Category Archives: progress reports

How am I doing? Including monthly updates.

The 20th Monthly Review of January 2026

Featured

Posted on by
1

Strictly speaking, this is not the 20th January review — I didn’t start these monthly progress reports until 2010, which was my fourth year, so (factually) this is the 17th column of this nature. But it’s my 20th year, so what the hey!

I don’t know if that will make me more reflective throughout the year, but here’s one thing I’ve already observed: I was just 20 years old when I started this project, and this year I’ll turn 40. There’ll come a point before too long where 100 Films has been a part of my life longer than it hasn’t. I mean… crikey!

(Despite how close that makes it sound, “before too long” is actually the best part of two years away, in December 2027. Yes, I’ve put something in the diary.)

But, for now, it’s all about the past 31 days. Even after 20 years, they’ve set a new standard; broken a record, if you will. Unfortunately, it’s a bad record, and a new low standard. Oh dear…



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#1 The Greatest Showman (2017) — Rewatch #1
#2 The Crime Is Mine (2023) — Wildcard #1
#3 The Roses (2025) — Failure #1


  • I watched two feature films I’d never seen before in January.
  • Both of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
  • That’s the weakest start to the year in the two-decade history of 100 Films — which is the new-low record I mentioned at the start.
  • As regular readers may remember, the monthly average needed to hit 100 on target is just over eight films per month, so I’m starting the year very much on the back foot.
  • But hey, it’s meant to be a challenge, right?
  • That said, I’m so far behind already that I think there’s a realistic prospect I won’t catch up to target until the final quarter of the year — especially as I suspect February won’t hit eight Challenge films either.
  • But hey, you never know, right?



The 128th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
So, there are only two films to choose from this month, which makes this not very much of a contest at all. Arguably it’s a bit ridiculous even doing it. But I still am, obviously. So, I give the edge to The Roses, probably just because its accurate evocation of British manners and humours clicked with me more.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
And that means the loser by default is The Crime Is Mine, which is, y’know, French. But I liked it a lot and would recommend it, so this might be the most “technicality loser” in the 128-month history of the Arbies.


February may be the shortest month of the year, but I hope it winds up with more films.

The 20th 100 Films in a Year Challenge

Posted on by
1

For the 20th year in a row, I’m going to attempt to watch 100 films in a year.

Except, as regular readers will know, it’s a bit more complicated than that nowadays. Just watching any old 100 films each year became a matter of course — the “challenge” aspect died off entirely when I was regularly reaching 200+ films for a few years. So, a few years ago, I reimagined it into what is, effectively, a series of smaller, more specific film-watching challenges, which altogether add up to 100 films in a year.

(Alongside this, I also aim to watch ten new films a month, for a total of 120 a year. My lifestyle and habits have changed in the past few years, so that’s also more of a challenge than it once would have been. Indeed, I failed to do it last year. And I’m about 90% sure I’m going to immediately fail it for 2026 by not getting there in January. At least it’ll take any pressure off for the rest of the year.)

This is the fifth iteration of my new-style Challenge, and each year so far I’ve made some changes — removed and added categories; modified the qualification rules within a category; etc. That was part of my conception of this new version: that it wouldn’t stand still; it wouldn’t become something I could learn ‘how’ to do and repeat ad infinitum. However, I’ve settled on a category lineup that I’m so happy with I don’t want to change it… so I’m not going to. That said, there are certain categories (three of the nine, to be precise) that change their theme or makeup every year anyway, meaning an element of changeability does persist.

So, let’s see what that the 100 Films in a Year Challenge involves for its 20th edition…

First, the one rule that applies across all categories: a film can only count once. That might sound obvious, but the categories are not mutually exclusive: I could rewatch a film from a series I’m halfway through that’s in this year’s genre, and thus it could qualify in three categories — but it can only be counted in one of them.

New Films

x12. Any film with a general release date (i.e. not festival screenings, etc) in the UK (i.e. not in the US, nor any other country) between 1st January 2025 and 31st December 2025. Maximum one per month (but rolls over if I fail to watch one).

Rewatches

x12. Any film I’ve seen before (unless it’s already been counted in 2026’s Challenge). Maximum one per month (with rollovers, as above).

