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February 2025

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Once again, time for my round up of last year. In December, I had been thinking that I hadn’t seen many new films but now looking back at 2023’s list – I didn’t see that many new films then either in comparison to the years before (lol and I even mentioned that in my 2023 round up). Maybe films that I might have been interested in that were due to be released in 2023 and 2024 were affected by Covid and got delayed or cancelled. I guess we’ll see what 2025 shapes up like over the next year.

Films

As usual, in reverse order of how much I liked them:

Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley – I basically watched this because I was starting to thinking I wouldn’t hit 10 new films for the year. It was fine.
Apollo 13: Survival – I’ve seen the film with Tom Hanks and read the book by Jim Lovell that that film was based on, so I don’t think I really learned anything new seeing this.
Gladiator II – Went to see this because my Mum wanted to see it even though she didn’t remember going to see the first Gladiator film, which she would have actually have taken me to see in the cinema. It was also fine, but ehh maybe I am too familiar with the real people some of the characters are named after for it to really work for me.
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band – I don’t think I discovered anything new about Bruce himself from this film but it was good to hear more from the band members and what the process of touring is like for them.
A Real Pain – I don’t often enjoy films where I just don’t think I would want to spend time with any of the characters in real life but this was good. There’s stuff that’s occurred to me now about the marketing of this film in the context of some of the stuff that I do for my job but lol, not getting into that on the internet.
The Extraordinary Miss Flower – This was a good choice for my last film of LFF as it’s music video kind of a film and by that point of the festival, I need something different.
Endurance – I enjoyed this because I do love a documentary but really this would have been better as a 3 episode mini series.
Seeking Mavis Beacon – This was more about the journey and what happens when the destination is something that you’re explicitly never going to reach and where you can go from there, along with some interesting thoughts on identity, representation and yeah, why are all the helpful voices in our devices female?
Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story – In contrast to Seeking Mavis Beacon where the protagonists tell us about looking for someone, in this film Pauline Black tells us how she found herself, in her own words and that it’s in her own words is the most important draw.
The Cats of Gokogu Shrine – Look. This is an observational film about cats. I’m not even a cat person and yet here it is, third on my list.
Deadpool & Wolverine – I feel like this is a good film to end the Deadpool films on but I also feel like there will probably be more films with Deadpool as the main character. The Easter Eggs are extremely entertaining to spot, but are a nice extra rather than having to do the heavy lifting.
Conclave – I was always going to enjoy a film that was “what if Agatha Christie wrote about cardinals being bitchy to each other” because I am fairly Catholic in an easy-going way (which I guess has to be a thing) but it’s not only that. The dishonesty of some of these men about their past actions and the thinking that they cannot be accountable for those choices because of their position is exactly what then disqualifies them from being elected. This, along with the lobbying and scheming for votes, is a big part of a film which at its heart is about honesty, faith and trying to do the right thing even at personal cost. It’s also a 2 hour long film but moves quickly and it felt like no time passed at all as it’s so engaging.

Music

I don’t remember any new albums I listened to last year. I know Dave Hause put out some mostly vinyl only stuff that I did buy and enjoy – but I remember it mostly because it was a record you had to go in person to a gig and buy.
Speaking of which, I did go to 7 gigs in the end.

Dave Hause (where I picked up a copy of that album)
The Gaslight Anthem (who I kind of went off of right around when they went on hiatus (possibly even for the reason that I think they went on hiatus))
Alkaline Trio (who I really haven’t listened to much in recent years, but this gig was really enjoyable)
Ásgeir
Bedouin Soundclash (still thinking about how their support act doesn’t have any CDs or sell music on Bandcamp)
Sleep Token (awesome)
Electric Six (who I only really knew those three songs they put out 20 years ago and it turns out they have like 15 albums and a dedicated fanbase since they are very entertaining)

Electric Six was also one of those gigs where the queue for the ladies was non-existent and in an entertaining turn of events it was the other toilets with a queue. Plus the support act, Enjoyable Listens was really good and was kind of like if Gabriel Bruce was English and kind of eccentric.

