Glóin the Dark

Shit, I was thinking of Zola.

Yeah, I wouldn't call it a worthy nominee even if they allowed a hundred nominees (though not hugely surprising that it was, given that it's fairly standard feel-good Oscar bait). But "depressing" seems way off the mark as a description of it. Even Nomadland doesn't really fit that description, I think, though I could more easily see how someone else might find it so...

Have you seen CODA?

It just occurred to me that I was complaining earlier about a bunch of films I felt were let down by their endings while, for some reason, giving Bottoms a free pass for its subpar final act…bloody hypocrite!

My favourite of her films is Reichardt’s Certain Women, though it’s a multi-storyline film in which she appears in only one of the threads (alongside Lily Gladstone, now famous for Killers of the Flower Moon). And Happiest Season, I seem to recall? Or perhaps I’m misremembering...

I wonder whether Christopher Nolan has seen Bottoms because, if he has, I bet he’s kicking himself that he didn’t use “Total Eclipse of the Heart” for the Trinity Test scene.

I just meant that it’s her next film, by the way; I don’t imagine there’s any connection between the stories.

She was everywhere that year, with two roles in Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield and a smaller role in Eternal Beauty, another very interesting English film.

The pure cinematic adrenaline and Morfydd Clark’s awesome tragicomic performance. It was immediately my favourite of 2020 when I saw it in the cinema, and still is!

Looking forward to this one, Rose Glass’s follow-up to Saint Maud.

It's a style of comedy which doesn't usually appeal to me, and I'm not sure why it works so well...

Interesting to see this mentioned, I read a five-star review in The Guardian early last year, followed by a few less good reviews in other places, and then didn't hear of it again. I'd forgotten its existence until it showed up in your list... It's good to seen an Andrew Haigh film making it into the spotlight. They're always far more interesting than they look on paper, and usually go largely unnoticed. Glad someone else likes Bottoms. (The film.)

I think it should be streaming soon, if not already. It's about a month since I saw it in the cinema. Definitely worth watching.

I was going to post an addendum to my provisional top ten films of 2023 mentioning some of the noteworthy titles which didn't make the list - but, since these are general comments about the films, I guess this is the relevant place to do it. Barbie. I'm admittedly not in the main target audience for this one but, then again, that target being so wide is probably responsible for the heavy-handed jokes and shallow, disingenuous satire. After her third solo feature, I've come to terms with the fact that Greta Gerwig is not so much the big-budget Josephine Decker as the new Ron Howard (not that there's anything wrong with that!). Napoleon. I'm glad to have seen this on a big screen because it was a pleasure just to look at; I found many of the interior scenes more memorable, visually, than the more obviously spectacular set-pieces. Unfortunately it wasn't very cinematic even in those battle scenes, and, narratively and dramatically, it was pretty stale. Maybe the extended edition will improve the storytelling, though the prospect of sitting through that doesn't have me champing at the bit. The Creator. Amazing look; dreadfully clunky script, especially in the final act. The Holdovers. Alexander Payne has a tendency to let his films slide into a state of overt (and, to me, unwelcome) sentimentality. I was hoping that this one would, like Sideways and Nebraska, stay on the right side of that tonal line. It did, for the most part, but fell victim to the dreaded schmaltz right at the finishing line. As such, despite its many virtues, it isn't (and is unlikely to become) one of my favourites of the year. Saltburn. The Academy ratio compositions and vibrant colour give a magnificent look, evoking mid-20th Century British films. The script and performances are thoroughly entertaining and frequently hilarious most of the way through, before collapsing in an awkward, contrived and dull finale. Some day Emerald Fennell will make a film whose brilliance isn't compromised by a silly ending. Eileen. William Oldroyd's second film (following the great Lady Macbeth) is an apparently drab story - presented, like The Holdovers, in a nostalgic 1970s idiom - galvanised by several heart-stopping moments, but deflated by an abrupt and underwhelming ending. I watched this in the cinema on the same day as Saltburn, another film let down by its conclusion. It could well be that this one will be more satisfying on a rewatch, with its structure already known and anticipated. Fair Play. Something of a wild-card, this is the feature debut of Chloe Domont, who has previously directed episodes of some television series that I haven't seen. I thought this would be one of those slick, clichéd, TV-movie style thrillers which continually pop up on the streaming channels nowadays. For the first half, that's basically what it is (albeit much better done than usual), but the temperature is quite masterfully brought to boiling point in a second half which has some scenes of real brilliance, including a virtuosic domestic argument which, on a technical level, is one of the most memorable scenes of the year for me.