Blindspot

x12. Twelve films, specifically chosen and named in advance, that I should have already seen. Meant to be watched one per month, but I typically fail at that and have to play catch up. This year’s twelve will be revealed in a dedicated post tomorrow.

What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen…?

x12. Similar to Blindspot, these are twelve specifically chosen films meant to be watched one per month, but here my selections are based around a theme. This year’s theme, and the twelve films selected, will be revealed in a dedicated post tomorrow.

Failures

x12. Every month, I list my “failures”: brand-new releases, additions to streamers, and disc purchases that I failed to watch in the previous month. Sometimes I catch up on some of them the next month; often I don’t. Making them a Challenge category helps with this. A maximum of one per month counts. If I miss one, I catch up on that specific month later.

50 Unseen

x10. Any unwatched film from one of my year-end ’50 Unseen’ lists. It’s likely to be dominated by films from 2025’s list as I catch up on what I missed last year, but anything from the previous 19 years is eligible. (If you’re interested, there’s a complete list of candidates here.)

Genre

x10. Any films from within a specified genre — or, arguably, a sub-genre: I’m not focusing on anything broad like “Action” or “Comedy” here, but something relatively specific. Previous choices have included film noir, gialli, poliziotteschi, and martial arts movies. This year, it’s classic 3D — by which I mean, any film originally released in 3D before the current Avatar-initiated era. (Okay, it’s not really a “genre”, but then neither is film noir if you want to get picky about it.)

Series Progression

x10. Any instalment of a film series I’m already watching. If I start a new series, the first film can’t count but any further films can. (If you’re curious, there’s a list of film series I’m in the middle of here. At time of writing, there’s 36.)

Wildcards

x10. Any film that can’t have qualified in another category at any point. For example, I couldn’t watch two brand-new releases in January and count the second one here, or watch ten classic 3D films and then count an eleventh here.

As the year goes on, you can follow my progress on the Challenge Tracker page, and also via my monthly reviews; or there’s always my Letterboxd for the guaranteed most up-to-date status of my film logging.

Wake Up Film Blog: A December 2025 Monthly Review

Posted on by
5
Wake Up Film Blog

I know it’s been a pretty sleepy year on the blog, with just the pair of monthly posts to keep things ticking over most every month — but it’s 2026 now, and that means it’s time for the annual extravaganza of posts looking back at the year just gone. Hurrah!

But first… well, I say “first”: the first year-in-review post has already happened. But the, uh, next first step is dedicated to summing up December.



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#95 The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954) — Failure #12
#96 Jay Kelly (2025) — New Film #12
#97 The Boss (1973) — Genre #10
#98 How to Train Your Dragon 2 3D (2014) — Rewatch #12
#99 Out of Sight (1998) — WDYMYHS #12
#100 Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) — Blindspot #12


  • I watched seven feature films I’d never seen before in December.
  • Five of those counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
  • That’s the third month of 2025 in which I failed to meet my minimum target of ten new films…
  • …but at least I completed my Challenge!
  • Having rewatched How to Train Your Dragon and a bunch of followup shorts back in May, I’d intended to immediately move on to its two feature-length sequels. 7½ months later… well, that’s not “immediately” by anyone’s standards. And I still only managed to find time for the first sequel — the third film (and, unfortunately, the Christmas-themed TV special that follows it) will have to come sometime in 2026. Hopefully not in another seven months, though.
  • This month’s Blindspot film was Hayao Miyazaki’s cosy witchy anime Kiki’s Delivery Service.
  • This month’s WDYMYHS film was Steven Soderbergh’s romantic heist thriller Out of Sight.
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched The Men of Sherwood Forest and Wake Up Dead Man.



The 127th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
Like much of 2025, I wouldn’t say this was a bad month by any stretch, but nor did a great number of films stand out. That means Rian Johnson’s third murder mystery starring Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, Wake Up Dead Man, easily walks away with this by being very good indeed.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
Similarly, no truly bad films this month, so I’m left debating which of the 3-star efforts was the ‘worst’. Looking back at my Letterboxd diary, I actually gave 3.5 to two of them, which leaves Fernando Di Leo’s poliziotteschi The Boss the unfortunate loser. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t think it was as good as the other two films in Di Leo’s ‘milieu’ trilogy.


