Drama
Best: Tár - Cate Blanchet aces role as cancelled maestro (Netflix)
Amsterdam - Three friends foil depression era coup. Very loosely based on true story (Prime)
Grimmest: Black Flies - Rookie NYFD para-medic pairs with jaded veteran Sean Penn. Grimly good (Prime)
Most picturesque: River Queen - Woman searches upriver for half-Māori son. Lovely NZ scenery (Prime)
Most touching: The Beautiful Game - Bill Nighy coaches Homeless World Cup team. Inspired by real stories (Netflix)
Play: Good - David Tenant and Sharon Small in updated CJ Taylor play. Darkly funny in places (NT Live/BBC iPlayer)
YA: The Railway Children Return – Child evacuees in Haworth save underage US conscript (Netflix)
Satire: Triangle of Sadness - Rich people on cruise come to sticky end (Netflix)
Sport: Race for Glory: Audi vs Lancia - Truish tale of insanely competitive rally driving (Netflix)
Action/Thriller
Best: The King’s Man - Kingsman prequel. Rhys Ifan’s Rasputin hilarious (Channel 4)
Cheesiest: Top Gun-Maverick - As cheesy as the original, great flight scenes (Netflix)
Daftest: Expendables 4 - Old jokes abound, satisfyingly puerile (Prime)
Primal - Animal trapper Nic Cage vies with mad psycho and captured white leopard on boat (Prime)
Best foreign language: Sayen trilogy– Mapuche girl seeks revenge on land-grabbing gran murderers, gets badass (Prime)
Bio
Best Musicals: La Vie En Rose - Grim early life of Edith Piaf, interspersed with later year antics. Brilliant (DVD)
De-Lovely: Cole Porter hits sang by various people, potty in places (Prime)
Genius – Story of the prodigious Leonard Bernstein, great music, very posh (Netflix)
Most revealing: No Man of God - FBI agent Elijah Wood interviews Ted Bundy (Prime)
Funniest: Daliland - Ben Kingsley as the nutty, decadent Dali in 1970’s NY. Amusing and interesting (Prime)
Worthiest: Shirley - First black congresswoman runs for president (Netflix)
Most inspirational: Dumb Money - Amateurs buy GameStop shares to beat hedge funders (Prime)
British: Mr. Nice - Rhys Ifans as Howard Marks in sort-of true caper. David Thewlis great as mad IRA guy, albeit his standard character with Irish accent (Prime)
Einstein and the Bomb - Docu-style tale of Einstein’s latter years in a shed in Norfolk and US, reflects on link between his theories and atom bomb (Netflix)
Most fanciful: Boudica - Imagined story of Iceni queen fighting Romans. Flying sword and apparition of dead daughters rather fanciful but saved by battle scenes (Netflix)
Religious: Mary - Dramatisation of Jesus’ mother’s youth. Hopkins relishes playing evil Herod (Netflix)
Father Stu - Ex-boxer/criminal Mark Wahlberg gets ordained. Crotchety dad Mel Gibson very funny (Netflix)
Educational: Black Pioneer - Slave helps Mormons found Salt Lake City (Prime)
Weird: The Day of The White Lotus - Propaganda by The Theosophical Society , the original new agers (Prime)
Historic
Most ambitious: Babylon - Epic Hollywood antics amidst transition to talkies. Margot Robbie amazing, impressive score. Mixed reviews, box office bomb, future cult classic? (Netflix)
Best cinematography: Straw Man- Young photographer is recruited to watch incumbent pope JP II in 1950’s communist Poland with sinister results. Well made in monochrome (Netflix)
Best Asian: Dragon Blade - Jackie Chan teams up with fabled lost legion on Silk Road (Prime)
Best Tudor: Firebrand - Katherine Parr as regent, heretic and survivor (Prime)
