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Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try again1-5: Gold Circle 6-10: Silver Circle 10-15: Bronze Circle
---------------- OVERVIEW ----------------
Like all my lists this is a living, breathing thing, it's not a snapshot in time. I'll update it regularly as I watch more movies and my feelings about the movies on it change.
All in all I've watched 80 new releases from this year (my most ever, cheers global pandemic). I usually go by Irish release date not American or when it debuts at festivals (i.e. why The Lighthouse and POALOF are 2020.) unless I managed to catch it earlier on VOD somehow.
Note: The position for Lover's Rock is a placeholder for the entire Small Axe series by Steve McQueen. Yes, technically it's 5 films but I didn't want them taking up a load of spots. Plus it's my list lol
---------------- HONOURABLE MENTIONS ----------------
Quite a good few this year, really any of these could have taken that 14th and 15th spot but for now they're here. They are:
Vast of Night, 1917, Soul, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, The Kid Detective
---------------- FAVOURITE PERFORMANCES ----------------
Actor - Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse) Actress - Julia Garner (The Assistant)
---------------- FAVOURITE BAD MOVIE ----------------
This category is to celebrate the movie that failed in the best way possible, bringing me immense joy in the process. Essentially the so-bad-it's-good category.
- Money Plane (dir. who the fuck cares)
---------------- BEST MOVIE TO WATCH AS A BEDTIME STORY ----------------
Have Tilda Swinton spin you a tale about the downfall of humanity set to some relaxing music. It's very slow, repetitious, and has soft ambient sounds, which makes it the perfect movie for putting you to sleep - but in a good way.
- Last and First Men (dir. Jóhann Jóhannsson)
---------------- TBC ----------------
I have still yet to see a good few films, including some I've been anticipating for a long time but aren't easy to find or haven't found distributors yet (they might go to 2021), namely:
- family romance LLC (dir. Werner Herzog)
- to the ends of the earth (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
- the cordillera of dreams (dir. Patricio Guzmán)
- dwelling in the fuchun mountains (dir. Xiaogang Gu)
Others notable films I haven't managed to catch yet:
The Truth, Waves, Ema, Fire Will Come, Weathering with You, Queen and Slim, Stage Mother, Saint Frances, Time
---------------- BEST TV ----------------
Best TV: The Last Dance, Tiger King, The Mandalorian
Another year where I didn't really watch too much TV so pretty basic bitch picks here tbh. But shout-outs to The Last Dance for being one of the better doc series I've ever seen, and to Tigerking for being a clusterfuck of redneck shenanigans that I couldn't take my eyes off. Also The Mandalorian for being incredibly consistent if not a bit formulaic at times, but in a good 'you-know-what-you're-getting' kind of way. Like a warm hug from an old friend.
Hon. Mentions: (So many, it was a great year) ------------------------- Ladybird, Legion, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Ingrid Goes West, Dunkirk, The Last Jedi, Raw, The Blackcoat's Daughter
Yet to see: Coco, Lucky, Mudbound, Faces Places, Free Fire, Life, Molly's Game. It Comes At Night, Wind River, Killing of the Sacred Deer
Hon. Mentions: Train To Busan
Yet to see: Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Silence, Hacksaw Ridge, The Red Turtle, Fences, A Monster Calls
Hon. Mentions: ---------------------- Ford v Ferrari, Greener Grass, Little Women, Peanut Butter Falcon
Yet to see: High Life, The Irishman, Under the Silver Lake, Honey Boy, Diamantino, Birds of Passage, One Cut of the Dead, Pain & Glory, Toy Story 4
Hon. Mentions: --------------------- A Quiet Place, Sicario 2, You Were Never Really Here, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Avengers: Infinity War
Still to see: Roma, Burning, Suspiria, Shoplifters, The Night Is Short Walk on Girl, Paddington 2, Cold War, The Tale, Wildlife, At Eternity's Gate, Minding the Gap, Free Solo, The House that Jack Built, Hard Times, Don't Worry He Won't Catch Her On Foot, Under The Silver Lake, Lean on Pete, Sister Brothers, Happy As Lazaro, Ash is the Purest White, Skate Kitchen, Searching, The Guilty, Dogman
Reviews
Samurai Cop (1991)
"It means Japanese sword"
This is one of the all time great bad movies and I adore it with every ounce of my being.
Do Not Split (2020)
A full feature pls?
Really liked what was here but wanted it to go further, it felt so slight!
Army of the Dead (2021)
The train's come off the tracks
There's been this weird Zac Snyder 'moment' happening recently (powered by nerd tears no less) and I am so NOT here for it.
Nanook of the North (1922)
Love this
That scene of them sneaking up on the walrus is wild. That sentinel was asleep on the job smh.
Return to Splatter Farm (2020)
Hate to say it but...
Whatever these people were paid to act in this, it was too much.
Moonlight (2016)
Beauty
Rewatch :: Part of my brain doubted this was as good as I remembered it being. Surprise, it's even better!
Love and Monsters (2020)
Fallout lite
This might be the closest thing to a Fallout movie we ever get, which is kinda sad. On the other hand it's actually a surprisingly solid popcorn flick.
Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972)
A fever dream
Klaus Kinski is a terrifying human being. There isn't enough money in the world to make me get on a raft with that man.
My Octopus Teacher (2020)
Maybe I'm being a bit harsh but...
The octopus itself and its anthropomorphised story is gripping but the guy is so wrapped up in himself and his own epic journey it ultimately ends up feeling quite self serving.
Expedition Happiness (2017)
Rich kids are at it again
This was like watching a rich kids wanderlust vlog. It was painful. Also, they definitely tried to kill that dog.
