4v291o

Enjoyable. Particularly liked the final section fighting to save Bob from himself. Might have liked a little bit more of Bucky and Alexei together?

This film is nothing without Michael Peña.
Thunderbolts prep.

Thunderbolts prep.

Perfect Bank Holiday Monday fare.

Full of German actors I like, so it was a pleasure to watch.

More at The Movie Isle.

Intriguing travelogue of Asia in indeterminate time frame through the view of travelling white people. But I kept drifting in and out of the narrative because Edward and Molly were not interesting as characters. And that stupid laugh of hers - nobody would have been happy marrying that.

Watched on Sunday April 13, 2025.

This review may contain spoilers.

I don’t suppose I’m the only person watching this today (21 April 2025) but anyway.
I thought this was a very good, (mostly) well acted political thriller with an unusual twist. And highly enjoyable.
But I think casting John Lithgow in this role is a bit obvious, and woeful under-use of Isabella Rossellini (although to be fair, women are not generally prominent at a conclave. Or in the Catholic Church tbh.)

A handful of men sit in a room and casually discuss and decide how people - who have committed no crime - will be removed from their country and dealt with just because they look different or believe something different from the powers that be. 
Ladies and gentlemen, this film is a dramatisation of an actual meeting which took place in in 1942.
Wake The Fuck Up.

A pivotal piece of art.
More at The Movie Isle.

Can’t believe this is a first time watch for me!
To be honest I ire it more than love it, but I think I’m probably missing the wow factor of seeing this in 1971.
A very good NYC film though.

An extremely good film about what it really means to return home after a war. Those who stayed at home rush to get back to normal. But the returnees are adjusting to a new normal. Heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure.

Perhaps a little bit by the book true story-telling, but it’s still quite riveting.

When the world crashes and burns, telling ourselves stories saying "We did our best" will not be good enough. Not sure if the songs worked though.
Full review at The Movie Isle.

Boo that this version is in English and not the French version (thanks for nothing, Prime Video).
The dialogue is really stilted and the final scene totally unnecessary.
But prime Delon is not to be dismissed.

Not bad. Not brilliant. Somewhere in between.

Some of the regular Bong tropes - haves and have nots, society falling apart, complete mayhem at times. I didn’t not enjoy this, but in my personal opinion Bong’s Korean language films are better than those in English, and of those, Snowpiercer is still my favourite.

Every bit as good as the reviews. Intense, oppressive. Fernanda Torres is outstanding.

Not. My. Scalpel.
More at The Movie Isle.

Contemporary and suspenseful. The psychological threat is creepy. Not sure if the two halves of this film fit together though.
More at The Movie Isle.

A kind of a heist movie, but where the heist isn’t the climax of the film – in fact, it’s the opening. Instead of building up to how the hold-up unfolds, the story explores – in reverse chronology – events which answer the question ‘why is this happening?’ rather than ‘how did we get here?’.
More at the Movie Isle.

Intriguing tale of a young woman's attempt to reinvent her life, thwarted when she becomes a witness in an assault.
More at The Movie Isle.

Don’t miss the first five minutes. Bizarre as it is, the opening scene helps to anchor all the gentle absurdity and surreal behaviour which is about to happen.
More at The Movie Isle.

Watched on Thursday March 20, 2025.

Storytelling mixed with archive footage, this film is strident and visionary in its retelling of history, this time with women included.
Full review at the Movie Isle.

Not quite a ‘rite of age’ story, as each member of the group appears to have already decided what their niche in life is to be (or has society pigeonholed them by default?), but Last Swim definitely has more to it than other ‘last day of freedom’ tales
More at The Movie Isle.

An extra half star for Nataly Rocha's excellent performance.
More at The Movie Isle.

Beautiful and touching film about families and dealing with grief.

Uh-oh. First half just about acceptable, second half a bit of a mess actually. Did not enjoy Sam Rockwell here at all, neither did I like the way Natasha is ogled over by the camera. And how could I have forgotten that horrible M*sk cameo? Yuk. I need a shower.

Oops, thought I had logged this at the time but obviously not. 
I found this to be a very moving story, filled with people who I absolutely would not want to be on a trip with.

Re-watched after seeing Captain America: Brave New World to remind myself of what I had erased from my mind first time around.
- Liv Tyler's breathy, soppy Betty was not my cup of tea.
- Had forgotten that Lou Ferrigno makes a cameo.
- Miss William Hurt on screen.
- Am all caught up with Stearns now.
- Had completely and totally forgotten the Tim Roth stuff, which tells you how much of this film I had scrubbed from memory. (Yes, I have seen the She-Hulk series and no, it didn't even click then.)

