2023 – Page 2 – PopCult Reviews

Comic Book Review – Carmilla, The First Vampire

Carmilla, The First Vampire (2023)
Written by Amy Chu
Art by Soo Lee

Of all the “classic” monsters, vampires have just never clicked for me. I’ve seen many different takes on vampires from multiple cultures, but I’ve never found them particularly scary. I think part of this is that the vampire has shifted in the culture from being a strange, animal-like predator to either a fetishistic totem of erotic fiction or a metaphor for Other-ed groups we’re meant to empathize with. When that happens, the monstrous fades, and they become just a storytelling trope. I stay open to new takes on vampires, hoping that someone might make them horrific again, and Chu & Lee’s Carmilla graphic novel does a decent job of it.

Movie Review – The Venture Brothers: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart

The Venture Brothers: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart (2023)
Written by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer
Directed by Jackson Publick

In 2020, series creator Jackson Publick announced on Twitter that Adult Swim had canceled The Venture Brothers. He and co-creator Doc Hammer had been in the middle of writing season eight when they were informed. After eighteen years, Adult Swim decided they no longer wanted more of this show. Publick & Hammer took what they had for season eight and reworked it into a script for an eighty-four-minute feature that would serve as the series finale. This film was released in 2003, marking the 20th anniversary of The Venture Brothers.

Patron Pick – Monster (2023)

This special reward is available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 monthly levels. Each month, those patrons will pick a film for me to review. If they choose, they also get to include some of their thoughts about the movie. This Pick comes from Matt Harris.

Monster (2023)
Written by Yuji Sakamoto
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda

After seeing Hirokazu Kore-eda’s 2017 masterpiece Shoplifters, I was in awe. Watching his follow-up, Broker, was less moving of an experience. It’s a good movie, but it wasn’t as good as the first one I saw. While there is a body of work going back to the 1990s that I want to explore, for now, we move forward to the director’s latest film, Monster. I made sure I went into this film knowing very little other than that the plot focused on two middle-school-age boys. I’m so glad I didn’t know the story’s details because with each loop the narrative made back to its start, I was left wondering where we were being led.

TV Review – Rain Dogs

Rain Dogs (BBC/HBO)
Written by Cash Carraway
Directed by Richard Laxton & Jennifer Perrott

While searching for a television series to watch recently, I looked at Metacritic’s best new shows on their 2023 list and noticed Rain Dogs at the top. It stars Daisy May Cooper, who I’ve enjoyed on Avenue 5 and Taskmaster, so I decided to try it. Sadly, I ended up not really enjoying the series. It was confusing because so many of the elements on paper are things I like, but when it all came together, it felt underwhelming. My biggest stumbling block is how life in poverty should be portrayed in the media and how it often gets portrayed in contemporary shows and television.

Patron Pick – Wonka

Wonka (2023)
Written by Simon Farnaby and Paul King
Directed by Paul King

Why? Why was this movie? Yes, I know it was made because a series of corporations made legal acquisitions of the film rights to Roald Dahl’s writings, and so they made the movie to recoup the costs spent on purchasing the rights with the idea of also turning a profit. What I am asking is why, from a creative perspective, does this film exist? What does this add to one’s appreciation of Dahl’s original novel or the character of Willy Wonka? Nothing about this film feels like it has anything to do with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory besides Wonka and Oompa-Loompas. I would go so far as to argue that not one of the three live-action appearances of Wonka on film does the book character justice, as much as I love Gene Wilder.

PopCult Podcast – Fallen Leaves/All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt

We’re back with our first two films of the year. One is a Finnish working class romcom inspired by old fashioned movies. The second is a dreamlike expressionistic exploration of a Black woman’s life in Mississippi.

TV Review – The Curse

The Curse (Showtime)
Written by Nathan Fielder, Benny Safdie, and Carrie Kemper
Directed by Nathan Fielder, Nathan Zellner, and David Zellner

I will not sit here and pretend to tell you I know exactly what The Curse was about. Having watched the series only once, that would be an absurd claim to make. Not since Twin Peaks: The Return have I felt I was in the presence of a piece of art that seemed like an impossible thing made reality. The fact that Showtime greenlit this is a monumental achievement. Nathan Fielder enters a new era, taking the themes and threads of his pseudo-documentary programs like Nathan For You and The Rehearsal and developing a narrative experience that is so incredibly rich & dense. He’s also a damn good actor, which reminds us that the Nathan we think we know has always been a performance and not the actual person.

PopCult Podcast – 2023 Favorites

After an unexpected series of delays due to illness, we are back to talk about our favorite things and films of 2023.

November/December 2023 Digest

Features
Patron Pick – Maid [Bekah]
Patron Pick – Girl, Interrupted [Bekah]
Patron Pick – Dream Scenario [Matt]
Seth’s Favorite Solo Tabletop RPGs of 2023
Seth’s Favorite Books Read in 2023
Ariana’s Favorite Books Read in 2023
Seth’s Favorite Television of 2023
Ariana’s Favorite Television of 2023
Seth’s Favorite Film Discoveries of 2023
Seth’s Favorite Films of 2023
Ariana’s Favorite Films of 2023

Ariana’s Favorite Movies 2023

In retrospect, 2023 was an interesting time for movies, with the writers and actors’ strikes, which left some of us wondering if some films would even make it into the light. Upon looking at my 2022, I feel that 2023 films didn’t give me too many visceral reactions or strong emotions in comparison, especially with the last quarter of films we are able to see.

It is not that the films weren’t good, but I wasn’t in my feeling it as much. Perhaps I have fallen out of love with American/Western films, which wish to hold me emotional captive with manipulation. Here are the best, in my opinion, with a few honorable mentions.