Film As ever, despite not really being in the mood to process anything else I've experienced this year, although I can recommend Paul Hayes's book The Long Game wholeheartedly, it still feels important to mark off the films which I've particularly enjoyed.
Thanks to the invention of Letterboxd and all of its benevolence, this is much easier than it used to be with my activity available to take a gander at on my profile.
At time of writing I've watched 344 films, although I hope to squeak that up to my annual goal of 350 in the next couple of days. Of this year's releases, here are the titles for which I gave five stars. So far.
Spider-Man: Now Way Home
No Sudden Move
The Summit of the Gods
tick, tick...BOOM!
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
In the Heights
No Time To Die
Till Death
Summer of Soul
Annette
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
Gunpowder Milkshake
Raya and the Last Dragon
Locked Down
Shiva Baby
Nomadland
The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Promising Young Woman
Malmkrog
Palm Springs
Can't Get You Out of my Head
Greenland
Which feels like a massively contrarian list and for some reason doesn't include The Eternals which I'm looking forward to having another look at when it's uploaded to Disney+ to see if it deserves higher than its current four.
There have been a few films this year, notably Dune, in which I've been on the other side of the critical corpus in finding them pretty tedious and lacking invention but absolutely adoring stuff which has been largely dumped on like Gunpowder Milkshake.
If I had to choose ten, in no particular order so let's list them alphabetically, it would be:
Annette
Locked Down
Malmkrog
No Sudden Move
Palm Springs
Promising Young Woman
Shiva Baby
Spider-Man: No Way Home
The Mitchells vs The Machines
tick, tick...BOOM!
Of that lot, I'd propose Malmkrog as my favourite of the year, simply for the no fucks old school approach of producing a three and a half hour film about a group of bourgeois elite debating political philosophy against a backdrop of revolution at a chateau in turn of the last century Transylvania. But that doesn't really capture the nuance of the exchanges and the sense of danger which surrounds the discussions or just how funny it can be. Here's the gorgeous trailer.
For the record, there was a single one star review for Jim Carey starring oldie The Number 13. Here are the two stars. A lot of disappointment in this wreckage:
Last Train to Christmas
The Trouble with Being Born
Prisoners of the Ghostland
Demonic
Mortal
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard
The Informer
Army of the Dead
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
Possessor
Like a Boss
Black Water: Abyss
Yes, I know some of you like Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, but it's a casualty of my sense of humour short circuit when if comes to inverted comma comedies that aren't grounded in some sort of reality. That's really just a matter of taste. Having seen and enjoyed Army of Thieves, I'm tempted to go back and revisit Army of the Dead, if only to marvel again at how they managed to comp Tig Notaro into so many scenes having conversations with actors she didn't meet until months later. If at all.
Anyway, I'm off to watch Encanto. Let's see if it'll force me to edit any of the above.
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