My 2023 Recap

So I wrote a 2022 recap last year and wanted to do another one for 2023. I love New Year, looking back at everything I’ve done over the year and what I’m planning to do in the new one. So here we go, following the same format as last year!


Favourite Movies
1. M3GAN
2. Five Nights at Freddy’s
3. Missing

I’ve written a post rating all the movies I’ve watched this year so I won’t delve into this too much but I loved ‘M3GAN’ so much – I love when a horror movie realises the plot they have is a bit silly and they lean into it rather than trying to force it to be serious. M3GAN is a perfect movie to me and I can’t wait for the sequel.

I’d been looking forward to ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s for literal years and I’m so glad it was finally released and with such an amazing cast. I can’t wait to see where they go with it, I’d love for us to have a whole bunch of FNAF movies exploring lots of different areas. Some more flashbacks into the pizzeria when it was at its peak would be good as well as looking at what happens next.

I knew I’d love ‘Missing’ because I’d loved the film ‘Searching’. I like a film that’s told like that, like via the internet. I hope they continue to make them, both films had such amazing twists and turns and I love watching them.

If I had to shout-out to a film that wasn’t released this year but that I finally watched this year I would give it to ‘Halloween’ because I ended up liking it far more than I thought I would.

Favourite Songs

1. Cheerleader – Ashnikko
2. THE CONTORTIONIST – Melanie Martinez
3. I’m So Hot – Chrissy Chlapecka

To be honest I could’ve included the majority of Ashnikko’s ‘Weedkiller’ album and also ‘Halloweenie 5: Moss King’ but if I had to narrow it down to just one Ashnikko song it would absolutely be ‘Cheerleader’. I’ve been obsessed with that song since its release and I still love it. Getting to see her perform that live in December was one of my highlights of the year.

At first I wasn’t mad keen on Melanie’s ‘Portals’ album but certain songs have grown on me, ‘The Contortionist’ being my absolute favourite although ‘Evil’ and ‘Void’ are close contenders. Me and Jess are waiting for her to announce her Europe ‘Trilogy Tour’ dates, we absolutely have to get tickets. I can’t wait!

Chrissy Chlapecka is a TikTok user who has started releasing songs this year and ‘I’m So Hot’ was my top song on Spotify this year. It’s an absolute girl banger and her other songs are just as good – at the minute ‘Head Bitch’ is probably my close contender. She’s going to release more songs in the New Year and I’m so excited to see what she comes out with next.

My favourite song from this year that wasn’t released this year is probably ‘Hip to be Scared’ by Ice Nine Kills. Ice Nine Kills are my sibling’s favourite band and I’ve finally started listening to them this year and fallen in love with them.

Favourite Theatre Shows

1. My Fair Lady
2. Peter Pan Goes Wrong
3. Winnie the Pooh

In Christmas 2022 my Mum kindly bought me and my brother’s ex-girlfriend a ticket to see ‘My Fair Lady’ and the three of us set off to watch it in Birmingham. I won’t lie, I wasn’t sure it would be my thing at all but I ended up loving every second of it. It takes my absolute top spot of the year because I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

I absolutely love anything ‘Mischief Theatre’ do so when I saw ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ was touring again I bought me and my Mum a ticket – I’ve taken Mum to a few Mischief shows and whilst she enjoys them I don’t think she loves them the way I do but she did really enjoy this one, she said she preferred it to ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’. So much so that she’s bought me and my nephew a ticket to see it again in 2024 which I’m so excited about – it’ll be his first time watching it and we really hope he’ll like it.

Me and Jess saw ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ again in London because some of the original cast were announced for the show so I wanted to watch it with them in it and Jess ended up enjoying it as much as I did. It’s potentially my favourite ‘Mischief’ show, it’s just so funny!

I’d seen some TikTok’s of the ‘Winnie the Pooh’ show on Broadway and hoped and prayed it would make it’s way to the UK so I was ecstatic when it was announced it was opening in the West End. I was also excited to see that Jake Bazel would be at some performances, I’d seen TikTok’s of him and thought he was perfect at portraying Winnie. The show was amazing, I ended up going to see it a second time and buying a meet and greet ticket so I could get my picture taken at the end which was really cute.

