1. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Thank gawd for Spiderverse. That film being successful seems to have been the floodgate for other studios trying new things with their animation. Really is a beautiful style in this and this has to be one of the least Dreamworks movie ever made in that it tries to have themes and emotion. Unfortunately it can't help but still be a Dreamworks film so it's a bit violent at times, there's interesting ideas that should come back again but don't and there's a couple of times it goes full Dreamworks into lazy joke territory. But outside of that it's a super fun film with some great gags and action beats and a good story at it's core.
[7]

2. Strange World
Watched in the same day as Puss and even though I think the core message is more important, it just isn't as well put together a film. Really feels like they struggled in the edit with this one with some weird flow moments throughout. And even though the design of the Strange World is stunning I really wish Disney/Pixar would try to be a bit less subtle with their animation. It's like they keep say "More stretch! More squash!" each time and I find it disconnects the characters from the voices a lot of the time as it feels overplayed.
[6]

3. Weird: the Al Yankovic Story
Very silly "biopic" about weird Al with Daniel Radcliffe as the lead. A lot of fun and quite funny but probably just a little bit too long. Like most modern US comedies.
[6]

4. Avatar: The Way of Water
Friend I see a lot of films with was gonna go by himself so I thought I'd go again. Just as entertaining the second time and with the same issues. Still an insane technical achievement and the story does a good enough job. Am interested to see where the next one goes.
[6]

5. Unbreakable
Been wanting to re-watch this for a while as I remember really liking it back in the day. It's still pretty great and I really like how quiet it is for the most part. You could say the M Night over directs it at times but I like how he is keen to move the camera and try interesting stuff. I think Signs might still be my fave of his
[8]

6. Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Bit of a weird one. I'm not sure if it has enough to really grab kids attentions and I also think the storytelling is a bit too slight and meandering. It's still quite funny and charming and has a lot of heart but I think it needed to be tightened up a smidge.
[6]

7. Star Wars with a live orchestra
Been a long while since I watched a New Hope. Pretty sure I haven't seen it on the big screen before either. Forgot how slight it is, just does enough each scene to keep pushing it along. Interesting experience with the orchestra too. Had to keep reminding myself to stop looking at the screen all the time and really listen to the music. Also forget how many of the major musical themes you remember come from later films, Empire especially. Shame it was the "remastered" version.

8. Tàr
I feel annoyed I spent most of this film thinking about how quiet the sound was in the cinema. Could hear the aircon more than the dialogue at times. Even went and asked them to turn it up but I guess the young staff couldn't be effed. A shame as there's a lot of work done with the sound in it. Solid film though. Good performance as expected. Some stuff I'm not sure why was in there and I found the way it ended irked me a little.
[8]

9. Mission Impossible 2
Slowly watching these in prep for the new one. This one is decidedly average but is still watchable. Very 2000 (gotta love the high tech digital cameras). It mostly fails due to its really languid pacing and how uncinematic it often looks. Bike chase at the end is pretty good although I proper laughed at the appearance of shitbox ford falcons driven by the baddies.
[5]

10. The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker
Watched on a night shift and it doesn't really deserve much more attention than that. A slightly interesting story about a mentally troubled homeless man pulled into the spotlight.
[4]

11. M3gan
Feels like a real missed opportunity this. Listening to interviews later it did have a very short filming schedule and budget and I think it shows in how little doll on the loose stuff there is until way too late in the movie. And it's a shame too because that stuff is quite fun. There's also a bunch of pieces of the film that just don't really come together. It's well made but disappointing.
[3]

12. Knock at the Cabin
Didn't realise this was an adaptation of a book. This is a neat little thriller with Shyamalan's typical flair of filmmaking. I quite liked it although I don't think it was as tense as it could have been.
[6]

13. Titanic (in 3D! at IMAX!)
Been a long time since I've watched this properly. Still holds up! Cameron is good at pacing his movies I feel, even if the story isn't doing anything fancy he keeps the whole thing trucking along. Seeing it on a big big screen shows some of it's flaws (water physics around the models most of all) but it really doesn't matter when you're in it. There were a lot of people who had clearly sobbed during the final parts coming out of the screening so I guess it still works it's magic.
[8]

14. The Happening
I like this movie much more than I should. I really think this would have been considered one of his better ones if it wasn't for Wahlberg and Deschanel. They are fucking woeful, genuinely terrible. He has a dumb punchable face and she, well, I don't know what she's going for. I really think if there were better actors in those parts with better intuition into how to play those scenes they wouldn't come across so dumb. There's just so many great little set-pieces. I think Shyamalan does violence very well.
[5]

15. Mission Impossible 3
Definitely the one that sets the style and tone of these going forward. Been cool to see how they've managed to make them better and better as they go even though the elements are the same. JJ has done better action than this and it's quite ugly looking throughout but the pacing is good and Hoffman is a great, simple baddie.
[6]

16. Infinity Pool
I like how Brandon Cronenberg doesn't like to be compared to his father but then continues to make stories that feel like something his dad would make. Although a very different look and vibe. Maybe just a bit long and not as tightly constructed as Possessor.
[7]

17. The Village
Pretty amazing cast in this. And Roger Deakins making the film look amazing. It's nice and slight but it explains itself too much and he should have tried to make the beasts look more beastly early on.
[5]

18. Quantumania
Some definite plot/story issues with some clunky flow at times but there's some real visual imagination in here and it's quite funny. Shame it doesn't take it's time to soak in the weird stuff and also a shame it gets a bit punchy punchy. Majors is excellent and I think Kang works best when it's like in Loki and it's a battle of perspectives and idealogies.
[6]

19 The Menu
Started strong but couldn't really land the execution and so when it got into it I was pushed out of it. Also expected a bit more wit from a director and writer from Succession.
[5]

20. The Meg
Needed a dumb movie and this is really dumb but it knows it is and that's why it works. It would be nice if there was more than thrills in the shark stuff but it is what it is. Can't believe Wheatley is doing the sequel
[5]

21. Mission impossible: Ghost Protocol
This is where they're starting to get the pacing down. Really fun this and quite thrilling. I'd forgotten large chunks of this. They have a knack for having a heist make sense without needing to explain it much or talk you through the whole thing as it happens like Inception, it just plays out.
[8]

22. Scream 6
So this is a very stupid film but it's also quite fun. It definitely feels like a film that was turned around in less than a year as the pacing is as whack as the flow of time through the movie. It's a shame they didn't take more time in writing this as I think it has some good ideas but they're not really capitalised on. More stuff like the opening and the convenience store sequence would have been better. But I had fun thoughout.
[6]

23. Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation
Not as full on action as the last one and not as good as I know the next one to be but it's still entertaining and with good set pieces
[7]

24. Playground
The school experience as seen by a child filmed in the vein of Son of Saul. I was expecting this to be a bit more gentle than it was, maybe it wanting to make a point about bullying distracted from being about the main character like an Eighth Grade or Petit Maman. Main performance is incredible though and I did really like it
[8]

25. The Whale
Made sense when it said "based on play by" at the end. I feel like it needed to be made into more of a movie as a lot of the performances and scenes were a bit overplayed like it was aimed at the people in the back row. Fraser was great though for sure.
[7]

26. Shazam Fury of the Gods
Will be interesting to see if the new DC heads makes for films that aim a bit higher because this is pretty low effort in a lot of ways. But it's fun and it did make me actually laugh which is more than most Marvel can say. Levy still plays more of a kid than the actual kid though.
[6] one or two more points than it deserves cos of the laughs

27. Cocaine Bear
Very strong first film energy in this one with it all feeling very slap dash and not great flow throughout. Also not very funny or thrilling or anything. Waste of time.
[2]

28. 65
Adam Driver's dino crisis. Can't really go wrong with a 90 minute dinosaur action adventure thing with one of the best actors working today. Not especially thrilling and the score sucks ass but it was a fun way to kill some time.
[5]

29. Mission impossible fallout
Dang this is an exciting film. I forgot how it just doesn't really stop once it starts and even though it's 2.5 hours long it doesn't feel overly long. Really excited for the next one now.
[8]

30. John Wick 4
Probably shouldn't have watched Fallout the night before this as there both 2.5 his long and have action sequences in the same areas of Paris but Wick is just not that exciting to watch. The action feels choreographed and overlong and there's no reason this needed to be 2.5 hours long. Tight 90 and you could have told this exact same story.
[4]

31. DnD Honour Among Thieves
This was a lot of fun. Really did feel like a DnD campaign. Sure a lot of styling and quips were very Marvel but I also think it had some really good gags and some cool ideas.
[7]

32. Game Night
After watching DnD I wanted to go back to their previous film again. It shows that they're good at crafting a gag and that they don't mind filming a comedy more interestingly than most. Jesse Plemons is a stand out in this.
[6]

33. Only Lovers Left Alive
Love me some Jarmusch. Not sure why it took me so long to watch it. Very good stuff with the leads really selling an eternal relationship. Quietly funny and with some bangin' music.
[8]

34. Mario Movie
Brand recognition does all the work. It really is a shame that more care wasn't put into the scripting as was put into the animation. Years and years of work on an embarrassingly bare bones bit of writing. For me it peaked with the silly dog scene at the start.
[4]

35. The Naked Gun
Not much needs to be said really. Still a classic.
[8]

36. The Fabelmans
I don't really like how Spielberg's movies look these days. I also think the scripting on this was a bit basic. But it's a Spielberg movie so I enjoyed it more than I probably should have. Loved the cameo later on too.
[7]

37. Violent Night
Fairly fun and dumb action film that spends way too long between action sequences at times and that probably could have had more fun with the core concept.
[5]

38. Moana
I really love this movie. One of their best I think. Amazing songs and animation. Only really let down by some lazy jokes (tweet joke? Come on).
[9]

39. Howls Moving Castle
Lush animation of course and there's some lovely scenes but there's also some pretty average writing and storytelling at times. Probably too hard to condense down to a movie
[7]

40. Spirited Away
Was going to the Ghibli museum to has to watch more stuff. This one, of course, really nails it all throughout. Music is just stunning too
[9]

41. Princess and the Frog
Went to Disneyland too so more Disney watched. They really should be ashamed of themselves for abandoning 2d animation. They popularised the artform in the West and they have all the money in the world so could afford to throw some at keeping it alive but they don't. This doesn't do anything out of the ordinary but it's still a lot of fun and the songs are great
[8]

