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2004's most 'playable PS3 game' vibe of a movie. Half expecting quicktime events to pop up on screen during some of the slow mo in this.

Very silly but weird seeing how much of a debt Ridley maybe owes this with Prometheus's whole setup and for a film called Alien vs Predator, once it gets going, you do get your fair share of titular battles, so that's good. It's just most stuff around it that feels so hollow.

Well this prequel didn't really give any extra insight into the rage virus at all tbh.

(Did I watch this before doing a Days and Weeks Later rewatch just to make this shit joke? Pretty much)

The Road to Jurassic World: Rebirth #1

Quite simply, one of the greatest motion pictures there ever was.

Even if the rest of the franchise was genuinely brilliant, it would still have inevitably been a downhill trajectory. What happens instead is a series genuinely making a case against its own existence (tied only with post T2 Terminator films maybe?) and, while everyone loves dinosaurs, it's hard not to agree when the first film out of the gate is this perfect, this complete, this timeless.

Still, of course I'm gonna be rewatching them all ahead of Rebirth- including a first time watch of Dominion, which I vowed never to watch for everything it seemed to stand for. But fuck it, I'll get the knives out.

Watched on Sunday June 8, 2025.

SXSW London #7

Mike Flanagan, who intro'd this tonight alongside Hiddleston and Ejiofor, said that despite being a Flanagan/King t, this was not a horror.

I respectfully disagree as that first act was the most existentially stressful depiction of the end of the world I've seen in a while, from the slow increase of natural disasters to the almost casual acceptance of the people to all the other weird shit going on and a jump scare involving street lighting that (mostly thanks to a great sound mix) nearly gave me a heart attack.

A surprisingly 'small' film in the end, with much less Hiddleston than I expected. Lovingly told and performed, I'm a bit lukewarm on the whole but its made me really want to read King's source material.

Loved the gentle score and the whole look of this thing (shoutout DP Eben Bolter who shot a sci-fi short of mine back in the day!).

SXSW London #6

Brilliant dramatisation of what happens when a highly competent and super empathetic person gets everything slowly put on her shoulders. A beautifully human (and definitely triggering, for anyone working in an understaffed hospital) drama that shows the mutitudes in everyone, reminds us that we're all going through something and how the snowball effect of stress can break even the most efficient person. I sobbed.

SXSW London #5

Really fucking funny and charming as all hell, every 'lesbians in space' pun you could ever think of is covered here but it's also just a really great coming of age/self acceptance story too.

Aunty Donna as the three straight white maliens debating lesbian vs thespian, scene of the year.

Long live indie, aussie animation

Truly woeful. But not not fun?

Every character interaction in this includes two people reminding each other of past events, as if referring to a previous (better) movie that doesn't exist, such is the sloppiness of the exposition here.

Howled when the lead walks into his version of Q's secret hideout, picks up a simple knife and marvels at it like, "woah, sick tech". Then shows him a child's drawing of a gun complete with awful handwriting and is like, make me this.

Oh and said lead actor looks shockingly like a time travelling Sebastian Stan. He also has a Mr Miyagi mentor, leading to training montages where he's dipping throwing stars in 'sleep inducing' juice. Dude, is it meant to be lethal or not?

Biggest wtf moment - when a villain's computer report gets a close up and if you pause it, you can actually read it and all it is is a disgruntled art department person bitching about having to create a bunch of useless text in 'paint', moaning that this villain isn't even real, shattering the 4th wall.

Rad as hell.

Give me another featuring a Spartan, a Pirate and a Hitman, like, yesterday.

SXSW London #4

Lots to ire in this tight, weird little eerie horror, from the composed visuals, the musical focus and the sub 80 min runtime but it never quite clicked for me, keeping its cards too close to its chest for far too long.

The characters simply aren't drawn out further than the surface level that we see and its the odd script that not only feels like its missing a 3rd act but a 2nd one as well.

Undercooked but a horror set in the world of film score creation is certainly original.

SXSW London #3

A wildly ambitious low budget movie that has some AAA grade location filming and some inventively visual VFX sprinkled in for good measure, this tale tries to be a survival story, a sci-fi and a grounded, thematic piece about grief, letting go and the lengths we go to in order to not have to.

A few script trips and occasionally repetitive structure, this is bolstered by a huge, physical central performance, a cool score and some great VO work. Doesn't always click together but boy, it's refreshing seeing someone genuinely brave (all) the elements for art and our entertainment.

One of those beautifully quietly observed movies that feels like it'll go up half a star with every subsequent rewatch. A balm.

The shit that ends up on my watchlist sometimes.

Giving your masked killer Wolverine claws as a signature weapon is pretty cool but only if they, I don't know, fucking use them

Featuring baby versions of Nicole Kidman, Noah Taylor, Naomi Watts and Thandiwe Newton (who is really great here)

SXSW London #2

An oddly paced, avant garde slasher, owing plenty debts to giallo as well. One hell of a killer mask and a few great kills, even if it all ends up in quite a (lovingly) derivative place.

That rant about the state of consumerism and movie slop was on point though.

SXSW London #1

The searing lead performance here is worth seeing, even if the film itself feels like it doesn't quite know what to do with the dark inciting act of rape that sets our protagonist on her journey of shock, trauma and ptsd - which may well be part of the point. The acting subplot as an outlet for her emotions sometimes felt like a distraction but was arguably a more interesting path than the typically macho (as emphasised by the brother's desire for action) quest for revenge.

I miss the love affair the 90s had with Michael Crichton.

Solid! But is full of (too many?) fascinating concepts - alien ship? Time travelling ship? Mysterious sphere? Underwater monsters? Magic reality bending powers? - that it breezes past all them and refuses to really engage with the implications of any of it.

First half is much stronger as it gets less focused and compelling as it goes on but Sam Jackson is really on form here.

Watched this during my worst hangover in two years.

Doris Dowling is absolutely magnetic in a small role.

Watched on Saturday May 31, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 29, 2025.

A bit Karate Mid but somehow worth it for a good old fashioned freeze frame ending and that pizza based pun.

Latest local Vue nonsense: the dude to my left taking about seven posed selfies in his seat for no apparent reason before the film. Actually, you do you buddy.

Watched on Thursday May 29, 2025.

Man, that karate kid was in danger of becoming the karate man.

(Cause this film is nearly two and a half hours long).

Smith and Chan make this much more worthwhile than it could have been.

Did I hallucinate a Greg Kinnear cameo where he played a reporter named Greg Kinnear?

Watched on Monday May 26, 2025.

Very effective single location thriller which remains stressful and tense throughout. Leaves a lot to be theorised as well, in a good, campfire story sort of way.

