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James Mangold has a firm handle on music biopics, as detailed in Walk the Line, and we even have a little Johnny Cash crossover here. Tim Chalamet does a fine job of embodying Dylan, a contrarian hipster type who never wanted to be famous. Dylan just wanted to play music. He's still touring today (in 2025). I saw him last year. He's lost none of his ion for music.

A Complete Unknown details Dylan's rise from a nobody, who arrived in New York with a guitar and a mission to visit ailing singer Woody Guthrie in hospital, to a global song-writing sensation. While this film only details the first five years of his career, you'll recognise banger after banger after banger on the soundtrack. Boy, could this guy write a fucking lyric.

Chalamet gets increasingly irritating as the film continues, reflecting Dylan's own personal discomfort with his own fame. Both Ed Norton and Elle Fanning do well in ing roles. Fanning making her first film in four years in the process. Norton reminds people of his true talent, which, unless you like Wes Anderson, you may not have noticed lately.

Kinda fun but really stupid and badly acted film. Stath goes after a gang who traffic young women into sexual slavery. There's lots of shooting and explosions. The film is two hours long, which is frankly unacceptable given how dumb it is. It feels like it was written by Sylvester Stallone. That's not a compliment.

A movie that seems to divide opinion on here. John Frankenheimer at his most sleazy, surrounding the cast with porn stars. One of whom he asked out on a date. All the women in the cast are raped, constantly naked, murdered or abused in some fashion.

But...it's a really well made thriller. Elmore Leonard wrote it and it feels like his work. Roy Scheider is a contractor who gets blackmailed after shagging the stunning Kelly Preston on the sly.

The crooks include John Glover, who you may know as the bad guy from Scrooged and the bad guy from Gremlins 2. He's never been better than he is here. Clarence Williams III is suitably scary as Bobby Shy, the psychotic member of the blackmailers. At one point someone, from the real world, crashes their car because they think he's a psycho killer. Quest que c'est?

Watched on Sunday May 18, 2025.

Been debating how to review this for a few days now. The Whale is a film loaded with good performances. Sometimes due to the script being bad. That Brendan Fraser can make this character real, in spite of the borderline parody vibes, is a credit to him as an actor. Sadie Sink does really well with a badly written character. Hong Chau is great in .

The issues stem from how laughably shit the film is at times. The shower scene reminds me of that Simpsons skit where Bart images he's massively overweight. "I wash myself with a rag on a stick". The Thomas/religion sub plot is crap. Fair play to the actors in this because without their dedication it would have been proper shite.

This is better than They Call me Mr Tibbs but it's still lacking the tension of the first film. It does have a solid plot and some fine action set pieces but it could have anyone in the lead. Some borderline incompetent camera pans in this. I would have got a bollocking if I out them in my college films.

I seeing the poster for this when I was a kid (like 11-12 years old) and thinking it must be a cool film. You've got a naked woman, you've got Charlie Bronson fondling a pistol and KINJITE: Forbidden Subjects as the title.

However, it turns out the film is about a pimp with a proclivity for underage girls. There's a subplot involving a Japanese businessman who molests Bronson's teenage daughter but also has his daughter get abducted by the pimp. Oh, the irony! One of these stories actually has an ending, the other does not. It's like they just forgot to finish the movie.

Amazon's next recommended film for me is Death Wish V. I have done fucked up here. J. Lee Thompson stopped making films after this and ideally he should have stopped beforehand.

Alex Proyas' The Crow (1994) was such an effective film because we barely know Shelly. We just know Eric and how determined he is to exact revenge for the rape and murder of his girlfriend. The film is all about him and his feelings of being severely wronged.

Here we fcar twix as Shelly. It's a poor performance and I was relieved when her character is killed and it takes a long fucking time, let me tell you. The remaining hour is Eric's trail of revenge and while it's an improvement it's still not a good film.

It is however better than at least two of the Crow sequels, which should tell you what a low bar they set. The original remains head and shoulders above all spin offs, sequels and reboots. Was it really worth the time trying to replicate it?

It feels like a video game. Like, I'm constantly waiting for the moment where you're supposed to take over. I guess that's the relentlessly shit POV footage. Eiza Gonzalez does ok showing the horrors of being isolated, alone, in space with only Jessie Pinkman for company. It made my skin crawl, lemme tell you.

This review may contain spoilers.

What better time to watch Conclave (2024) than during the conclave (2025)

Best part; Isabella Rosellini's little curtsey after she effectively executes one of the potential popes in front of all his mates.

Tonally weaves between serious and comedic in lurching fashion. Alec Baldwin's character appears to drift through an array of drug abuse (off camera). Fred Ward is a cop with false teeth. Jen Leigh is a hooker with a heart of gold. My brother walked in during this and immediately someone had their fingers hacked off with a machete. It's that kind of film. The whole thing is bizarrely off-kilter. It has weird vibes.

I was confused that this shares a name with the seminal 1987 album by U2. While the streets in this also have no name (and are mostly dirt roads) the resemblance ends there. Instead Vic Armstrong, legendary stuntman and Indiana Jones double, directs his first film and BOY can you tell this is directed by a stuntman.

Lots of stunts, especially car chases, but without being of detriment to the plot. One scene is such a rip off of John Woo's style that Vic apologised to the man himself at a screening. But it's fucking great lads.