42. DC League of Superpets
Probably not a good thing when one of the best recent DC movies is a cartoon about super animals that has a bunch of beep swearword and poop jokes. Pretty average but also fun enough and a few good gags.
[5]

43. The Informant!
Needed to be shorter to be good I think. Could have been a Burn After Reading type thing but doesn't quite get there. Still a good filmmaker though so it ticks along.
[5]

44. The BFG
Not totally sure why but I kinda really hated this. Felt more like an old man with learning disabilities kidnaps a small child than a whimsical fairy tale. Then it froths over the royals in an overly long sequence near the end. The worst Spielberg film I've seen but it still has his panache.
[3]

45. Black Adam
What is wrong at DC Studios. It's like they've seen superhero movies and they are trying to make something based on what they saw is cool in there. 'Hey let's have a guy that looks like Deadpool, that talks like Spiderman and has the powers of Antman. That's what kids like right? This is a trashfire and they should all be ashamed. Some special effects were good.
[2]

46. Evil Dead Rise
This was pretty good but I prefer the previous remake as a modern one. Kinda wish it didn't rely so much on repeating things and ideas from previous films and also maybe try to do horror comedy like 2 as the grim version has been done. I also got a little tired of the horror pacing in this where it relied on the quiet build up to horror moment cliche even though some of them are good.
More consistent tension, less shoehorned themes or more character work, and remove the pointless opening plz
[6]

47. Suzume
I didn't so much like the previous one by this guy but I really enjoyed this. Possibly helped by just having been in Japan and it having so much real Japan stuff in there that took me back to my holiday. But I think it's also a fun movie with stunning animation and some beautiful music.
[8]

48. Guardians 3
Hmmmm, hard to know where I stand on this. On one hand it has some fucking insane visuals and ideas that go away past what you think a Marvel movie would allow and into horror type territory but on the other hand it just has a few too many spinning plates that it feels like they couldn't figure out how to put it together well. The editing and story/action flow throughout was just a bit clunky and so I never really fully got into it.
[5-7]

49. Final Destination
Apparently started as an X-Files ep script. Such a fun idea really. I like how painful the first death is too, something a lot of the others don't bother with. Shame a chunk of
[6]

50. Final Destination 2
This one is the GOAT of the series. From the insanely well executed opening to the fun and effects of the following set pieces and just the general pacing throughout. Good stuff
[7]

51. Final Destination 3
So weird to take a step back after the second one. Like they didn't get what made the opening of the previous one so good. At least the setpieces in this are tense at times and quite fun. Shame everything around those is so dull and boring and gets caught up in trying to explain the logic of things. This one is the comedy of the lot. Did chuckle a fair few times
[5]

52. The Final Destination
Eyoooo it's ya boy the 3D boom. Up in here jacking up your cinema ticket prices and your bad CGI effects. Has some alright moments but definitely the worst of the lot
[3]

53. Final Destination 5
I'm guessing they had a bit more money for this one. I'd forgotten opener and it's pretty impressive really and still holds up. They also manage to have characters have emotions about their friends dying which most of the others didn't bother with. Also managed to find a way to have things play out in a new way which was good
[6]

54. Saw
It's still a good little bottle film. Just some ropey performances and very much of its time directing wise. The main theme song will always be one of the great 'reveal' songs.
[5]

55. Saw 2
The one thing I always liked about the Saw films was how they played with time. I really can't remember much of these sequels so am looking forward to seeing how they play out. The needle scene in this really sticks out.
[5]

56. Beau is Afraid
Well he went full Kaufman when I don't think even Kaufman goes full Kaufman. Not sure to think of this but it's quite a thing. Not sure where to score it either. I'm glad people get to make weird shit like this though
[8]

57. Fast X
For such a long film there's very few action setpieces. That's what let this down. The last one was stupid but it knew it and it never really stopped with the stupid action. This has a lot of people going places but not doing much. Also think Letierrier isnt a great dumb action director like the last guy was.
[4]

58. Don't Worry Darling
What a stupid fucking film. Feels so weird that this script got the talent it did. It looks super nice but poorly connected spooky sequences don't make a good film. Made by someone with no clue about how to put a thriller together
[3]

59. Missing
This was a lot of fun. Amazing how compelling they were able to make footage from screens look. Really well put together but just fumbled the end a little for me.
[7]

60. Women Talking
I think I would have been more engaged seeing this as a play than a film. Well acted and all that but didn't really move me.
[6]

61. The Post
It's Spielberg so of course it's solid. Streep is amazing in this, such a well portrayed woman with tiny little mannerisms. Hanks is Acting. Watchable but also kind of a nothing film.
[6]

62. Reminiscence
What a stupid fucking film. Baby's first noir with some of the worst action sequences I've ever seen. The setting is cool but everything else is garbage.
[2]

63. Oblivion
I really like this film. Is all the physically made props and ships and such that feel sci fi. It's really well shot too. Just a shame the story doesn't do anything more interesting
[7]

64. WALL-E
Really wish Pixar were confident enough to make this completely without real dialogue. It's all that that lets it down plus some logic stuff (killing robots after giving others so much character, turning a ship in space causes things to slide????) which is a shame because all the WALL-E and eve stuff is still great.
[7]

65. Saw 3
The story here at least informs the harsher violence and traps before the series starts to really lean into that side of it. Enjoyable enough to watch in that classic Saw way.
[5]

66. Central Intelligence
I remember this being funnier. Hart and Rock are still charming but there isn't that many jokes that truly land.
[5]

67. The Rock
Can't really remember why I liked this film back in the day. Maybe I didn't know good action then. The story is fun but all the action sequences are dull and unexciting. Must suck to be a stunt person on a Bay film as you put your life on the line only for the camera to be moving so fast and the editing so haphazard that you can't see anything.
[4]

68. The Inventor: Out for Blood
Definitely an interesting story and a weird person. Was just a shame the doco is a bit dull and mostly plods along in the flow.
[5]

69. Tiger
Kind of a film I guess. Interesting if you have an interest in Tiger Woods. I think it could have been shorter and spent more time on his golfin achievements and less on the small, more tabloid style details of his downfall. Some good footage though and good tracking of his career.
[6]

70. Elvis
I must confess that I didn't finish this. I couldn't. It's fucking trash garbage shit. I don't understand what the point of it is. Am I supposed to know Elvis' story and so the film doesn't have to tell me? It just jumps forward with no context or character growth or change. Tom Hanks is genuinely woeful in it. The only points of this review going to the Elvis actor who does a great job in the role.
[2]

71. EO
I really couldn't like this either. It does say they took care of the animals at the start of the credits but I still couldn't help but feel like they were putting the donkeys into scenarios they probably didn't want to be in. I know it's the cruel life of animals now anyway so maybe I'm just a hypocrite.
[3]

72. Across the Spider-verse
Well it's definitely one of the best looking animated films ever made. So glad big animation is really pushing stuff now, it looks so fresh. I think this crumbles a little under the weight of the breadth of the story it's trying to tell but it still does a great job of what it does and manages to be exciting and heartfelt and clever in equal measures. I do kinda wish the voice actors would make it sound like they were putting in some effort talking whilst flying about and doing action stuff. Probably by design but I feel like Spiderman always had that "real person but strong" element to it where it still was hard to do the things he does.
[8]

73. Apollo 13
They really don't make many movies like this anymore. Earnest drama with no quippy or Sorkin like dialogue. Just a straight up story with good characters and solid filmmaking. Enjoyed watching this again.
[8]

74. The Boogeyman
I'm glad to see that Savage is good at creating scares in typical filmmaking style too. Just a shame this is otherwise a very standard hollywood format monster type movie. All the usual story tropes come up and some proper suspension of disbelief at some aspects (just turn on all the lights in the house!!!). But it gave me quite a few scares and so I had a good time.
[7]

75. The Flash
So DC can actually make a good comic book movie! Crazy stuff. Shame the lead is a dickhead in real life and so to avoid showing said dickhead all the marketing had to show pretty much all the big surprises. Could have been a fun ride otherwise. Also some really, REALLY below standard VFX throughout. There's some better looking fake humans in FFXVI. Genuinely looked early game CG at times. But the film had some really fun superhero/comic book ideas throughout and it was actually funny at times. There's a few times where they really couldn't help themselves with the fan service though. They probably shouldn't have gone there. Really.
[6]

76. Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Watching again with the gf. Still pretty solid on rewatch although some sequences are a bit clunky and I think there's too many needle drops. I'd forgotten how good the effects are in this, especially after seeing The Flash with it's PS4 level graphics. Really stunning work in that regard.
[7]

77. No Hard Feelings
A gross out comedy and a rom-com in one movie except they aren't put together in a way that meshes well. It's funny when it wants to be and so I think it would have been better as just a comedy through and through. The confused nature of the film leads to some inconsistent characterisation throughout. It also seemed weirdly hollow in the sound design or maybe that was just the cinema.
[4]

78. No Country for Old Men
Still perfect. I think I manage to pick up and appreciate new lines in this everytime I watch it. "That's linear thinking sheriff" "Yeah, well getting old will flatten ya"
[10]

79. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
It's cromulent enough. I just don't understand why you'd make an Indy film that is a CGI fuckfest. Every other blockbuster these days is a CGI fuckfest, we don't need another one. You have a very old lead so why can't you slow it right down and make it more about tomb raiding and then have the action scenes be slower and more thoughtful and maybe focus more on character and actually do it for fucking real with real fucking stunt performers like the originals did. That's what people liked about them! Crazy to me that these modern legacy sequels throw away so much of what was appreciated about those original films and made them enjoyable in the first place. This definitely didn't bore me although I think that's mostly because of Waller-Bridge's spark. It also pushes things a bit too far at times which it really didn't need to do. Also would have been interesting to see this made a year or two later now that everyone cares about Ke Hua Quan again. Shortround really should have been in this.
[4]

80. The Matrix
It's still good! This definitely had me noticing how many new hollywood releases I've been seeing and how soulless and lacking in vision and execution they are. This still holds up because of how much love is poured into it by the filmmakers. You can see it in the framing and the camera moves and the scene transitions and the action sequences. The story is still basic but that doesn't really matter when it all comes together so well.
[9]

81. Lake Placid
It's not as witty as it thinks it is but at 80 mins you can't help but have fun with it. Still a good watch
[6]

82. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning part 1
The main problem this film has is that Fallout exists. That's really the perfect modern MI movie and is just stunning action filmmaking. This has a lot of flaws I think and there isn't enough excitement to distract from the iffy scripting and pacing. There's some good sequences (car chase and airport) but there's also a lot of CGI compared the previous ones and they obviously couldn't figure out any stunts that top what came in the last two in terms of excitement. I wonder if Cruise breaking his ankle in Fallout really helped them tighten and perfect that film.
This was my most wanted film for this year and I was a little disappointed.
[6]

83. Godzilla (2015)
I know a lot of people give this film shit but I really like it, warts and all. Re-watching it I really didn't feel like there wasn't much monster time and the beautiful cinematography and sound design carried me through. Neighbours knocked on the door thinking something bad was happening because of the rumble from the subwoofer.
[8]

84. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 Again
I had prebooked a second session of this before it came out. Still feel the same about it from the first watch. Some good stuff in it but also a lot of "entity" talk and also a bit too much CGI in places that undermine the real stunts. There's also a weird through-line about women and Hunt in this that I don't really know how to read. I feel like mutual respect would have worked much better than any kind of undercooked romantic thread especially with the standard Hollywood age gap in play.
[6]

85. Memories of Murder
Such a great film and so beautifully made. Zodiac surely must have come from Fincher seeing this, there's so many similarities.
[9]

86. Candy Land
Whilst this is shot well I felt it was one of those films that thinks 'character' is just dialogue. So I didn't really care about the characters and then when it all goes south it wasn't very well staged or scary or even really make sense in how no-one would notice what's going on. 
[3]

87. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
This is definitely more in line with Bumblebee and is actually quite fun and feels like a saturday morning cartoon instead of just people shouting at each other for 2 hours. Has a good reason for the humans to be there too. Gotta love the America only storyline of the kid needing medical treatment but the family can't afford it so the hospital is like "bad luck buddy"
[6]

88. Nimona
This was light and fun. Animation is good enough and the acting is good. Won't really stick with you but a good way to spend an afternoon
[6]

89.  Oppenheimer
Maybe I just don't like newer Nolan movies but I just couldn't get into this. The way it's paced and edited really was giving me Elvis vibes but without the pizzazz, it does have more character and story than that film. So not being on board with the way it was meant I was ready for it to be done way before it was done. I also found it weird that with all the IMAX talk there was still a seeming lack of planning in those sequences so the aspect ratio changed a lot more erratically than I expected. A shame too because the IMAX footage is stunning, especially the black and white but the regular B&W footage was nowhere near as clear so I noticed it a lot. To the point where I'd say it's not really worth going to an IMAX to see it. I enjoyed seeing multiple out of focus faces too, makes you realise it's an analogue film in many ways.
[4]

90. Talk to Me
A pretty fun little aussie horror film. Was expecting it to be a bit scarier and have a few more original ideas but there's some great moments in it, just not enough for me.
[5]

91. Extraction 2
I enjoyed this more than the first one. Largely I think because of that prison sequence which was very impressive. I think the rest of it doesn't live up to that but that's okay although it does make it feel like the rest of the film is a downward slope.
[6]

92. Fatal Attraction
I forgot how sexy these 80s/90s thrillers were. It's also interesting to see Glenn Close in this role as she's not an obvious choice but she's very good in this. A lot of fun. I just enjoy the pacing and filmmaking of movies of this era. You get so used to the current way films are that you can forget how they used to be crafted.
[7]

93. Barbie
Ryan Gosling should do more comedy. This and the Nice Guys show he has the chops for it. I feel like the scripting/pacing of this was a little scattershot but I had fun with it.
[7]

94. Pleasantville
A rewatch of something that I, strangely, used to watch a lot as a kid. Should be surprised that it is a pleasant watch with that title. Again, see how older films were made and how they weren't too afraid of having breathing room. Some really nice acting in this too.
[7]

95. Meg 2: The Trench
Had to see how Ben Wheatley went with making a big budget film. Not bad really. There's some definite Wheatley-isms throughout. Just a shame a large bulk is set in a dark space (bad idea) and so when it becomes lighter and then more fun it's a bit too late.
[5]

96. Kong: Skull Island
This really a great monster movie. It does enough to give the characters some character and it has some genuinely stunning effects and really fun sequences. Don't get many hollywood blockbusters with Cannibal Holocaust references.
[8]

97. MIFF: How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Mostly solidly made indie thriller about some activists wanting to blow up an oil pipeline. The fact that it's quite good makes the few parts where it's really amateur in execution stand out. One bit in particular is a bit silly and they really should have blocked it better.
[6]

98. MIFF: Medusa Deluxe
If you're gonna make a one-shot film then I think there should be a solid reason for it to be done that way. This film doesn't seem to have a good reason and so you're just stuck watching people walk hallways for too many minutes of this.
[4]

99. MIFF: Animalia
A sci-fi film that has some cool ideas but I think the constant god-bothering side of the story ended up irking me even though it's obviously a very large part of the culture there and why it comes up a lot. It has a definite Benson and Moorhead vibe but nowhere nearly as good as their stuff.
[5]

100. MIFF: Last Summer
'Woman having an affair with her stepson' is one of the Frenchist sounding synopsis' of the film festival. The fact that she has a glass of wine in pretty much every scene also helps that. This ended up being more than I thought it would be though. At first I thought it was going to romanticise grooming and seducing a child like Call Me By Your Name but then it became a bit more than that.
[8] 

101. MIFF: Perpetrator
It's difficult making a film that exists in a heightened reality. This one just doesn't quite get there. I think it needed to lay out the world a little more at first so you could get in on how things were going to go. I also couldn't tell if all the cribs of filmmaking and lines of script pulled from lyrics and such were meant to be jokes or were evidence of unoriginality. 
[3]

102. MIFF: About Dry Grasses
I signed up for a 3.5 hour Turkish film because I wanted to go full film festival but this turned out to be the best film I saw there. If you liked Drive My Car then I think you would find something to like in the filmmaking of this. Engrossing characters and setting and engaging storytelling meant this didn't feel like the runtime at all.
[9]

103. Godzilla: King of the Monsters
I think the main problem with this entry is that it's just not exciting at all. Big monsters smashing into each other should raise the pulse a little bit but this just never does. A shame really.
[4]

104. Godzilla v Kong
I enjoyed this more when it was one of the first big screen movies to come out after lockdown but it's still pretty fun. Very colourful which is nice. I think watching it closer to the smaller stories of the first Godzilla and Kong movies makes it feel more of a let down that they let it go full Marvel in terms of big silly story. Had some good smashing though.
[6]

105. Dead Ringers
Great movie from ol' Cronenberg about twin gynos going a bit mad. Incredible work from Jeremy Irons really as both twins feel like different characters played by different actors. The one actor/two roles stuff is presented fantastically as well by shooting and editing it like it is two actors instead of the more "ah ha!" stuff from something like BTTF2. Makes you wonder if the effort put into filming would be more than just dumping it on the VFX people like in The Flash. Would take some forethought and planning at least, something which Hollywood seems to be allergic to these days.
[8]

106. The Strangers
Still one of great home invasion films and also just nice to watch a horror film where the camera isn't all up in the actors face so you can't see what's going on and that's meant to be scary. I wish more films used space like this does. Does rely on characters making some stupid choices though.
[7]

107. Fear
Well this was a lot of fun! Mark Wahlberg plays a good douchebag, who would have thunk it. Really goes places by the end too. These 90s thrillers are great.
[7]

108. Hard Candy
Still a very solid film mainly because of the two main performances. The thing that holds it back is the early 2000s filmmaking styling I think. A few too many ultra close-ups.
[7]

109. The Collector
Meeeeeeeeh. Definitely riding on the coat-tails of Saw and Se7en and all that stuff but made by someone who doesn't know how to turn those influences into something good. There is some good ideas in it but it also has a lot of stuff you're meant to just handwave.
[3]

110. Interstellar
I'll keep going to see this at IMAX every couple of years or so because it's a great experience on the big big screen. Like most new Nolan's though it's a shame he think his viewers are a bunch of dumb cunts and everything needs to be explained and played out to ensure that no one could struggle to understand what is going on. This time I wondered if one side of the end sequence could have just been completely cut out and it still would work. I think it would as all it does is repeat what is already going on except one character is vocalising it.
[8]

111. The Creator
I really wanted to like this but I thought it was just a bit of a mess. Is it a hard hitting sci-fi trying to shine a light on the atrocities that have occurred in various Asian nations over the years by western countries or is it a jokey Aliens-esque action sci-fi? It also just doesn't flow too well, splits it's attention between too many characters so you don't end up caring about anyone. Pretty at times though.
[3]

112. Don't Breathe
This is such a well crafted film. Not only in how it really makes sure you know the layout of the place so everything makes sense throughout but also in how it plays with your expectations. Sometimes doing exactly as you think and then others not, keeps you on your toes throughout. Just goes on a little too long at the end I think.
[7]

113. No One Will Save You
Pretty fun little alien film although I thought the way the aliens looked and moved was quite funny even though the music was telling me I should be scared. Such long arms! So silly. Good for an easy arvo watch.
[6]

114. Them
I had this in my mind as fitting in with the French Extremity stuff but it doesn't have any hard edges really and the characters are really really fucking dumb which just makes it annoying to watch. Had some promise but squandered it.
[3]

115. Sleeping With The Enemy
Another super fun shlocky 90s thriller although with a pretty hard edge with all the abuse stuff. I don't think Julia Roberts is a particularly good actress in this but she has a crazy amount of screen charisma, you can tell why she became a star. Another thing I like about these films is how nice they look. Real cinematography and not just shite shot on a stage to look flat and boring like nearly all modern Hollywood releases.
[6]

116. Black Christmas
Always weird to watch the gamechanger films. A movie doing stuff that is then copied until the end of time. I thought this would be a bit more throwaway in terms of character work and story but it's really a complete package and a lot of fun.
[8]

117. When Evil Lurks
Very gruesome yes. But it doesn't really nail it for me. It both under-explains and over-explains it's world which means it's the worst of both. I also didn't care what happened to anyone because the characters are pretty bland. A shame really because it could have been a solid one. It also wasn't creepy at all, at least Terrified was creepy at times.
[5]