Two things let it down a bit for me: that the voice on the phone (not the daughter, the other one) was such a tonally off performance, sounding more like someone doing a spooky voice for an audiobook, that I never once bought into it being a real person on the other end of the line.

And secondly, that despite hurrying to reach their daughter after a serious accident, on deserted roads in the middle of the night, it feels like they barely go above 30 miles an hour and it drove (lol) me insane.

Well this was a delight.

I went into this expecting sub par Wes by the sounds of some of the recent reactions but I really dug it. It's brand of madcap buffoonery and globe trotting locales, anchored by the pairing of a old legend (Del Toro) and a newcomer (Threapleton), felt closest to The Grand Budapest Hotel, dealing also with espionage, family, art, mid 20th century and an unlikely romance.

While the actual machinations of the plot often went way over my head, this was also the funniest script since Budapest, with line after line of ready made quotes delivered memorably by a game cast.

What really sold it for me was the evolving dynamic between the core trio of Del Toro, Threapleton and a movie-stealing Michael Cera - I would have watched those three characters doing literally anything so just spending time in their very particular company was a joy. This focus made the usual ensemble nature feel less group project, like Asteroid City or The French Dispatch, and more driven by a singular goal and narrative again.

Plus, I had never really imagined what a Wes Anderson action film would look like but after a particular fight sequence in the final act, sign him up to do John Wick Chapter 5, why not!

I think time will be kind to this one in the grand pantheon of Anderson ts and I'd love to see him continuing to change it up again for his next one, as there is a world of tonal, thematic and intentional difference between this, Asteroid and the Henry Sugar shorts.

Watched on Saturday May 24, 2025.

Ok I'm sorry, sure this wasn't "good" per say and a step down (only slightly) on the other Fear Street movies but I thought this much more watchable than other recent, throwback, streaming turds like Timecut and Totally Killer.

For one, it looks way more like an actual film (low bar I know), with thought in the lighting and shadows and lenses, with good performances and enough killer suspects to genuinely keep you guessing. Plus the 80s inspired score, while very copy pasted, still slaps (especially the end credits track).

It's kinda like how the actual 80s are filled with a ton of lesser, copycat slashers, it's easier to imagine this as a homage to those, rather than the actual classics it might want to sit beside. So you end up with a derivative, somewhat formulaic slasher that liberally borrows from everything you've seen before but sorry, didn't hate it like i thought i would! And like the tween market of R.L Stine's brand of horror, you could do a lot worse with this as a digestible introduction to horror for younger viewers (complete with lots of bloody gore and body parts).

Wes's talkiest and most melancholy film in quite a while. Beautifully designed (as per) and profoundly moving in places. The actors playing actors in a play concept keeps everyone at somewhat of a distance but when emotion transcends the art of performance (and art itself) it hits. At least for me.

Certainly a fav Desplat score too.

A film where it feels like 85% of all on screen actors are non professionals who have been thrown in front of the camera 5 seconds after being shown a script.

A rapist gets his ass set on fire, a real kitten narrowly avoids getting sliced in half by a katana and the villain is Anthony Keidis's dad doing an insane Dr Strangelove impression. Truly delirious movie.

🎵 No ninja, no ninja, no 🎵

Dumb and fun.

That mannequin filled warehouse was the stuff and nightmares. Also extremely funny that the 50 (60?) something white guy screenwriter cast himself as the badass, terminator-like unstoppable villain.

And the 'back to the shadoooows' Bond like theme song gets used three times, as it tradition in White Guy Karate Summer.

The Road to The Final Reckoning #8

Mission... accomplished!

Immediate thoughts - this is the choppiest, messiest, most grandiosly ambitious (stretching the limit of believability) entry, which finally starts to buckle under the weight of the franchise's history. The clip show nature out of the gate threatens to set off some alarm bells (though actually, the one completely arbitrary and random returning character ends up giving said character the most surprising and genuine redemption arc beats) but once we are finally into the actual endgame mission, we're hitting some supreme highs to see us out.

So its weird, as a narrative this Dead/Final Reckoning arc is maybe my least favourite of the movies (outside of MI:2 in general) so both would probably rank low. I just really prefer standalone and complete impossible missions with a rogue team. Simple. But where it doesnt quite sit neatly as a movie, as an experience it is still next level.

There were moments during the laying out of what they have to do in the end which made me say "fuck off that's literally impossible", which conjured the ghost of Anthony Hopkin's character going "well this is mission impossible, not mission difficult" and I was like, oh yeah.

Seen at the BFI Imax in London (sans Cruise on the roof, I can only assume) and the t video intro of both that clip of him on the roof and then a normal video introduction back to back had the room cheering. I think we'd all follow the President of Movies into cinematic battle at this point. Anything you need sir.

Dug the ending (obvs no details here yet) but you know what... I'm in for MI:9: Still IMF-ing About

A moment during the sub sequence had my entire row of random guys all lean forward as one, like that meme of the guy sitting forward in his chair. Cinema.

The Road to The Final Reckoning #7

First rewatch since cinemas. I was always a little down on this one after the high of Fallout. The hallmarks of a Part One in franchise filmmaking (bloated runtime, incomplete story) rear their head here but this time I was able to enjoy what works.

Shea Wigham! Hayley Atwell! A host of great sequences, as per usual - the airport key chase/bomb defusal, Rome car chase, Venice showdown, the TRAIN.

So as its very much a massive setup for the next/"final" movie, it doesn't quite land as a singular experience in the same way as the sublime run of 3-6, and is a little less accessible to casual viewers, leaning a bit more on franchise history in a way this series has not relied on as much (and, I imagine, that the Final Reckoning will go overboard on).

Ok then... I need you to trust me... one last time

(Final Reckoning at BFI Imax toniiiight!)

Thought this would be an ideal, campy, nostalgic, easy watch for a flight.

Watched 20 mins in departures lounge.

Chipped through it every now and then during my five day holiday.

Tried to finish it but my netflix had expired and the hotel wifi was dogshit.

Did the last 40 minutes just now.

Not worth the effort. Bullock a star but utterly lost in this waffle.

Like everyone else, watching this as it can now be intended - the feature length finale to Andor that just happens to have happened first.

Comparisons with the razor sharp, masterful series are now both to it's advantage (added character context! Fantastic action! Feels like a movie!) and disadvantage (less refined writing! Felicity Jones is weak sauce! Feels like a movie!) but this still whips ass and it's kinda crazy Disney nailed what a spin off Star War could be, years before the glut of streaming content.

Thrilling throughout, with some spectacular sequences, from Jedda's destruction to Eadu's rainy side mission, its always visually exciting and shot just the way you'd hope a Gareth Edwards flick would be but it really sings with that last 30 min climatic stretch, a genuine franchise wide highlight full of gasps, cheers and emotional fallout.