Stoic Dolph Lundgren stars as Santee, a wrongly accused trucker/race car driver. He accidentally kidnaps a sheriff's deputy on escaping jail played by Kristian Alfonso. Sparks fly, cars crash and a corrupt cop (George Segal) pursues them across the arid landscape of southern California.

It's needlessly violent with squibs going off every five seconds, there's pointless nudity and barely any competent acting. It is fantastic. Shame about the title. I'm shocked Vic Armstrong didn't go on to another stellar career behind the cameras. I'm less shocked Kristian Alfonso (soap actress on Days of our Lives for 40 years) did not go on to a great career in front of them.

It seemed like an appropriate time to watch it (the NFL draft is happening at the moment). It felt like a sluggish sports movie with a hugely inappropriate age gap between the two leads (Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner, are you fucking kidding me?)

However, it really comes together in the final third. Costner is good. Chadwick Boseman is great in his little role. The trade calls are suitably tense. It's a good time at the movies.

The trouble with Burt Reynolds, the movie star, is he thought he was funny. White Lightning (and Deliverance for that matter) shows what Burt was really capable of as an actor. Basically, nothing, but it worked. Burt spends the entire of White Lightning sweating and mumbling his way through the dirty south in the name of vengeance. It's pretty great.

This is Burt Reynolds' directorial debut. It's not very good but it is arguably more entertaining than either Sharkey's Machine or Stick. If it didn't contain jarring tonal shifts and needless melodrama and just stuck to being a comedy, it might even get a .

Reynolds plays "Gator" McKluskey, an undercover fed. The film is a mismatched buddy comedy with him and New Yorker Irving Greenfield (Jack Weston) trying to take down Bama McCall's crime ring. McCall is played ably by Jerry Reed. Reynolds looks suitably handsome in flared tros and speed boats.

The film is crippled by the insistence at having stuff like speedboat chases and drinking scenes mixed in with Reynolds' outrage when he discovers Bama's call girls are all underage. Burt doesn't have the range to pull this off. Neither as an actor or a director. If they'd cut all the serious stuff out it might have been a rollicking little crime actioner. It's also 30 minutes too long.

A suitably dumb actioner pitting US President (Viola Davis) against crypto-farmer terrorist (Anthony Starr). It's Die Hard at a conference. Viola is great but she can't rescue the concept, which is dumb as rocks.

A very solid attempt at turning the various Super Mario games into a film. Given the natural history between the viewer and the history of the games (I mean, everyone has played a Mario game right?) it should be easy enough. That said, the filmmakers do a solid enough job that this will go down as one of the better video game adaptations.

Along with...um. There's another good one right?

If the Fallout TV show counts, this is a distant second.

It speaks volumes about Paddington 2 that this third instalment feels so poor by comparison. Paddington in Peru is largely disappointing and filled with hammy overacting, dumb action set pieces and just can't capture the vibe of the first two films. It eventually gets there but it's too little, too late.

Ben Whishaw remains a key cog in the Paddington machine and his voice acting helps a lot. Losing Sally Hawkins hurts a lot. While Emily Mortimer does ok as her replacement, Hawkins gift for making things seem genuine is lost. The Brown family feel less endearing because of it.

Shout out to Olivia Colman, who's mother superior character is the perfect mix of charming and ever so slightly sinister.

Watched on Sunday April 6, 2025.

So much of this film is flaming hot garbage (mostly the very, very broad comedy) that you're probably shocked to see the rating. Normally, if a film has huge chunks that are offensively stupid I will generally not like it.

But...when No Hard Feelings clicks it really works. It's a film about two broken people fixing each other. The age difference, which is super awkward the bulk of the time, doesn't really matter. Nothing really matters with friendship. You can be friends with someone who's 50 years older than you. Get over yourself.

Jennifer Lawrence also fights three teenagers while completely naked. Which, even though I saw it in other reviews, I was still not mentally prepared for.

A fairly mediocre Don Petrie rom-com salvaged by honest performances from our lovely female leads. Lili Taylor is really good but the show is stolen by Julia Roberts. She was not a movie star at this point but she acts like one. Every scene she's in, the screen just lights up. A proper star-making turn if I've ever seen one.

*SPOILERS-ISH*: there's a Matt Damon jump scare. I had to rewind. What is he, 12?

If only the script and the other males matched up with the turns of the females and, of course, Vincent D'Onofrio, who is great. Worth seeing just for a time in history when Annabeth Gish got billed above Julia Roberts. It would only happen once.

I shouldn't really be shocked that DC dropped the ball on this one, after the excellent first picture. Look at Wonder Woman 1984. They have previous for flubbing the second film after acing the first one. The good news is that Fury of the Gods is nowhere near the visual and creative failure that the Wonder Woman sequel was.

Now, the bad news. It's kind of a fucking mess. The characters just feel wrong. Billy Batson wants to be Peter Parker so bad it hurts. The plot falls apart if you start picking at it. The CGI is occasionally good (oh hey, a dragon) and mostly bad. There's a lot of pointless carnage to cover for the lack of characterisation and it's just so, so long.

Bonus 0.5 for "taste the rainbow motherfucker".

Not seen this in a long, long time. I always thought He-Man was shit. This Cannon films adaptation does little to change my mind and yet, it is a charmingly weird film. Frank Langella having a lovely time playing the evil Skeletor and Meg Foster is also nicely evil. Courtney Cox in a film with Dolph Lundgren just feels wrong, somehow, but in a good way.

Basically, it's shite but an experience.