Not amazing, but not all bad. I mean, I really like Anthony Mackie and he does a great job. I think the first part was probably better than the second.

Stylish Japanese assassin thriller sequel.
Full review at The Movie Isle.

Stylish Japanese assassin thriller.
Full review at The Movie Isle.

"In the past, I’ve always thought that Cruising needed more of a commitment as to whether the crime solving or the personal revelations were the main focus, and this new release has perhaps changed that a little bit. There’s a strong thread of ambiguity in many areas throughout the film, and this beautiful new viewing experience has me convinced that it is deliberate this time around. Though it will never be top of my Pacino list, it is still an interesting watch.
More at The Movie Isle.

Frothy, silly, entertaining French daftness.
Contains no depth nor message, and its existence is purely to satisfy the need for an hour and a half of light French humour.
More at The Movie Isle.

ired a lot, didn’t love.
It’s taken a few days to formulate thoughts, but I think my response is that, having sat through the entire run time and all the things that happened to poor Laszlo, everything gets explained in the last five minutes.

Rightful Oscar winner. Crimes against humanity right there on your screen.

This is not my favourite Ackerman of those I’ve seen. I was honestly very anxious about her sugar levels at several points.

Somewhat convoluted, saggy in the middle, spy thriller. But Alain Delon, so hey.

I don’t think I have ever played any online game, let alone GTA, in my life. But I do love me some Shakespeare. After the first 5 minutes of me hating the violent online environment, this film totally blew me away. Yes, for the creativity and inspiration to put on a full blown Shakespeare play within a video game, but mostly for the personal and human moments. We were all at one or other of these points during lockdowns and I only wish I knew of its existence at the time because I would definitely have been auditioning!

All the signs are there of what is to come from a more mature and artistically developed Almodóvar.
The irreverence and political commentary is highly entertaining, but the flippant attitude towards rape and domestic violence is a bit (a lot) difficult to watch.

I dunno. I left this a few days before deciding what to write here in case something more positive occured to me.
However, this film didn't seem to offer anything beyond a bog-standard biopic, with often unintelligible dialogue to boot. A straight-forward biopic might work if the main character has a few shades of interest about him, but I found nothing of interest in this portrayal of Dylan (ittedly not a Dylan fan in the first place). I was more intrigued by the characters of Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, and felt sorry for Elle Fanning in a thankless role.
Can understand that Dylan fans may see more here than I did, but I felt nothing.

Just finished watching this and I can’t make up my mind if it was really good or really bad. It’s that kind of film.

Oof well that was bleak.

I quite enjoyed the opening musical number and then was completely sidelined when the rest of the plot kicked in.
How on earth could Audiard be allowed to get away with this travesty? Equating cleansing of your bad deeds with undergoing gender affirming surgery is appalling. 
One star for the opening scene and no more.

Watched on Tuesday January 21, 2025.

I'm probably going to get lynched for this (pun not originally intended but I'm going with it anyway): I found several scenes extremely difficult to watch.

It was absolutely fun checking in with some familiar faces, realising David Bowie makes an appearance, and then all the red room stuff of course.

But I have to say, watching Laura's last days so intently, while not learning from those scenes much more than we already knew from the TV series, was bordering on exploitative.

This was my first time viewing and maybe I watched it with a 2025 eye, but for me, not a rave-worthy experience.

Do not really know how to comment on this.
The first section (ie the majority of the film, before the arrival of the actual bird, not just Rogowski) was incredibly difficult to watch, full of really horrible people and it hurts to see children living in such circumstances and being forced to grow up before their time.
Then after the arrival of the bird, it's a whole different film, one which I had not seen coming.
The best thing to do would be to watch it again with the knowledge of where it's going. But that's not going to happen (see above).

Entertaining. But surely a little self-indulgent with the glamourisation of events?

Imma try to fill in the gaps ...

• Wings
• The Broadway Melody
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Cimarron
• Grand Hotel
• Cavalcade
• It Happened One Night
• Mutiny on the Bounty
• The Great Ziegfeld
• The Life of Emile Zola

...plus 87 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A list of all the films wateched at Manchester Film Festival 2025. Reviews at The Movie Isle.