Yes, creepy CG ghoul Peter Cushing has aged even worse than it immediately did on day of release but Donnie Yen knows exactly what movie he's in and K-2SO makes a play for best droid character in the saga. Every moment with him is brilliant.

The Road to The Final Reckoning #6

The greatest cinematic bathroom fight? Greatest cinematic helicopter chase? Greatest cinematic... moustache? Quite possibly. Certainly the most expensive (soz Justice League).

The first entry that truly feels like a direct sequel, we have Ferguson, Baldwin, Harris (and Monaghan!) all returning to cap off threads from Rogue Nation and III, but the newcomers of Bassett, Cavill and Kirby are excellent too.

A fairly subdued dual-focused opening (losing the plutonium and also tricking the manifesto guy) quickly finds its feet and goes from halo jump to bathroom scrap to party fight to Solomon Lane extraction to Paris bike chase all within the first hour. And it doesn't let up, building to the best climax of the lot with the insanely tense three way finale (bomb defusal, Ilsa's battle, helicopter chase/mountain dual). Sorry MI:2, not even you can match up now.

Hard to call it the best fully rounded movie in of standalone story (you know I'm a III junkie) but equally hard not to see that this is where the franchise truly cements itself as this big stuntshow spectacle, along with everything that goes with that: Cruise's dedication to defying death for our entertainment, McQuarrie's methods for writing his movies around the set piece constructs etc.

The moment with Hunt saving the french cop is a lovely brief reminder of his humanity. He will always save his team but seeing him risk it all to save an innocent bystander is a lovely beat in an otherwise chaos fuelled flick. I think its no coincidence that this is the first (aside from the Ghost Protocol cameo) to bring Julia - and that side of him - back.

Oh and props to the thrilling London footchase that, aside from an impossible St-Paul's-to-ading-rooftop-jump, respects the actual geography of the city and would be kinda possible. If you were able to run across Blackfriar bridge's station rooftop without threat of arrest and/or death.

Absolute ass.

Wants to be a throwback to 80s John Carpenter, ends up feeling empty, inert and trashy in the shittest, most boring sense.

Someone tell the people behind this that it's not enough to just coast on aesthetics, homage and references, there needs to be some, i don't know, dramatic tension? Structure? Of both scenes/sequences and the movie as a whole? Characters you care about whose motivations and stakes are clear and that do more than just say their names out loud and hope the vaguely game accurate looks will do the heavy lifting?

I'm no Arrow-head but Amell is the spitting image of Chris Redfield. Same for the Wesker chap. But the cast are all left to flounder with a godawful script and cheap looking, scare-free visuals.

And all the goodwill it might get from fans for finally being Resident Evil in your Resident Evil motion picture, it surely loses by squishing the events of games 1 & 2 into one film and fucking with a lot of chronology, lore and god knows what else (shout out to the 'turn around zombie' at least. That guy fucked me up at age 11).

Feels like a miracle that after six Paul W S Anderson movies and then this half hearted reboot that we're even getting yet another stab at it from Zach Creggor. Maybe HE can finally crack the code....... veronica.

Watched on Monday May 12, 2025.

A movie about entitled, bitter, rich boomers living in holiday homes, made by entitled, bitter, rich boomers living in holiday homes.

A grey pound movie if the total monetary figure is in the multi millions.

Michael Douglas is never not watchable though, elevating this vapid character to heights it does not deserve. No one quite yells at kids for being put off his lunch quite like him.

Rob Reiner's Just for Men dye job is a crime.

Everyone in this movie is acting like they're in a skit, from the mannerisms to the crazy accents. A tonal disaster. Insane that Jack was Oscar nommed for this.

We nearly covered this as a main ep on CCH Podcast, based on it's prestige. Thank god we swapped it out (for Robocop 3 no less) because Pounder is in it for about 8 seconds as well.

In which David and Xian have a Brazilian adventure, initially to do some kickboxing (as you'd expect) but then mostly to do a Taken and murder a bunch of goons to rescue a teenage street urchin who has been sold to sex slavery.

What the fuck happened here? Is it 'lad's holiday' rules where all the murder isn't talked about once they get home? Insane tonal shifts and complete re-characterisation going on here.

Still, they're all in on the South American setting. How much did the tourist board put into this?

Quite slow and pondering, with little zest to the match based fights, and then it just fully becomes a Karate Kid movie (with a touch of Rocky IV) complete with the returning Miyagi character but hey, the cast includes Peter Boyle and Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa so its perfetly watchable.

The Road to The Final Reckoning #5

At this point, we were on the 5th different director in five films but at the time, we didn't know this was the transition into a fully Cruise/McQuarrie authored franchise. As a starting point of a new chapter, it's rock solid, with brief reference to M:I 1, some recap of GP and bringing in threats and allies that will stretch beyond merely the next sequel (even if this is the end of the line for poor Brandt - bring back Renner!).

Rebecca Ferguson, goddess in a yellow dress that she is, feels so naturally a part of this world. We get the new insane stunt (hanging onto a plane during takeoff), the best singular setpiece next to Burj Khalifa and Langley heist (Vienna opera house) and perhaps the most impressive physical feat yet (of course, Cruise doing that lateral pole shimmy thing. Core strength I cannot even fathom).

Also the return of motorbikes! Gimme some of that M:I 2 juice.

The "Ethan Hunt is living his last day as a free man" into the 'Six Months Later' title card is the closest it gets to Brad Bird's comedic sensibility though the cast still feel like they're all operating on that GP level, which is great. Except maybe creepy ol Sean Harris; definitely the best baddie since Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

A great balance of plot, action and character, it wholly works on its own as well as doing quite a bit of setup for the magnum opus of Fallout coming next.

Watched on Friday May 9, 2025.

Watched on Friday May 9, 2025.

During the credits after it had finished, I accidentally twisted a scrunched up aluminium can in half and it split into a razor sharp point, nearly slicing my palm open. I have learned nothing.

Seen at an early media screening so will save a full write up for when I inevitably see it again with my housemates, whose backs I went behind to see it tonight despite promising a group trip, whoops.

At any rate, see it in IMAX to experience the aspect ratio changes getting in on the joke, top stuff.

First time rewatching this in over a decade. Wild to see where the MCU started out now, knowing all that has happened since, and also how much it holds up as a great superhero origin movie, fuelled so much by the rebirth of RDJ.

Indicators that we were in a different era back then: the freaking Paramount logo, Tony's flip phone, the Myspace shoutout, casual sex, practical suits, Terence Howard's Rhodey, the mere presence of Jeff Bridges...

As a Lifetime movie, it's leagues more watchable than Dano's old efforts, but it's still all a bit self serious and silly.

Major props to CCH Pounder (no shit) for having one of her most interesting roles as a woman with ALS who helps Anthony Michael Hall test his healing hands abilities, which come complete with vague Dr Who special effects and weird interdimensional style antechamber visuals.