Mortal Kombat (2021)
Fatality
Well, it was certainly an MK movie, for better or worse. The script was kinda lame and the fight scenes were a bit stiff but I was weirdly okay with that given the source material. The real fatality for this movie is its choice of main protagonist and the story it chooses to tell.
The whole 'clueless new character as a conduit for the audience' shtick really backfires here. He's so unbelievably boring, you will find yourself relishing every moment this guy isn't on screen. His power is LITERALLY plot armour mixed with a comeback mechanic. I died. They really should have just stuck with the story of Scorpion and Sub-Zero.
Psycho Goreman (2020)
This film made me actively dislike a child
This film made me actively dislike a child. I wanted it to be good bad (there is some of that) but it was mostly just bad bad.
Come True (2020)
People are sleeping on this film
I watched Minari before this and it cured my anxiety. This film brought it all the way back up to 11. Every time it went into a dream sequence I felt like I was holding my breath for a minute straight lol. May change my score on it in future, but if we're going purely by the "instant excitement to rewatch it" meter, this might be one of my favourite releases of the year so far.
If you like moody atmospheric sci-fi, banging synth soundtracks and are interested in dreams, give this a watch. It'd feel right at home in the 80's Cronenberg catalogue. The ending is a bit of a curve ball (and not necessarily in a good way) but that weirdness can't ruin all the good cache it's built to that point.
Cherry (2021)
Holland absolutely carries this
Lol at trying to make Tom Holland look like a man in his 30's by giving him a moustache. It's the equivalent of 3 kids in a trench coat trying to sneak into a cinema, it ain't fooling nobody.
Jokes aside though, Holland is a very likeable actor and without him this movie would be a much tougher watch. In fact, he's the best thing about all of these so-so movies he's been in lately (chaos walking, devil all the time). Please, can we get this man a better agent.
Honeydew (2020)
Big Yikes
This has all the window dressing, the aesthetic markers, of a good modern horror (think Hereditary, Relic etc) but with literally zero of the heart, story or backbone. It feels like a pastiche of those movies that doesn't understand what truly makes them work.
PS I literally burst out laughing when Lena Dunham showed up.
Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer (2019)
Cream of the netflix doc crop
"Did we feed the monster, did we help create it? AND YOU *points finger and stares into the viewers soul* Are you complicit?"
Firstly, I literally just got here, there ain't no "we". I didn't even know who this man was 3 hrs ago! Secondly, then why did ye make the doc Baudi, why did ye make the doc?
These shocking allegations aside, this is better than the average Netflix true crime doc. Following the history of the group trying to track this guy down and the ensuing cross continental chase is kinda wild and doesn't fall into the problem of being overly dragged out.
Chaos Walking (2021)
The title is not lying
They do be walking. Some likeable star power here but it ends up being a bit of a wet blanket. Add it to the list of high concept sci-fi with an interesting idea.... that fails to do very much with it. I would have loved them to explore more the psychological effects of being unable to hide your thoughts but it's used almost exclusively as a plot device and comic relief.
Concrete Cowboy (2020)
Squandered potential
The premise of this is not fully capitalised on by the screenplay, which is a little too obvious and is dragged down by an awkward gang/drug subplot.
Murder Among the Mormons (2021)
Murder on the Mormon Express
Them: "So and so is a rockstar of Mormon document collector circles"
Me: "So literally not a rockstar in any way then"
Even when I find the subject(s) interesting, I generally don't really like Netflix's approach to true crime. The interviews are always so self-canonising and nobody is ever challenged.
This in particular also suffers from something I really dislike, which is purposely misleading the audience with red herrings to make a story appear more scandalous than it actually is. It just makes the inevitable twists and shifts in direction so less interesting, they just come across as cheap and unearned.
Ah fei jing juen (1990)
Love love love
Wong Kar-Wai makes films you can feel in your bones. That's partly down to the general atmosphere he creates but after watching this one, I found myself thinking specifically about how fantastic he is at creating a sense of location and place, both physically and emotionally.
You become so familiar with these locations; the bar, the sidewalk, the apartment. The feelings associated with them, and what transpired there. The endings of his films are usually bittersweet, in a way that reflects our own sadness of having to part ways with these worlds. But like the characters of his movies, we're always longing for a way back, longing to be reunited again.
Bumblebee (2018)
Roll Out
Surprise surprise the best Transformers movie is also coincidentally the only one that doesn't have Michael Bay's grubby paws all over it.
This film isn't a world changer by any means - it's a very simple, cartoony story, but it works in the context of what it is, a Transformers movie.
Pet Sematary (2019)
Very middling
This is fine. It alternates between campy Goosebumps episode and some unexpectedly gnarly gore. In either case I was never really scared or creeped out.
La nuit des rois (2020)
A flair for the dramatics
Between this and Undine, magical realism as a genre is really putting in the work in 2021 😤
Skylines (2020)
Truly TV Quality
While not amazing, Beyond Skyline (2017) was a breath of fresh air in the overly dour modern action landscape. This follow up just goes off the cliff. The writing this time around is so bad; now combine that with a wholly unlikeable set of characters and it becomes almost unbearable.
Enemy (2013)
An enigma
Between this film, Zodiac and Nightcrawler I feel like Jake Gyllenhaal has cemented himself as perhaps the go-to actor for (handsome) obsessive neurotic types. And for good reason too, he's great at it.
This is expertly directed, like everything Villeneuve does. He manages to keep you on edge for the entire film, building this uniquely unsettling atmosphere that just kind of lingers. Like you need to go watch a Pixar movie after it, to rid yourself of the anxiety. Overall, a great little thriller that really leaves its mark.