Not a dry eye in the room by the end!

Ikiru (1952)
Dir: Akira Kurosawa

1 - I Swear 2 - My Mom Jayne 3 - Flow 4 - A Real Pain 5 - I'm Still Here 6 - Nosferatu 7 - Hard Truths 8 - Ocean With David Attenborough 9 - Late Shift 10 - Les Bêtes

My favourite releases in the UK this year. I have no idea how I Swear will be received outside of the UK but I'd take it over anything else I've seen in 2025. The book it is based on is also superb 👌

I know people go with top 10 favourite first watches and all that but why restrict it to that when you've seen so many belters this year. An Icelandic gem that everyone is sleeping on at the top sounds about right for me 🎬

J'accuse!

My world cinema viewing this year was very...French

My 2025 roll call of hidden gems/underseen films. A mix of documentaries, Polish-Russian stop motion, Ken Loach, East Asian cinema, Sidney Poitier and eh Looney Tunes 🤌

Charlie Chaplin in The Circus (1928)

The Mascot (1933)
I Swear
My Mom Jayne
The Vanishing (1988)

The Illusionist (2010)
A Real Pain
The Verdict
Le Cercle Rouge
Dune
Prisoner Of Azkaban
The Lily Of Belgium

It went from a good month to a great month in no time

Glengarry Glen Ross
Awakenings
Vertigo
Inherit The Wind
Nightcrawler

Good luck! It's been sitting on my iplayer watchlist for yonks. Still not had the guts to rewatch it 💥☢️

Flow
The Wild Robot
Rebecca (1940)
Hidari

Top notch animation and a superb Hitchcock/Olivier pairing

Casino
High and Dizzy
Dheepan
On Falling

Not watched a lot this month but there's some belters here

The Graduate
The Great Escape
Cyborg: A Documentary
One To One: John & Yoko

2 blindspots; 2 new docs

I've found him to be quite funny on panel shows etc. and I seem to remember him having some legendary Tweets. Every cloud...

As far as random films and "how did he find that?" go, this one is right up there!

Yes! The plastic snaps were cool and unique too! The Matrix was one of the last VHS that we bought and it came in a cardboard case that folded over like a shoe box. Quite fitting to have a quality case for a quality film 👌

We've come a long way since but what a rarity they were!

First VHS: Masters Of The Universe
(best guess, I had dozens. Could have been Roger Rabbit)

First Laserdisc: 🙅‍♂️

First DVD: Gladiator
(2 sided disc!)

First Bluray: Kamikaze Girls
(Only got it a few years ago)

First 4K: Close Encounters
(still to watch 😐)

First Criterion: The Circus
(perfection)

Living the dream (I think!)

Get well soon 💪

Mr Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975)
Mickey's Trailer (1938)
A Patch Of Blue (1965)

20th century strikes again

Sounds like something to look forward to as I really love Rya Lane. It's bizarre that I always see the soundtrack in shops but not the DVD ☹️. Maybe this will give the director more coverage

That, I am yet to see 👀

Could have posted a dozen different images from each film. Still thinking about all of them!

The Straight Story (1999)
Belleville Rendezvous (2003)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

Always enjoy seeing a point of view from the opposite end of the scale!

Oh no, thought this looked decent as well 😐

As well as being my favourite film from the Indiana Jones series, it also contains one of the all time lines in cinema:

"It tells me, that goose-stepping morons like yourself should try reading books instead of burning them!"