Should have been all about the two of them entirely though - one a sceptic, one a convert etc etc. Instead, it focuses way too much on how having these magic powers are affecting poor AMH's life, boo hoo.

Well that was a barrel of laughs.

Depressingly real and excellently performed, it doesn't quite offer much more than a surface level 'well ain't that the truth' kind of shrug thesis, becoming extra bleak when you realise how hard it was for essentially young boomers to fall through the cracks of modern day society, let alone how difficult it is now for untold numbers more.

Oh yeah, the version I watched on YouTube (recorded off the True Movies channel?) inexplicably has had 1.6 million views, with over 2,000 comments yet here on Letterboxd it's been seen by less than 300 people. Who are all these non-Letterboxd obsessively watching a TV movie from the late 80s starring Harry Dunne?

CCH Pounder can make even the kindly best friend character who feels like a pure NPC absolutely believable and captivating.

Me and my Sudden Double Deep/Is Paul Dano OK co-host Daryl have carved out a summer season of schlock, attempting to watch as many (very specific) karate movies of the late 80s-mid 90s period.

These will include, but not be limited to: terrible mullets, questionable accents, abs for days, brick shithouses, excellent kicking, godawful acting, non-permit location shooting, exploding much of South East Asia, cartoon-y henchmen, neo nazis apparently(?) and... the inspiring arrogance of the average white guy in double denim.

Ranked for preference/amount of fun had whilst watching (cause they're all pretty shit, let's be honest)

UPDATE: We're back for Summer 2023 baby! (from 28th May 2023)
UPDATE 2: Back for Round 3 motherfuckas! (from 31st May 2024)
UPDATE 3: It's Round 4 time! FIGHT! (from 2nd May 2025 cause we're in a goddamn mini heatwave and it just feels right)

1. The Karate Kid
2. Superfights
3. No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder
4. Shootfighter: Fight to the Death
5. Double Impact
6. Best of the Best
7. The King of the Kickboxers
8. The Karate Kid Part II
9. Best of the Best 2
10. Firecracker

...plus 80 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Prey really rejuvenated this franchise and I'm dying for more stand alone takes where you mix up the time period, setting and warrior protagonist. Then chuck a Predator in there.

In need of a more recent rewatch:
- the AVPs
- and to be honest, The Predator, which I think I was kind on but now is dating absolutely horribly

1. Predator
2. Prey
3. Predator: Killer of Killers
4. Predators
5. Predator 2
6. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem
7. The Predator
8. AVP: Alien vs. Predator

For seasons between Dano centric episodes, we at Is Paul Dano OK have been turning the spotlight onto other fantastic character actors/overlooked national treasures. This list is everything covered in those seasons:

Greers (season 5) - Judy Greer
Won't You Take Me To... Clancy Brown (season 7) - Clancy Brown
Weisz City (season 8) - Rachel Weisz
Hiro Worship (season 9) - Hiroyuki Sanada
CCH Podcast (season 11) - CCH Pounder

Listen to all episodes here: tinyurl.com/ipdoapplepodcasts

1. 13 Going on 30
2. Driven
3. Pottersville
4. Jawbreaker
5. Addicted to Fresno
6. Barry Munday
7. Cursed
8. The Village
9. Good Boy
10. Highlander

...plus 30 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Slowly going through the Wilder filmography, having seen maybe seven or eight previously. A truly incredible career.

1. Witness for the Prosecution
2. The Apartment
3. Sunset Boulevard
4. Ace in the Hole
5. Double Indemnity
6. The Lost Weekend
7. The Major and the Minor
8. Five Graves to Cairo
9. Sabrina
10. Bad Seed

An impossible, fruitless task but here it is anyway. My personal ranking of Wes Anderson's movies. I love them all. Some more than others. That's how lists usually work.

Also - despite owning both on DVD, I haven't rewatched The Royal Tenenbaums or The Life Aquatic in at least ten years so they may jump around when that happens.

A whole heap of excuses I know. So sue me.

- Asteroid City added 28/06/23
- Feature version of Henry Sugar added to LB so have added it in
- The Phonecian Scheme added 25/05/25

1. The Darjeeling Limited
2. Rushmore
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. Fantastic Mr. Fox
5. Asteroid City
6. The Phoenician Scheme
7. The Royal Tenenbaums
8. Moonrise Kingdom
9. Isle of Dogs
10. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More

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

Making the choice

Most pairs are fairly interchangeable and even II is a hell of a fun time. What a franchise.

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

With (unbelievably) This is Spinal Tap II finally out later this year, I thought I'd try and get through Rob Reiner's filmography. He has one of the strongest starting seven film runs in cinema history (being one of, if not the only, director whose top 5 films I give 5 stars to??) and then... drops off a cliff. Almost like a human version of The Simpsons - nothing but bangers then nothing but crap? But look, I've not seen many of his latter day films myself (probably for good reason) and I'm a sucker for a completionist challenge. Let's see.

1. When Harry Met Sally...
2. The Princess Bride
3. Stand by Me
4. Misery
5. This Is Spinal Tap
6. A Few Good Men
7. The Sure Thing
8. The Bucket List
9. Being Charlie
10. The Magic of Belle Isle

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

Big Ben Wheatley fan over here, I love his zigging and zagging from contained shootout action comedy to trippy psychological horrors to incredibly tense family dramas to Statham punching a giant shark. The range!

Still to see:
- Meg 2 The Trench
- BULK

In need of a more recent rewatch:
- Sightseers

1. A Field in England
2. Sightseers
3. In the Earth
4. Happy New Year, Colin Burstead
5. Free Fire
6. Kill List
7. Down Terrace
8. High-Rise
9. Rebecca

Another big blindspot for me, along with how Bergman and Leigh were until recently, so going to work my way through his fairly compact filmography

1. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
2. Shadows
3. Faces
4. Husbands
5. A Woman Under the Influence
6. Minnie and Moskowitz
7. A Child Is Waiting
8. Too Late Blues

The MCU is the most dominant shared universe going, showing real longevity in an industry increasingly obsessed with trying to kickstart new ones.

This is based on personal preference when compared to each other and as such, original star ratings and list-placement may not always align. We'll see.

Up next: The Fantastic Four: First Steps!

1. Guardians of the Galaxy
2. Avengers: Endgame
3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
4. Black Panther
5. The Avengers
6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
7. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
8. Captain America: Civil War
9. Iron Man
10. Thunderbolts*

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

Another pointless exercise as I love so many of these movies that ranking them is futile but here is a easy reference list for A24's many great flicks (obviously only including ones I've seen).