It's been a long time since I last saw Pulp Fiction and I have to tell you, it's aged sublimely. It's still every bit as great as it was in 1994. The only complaint I have is that Uma Thurman sounds like Quentin because he couldn't write for women yet but otherwise this is outstanding.

If John Travolta goes to heaven, it'll be dancing in Jack Rabbit Slims*

*hell is Battlefield Earth

This review may contain spoilers.

"ILLUMINATE" - Very irritated British man.

I didn't hate it. Electric State has the heart of an 80s action-adventure movie and, for a while at least, it sort of works. Millie Bobby Brown has to do a lot of lifting and the script doesn't help her. It's a humourless affair and we spend well over two hours on this ride. Without a few gags it's a long old journey. Well, there might be gags in here but they definitely fall flat.

Chris Pratt and his weird haircut turn up and he seems to have a confusing relationship with machines. Is he gay for robots? Some of the 80's/90s references are very forced but I gave it a bonus half star for including Flaming Lips on the end credits. Not as good as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

Not sure there was any need for this. Rock gets out acted by a coconut.

A genuine surprise; Rise of the Beasts is the second best live action Transformers movie. While it retains many of the stupid traits of Michael Bay's Trans-flicks it's a better film from a better director. The characters almost make sense and the designs are distinguishable.

The movie does fall apart a little bit in Peru after some solid establishing stuff in New York. Especially the human characters, who feel more realistic than in Bay's films. Anthony Ramos and especially Dominique Fishback are good in their roles.

It's still a stupid movie and it's nowhere near as good as Bumblebee but the introduction of Unicron and the final scene introducing a bigger universe make up for it. Yes, it does feel like they're trying to replicate the Marvel success template here and a lot of this movie takes place inside a computer but I'd like to focus on the positives because I need a series to nudge Bay's shitfests into the ocean. This might be it!

I thought the first one was fine and I completely forgot to even log it, let alone review it. I have spent the entire time since thinking I missed something and didn't understand why everyone else loved it so much? I kept meaning to rewatch it and never got around to it.

The sequel is more of the same, only less impactful and containing a lot of colourful 'references' and in-jokes over the staggering 2h20m run time. The animation style is tremendous and visually the film is wonderful. I enjoyed a lot about this and yet, the plot (now on its way into a third film) is still not doing much for me.

Happy Day of the Dude Day, dude.

I've said this before but Karate Kid has grown for me since Cobra Kai started. Now Cobra Kai has finished that's even more the case. Cobra Kai did a fantastic job of enhancing an existing property and staying true to a property while pushing it to a new level. Everyone can learn from this.

It's true, Cobra Kai did get increasingly dumb over the six seasons with people flipping sides and karate fights breaking out in increasingly stupid places. BUT we got to the end. It never outstayed its welcome and it sent me home happy and sad. I genuinely miss Johnny Lawrence and the LaRusso family.

If I had one, I'd pop open a Coors Banquet for Johnny. Cobra Kai never dies.

Low budget Ozploitation fun here as a time travelling city from the year 4039 sends two soldiers back into the 1980s to help prevent their destruction by robots in the future. The Jen-Diki, the 'robots' are sufficiently not robots that James Cameron couldn't sue.

The central plot sees geologist Annie (Nikki Coghill) encountering Ballard (Tom Burlinson), one of the time-travellers, and a romance across time begins. Neither leads are particularly convincing. Coghill is slightly better.

Where the film did draw me in was having the other soldier, named Petra, be played by CARRIE FISHER. How did they get Carrie Fisher to be in this? Considering it's between her appearances in Hannah and Her Sisters and Appointment with Death/The 'Burbs, it's bizarre she's in this.

If you can get by the obvious plot similarities to another film you may have seen involving time travelling robots hell bent on destroying humanity, it's not a bad film. It could definitely use more car chases and is far too reliant on crappy SFX and lasers.

The Subway chase is the stuff of dreams.

Waking up to the news that Gene Hackman had ed away was sad. While Hackman was 95 years old and had a good run, including two decades retired, there's no escaping the sense of loss.

Hackman was notoriously good in everything he ever made. Which makes this 'by the numbers' Vietnam rescue flick come off better than it should have. Both Hackman and co-star Danny Glover deliver great performances making us care about the central duo and the escape plot.

While Bat*21 is a weak film compared to some of Hackman's highest highs (French Connection immediately springs to mind) it serves as yet another reminder that a great actor can take a basic scenario and turn it into magic. That's what Gene Hackman was. A great actor and magic on the silver screen. RIP.

Want to see John Wayne punch Brian Glover in the face and throw Tony Robinson in the River Thames? I have the movie for you: BRANNIGAN.

In which John Wayne looks really old and all the booze brands don't exist anymore. Cinzano! Skol! Teachers! Wayne does feel strange outside of the wild west but at least he doesn't call everyone "limeys".

Somewhere in Time should be up my alley. I love a time travel flick. This one, however, completely falls apart under any kind of analysis at all. Christopher Reeve, god rest his soul, tries his best as a playwright who falls in love with the picture of a stage actress from the turn of the century.

However, the time travel concept in this is just "I wish I was in 1912" and off you go. He's not got any kind of special powers or anything. What makes time travel possible and how it all fits together in a concept is thinly constructed.

Luckily for the filmmakers, who aren't especially competent, the performances carry the film. Reeve and Jane Seymour are both a delight and all the failures of director Jeannot Szwarc (Jaws 2) can't hinder their real romantic feelings. It does take 45 minutes to get Seymour into the film though and sometimes the movie is a real drag.