Other stuff

I suppose if I wrote more about this stuff at the time it was happening I would remember more of it, but I guess I do ok. I went to Valencia because I needed to use a travel voucher and picked it because that’s where Formula E goes to do their testing (although after the huge flooding, 2024 testing had to be moved to Madrid). I saw the penultimate FE race of the season in London. I went to Margate so I could visit the Crab Museum and ended up also visiting other cool places like the Shell Grotto and Walmer Castle. Went on a short cruise visiting France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Went to Norfolk and stopped off at the Oliver Cromwell museum on the way. In sad news, that Uncle who kept swerving meeting up with us each time in the last 14 years that we’ve got on a plane to travel to the other side of the planet where he lives, did in fact die so I guess I was right that we’d never see him again. It is what it is. In happier news, one of my cousin’s daughters got married and I’m extremely pleased for her – her young man seems well brought up etc and I’m sure they will have many, many years of love and happiness ahead of them.

More gigs already planned for 2025, along with one small trip so far and another London e-prix.

Mirrored from half girl, half robot.

While February 2023 feels like it was only a few weeks ago and I’m sort of wondering what I could have done all year, I also know that I did do some stuff.

I spent Eurovision week in Norfolk and another couple of weeks in Malaysia. I saw Loveless (twice), Asgeir, Dave Hause, Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, Hozier, ThxSoMch and Sleep Token play live (and have already bought tickets for a few gigs next year). I went to the penultimate e-prix of the season in London and saw FE cars whizz about making their souped-up milk float noises (affectionate).

I did not really see that many new films – last year there were 25 and this year there are only 13. Partly, I feel like there just wasn’t a lot I felt like seeing at the London Film Festival but also, I did have kind of a general meh feeling about going to my local cinema. Was there even anything I might have seen in another year? I can only think of “The Marvels” and maybe there wasn’t anything else or I just didn’t hear about other films to make me go and see them.

Anyway, those 13 films in reverse order of how much I liked them, as is customary for such things:

The Monkey King – I get that Monkey is kind of annoying, but I’d thought other interpretations had a kind of loveable scamp quality to him on occasion that this one just didn’t have. It was kind of limp.
Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine – This was just an hour long documentary about the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, which did its job and told me about that but you can see how The Monkey King had to be poor to be less liked than a film that was merely efficient and functional.
Behind the Mountains – There’s some weird pacing choices and the main character just kind of gets angry sometimes and doesn’t really seem to talk to anyone about why he does the stuff he does.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – Kept things going at a reasonable pace but might have benefitted from reusing stuff from previous films a bit less.
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre – I saw this on the flight back from Malaysia, so I expect I must have seen an edited version but this is the same airline that edited out the word “Jew” from Sandman but not the word beginning with C meaning vulva. I don’t think any edits would have made too much difference in all honesty since this film delivers everything you’d expect from a Jason Statham film directed by Guy Ritchie.
The Pigeon Tunnel – John Le Carré does have a very interesting life story, and is an excellent storyteller as you might expect from someone who has written so many popular books. I’m not sure I’m entirely sold on Errol Morris’ interview technique generally, but the contrast between them was entertaining at least.
One Life – I already knew about the Kindertransport and Sir Nicholas Winton before I saw this film and I’ve seen the relevant clips on youtube a few times – so nothing happens in this film that I did not expect but it was still worth seeing how some man just slogging away at paperwork managed to impact so many lives.
The Book of Clarence – Since this one is related to Jesus, I took my Mum to see it at LFF and she had a great time, particularly since the director was there to talk about the film. I liked the choice to make it in that 50s/60s biblical epic style.
Fingernails – This was good, but like I’ve said elsewhere, I never want to see it again. I also feel like not everyone in the screening I saw was expecting a science fiction kind-of-dystopia setting.
Barbie – I mean…she’s everything.
John Wick: Chapter 4 – For a lot of the year, this film was at the top of my 2023 list and it’s only because I saw two outstanding films in October that it’s in third place. Like the previous films, this is full of deeply satisfying action, beautifully shot and exists in a universe where you don’t need to question how John Wick gets to the places around the world that he shows up in, he just does.
COPA 71 – FIFA are literally the worst and these footballers are absolute legends. The amount of archival footage was fantastic, especially since the entire event basically got deleted from football history.
The Taste of Things – I could live in this film. Ok, not literally in that time period because I do enjoy having a microwave, but just put me at those dinner tables. A film about love, that feels like the smoothest, most velvety chocolate ganache and I would absolutely devour it, if you could make the experience of a film tangible.