Pretty much everything in the top 20 could jump up and down, depending on mood, emotional connection, fun factor, relevance etc. I mean, I have a 4 star film as low as 34 and everything bar the bottom 3 are 3 and a half stars or up. Quite the record!

Will add to it as and when.

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. Aftersun
3. The Green Knight
4. Past Lives
5. Eighth Grade
6. Sing Sing
7. A Ghost Story
8. 20th Century Women
9. The Lighthouse
10. The Witch

...plus 94 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I've been a huge Godzilla fan for about 16 years now (longer if you count my 12th birthday outing to see Godzilla 98... I don't) and I managed to rent all of the discs from the beautiful new Criterion Collection edition of the Showa-Era (1954-1975) during the pandemic.

As of April 2025 - I'm now fully caught up! Millennium done!

1. Godzilla Minus One
2. Godzilla
3. Godzilla
4. The Return of Godzilla
5. Destroy All Monsters
6. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
7. Shin Godzilla
8. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
9. Godzilla vs. Biollante
10. Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla

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

Found myself with about five of Atom Egoyan's movies on my watchlist and, knowing next to nothing about him except that he directed the 2009 Amanda Seyfried clunker Chloe, am finally gonna dive in.

1. Next of Kin
2. Family Viewing

Discovered Hal Hartley's stuff the other year, trying to keep going and track down most of his other work, will update as I go

1. The Unbelievable Truth
2. Trust
3. Simple Men
4. Henry Fool
5. Surviving Desire
6. Amateur
7. Fay Grim

It's Akerman season all across the BFI right now so I am jumping into her work, starting with the BIG one.

1. Golden Eighties
2. Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
3. Toute une Nuit
4. News from Home
5. The Meetings of Anna
6. Je Tu Il Elle

When this dude makes a banger, boy does he make a banger. Will be going through the others of his I've not seen

1. The Truman Show
2. Witness
3. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
4. Picnic at Hanging Rock
5. Fearless
6. The Plumber
7. Dead Poets Society
8. The Mosquito Coast
9. The Way Back
10. Gallipoli

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

What initially started as a mammoth Buster Keaton-athon, watching all his shorts and his three main features on blu-ray, has spiralled out to include some choice Harold Lloyd cuts as well as (currently) working my way through ten of Chaplin's best movies, thanks to his blu-ray set too.

I've become a firm fan of the silent era, from Keaton's stunts and comic ingenuity to Chaplin's inventiveness and charm - thanks also in part to a great birthday gift in the tome 'The Parade's Gone By' by Kevin Brownlow.

1. The General
2. City Lights
3. The Great Dictator
4. Safety Last!
5. Sherlock Jr.
6. The Gold Rush
7. The Circus
8. Steamboat Bill, Jr.
9. One Week
10. The Kid

...plus 53 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Hail the Bong Hive.

Still to see: Barking Dogs Never Bite

In need of a rewatch: The Host

1. Parasite
2. Memories of Murder
3. Snowpiercer
4. Okja
5. Mother
6. Mickey 17
7. The Host

In a springtime warm up to this summer's White Guy Karate Summer season, my pal Daryl and I are indulging in some enjoyable trash, largely after hours with a beer or five. Andy Sidaris, auteur that you are, let's go.

1. Malibu Express
2. Hard Ticket to Hawaii
3. Guns
4. Picasso Trigger
5. Do or Die
6. Enemy Gold
7. Day of the Warrior
8. L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies: Return to Savage Beach
9. The Dallas Connection
10. Hard Hunted

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

Don't mind me, just adding another European auteur to the list to try and watch all their films (well, maybe most with this guy, he was prolific)

1. Love Is Colder Than Death

The works of Ridley Scott.

In need of a more recent rewatch:
- Matchstick Men, Black Hawk Down, Hannibal

1. Alien
2. Blade Runner
3. Gladiator
4. Thelma & Louise
5. Kingdom of Heaven
6. Gladiator II
7. The Duellists
8. The Martian
9. The Last Duel
10. Prometheus

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

Mike Leigh has always been a big blind spot for me, Happy Go Lucky aside, so I'm gonna rinse his filmography as best I can on the run up to Hard Truths' LFF screening

1. Secrets & Lies
2. Happy-Go-Lucky
3. Hard Truths
4. High Hopes
5. Naked
6. Another Year
7. Career Girls
8. Vera Drake
9. The Short & Curlies
10. A Sense of History

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

As a co-host of the Spocklight podcast, this was literally something I've put a lot of time and thought into. For deeper cuts, check out the podcast itself - spocklight.podbean.com/ - or specifically our Movie Ranking episode - spocklight.podbean.com/e/episode-14-the-movies-ranked/

** Updating following the Aug 22 4k big screen rewatch of Motion Picture and then the Jun 24 4k IMAX rewatch of Search for Spock **

1. Star Trek
2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
3. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
4. Star Trek: First
5. Star Trek Beyond
6. Star Trek Into Darkness
7. Star Trek: Generations
8. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
9. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
10. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

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

Have you ever thought to yourself... gee, acclaimed actor Paul Dano sure does get punched a lot? Well, so did we so we started a podcast all about it. It's called 'Is Paul Dano OK?' and is available wherever you get podcasts.

Here's a direct link - t.co/6WkFvUW1tX?amp=1

This is the official Letterboxd list of the show where we shall rank EVERY Paul Dano film, based on the quantity (and quality) of the injuries he sustains, both physical and emotional. Which film will be his deadliest? Will he make it through a single one unscathed? Listen along and find out with us.

See notes for the specific breakdowns!

Twitter/Instagram: @IsPaulDanoOK

Season 10 now releasing!

1. Prisoners

   2.08 - Prisoners

   14m: Enter Dano, creeping it up in his RV which he immediately crashes into a tree.
   16m: Handcuffed and manhandled by Loki.
   17m: Now has a busted lip as he's intimidated by Loki in an interrogation. Gets all up in his face.
   34m: Grabbed and wrestled to the ground by an angry Hugh Jackman.
   42m: Strangles his own dog like a total psychopath.
   43m: Held at gunpoint and kidnapped.
   46m: Taped up and chained to a radiator in a dirty, abandoned bathroom.
   51m: Clearly already deep into a beatdown. Gets punched 3 more times in the face.
   53m: Shoved into the corner and threatened violently with a hammer. es out and slides down the wall.
   1h 3m: Subject to more offscreen abuse by Jackman.
   1h 5m: Has a bag removed from his head revealing horrendous swelling and bruising on his face. Still chained to the sink.
   1h 7m: Cuts his hand on a glass shard when attempting to escape. Tied up again.
   1h 9m: He's transferred to a wooden cage that he can barely fit inside which is then hooked up to boiling hot or freezing cold water.
   1h 26m: Doused in scalding hot water.
   2h 2m: Screaming but found by Loki
   2h 20m: Via the newspaper headline, he's been reunited with his real parents after 26 years

   Verdict: No! He is having a rough old time. Between the child abduction, living a life of abuse and suffering mentally, everything is already pretty bad - and that's before he's tortured to within an inch of his life for a crime he didn't do. In fact, he's a victim of the same perpetrator! Even though his ultimate fate is a technically happy ending, he's going to live with this trauma forever and unlike Dastmalchian, he didn't even get to check out with a bullet to the head. Death might have been kinder. Undeniably, NOT OK.

