movies, nice to see the best of the Marvel stories (imo) come to an end
I got Top Gun Marverick last year on Bluray/DVD. I might go & see Godzilla minus one with one of the kids.
Lol guardians 3 was trash.
Listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl 3 and hearing your voice was such a treat 😅
Excellent video!
I think animation of late has had some of the best stuff I've seen. Starting with Puss in Boots Last Wish which came out December 2022. Across the Spider-Verse, Suzume and of course The Boy and the Heron.
Also the series Blue Eye Samurai on Netlix was amazing as well.
As for normal movies I really enjoyed Dead Reckoning, The Holdovers and my favorite Godzilla Minus One. I thought Loki season 2 was a pretty good turn around and finished off spectacularly as did Picard.
Most people are really missing out on this front. This year we also had Pluto, Bucket list of the dead and Undead Unluck, the last one Chainsaw Man and Cyberpunk Edgerunners. These last two years have been great for animation.
The Ninja Turtles movie had gorgeous animation that was not just amazing but super creative. Similar to Puss/Boots2, sorta.
2024 gonna be the year of animation and video game adaptations! let's gooo!
I really enjoyed Dead Reckoning and the scenes in John Wick were crazy. I just get bored to tears with fight scenes in comic book movies now; doesn't feel like there are any real stakes.
The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat!
These are the movies that I will watch on CZcams
I think I found the channel I needed.
Unfortunately, I don't think Rachel Zegler is going anywhere. The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes is making its way to profit fairly consistently and this is also a reminder that they're going to continue to mine other existing material in addition to video games. We likely still won't see many originals for a while.
depends on their marketing budget, if its 100M, the movies need to make 400M to break even, and its not close to that, if it 50M then it make a little money but most likely not even close to what they were expecting
Yeah, not from major movie studios.
Yeah I agree plus Zegler clearly listened to the execs and pr team since she’s a lot less obnoxious than her past interviews and has seemingly done a complete 180
I mean, even if it didnt loose money it still wasnt the huge success they were expecting after giving they nade write a whole book about it.
The hunger games franchise isnt at the Best in 2023 and i dont know if they are willing to throw it money for making more
Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was amazing. Rachel is kind of a turd, yes. But I think Disney let her take the blame for the movie. They knew it was going to suck, so they had her take the heat for it
2023 was a great year!
I started reading books again.
After 4 years of reading the books, I started building and painting warhammer models. Such a nice alternative to watching bad films and TV.
@@ridensroom6957Re-Reading the Heresy from book 1.
It’s actually good you waited until the year was actually over & we were into January to do a year in review. Such things should be done when the year is actually & for real over. I hate seeing these things on magazines shelves right after Thanksgiving; there’s always something that happens in December they miss because a rush to publication.
By the way, there were clips from “Gran Turismo” but no words from you, a film you had recommended earlier. I thought it deserved a mention. Anyway, sorta a video game adaptation but also another possible genre that may rise is the true life story like Turismo & “Sound of Freedom.”
Thank you fevery much ❤❤🎉🎉🎉😊😊😊😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Do you know what did deliver this year? Anime.
I got into it 2 years ago and i'm absolutely hooked.
One Piece was a great Netflix adaptation as you mentioned. Boy and the Heron is an obvious example. Vinland Saga was amazing. Jujutsu Kaisen was an absolute spectacle and Attack on Titan brought a conclusion, that solidified it as my favorite piece of media ever.
Not to mention new Stuff like Pluto, Scott Pilgrim, or Zom 100.
I don't need Hollywood anymore for entertainment.
Blue eyed samurai, is the best thing I've seen in a good while
Yes it feels like a golden age of animation, not just traditional anime, is upon us. Lots of great animated series have been coming out in the last two years.