With customary punctuality, I've made my list of the best films of the year - not being too fussy about which year. Last time I did this I decided, for some reason, to go to / stop at twenty-five, so for consistency I've gone with the same number this time. I could have put the top three in any order. As it is, I've put them in the order in which I saw them (first to last), which coincides with the order of number of times I've watched them (most to fewest). Funnily, none of the three is a film which I would have expected to be at or near the top of this list on the first viewing, but I've rewatched them all many times and they've gradually become some of my favourite films ever. Unfortunately the last two years have flown by in a jiffy and I still haven't got round to a first rewatch of several other notable 2021 films - including ten of those listed here, as well as many which were on the shortlist but didn't make the cut. Shiva Baby (Emma Seligman) The Green Knight (David Lowery) Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson) Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi) The Souvenir: Part II (Joanna Hogg) Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion) Rose Plays Julie (Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor) Vortex (Gaspar Noé) The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal) Quo Vadis, Aida? (Jasmila Žbanić) Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven) Azor (Andreas Fontana) Titane (Julia Ducournau) The Innocents (Eskil Vogt) Mothering Sunday (Eva Husson) Hit the Road (Panah Panahi) The Killing of Two Lovers (Robert Machoian) The Tragedy of Macbeth (A Coen Brother) Happening (Audrey Diwan) Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Radu Jude) Violation (Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli) Compartment No. 6 (Juho Kuosmanen) Playground (Laura Wandel) Dune (Denis Villeneuve)

Indeed! I'll return in January 2026 with mine... As usual, I've yet to see the films that hold the most promise for me: this time the top ones would be About Dry Grasses, The Zone of Interest, Poor Things, Showing Up, All of Us Strangers and La Chimera. Other notable omissions include Anatomy of a Fall, Past Lives, Totem, American Fiction and Ferrari. Here's my (very) provisional choice of the ten films of the year: The Blue Caftan, Bottoms, Enys Men, Fremont, The Killer, Killers of the Flower Moon, May December, Oppenheimer, Passages and The Royal Hotel. If I had to pick the one I most admire from those it would be Killers of the Flower Moon, while the one I most like is Bottoms.

I prefer the yearly system (if there isn't simply going to be one single film thread). If someone wants to review Oppenheimer a year or two hence (and, in particular, if they want to respond to or quote an earlier comment) it's clear where to do so. With just a "new" and "old" thread things get ambiguous and inconsistent.

When I'm the conductor, I always exclude the third. Always!

I agree with both. In the case of the former, I don't think the premise was terrible (especially by the sloppy standards of plotting which characterise the later seasons of the series), but the execution was dire. In particular, it had none of the inspired film-making which allowed some other episodes to transcend the sloppiness of the storytelling, most notably the ones directed by Miguel Sapochnik. It's very disappointing that Sapochnik (last I heard) has left the House of the Dragon directing team with one of his replacements being Alan Taylor, director of Beyond the Wall.

I'm getting one too.

Not sure about the double nomination in the Supporting Actor category, but I'd be even more surprised if Florence Pugh were to get the Supporting Actress nomination in place of Emily Blunt...

"Go and live with your fuckin French girls"

I prefer The Bourne Ultimatum - it being the best and purest exhibition of the series's main selling point, which is the virtuosity of its action set-pieces. When I want to see humans doing human stuff there are countless better options. I didn't much like Jason Bourne, though, so another instalment isn't likely to interest me much. In fact, even though I thought The Bourne Legacy was alright, I'd prefer it if they had just left it as a trilogy.

I’d watch it for the cavalry charge, despite being aware of its ultimate

Yeah, I watched Titanic with an intermission that was just long enough that they missed the iceberg and it was a jollier film all round.