2. There Will Be Blood

   3.01 - There Will Be Blood

   19 mins: Enter Dano as Paul Sunday, smartly bagging himself $500
   29 mins: Enter Dano as Eli Sunday
   56 mins: Gets very into his public exorcism
   1h 13 mins: Slapped in the face five times by Plainview, humiliated, kicked and dragged along the ground, head shoved under and mud forced into his mouth
   1h 16 mins: Attacks his own father in a rage
   1h 55 mins: Gets his own back on Daniel during the baptism, takes things a little too far
   2h 23 mins: Forced to repeat "I am a false prophet, God is a superstition" against his will
   2h 27 mins: Bullied by Daniel
   2h 29 mins: Thrown down a bowling alley, has three bowling balls thrown at him, chased around the lane, has three bowling pins hurled at him, smacked on the back with a fourth and then bludgeoned twice in the head until dead

   Verdict: Daniel and Eli complete each other. They are each other's true nemesis and the fiery finale is all but destined from the beginning. Eli is a total schmuck and a coward and, unlike his brother, he simply makes a constant string of terrible decisions that leads to him ending up with a 7-10 split in his skull. NOT OK.

3. Looper

   1.05 - Looper

   4m: Enter Dano, trying to stop his bike from getting stolen
   12m: Suffers emotional distress at meeting his older self
   20m: He gets sold out by Joe
   21m: Gets a message scrawled into his arm, which scars over on his older self
   22m: His older self (and therefore, Dano as well) loses three fingers on his right hand, then his nose, then his right foot. Crashes his car. Loses his tongue. Loses his left foot. Loses his left hand.
   23m: Shot in the head.

   Verdict: Not good, no matter which timeline you look at. The younger Paul Dano has been left absolutely crippled for life, and the older version had to witness himself losing limbs in real time before embracing the bullet to the head to put an end to it all. He is NOT OK.

4. Light and the Sufferer

   4.02 - Light and the Sufferer

   0 mins: Enter Dano, mucking about with a gun
   15 mins: Smokes crack in a cab
   24 mins: Does more drugs at Annette's
   31 mins: Held at gunpoint and threatened
   43 mins: Gets a BIG slap from the drug dealer
   52 mins: Gets shot
   55 mins: Bleeds out and dies

   Verdict: Yeah, this dude's fucked. He starts the movie in a tough place and it only gets worse from there, big cat alien or no big cat alien. Ends up dying dramatically (and somehow also anti-climatically) so Not OK.

5. The Good Heart

   3.02 - The Good Heart

   0 mins: Enter Dano, homeless and eating cat food
   5 mins: Wakes up in hospital, post suicide attempt
   15 mins: Finds his kitten hung by a noose
   25 mins: Gets his ear sliced by an old barber
   27 mins: Gets sliced by Brian Cox and his razor when he shaves him
   54 mins: Smacked in the nose with a bag of frozen money
   1h 10 mins: Breaks up with April
   1h 27 mins: Hit and killed by a ing, speeding car

   Verdict: He had it really rough but still held onto his (titular) good heart. Later events start to morph him into a more cynical person but he's through the other side before the end, unfortunately getting killed in a hit and run. He's not OK... but his heart will live on

6. Swiss Army Man

   2.01 - Swiss Army Man

   2m: Enter Dano, trying to hang himself on a beach.
   5m: He tries suicide again with Manny's belt but gets an idea.
   15m: Generally starving and desperate for water. He sleeps in a cave.
   21m: Losing his mind talking to a dead guy
   28m: His sad existence is harshly called out by Manny who has no tact. Ouch.
   28m: Throws up from some poison berries.
   31m: Freaked out by Manny's boner.
   35m: Tells a story of his fucked up childhood, his Dad telling him about masturbating, his Mum dying, his school yard bullying.
   38m: Steps in shit and falls over.
   39m: Spooked by a bear, rolls down a hill and tumbles off a ravine.
   1h 1m: Falls off a metal pipe bridge into the river.
   1h 7m: Finally gets signal on his phone and realises no one has even messaged him.
   1h 9m: Scratched in the leg by the bear.
   1h 10m: Blasted into the sky by Manny's rocket fart and falls back down through the trees.
   1h 13m: Falls out of the tree, breaks his leg and gets dragged away by the bear.
   1h 18m: Fights with Manny, thrown across a garden and pinned down.
   1h 28m: Basically suffers a complete mental breakdown
   1h 30m: Gets arrested.

   Verdict: No, he's very much not OK. He essentially has a twisted vision quest in the woodland, talking to a maybe real/maybe imaginary corpse and reveals himself to be a bit of a lonely incel. He might get some psychological help in prison but the overall outlook isn't great. Not OK.

7. The Batman

   4.01 - The Batman

   Note: This is going from memory after only two cinema viewings so the time stamps are withheld for now.

   - Enter Dano, creepily stalking and murdering Gotham's mayor
   - He appears completely unhinged on a viral news broadcast, threatening the police commissioner, who he's since killed.
   - He attacks Coulson in the back of his car.
   - He plays the game of riddles with Coulson and Batman at the funeral, really showcasing his demented mind.
   - He gets slammed onto the diner counter and is denied his piece of pie when he's finally arrested.
   - He has something of a mental breakdown when he realises Batman wasn't his partner all along and he's confronted with his own insanity.
   - Broken and defeated, he's losing it in his Arkham cell until his new "friend" next door pipes up.

   Verdict - Yeah, this dude is not ok. Although he disappointingly doesn't receive a single punch (or even a touch of any kind) from Batman, this is on a psychological level. He's delusional and psychotic - so really, a perfect fit for Gotham city.

8. L.I.E.

   1.06 - L.I.E

   0m: Enter Dano, balancing precariously above a motorway
   1m: He misses his mum who died in a crash
   12m: His tros get ripped by pedo Brian Cox whilst escaping a robbery
   19m: Pinned to the ground by Gary (but not spat on at least)
   21m: Punched in the face by his own dad
   22m: Threatened by three bullies against the school lockers
   30m: Slapped about and basically kidnapped by Cox
   38m: Has his leg groped by a sexual predator, co-erced into sexual favours
   45m: Shoved to the ground after asking to see a newspaper
   46m: Punched in the head and knocked down then put in a headlock and punched two more times, back onto the floor
   1h 2m: Squirted in the face with a water pistol by some random kid
   1h 11m: Strangled by Scott briefly
   1h 16m: He finally breaks down crying, having believed his arrested father had actually abandoned him

   Verdict: Boy oh boy, he isn't but maybe, over time, he will be. But for now... Not OK.