Definitely see that last one.

Mirrored from half girl, half robot.

The new Dave Hause album is SO good. Just, ugh, great great great.

The gig last month was great too and reminded me* that I should go listen to live music more often – something to look forward to and it’s a real mood booster when I’ve been. It’s always “why did you book this Past-me, I don’t feel like going out” beforehand and “Past-me you are a genius, this was the best idea” afterwards. So I’ve added in Postmodern Jukebox and Hozier between now and the Loveless gig I already have a ticket for and I see some time in my near future when I need to sit down and see what else is out there that I can put in around my existing commitments. Definitely see what’s more local to me than the nearest city too.

The other thing to figure out is the crossposter to my other blog – I think the one to Dreamwidth is still going fine but the one to my other WordPress install went wonky a while back and I’m not sure that the plugin I use for other stuff, that could also crosspost, would allow for the posting to Dreamwidth too. It’s been twenty years, I should probably learn how to write a WordPress plugin myself at this point.

Took Mum to see John Wick 4, which she loved and I think she scandalised her friends at church who didn’t expect someone her age to enjoy so much out and out violence. I think it’d be weirder that when you have Michelle Yeoh being a boss at martial arts action movies, a retiree with a similar kind of background wouldn’t love martial arts films too.

* that and seeing Asgeir at the beginning of March.

Mirrored from half girl, half robot.

As I noted in November, I didn’t post my 2021 films for some reason and I still don’t remember why but here they are. Shang-Chi was pretty great.

Did I do anything this year? Did I go anywhere? I feel like I did visit Walsingham but don’t remember anything about it – oh, I remember now. I actually went on holiday to Ipswich and then drove to visit Walsingham on one of the days I was there and that’s why I don’t remember staying in Walsingham.

I also attended one of the London e-prix and had the great idea of staying the night before in a hotel nearby because lol I am not waking up early to get there. That was also about the time I fell on my car and smacked my shin so hard on the doorframe that it got infected and I had the exciting opportunity to “enjoy” two different rounds of antibiotics. It’s still not the right colour, but that’ll get better in time.

I saw Daði Freyr at the Roundhouse, an event that I bought the ticket for over a year in advance thinking “the whole pandemic stuff will be gone by then” and it’s not really but it turns out that I’m one of those people for whom wearing a mask tight against my face for hours isn’t a hardship (even though I wear glasses and now that I’ve got a pair with the arms that curl round my ears rather than being straight, I’m less likely to have them just fall off my face). Sort of related – I’m pondering going to see Måneskin next year but am extremely ambivalent about the O2 Arena AND it’ll be when I have a week off and maybe I will want to go somewhere that week. We’ll see. Maybe if there are tickets still on sale closer to the time, I’ll decide then.

Anyway, onto the new films I saw in 2022, from least favourite to most favourite as is customary:

The Middle Ages -I saw two films set during the pandemic lockdown season and this was the worst. It seemed like an interesting idea at the time I put it on my “to watch” list but it just wasn’t fun.
Our Lady of the Chinese Shop – I am, obviously, a big fan of Catholic-adjacent tat and this film is named for that. Felt like it wasn’t finished.
Blind Yellow Sunshine – Knowing something about the Rime of the Ancient Mariner improves this, but since I knew nothing while I was watching – at least it was short.
Roary – it says something that 6 minutes of the MGM lion just… roaring was better than the first 3 films on this list.
The Estate – Unfunny. Which is a shame because the cast were doing their best.
Crows Are White – The director/main character’s wife is a literal saint and must super love him to put up with his shenanigans.
Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power – Interesting documentary, but weird that the director’s films are irreproachable masterpieces and all other female filmmakers’ work is infected by the male gaze.
Inside the Mind of a Cat – I’m not a cat person, but it was interesting to see all the cat people and was a frothy light hour or so of viewing when that was what I needed.
Geographies of Solitude – Turns out documentaries about scientists doing research in remote places is a thing I enjoy. The sporadic bits of film processed on the island with bits of the island added a good contrast of texture.
The Blue Rose of Forgetfulness – I liked some of the individual works more than others but thinking about them now I don’t know that I can remember any but Alcestis.
God Said Give ‘Em Drum Machines – I didn’t know anything about the history of techno music so this was educational. I can recognise the nerding out about synthesizers in musicians I know now.
See How They Run – I think maybe this film was trying to capture that Knives Out vibe but just doesn’t manage it because they were reading from the “how to Wes Anderson” instruction manual.
Unicorn Wars – Did I see this just because it was teddy bears going to war? Yes.
My Robot Brother – I feel like I’m getting closer to the top 10 because I’m starting to get to films that was actually “good” rather than just “I watched them.” Has kind of the feel of those educational TV series we used to watch at school like “Through The Dragon’s Eye” if that had been turned into a film solely for entertainment.
Staging Death – 8 minutes of Udo Kier’s death scenes cut together. The highlight is recognising all the ones you’ve already seen.
After Sherman – This was another film telling a part of the director’s personal experience and this one has the extreme benefit of not having a deeply frustrating director that sabotages his own life.
Jill, Uncredited – Anthony Ing manages to weave a story out of a selection of clips of the thousands of Jill Goldston’s appearances as an extra in film and TV which really illustrates just how many productions she was a part of to make that possible (and there were many appearances that just didn’t make the cut on top of these). Jill was at the screening I saw and it was a delight to hear just how much she loved being part of these films and had the best experiences doing them.
The Wonder – Not sure about the framing device, but this was a good watch.
Corsage – I discovered that a whole bunch of films was made recently about Empress Elisabeth of Austria and I want to check them out. It works better if you know a bit more about the real Elisabeth.
Thor: Love and Thunder – I did think when I saw this film that it would be higher up the list and yes, it is good and enjoyable (even when you’re familiar with the comics so there’s less surprise). I think it’s a combo of “this film could have been better” and “I saw a number of satisfying films this year.”
Living – This was great. I saw Aimee Lou Wood in Uncle Vanya and she was a delight in that and she’s great here too.
Into The Ice – This is the other scientists doing research in remote places film I saw and seeing all of the giant holes in the ice was just wild and mindblowing.
Meet Me in the Bathroom – Documentary about the New York music scene in the early 2000s and yes I was only there for Interpol, whose first album is the only CD I ever wore out, but it was fascinating to hear about the other bands too. Was weirdly like someone did a time-travel to shoot the early 00s footage, but obviously they just recorded video at the time and it’s wild to think that in 10-20 years there could be something like this built out of band’s insta/tiktok videos.
Hidden Letters – I knew some stuff about Nushu already so hearing from some of the women who have kept this language alive was interesting and touching. “Loved” that moment where some man asked how they could make Nushu, a language that had survived in secret for hundreds and hundreds of years, continue to survive without commercialising it in the cheapest possible way and only saw that as an option.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – I am so glad that loads of people have now seen this because I have been waiting for months, MONTHS, to hear about people’s enjoyment of this film. This takes the thing I love about Columbo and Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple and Poirot (i.e. helping the little guy obtain justice and sticking it to the man) and just SLAPS IT RIGHT DOWN ON SILLY OLD MILES BRON’S FACE. The thing I took away from seeing this in a cinema was that I was surrounded by people who did not know who Yo-Yo Ma is and that was in my top 3 cameos in the film. Re-watching it now that it’s out on Netflix has only improved it because I can spot the things I didn’t spot on the first viewing AND I have the benefit of seeing things that other people who know stuff have picked up on. Knives Out was my 2nd favourite film of 2019 and it’s deeply satisfying that this one was so enjoyable.

Mirrored from half girl, half robot.

Today my Granddad would have been 102 years old, had he not died 14 years ago. He missed his birthday that year by a few days. We went out to the local carvery and had roast dinner in his honour. Inevitably we will always go out to eat roast dinner, because the right variety of bits for a roast dinner is tricky when you’ve only got two people to eat the thing.

On Wednesday night, I went to see Larry & His Flask at the Islington Academy. Weirdly I don’t think I had really listened to any of their music, since the last time I saw them live, bought an album and played it in the car on the way home. All I knew was that I enjoyed the last time I had seen them and it felt like ages since I had seen them and that I should see them again.

Which, of course, was the right decision.

Sam Russo, whose music I also like, and Crazy Arm, whose music I’d never heard but I think Emma likes, supported and were good. The last time I saw Sam Russo, he was supporting Dave Hause and he’d done his leg in but remained charming. He’s still charming and his music is still great but seems to admit to a lot of crime? He says he didn’t murder anyone, which is good.