It is the future. 1998 (!)

In a wasteland after World War III five soldiers go AWOL and are trapped by acid rain in an old research facility. Trapped with AN ALIEN (it's not). What follows is David de Coteau shamelessly stealing from Alien for 70 minutes without really realising why that film is good.

There's a gruesome death scene at the dinner table. Lots of evil looking things in the shadows. A random shower scene because if you're hired Linnea Quigley, you might as well get the most of her.

This is famous for being one of the few movies Ashlyn Gere shot before switching over to porn a few years later. It has porn level acting. Apparently Ashlyn switched roles with Linnea because she was uncomfortable with the nudity.

This has been sat on my watchlist for years but I have no idea why. Watching it has not improved matters. Seven short stories within an overarching story of a computer programmer having to save his girlfriend from the devil with lasers and shit.

There are some neat special effects. Mostly puppets. The lasers are crap. One of the segments is just a music video for WASP. So, Blackie Lawless is listed fourth in the credits. There's no escaping that the whole thing is just an effects showcase though.

Watched on Saturday February 22, 2025.

A typical 70s experience here. A bleak Western starring Oli Reed as a criminal who abducts a school teacher because he wants to learn to read. The trouble is the teacher, Candice Bergen, is the wife of local banker and powerhouse Gene Hackman.

Hackman goes in pursuit with newly acquired long range rifles and bloodshed occurs. It's violent and downbeat and you can tell almost immediately what decade spawned it. Based on this Hackman would have made a decent Terminator with how relentlessly he tracks Reed down.

Prepare to be depressed (again).

Safe is a rather downbeat, depressing experience. Watching Julianne Moore fall apart both physically and mentally is borderline exhausting. The film deals with themes like isolation, mental health and modern life being rubbish. Despite living in a vibrant part of Southern California, Moore's Carol finds everything vile and polluted.

It reminded me, painfully, of COVID-19 and that whole experience where every day just felt grey and drab. Everyone losing days to nothing. One nothing day after another. It feels like a metaphor for AIDS, watching a healthy person suddenly become not healthy. It being set in 1987, in the midst of the AIDS crisis, feels very deliberate.

I am going to be down for the rest of the day. Thanks Todd Haynes!

I always cited this as one of Michael Bay's better films, which means I was selective in my memory of it. The first half is actually pretty good. Bruce Willis and his gang of oddball drillers get hired by NASA to wipe out a big space rock and they all have tremendous banter.

Second half, however, when they head into space, is DOGSHIT. It's just dreadful. The characters all stop making sense. The action is just nonsense. The plot feels like it was written by a child. Any kind of examination of it and it just falls apart.

Billy Bob Thornton does a LOT of heavy lifting in this. Almost every scene that requires acting he's there to hold it together. Of the drillers Steve Buscemi is the best performer but his character is a mess in special ways.

So, it's basically shit but also Nic Cage is Dracula so we'll call it down the middle.

City Slickers is a film I first saw when I was a teenager and it worked for me then because of the comedic action. However, as I get older, City Slickers works far better in the dramatic sections. The 'best day/worst day' conversation is great. As I get older, I'm more attuned to how Mitch felt when he hit the cattle drive. As I get older I find myself more drawn to nature and have become more outdoorsy. It just makes more sense now.

A little Irish charmer about a gay guy and a gay gal in small town 90s Ireland. Both struggling to fit in they end up 'together' to stop the bullying. Two solid performances from the leads and a genuinely witty script helps us along. I enjoyed my time in the Curragh.

Welcome to Ally Sheedy's psychic hotline! If you are being murdered press 1. If you are being kidnapped press 2. If you are a serial killer please think your location after the tone.

DiCaprio's breakthrough starring role. He was so good that Bobby DeNiro called up Martin Scorsese to tell him about it. He really is that good too. DeNiro purposefully makes him look better by playing his asshat stepdad as a complete man baby. Overreacting to everything, generally being an appalling human being. It makes DiCaprio look more balanced and makes him easier to route for. Great coming of age yarn from the 1950s.

Totally fine mockery of American religious types. Probably could have gone further. Mac and Eva Amurri are both sensational in . Not convinced by either of the leads.

One of the most Australian films to ever be set in Arizona. Lots of car crashes and punks with odd haircuts. Clint Howard's is INCREDIBLE. It benefits from only getting Charlie Sheen for one day of filming so the 'good guy' is barely in it. Instead we just get lots of bad guy action and 80s music. Some of the special effects haven't held up but otherwise banging.

Very decent Barry Levinson heist movie. Cate Blanchett is particularly good, although the plot is infeasible. Horrible sound track. Two awful U2 needle drops.

Oh, blatant Chekov's Gun in this. Might as well have shot the audience with it. *squib goes off*.

UPDATE: Ranked up to 2024. Next film is Cap America: Brave New World.

I may not be 100% successful with this, and I'm re-watching them all so the ranking may change*.

*I stopped re-watching them after Thor 2. Blame Thor 2 for this.

Tweaks incoming based on rewatches.

Rewatched:
Iron Man ****
Captain America ****
Iron Man 2 ***1/2
Thor ***
Avengers *****
Iron Man 3 ****
Thor 2 **

1. Guardians of the Galaxy
2. The Avengers
3. Avengers: Endgame
4. Spider-Man: No Way Home
5. Thor: Ragnarok
6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
7. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
8. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
9. Avengers: Age of Ultron
10. Avengers: Infinity War

...plus 24 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I have now seen all the Ghibli movies. Here's how I rank them.

