🎬 These are the best things we've watched in 2023

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Curating the best and worst of the internet Saturday April 1, 2023 Hello fellow citizens of the internet! Andrew here. Welcome to today's special edition of web_crawlr.  I told you a few weeks ago that we'd be sending special newsletters to our most engaged readers of web_crawlr. You click, open, and read our stories often, so we thought you should be rewarded with something that not everyone gets.    Today, our Culture team is sharing with you the best things they've watched so far this year! Maybe you'll get some new ideas of what to stream this weekend. Or maybe you'll agree or disagree with their takes.    Anyway, if you want more exclusive stuff like this sent to your inbox, all you have to do is keep clicking links in web_crawlr. It's that easy! Just keep reading our stories, and you'll keep getting stuff that other people aren't.    Congrats on being an extremely online web crawler!   See you next week!    — A.W.  Did a friend forward you this? Subscribe here. Share a link with a friend here.  🎬 The best things we've watched in 2023 20th Century Studios, Peacock, Liane Hentscher/HBO We're now one quarter into the year, and that means it's time to start our best-of lists. So far in 2023, we've attended multiple film festivals, streamed dozens of movies and TV shows, and caught new releases in theaters.   The following is a list of our favorites.  The Last of Us   Feels a little basic to say this about the hottest show of Spring 2023, but you know what? The Last of Us rules! While it's based around some very familiar (dare we say overused) zombie apocalypse tropes, TLOU is fantastically well-executed in terms of old-school episodic storytelling and sensitive human drama, offering a particular showcase for Bella Ramsay's talents.    On a fandom note, it's also very satisfying to see mainstream audiences engage deeply with an adult show week-by-week, in an era where watercooler TV is often overshadowed by splashy, mediocre Netflix releases. People want entertainment, but they also want it to have thoughtful themes and characterization! Plus, TLOU is a notable success story for videogame adaptations as a genre, serving lore-obsessed fans and new audiences alike.   Release: Now streaming on HBO Max   —Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, staff writer Past Lives    Set across 24 years, childhood friends Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Soo), who had the potential to be something more, reconnect on several occasions. Their conversations with each other lay bare who they are, who they might have been, and who they could be to each other.   With John Magaro rounding out the main cast, Past Lives, written and directed by playwright Celine Song, is a layered and poignant romance that gives all its characters the kind of grace we rarely see. It'll creep under your skin, tear your heart out, and make you grateful for the experience—and I haven't stopped thinking about it since I caught it at Sundance.   Release: June 2, 2023 in theaters   —Michelle Jaworski, staff writer Theater Camp    Theater Camp originally premiered at Sundance Film Festival, where staff writer Michelle Jaworski caught it. I saw it on the last day of SXSW in Austin, where the audience loved it.   To me, it's a perfect film—94 minutes, funny, moving, and full of great performances from both child and adult actors. Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman, the directors, told the audience at SXSW that the film, which was shot in 19 days, was "semi-scripted" but mostly improvised. The mockumentary-style adds to its playfulness, and it's accessible whether you've been to a summer camp for theater kids or not.   Release: July 14, 2023 in theaters   —Tiffany Kelly, senior culture editor Poker Face   When I reviewed this Natasha Lyonne-Rian Johnson Peacock series in January, I didn't get to see all the episodes before they aired. That can be concerning for critics, but watching the series—in which Lyonne's Charlie Cale travels from city to city inadvertently solving murders—in a weekly format was truly satisfying. Poker Face reinvents the howcatchem, and Lyonne certainly inhabits Columbo's posture, but she and Johnson drew out something more profound about the American experience: When you're a bullshit detector, how far can you get?   Release: Now streaming on Peacock   —Audra Schroeder, senior writer Scroll down below for even more of the best TV shows and movies we watched in 2023! 📲 Better living through apps 💰 SPONSORED Stop paper junk mail with an app More than 67 million pieces of junk mail pieces will arrive at US addresses this year, but you don't have to be one of them. PaperKarma makes unsubscribing to unwanted catalogs and other junk mail as easy as snapping a picture. With just a couple of clicks on the app, you can take back control of your mailbox. Declutter your life and save a tree with PaperKarma. GET STARTED Beef    Beef could be one of the most relevant shows for our current era. In a world where we encounter people getting into arguments everywhere—online and IRL—and where you never know who is recording your argument, this smart TV series explores one incident of road rage taken too far.   Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, perfectly cast, star as the subjects of the incident, each one facing unhappiness in their lives in a different way. Although the premise seems simple, Beef is a nuanced show that examines adult rage.   Release: April 6, 2023 on Netflix   —T.K. How to Blow Up a Pipeline   Benefiting from a gloriously self-explanatory title, this sharp, intense heist thriller feels miraculous in a pop-culture landscape where climate change is largely ignored.   Starring an ensemble cast of Gen-Z climate activists, How to Blow Up a Pipeline covers the process and motivation behind a daring act of eco-terrorism. Combining the excitement of Ocean's Eleven with the gritty vibes of a 1970s indie thriller, it's both politically bold and straight-up fun to watch. I particularly recommend this movie if you're into adventure stories with a lot of technical, mechanical detail.   Release: April 7, 2023 in theaters   —G.B.-W. Rye Lane    A chance meeting between Dom (David Jonsson) and Yas (Vivian Oparah) at an art show kicks off a memorable day in which two recently single strangers help each other gain closure and open themselves up to the possibility of something more in the process.   Raine Allen-Miller's Rye Lane is a throwback to the kinds of romantic comedies we adored from the '80s and '90s (and, in one case, the early '00s) that's as much about personal growth as their relationship with each other. Rye Lane has everything I've been missing from movies lately: Witty banter that doesn't overshoot into quip city, charismatic leads with palpable chemistry, a tangible setting in South London, and a crap ton of color that radiates on the screen instead of making everything look murky.   Release: March 31, 2023 on Hulu —M.J. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed   A festival favorite now streaming on HBO Max, Laura Poitras' gorgeous documentary of photographer Nan Goldin looks at both her work and the experiences that shaped it. Poitras starts with an action by P.A.I.N., Goldin's advocacy group, which aims to hold the Sackler family accountable for the opioid crisis and remove their name from the walls of museums.    The other half of the film tracks Goldin's personal trauma and found community, and how they informed her images—and the work she would do to help bring down the Sacklers. But Poitras weaves these two stories together, showing how deeply entwined art and activism are.   Release: Now streaming on HBO Max   —A.S. Joy Ride   A thoroughly hilarious road trip comedy bound to make audiences sob between laughter, Joy Ride took a well-known genre and gave it a newfound energy.   The film's central ensemble has an electric chemistry, with Oscar-nominee Stephanie Hsu and newcomer Sabrina Wu having a myriad of scene-stealing moments. With a surprisingly emotional narrative under the shockingly risqué humor, Joy Ride is well equipped to be an audience favorite this summer.   Release: July 7, 2023 in theaters   —Adrienne Hunter, contributing writer How did you like this newsletter? Click an icon below to give us a rating! Loved it! Meh... Hated it. Copyright © 2023 The Daily Dot, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up to get the inside scoop on internet culture from the Daily Dot.   Don't want to hear from us anymore? Click here to unsubscribe.   Questions? Feedback? Contact us at info@dailydot.com.   To view in your browser, click here.   3112 Windsor Road, Ste. 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