Best Viking: The Northman - Viking prince seeks revenge for dad’s killing by uncle. Cast includes Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman and Bjork (Prime)
Most sumptuous: The Last Duel - Ridley Scott’s story of Medieval chauvinism and rivalry (Film 4)
Spy
Best: Despite the Falling Snow - Russian woman spying for US falls for mark. Not too soppy (Prime)
Factual: Blunt- The Fourth Man - Old BBC film about the 1950’s spy ring. Interesting (Prime)
Daftest: The Take/Bastille Day - Idris foils baddies in Paris romp (Netflix)
The Union - Halle Berry recruits schoolmate Mark Wahlberg for fun globe-trotting capers (Netflix)
Heart of Stone - Gal Gadot saves the world from evil hacker. Silly, shiny, fun (Netflix)
Most prescient: Icon Parts 1 and 2 - Virus outbreaks target specific Russian ethnic groups. Prescient but possible fuel for Disease X conspiracy theorists (Prime)
Crime
Most stylish: Yakuza Princess - Young woman seeks revenge on family’s killer, teams up with ronin Rhys-Mayers (Prime)
Flashiest: Lift – Inane heist flick, entertaining flight scenes (Netflix)
Best detective: Eye for an Eye - Travolta PI returns to small-town Texas, uncovers murder and corruption (Prime)
Best Assassin: Fast Charlie - Piers Brosnan as hitman with a heart. Funny scenes include a gun/car mishap and dead bird beak stabbing (Prime)
Most original: Dangerous - Parolee trying to not be a psycho, encounters old gang on small island. Original idea, good turns from Scott Eastwood taking after his dad and Mel Gibson as psychiatrist (Netflix)
Rebel Ridge - Ex-marine seeks justice from corrupt cops. Different (Prime)
Best foreign language: Justice - Disgraced Polish ex-agent uses old-style Commie techniques to solve bank robbery/murder (Netflix)
Best dialogue: Street Kings - Cocky cop Keanu goes up against gangs and corruption. Some funny lingo (DVD)
Best line: Confidentail Informant - NY cop fakes own death to get insurance. Reminiscent of old noirs. ‘No disrespect; go fuck yourself!’ (Prime)
Best title: The Silence of The Marsh - Crime writer Pedro Alonso (Money Heist’s Berlin) in marshy Valencia, tells tale of corruption and violence (Netflix)
Worst reboot: Transporter Refuelled - Not-Statham in mediocre antics Prime)
Oddest: Bless Me Father - Young gangster confesses sins to priest, gets a shock (Prime)
Villains - Hapless criminals take refuge in house of freaky couple keeping kid in basement (Netflix)
Oddest Covid: Zeros and Ones - Ethan Hawke plays brothers on opposing sides during lockdown (Prime)
Crime Horror: Darkgame - Cops and FBI attempt to trace source of live-streamed Russian Roulette (Netflix)
Crime Comedy: Bullet Train - Daft assassin antics on train, Brad Pitt a hoot (Netflix)
Crime Bio: Casino Jack - Washington lobbyist Kevin Spacey comes a cropper (Prime)
Ageing men with health issues: Dying of the Light - CIA agent Nic Cage goes after terrorists, both terminally ill (Prime)
A Killer’s Memory - Contract killer with dementia Michael Keaton, plans for his imminent demise (Prime)
British Crime
Best: Gassed Up - Everyday tale of London moped gang, surprisingly watchable (Prime)
Best script: Firecracker - Botched heist on bonfire night. Low budget, good script, twisty plot (Prime)
Most confusing: Riot - Met cops in violent time-jumping effort (Prime)
Damaged - Cop Samuel Jackson goes to Edinburgh. Somewhat perplexing (Prime)
Most imaginative: Jackdaw - Motocross champ agrees to courier job to save kidnapped brother. Entirely filmed in Hartlepool area (Netflix)
Darkest: Hooligan Legacy - Convicted hooligan reeks revenge with bloody results. Dark and moody (Prime)