9. The King

   6.03 The King

   6 mins: Enter Dano, singing about Jesus in a Christian band
   36 mins: Is told he's not as talented as the Lord
   44 mins: He confronts Elvis about his sister (their sister?) and gets shanked in the gut
   45 mins: And he's dead

   Verdict: He wasn't having the best life even before Elvis showed up but he had a sense of having a future. Unfortunately, his half brother who was banging his full sister decided to stab him like a lunatic so he's a goner. Not OK

10. Weapons

    4.03 - Weapons

    3 mins: Enter Dano (so it turns out) blowing Nick Cannon's head off with a shotgun
    8 mins: Enter Dano properly, making a movie and trying to be all gangster
    16 mins: Has his camera slapped away
    50 mins: Shoved away by the girls and called a disgusting pig
    53 mins: Punched by Jason at the party and shoved aside
    55 mins: Tells a story about being picked on when he was little
    1hr 12 mins: HE raped the girl...
    1hr 17 mins: Shoots Reggie

    Verdict: This guy's nuts. The cycle of violence leads him to commit numerous violent acts, culminating in Reggie's murder. He isn't getting away with this is he? Definitely Not OK.

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

The Year in Film, 2024. Largely UK releases only though the occasional small, currently unreleased titles may slip through. Around twenty 2025 films that I've seen at LFF/BAFTA events are kicking off that new list nice and early.

1. Sing Sing
2. The Holdovers
3. All of Us Strangers
4. Poor Things
5. Anora
6. Love Lies Bleeding
7. Challengers
8. My Old Ass
9. A Different Man
10. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

...plus 140 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Recently, my friend/story artist/past collaborator David Trumble ( @Drumble ) has been breaking down Disney movies in a recurring Twitter thread called 'Disney + David', highlighting the groundbreaking aspects of these movies as well as their more problematic elements, historical context and erasure of certain artistic contributors.

Thanks to Disney Plus unlocking the full pantheon of the Disney Vault, I'm aiming to work my way through all 62 (as of March 2024) of the official Animated Classics (listed here - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Animation_Studios_films ) and doing what I always do... rank! These are the theatrically released animated movies, not including direct to video sequels, main live-action hybrids or remakes.

Top spots will as usual be personal favourites and the ones that mean the most to me but with so many different eras across 80+ years of film-making, I'll probably break it down into tiers.

Note: Make Mine Music (1946) isn't on Disney+!

1. Aladdin
2. Wreck-It Ralph
3. Tangled
4. Moana
5. The Princess and the Frog
6. The Lion King
7. Pinocchio
8. Robin Hood
9. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
10. Sleeping Beauty

...plus 35 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Stop motion daddies

Need to rewatch: The Pirates! Flushed Away

Still to see: Shawn the Sheep: Farmageddon

1. The Wrong Tros
2. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
3. Chicken Run
4. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
5. The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
6. Arthur Christmas
7. A Close Shave
8. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
9. Shaun the Sheep Movie
10. A Grand Day Out

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

I've been a curious fan of David Gordon Green ever since Pineapple Express and, like a lot of people, was surprised to find out he was a Malik-like drama director before turning to stoner comedy so I dipped back into his filmography.

Slowly finishing off the rest of my blind spots, which will now just include The Sitter and a rewatch of Your Highness... I know.

Still to do: The Exorcist Believer

1. Pineapple Express
2. George Washington
3. Prince Avalanche
4. Halloween Kills
5. Halloween
6. All the Real Girls
7. Halloween Ends
8. Stronger
9. Joe
10. Manglehorn

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

Ahead of the new Ghostbusters film, I was gonna rewatch all of Jason Reitman's filmography because, I don't know, that's who I am now? Anyway, Ghostbusters got bumped along with everything else this year but I still managed to finish this off. He's a consistent filmmaker and I'm intrigued about what other stories he might look to tell.

Completed - 6/8/20
Ghostbusters Afterlife added - 21/11/21
Saturday Night added - 23/11/24

1. Up in the Air
2. Juno
3. Young Adult
4. Saturday Night
5. Tully
6. Thank You for Smoking
7. Ghostbusters: Afterlife
8. The Front Runner
9. Labor Day
10. Men, Women & Children

I've seen a fair few of 2025 releases already so that leaves me, roughly, with this so far!

1. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
2. Mickey 17
3. The Brutalist
4. Havoc
5. Superman
6. Sinners
7. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
8. Bugonia
9. 28 Years Later
10. Thunderbolts*

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

Another year, another Industry+ affording me lots of treasures. Over and out.

1. Anora
2. Hard Truths
3. Last Swim
4. A Real Pain
5. Blitz
6. Nickel Boys
7. All of You
8. Bring Them Down
9. Flow
10. Bird

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

My latest director season falls to Pedro Almodovar. I caught his last two releases when they came out so they're included here to kick us off but I'll be trying to revisit the vast majority of his filmography which will be a mix of first time watches and reappraisals. I vividly studying him during college where we watched a good number of his early films so I'm excited to go back!

Completed - 11/9/20
The Human Voice added - 17/10/20
Parallel Mothers added - 4/1/22
Strange Way of Life added - 13/12/23
The Room Next Door added - 19/10/24

1. Pain and Glory
2. The Skin I Live In
3. All About My Mother
4. Volver
5. Talk to Her
6. Dark Habits
7. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
8. High Heels
9. Law of Desire
10. Parallel Mothers

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

Guadagnino is on fire right now, with basically one film per year from 2022 - 2025. Getting a quick ranking up as I try and fill in some blanks.

Need to see: The Protagonists, Melissa P, I Am Love, After the Hunt

1. Call Me by Your Name
2. Challengers
3. Bones and All
4. Queer
5. Suspiria
6. A Bigger Splash

I'm excited about the new M Night t, TRAP, which just dropped it's trailer so thought I'd do a quick list as this guy now has 16 films to his name.

Will I torture myself with some of his shittier entries just in the name of completion though? Probably. Eventually

Still to see: The Last Airbender, After Earth

1. The Sixth Sense
2. Unbreakable
3. Split
4. Signs
5. The Village
6. Trap
7. Old
8. Knock at the Cabin
9. The Visit
10. Glass

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

Having found myself with some extended free trial time for BFI Player, I figured I'd check out a fairly big blind spot of my filmic education and tackle some Bergman.