118. V/H/S/85
Like most of these, a bit hit and miss but largely solid. The only short that gets the brief was the Derrickson one though. For some reason so many of the directors feel the need to build up from normal to horror scenario when you can just go straight into scary. Unless you're gonna go nuts like the one in VHS2 spend less time doing nothing.
[6]

119. Past Lives
A beautiful, quiet film about life choices and the paths we've taken. Stunning cinematography and great performances and under 2 hours! Wonderful.
[9]

120. Sharksploitation
Pretty fun little doco about shark movies through the years. Probably not very engaging if you don't care about them but it's nice to see the timeline after Jaws.
[5]

121. Killers of the Flower Moon
Scorcese has a story type I guess. It's an interesting setting and it's well told for the most part. But it's too long for something that isn't really a deep character study. Plus I don't like Leo, I think he wishes he was a character actor but instead it's just Leo pulling a face, but only sometimes because he can never keep it up.
[6]

122. Totally Killer
Time travel slasher film that doesn't really do enough with either part of that concept. It's fine.
[5]

123. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Not scary enough for an exorcism movie and not courty enough for a court drama film. It's fine.
[5]

124. TMNT: Mutant Mayhem
Animation in this is stunning and distinct from Spiderverse. The score for the film is mostly for the animation, the film itself is a fun watch but doesn't do anything particularly new.
[8]

125. Mirror Mirror
I liked this more than I thought I would. Partly carried by Tarsem's visual eye for direction and set/costume design. But it also has a fun sense of humour.
[7]

126. Blackberry
You know what you're getting with these now. Strong willed people create a product and then succeed or fail or both. Good acting but once the initial part gets setup it loses it's way and doesn't really become about anything or any particular character journey.
[6]

127. The Adults
An indie drama with Michael Cera, you know what you're getting with this. Not overly twee but I could see some people hating it if they don't like this kind of thing. I liked it.
[7]

128. The Conference
Swedish slasher that is carried by a good sense of humour. It's not scary or anything but it wasn't a complete waste of time.
[5]

129. The Killer
Fincher returns to Fight Club esque area of male egos. Solidly made as you'd expect and good performances. A shame that he maybe has lost his knack for invisible special effects as too many shots looked like processed shite to me and it made the real location shots stand out. So many modern filmmaking techniques and visual styles can get in the bin. Flat images with no depth as it's just a blurred out green screened background. Bleugh.
[7]

130. The Marvels
Well this is what you expect. Some good ideas, some great ideas, and all not very well executed or hampered by the obvious reshoots and messing about. Main shame is that they didn't really know how to do Ms Marvel who I really liked from the tv show, apart from a couple of scenes. She probably should have been the main character and focus throughout. The main swappy action sequence near the start is cool but also weirdly executed, why cut between characters when the characters are jumping between spaces anyway. Loki has given me faith that Marvel can do good stuff again but maybe not in movie form anymore.
[5]

131. Thanksgiving
Eli Roth isn't a very good director but luckily slashers don't need them to be. This is a solid thing, it's nice that it's just a straight up slasher with no self-aware stuff which is the norm these days. It's still full of Roth bro characters and their put-upon gfs but there's some fun moments and set-pieces. Some weird edits though where I think a few shots could have lingered longer for tension purposes
[5]

132. Godzilla Minus One
I haven't seen any of the more recent Japanese Godzillas but this one does seem to take the more US approach to the movie by making it a more personal tale than a big political thing like I understand other Japanese Godzillas are. Luckily it's a really good personal story which is soap-acted at times but I found it a satisfying story with more emotional weight than I was expecting. Cool monster effects and visual ideas throughout obviously. Pretty great.
[8]

133. Paddington
Continuing the tradition of a Paddington birthday watch. Number 2 is my favourite but this is still a lovely film, just one that's a bit more tuned towards a younger audience I think.
[8]

134. Paddington 2
We've done this dance before. It's perfect. Makes me laugh and makes me cry every time.
[10]

135. Stop Making Sense
One more IMAX screening meant I was able to catch this. I haven't seen it before, was good to see it on the big screen. I was expecting the stage production to have a little bit more going on as it's called The Best Concert Film Ever and the way the stage was constructed at the start made me think it would be more than just a regular concert filmed well. But it's still a lot of fun and the songs are great obviously.
[8]

136. The Boy and the Heron
Hard to know where to score this. I think if I wanted to pick nits I could but really it's a new Miyazaki and it's stunning to look at and the setting is cool and interesting and I just really enjoyed it.
[9]

137. Wonka
Only Paul King could make this prequel-ish movie worth seeing. It's a musical (which some trailers tried to hide) and has the classic British humour throughout and some of that Paddington nice-ness too. Where it didn't quite connect with me was that it didn't quite carry the emotional throughline like I thought it would. Kind of drops it for a while and then tries to wrap it up at the end but I wasn't feeling it. Definitely no Paddington 2 in that regard. Still, really fun watch. If you like the Paddington's you should like this.
[7]

138. Mean Girls
This is still heaps of fun and so well cast and is one of those movies where so many elements have made it into the public consciousness that you sometimes forget where it comes from. Has me looking forward to the new version.
[7]

139. Elemental
I think Pixar have forgotten how to tell a story or build characters. This is just very low effort on the storytelling front which makes a big difference when you're trying to say two characters are falling in love. The animation is nice but unspectacular. And I know it's kind of nitpicking but considering it's a large part of the main story I think it matters: are the fire people actually hot all the time? Because she can't go near the water guy or other people in the city but then doesn't burn wood until she wants it too and also at the very start the parents move into the building which has wooden floors. Wouldn't that all just burn straight away? Not laying this out clearly really distracts throughout. I know it's technically a kids film but Pixar used to be better than this and I think they aim to be more than just films aimed at a young audience. Movies like Spiderverse and TMNT are leaving both Disney and Pixar in the dust lately.
[3]

140. The Muppet Christmas Carol
Been a long time since I watched this but what a classic. There's something magical about the muppets and I think it's in how it's made and how the puppets are filmed like they're just regular actors. There's no winking about the existence of puppets, they just are. I also love a film that can't help but take every opportunity to tell a joke and there's great ones throughout whilst also being a great Christmas Carol movie.
[8]

141. Die Hard
Not to be one of 'those' guys but they just don't make them like this anymore. Nice character work in the setup, nice pacing, a more normal human hero and just great action that doesn't feel the need to look choreographed to the n-th degree.
I wonder if someone will make something like this again.
[9]

142. Funny Games (original)
It's funny how you don't need to actually show the violence for a movie to still feel violent. This movie really works due to the performance of the main bad guy, he's so unnerving. I'm not sure if all of the fourth wall stuff works but most of it does and it shows you what Haneke was trying to get across. I haven't looked into what films triggered his desire to make this but I think I'll do some reading on it.
[8]

143. Red Rooms
A quite excellent court-room/online/troubled woman thriller in the vibe vein of World's Fair or Resurrection. I didn't know much about this going in and really enjoyed the ride. It took a deft touch with the harsher aspects which made them hit even harder and it stuck with me after.
[8]

144. Poor Things
Well there's definitely no other filmmaker like Yorgos. There'll be award noms for Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo I'm sure and that's deserved. But same with all his other films (apart from Favourite) I wish it was 20/30 mins shorter. I think you could easily cut out that much and the story would still make sense. But but no one else is making funny movies that are funny, no one else does swearing as well as Yorgos, and no one else can end a film quite like him. If you liked his other stuff you'll like this.
[8]

145. Invasion of the Body Snatchers 78
A solid creepy sci fi thriller classic probably undermined for me by knowing the ending. Some very cool effects work too.
[7]

Ah go on then.

1) Strange World. This must’ve been review bombed by the anti-woke types for the interracial family, openly gay teenager and a three-legged dog. Currently averaging 5.4 on IMDb. It’s a reasonably entertaining sci-fi (kinda) adventure, much better than the imdb score for sure. Would probs go [6.5].

I will grab my spot then give up around 20 again

1. It Follows
Creepy as all hell to the point where I thought I might have to turn it off it was freaking me out so much. Extremely effective horror with a superb synth-score by Disasterpeace, it lets itself down slightly with a few cheap jump scares, but on the whole builds the tension to almost unbearable levels at times. 8

2. Men
Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear and Rory Kinnear and Rory Kinnear and Rory Kinnear and Rory Kinnear are outstanding in this almost completely unhinged folk-horror tale that goes to some deeply disturbing places. It looks and sounds stunning and has an atmosphere of oppressive dread and malice from the outset - but I can see why some people hated it. I loved it though, don't think I've seen anything quite like it before. 8

3. The Banshees of Inishirin
It's only mid January, but I think I may have watched the best film I'll see this year. The whole cast are superb and it looks absolutely stunning - the slate grey of the sky and landscape offset by the vibrant greens of nature and reds of roof tiles gives every frame the aspect of a painting. As you'd expect from McDonough, the script is hilarious and tragic and if Colin Farrell doesn't win all of the awards there's no justice. Outstanding stuff. 10

4. Everything Everywhere All At Once
Third viewing of this absolute barnstormer of a film - yes, it's too long but every minute is filled with stuff worth seeing. I really hope Yeoh gets the Oscar and it picks up a few of the big ones. 10

5. Barbarian
Holy fuck. One of the best horror films I've seen for long time. Take a dash of the descent, a sprinkle of Texas Chainsaw, some toxic maculinity and simmer until you've got a seriously fucked up stew of inbred murderous titmonsters killing against the backdrop of a post apocalyptic Detroit slum. 9

6. The Batman
Is R.Patz the best Batz? I'm inclined to think so, based on this absolutely epic cross between Seven and the best of the most Gothic bat-comics. Yes, it's far too long but goddamn for a fan like me it's manna from heaven. Pattinson is an incredible Batman - brutal, unhinged and obsessed. He's a less great Wayne, but as Paul Dano's brilliantly psychotic Riddler says - the bat is his true mask. The characters and actors are all on point but they really sing against the backdrop of Gotham, superbly realised in dark, damp noir tinged griminess by director Matt Reeves. Superb. 10

7. Escape From LA
Incredibly stupid but great fun Plissken sequel with Kurt's phenomenal mullet tracking down the president's wayward daughter across a shonky earthquake rattled LA. I remember hating it when it first came out because it wasn't as good as the original, or many of Carpenters other classics, but there's a lot to like in it. 6

8. Fury
Gritty, grim and brutal WW2 men on a mission movie with Braddy Tank Commander, Sheila LeBeef and The Punisher exploding Nazis. Pretty great. 8