White Collar Hooligan 2-England Away - Hiding in Spain, spotted at footie match, Larks and unpleasantness ensue (Prime)
Meet The Firm: Revenge in Rio - Last and funniest in the ‘white collar’ trilogy (Prime)
Most disappointing: Rise Of The Footsoldier: Vengeance - Pat Tate rampages to Ibiza. Entertaining but (apparently intentionally) not as funny as ‘Origins’ (Prime)
War
American: Blackbear - Afghan vet returns to MMA (Prime)
Buffalo Soldiers - Bored US troops in 1989 West Germany, engage
in amusing sidelines and japes (DVD)
Most educational: Submerged: The Hunley - Confederate sub
comes to sticky end (Prime)
WW1: Passchendaele - Story of the famous battle centred round a Canadian soldier, a nurse and her brother. Great battle scene (DVD)
WW2: Zone of Interest - Rudolph Hoss and family lead idyllic
life across the Auschwitz wall. Ace cinematography and sound, surreally good
(Prime)
Bio: The Six Triple Eight - Only black US WAC battalion sort
mail backlog (Netflix)
Funniest: Wheels of Terror - The Sven Hassel classic, criminal
German regiment on Eastern front, a hoot (Prime)
Comedy: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare - Guy Richie’s
amusing take on Operation Postmaster, based on book by Damian Lewis from
recently declassified files (Prime)
Oddest: Condor’s Nest - US vet seeks Nazis in South America,
encounters Heinrich Himmler. Odd mix of fact and fiction, slow start, mad
ending (Prime)
Alternate: Resistance - D Day has failed,
Welsh villagers ruled by Nazis. Low key (DVD)
Rescues: Saving Private Ryan - Overdue watch of the inexplicably
true tale of Americans saving a GI (Film 4)
Wolves of War - Crack team go to rescue Prof Hopper from
Nazis (Prime)
Grimmest: Arctic Convoy –Norwegian ships deliver munitions
from Iceland to Russia (Prime)
Days of Glory (aka Indigenes) - Algerians fight for France,
treated appallingly (DVD)
The Pianist – Jewish musician in Warsaw Ghetto, shambling
round at the end like Dr. Zhivago (DVD)
Liberation - Danish school teacher tries to do right by
German refugees, resistance unimpressed (Prime)
Western
One of Twelve over Twelve Months
(all on (Prime): Heart of the Gun - Man seeks wife,
rescues abused woman
A Guide to Gunfighters of the Wild West - horses the stars in
this funny story
The Woman Who Robbed The Stagecoach - Real ‘Pearl’, arrested,
jailed, pardoned. Filmed on iPhone
Tales of the Natchez Trace - Series of short stories
featuring the likes of Davey Crocket. Prompted discussion of less 17th
century wild west tales before the arrival of writers and journalists
Western Horror: Unnatural - Old hunter forced to take orphan
grandkids on trek to eradicate evil (Prime)
Western Sci-fi: Grey Eyes - The Gunslinger meets Children of
Men in this moody, well-shot Spanish tale of post-apocalyptic colour blindness
(Prime)
Irish Western/Crime: In The Land of Saints and Sinners - Liam
Neeson comes out of retirement when IRA bomber appears in his twee Irish village
(Netflix)
Sci-fi
Best: Alien Intervention - Alien
returns to retrieve object from woman 25 years after he gave it to her (Prime)
Best acting: Leave the World Behind -
Cyberattack interrupts family holiday. Laden with symbolism, racist and
classist undertones (Netflix)
Quirkiest: Acidman – Woman visits reclusive UFO-seeking dad
in rural Oregon (Prime)
Steampunk: Rebel Moon part 2: The Scargiver – Enjoyable
alternate universe/futuristic lark (Netflix)
Thriller: Don’t Worry Darling - Florence Pugh and Harry