Larry & His Flask though. I was thinking as I stood there listening, that my Dad would have really enjoyed their music. Being an only child, my parents were always fairly protective (maybe overprotective as I’ve always been cautious anyway) so my Dad used to come to gigs with me. He took me to my first gig – AFI’s Nightmare After Christmas gig at the London Astoria back in like 2002. We went to festivals and gigs and I never minded that I always “had” to go with my Dad because we had a great time and he was always up for going. I suppose maybe I was lucky that my Dad would listen to the music I liked – it always seemed more difficult for other people I knew whose folks weren’t keen on them going out late on a school-night and there was the tension between having to hurry home after and not wanting to hurry back. No such problem for me and my Dad, because since he didn’t like public transport, he would always drive us there and back and we didn’t have to contend with the thought of missing the train.

Plus like, he would buy the tickets and the drinks and the merch because he was my Dad and I was the child. I’ve still got the hoodie he bought for me at that first gig – he popped out during the encore to buy me something, have a smoke and bring the car round and miss all the crowds going for their cars and that.

Now, I don’t think my Dad loved AFI, even though he saw them probably 6 or 7 times over the years, but I think he would really have enjoyed seeing Larry & His Flask. This was the thought I had on Wednesday night, along with the thought that everyone there seemed to be really joyful and happy that Larry & His Flask were back on tour and were playing for us all that night.

I really want to seem them again.

Other things:

I am hoping that Anthropocene will be at the London Film Festival this year and at a time I can make. Last year, I got lucky that all the various extra religious holidays that my work gives us off overlapped with LFF but this year it’s all a month early so maybe I’m going to have to take actual time off to see films. We’ll see.
Our Attitude Toward Aliens Proves We Still Think We’re Special – I guess I just figured that aliens have a Prime Directive, like there is in Star Trek.
An idea that really resonated with me:

“A multipotentialite is someone with many interests and creative pursuits.

Multipotentialites have no “one true calling” the way specialists do. Being a multipotentialite is our destiny. We have many paths and we pursue all of them, either sequentially or simultaneously (or both).

Multipotentialites thrive on learning, exploring, and mastering new skills. We are excellent at bringing disparate ideas together in creative ways. This makes us incredible innovators and problem solvers.

When it comes to new interests that emerge, our insatiable curiosity leads us to absorb everything we can get our hands on. As a result, we pick up new skills fast and tend to be a wealth of information.”
— Emilie Wapnick, Puttylike (found here)
The Story We Don’t Talk About: On Irishness, Immigration, and Race
I like to think that this ice cream was made from Old ones.
About my favourite food in the whole world.

Mirrored from half girl, half robot.

I figure it's time for my annual round up of the new films I saw this year as it's getting towards the end of the year and, having taken a look at what's on offer for the next couple of weeks at my local cinema, I don't think I'll be adding to the list. You never know though, so maybe I'll reserve the right to revise this review closer to the end of the year.

I'm going to start with the "and stuff" of the title - my favourite band, AFI, released a new album this year (and once again did not tour in the UK) and, of course, it is awesome. Davey Havok released an album with his sideproject, Dreamcar, and that was pretty good too. The stand-out albums for me aren't either of these albums (as much as I love them). No, the two albums that have been on repeat in my car all year (pretty much) are Dave Hause's "Bury Me in Philly" and Maxïmo Park's "Risk to Exist" - and Maxïmo Park's album sat in its shrink-wrap for like two weeks before I even opened it (I opened it AS SOON AS I GOT HOME from seeing them live and hearing all the really great new songs).

Watch on YouTube

As usual, the films are listed with the “worst” one first. I was thinking about this the other day and I saw a lot of really, really enjoyable films this year so “worst” doesn’t necessarily mean bad. Just the other films were better. And there were some really great films.