9. The Lost City
Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum star in an amusing, entertaining and fun way to spend 2hrs as they do a kind of Romancing the Stone update. Perfectly adequate, shallow nonsense. 6

10. Saving Private Ryan
I'd forgotten how great (and brutal) this is - superb direction (particularly the handheld stuff in the battle scenes), brilliant practical effects and an entire cast doing great work put this up there with the best war movies ever made. 10

11. The Hitman's Bodyguard
Expected this to be a bit shit, bit it was actually really great fun. Some fantastic stunts, chase sequences and great banter between the leads made it a great way to spenda few hours. 7

12. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Good fun, but I am enjoyed it a ot less third time around. Still Snyder's best film, but only because it's carried by Polley, Rhames and the rest of the cast. 7

13. Finch
Tom Hanks excels as usual as a robotics engineer in post apocalyptic earth trying to survive long enough to build a robot to look after his only friend, a dog, after he inevitably dies from radiation poisoning. I loved it - moving, poignant and funny. I'm a sucker for end of the world films though. 8

14. The Fog
For some reason I thought that this was a Stephen King adaptation. Anyway, haven't seen this for about 30 years and I didn't remember really liking it at the time but it's actually a great little film with a nice cast of character actors and a brilliant score. It's not in the slightest bit scary but it's got atmosphere to spare and it's good fun. 7

15. Between Two Ferns: The Movie.
Never seen the shorts on YouTube, but this was a surprisingly amusing way to spend 90 minutes. A version of Zack Galafianakis interviews top celebrities on his public access TV talkshow and is incredibly rude to them. Sample question to Paul Rudd: " Do you have any advice for young actors who want to disguise their Jewishness as well as you have?" 7

16. The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard
Big dumb and funny sequel that makes little to no sense, has a fuck tonne of swearing and violence, awful special effects and Salma Hayek looking never hotter. Quite a lot of it feels like they were making it up as they went along but having a blast as they did. Whether you like it will depend on your tolerance for Ryan Reynolds schtick. I have developed quite a tolerance, so it was a great way to spend a couple of hours. 7

17. You People
Terrible culture clash romantic comedy that manages to be almost completely devoid of laughs and made me depressed about the future of humanity. 2

18. Godzilla Vs Kong
Everyone involved in this should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. 2

19. Nope
I really enjoyed Get Out and Us, so I was looking forward to this, but it was such a disappointment. Performances are mostly great and the cinematography was lovely but aside from a couple of well put together set pieces, good God this was a boring film. The UFO was ludicrous, both as a concept and in execution and there was so much inconsistency throughout the film as to it's behaviour and actions. Badly written, badly executed and soooo fucking long. 5

20. The Old Guard
Immortal warriors face off against a pharmaceutical company with a private army trying to steal their secret. Charlize Theron is great as usual and the action is fun and well choreographed but like many of these Netflix original films it's only slightly above average. Fun whilst it lasted though. 7

21. Le Mans '66
Or, how Jason Bourne and Brummie Batman beat Ferrari at the 24hr race, by designing a car so ferocious that it made Henry Ford the second cry. I'm no petrol head, but this film was superb - the two leads are great, especially Bale, but it's the racing sequences, the incredible sound design and the undeniably gorgeous cars that really stand out. 9

22. See How They Run
Bang average whodunnit that is made watchable by a zingy script performed by some very watchable actors. Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan are great but its just a bit...mids. 6

23. Ticket to Paradise
By the numbers romcom in which acrimoniously divorced Julia Roberts and George Clooney put their differences aside to try and stop their daughter getting married to a guy she met on holiday. The very definition of inconsequential cinematic fluff, it's made watchable by the two leads who entertainingly bicker throughout. I can't imagine why two such incredibly rich and famous actors would want to make a film this average, set on location in Bali. 6

24. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.
Stupidly entertaining conclusion to the trilogy which goes to some pretty dark places at times, taking in vivisection, eugenics and body horror along the way with a continually inventive and at times brilliantly surreal visual style. But as usual the stars of the show are the characters old and new, the snappy and frequently hilarious dialogue and the big hearted messages about family and the value of all life (except for the dead bad guys). The bad guy is great as well, unhinged and very evil. 9

25. John Wick
Still great fun, with a ludicrous body count and some brilliant set pieces of carnage. 8

26. Evil Dead (2013)
Up and down. Some truly shite acting placed alongside some really fucking brutal violence and gore. Not a good film, but at 88 minutes it's a relentless, punishing horror show of carnage that really shows what you can do with a variety of power tools and sharp edges. 7

27. Daddy's Home
Will Ferrell is the sensitive stepdad fending off the return of alpha male dad Mark Wahlberg who wants his ex-wife and family back. Nonsense hijinks, some great slapstick and surprisingly great comic chops from Marky Mark make this a brainlessly fun 2hrs. 7

28. Daddy's Home 2
Not as good as the first one, despite the addition of Jon Lithgow as Ferrells dad and noted anti-semitic wife beater Mel Gibson as Wahlbergs uber-alpha arsehole father. Could've done with more John Cena. 6

29. Air
The story of how a plucky little startup called Nike (only making $900m pa on shoe sales in 1984) convinced Michael Jordan to put his name to their new gutties so they and he could make another $4bn a year. It's a decent story and a decent film about shoes with Jason Bourne, Batman and Bateman making good use of a snappy script. But there's just something about it that made me a bit uncomfortable watching it. 6

30. Step Brothers
Or, one of the most ludicrous comedy films ever made which makes me laugh more than most other films. Superb stuff - watched it with my 14yo and he had an asthma attack he was laughing so much. So many brilliant lines and physical comedy off the charts. 9

31. Smile
The trailer is better than the film. Really shite supernatural horror, with a couple of inventive set pieces surrounded by sea of absolute fucking pish. Starts semi-promising but very quickly descends into an extremely tedious pile of shite, with an ending that is pure shite. 2

32. Dodgeball
Still bloody hilarious, but the D+ version is sadly edited with some of the best cursing taken out. 8

33. Black Adam
Very low expectations going into this, but fuck it - it's Saturday night and family viewing options are limited. However. This was actually a hell of a lot better than I expected! Some great and quite viscous action is sadly let down by a whole lot of exposition that weirdly just confuses matters. It's very derivative and full of cliche but it just about manages to clear the bar of 'half decent DC movie' - they'd do well to retain The Rock in the DCU. Better than expected. 6

34. Erin Brockovich
One of those films that I'll watch every time it is on. Julia Roberts is, at the same time, stunning to look at and incredible to watch. Albert Finney is superb and the entire cast is firing on all cylinders. Emotionally draining but at the same time joyously conclusive - it might be Soderbergs best film. 10

35. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Nicholas Cage plays Nic Cage, a desperate faded actor looking for a comeback but unable to decide whether he wants to be an artist or a film star. He makes too many films, he has no quality control because he's on the verge of bankruptcy and his ex and daughter can't stand his self-obsession. Then he gets an offer of $1m to go to a rich fans birthday party in Mallorca. Absurd, funny (at times hilarious), super-meta and featuring both versions of Cage battling for domination (sometimes in the same scene or even sentence and a few times literally) this is a great time if you just sit back and accept to ludicrousness of the premise. Pedro Pascal nearly walks away with the entire film and the scene that they are both on acid is fucking brilliant. I loved it, even if it really does walk the line between being great and just falling to bits from the pressure of it's own self-reference.

36. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Probably Wes Anderson's best film - a superb breakneck blend of genres, a fantastic ensemble cast, gorgeous visuals and Ralph Fiennes at his best. The kids absolutely loved it too. 9

37. The Royal Tennenbaums
Still great - with a superb cast giving great performances across the board. Gene Hackman in particular is brilliant in one of his last performances. Love it. 8

38. Oppenheimer
Wow. What a film. A conjunction of many of my favourite themes - war, physics, history, the suppression of left wing thought - brought together with an incredible cast, an amazing script and some superb visuals. For a film that is mainly people talking, it is edited and shot like an action film and it is relentless in bombarding you with sequence after sequence of high octane, high stakes, hard-science history. Loved it. 10

39. Black Mountain
A team of archaeologists in the ultra-remote and extreme North of Canada unearth an ancient monolith and Things start to unravel. Low budget, but absolutely dripping in atmosphere - in part due to the amazing setting - this is proper, old school understated horror. Disturbing, creepy and bleak - only the uneven acting and at times questionable logic of some of the characters lets it down slightly. Well worth your time. 8

40. The Raid
Just one of the best martial arts films ever made. The choreography, the cinematography, the direction - all perfect. It's a 10 from me.

41. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Amongst Thieves.
Incredibly enjoyable fantasy romp that leans unashamedly into the pure geekiness of the source material and produces a proper old fashioned adventure comedy with Chris Pine leading the party and Michelle Rodriguez providing the muscle in a film that old school nerds like me can love and casual viewers can enjoy in equal measure. So much better than I thought it would be and then it had any right to be. Loved it. 9

42. Guardian of the Galaxy 3
Superb close to the best series of Marvel films. Amazing action, genuinely hilarious banter, superb SFX and a really big heart make this easily one of the best superhero films around. So much fun. 9

43. Blood & Gold
At the end of WW2, in a small German village, several factions look to track down a hoarde of gold left behind by the last Jewish family to be taken to the camps. 98 minutes of Nazi killing carnage, with nobody coming out of it looking good. Very satisfying Tarantino-esque mayhem in a proper spaghetti western tribute. 8

44. Black Crab
In a near future Sweden, a huge but unexplained war had broken out - with atrocities being committed on both sides and the population desperate and starving. Noomi Rapace plays a former speed skater who is tasked, along with a small unit of fellow soldiers, with skating across the frozen sea of the northern Swedish archipelago to deliver an ominous package to the government in order to end the war once and for all. Some fantastic cinematography and very tense action set pieces can't quite rescue this from being only above average. Worth a watch, but not as great as it could have been. 6

45. 21 Jump Street
I'd forgotten how funny this was. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum kick out the comedy jams as undercover cops in an LA high school. Some truly inspired moments and relentlessly hilarious gags make this one of the funniest films I've seen for ages. 8

46. Skyscraper
Now I've seen a lot of terrible films in my time and have enjoyed many a movie that was so bad it was good. This is definitely one of these - the only thing that makes it even vaguely watchable is the Rock and his presence, plus the fact that he only has one leg, for reasons, makes this a treasure trove of absurd unintentionally hilarious nonsense. Pure, unadulterated bullshit - watchable, but only just. 4