Styles in apparently idyllic community (Prime)
Covid: Zero Contact - Tech magnate
Anthony Hopkins posthumously gets 5 people to stop his teleportation invention
coming to fruition. Cleverly filmed over zoom during lockdown (Prime)
Dystopian: The Domestics - Couple on post-apocalyptic road
trip encounter assorted baddies (Prime)
The Platform/Platform 2 - In Spanish ‘vertical social
management system’, food descends on platform once a day, death and cannibalism
ensue. Sequel inevitably violent. Louis Bunel has a lot to answer for (Netflix)
Most implausible: 65 - 65 million years ago, spaceman
crash-lands on earth, battles dinosaurs and meteors to save small girl. Imaginative,
decent effects but far-fetched (Netflix)
Foreign language: Bionic - Brazilian Paralympics crossed with The Terminator, effective visuals
(Netflix)
British: Breaking Infinity - Man in
a time loop tries to stop world ending (Prime)
The Kitchen - Residents of last London council estate resist
eviction, accompanied by DJ Ian Wright. Some good ideas but surely they’d form
a militia and fight the fascist pigs (Netflix)
AI: Future World - Atlas - Jennifer Lopez battles evil AI brother. Excellent
robots (Netflix)
Previously Saved Version - Man downloads wife’s brain into
androids (Prime)
Megan - creepy robot doll (Model 3 Generative Android),
predictably goes rogue (Netflix)
Subservience - AI Megan Fox inevitably turns out to be bunny
boiler. Very shiny (Netflix)
YA: After the End - Boy navigates post-pandemic world, meets
pregnant girl. Low key (Prime)
Uglies - Teens battle overlords in dystopian future. Mostly
predictable, a bit of a twist at the end (Netflix)
Breathe - As earth’s atmosphere unbreathable, family live in
bunker, oxygen thieves turn up. Good use of colour to convey mood and atmosphere
(Prime)
Anime: Appleseed Alpha - In post-war 22nd C.,
hired guns, woman and robot seek Atlantis. Lovely drawings (Netflix)
Fantasy
Best: Godzilla Minus One - Excellent prequel set in pre-war
Japan, great historical accuracy (Netflix)
Best demons: Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace - Balthazar
recruits Gabriel and friends to defeat Michael. Unusual, ambitious, striking demons
(Prime)
Comic: The Batman - Another update, high budget, stellar cast,
dark and atmospheric, overlong (Prime)
Best villain: Morbius - Marvel character injects himself with
bat blood, Matt Smith a great villain (Netflix)
Silliest: Black Adam - The Rock and Justice Society in
Avenger-style mayhem. Daft escapism (Prime)
Legend/Myth: Mortal - American of Nordic descent channels
Thor (Prime)
Hercules - The Rock with hair leads Thrace armies to battle against
warlord. Enjoyable adventure (DVD)
Bea Wolf - Made during covid lockdowns, unusually involves as
many women as men (Prime)
Beowulf and Grendel - Yet another version of the old Norse
tale (DVD)
Romance: Tristan and Isolde - Watchable telling of the old
story (DVD)
Folk Tale: Maksym Oza- Gold of the Werewolf - First Ukrainian
film to be based on graphic novel, in turn based on folk tale. Interesting and
thought-provoking, prompted reflection on how stories are passed down (Prime)
Arthouse
Best: Nightwatching - Peter Greenaway’s interpretation of
Rembrandt painting the famous work (Prime)
Most wasted talent: The French Dispatch - Wes Anderson
ensemble piece, impressive cast, French dialogue impossible to follow due to
rapid speech and tiny subtitles (Film 4)
Short: The After - Man fails to get over death of wife and daughter.