1. Wild Strawberries
2. Autumn Sonata
3. Fanny and Alexander
4. Shame
5. The Silence
6. Persona
7. Scenes from a Marriage
8. The Virgin Spring
9. Through a Glass Darkly
10. The Seventh Seal

...plus 17 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Tim Burton is a filmmaker I've long been meaning to revisit, with a distinctive style and an interesting range of great to terrible entries to his filmography. Only a few of his I haven't seen before but I'll be going through the rewatch chronologically with a kick off point from his latest - Dumbo - which I really enjoyed, despite my annoyance at the whole live action Disney thing.

07/09/24 - Beetlejuice Beetlejuice added

1. Edward Scissorhands
2. Ed Wood
3. Batman Returns
4. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
5. Sleepy Hollow
6. Beetlejuice
7. Batman
8. Frankenweenie
9. Pee-wee's Big Adventure
10. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

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

Quick and cheeky Boyle ranking after finally seeing his debut

Still to see:
Millions, 28 Years Later

In need of a more recent rewatch:
Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, 127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire

1. Trainspotting
2. 127 Hours
3. Sunshine
4. Shallow Grave
5. 28 Days Later
6. Slumdog Millionaire
7. T2 Trainspotting
8. Steve Jobs
9. Trance
10. Yesterday

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

I love all westerns but perhaps none more so than the Italian Westerns of the 60s and 70s (plus a couple from elsewhere in Europe).

I caught up on two I hadn't seen recently so this is an ongoing ranking. Others I definitely want to watch, which I shall delete from this description as and when I do, now only includes God Forgives... I Don't (67)

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2. Once Upon a Time in the West
3. For a Few Dollars More
4. Death Rides a Horse
5. Face to Face
6. The Great Silence
7. Cemetery Without Crosses
8. The Big Gundown
9. A Fistful of Dollars
10. Day of Anger

...plus 30 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A list (and somewhat vague ranking) of everything I've seen at the Frightfest Film Festival since I started going in 2010. Not counting all the short films I've caught there, including my own, which probably numbers in the literal hundreds now.

1. Turbo Kid
2. Anna and the Apocalypse
3. Summer of 84
4. Fall
5. Ready or Not
6. Come to Daddy
7. Raging Grace
8. Harpoon
9. The Unthinkable
10. Things Will Be Different

...plus 58 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ahead of this year's new Alien film from Fede Alvarez, my personal ranking of the franchise so far.

Alien/Aliens are two PERFECT albeit very different films for me but Aliens gets the edge for how much of a thrill ride it is - shoutout to the 30th anniversary Prince Charles screening that also happened to be my own 30th.

In need of a more recent rewatch:
- the two AVP films... I guess

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

1. The Favourite
2. Poor Things
3. The Lobster
4. Kinds of Kindness
5. Dogtooth
6. The Killing of a Sacred Deer
7. Alps

Pixar film list time! Now this one is almost complete folly seeing as any film in the top ten is probably worthy of my number one spot at any one time but with an increased release calendar to match the likes of the MCU, it'll be a fun one to keep adding too.

Keep checking in as things may change after any given rewatch but for now, here's my personal ranking.

Up next: Elio

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

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

Had a sick day so watched all 5 original movies back to back. Already loved the reboot trilogy and loathed the Burton one but now I'm done!

10/05/24 - KOTPOTA added

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

Well okaaay then, I'll show you the life of the mind! This list will really tie the room together, you betcha ya.

I did a complete rewatch of the Coen Brothers back catalogue last year before Hail Caesar came out and it just occured to me that I didn't make a fancy pants list for it. I think that's because, for me, these films are almost impossible to actually rank - as they cover such diverse genres, tones and emotional impact.

So this one really just reflects my own personal preference but well, that's just like, my opinion man.

17/10/21 - added The Tragedy of Macbeth (only one brother but fuck it, still basically counts)
16/03/24 - added Drive Away Dolls (same but for Ethan)

1. Raising Arizona
2. The Big Lebowski
3. No Country for Old Men
4. Inside Llewyn Davis
5. Miller's Crossing
6. Fargo
7. Barton Fink
8. True Grit
9. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
10. The Hudsucker Proxy

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

Following a seasonal re-watch of Planes, Trains and Automobiles (legitimately one of my all time favourite films - Martin and Candy are both perfect), I think I could do with more Steve Martin to see me through this dark, dreary winter so I'm gonna make my way through his golden years. I've got an 8 film strong collection of personal favourites already but I'm going to fill in the gaps where I can too with the previously unseen Pennies From Heaven, All of Me, Lonely Guy, Roxanne, Parenthood and more.

1. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
2. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
3. Little Shop of Horrors
4. Bowfinger
5. The Man with Two Brains
6. The Jerk
7. The Muppet Movie
8. L.A. Story
9. ¡Three Amigos!
10. Parenthood

...plus 21 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Denis Denis

1. Prisoners
2. Arrival
3. Blade Runner 2049
4. Sicario
5. Dune: Part Two
6. Dune
7. Enemy
8. Maelström

How does one even begin to rank the works of Steven Spielberg? When he's great, he's masterful. When he's average... he's still pretty great. How does his more mature masterpieces sit alongside his pure cinema adventure masterpieces?

Well I'll try and figure it out. Here's my preferences.

(Note - I'm not counting stuff he had a slight hand in like The Twilight Zone Movie, nor things he was either rumoured to have made (Poltergeist) or had a big hand in producing)

In need of a more recent rewatch:
- Schindler's List, Duel, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Tintin, Munich, Empire of the Sun, 1941

1. Jaws
2. Jurassic Park
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
5. Minority Report
6. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
7. Schindler's List
8. Catch Me If You Can
9. The Fabelmans
10. Duel

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

I'd love to say that in the run up to Mank, I'll get through a full rewatch of David Fincher's filmography but I'm a busy boy right now and might have to stretch this one out.

In need of a more recent rewatch:
- Fight Club, Se7en, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

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

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

Re-watching Sofia Coppola's filmography whilst this lockdown continues because why not. 'Somewhere' will be the only first time watch but it's been yeeears since I last saw everything else (outside of The Beguiled).

Going in reverse order. Mainly cause The Beguiled was only on iPlayer for another 8 days, lol.

Completed 4/5/20
On the Rocks added - 10/10/20
Priscilla added - 02/01/24

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

A truly bumper year for me. Saw a bunch at Glasgow and London Film Festivals (but most things with a 2024 UK release I'm saving for that year's list - All of Us Strangers, Zone of Interest, The Holdovers etc).

1. Past Lives
2. Anatomy of a Fall
3. Oppenheimer
4. Godzilla Minus One
5. The Fabelmans
6. The Boy and the Heron
7. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
8. Barbie
9. Evil Dead Rise
10. How to Have Sex

...plus 140 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.