Occasions on which I’ve tried to order the chaos. Exercises in futility.
I posted a list like this, broken out into 5 parts, earlier this year, then took it down again. I was triggered by a couple of other publications that dared to make their lists so early. This is an updated version. Long, but snugly housed all in the one post. It just requires a lot … Continue reading The Best Films Of The Decade
I'll try not to go on. I'll try to be brief. But there are 100 films here, so this may run long, you understand? It's been five years since I last drew up a top films list on The Lost Highway Hotel (that list, in mockery of Empire magazine, ran to 301 films). A lot … Continue reading 100 Favourite Films – A Personal List
Since 1988 Don Mancini has been writing the 'Chucky' movies; a horror franchise that grew - somewhat improbably - out of original flick Child's Play directed by Tim Hunter. Arriving after the slasher boom, Child's Play is one of several high-concept horror ideas dotted around the late 80's and early 90's, a time when the … Continue reading Ranked: The ‘Chucky’ Films
The top ten Phantom ThreadShoplifters120BPM (Beats Per Minute)SuspiriaAnnihilationThe Miseducation of Cameron PostWidowsBlack PantherFirst ManLady Bird Film Of The YearPhantom Thread "Despite their varying ways of hiding and protecting themselves, Reynolds and Alma are two of the most intimate and open characters that Anderson has yet presented us with, when wounded and when wicked." A beguiling, … Continue reading The Best of 2018
With The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs arriving on Netflix, it felt like time for a daunting career appraisal of the brothers Coen. Theirs is a cineliterate canon; a body of work in constant awe of past masters, yet imbued with their own inimitable style. Their reverence is transformed into the personal. Thanks to faithful work with … Continue reading Ranked: The Coen Brothers
As Phantom Thread readies for home release, I thought I'd indulge in a deceptively difficult and openly personal task; ranking the feature films of Paul Thomas Anderson. Expect a multitude of adjectives in my rundown below. The ordering you may well disagree with; everyone's preferences are different. What has struck me, however, is how good all … Continue reading Ranked: Paul Thomas Anderson
Though we're only a year and a half from bringing the decade to a close (at which point there'll be plenty of lists like this), the release of the impressive A Quiet Place spurred the decision to tally up the best horror films to have been released since 2010, according to The Lost Highway Hotel. So if … Continue reading 25 Best Horror Films Of The Decade (So Far)
The top ten Certain WomenThe Florida ProjectRawMoonlightJackieCall Me By Your NameGet OutThe Killing Of A Sacred DeerThe HandmaidenToni Erdmann Film Of The YearCertain Women "All three stories find Reichardt offering us women trying to progress with their lives in the face of absurdity. The tempo is steady and one can readily imagine a thousand other … Continue reading The Best of 2017
I thought I'd keep something I could update on a semi-regular basis on here, showing my favourite films from each calendar year, separated by year of production (differing from my end-of-year lists, which favour UK release). I'm going back as far as 1940 for now, largely because the number of films per year that I've … Continue reading List: Top 10 Films Of Every Year, By Year Of Production
The top ten Everybody Wants Some!!The Witch10 Cloverfield LaneThe RevenantAmerican HoneyEmbrace Of The SerpentQueen Of EarthSullyAuthor: The JT LeRoy StoryUnder The Shadow Film Of The YearEverybody Wants Some!! "Rather like how a wildlife documentary will show you the bizarre mating rituals of some flamboyant species or other, Linklater paints a studied picture of college life. … Continue reading The Best of 2016
Let us continue then. Compiling this list hammered home for me the diverse nature of the beast at hand. Horror has so many subcategories. Vampire pictures. Zombie pictures. Portmanteau films. Found footage. And horror arrives at different tempos. There are the zany comedies. The restrained chillers. The gonzo gorefests. The brutally nihilistic. And, as in … Continue reading List: 50 Greatest Horror Films (25-1)
October, capped as it is by Halloween, is the month most routinely turned to for horror. Some of you out there may even be entertaining yourselves with the 31 days of horror challenge that rattles routinely around social media this month. I've been contemplating a best horror films list for quite a while now, always … Continue reading List: 50 Greatest Horror Films (50-26)
Here then are the final twenty in this alphabetical look at some of the finest films to have appeared between 2000 and, well, right now. You'd have thought 100 would be enough, but frankly what's struck me most are what I've found myself omitting. Narrowing it to the selections made was tough, and this is … Continue reading 100 Great Films Of The 21st Century – Part 5
We're into part 4 of 5 now, and I'll let you in on a little secret; a lot of my favourites overall are in this section. As I said at the very beginning, the whole point here was to celebrate how diverse modern movie making can be, so there are choices here from the very … Continue reading 100 Great Films Of The 21st Century – Part 4
The mid-section of this alphabetical list highlighting some of the exemplary work produced since the year 2000. If you're stuck for something to watch and you're scrolling through [insert name of streaming service here] and see any one of these titles, it's a safe bet you'll have found something worth a look. That's probably about … Continue reading 100 Great Films Of The 21st Century – Part 3
