What Happened To Proper List Decorum?

It's not even December yet. Hold onto your lists. Also, Wonka.

Today’s date is Thursday, November 30.

I don’t know if you know how years work, but there are 12 months in total. It goes January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and then December. Yes, I just typed those all out by memory. Don’t act like you’re not impressed.

The reason that we’re doing this kindergarten lesson is because most of you on the internet are releasing your year-end lists already. Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay dropped this week. Websites are unleashing their Best Of lists from movies to books to songs to whatever else. The end of the year is here … except it isn’t.

We still have over a month before the end of 2023 and I don’t appreciate us jumping the gun. When it comes to movie lists, I understand that the reviewers from various sites have seen almost everything to come, so they’ve done their due diligence, but it’s still infuriating to read about things that are still weeks away from dropping to a national audience. We used to be a proper country, and all that jazz.

I understand that for many sites, part of this is an SEO play. Get your list up first, build clicks and make it to the top of the search algorithm. But, where’s the fun in that? What happened to list decorum?

A list of things in 2023 should come after Christmas at the very earliest. December 31st if we’re being exact. That’s how our calendar works. That’s the true end of the year. And that’s when readers (me, for example) are starved for content. When we’re at our parents’ house milling around looking for some lists and recommendations.

What we’ve built is unsustainable. Pretty soon, we’ll be dropping Best Of lists in early November and then June and before you know it, it’ll be February and I’ll be forced to click on the Best TV Shows of that given year. It’s unseemly.

I love a good movie ranking (and list) and have been working on mine since January 1st, but you’d be foolish to assume that it’s coming anytime before Santa drops down your chimney. I have more things to see, Letterboxd discussions to peruse and podcasts to listen to. It’s a full-time job what I’m doing here. And you’re welcome for it.

Speaking of lists, I wanted to get something off my chest…

Wonka Good?

I think we all assumed that the Timothée Chalamet-starring Wonka prequel would be terrible. The original trailer for it was horrendous, and the rest of the promotion has been essentially the same.

I like Chalamet a good deal, am pro Hugh Grant and Olivia Colman and believe in Paul King (director of Paddington 1 & 2), but were any of us asking for a Willy Wonka origin story? It sounds like hell, and yet … it’s getting mostly positive reviews.

I’m still not expecting it to be the 21st-century Citizen Kane (not that I ever was), but the fact that Wonka has a chance to be “not terrible” is quite the 180. I mean, did you even know it was a musical? It hasn’t been promoted as such, and yet, critics are being kind.

It’s possible that they’re treating this with kiddie gloves, and the movie will be a decent-looking trainwreck, but I thought this would be at the bottom of my list at the end of the calendar year. And we may be in for a fun time at the cinema.

Truly a shock. You can say a good deal about 2023, but you can’t say it hasn’t been eventful.