47. Ant Man & The Wasp: Quantumania
Ooft. Went into this with very low expectations, but was also a bit hopeful as I've got a lot of time for the first 2 films. It starts ok, but as soon as it goes into the quantum realm it just falls apart (asides from some pretty cool creature/environment design). It's like they took all of the things that made the first 2 films charming - the small scale, the likeable characters, the funny script - and thought 'Fuck this - what we need is an incoherent, shallow, Marvel by numbers, huge scale universe ending threat to be dealt with by the least serious hero we have, with an awful script, cringey attempts at humour shoehorned in and some of the worst acting we can get out of these people'. At times you can actually see the actors souls leaving their bodies as they grind their way through some truly awful lines. There are some things to like here, but good god this was bad - although Marvel still haven't reached the Stygian depths of Aquaman or WW1984, but on the evidence of this screaming tailspin of a movie they'll get there yet. 3

48. Mom & Dad
Nicholas Cage goes THE FULL NIC CAGE in this dark, funny and tremendously fun horror movie in which, for reasons that are unexplained, parents all over America start compulsively murdering their children. There's some really grim imagery and some ideas around your kids being the death of your identity - but this is really just 83 minutes of rollercoaster mayhem and Cage doing his daftest thing. I really enjoyed it. 7

49. Evil Dead Rise
Phenomenal tribute to the classic films. The first one was pretty great, if slightly lacking in character. This sequel is fucking relentless, brutal and disturbing - in it's 90 odd minutes it lets you get to know the characters just enough for you to care when they die. A proper, pitiless horror film. 9

50. Shanghai Knights
Great fun. Jackie Chan being his awesome self and Owen Wilson doing his thing as a surfer cowboy - just a little glass of sunshine in a film. 8

51. Clash of the Titans (2010)
Incapacitated on the couch, with no one to pass me the remote, I watched this. What a cast! Why did they do it? Was it for the money? It must have been for the money! Ralph Fiennes looking like a fancy Fagin, Liam Neeson as Zeus in very shiny armour and an appalling beard, Mads Mikkelson with a perplexing braid, Nicholas Hoult being a shitty kid who does nothing, Jason Flemyng with a confusing complexion and loads of red-shirts who die because they have to. Hot garbage. 5

52. No One Will Save You
Taut, tense and almost completely dialogue free scif-fi horror in which a lonely and anxious young woman exiled from her rural community for a childhood crime is forced to take on extraterrestrial invaders of the grey kind. It's short (93 minutes) and fairly relentless, with some at times heavy handed themes but the creature designs are great and the lead is superb, carrying the entire film despite only ever speaking about 4 words. 8

53. Brian & Charles
Brian is a lonely, broken inventor of ludicrous gadgets (Egg Belt. Trawler nets for shoes) who is inspired to invent a robot best friend/son from bits of junk on a remote Welsh farm. Funny, touching and genuinely strange - it's one of the oddest, uniquely British and most endearing films I've seen for a while. 8

54. Knock at the Cabin
I'm not 100% sure I liked this. It's a very interesting idea, with some great performances but it's quite poorly executed overall. It doesn't go anywhere as near as far as it needs to to really be a horror and Shyamalan really fucks the ending, which is quite boring for an apolcalypse. It's just missing something that even a great Dave Bautista and Ron Weasley can't elevate it above. 5

55. Blazing Saddles
The sheriff is near! Still retains the ability to shock, even more so now, with it's unflinching use of racist language. However, it also still one of the greatest satirical takedowns of the fucked up state of race relations in the USA and how the west was really won. Still hilarious, still completely and gloriously absurd and full of quotable lines and superb comic performances. They'll never make them like this anymore. 10.

56. Extinction
Family man Michael Peña is plagued by nightmare visions of an alien invasion and a war for survival. His marriage is falling apart, his kids hate him and his friends think he's losing it. Then aliens invade and start killing everyone and for some reason he doesn't immediately start screaming "I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO!". Entertaining b-movie nonsense with a few great moments, but overall it's just a bit shit and fails to make much of any of the ideas it's trying to present. 6

57. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)
Not as shite as I expected it to be. Which is not exactly a compliment, but might be one if you squint a bit. Gore, gore, gore - buckets of it but very little else. It's only 84 minutes which is a bonus, but it can't stand in the shadow of the original (but what can?) and it's ultimately an empty vessel of boring carnage. 4

58. Knowing
Nicholas Cage is some kind of professor who finds out that the world is about to end after finding a list of numbers in a time capsule from the 1950s. The numbers correspond to every major disaster across known records and the numbers are running out. Ludicrous end of the world nonsense that either redeems itself in the last 30 minutes or completely jumps the shark, or both. Absolutely fucking mental, but great fun if you just go with it's blend of conspiracy, Judeo-Christian mythology and tinfoil hat craziness. 7

59. Can You Ever Forgive Me
Superbly performed adaptation of Lee Israels autobiography about her failure as a writer and her turning to literary fraud to survive. Melissa McCarthy is on hilariously scabrous form as Israel, ably supported by Richard E Grant as her promiscuous, homeless, substance-abusing only friend. 8

60. 22 Jump Street
Really leans into the sequel cliche and is absolutely bonkers from start to finish. Very funny. 8

61. The Babadook
A low budget and tense Australian psychological horror dealing with why your children deserve to die for what they have done to you (literally and figuratively). Two incredible central performances carry what is, on the surface at least, one of those supernatural stalker movies in the vein of It Follows or Smile but it's not as good as the former and thankfully nowhere near as bad as the latter. It's really about coping with unresolved grief and parental isolation and has some pretty haunting and disturbing stuff in it. Enjoyable if not particularly frightening stuff. 7

62. Talk to Me
Aussie horror that doesn't do much new, but what it does do it does very effectively. A bunch of teens looking for laughs come across a cursed hand that can let them summon, and then be possessed by, the spirits of the dead - but only 'safely' for up to 90 seconds... It's not particularly scary, but it is creepy and disturbing at times and there are some great performances from the kids. 7

63. Infinity Pool
Alexander Skarsgård ponders what to write in his Trip Advisor review of his holiday to the (fictional) country of Li Tolqa, a brutal oppressive regime that does a nice line in luxury resorts for rich white westerners. You should never leave the confines of the resort though, because Li Tolqa has laws that, if broken, have some pretty final consequences. Playing out as a mixture of a satire on the way that entitled rich people interact with and treat the foreign cultures that they 'experience' on holiday and a frenzied descent into the kinds of depravity that would make you question your very identity - this is a disturbing, brutal and hallucinatory film anchored by two superb turns by Skarsgård and Mia Goth. It's not as good as Possessor and it didn't take some of its key ideas as far as I would have liked, but it's the kind of experimental film that doesn't get made enough and which I really like. 7

64. Beau is Afraid
A comprehensively baffling 3 hour anxiety nightmare by Ari Aster (Midsommar) and starring a typically committed Joachim Phoenix as Beau - a severely troubled and cripplingly anxious middle aged man living in fear of...pretty much everything. He has to go and visit his mum, but everything that can go wrong does - in the worst possible way. The whole film is the classic heroes journey template if the hero was to make all the wrong decisions, have the worst luck imaginable, learn nothing and have every single thing he thinks and does misunderstood by everyone he comes into contact with. Like your classic heroes journey stories (The Odyssey, Lord of the Rings, Apocalypse Now etc) it's bloated and overlong - but I think even that may be intentional. At times horrific, disturbing, cringe inducing, darkly funny and completely incomprehensible it's a pretty challenging watch. If you try and make it make any real kind of narrative sense, you'll probably hate it - because it makes very little sense - but it's a lot easier to 'enjoy' if you just let it happen to you and appreciate the absurdity. 7

65. How it Ends
It ends shitely, like the rest of this incredibly boring apocalypse movie. Frustrating, over long, with a TV movie sheen and pedestrian 'action', this reaches for mysterious and enigmatic but barely attains competent. 2

66. Die Hard
First Christmas movie of the season (Yes, it's a fucking Xmas movie). Just the fucking best - iconic and genre defining, it's still a superb watch. 10

67. The Ruin
Four young American tourists stray off of the beaten path on holiday in Mexico and find that the extremely agitated locals who won't let them leave the ruins are the least of their problems. Good gory fun. 6

68. Spiderman: Across the Spider verse
Well now. Absolutely astonishing feast for the eyes. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. It's the Empire Strikes Back of the series, which is to say it doesn't have a satisfying conclusion, but when the content is up there with the best animated films ever made and the top 3 superhero films ever made then I'll allow it. Amazing, exciting and genuinely jaw dropping - can't wait to watch it again. 10

69. Jumanji (2019)
A rollicking great adventure movie of the kind I would have loved when I was young. Watching it with my 8yo nephew who has lived a bit of a sheltered movie life in Austria, it was like revisiting a time when films made me genuinely giddy. It's funny, has great action set pieces and has a proper creepy bad guy. As an adult it's an 8. As a kid watching it for the first time it's a proper 10.

70. Next Goal Wins
I thought Waititi had lost it after the dire Thor: Love and Thunder - a film that somehow managed to be entirely phoned in by him, but also managed to come across as smug and the product of someone who loves the smell of his own farts too much. This has restored my faith in him though - it's a low budget underdog sports film that is consistently entertaining and although you'll have all of the tropes and beats before in other films it manages to tell a nice story with a lot of heart, humour and from a different cultural perspective. Just a lovely film with a great big heart. 8

The Div list...

