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Watched on Tuesday June 3, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday June 3, 2025.

Watched on Monday June 2, 2025.

Watched on Sunday June 1, 2025.

Watched on Sunday June 1, 2025.

Over two hours long and not a single interesting thing happens.

Watched on Saturday May 31, 2025.

Watched on Friday May 30, 2025.

It's a bit of a nothing burger, isn't it? Maybe there is a film in there that can truly show the tension, but this film isn't it. It's a hard job, sure. We know what's going to happen. We don't know how, but we have a good idea what the result will be. The film can't get over that.

Watched on Monday May 26, 2025.

This film is nearly three hours long and there is not an inch of fat on it. It is beautiful, lingering, but efficient storytelling. It's a complete epic, so incredibly rich. Every time I watch it, I spot more and more that shows the richness of this absolute staple of cinema.

To say The Godfather is one of the greatest films of all time is, at this point, a cliche. A stereotype even, when you consider I'm a straight white guy. But all of that doesn't make it any less true.

I don't even know if I'll even end up seeing the new version. Nevertheless, I figured I might as well give the original a go.

Watched on Saturday May 24, 2025.

I think this is the fourth time I have watched this now. Finally, I think it actually really works for me. I still haven't revisited The Way of Water, which I had even more problems with. But I've always wanted to like these films. It actually feels good to say that I like this film now.

Shout out Benedict Cumberbatch and the worst beard ever?

My beloved franchise comes to an end with another banger. Mr Movies, I will never doubt you.

Watched on Monday May 19, 2025.

Watched on Monday May 19, 2025.

Rewatched this after seeing a bunch of tweets about how this film is bad. I refuse to be gaslit by these people. This film is still fun as hell and Spielberg delivers it with so much god damn sauce.

A truly perfect coming of age film. Third time watching this now and it is absolutely joyous every single time.

Watched on Saturday May 17, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 15, 2025.

ass cheeks

I'm seeing the stage production on the West End on Friday, so I just had to.

I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I barely understood any of it. It's also really ugly, really flat CGI corporate slop. But, it's kinda funny, like kinda. There's an earnestness to it that makes me hate it much less than I probably should.

An experience for sure, but lacking in any introspection other than the well trodden path of the pointlessness of war. Even that plays second fiddle to the general experience of it all, the intensity which tries to cover for any sort of character depth or development. An incurious film that will always have a ceiling on how good I could ever consider it to be.

The rewatch is complete. The IMAX ticket for Final Reckoning is booked. I am ready.

Watched on Sunday May 4, 2025.

Empty, vapid slop. The worst so far of these 'rich people in remote locations are the worst' movies. Everyone is phoning it in. Jenna Ortega doesn't look arsed. Richard E Grant can't even camp it up properly. Paul Rudd is just there, being annoying for some reason. God I hated it.

Sweet and earnest, The Penguin Lessons is a very watchable picture with a nice performance from Steve Coogan at the centre.

I really liked A Simple Favour. I did not like this. This is a classic cinema -> streaming step down. A sequel no one needed, with more twists than any film needs. It's also a film that just looks televisual. Just such a pathetic downgrade.

Watched on Tuesday April 29, 2025.

Watched on Sunday April 27, 2025.

Watched on Friday April 25, 2025.

Watched on Thursday April 24, 2025.

Preparing for Conclave Szn

Sinners, fuck yeah.

Watched on Saturday April 19, 2025.

Watched on Friday April 18, 2025.

It's basically just a film with a bunch of people telling you how great Richard Linklater is. For a real Linklater-head like me, that can be enough because, yeah, strong agree.

Watched on Tuesday April 15, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday April 15, 2025.

Watched on Monday April 14, 2025.

This is supposed to be Linklater in his element, the type of film Richard Linklater could make in his sleep. And it doesn't work. It's all over the place. The stories are half cooked and sometimes boring. There's a dark cyncism to this film that proves a real clash against the nostalgia that's tinted in Linklater's best work in this genre. The only thing that really works is the feud with Nazeer.

At the end of the day, this is proof that when Richard Linklater is at the top of his game, he's unstoppable, and this certainly ain't the top of his game.

If I wasn't depressed already, I am now.

This review may contain spoilers.

A frustrating film. I had fun sure but it's the type of film that wants to have its cake and eat it too. Uses the love interest as a plot twist device only to then have to deliver a shonky third act to make sure they get together in the end just really bugged me.