My honourable mention has to go to ‘Book of Mormon’ – I saw the show back in 2022 and thought it was okay. For some reason at the start of the year Jess suddenly got really into the soundtrack so when we went to London for something else we had to take the opportunity to watch ‘Book of Mormon’ and Jess’ excitement and love for the show absolutely rubbed off on me. I’d enjoyed it so much that when I returned to London a few months later I watched it again. And now me, Jess and Hirst have tickets to watch it in Birmingham in 2024 whilst it’s touring which is exciting! Hopefully Hirst enjoys it too.

Favourite TV Shows

1. Modern Family
2. Lost
3. Alice in Borderland

For anyone who doesn’t know I pretty much have ‘Family Guy’ on a constant loop in my house, I like having some background noise at all times and I’ve seen every episode so ‘Family Guy’ is pretty much perfect to just play as background noise. However I wondered whether I should switch to something else and I used to really enjoy ‘Modern Family’ so I swapped to that – but because it had been so long since I’d watched it I didn’t really like having it as background noise and soon I was binge-watching the show.

I couldn’t believe Season 11 wasn’t on Disney+ so I asked for the final season on DVD for Christmas only for Disney+ to now announce they were adding it! Never mind, I’ll still enjoy watching the box set and finally seeing how it ends although I know I’ll find it mildly disappointing. Season 10 was disappointing with a lot of character development becoming undone but whatever, I’m sure Season 11 will still be enjoyable!

Whilst I’ve added Lost to the list I need to add that this is officially A LOST SPOILER FREE ZONE. Me and Jess began the show when we were in our late teens but for some reason only watched until Season 4. We kept meaning to return to the show and this year we decided to do just that. I wanted to start from Season 5 but Jess insisted we needed to rewatch the earlier seasons so we knew what was going on, something I wasn’t keen on but this ended up being the exact right decision. I’ve had so much fun rewatching it and the two of us piecing together everything that we remembered.

We’ve taken it a couple of episodes at a time; recently we’ve gotten so sucked into the story that we’re watching 4 or 5 in a row because there are so many cliff-hangers. We’re in the middle of season 4 and neither of us has seen any spoilers for how it ends or anything which considering how long ago it did end is nothing short of a miracle. Whilst I’ll be disappointed when it ends because I’ve enjoyed watching it so much I will be grateful to see what happens!

Finally season 2 of ‘Alice in Borderland’ was released at the end of 2022 so I’m counting it in my 2023 watch list, I think I finished watching it in 2023 anyway. I absolutely loved this season, the games seemed much harder this time and I really enjoyed it. The ending was slightly annoying, hopefully they’re setting up a season 3 instead of just ending it like that because otherwise that would just be annoying because why even show the joker card? I don’t know!

I don’t really have a shout-out for any other show because I’ve been slacking on my TV show watching this year. I did start watching ‘Only Murders in the Building’ which I enjoyed and will hopefully watch more of in the New Year.

Favourite Memories

Obviously top of my favourite memories is my amazing trip to LA and Vegas with my three besties – it was our first out of continent trip as all four of us and it didn’t disappoint. I thought nothing could top my big trip to Asia but this may have taken the top spot because I had such a good time. At the absolutely top of fun things we did was our two days at Disneyland but I also had such a great day on my birthday. I love going on holiday with my girls and as our first proper post-COVID holiday we did quite well!

The next favourite would probably be meeting Ashnikko with Jess. I spotted the meet and greet on Instagram and immediately secured our spots before messaging Jess and asking her to get the day off work. We had to wait a long time in the queue but it was worth it – in previous signings at hmv I found we were rushed through so quickly that I felt like I barely got to glance at the band we were supposedly meeting. This time we actually got to talk to her and even though we didn’t say much I do feel like I actually met her – and there was time to get a photo with her which was nice!

It’s really hard to narrow down a third memory because I’ve had such a good year but if I had to pick I would say my Christmas day out with Mum – we went to Chatsworth House, something she wasn’t keen on the idea of at first but we made the drive there and she agreed it was absolutely worth it. It was beautiful and it was nice to have a whole day out with my Mum.