NB: with the exception of Grave of the Fireflies all of these are currently on Netflix (May 2020)

1. Spirited Away
2. Porco Rosso
3. The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
4. Kiki's Delivery Service
5. Grave of the Fireflies
6. Castle in the Sky
7. Princess Mononoke
8. The Wind Rises
9. My Neighbor Totoro
10. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My ranking of the Pixar films.

1. Up
2. Toy Story 3
3. Toy Story 2
4. WALL·E
5. Coco
6. Toy Story
7. Ratatouille
8. Soul
9. Finding Nemo
10. The Incredibles

...plus 18 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Having just watched Clerks III, I've seen most Smith's output, so here's my ranked list of his business to date!

Interesting to note his earliest films are top of the list, with Dogma, his first attempt at a wider universe landing highly. More recent attempts at content mining have been less successful. His worst films have come from ambitiously chasing genre pictures. Tusk in particular.

1. Chasing Amy
2. Clerks
3. Clerks II
4. Dogma
5. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
6. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
7. Jersey Girl
8. Clerks III
9. Red State
10. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ranking all of the DC cinematic universe films I've seen. Everything below Shazam 2 basically is the same. All dreadful. A few gems in there but not a great track record so far. I blame Snyder.

1. Shazam!
2. The Suicide Squad
3. Wonder Woman
4. Aquaman
5. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
6. Shazam! Fury of the Gods
7. Justice League
8. Black Adam
9. Wonder Woman 1984
10. Suicide Squad

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A list of films I've seen so many times I know all the words and shit. If it's from a series, I'm including the one from that series I've seen the most.

1. The Blues Brothers

   I taped this off ITV in the 80s. It was one of the first tapes I had. I used to know where all the adverts were to the point where I re-recorded it off ITV and edited out the ad breaks expertly. I've seen this film 100 times.

2. Star Wars

   What kid growing up in the 80s hadn't seen Star Wars a bajillion times? It was on TV all the time. I bought the box set on DVD at one point and then an updated version too.

3. The Transformers: The Movie

   Because I bought this on video tape and it was the first official tape I bought I must have watched it 50-60 times in school alone.

4. Back to the Future

   Back to the Future is comfort viewing for me. Something it has in common with most of the list. I know when I stick on the adventures of Marty McFly I can just chill out.

5. GoodFellas

   The most substantial and serious film at the top end of my list. I got obsessed with this in college and used to watch it every weekend.

6. Raiders of the Lost Ark

   It's a close call between this and Last Crusade. I saw Last Crusade at the cinema and I love it but Raiders is also a banger.

7. The Princess Bride

   I have seen this a staggering number of times. I don't think 6 months goes by without me watching it.

8. Aliens

   Another classic 'taped off TV' viewing. I watching this for the first time with my brother and being blown away by the action. He said the first one is better. I think I've seen this more times due to the TV taping but I buying Alien while on holiday somewhere and watching it on the rental places TV,

9. RoboCop

   The first 18 rated film I ever saw, and I made my folks buy it me for Xmas the following year. I think I was 12/13 years old.

10. The Terminator

    I think this just about edges out Terminator 2, but I've seen both of them many, many times.

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A list of the films in the Alien franchise and how good they are. Top two are different class. Prometheus is interesting. 4-6 creative but ultimately failures. 7-9, just bad.

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Prometheus
4. Alien Resurrection
5. Alien³
6. Alien: Covenant
7. Alien: Romulus
8. AVP: Alien vs. Predator
9. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem

Ranked and reviewed. A mixed bag this year. Less hits than misses. The planning stage wasn't good enough and I didn't land the variety I wanted. Oh well, still a decent haul and a few winners.

1. Onibaba
2. Violent Night
3. Talk to Me
4. Burnt Offerings
5. The Black Phone
6. Pumpkinhead
7. Slumber Party Massacre
8. A Bay of Blood
9. Damien - Omen II
10. The Lords of Salem

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

All the Planet of the Apes movies, ranked from most apetastic to least monkeyrific.

1. Planet of the Apes
2. War for the Planet of the Apes
3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
5. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
6. Escape from the Planet of the Apes
7. Beneath the Planet of the Apes
8. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
9. Battle for the Planet of the Apes
10. Planet of the Apes

Ralph Bakshi's finest work, and less good stuff. I've not seen the Cool and the Crazy but I doubt it would crack the top three, which is what really matters.

1. American Pop
2. Heavy Traffic
3. Hey Good Lookin'
4. Fire and Ice
5. Coonskin
6. Cool World
7. Fritz the Cat
8. Last Days of Coney Island
9. Wizards
10. The Lord of the Rings

It's that time of the year again and here we go. One ticket to scare central please!

Note: The Neon Demon is barely a horror film but it just about qualifies.

1. Dave Made a Maze
2. The Neon Demon
3. A Quiet Place Part II
4. The Trip
5. No One Will Save You
6. The Thing from Another World
7. Freaky
8. Cam
9. Evil Dead Rise
10. Malignant

...plus 28 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

An attempt to cull an alphabet's worth of movies off my watchlist!

I'll be watching a movie for each letter of the alphabet. Each movie being the one that's been sat on my watchlist for the longest.

