My 2nd year as a blogger is now complete and I want to thank every one of you who read my site for helping me achieve a few milestones this year.

• My page views and visitor numbers have both increased this year by a few hundred. Thanks so much for reading and engaging with me.
• I posted my 2nd Director Retrospective this year on one of my favourite directors – Wes Anderson
• The result of which was my first ever appearance on a podcast which you can find a link to here – At the Flicks Podcast – Wes Anderson

The Stats

My viewing at the cinema was as follows:

• 117 Visits to the cinema
• 110 Unique films (I saw 7 films twice)

My viewing on streaming services was as follows:

• 15 Unique films

All of which resulted in me posting 124 reviews to the site this year.

This breaks my record for unique films seen in 1 year (115) but only thanks to me adding streaming services to the total.

The Year of Netflix

At the end of last year I said that I would need to move with the times and start to review films on streaming services. This year was a big step in the changing face of cinema in that Netflix became a major player in film. Picking up fantastic films without distributors (Annihilation), funding medium budget films for interesting directors (Hold the Dark) and producing a real Oscar contender (Roma) Netflix have shown this year that they can compete with the major players.

It is something that leaves me rather torn in terms of my film watching preferences. I welcome the fact that these films are being made, but I miss the opportunity to see them on the big screen. Here in the UK those films Netflix deem prestigious enough to warrant a cinema release have only appeared in Curzon cinemas, which means that it is not feasible for me to see them given distance and cost.

They also happened to make what I think was easily the best TV series of the year in The Haunting of Hill House.

Next year my most anticipated Netflix release will be The Irishman. Martin Scorsese’s 9th film with Robert DeNiro that also stars Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel.

The Future

I will continue to write reviews for Cinema and major streaming releases as usual of course. What I would like to do next year is write some more features and appear on more podcasts.

In terms of features, I am working on a Coen Brothers retrospective at the moment, but I am also considering expanding to opinion pieces as well. If you have any thoughts on directors you want retrospectives of or specific opinion pieces let me know in the comments.

My End of Year Lists

I found it very difficult to come up with my films of the year list this year as for a very long time there was no stand out best film for me. Normally there will always be one film that sits head and shoulders above the others, but that film did not arrive this year until very late in the day. So here we go, click the links to see my original reviews…

Best Films of the Year

1. Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse A very late arrival for my film of the year. Really pushing the boundaries of comic book films and an absolute treat for comic fans.
2. A Quiet Place Missing out on the top spot is this perfectly crafted thriller that forced cinema audiences into being as silent as possible.
3. A Star is Born Bradley Cooper makes a masterpiece on his first try. A simple story about a man and woman in love with a corking soundtrack.
4. Mission: Impossible Fallout Instantly sitting alongside Predator and Die Hard as one of the greatest action films of all time. Tom Cruise fight for realism really pays off.
5. Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Opening in the first week of 2018 this is still in my memory. A beautiful film that succeeds in being darkly comic, dramatic, hopeful and shockingly sad.
6. Annihilation Alex Garland’s brilliant sci-fi adaptation had no worldwide distributor and became a Netflix film. Watch on the biggest screen you can as the effects are beautiful.
7. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs The Coen Brothers signed up to make a Netflix TV show but instead created this sublime western anthology film for them.
8. Hostiles Scott Cooper’s more traditional western is brutal, stoic and features a typically committed performance from Christian Bale.
9. You Were Never Really Here Lynn Ramsay’s film about a vigilante for hire featured a brilliant Joaquin Phoenix performance in what I described as a surreal fever dream.
10. Isle of Dogs A Wes Anderson animated feature means perfectly framed images, dry humour and title cards! Genius.
11. First Man Damian Chazelle has made 3 superb films in a row but for some reason this one failed to connect with audiences. Gosling is superb as the buttoned up Armstrong grieving for his daughter.
12. Leave No Trace The 2nd film on my list from a female director whose last film was too long ago. Subtle and emotional with 2 brilliant central performances.
13. Phantom Thread Paul Thomas Anderson directing what might be Daniel Day Lewis’s final film. Need I say more?
14. The Old Man & The Gun Another actor giving possibly his last performance in a film. Robert Redford is superb in this neo-western.
15. Avengers Infinity War The Russo brothers expertly manoeuvre a multitude of characters from one set piece to the next and set up one of the most anticipated films of next year.
16. Roma Netflix Oscar contender is arguably a “critic” film but if you take the time you will see emotional heart in amongst its technical brilliance.
17. Widows A crime heist movie with so much more to say and featuring one of the best shots of the year.
18. The Shape of Water This years Best Picture at the Oscars is a beautiful faery tale.
19. Game Night Hands down the best comedy of the year. Jesse Plemons weird neighbour is hilarious.
20. Kodachrome I had to find a place for this Netflix film that whilst simple packed an emotional punch.

Worst Films of the Year

1. King of Thieves Painful in every way and the dullest heist movie ever made? When the on-screen joke of the characters falling asleep is making the audience jealous there is a problem.
2. Robin Hood (2018) I honestly think the director wanted to make this in the modern day given how incongruous it is.
3. The First Purge Could have been so much more given the politics involved. But unfortunately a mess.
4. Holmes and Watson Ferrell and Reilly can do so much better than this. The paradox of an unfunny film filled with funny people.
5. Mile 22 I wasn’t sure if Wahlberg’s character or the poor action editing was the worst thing in this one.

Comic Book Films Ranked

1. Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse Clearly my favourite given it’s ranking in my list above.
2. Avengers Infinity War Another film from my best of the year list above.
3. Black Panther A cool and stylish Marvel movie featuring Michael B. Jordan as one of the best on-screen Marvel villains.
4. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies Some people might scoff and say this is for kids, but it was fresh, original and prepared to have fun.
5. Aquaman I think this one is going to split people down the middle. You either enjoy its over the top attitude or find it far too camp. I was just happy to see Geoff Johns stories on the big screen.
6. Ant Man and the Wasp Arguably a little safe as the smaller Marvel film this year but it is still full of comic inventiveness.
7. Deadpool 2 The fact this is so low down the list just shows how good a year it was if you like these films. Superb action and still very funny.
8. Incredibles 2 A fun sequel that does not live up to the highs of the original.
9. Venom Tonally all over the place and wasting some fantastic actors this still managed to be the 5th highest grossing film worldwide this year!

Comic Book films are currently the biggest thing in the film world. The top 10 grossing movies of this year include 6 of these 9 films! And anything that allows Nic Cage to play Superman and Spider-Man in the same year must be good…right?

Next year we can look forward to at least another 8 with Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Shazam, Joker, Dark Phoenix, The New Mutants, Hellboy and Spider-Man Far From Home.

Biggest Dissappointments

1. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Who doesn’t like dinosaurs? I loved Jurassic World. I thought it was a fantastic reinvention of a good franchise. But this film was really poor. After they leave the island it probably could not get worse.
2. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Another sequel to a film I really enjoyed that let me down. I saw this twice at the cinema and both times were very dull.
3. The Predator I had high hopes for a Shane Black Predator sequel. They were misplaced. This was a bit of a shambles.
4. Ocean’s 8 Whether you think it is a reboot or a sequel, this again managed to be less than the sum of its parts. What a cracking cast though.
5. The Happytime Murders I know some people who will have this in their worst of lists. But whilst I didn’t consider it to be as bad as those in my list of worst films it was a huge missed opportunity.

Thanks for reading.