Favourite Video Games

1. Overcooked 2
2. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
3. Crash Bandicoot

I haven’t been as on top of my video games as I have been in the previous years – I spent most of the year either playing games with Jess or watching Jess play games. I’m going to change that in the New Year as I have a lot of games in my ‘to play’ pile and I’ve already started ‘Life is Strange 2’ which I’m enjoying so far.

At the top of the list is ‘Overcooked 2’, a game that me and Jess began at the end of 2022 and ended up playing for the majority of the year. Once we completed the main game I bought and downloaded all the expansion packs and we steadily worked our way through the game. I’m fairly confident that we’re now experts at this game. Some of the levels nearly drove us insane and I thought we’d never complete them (the Carnival of Chaos expansion nearly killed me) but we completed all of them.

‘Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons’ was another good game that we played, I’ve been struggling to find decent two player games for the Switch that are reasonably priced but I spotted this one and we decided to give it a go. It said it recommended playing it as one player first and controlling both brothers but I had fun playing it with Jess. We’re waiting for ‘Bread and Fred’ to be released on Switch, can they announce a date already please?

One of the few new games I played on my own this year is ‘Crash Bandicoot’, I didn’t finish it but that’s mainly because I got stuck on one level and it frustrated the hell out of me but I did finally complete it. I’ll have to go back to this in the New Year but I do prefer a story based game rather than getting stuck on a level for ages and ages.


Proudest Achievement

Last year I had an obvious one because I’d bought my first flat – this year I haven’t done any of the usual achievements like getting a new job or anything so it’s a bit more difficult. However, I’m proud I got on the long-haul flight to America. My last flight before COVID was very turbulent and it really plummeted my flying confidence. After we booked the flights I spent the majority of the year trying to get a control on my fear of flying which was difficult – most nights I’d lie awake and feel the anxiety running through me and think ‘I won’t be able to do this, I’m going to have to watch my friends go and have a good time without me’.

Was I perfect at the airport and on the plane? No but I still did it, mostly thanks to the help of my very patient friends, especially Hirst who spent a lot of time distracting me to keep me calm. And it was absolutely worth it for such an amazing holiday. I’m proud of myself for being absolutely terrified but doing it anyway.


Items Ticked Off Bucket List

I can now tick off number 16 which is ‘go on an out of continent trip with Jess, Hirst and Becca’. I can also tick off number 30 which is ‘be in the audience for a TV show’ as me and Jess went to London to watch ‘The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan’ being recorded live. We made it into quite a few of the audience shots, so many in fact that a woman at work that I don’t talk too much recognised me in the crowd and asked me about it at work!

So only the two but at least I managed a couple!


What I’m Looking Forward to in 2024

I have quite a few shows already booked for 2024 – I’ll be kicking it off by rewatching the Birmingham Panto (a long story but a massive shout-out to Birmingham Hippodrome for being such good eggs), swiftly followed by ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in Liverpool courtesy of my lovely Mum. I’m looking forward to seeing the Stranger Things show and also ‘Mean Girls: The Musical’. There’s a lot to look forward to in theatre this year!

I also have a few concerts booked, my first one is Bring Me the Horizon with my sibling Lee. I don’t go to as many concerts as I used to so I’ve tried to book a few more for 2024 including Poppy and Five Finger Death Punch (mainly because Ice Nine Kills are supporting but I’m still looking forward to seeing them!). Hopefully Melanie Martinez will announce her European trilogy tour dates soon!

Other than that me and the girls are talking about having a little European break this year as the big holiday sucked up so much of our money this year but we still want to have a little holiday.


There we have it – my 2023 recap! Let me know any of your favourite things from this year.

Rating Every Movie I’ve Watched This Year

This year I decided to keep a list of things I’ve watched this year including films, stage shows and TV shows and keeping a rating system. Therefore I wanted to rate every film I’ve seen this year, including films that didn’t come out this year, hopefully in the order that I watched them! Here goes nothing.

M3GAN (Gerard Johnstone, 2023)

Rating: 9/10

I literally loved this film, M3GAN singing halfway through and then the ‘Titanium’ singing were so iconic. I’m so glad that M3GAN didn’t take itself too seriously and it produced such an amazing film. I can’t wait for the sequel to see where they go with this, I think it could be a really good franchise.