• Action Jackson
• Biggles
• Chaplin
• Death and the Maiden
• El Topo
• Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
• Gloria
• Heavy Traffic
• Irma la Douce
• Jack's Back

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A series of film viewing based around aquatic terror in October 2021.

1. Crawl
2. Death Ship
3. The Reef
4. 47 Meters Down: Uncaged
5. The Thing Below

I started watching Arnie's first film; Hercules in New York and it occurred to me. Why don't I watch all of Arnie's films? I love me some Arnie. Let the mayhem begin!

Update: This list is ranked apart from anything below Hercules in New York (aka the worst Arnold Schwarzenegger film, ever). Those are, as yet, unseen.

1. Total Recall
2. Predator
3. The Terminator
4. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
5. Commando
6. True Lies
7. Conan the Barbarian
8. Pumping Iron
9. Sabotage
10. The Running Man

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Quite a short season by my standards but some genuine bangers in there!

1. Suspiria
2. Santa's Slay
3. Ready or Not
4. X
5. Fresh
6. Day Shift
7. Hocus Pocus 2
8. The Curse of Bridge Hollow
9. Smiley

An attempt to clear off the remaining movies from the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die".

I'll knock stuff off the list when I watch it. I'm already one down as I'd forgotten I'd seen Cabaret. I even reviewed it!

This might take a while. But the way I see it, I'm already over halfway there!

• Broken Blossoms
• Within Our Gates
• Orphans of the Storm
• The Smiling Madame Beudet
• Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
• Häxan
• Foolish Wives
• Our Hospitality
• La Roue
• The Great White Silence

...plus 412 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

All the Home Alone films. Most of them suck.

1. Home Alone
2. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
3. Home Alone 3
4. Home Sweet Home Alone
5. Home Alone: The Holiday Heist
6. Home Alone 4

My ranking of the Star Wars films (so far)

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars
3. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
4. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Solo: A Star Wars Story
7. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
8. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
9. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
10. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I haven't seen all his films so there may be a couple of omissions. Also I don't like Punch-Drunk Love. He's pretty good in Reign Over Me but I don't think it's a good film.

• Uncut Gems
• Click
• The Waterboy
• The Wedding Singer
• Happy Gilmore
• Airheads
• The Longest Yard
• Spanglish

Yes, it is happening. In spite of how busy I am with other stuff I'm aiming for a big old Halloween season. Let's do this! List is ranked.

1. A Quiet Place
2. Overlord
3. Hereditary
4. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II
5. Opera
6. The House on Sorority Row
7. Midsommar
8. Eaten Alive
9. Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
10. The Island of Dr. Moreau

...plus 25 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A list of Rambo films in the order that I prefer them

1. Rambo: First Blood Part II
2. First Blood
3. Rambo
4. Rambo: Last Blood
5. Rambo III

Might take a run at reducing my % on this bad boy in 2020.

• BlacKkKlansman
• Vice
• Sorry to Bother You
• The Favourite
• Hereditary
• Roma
• Avengers: Infinity War
• A Star Is Born
• Capernaum
• Crazy Rich Asians

...plus 991 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Basically I noticed I'd seen a lot of Christmas movies this year so I'm here to rank them.

1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. Scrooged
3. Die Hard
4. Klaus
5. The Christmas Chronicles
6. The Santa Clause
7. The Santa Clause 2
8. Get Santa
9. Batman Returns
10. A Charlie Brown Christmas

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Totally stolen, and I forget who from, but this is a project at some point...

EDIT: Loads of these movies are on Amazon. Time to get cracking on some underrated shit!

1. Possession
2. Miracle Mile
3. Bad Boy Bubby
4. Wake in Fright
5. Cockfighter
6. The Holy Mountain
7. Let It Ride
8. The Cat
9. Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist
10. Brewster McCloud

...plus 590 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Here we are again! Another October, another array of horrors. (Time permitting)

1. It
2. Sinister
3. Happy Death Day
4. The Girl with All the Gifts
5. Waxwork
6. Murder Party
7. Return of the Living Dead III
8. The Gate
9. The Wailing
10. The Purge: Anarchy

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I almost didn't do this but I've watched a few horrors so let's see if I can slap together a decent list by the end of the month!

1. Cold Skin
2. The Rezort
3. Sharknado 5: Global Swarming
4. Malevolent
5. Jeepers Creepers 3
6. Finders Keepers
7. Meet the Blacks

A list of all Christopher Walken's movies, in order of quality. Somewhat incomplete (I'm missing about 20 films all told, which are mostly unavailable or as near as). This therefore is a work in progress.

Top 4 are largely exchangeable. Top 50 are all watchable at the very least. Everything beneath Gigli is not.

1. Pulp Fiction
2. True Romance
3. Annie Hall
4. The Deer Hunter
5. King of New York
6. Catch Me If You Can
7. Heaven's Gate
8. At Close Range
9. Poolhall Junkies
10. The Funeral

...plus 75 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Time for my yearly intake of HORROR!

1. Get Out
2. Alligator
3. Dead End Drive-In
4. Class of 1984
5. House
6. Alien: Covenant
7. The Shallows
8. Wolf Girl
9. The Purge: Election Year

A season of films from my favourite potty-mouthed 80s action star: Eddie Murphy. Completed and RANKED!

1. Beverly Hills Cop
2. Coming to America
3. Trading Places
4. 48 Hrs.
5. The Golden Child
6. Beverly Hills Cop II
7. Eddie Murphy Raw
8. Another 48 Hrs.
9. Boomerang
10. The Adventures of Pluto Nash

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

It's here again. Another year, another shit-tonne of horror movies. It's the only time of the year I scope out the scaries. List ranked and updated as we go along.