Not for me! (Netflix)
Horror
Creepiest: Umma – Off-grid Sandra Oh surprised by Korean uncle bringing
dead mum in suitcase (Netflix)
Impuratus -The Devil’s Confession - cop
hears unbelievable confession of civil war vet in loony bin (Prime)
Silliest: Ready or Not – New bride foils murderous family
game (Netflix)
Dangerous Game-The Legacy Murders - Old psycho gathers family
to find successor (Netflix)
Best soundtrack: Firestarter - Blumhouse remake of the old
Stephen King, truncated but watchable, ace John Carpenter music (Netflix)
Gothic: The Crow – Salvation – Cheap, bad acting, grungy fun
(Prime)
Werewolves: Eight For Silver - Gypsy werewolves wreak revenge
on land-stealers (Netflix)
Worst: The Disappointment Room - Strange goings on in huge
fixer-upper, was it all in her head. Not very scary, should have been called
The Disappointment, full stop (Netflix)
Demons: The Deliverance - Family haunted by demons, creepily
based on true story (Netflix)
Sister Death - Novice nun gets to truth of spooky goings-on
in post-civil war Spanish convent (Netflix)
Veronica - Teenager invokes demon in loose follow up
(Netflix)
Hammiest: The Hunter’s Anthology- The Demon Hunter -
Protagonist traps people in tube train, ascertains which is the demon. Cheap,
hammy fun (Prime)
Zombies: Outside – Filippino family hide out on farm during
zombie plague. Different. (Netflix)
Apocalypse Z- The Beginning of the End? - Zombie virus
epidemic creates worldwide chaos. Imaginative but inconclusive Spanish flick. Cheeky
‘?’ hints at sequel (Prime)
Vampires: The Invitation - Young woman escapes house of posh vampires
(Netflix)
Blood Vessel - Creepy Nazi vampire gold ship. Naff but a
laugh (Prime)
Comedy
Best: The Lost City - Cover model Channing Tatum rescues
writer Bullock from millionaire Radcliffe (Netflix)
The Cobbler - Cobbler discovers old stitcher allows him to
step into other’s shoes (Prime)
A Man Called Otto - Grumpy Tom Hanks reluctantly gets
involved with neighbours for usual but watchable goo (Netflix)
American Fiction - Black academic writes trite ‘black novel’
for a joke. Some hilarious bits (Prime)
Best action: Jackpot! - Protection agent John Cena helps
winner of deadly lottery survive the mob. Silly fun (Prime)
Northern Comfort - Group scared of flying stranded in Iceland.
The excellent Tim Spall takes charge (Netflix)
Best Welsh: Brian and Charles - Mad
inventor builds robot friend in his shed. A quirky laugh (Netflix)
Sci-fi Comedy: Free Guy - Game AI gains consciousness,
escapes to better virtual world (Film 4)
Horror Comedy: A Vampire in the Family - Long-lost
brother-in-law returns to Brazil, Count Dracula comes to vampire Halloween
party (Netflix)
Musical Comedy: Dublin Crust - Irish punk band reform after 5
years. Songs not too bad if samey (Prime)
Romcom: Marry Me - Singer picks out maths teacher at gig to
wed, scenes with adorable kids ensue (iPlayer)
Comedy Bio:
Best: Pinball: The Man Who Saved The Game - Pinball fan Roger
Sharpe convinces NY authorities it’s not gambling (Prime)
British: Wicked Little Letters - Littlehampton community
scandalised by rude sweary missives (Netflix)
Funniest: Unfrosted - Loosely based
on invention of pop tarts (Netflix)
Crime Comedy:
Most unbelievable: The Hot Potato – Chancers try to flog
uranium, comedy capers incredibly based on a true story (Prime)
Oddest: The King of Bloody Fookin’ Britain - US interpretation
of Cockney gangsters (Prime)
Brothers - Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage as unalike twins
follow dysfunctional mum into crime. Enjoyable, hilarious in parts (Prime)
Christmas
Silliest: Red One - The Rock and Chris Evans rescue kidnapped
Santa with Viking roots from Christmas witch (Prime)
Most gory: Violent Night - Santa, again apparently Viking,
helps to foil robbers of rich family (Netflix)
Most disappointing: The Christmas Chronicles 2 – Started as a mad elf film, cheered
up by Kurt Russell singing and Goldie Hawn as Mrs. Claus (Netflix)
Carry-On - Man plans to put chemical bomb on plane, motive
uncertain. Lacks anything festive apart from taking place on Christmas Eve and
a couple of songs (Netflix)