1. Men
Woman goes to village full of same face stalky men.
Horror ensues.
[6]

2. Bronson
Hardy chews the scenery in superb, heavily stylised biopic. LUTON.
[9]

3. Rocky
No good bum gets good but not quite good enough.
[8]

4. Office Space
Mike Judge does anti corporate job porn. Hilariously cynical new American Dream.
[9]

5. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Did you call moi a dipshit?
[10]

6. The Thing
Kurt Russell in Muppets meltdown

[8]

7. Duel
Everyman Dave Mann pursued by truck. Surprisingly Spielberg Twilight Zone esque thriller.
[8]

8. Morpheus
Exists
[3]

9. Naked Gun 33 1/3
Hit and miss Drebin threequel.

[6]

2022:
64 movies watched
Average score given = 7.02
Best new new film: Everything Everywhere All At Once
Best new old film: Flowers of Shanghai
Best already seen film: The Godfather

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark - 8 Jan
Prime action adventure from Spielberg, Lucas, et al. Classic.
[8]

2. Paddington - 14 Jan
Enjoyable enough, specially with the kids, but ultimately full of nothing but tired cliches.
[6]

3. Tokyo Drifter - 20 Jan
60s Japanese Yakuza flick that is very Japanese with a mix of styles.
[6]

4. Predator 2 - 28 Jan
An utterly stupid and inferior sequel to an all-time great, but can still be fun enough with your brain switched off.
[6]

5. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania - 18 Feb
Some utter trash plotting, characterisation and exposition. But I still kinda enjoyed parts of it. The quantum realm looked great. Overly GGI which can get a bad rep but I didn’t mind.
[5]

6. The Gray Man - 10 Mar
Flu movie 1.  Stupid, even more stupid, but it was fun.  Switch brain off, enjoy.
[6]

7. Star Trek Beyond - 12 Mar
Flu movie 2.  Thought I hadn't seen this before.  Turns out I had, I had just forgotten that I had as it is mostly a forgettable movie.  Still, it held my attention enough which is something I guess, and there are some really good visual sections.
[6]

8. Spectre - 12 Mar
Flu movie 3.  This was a bit boring and shit.  Don't think I actually like Bond movies much (anymore).
[5]

9. Looper - 13 Mar
Flu movie 4.  Enjoyed this.  Head hurt while watching it, not the best time to watch this sort of thing, when you have a flu.  But it was all intriguing and quite clever.
[8]

10. John Wick: Chapter 4 - 26 Mar
Having only recently seen the first 3, I was looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint.  Great action, great scenes, great music, just a tad too long.
[7]

11. The Super Mario Bros. Movie - 9 Apr
Utterly atrocius.  Bad in every way.  Seemed like a bunch of Mario and Nintendo references working as an advert for them, but wrapped in a movie.  Badly.  Even my Boy (about to be 10) didn't like it.

Sonic finally has something to shout about over Mario cos that was a far far better movie.
[3]

12. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - 3 May
Watched it in 3D IMAX courtesy of the Shabby Crab.  Thoroughly enjoyable with some great action, some great moments and overall just fun.  A bit long but never felt like it.  Does try to do too much and occasionally fails, but it feels like a return to form for the MCU, after some terrible and average episodes.  Will watch again in 2D, with the kids.
[7]

13. True Lies - 29 May
Standard 90s action flick with Arnie going Bond-with-a-family.
[5]

14. Requiem for a Dream - 30 May
Interestingly edited movie about drug addiction.  Couldn't connect with or care about most of the characters, but what a performance from Ellen Burnstyn.
[6]

15. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - 3 June
A brilliant sequel not unfairly likened to Empire Strikes Back.  Long but never feels like it.  Great action and beautifully animated.  The third cannot come soon enough.
[8]

16. A Brighter Summer Day - 11 June
Epic Taiwanese movie by Edward Yang based on a true event that shocked the nation around 1960 and one that the director himself remembers from his childhood.
Coming in at around 4 hours long but not a single minute of the film felt wasted and never a dull moment.  Very much a mixture of coming-of-age and identity and purpose crisis, set agaisnt the backdrop of Taiwan's political identity issues as a nation.
[9]

17. Creed III - 17 June
Meh all the way, but a couple of entertaining fights elevate it a bit.
[5]

18. Burning - 15 June
While everyone was outside in the heat, burning, I was inside the house, watching Burning.  Based on a Murakami short story, it keeps you guessing where it's all going and what will happen next, and the kind of movie that leaves you thinking about what it had to say and portray (about class, heirarchy, meaning of life etc.).
[9]

19. Return to Seoul - 9 July
A Korean adopted by a French couple as a baby ends up in Seoul as a grown woman, and tries to locate her biological parents, ending up stuck between two cultures and two worlds, searching for her true identity.  The lead is a revelation as a first-time actor and the story is highly emotional and affecting.  Moments of briliance throughout with some very nuanced acting, the movie as a whole was only slightly ruined (for me) by some of the narrative choices/direction.
[8]

20. Running Out of Time - 15 July
Stylish cat-and-mouse movie acted out between a criminal who has 72 hours to live and an intelligent cop who is stuck in a clerical role.  Calssic Hong Kong action thriller.
[8]

21. Maborosi - 23 July
Debut feature film from Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda.  Ebert described Maborosi as a "film of astonishing beauty and sadness" and he isn't wrong.  Precisely the two things that were obvious from my viewing.  Beautifully shot with great use of light (not lighting) (the full Japanese title of the film transaltes to 'light of an illusion'), and a heartbreaking story of a young woman dealing with loss and grief and the mysteries of death.

A lot of Kore-eda's feature-length films are critically acclaimed and I mean to wacth all of his best ones.  If they are as good as this, I'm in for a treat.
[9]

22. Knock at the Cabin - 29 July
HOLIDAY FLIGHT MOVIE 1. Crap, pointless movie devoid of any tension or scares it as I say even a point to it.
[3]

23. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves - 29 July
HOLIDAY FLIGHT MOVIE 2.  Surprisingly fun.
[6]

24. Wreck-it Ralph - 29 July
HOLIDAY FLIGHT MOVIE 3. Enjoyed it. Loved seeing so much gaming stuff on screen. Still lacked oomph though. Was just a gentle ride.
[6]

25. No Time To Die - 22 Aug
HOLIDAY FLIGHTS MOVIE 4. Much better than the last few Bond movies and thoroughly entertaining. Great set pieces, stunts and action. A point docked for the lacklustre villain.
[7]

26. 65 - 12 Aug
HOLIDAY FLIGHTS MOVIE 5. Pointless and unexciting trash that seems to have been written and directed by amateurs who had just done (possibly failed) A level film studies and think they are qualified enough to make movies.
[3]

27. Scream (2021) - 12 Aug
HOLIDAY FLIGHTS MOVIE 6. Mildly entertaining ‘requel’ with some nice quotes and references but all too familiar and predictable.
[5]

28. The Karate Kid - 13 Aug
The original and the best, watched it with the boy and he loved it.  Still a classic.
[8]

29. TMNT: Mutant Mayhem - 19 Aug
Good stylised animation but I thought the voiceover synching was a bit off in places. It’s clearly made for a very young audience but was still quite fun to watch.
[6]

30. The Karate Kid Part II - 20 Aug
Another viewing with the boy. He thought it was weak and I agree. Not much happening and not much karate.
[5]

31. Aftersun - 26 Aug
A woman looks back at a holiday she had as an 11yo with her father turning 31, trying to understand and maybe come to terms with what happened. A subtle and understated story told cleverly told via 8mm handycam holiday footage and what would seem to be gaps filled in from memory and assumptions (I’m guessing). A modern masterpiece - not bad for a debut feature film!
[10]

32. Hit the Road - 26 Aug
Another feature debut, two in one day, this time an Iranian road trip comic drama about a family seeing off the older son across the border as an illegal immigrant. Full of naturalistic acting and some beautiful natural settings and landscapes with long takes, it tells a relatable and almost documentary like story, making you feel you are an observer of a tale unfolding for real.
[8]

33. Bringing Up Baby - 3 Sep
Perfect Sunday home matinee. Classic Howard Hawks comedy that reminds me somewhat of It Happened One Night. Proper old school acting and ‘innocent’ viewing that you could watch in front of anyone.
[7]

34. Jurassic Park - 10 Sep
4K rerelease although some shots/scenes didn't/couldn't quite get the treatment and looked old and grainy with washed out colour.  Still a classic and the best Spielberg, the ultimate popcorn movie.  The iconic scenes will never get old.
[9]

35. Past Lives - 10 Sep
Two childhood friends who were separated due to one emigrating from Korea to Canada decided to look each other up and meet up in their adult lives.  An enjoybale sentimental and touching romantic drama.
[8]

36. Man of Steel - 17 Sep
A rewatch, with the boy this time.  I think he enjoyed it but he's only 10 and won't understand why some of the character (or out-of-character) decisions are stupid and bad.  Plus no real character development.  Camerawork all over the place with overlong and overblown OTT action sequences.  Hardly anything to recommend this shit.  Only rewatched cos just felt like a lazy Sunday afternoon chill session with my boy.
[3]

37. After Life - 24 Sep
Continuing my foray into the works of Hirokazu Kore-eda.  Shot as a mixture of real interviews with people about the best/favourite memory (caught on 16mm canera) and fictional narrative, Kore-eda tells a story about life after death where you get to choose one memory to relive forever in your afterlife, exploring the nature of human memories.  This guy is a genius.
[9]

38. Infernal Affairs - 1 Oct
For my birthday, I wanted to rewatch a favourite film of mine.  Most were too long for the time I had, so I chose this classic that I recently picked up on Criterion.  Hong Kong cat and mouse thriller with tense scenes, moral ambiguity, and inner turmoil with identity crisis (reflecting the mood of Hong Kong after independence from the UK).  Topped off with a little melancholic melodrama.
Scorsese's The Departed has nothing on this, although I am probably overdue a rewatch, yet the man won a Best Director Oscar for that and not his other films.
[9]

39. Terrestrial Verses - 4 Oct (LFF)
Nine vignettes of 8-9 minutes each, based in Tehran, where a statonary camera (in 4:3 format screen) captures an Iranian citizen having an exchange with an off-screen member of authority.  Each one portrays a different way in which citizens struggle with an oppressive, backwards and heavy-handed regime.  So it almost feels like a documentary.  However, it misses the mark somewhat by being a bit mundane and not all of the situations were strong enough to elicit any emotional response.  Interesting final shot, but by then I was bored.
[5]

40. Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell - 5 Oct (LFF)
3-hour Vietnamese debut feature following the spiritual journey of a young man who loses a relative and deals with grief and his own existential crisis.  Very long shots/takes and slow camera movements capturing a laid-back cast of mostly locals, the film is reminiscent of Tarkovsky, Kiarostami and Weerasethakul.  Deserved winner of Un Certain Regard at Cannes earlier this year.
[9]

41. The Dupes - 6 Oct (LFF)
Restoration of a long lost and banned film about three Palestinian refugees trying to get across the border into Kuwait. Includes some actual stills and videos of the refugee camps and Palestinian refugees and meetings of the UN. Powerful and devastating.
[9]