Silence – Saying that, Silence was kind of dire. I unexpectedly saw a lot of films with Adam Driver in and this was the worst. I would not have chosen to see this film and technically, I didn’t I guess – it was my Mum’s choice for our New Year’s Day film. Catholics in Asia seems like it would have been exactly my kind of niche topic but no. I guess I’ve just read too much about Catholic martyrs for this to have any kind of impact? Also, like it was really long. Whatever Scorsese.
Manifesto – This was an interesting film to experience and Cate Blanchett is totes amazeface in this. I just don’t really know enough about art from the last two hundred years to really appreciate this. Most of the funny bits are still funny with a total lack of context though? So that’s something.
Assassin’s Creed – Maybe this should be rated lower than Manifesto? It’s an action film based on a computer game. It’s what you’d expect really. There was killing and fighting. My Mum enjoyed it.
6 Days – Mark Strong totally nails his role. I don’t know how similar he was to the actualfax real life guy he was playing, but he conveyed the conflict of being a negotiator so so well. Otherwise, it was fine.
La La Land – The music is lovely. The dancing is fine. The story and characters are fine, though I didn’t really care what happened to them. As it is with most musicals I suppose?
Loveless – I ended up lining up a lot of films at LFF about missing children (although I had to skip one, Little Crusader, because I didn’t think I’d manage to race to the film after quickly enough on my dodgy ankle). This was probably the bleakest, saddest and most hopeless of them, with main characters that exhibited such a striking lack of compassion that it’s a wonder that they had any relationships with other people at all (though maybe they’re just repeating the same relationship with different partners). Tough to watch, but worthwhile.
The Death of Stalin – Jason Isaacs MAKES this film. My Mum laughed at the corpsey bits. So did I.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets – I feel like Laureline was was more of an interesting character than Valerian so I don’t understand why her name isn’t in the title. Really delightful to look at.
Justice League – Justice League was a lot better than I was expecting although I don’t get why Batman had a go at Wonder Woman. Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher’s exuberant enthusiasm during the press tour was the highlight, pretty much. Those two REALLY love their characters.
Walk With Me – Sort of a meditative journey alongside the monks in the documentary that really reminded me that people who commit to this kind of a religious life are regular humans too.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle – So like, I don’t understand why Charlie’s girlfriend had the Golden Circle tramp stamp and like… how do you even do that without potentially causing paralysis? Mark Strong, as always, was great. Needed more Halle Berry.
Grain – I do like dystopic films. Kind of scifi with some religious themes.
Spider-Man: Homecoming – SO. I am a bit meh about Spider-Man. I liked that Peter Parker has friends. It was fine that Tony Stark was in this because it made a bit of sense. Glad that they skipped most of the usual the origin story stuff because it’s not like the five billion Spider-Man films already in existence haven’t explained that part.
Promise Land – I feel like maybe I should see more documentaries. This is a road trip in Elvis Presley’s car across the USA during the 2016 election that tells the story of Elvis and somehow also how we got to the US being how it is.
Loving Vincent – This was the only film of LFF that my Mum saw with me – mostly because my auntie was here from Portugal and partly because she’s not that keen on trudging all the way into central London to see a film when there is a perfectly decent cinema 5 minutes from our house. Loving Vincent was shown at my local cinema as part of LFF so my Mum (and auntie!) came with me to see it. It’s a really beautifully painted and animated film that fills in some of the details of the people around Van Gogh at the time of his death, who I’d never really considered.
Gemini – Unexpected but not unwelcome John Cho. I don’t know what else to say about this film.
Life Guidance – The trouble I have with films in a second language I only really understand enough of to be a tourist is that it’s a bit like attempting to talk on the phone to someone where there is an echo and you can hear your own voice repeated back to you a second later. That said, this has a really good dystopian future where everyone has to be high-achieving and making progress in all areas of their lives which is kind of nightmarish to me.
Small Town Crime – By the time LFF rolls round, I have usually forgotten what the films I have tickets for are about. Usually the name on ticket might prompt me to have a vague idea of the subject of the film but not this one – I went in, sat down and had no clue of what to expect. John Hawkes plays a disaster of an ex-cop who ends up attempting to investigate the death of a woman he finds dying at the side of the road. Clifton Collins Jr is fantastic in this.
How to Talk to Girls at Parties – Based on the Neil Gaiman story and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, this film was a lot less odd than that combination of sources could have made it and yet everyone around me as I left the cinema seemed to be baffled by the weirdness of it all.
Wrath of Silence – Another of the missing child films, this time about a mute miner looking for his son. Kind of a crime thriller, but ultimately very sad with it.
Atomic Blonde – I did not expect Atomic Blonde to be outside my top ten films of 2017 and yet here we are – there were just so many films I enjoyed this year that there were enough really great ones to push the merely really good ones down a few pegs. This is like someone saw John Wick and thought “what if we did that, but with Charlize Theron and more cold-hearted and 80s?”
Becoming Who I Was – A documentary that follows a young boy who is also the reincarnation of a Tibetan Buddhist Lama and his godfather/teacher. Very touching.
Blade of the Immortal – It’s kind of a toss-up between whether Blade of the Immortal or Becoming Who I Was is more touching and maybe Blade of the Immortal only loses because it’s fiction. This is the heart-warming story of how an immortal warrior helps a young girl avenge her parents murder by killing a LOT of people.
Downsizing – Now all I knew is that this was a film about Matt Damon being made tiny small and that it was a comedy. And yeah, that’s true for the most part. However, it also addresses environmental issues and how we treat the vulnerable members of our communities (if we even “allow” them to really be in our communities). Might have been better as a mini-series though. LOL.