1. Crimson Peak
2. Theatre of Blood
3. The Last Exorcism
4. The People Under the Stairs
5. The Brood
6. The Visit
7. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
8. We Are the Night
9. The Changeling
10. The Hunger

...plus 18 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Inspired by <a href=letterboxd.sitesdebloques.org/thesawisfamily/list/everything-ive-seen-at-the-cinemaClaire Ramirez's list

Totally incomplete, incidentally. I'll add stuff as I it. 1997 alone I went to the cinema all the time. College student and all that. I've tried to do this in the order I saw them too. You can see the point where I stopped watching movies with my folks and starting going with friends!

1. Return of the Jedi

   I seeing this when I was tiny small. First ever cinema trip. I had loads of Star Wars figures and had seen the first two films on TV. I was so excited that when we got home I tried to play with all my figures and re-enact the movie...it was around midnight. I was seven. Seen in Birmingham with my parents and my grandmother.

2. A View to a Kill

   I clearly seeing this with my mom. It was my first James Bond experience. It's also the only Bond movie I've seen at the cinema.

3. The Transformers: The Movie

   This was the birthday party of my friend William. Everyone was really excited as the comics had built up to this for months beforehand. I sat next to James Shilvock who commented on how quickly they rot as Prime turned black. I was holding back the tears.

4. Flight of the Navigator

   This is another movie I saw with my mom. She picked it. I thought it was ok. At age ten our tastes were already drifting apart.

5. Short Circuit

   Mr Johnny 5. Probably the last time I watched a movie with my mom that we both loved.

6. Innerspace

   InnerSpace was my favourite movie as a kid. No exaggeration. I having a scorecard for all the movies we watched on video as a family and eagerly anticipated InnerSpace, having loved it at the cinema, and awarded it the perfect 10/10. Nobody else was that keen on it.

7. Harry and the Hendersons

   My mom loves this one. I love John Lithgow. That's about it.

8. Who Framed Roger Rabbit

   I dragged my parents to see this in order to not be the only kid in school who'd not seen it. Loved it.

9. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

   I my mom looking shocked when I laughed at the boobie jokes. Hey, I was 12!

10. Willow

    My mom really liked this too. Our tastes in film diverging rapidly by this point.

...plus 189 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Nightmares in a diseased brain...for the month of October (and slightly longer)

1. Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead
2. The Final Girls
3. Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead
4. The Innocents
5. Santa Sangre
6. Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers
7. Wolf Creek 2
8. Spider Baby
9. Demons
10. The Raven

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Based on Cody Flynn's list here.

1. Amarcord

   Movie from Ebert's great movies list

2. The Terror of Tiny Town

   on YouTube

3. I Live in Fear

   Kurosawa

4. Viva Las Vegas

   60s box office week

5. Make Way for Tomorrow

   PUNQ WEEK

6. The Double Life of Véronique

   Eastern European directors week

7. Adrift in Tokyo
8. The Raven

   20-35 horror

9. The Seven-Ups

   70s crime week

10. 3 Godfathers

    unseen Ford western

...plus 23 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I need a new project, essentially because I'm running out of Christopher Walken movies.

This one sees me catching up on 80s movies that were #1's at the US Box Office that I've yet to see. I did um and ah about doing an entire decade of box office #1's repeat viewing everything in between...which sounds like a lot of movies (169 to be precise) and I don't have the time.

Pre-challenge thoughts:

The Amityville movies and various horror sequels are going straight into my annual Horrortober.

Why are there so many dancing movies?

I've seen far more movies from the second half of the 80s than the first. Coinciding with buying a VHS recorder in 1986.

Purple Rain is going to be agony (or not, as it turns out!)

• Sharky's Machine

  on YouTube, missing final part. Available on Amazon for £2.50 instant video

• Absence of Malice
• An Officer and a Gentleman
• Amityville II: The Possession

  Save for Halloween

• High Road to China
• Spring Break

  still need to source - about £20 on import

• Flashdance

  DVD

• Blue Thunder
• Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone
• Staying Alive

...plus 41 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I feel a Hong Kong season coming on. These are all the movies released in the UK under the "Hong Kong Legends" banner that I've not seen.

KEE-YAAAAWWW!

• The Iron-Fisted Monk
• Warriors Two
• Odd Couple
• Knockabout
• The Master
• The Prodigal Son
• The Postman Strikes Back
• Legend of a Fighter
• Duel to the Death
• Hong Kong 1941

  Lovefilm

...plus 32 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A list of Bat-films from best to worst. Missing a few including "Batman Beyond: The Movie".

1. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2
2. Batman Begins
3. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
4. The Dark Knight
5. Batman: Year One
6. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
7. Batman: Under the Red Hood
8. Batman Returns
9. Batman: Assault on Arkham
10. The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest

...plus 11 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A season of films featuring Jaws actor Robert Shaw.

• Black Sunday
• The Deep
• Figures in a Landscape
• A Town Called Hell

A list of documentaries available to stream for just $9.99 a month!

Hit up the WWE Beyond the Ring section to watch all these bad boys.