Best trilogy of all time. Greatest love story in the history of cinema. Fight me.

Not really a Rami Malek guy. Fella owns one of the most fraudulent Oscars of all time. The Amateur however, is pretty solid. The story works, even if it's a little bit ludicrous at times. Nobody is giving a career best here, but again, all the main players are solid.

Watched on Sunday April 6, 2025.

Watched on Sunday April 6, 2025.

I've always had a complicated relationship with Lynch's work, I feel like this list reflects that.

1. Twin Peaks

   Represents the original run of Twin Peaks, especially the episodes upto the reveal.

2. The Straight Story
3. Twin Peaks: The Return
4. Blue Velvet
5. The Elephant Man
6. Mulholland Drive
7. Wild at Heart
8. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
9. Lost Highway
10. Eraserhead

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

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox
3. Moonrise Kingdom
4. The Darjeeling Limited
5. Asteroid City
6. The Phoenician Scheme
7. Isle of Dogs
8. Bottle Rocket
9. The French Dispatch
10. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

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

1. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
2. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
3. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
4. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
5. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
6. Mission: Impossible
7. Mission: Impossible III
8. Mission: Impossible II

1. Black Panther
2. Avengers: Endgame
3. Avengers: Infinity War
4. Iron Man
5. Captain America: Civil War
6. Thor: Ragnarok
7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
8. Guardians of the Galaxy
9. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
10. Captain America: The First Avenger

...plus 26 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

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

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

Films added as and when I see them.

1. Dazed and Confused
2. Before Sunrise
3. Boyhood
4. Before Midnight
5. Before Sunset
6. School of Rock
7. Everybody Wants Some!!
8. Hit Man
9. Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood
10. Me and Orson Welles

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

I've not seen the films below Arrietty.

1. My Neighbor Totoro
2. Kiki's Delivery Service
3. Spirited Away
4. Princess Mononoke
5. Grave of the Fireflies
6. From Up on Poppy Hill
7. The Boy and the Heron
8. Ponyo
9. The Wind Rises
10. Whisper of the Heart

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

The films of Alfred Hitchcock, ranked. Added as and when I seem them.

1. Vertigo
2. Rear Window
3. Psycho
4. North by Northwest
5. Dial M for Murder
6. Frenzy
7. Rope
8. Strangers on a Train
9. The Man Who Knew Too Much
10. The Birds

...plus 12 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My top ten films ever, unranked, apart from #1.

I like the idea of a top ten of all time, if only because the Sight and Sound poll asks for ten submissions from each of the people they ask, so I treat this list as if they were asking me to submit a list and this is what I would be sending them. Favourite films are such a personal thing, I don't believe we should be ticking boxes about what we consider the greatest. That's one of the reasons why I've always loved the Sight and Sound poll, the ten picks you make can be for any reason whatsoever and the method that made you reach said list can be anything you like. I do however have a rule that I made for myself of only one film per director (I've found that this mainly impacts Richard Linklater, Stanley Kubrick, and Alfred Hitchcock).

I understand the flaws in this list. There's nothing pre-WW2. There aren't any silent films and there aren't any films in a language other than English. All the directors are white men. All ten main characters in these films are white, only one film has an obvious female lead (perhaps an argument can be made for When Harry Met Sally but I'm not going to).

Why am I saying this? Because this list is a reflection of me. Flawed, constantly seeking to improve, constantly seeking to find new films which could unseat an incumbent, constantly seeking films which more accurately reflect the diversity of our society and diversity of thought. Until that day, this is the list.

So here are the films I love. The films I go back to. The films I watch when I'm down. The films I watch when I need to smile. The films I watch that reaffirm my love for film.

Each of these films brings something different to the table.

I have also assigned an alternative pick for each film on the list. This may be a film from the same genre, or from the same director, or simply a film which evokes similar emotions for me. Either way, it gives me the chance to name ten more films that I love.

• GoodFellas

  Goodfellas has been my favourite film for a while now. Every time I watch it, I get something new from it. It's narrative structure is to die for and it really questions my own morality in a way which Scorsese has tried to replicate in other films but never quite mastered how he did with Goodfellas. It's a film I find fun, brutal, challenging, and utterly fascinating.

  Favourite Scene: The Copacabana Shot
  Alternative Pick: The Godfather (1972)

• Vertigo

  Vertigo is a film which I've studied numerous times. It is not only a brilliant film, but also one which, more than any other film, defines my growth as someone studying film.

