"Everyone keeps telling me how my story is supposed to go. Nah. Im'ma do my own thing." - Miles Morales, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Sight and Sound magazine polls its contributors for their Films of the Year in October. That leaves three months worth of movies hanging. I understand print lead times and the desire to get this stuff out in time for December publication. And yet...
Art is not a competition or click-bait fodder. Which is why I wait until the movie year is receding in the rear view mirror before slapping together my list of personal favourites. Obviously, I wasn't planning to post my list this far into the year. Let’s get this moving before 2025 rolls around…
The Beasts (As bestas) (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
Do Not Expect Too Much of the End of the World (Nu astepta prea mult de la sfârsitul lumii) (Radu Jude)
Evil Dead Rise (Lee Cronin)
Godland (Vanskabte land) (Hlynur Pálmason)
“It’s terribly beautiful here.”
“Terrible. And beautiful.”
Reminiscent of Bergman, Bresson and Herzog at their most austere, Pálmason displays exquisite mastery of every element of his terribly beautiful 35mm Academy ratio frames. Shout out to cinematographer Maria von Hausswolff.
Godzilla Minus One (Gojira -1.0) (Takashi Yamazaki)
When you have this level of craft, wit and invention, who needs the bloated budgets?
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (James Gunn)
John Wick: Chapter 4 (Chad Stahelski)
Pearl (Ti West)
My favourite closing shot of the year. Counting the days until MaXXXine drops.
Poundcake (Onur Tukel)
Return to Seoul (Retour à Séoul) (Davy Chou)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Joaquim Dos Santos / Kemp Powers / Justin K. Thompson)