42. Hit Man - 6 Oct (LFF)
Richard Linklater’s latest is a comedy where an undercover assistant to the cops poses as a hitman for hire to trap and arrest would be hirers, but falls in love with one of them. Fun and funny with some human psychology and philosophy chucked in for good measure.
[8]

43. The End We Start From - 13 Oct (LFF)
British movie following a family's attempt at survival after rain and floods hit the country.  Felt unorignal and lacked impact.
[5]

44. Sky Peals - 13 Oct (LFF)
Debut feature film by a British director.  Pseudo-scifi story with what felt like to me themes of mental health, identity, isolation and trying to find a place in society.  However, it was ruined in the post-show Q&A by the director not embracing the audience's view/interpretation and explaining that his intention was it to be just a weird sci-fi film based in a motorway service station.  Not the film's fault, and it's a decent film even if it was by accident.  I'd happily recommend it.
[8]

45. Poor Things - 14 Oct (LFF)
Latest from Yorgos Lanthimos.  A scientist-surgeon plays God and is trying to bring up a chid in an adult's body.  Slightly too long and I would have cut one of the acts down a bit.  Funny, odd, insightful and with thematic depth, I was glued to the screen almost for the entire film.
[9]

46. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - 28 Oct
Holiday flight movie.  Watchable.  Just about ok.  I'm being generous probably.
[5]

47. Jurassic World: Dominion - 28 Oct
Holiday flight movie.  Utter shite.  Pointless drivel, full of more stupid than required for a stupid movie, and just one film too many in the series.
[3]

48. Us - 31 Oct
Action-horror from Jordan Peele.  Couple of freaky moments otherwise pretty tame as horror but there was plenty of action.  Two hours flew by, pretty much a non-stop movie.  
[8]

49. The Marvels - 19 Nov
Not as bad as they say, and certainly on par with other recent MCU shite.  Biggest flaws I thought was how rushed it all felt, a bit messy.  Some of the exchanges were nice and action was OK in parts, but there were some odd decisions with new characters and plot devices.  The whole movie just felt unfinished, or tampered with too much.  Cool mid-credits scene though.  I imagine [5]

50. Infernal Affairs II - 26 Nov
Multilayered sequel charting the rise/character progression of multiple key characters from the GOAT first movie, over the course of several years an against the backdrop of Honk Kong's independence from British rule.  Enjoyable and somewhat reminiscent of The Godfather in ways with its complex characters with moral ambiguity and questionable motives.  Onwards to number 3 which I haven't actually seen before.
[8]

51. Anatomy of a Fall - 30 Nov
Palm D'Or winning courtroom family drama where the wife of a man found dead is under suspicion of murder.  Neither tense nor gripping as I expected it to be, but rather there was plenty on family dynamics and relationships.
[7]

52. Assault on Precinct 13 - 1 Dec
Classic 70's B-movie from John Carpenter, his second feature film which he wrote and directed and even did the score for. Can see glimpses of his other later films in there.
[7]

53. Infernal Affairs III - 2 Dec
An unecessary sequel possibly playing on the success of the previous two films.  Didn't feel like they developed the characters much any further or take advantage of their complexities from the previous films and go with that, but nonetheless entertaining and sentimental.  Could've been better.
[7]

54. Dune - 3 Dec
First time seeing this since the opening weekend at the cinema, enjoyed a little more this time given I know what to expect.  And what I should expect is that the book is either unfilmable or just doesn't translate very well to the screen.  Sure, it is an audiovisual treat as it should be and I expected nothing less from Villeneuve, but I just found it a bit dull in places.  I'll be more generous that I was last time (I think).
[7]

55. Hana-Bi [a.k.a. Fireworks] - 8 Dec
'Beat' Takeshi Kitano wrote, directed and edited this Golden Lion winner.  He plays a cop with a traumatic family backdrop and debts with the yakuza, brilliantly and subtly underplaying an unhinged and almost psychopathic character. The film feels poignant and devastating with small touching moments of mirth that also bring a smile, with a lovely score by Joe Hisaishi.
[8]

56. Mirror - 15 Dec
As much I love the visual poetry from Tarkovsky, this was a bit too obscure and hard to follow for me.  Lovely to look at as always, but I had no idea half the time what the point was.  A bit too arty for my brain.  So this is quite hard to actually review as I 'didnt get it'.
[?]

57. Sonatine - 16 Dec
More Takeshi, this time something that starts off as a yakuza gangster film but turns into something different for most of the middle.  I wasn't sure where it was going and I'm not sure I liked where it did end up, but worth a watch.  There are some genuinely funny and playful moments between the violence.
[6]

58. Godzilla Minus One - 16 Dec
Brilliant piece of cinema.  At once it's own movie but also a remake of sorts and a homage to the original.  Plenty to like about the characters and the story, but the star of the show itself is magnificent.  I particularly liked how they didn't go full-on CGI fluid model with their depiction, but kept it a lot like a man in a suit - special mention to the Ginza scene and the music, altogether eliciting a warm nostalgic feeling for lovers of the original.
[8]

59. Free Guy - 26 Dec
Family movie night. Enjoyable fun, one of the better videogames inspired movies. Kids loved the references and the cameos - I didn't know any of the youtubers/streamers who were in the film.
[7]

60. Wonka - 27 Dec
Family cinema trip. Kids enjoyed it and so did the wife and I - typical cliched story but well told and some good laughs. Maybe a bit longer than it needed to be, would've been a better run time without the songs - but also I just don't really like musicals, but in this case the movie wouldn't have worked as well as a non-musical. Songs were rubbish though.
[7]

As Bestas aka The Beasts (2022)

Spanish film based on a true story.

French couple give up their comfortable life to move to a tiny Spanish village to farm and live off rhe land while doing up property there.

Company comes with proposition to build a wind farm, the locals agree as they are filthy poor, but the French couple refuse. Tensions slowly escalate and explode.

Denis Menochet and Luis Zahera absolutely rip up the screen with two brooding, powerhouse performances. A suffocating, tense slow burn of fear. Great start to the year.

There's a scene in the local 'pub' which is mesmerising.

The two leads, I've already said it, but holy fuck.

[8]

In…I watch far too many films. 99% of which I’ve seen a million times.

1.Matrix
2.Matrix Reloaded
3.Marix Revolution
4.Matrix Resurections
5.Dune
6.Glass Onion
7.Inception
8.Tenet
9.Predator

Yes, yes it is. Interesting case.

If you need 'assistance' just holla

Fall

Pretty meh tbh. Fun premise but I guess it was never gonna be enough to make a great movie...

1. Mary Poppins Returns
Decent sequel to the classic though felt like an homage at times, trying a bit too hard to hit similar notes which only draws attention to the fact it just isn’t as good. Blunt doesn’t quite cut it as Mary Poppins despite a solid effort but the cast is pretty strong overall. Songs were fairly forgettable with the odd moment an exception. Enjoyable enough at the time but very little of substance. [5]

2. Glass Onion
Enjoyable whodunnit sequel. It didn't hit the heights of the original but thought it did enough to stand apart and be a good film in its own right. Craig is having a ball but rest of the performances were patchy and most of the cast felt somewhat underused. Still, the central plot was engaging and I didn't spot some of the telltale elements so I really was kept guessing most of the way and fell for a couple of red herrings. The payoff was spectacular but didn't feel like enough somehow. I doubt I'll revisit this as I have with KO but it's fun while it lasts. [7]

3. The Lost City
So-so action comedy effort. It's pretty light fare and probably on the slightly better than average end of the scale. Suspect there's a better film in here as it really felt dumbed down - everything is heavily signposted or overly explained by a character so any potential mystery, puzzle solving element or twist is entirely bulldozed. On the plus side, Daniel Radcliffe had a great time hamming it up as the villain and probably should have had more to do. Bullock and Tatum are solid as ever, and there was a fun cameo early on. Some fun but mostly forgettable, YMMV. [5]

4. Suspicion
Mid-range Hitchcok thriller. Not the first time it's been employed but the almost the entire film served as build up, which ratchets the tension but felt like this one took it too far. At a certain point it wasn't really adding anything more and the payoff didn't work for me at all. [5]

5. Lost Bullet
French action movie about a convicted genius mechanic that helps a specialist police unit beef up their cars. I had a good time with this, a swift 90 minutes meant it didn't waste time but still managed to create engaging characters and cut through some of the action with an actual decent plot. The car stuntwork was a bit of a letdown at times given how core it was to the film but probably tricky to match the feats set by the F&F franchise these days. Solid effort, worth a look on Netflix. [7]

6. Boys Don't Cry
Based on a true story drama about a young transgender man in rural midwest US. Recall hearing a lot about it at the time and despite a few scenes that don't hold up that well, it's immensely engaging and Swank is fantastic in the lead. A tough watch at times too but all handled really well. Made me wonder how much attitudes in that part of the world have changed in the 20-odd years since. It'll be on my mind for a while at least. [8]

7. The Menu
Wonderful stuff! Like a pitch black parody of the fine dining world. It's best to go in knowing as little about it as possible, secure that you're in for a treat. Fiennes is on top form but it's a great cast all round. Some proper laughs coupled with lots of neat touches throughout that made it very enjoyable. A good film to experience again with folk that haven't seen it I reckon. I could witter on for ages but just watch it! [9]

8. Harold and Maude
Not sure I'd go so far as to call it a comedy but there a good few laughs so maybe? A young man obsessed with death forms a bond with a woman approaching her 80th birthday. Totally on board with this from the brilliant opening through a series of wacky encounters, with a very sweet story at it's heart to hold it all together. So many details to enjoy - Harold somehow always wearing the same outfit as this shrink got me every time. A few dips but doesn't drag on so hardly noticeable and the highs more than make up for those points. [7]

Elvis
Starts off feeling like an uplifting origin story and descends into a tragedy of exploitation and depression. Leaves a sour taste, as it should. Not a great movie, but a fair one. Hanks is sadly unconvincing as the villain though, as are his prosthetics.

Sounds great! Will definitely watch that one. Thanks for continuously digging out the indie gems DS

Avatar The Way of Water

Yes, it’s an overlong cliché but in IMAX 3D visually gobsmacking and it’s raison d’etre so that’s just fine. Judging by the latest numbers (1.38 billion dollars) the public seem to be diving in. 8