1. Aontas
2. Universal Language
3. The End
4. Aicha
5. Cloud
6. Last Swim
7. Transplant
8. Motel Destino

This is the first list I'm aiming to complete in 2023
Started at 58% when the list was first revealed ...
... continuing in 2024, where the year started on 86%
… and 2025, starting on 88% (pitiful progress)

Every decade the Sight and Sound team asks critics to name the greatest films of all time. Here are the results of the 2022 poll – the largest ever, with 1,639 critics, programmers, curators, archivists and academics each submitting their top ten ballot.

1. Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
2. Vertigo
3. Citizen Kane
4. Tokyo Story
5. In the Mood for Love
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. Beau Travail
8. Mulholland Drive
9. Man with a Movie Camera
10. Singin' in the Rain

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

• The Student of Prague
• I Don't Want to Be a Man
• Different from the Others
• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
• Destiny
• Nosferatu
• The Last Laugh
• The Adventures of Prince Achmed
• Metropolis
• Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

...plus 115 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Dates are usually linked to UK release dates, with a few festival screenings thrown in which may be outside general release.

1. The Zone of Interest
2. Godzilla Minus One
3. Perfect Days
4. Evil Does Not Exist
5. My Favourite Cake
6. Monster
7. All We Imagine as Light
8. Small Things Like These
9. The Teachers' Lounge
10. Sleep

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

Films seen for London Film Festival 2024

• Tarika
• All Shall Be Well
• My Eternal Summer
• The Balconettes
• When the Light Breaks
• Maria
• All We Imagine as Light
• Queer

I spent a week rewatching each of the films Xavier Dolan has directed, in the lead up to the UK release of Juste la fin du monde. Read my thoughts here.

1. Mommy
2. I Killed My Mother
3. It's Only the End of the World
4. Heartbeats
5. Laurence Anyways
6. Tom at the Farm
7. The Night Logan Woke Up
8. The Death & Life of John F. Donovan
9. Matthias & Maxime

Collecting together reviews of the films seen for EIFF24.
Now in order of favourites.

• The Ceremony
• Armand
• My Favourite Cake
• Blue Sun Palace
• Fugue
• To Kill a Wolf
• Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust

I didn't see that many films this year for a number of reasons. These are loosely 'ranked' but not in a specific order. Only Past Lives and Godland really hit me in any way (positively, I mean). The rest are just kind of grouped by my star rating.

• Past Lives
• Godland
• Nostalgia
• The Beasts
• Lakelands
• The Rye Horn
• That They May Face the Rising Sun
• All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
• Return to Seoul
• Afire

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

1. Flee
2. Hit the Road
3. The Quiet Girl
4. The Banshees of Inisherin
5. Decision to Leave
6. Ali & Ava
7. Memoria
8. Moonage Daydream
9. Broker
10. Costa Brava, Lebanon

...plus 56 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

At some point I do want to see all of these films.

1. Come and See
2. Parasite
3. Harakiri
4. A Dog's Will
5. The Godfather
6. The Godfather Part II
7. The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer
8. 12 Angry Men
9. Seven Samurai
10. The Shawshank Redemption

...plus 240 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I've tried. Honestly. But every time I revisit one of these films, the whole order changes again. Here's how it stands having just seen Avengers: Infinity War in cinematic release.

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. Captain America: The First Avenger
3. Captain America: Civil War
4. Thor: Ragnarok
5. The Avengers
6. Black Panther
7. Thor
8. Avengers: Infinity War
9. Iron Man
10. Doctor Strange

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

1. Quo Vadis, Aida?
2. Drive My Car
3. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
4. The Power of the Dog
5. Night of the Kings
6. Another Round
7. Riders of Justice
8. Mass
9. Dear Comrades!
10. Promising Young Woman

...plus 68 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A list of films watched during London Film Festival 2021.

1. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
2. Drive My Car
3. Mass
4. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
5. Azor
6. Cop Secret
7. Leave No Traces
8. Petrov's Flu
9. Nudo Mixteco
10. White Building

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

Jake Gyllenhaal has quickly become one of those actors who will entice me into a cinema - because of his role choices, he's often underrated (he's been good since long before Nightcrawler, you know).
Star ratings are for the films, rankings for how I feel about Jake's performance. Some older films which I've seen, but not recently, will be added after re-watching.

1. Enemy

   Two distinct performances, and never in any doubt as to which 'Jake' we're with at any one time: even when one is impersonating the other.

2. Nightcrawler

   Best. Jake. Yet.

3. Brokeback Mountain

   Needed something special to share screen time with this Heath Ledger performance, and it's there.

4. Nocturnal Animals

   Double Jake mixing a bit of creepy with a bit of doe-eyed romanticism.

5. Donnie Darko

   Just the right amount of weird to play strange boy Donnie.