Knock at the Cabin (M. Night Shyamalan, 2023)

Rating: 4/10

The acting was absolutely incredible but I just felt like the plot didn’t really go anywhere. Spoiler alert but I would’ve preferred if the strangers had been lying the whole time or if they’d used the original ending from the book. It wasn’t very impactful and it all just felt a bit pointless to me. Not one that I’d return to.


Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Joel Crawford, 2023)

Rating: 7/10

I’m not gonna lie I wasn’t expecting much from this film but I actually ended up really enjoying it. Lots of great fairytale references and the story was actually really interesting, easy to follow even though I hadn’t seen any of the other ‘Puss in Boots’ films. Loved Florence Pugh as Goldilocks and the message at the end was great.


Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Rating: 6/10

This was okay, a typical Marvel movie. I’m glad that Kathryn Newton was cast as Cassie, I think she’s a fantastic actress and it’s great to see her getting big roles. This was okay as a one-off watch but it’s not one that I’d be in a rush to see again.


What’s Love Got to Do with It? (Shekhar Kapur, 2023)

Rating: 3/10

Some parts of this were funny, I liked Emma Thompson. It was a bit predictable though and my biggest issue is that the main character, Zoe, spends the whole film getting mad at everyone around her for insisting that she needs a man to be complete and then it ends with her getting together with a man? Nothing ground-breaking and not one I would return to.


Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Amongst Thieves (John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein, 2023)

Rating: 8/10

I was always going to be a bit biased about this film because I love anything with Chris Pine in but actually I did find this enjoyable. To be fair I loved the entire cast and the whole fantasy element, the scene with the talking corpses was funny as were a lot of other moments. I would absolutely watch this one again.


The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Aaron Harvoth & Michael Jelenic, 2023)

Rating: 8/10

I really enjoyed this, there were lots of fun references. I’m not 100% sure about Chris Pratt as Mario but this was counteracted by casting Jack Black as Bowser which was literally a perfect decision. I’d enjoy another movie with more of the characters like Wario, Waluigi, Birdo etc. but this was a good origin movie.



Oh Belinda (Deniz Yorulmazer, 2023)

Rating: 4/10

I spotted this on Netflix and the premise looked interesting so I decided to give it a watch. It was so confusing and I’m not really sure what the point of it was? What does she do with her life now she’s back? Was she meant to have learnt something? I read it’s to represent that every time an actor plays a role it leaves a mark on them but it was just a shampoo commercial, was it that deep? Not one I would recommend or watch again.


Missing (Nicholas D. Johnson & Will Merrick, 2023)

Rating: 10/10

I actually loved this film so much that I watched it twice this year, once at the cinema and then again on the plane on the way to LA. I loved ‘Searching’ so I was pretty sure I would enjoy this too and I was right. Such an interesting journey with twists and turns every step of the way, I figured out some things but not everything. I loved June as the main character, Storm Reid is incredible.


The Little Mermaid (Rob Marshall, 2023)

Rating: 9/10

I’m a bit sick of the Disney remakes of their old animated movies but this one was pretty enjoyable. Halle as Ariel was amazing, she has such a beautiful voice, and Melissa McCarthy was also incredible as Ursula. This is another one that I would definitely watch again.


The Boogeyman (Rob Savage, 2023)

Rating: 5/10

This film was okay, some of the moments in it were quite spooky but they ended up showing the actual Boogeyman too much and it ruined the effect. It was all a bit predictable and cliché, nothing to write home about. I also thought the ending was pretty stupid which kind of ruined the film overall. It’s a shame because the opening sequence with the baby thinking her Dad is in the room with her was quite spooky but after that it went downhill.


No Hard Feelings (Gene Stupnitsky, 2023)

Rating: 8/10

This isn’t normally my type of humour but I actually really enjoyed ‘No Hard Feelings’. I loved seeing Jennifer Lawrence on the big screen again, she was incredible. I liked the ending and there were some enjoyable scenes.


Insidious: The Red Door (Patrick Wilson, 2023)

Rating: 7/10

It was okay, a good way to end the series (assuming this was the final instalment). I couldn’t really remember the previous movies so I was glad that Josh and Dalton couldn’t either and they had to piece it together as well. I loved Chris’ character. The creepiest part about this movie was Becca showing me her new phone case before the movie which is the ‘Saturn Devouring his Son’ painting and then the bloody painting appeared in the film. What were the chances?