I think I need a break before going into the top ten. I saw a lot of films. I think I saw more live music this year than last, but maybe not as much as I would have liked. Ok, so. That top ten.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi – I saw Last Jedi 3 days ago and I love it and yet here it is at number 10 on my list (I realise that this list has no numbers but the one I am following on Letterboxd does, so whatever). It’s probably too soon to really get into what happens in this film but I left the cinema with my heart full from watching it.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – I only vaguely knew what this was about going into the film and I’m kind of glad that this was the case. Three Billboards… has both horrifying and humorous moments, with more tragedy than I had been expecting. Definitely see this if you can.
Thor: Ragnarok – I love that this has an entirely different tone to literally every other MCU film. I love that it’s funny and has great action and makes the logical point about Asgard being built on the ruin of other worlds – and then goes for the most worthwhile solution to that. Also Korg.
Wonderstruck – This is a really beautiful film, shot in styles that really emphasise the two time periods in which it is set. Really delightful and satisfying.
Columbus – Basically I added this to my LFF line-up because yay John Cho. That was it. This is so so so great. The whole film is lovely to watch. It really concerns, I think, the characters’ places in the world – how they relate to physical place, to each other, to the people in their lives and the cultures that they belong to. Also John Cho should be the leading man in more films.
Logan Lucky – Ok yes. The whole Ocean’s 7-11 thing is true. This is fun and heartwarming and sweet and hilarious.
Wonder Woman – Diana is a literal wonder and a delight which, of course, makes sense because she is Wonder Woman. I had so many feelings watching this and most of them were love.
The Shape of Water – This year had a lot of really beautiful films and The Shape of Water is one of them. It’s a love story about a woman and a fish-creature. I need to see this again and again.
John Wick: Chapter 2 – It feels like this came out a million years ago and I suppose it did in a way – the beginning of 2017 seems like a whole other planet. Again, another beautiful film but in a different way to the others. I would watch a million John Wick films so long as Keanu Reeves did them and there were dogs in them. The action and stunts are astounding.
Logan – So, Logan is my favourite film of 2017 – a year that had a Star Wars and a Thor and The Shape of Water and Keanu Reeves being a badass and like, so many really great films. This was the perfect final chapter for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. This film made my heart burst.

And that’s it. Logan was the best though, like I said, there was so many great films this year. Watch them all. Though go ahead and skip out on Silence.

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Maximo Park - What Did We Do To You To Deserve This?

As for… probably the last 7 years, I remain largely not much of a blogger anymore. Every year that I’ve attended the London Film Festival, I mean to write about what I saw and…. never get round to it.

Well. Here goes – a few words about all the new films I saw last year. At least I got into the practice of keeping a list of all the new films I saw over on Letterboxd and every time I added to it, took a look to re-arrange everything in order of how much I liked the films.

In reverse order then, starting with the film I enjoyed the least.