  Favourite Scene: Scottie and Madeleine at the Golden Gate Bridge
  Alternative Pick: Rear Window (1954)

• Barry Lyndon

  Barry Lyndon is arguably the most beautiful ever made. It is a masterclass in innovative cinematography techniques paired with all the beautiful costumes and locations that only a period drama could offer.

  Favourite Scene: Bullingdon demands satisfaction
  Alternative Pick: The Shining (1980)

• The Social Network

  The Social Network is a modern masterpiece. It shares the greatness of Citizen Kane and Rashomon and brings those storytelling ideas into a new generation, creating one of the most important pieces of media about our times.

  Favourite Scene: Creating FaceMash
  Alternative Pick: Citizen Kane (1941)

• Singin' in the Rain

  Singin' in the Rain is a film filled with pure joy. It has the songs, the colour, the comedy. It's such a vibrant film that makes me happy when I watch it.

  Favourite Scene: Good Morning
  Alternative Pick: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

• The Third Man

  The Third Man is a magnificent piece of work. My favourite noir film. But most of all, The Third Man makes this list because of everything that happens after the big reveal. The tunnel sequence is the purest of cinema; it's one of the greatest sequences I've ever seen.

  Favourite Scene: The Tunnel Chase
  Alternative Pick: Double Indemnity (1944)

• Dazed and Confused

  Dazed and Confused is my favourite film from my favourite director. I love Richard Linklater. The guy just gets it. Dazed and Confused has everything you need from a teen film whilst also be so unlike nearly any other US teen film. It's a masterful example of character building with such vibrant characters shining through with such little screen time. And that soundtrack!

  Favourite Scene: The chase home from school
  Alternative Pick: Cleo From 5 to 7 (1962)

• When Harry Met Sally...

  When Harry Met Sally... has one of the greatest screenplays ever written. Nora Ephron is a genius. The film is over thirty years old and the film still hits as hard as it ever did. The comedy is bangin'. The outfits are iconic. The romance is perfect. Not just a truly great comfort film, but simply a truly great film.

  Favourite Scene: Katz's Deli
  Alternative Pick: Before Sunrise (1995)

• Heathers

  Okay Mark, we get it, you like the teen film. And yet, neither of the films I picked are your normal teen films. Whilst Dazed and Confused plays with the ideas of time ing within its loose narrative structure, Heathers is evil sibling of The Breakfast Club, and all those other John Hughes films. I like those John Hughes films, but I love Heathers more. A nasty little picture that breaks down the tropes of the genre, with some of the smartest and most precise dialogue.

  Favourite Scene: "I say we go with big blue here!"
  Alternative Pick: Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

• It's a Wonderful Life

  It's a Wonderful Life is the greatest Christmas film of all time, a perfect example of classical Hollywood cinema, and a testament to the power of long term adoration. This film is a classic because the people told us it was. It's a film so many of us will come back to annually.

  Favourite Scene: Dancing with aquatic jeopardy
  Alternative Pick: Ikiru (1952)

1. Ocean's Eleven
2. sex, lies, and videotape
3. Logan Lucky
4. Erin Brockovich
5. Magic Mike
6. Out of Sight
7. Contagion
8. Ocean's Thirteen
9. Black Bag
10. Presence

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

I'm still working on this. I know it's a mess. I think it's worth ing that most of the time, even mediocre Best Picture winners are still usually pretty good films. Yes, the Oscars gets it wrong a lot, when comparing to the better films of that year. But, as films in their own right, the winners are usually pretty good. There are of course, exceptions. You will find them at the bottom of this list.

1. The Godfather
2. Parasite
3. Casablanca
4. All About Eve
5. The Godfather Part II
6. It Happened One Night
7. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
8. The Silence of the Lambs
9. Amadeus
10. Oppenheimer

...plus 45 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Films added as and when I see them.

1. GoodFellas
2. Casino
3. Taxi Driver
4. The Departed
5. The King of Comedy
6. Killers of the Flower Moon
7. Raging Bull
8. The Irishman
9. Silence
10. Gangs of New York

...plus 7 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Still not seen Lolita.

1. The Shining
2. Barry Lyndon
3. Paths of Glory
4. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
5. A Clockwork Orange
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. Full Metal Jacket
8. Eyes Wide Shut
9. Spartacus
10. The Killing

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

Inspired by others combining them, a ranking of Ari Aster, Jordan Peele, and Robert Eggers' films.