Outlaw King (David Mackenzie, 2018)

Rating: 6/10

I definitely enjoyed this more because of the casting, Florence Pugh and Chris Pine in the same film is always going to be a yes. I did end up finding the story quite interesting but it was definitely made more enjoyable because those two were in it.


Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023)

Rating: 9/10

I absolutely loved this and getting to watch it at the cinema was so much fun because it felt more like an event than a movie with everyone getting dressed up. I also loved all the Barbie/Oppenheimer memes, what a time to be alive. I wasn’t sure about Ryan Gosling as Ken when he was first announced but he turned out to be the perfect choice, his delivery of ‘SUBLIME’ was so fucking funny. I loved this film so much.


Elemental (Peter Sohn, 2023)

Rating: 7/10

This was cute but not really anything to cry about. I loved the world-building in this, that was quite interesting. It’s not a film I could watch again and again but it was enjoyable at the time.


The Truman Show (Peter Weir, 1998)

Rating: 8/10

I’d wanted to watch this one for a while so when I spotted it on Netflix I decided to give it a watch. It was really interesting, I loved the storyline and Jim Carrey was incredible. It’d be really cool if they remade this one day and gave it more of a horror film vibe.


A Good Person (Zach Braff, 2023)

Rating: 8/10

I’d seen clips of this film on TikTok so when I spotted this on the in-flight entertainment on the way to LA I decided to give it a watch. Florence Pugh was excellent as always. It was just quite sad.


Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)

Rating: 9/10

I’m a bit late to the party to be rating this film but I finally got round to watching it this year. I’m not normally a fan of the old/classic horror films but I actually quite liked this one. Laurie kind of did my head in by making stupid decisions over and over again but I liked the aesthetic of the film and it was pretty enjoyable. I also don’t normally like slasher films but I enjoyed this one.


Five Nights at Freddy’s (Emma Tammi, 2023)

Rating: 8/10

I have been looking forward to this film for literal years, I was so excited when the trailers finally started being released. I was on the fence about whether to give this a 7 or an 8 but I rewatched it and also having read more about it I’m going to give it an 8. I loved the little references and easter eggs throughout – my favourite bit is when Springtrap is revealed, it was so creepy watching him walk out. The casting in this was also perfect like Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lillard? Amazing. I kind of wish they’d stuck to a horror vibe throughout, it definitely seemed to lose its flow in the middle but I suppose they couldn’t have the animatronics doing creepy things whilst Mike was unaware for five nights. I can’t wait to see where they go with this, I am so excited for the next movie.


The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (Lasse Hallström & Joe Johnston, 2018)

Rating: 7/10

We’re entering the new Christmas films I watched this year. I decided to watch this one in November because it didn’t look overly Christmassy. Parts of it were really good – I hated the way they portrayed the rat king, it made me feel queasy. The plot twist was also pretty predictable. It was an okay movie but not one I’d watch every year.


Jingle All The Way (Brian Levant, 1996)

Rating: 7/10

This film stressed me out to the absolute max and is the perfect movie example of a Disney Dad. He does nothing for his kid all year, promises to get the one toy he wants for Christmas, realises his wife asked him to get it WEEKS AGO and he literally couldn’t even do that. And he wasn’t the only useless man in this movie by any means. However, I did really like the ending so that kind of made up for the rest of the movie.


Miracle on 34^th Street (Les Mayfield, 1994)

Rating: 9/10

This was such a cute Christmas movie, my favourite part is when the little deaf girl meets Santa, I was sobbing. I can’t believe it took me so long to finally watch this film, it will definitely be added to my yearly rotation.


The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Francis Lawrence, 2023)

Rating: 9/10

Really enjoyed watching this, I’d been looking forward to it – those first screenshots from the movie had me worried but it ended up being really good. I loved the world building and seeing more History of the Hunger Games. My only criticism would be that is slightly too long. Rachel Zegler was amazing in this.


And that’s all the movies I watched this year – if there are any you think I should watch then let me know!