• WWE: 20 Years Too Soon - The Superstar Billy Graham Story
• The World's Greatest Wrestling Managers
• The American Dream: The Dusty Rhodes Story
• Nature Boy Ric Flair - The Definitive Collection
• The True Story of WrestleMania
• Brian Pillman - Loose Cannon
• Stone Cold Steve Austin: The Bottom Line on the Most Popular Superstar of All Time
• The Rock: The Epic Journey of Dwayne Johnson
• nWo: The Revolution
• For All Mankind - The Life and Career of Mick Foley

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

In descending order from least worst in most abysmal.

1. Dawn of the Dead
2. 300
3. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
4. Watchmen
5. Sucker Punch
6. Man of Steel

Obviously incomplete as the year isn't over yet and I've still not seen loads of stuff but I want to tart up my year in review screen and get a big old Guardians of the Galaxy vibe on it. Although I was tempted to put Winter Soldier top, just for ScarJo's appearance on there.

1. Guardians of the Galaxy
2. Edge of Tomorrow
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
4. The Lego Movie
5. The Raid 2
6. 22 Jump Street
7. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
8. How to Train Your Dragon 2
9. Sabotage
10. Monty Python Live (Mostly)

A ranked list of Terry Gilliam's feature films.

I hastily point out I'm a massive Hunter S. Thompson fan, hence Fear & Loathing's high rank. I may need to rewatch the Fisher King as I don't much about it.

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
2. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
3. Twelve Monkeys
4. Brazil
5. Time Bandits
6. The Fisher King
7. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
8. Jabberwocky
9. The Zero Theorem
10. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I've done these for action and sci-fi films. Basically the most popular adventure film I've not seen from each year since I was born.

Let the adventure begin!

• Canoa: A Shameful Memory
• Black Sunday
• The First Great Train Robbery
• The In-Laws
• Hopscotch
• The Professional
• Raw Force
• The Osterman Weekend
• The Ewok Adventure
• Explorers

...plus 29 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Just the features. In order of preference.

Not that there's good and bad with Miyazaki. Merely good and also good. Ponyo is merely the least excellent of 11 excellent movies.

1. Spirited Away
2. Porco Rosso
3. Castle in the Sky
4. Princess Mononoke
5. My Neighbor Totoro
6. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
7. The Wind Rises
8. Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
9. Kiki's Delivery Service
10. Howl's Moving Castle

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A ranked list of all the Coen Brothers feature films. It's a tough list to draw up. The top four are all ***** and everything down to Barton Fink is at least 'good'.

Need to re-watch: Miller's Crossing & perhaps Barton Fink although I didn't like it much the first time.

1. The Big Lebowski
2. Fargo
3. No Country for Old Men
4. True Grit
5. The Man Who Wasn't There
6. Miller's Crossing
7. Raising Arizona
8. Blood Simple
9. Inside Llewyn Davis
10. The Hudsucker Proxy

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I've always been a big Scorsese fan. I thought I'd take a moment to throw out a ranking of his films.

Not including shorts and documentaries.

1. GoodFellas
2. Casino
3. Raging Bull
4. The Departed
5. The Wolf of Wall Street
6. Taxi Driver
7. Shutter Island
8. After Hours
9. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
10. Hugo

...plus 13 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The 2014 Halloween Season. My third such season on Letterboxd. It used to be I'd pick up one horror film on Halloween and watch it on Halloween. That was it. A few years ago, that changed (mainly thanks to Letterboxd) and I switched to doing a full on season. The first year (2012) I managed a mere 12 films. Barely extending my viewing beyond a week. Last year this almost doubled, totaling 23 films. Seeing as I'm starting super-early this year that'll probably increase again.

Ranking ongoing.

1. A Tale of Two Sisters
2. John Dies at the End
3. Bug
4. American Gothic
5. Ginger Snaps
6. The Monster Squad
7. The Battery
8. Night of the Demons
9. Stitches
10. Street Trash

...plus 31 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Seeing as I've seen all Spielberg's features I figured I'd stick them in order of preference here.

Top spot is near impossible as the top three are all fantastic films. Any of them could be top.

I actually like 1941, making me one of very few. I need to revisit Hook. I hated it when I was younger and I've never been back.

1. Jaws
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Schindler's List
4. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
6. Saving Private Ryan
7. Jurassic Park
8. The Color Purple
9. Empire of the Sun
10. Munich

...plus 18 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A ranked list of all John Carpenter's films.

Need to see: Body Bags (1993), Someone's Watching Me (1978), Elvis (1979) and Pro-Life (2006).

1. The Thing
2. Halloween
3. Big Trouble in Little China
4. Escape from New York
5. The Fog
6. Dark Star
7. They Live
8. Assault on Precinct 13
9. In the Mouth of Madness
10. Starman

...plus 9 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

BEHOLD! 30 sequels I've been meaning to get around to. Films only belong if:

1. I've seen the first film.
2. I liked the first film.
3. I've not seen the sequel in question before.

• After the Thin Man
• Another Thin Man
• Son of Paleface
• They Call Me Mister Tibbs!
• Inferno
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
• Return of the Living Dead Part II
• Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers
• A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon
• The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter

...plus 28 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

All good things deserve a sequel and thus the Action Project II is born. A follow up to my watchlist of popular action films, that I'd not seen, from every year of my existence, this list documents the highest rated action films from each year of my life...which I've not already seen. As yet unfinished.

Bring it on!

• The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
• Dersu Uzala
• The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
• The Magnificent Butcher
• Encounters of the Spooky Kind
• The Prodigal Son
• Five Element Ninjas
• The Boxer's Omen
• The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter
• Runaway Train

...plus 27 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.