1. Get Out
2. The Northman
3. The Lighthouse
4. Midsommar
5. Nope
6. The Witch
7. Us
8. Nosferatu
9. Hereditary
10. Beau Is Afraid

1. Parasite
2. Memories of Murder
3. Snowpiercer
4. The Host
5. Mickey 17
6. Barking Dogs Never Bite
7. Okja
8. Mother

A ranking of 2020s films that were nominated for Best Picture. This therefore starts from the 2021 ceremony, which celebrated the films of 2020.

1. Drive My Car
2. The Zone of Interest
3. Oppenheimer
4. The Banshees of Inisherin
5. Top Gun: Maverick
6. The Holdovers
7. The Power of the Dog
8. Killers of the Flower Moon
9. Anora
10. Nomadland

...plus 38 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Anora
2. Conclave
3. I'm Still Here
4. The Substance
5. Dune: Part Two
6. The Brutalist
7. Nickel Boys
8. A Complete Unknown
9. Wicked
10. Emilia Pérez

1. The Zone of Interest
2. Challengers
3. Anora
4. Sing Sing
5. Conclave
6. Hit Man
7. The Substance
8. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
9. Perfect Days
10. A Real Pain

...plus 110 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Wrong Tros
2. A Matter of Loaf and Death
3. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
4. A Close Shave
5. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
6. A Grand Day Out

Directors featured more than once:

Four films:

Stanley Kubrick

Three films:

Alfred Hitchcock
Richard Linklater
Martin Scorsese
Steven Spielberg

Two films:

Paul Thomas Anderson
Bong Joon-ho
Frank Capra
Charlie Chaplin
Francis Ford Coppola
Akira Kurosawa
Christopher Nolan
Rob Reiner
Celine Sciamma
Quentin Tarantino
Agnes Varda

• The Kid
• It Happened One Night
• Modern Times
• Citizen Kane
• Casablanca
• Double Indemnity
• It's a Wonderful Life
• Bicycle Thieves
• The Third Man
• Rashomon

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

• Drive My Car
• The Social Network
• Memories of Murder
• GoodFellas
• The Shining
• Barry Lyndon
• Cléo from 5 to 7
• Vertigo
• It's a Wonderful Life
• It Happened One Night

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

1. Hunger
2. Widows
3. Lovers Rock
4. 12 Years a Slave
5. Shame
6. Blitz
7. Mangrove
8. Education
9. Red, White and Blue
10. Alex Wheatle

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

• Shirley
• Mogul Mowgli
• Nomadland
• Ammonite
• Spencer
• The Power of the Dog
• Petite Maman
• Memoria
• Holy Spider
• Triangle of Sadness

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Batman films ranked, live action, his name must be in the title. I haven't seen 'The Movie'.

• The Dark Knight
• The Dark Knight Rises
• Batman Begins
• The Batman
• Batman & Robin
• Batman
• Batman Forever
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
• Batman Returns

1. Oppenheimer
2. The Holdovers
3. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
4. Women Talking
5. Past Lives
6. Killers of the Flower Moon
7. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
8. The Boy and the Heron
9. How to Blow Up a Pipeline
10. Babylon

...plus 99 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The films of David Fincher, ranked. Still not see Benjamin Button.

1. The Social Network
2. Se7en
3. Zodiac
4. Gone Girl
5. Fight Club
6. The Killer
7. The Game
8. Panic Room
9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
10. Alien³

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

1. Despicable Me 2
2. Despicable Me
3. Minions: The Rise of Gru
4. Despicable Me 4
5. Despicable Me 3
6. Minions

Very much a working list.

• Fight Club
• A Clockwork Orange
• (500) Days of Summer
• GoodFellas
• The Wolf of Wall Street
• American History X
• Joker
• Wall Street
• American Psycho
• There Will Be Blood

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

1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
2. Spider-Man 2
3. Spider-Man
4. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
5. Spider-Man: No Way Home
6. Spider-Man: Homecoming
7. Spider-Man: Far From Home
8. The Amazing Spider-Man
9. Spider-Man 3
10. The Amazing Spider-Man 2

I still haven't seen Cars 3.

