Randall’s Top 2, 2023
This year was about crying.
Movies
Past Lives - for a movie where every frame is a work of art, I was so emotionally invested, I still haven’t stopped crying.
No One Will Save You - I do wish I could have seen this in the theater. To hear the clicks of alien voices in surround sound. . .
TV
Beef - The whole thing was incredible but for me it culminated when Steven Yeun’s character says while high on desert berries, “we weren’t sponge before monkey” (ep 10). Give him and Ali Wong every award now. Also more money / more roles.
The Last of Us - I don’t get tired of zombies, however, this series wins this year because of episode 3 and the greatest love story every told.
Podcasts
Ghosted! - I really need more ghost stories in my life and Roz Hernandez with the most magnificent cadence (drag queen honed) is the best one to deliver them. EVPs or EV Pulease? is an exquisite segment title.
Normal Gossip - I mean, this is on all the lists and it’s because gossip rules and don’t tell me otherwise, but also because Kelsey McKinney is an incredible storyteller.
Books
The Woman in Me - I was waiting for this book for so long and it did not disappoint. It would make such an amazing horror movie. The fact that Britney has grace and humor is a miracle. I fully support her dancing with knives.
Bad Cree - I am a sucker for stories about dreams and sisters and indigenous aunties and monsters and literally everything in this book.
Honorable Mentions
Talk to Me - Australians know horror.
Barbie - Barbie should not have apologized to Ken, but other than that, this movie deserved all its success.
Fargo (season 5) - Everyone’s good, but I’m in it for Jennifer Jason Leigh.
The Other Black Girl - Really fun for being so disturbing.
Swarm - Also fun and way more disturbing Beyonce-coded show. Obsessed that Malia Obama wrote on it.
Glamorous Trash - I will listen to Chelsea Devantez talk about literally anything.
Rattled and Shook - More ghost stories with humor!
Looking Glass Sound - Can’t get enough of books about young people, water, death.
Out There Screaming - Jordan Peele’s excellent anthology of Black Horror, i.e. my dream book.