Avengers: Age of Ultron – Ugggh. This film was mostly just disappointing. What was going on with the Natasha Romanov/Bruce Banner thing? It came from nowhere and the relationship seemed out of character for both Romanov and Banner. Probably more because there was no lead up for us to see how it could have developed. Maybe…Nick Fury and Maria Hill were consistent with the rest of what we’ve seen in MCU? Everyone else? Not so much. 🙁
I Am Belfast – A kind of wandering essay film about Belfast. It was nice to look at and the people in it were great to hear from. That’s all I’ve got.
Blood Of My Blood – Half the film is set in 17th Italy and the other half in the same village in the modern-day. Amusing but felt kind of like there were 2 different films that didn’t have quiet enough story on their own kind of smushed half and half together.
Exotica, Erotica, Etc. – So I saw this film and then a few days later I saw Jay Malinowski at the Lexington (ditching one of the films I had planned to see at LFF because live music will probably always trump a thing I can see on DVD later) AND it felt like both things kind of mixed together – Jay Malinowski’s set was largely stuff from Martel, an album with a sort of nautical journey theme woven through.
Elstree 1976 – A documentary about some of the actors who appeared in the original Star Wars trilogy and how the films has affected their lives. I
Office – I can’t say that I ever thought I would see a Chinese musical in 3D entirely set in the corporate world but there it was. I only wish I understood the language to better enjoy it because I am CERTAIN there was clever wordplay that could not be contained in the translation.
Truth – Even though I was about 20 in 2004 I had no idea that the events in this film were even happening so it was fascinating to watch.
Youth – All I remember is that while I enjoyed this film, it felt like nothing really happened for a really long time which may have been the point. Also, Rachel Weisz was awesome in it.
Suffragette – Enjoyable enough but the main character Maud was a bit empty and obviously it was implausible for a newly minted suffragette to be at all the big moments of the suffragette movement at the time BUT I guess they had to somehow have a self-insert character for the audience to move through the story with? Maybe. Perhaps a film that followed the story of a real woman who was fighting for the vote would have been better.
Twinsters – SO I heard about these two sisters who had been adopted as babies by parents in different countries and who had found each other on Facebook a while back BUT THEN I guess they made a film and people I follow on twitter mentioned watching it and THERE IT WAS on Mum’s Netflix so I watched it and it was delightful and moving and heart-warming and all the things.
Magic Mike XXL – A DELIGHT from start to finish. I don’t think I have ever watched a film where every single person in the cinema with me had such a good time.
A Perfect Day – I don’t think I expected to watch anything so funny when I bought the ticket for this film, thinking “Oh yes, a film about aid workers in a war zone will be interesting,” but it was and I recommend it to everyone.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. – All I knew about the series that this film was based on was that it had Robert Vaughan and Ducky from NCIS. Lots of fun to watch and obviously features Henry Cavill eating a sandwich as a key point in the film.
High-Rise – The thing about the London Film Festival is that I buy all my tickets in one go based on what the BFI website says the film is about and then I forget ENTIRELY what I have signed myself up to see. And it’s not like I know much about JG Ballard or Ben Wheatley anyway. I knew that this was about a futuristic apparently utopian 70s tower block with its social hierarchy arranged on the various levels and everything then degenerating into a dystopic horror show and at some point Tom Hiddleston got his kit off. It turned out to be GREAT and a DELIGHT and HILARIOUS.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens – I feel like I have only just seen this film (and kind of yeah, that’s true) and that I want to see it again in the cinema really soon BUT it is still my sixth favourite film of the year. Finn and Rey are ENCHANTING and I wouldn’t mind just watching a film where they go on an space-road-trip and discover the galaxy and everything they’ve never imagined.
Mad Max: Fury Road – While it feels like I only saw The Force Awakens five minutes ago, it feels like I watched Fury Road at least a year ago – even though this was my birthday film and that was only in May. I liked that this was basically the story of Furiosa and the Wives rather than Max.
John Wick – The violence and killing and everything was great and my Mum and I both enjoy violent action films but the REAL HIGHLIGHT was Keanu Reeves hanging out with a puppy.
Spy – So I guess a lot of my top ten includes film that were pretty funny but Spy is probably the funniest film I saw all year.
The Martian – I don’t like watching bad things happening to astronauts SO the idea of an astronaut being stranded on Mars was a bit daunting but this film is great and heart-warming and well-paced.
Jupiter Ascending – OF COURSE Jupiter Ascending was going to be my favourite films this year. It was ridiculous and awesome and Jupiter is a great heroine. It totally filled 2015’s Pacific Rim shaped space in last years cinema-going.

And that’s it. Who would have thought that Jupiter Ascending would have been so much better than Avengers: Age of Ultron at the beginning of the year?

Mirrored from half girl, half robot.

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