It might be because of summer or trying to cram other hobbies in, but I haven't watched as much as I would like...
New films
1) Air / Ben Affleck / 2023 / 3/5
2) Mad Monkey Kung Fu / Liu Chia-Liang / 1979 / 3/5
3) Metallica: 72 Seasons / Timothy Saccenti et al / 2023 / 4/5 (Concert)
4) Suzume / Makoto Shinkai / 2022 / 5/5
5) Ashes of Time Redux / Wong Kar Wai / 2008 / 4/5
6) Sirocco / Curtis Bernhardt / 1951 / 2/5
7) Renfield / Chris McKay / 2023 / 3/5
8) Road House / Rowdy Herrington / 1989 / 3/5
9) The Family Secret / Henry Levin / 1951 / 1/5
10) The Walker / Paul Schrader / 2007 / 1/5
11) The Super Mario Bros. Movie / Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Pierre Leduc & Fabien Polack / 2023 / 2/5
12) Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki / Kaku Arakawa / 2017 / 3/5 (Documentary)
13) Evil Dead Rise / Lee Cronin / 2023 / 4/5
14) Human Lanterns / Sun Chung / 1982 / 2/5
15) The Protector / James Glickenhaus / 1985 / 3/5
16) Tár / Todd Field / 2022 / 4/5
17) The Killer / John Woo / 1989 / 5/5
18) Triangle of Sadness / Ruben Ostlund / 2022 / 3/5
19) The Tunnel to Summer, The Exit of Goodbyes / Tomohisa Taguchi / 2022 / 2/5
20) Operation Fortune: Ruse De Guerre / Gyu Ritchie / 2023 / 3/5
21) Eo / Jerzy Skolimowski / 2022 / 4/5
22) Ennio / Giuseppe Tornatore / 2021 / 4/5 (Documentary)
23) Weird: The Al Yankovic Story / Eric Appel / 2022 / 3/5
24) Today You Die / Don E. Fauntleroy / 2005 / 1/5
25) Hand of Death / John Woo / 1975 / 3/5
26) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 / James Gunn / 2023 / 4/5
27) Fast X / Louis Leterrier / 2023 / 3/5
28) Beau Is Afraid / Ari Aster / 2023 / 4.5/5
29) The Harder They Fall / Mark Robson / 1956 / 3/5
30) Ebola Syndrome / Herman Yau / 1996 / 3.5/5
31) Hypnotic / Robert Rodruiguez / 2023 / 2/5
32) Hitcher in the Dark / Umberto Lenzi / 2989 / 3/5
33) Love Is Colder Than Death / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / 1969 / 2/5
34) Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse / Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin Thompson / 2023 / 5/5
35) Last Hurrah For Chivalry / John Woo / 1979 / 3/5
36) Cocktail / Roger Donaldson / 1988 / 2/5
37) Katzelmacher / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / 1969 / 2.5/5
38) In The Line of Fire / Wolfgang Petersen / 1993 / 4/5
39) Neil Young: Heart of Gold / Jonathan Demme / 2006 / 4/5 (Concert)
40) Return to the 36th Chamber / Liu Chia-Liang / 1980 / 3/5
41) Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation / Christopher McQuarrie / 2015 / 3/5
Rewatched
1) Ley Lines / Takeshi Miike / 1999 / 3.5/5
2) Le Bonheur / Agnes Várda / 1965 / 4/5
3) Elsa La Rose / Agnes Várda / 1966 / 2/5 (short)
4) Aliens / James Cameron / 1986 / 5/5
5) Street Fighter / Steven E. De Souza / 1994 / 5/5
6) Koro's Big Day Out / Hayao Miyazaki / 2002 / 5/5 (short)
7) First Love / Takeshi Miike / 2019 / 4/5
8) Kings of the Road / Wim Wenders / 1976 / 4/5
9) Kids Return / Takashi Kitano / 1996 / 3.5/5
10) The Merchant of Four Seaons / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / 1971 / 3.5/5
Short Films
1) The Big Moment / Nathan Juran / 1954 / 3/5
2) The Negro Sailor / Henry Levin / 1945 / 3/5 (Documentary)
3) That Justice Be Done / George Stevens / 1944 / 3/5 (Documentary)
4) The Little Chaos / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / 1966 / 3/5
5) The City Tramp / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / 1966 / 3/5
TV Shows
1) 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki / Kaku Arakawa / 2019 / 4/5
2) The Book of Boba Fett / Robert Rodriguex et al / 2021 / 3/5
3) Mobile Suit Gundam Seed / Mitsuo Fukuda / 2002 / 4/5
4) Connect / Takashi Miike / 2022 / 3.5/5
So
Suzume....I worship the ground Makoto Shinkai walks on and whilst I think nothing will ever top
Your Name (one of the most treasured movies of my lifetime), I still think that his works are incredibly special. His films speak to my sensitive soul and make me happy to be alive. I would say that
Suzume is better than
Weathering With You, but not as good as
Your Name. It still is one of the best spectacles i've seen this year. To see RADWIMPS a month afterwards was beautiful.
I watched
The Killer and
Eo on my flight to and from Japan. The former is just one of the best action films i've ever seen (it's almost on par with Woo's
Hard Target). I can't believe it's taken me this long to see it.
Eo was a very moving film (there's something about films about animals that just gets me). When I lose faith in people, I find it in animals.
I am bored to death of superhero films and for the most part go along because i'm too entrenched in (though it's easy for me to miss a lot of DCEU stuff), so for the new
Guardians of the Galaxy and
Spider-Man films to be as great as they are has given me a little hope. I'm sick of multi verse stuff, but
Spider-Man is really interesting and clever with it.
GotG was more moving than I was expecting; warmth in a genre of snark and post-irony.
I thought
Hereditary was overrated, but
Midsommar was immense...Aster's
Beau Is Afraid is in the latter camp; I love how polarising it is and completely understand those that hated it, but in a risk averse industry, this felt like a beautiful slap in the face. Not sure I can watch it again, but i'm glad such films exist.
Ebola Syndrome is worthy of mention because it's so grotesque that I have to applaud it. I'm a paradoxical prude (I still can't bring myself to watch TV shows with too much sex and violence in), but
ES reminded me of
Brain Dead in that it is so over the top and offensive that it's bizarrely brilliant. It made for an interesting birthday haha.
For rewatched films, there's not much about
Aliens I can say that hasn't been said already, but to see it on the big screen was a massive joy.
First Love is proof that even with over 100 films under his belt Takeshi Miike is still a mad genius (and the TV show
Connect was really cool too!)
Street Fighter is hand on heart one of the greatest films of all time; it helps that i've loved it ever since I was a kid, but even today I find it just so much fun to watch. It's funny as hell (
Zangeif's one liners; Bison's megalomania etc), the soundtrack is incredible (hip hop I love and
one of the greatest songs of all time) and just makes me happy! For
Koro's Big Day Out...I went to the new Studio Ghibli park with my fiancé and like the museum, they show exclusive short films. It showed the same film I saw last time. Rather than be disappointed, it just made me love it more. It made me cry as it reminded my of my precious Polly-dog (who died in 2008) Lucy-dog (who died last year) and Butters-dog (who just turned 15 and is sadly on his way out). To share my emotions with the one I love the most was really rather wonderful...
When I was in Japan, I saw the giant Gundam robot in Yokohama, so i'm still in a massive Gundam mood. I've watched about 7 or 8 Gundam shows now and
Gundam Seed is definitely one of the better ones; I love the balance of robot battles, politics and romance. I'm half way through
Gundam Seed Destiny and that's going strong too!