6. Stronger

   Jake with brown eyes is odd, but gives a ... ahem ... strong performance of this complex character.

7. Source Code

   As confused as we are at the beginning, becoming more confident as he believes he can change the impossible, Jake is at his best in the emotional telephone call with his father. Really heartbreaking.

8. Zodiac

   Jake doesn't appear to know what Fincher wants from him - he's a bit of an outsider at the beginning, but not quite weird enough to become so obsessed by the end. He looks, well, lost. I'm inclined to think that's not Jake's fault.

9. Wildlife

   Jake is absent for a good chunk of this, but when he's there, he's solid.

10. End of Watch

    Jake has a wonderful bromance with Michael Peña and it's the best.

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

Discover the best new films, series and XR from around the world in person and online across the UK 6-17 October 2021 - tickets now on sale.

• The Harder They Fall

  LFF 2021 Opening Night Gala

• The Tragedy of Macbeth

  LFF 2021 Closing Night Gala

• The Power of the Dog
• Belfast
• Benedetta
• The French Dispatch
• King Richard
• Last Night in Soho
• The Lost Daughter
• Mothering Sunday

...plus 219 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Harder They Fall
• The Tragedy of Macbeth
• The Power of the Dog
• Belfast
• The Souvenir: Part II
• Mothering Sunday
• Ron's Gone Wrong
• Benedetta
• The French Dispatch
• King Richard

...plus 133 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A list of all the films I saw as part of Manchester Film Festival 2021. Reviews at The Movie Isle .

1. Dead in October
2. Fugitive Dreams
3. The Battle of Shangri-la
4. Urubus
5. The Catch
6. Misha
7. Country of Hotels
8. Infinitum: Subject Unknown
9. The Other
10. iGilbert

1. Parasite
2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
3. The Long Goodbye
4. Mangrove
5. So Long, My Son
6. A Hidden Life
7. Hamilton
8. Beanpole
9. One Night in Miami...
10. The Reason I Jump

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Mangrove
• Shirley
• The Reason I Jump
• Wildfire
• One Night in Miami...
• The Intruder
• Undine
• A Common Crime
• Ammonite

I'm a long-time fan of Al Pacino, and I wanted to find out for myself just when the intense young man of The Godfather turned into the shouty caricature of later years. I've already seen the majority of these films before but not for a while. So I'm starting at the beginning, in 1969, and working my way forward. Films will be added to the list as I re-watch them.

• Me, Natalie

  Pacino has about three lines in this, so nothing further to say really.

• The Panic in Needle Park

  Edgy role in which Al appears to be incapable of being still, apart from when he's drugged and out of it.

• The Godfather

  A flawless performance from Pacino - this kid is obviously going somewhere.

• Scarecrow

  An understated Al, demonstrating his skills in physical comedy, which we don't often get to see.

• Serpico

  Pacino's character's inner tension explodes now and again, but not in an over-the-top way. Anger, fear, frustration - perfectly generated.

• The Godfather Part II

  This might just be the perfect Pacino performance. Conflicted, contained, controlling.

• Dog Day Afternoon

  A complex Pacino performance, with Al being all blustery on the outside and deep on the inside, which we see mostly in those moments where Sonny is thinking, not doing.

• Bobby Deerfield

  A very quiet, mostly internal performance, as Al's character struggles to express himself. A good performance in a weak film.

• ...And Justice for All

  Saves it all for the final scene. And he's not out of order.

• Cruising

  Another internalised Pacino performance - he allows us to see glimpses of what may be happening in his head, but doesn't let much out.

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

• Nosferatu
• Metropolis
• Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
• Napoleon
• Grand Illusion
• The Rules of the Game
• Children of Paradise
• Rome, Open City
• Paisan
• La Terra Trema

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

I ranked these as I watched them. Now I'm at the end, there's very little to choose between most of them in of ranking. On one viewing only, my absolute favourite was V, the one I liked least was III, and spots 4-8 are pretty much all on the same level. I'm sure I will watch these again and again, and I'm also sure the order will be flexible too. But what an amazing collection of films.

• Decalogue V
• Decalogue I
• Decalogue VI
• Decalogue VIII
• Decalogue IX
• Decalogue X
• Decalogue II
• Decalogue VII
• Decalogue IV
• Decalogue III

1. Parasite
2. The Godfather
3. Come and See
4. The Godfather Part II
5. Harakiri
6. Seven Samurai
7. 12 Angry Men
8. A Dog's Will
9. Spirited Away
10. The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

...plus 240 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.