1. Toy Story
2. The Incredibles
3. Monsters, Inc.
4. Inside Out
5. Toy Story 3
6. Ratatouille
7. WALL·E
8. Toy Story 2
9. Soul
10. Finding Nemo

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

Feature films directed by Sofia Coppola, ranked.

1. The Virgin Suicides
2. Marie Antoinette
3. The Beguiled
4. Lost in Translation
5. Priscilla
6. Somewhere
7. On the Rocks
8. The Bling Ring

1. La La Land
2. Babylon
3. Whiplash
4. First Man

1. Jackie Brown
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
4. Reservoir Dogs
5. Inglourious Basterds
6. Django Unchained
7. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
8. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
9. The Hateful Eight
10. Death Proof

Top 30 films of the 2010s ranked.

1. The Social Network
2. Boyhood
3. Parasite
4. Under the Skin
5. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
6. Get Out
7. Inception
8. Faces Places
9. Burning
10. The Handmaiden

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Zone of Interest
2. Oppenheimer
3. The Holdovers
4. Past Lives
5. Killers of the Flower Moon
6. Anatomy of a Fall
7. Poor Things
8. Barbie
9. American Fiction
10. Maestro

• Scream
• Good Will Hunting
• Saving Private Ryan
• Magnolia
• Chicken Run
• Ocean's Eleven
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• Memories of Murder
• Mean Girls
• Brokeback Mountain

...plus 19 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Films released in 2015, that were seen in 2015, ranked.

1. Inside Out
2. Brooklyn
3. The Falling
4. Dear White People
5. Inherent Vice
6. Carol
7. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
8. The Martian
9. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
10. Clouds of Sils Maria

...plus 71 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The films of Jonathan Glazer, ranked.

1. Under the Skin
2. The Zone of Interest
3. Sexy Beast
4. Birth

Top ten films of the 2000s, ordered chronologically.

• Ocean's Eleven
• Memories of Murder
• Before Sunset
• Mean Girls
• The Incredibles
• Pan's Labyrinth
• The Lives of Others
• Volver
• Hot Fuzz
• There Will Be Blood

Films released in 2018, that were seen in 2018, ranked.

1. Sorry to Bother You
2. Faces Places
3. Black Panther
4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
5. Thoroughbreds
6. Roma
7. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
8. The Rider
9. The Ciambra
10. Blindspotting

...plus 114 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Top ten animated films, unranked.

• My Neighbor Totoro
• Toy Story
• Chicken Run
• The Incredibles
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Arthur Christmas
• Inside Out
• Your Name.
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Films added as and when I see them.

1. Jurassic Park
2. Saving Private Ryan
3. Minority Report
4. Catch Me If You Can
5. Jaws
6. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
7. Bridge of Spies
8. Schindler's List
9. Lincoln
10. A.I. Artificial Intelligence

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Coen Brothers films ranked. Only films where they worked together. Films added as and when I watch them.

1. Barton Fink
2. Fargo
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
4. Hail, Caesar!
5. No Country for Old Men
6. A Serious Man
7. Inside Llewyn Davis
8. True Grit
9. The Big Lebowski
10. Burn After Reading

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

Films directed by Alexander Payne, ranked.

1. Election
2. The Holdovers
3. Sideways
4. The Descendants
5. Nebraska
6. Citizen Ruth
7. About Schmidt
8. Downsizing

Literally just made this so I could screenshot it for a twitter trend. It's probably not even an accurate top ten, but I love all these films anyway so whatever

• Cléo from 5 to 7
• Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
• Clueless
• Faces Places
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire
• The Falling
• Zero Dark Thirty
• Booksmart
• Little Women
• Arthur Christmas

The films of Andrei Tarkovsky, ranked.

1. Stalker
2. Ivan's Childhood
3. Solaris
4. Andrei Rublev
5. Mirror
6. Nostalgia
7. The Sacrifice

1. Inception
2. The Dark Knight
3. Oppenheimer
4. The Prestige
5. Dunkirk
6. Interstellar
7. The Dark Knight Rises
8. Batman Begins
9. Memento
10. Insomnia

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

1. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
4. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
5. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

1. Scream
2. Scream 2
3. Scream VI
4. Scream 4
5. Scream
6. Scream 3

1. Top Gun: Maverick
2. The Banshees of Inisherin
3. Women Talking
4. TÁR
5. Triangle of Sadness
6. Everything Everywhere All at Once
7. All Quiet on the Western Front
8. The Fabelmans
9. Elvis
10. Avatar: The Way of Water