The 20th year of 100 Films begins!

But before that, a bunch of posts looking back at the 19th year.

100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025: Final Standing

Posted on by
1

As 2026 looms, here’s a record of how the challenge tracker page for 2025 looked at the end of the year — in a word: complete.

That makes this the second year in a row I’ve achieved my goal, after two years of failing to do so. Frankly, the most surprising thing about this is that I’m entering the fifth year of my new-style challenge — it still feels like I’ve only recently switched over. It was during the fifth year of the original challenge that I began the move to WordPress, the blog’s fourth home. It felt like I’d been doing this for so long at the time, but with hindsight, I was just getting started. Funny old thing, time, isn’t it?

Anyway, before I digress too far, here’s that list. As ever, more about all this in the days to come.

On this page, I’ll track my progress with The 100 Films in a Year Challenge. Learn more about the challenge here.

New Films

  1. Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger (2025)
  2. Macbeth (2025)
  3. A Real Pain (2024)
  4. Havoc (2025)
  5. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025)
  6. Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
  7. Heads of State (2025)
  8. The Thursday Murder Club (2025)
  9. KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
  10. The Woman in Cabin 10 (2025)
  11. Hedda (2025)
  12. Jay Kelly (2025)

Rewatches

  1. Oliver & Company (1988)
  2. Snake Eyes (1998)
  3. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
  4. How to Train Your Dragon [3D] (2010)
  5. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
  6. 28 Days Later (2002)
  7. Stargate (1994)
  8. 7 Women and a Murder (2021)
  9. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
  10. Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
  11. Top Hat (1935)
  12. How to Train Your Dragon 2 [3D] (2014)

Blindspot

  1. Eraserhead (1977)
  2. Freaks (1932)
  3. Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)
  4. Cat People (1942)
  5. The Graduate (1967)
  6. Saltburn (2023)
  7. The Notebook (2004)
  8. Girl, Interrupted (1998)
  9. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
  10. Häxan (1922)
  11. Midsommar (2019)
  12. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen…?

  1. Fist of Fury (1972)
  2. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
  3. The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
  4. Saboteur (1942)
  5. Spartacus (1960)
  6. The Untouchables (1987)
  7. The Wolf Man (1941)
  8. Project A (1983)
  9. The City of Lost Children (1995)
  10. Tenebrae (1982)
  11. Le Samouraï (1967)
  12. Out of Sight (1998)

Failures

  1. Run Lola Run (1998)
  2. Róise & Frank (2022)
  3. Lifeforce (1985)
  4. The Black Watch (1929)
  5. Trancers (1984)
  6. Hardware (1990)
  7. The Invisible Swordsman (1970)
  8. Gwen and the Book of Sand (1985)
  9. An Aleutian Adventure (1920s)
  10. Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage (1989)
  11. Superman (2025)
  12. The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954)

50 Unseen

  1. Anna Karenina (2012)
  2. Empire of Light (2022)
  3. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
  4. I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
  5. 28 Weeks Later (2007)
  6. Paddington in Peru (2024)
  7. The Power of the Dog (2021)
  8. The Wild Robot (2024)
  9. 9 (2009)
  10. Drive-Away Dolls (2024)

Genre: Poliziotteschi

  1. Milano Calibro 9 (1972)
  2. Revolver (1973)
  3. Illustrious Corpses (1976)
  4. Shoot First, Die Later (1974)
  5. Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976)
  6. The Italian Connection (1972)
  7. The Tough Ones (1976)
  8. Slap the Monster on Page One (1972)
  9. Street Law (1974)
  10. The Boss (1973)

Series Progression

  1. Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)
  2. Silver Blaze (1937)
  3. Never Back Losers (1961)
  4. The Sinister Man (1961)
  5. Kizumonogatari Part 2: Nekketsu (2016)
  6. Kizumonogatari Part 3: Reiketsu (2017)
  7. Funeral in Berlin (1966)
  8. Backfire! (1962)
  9. Candidate for Murder (1962)
  10. The Road to Hong Kong (1962)

Wildcards

  1. Death Goes to School (1953)
  2. The Six Triple Eight (2024)
  3. Vendetta for the Saint (1969)
  4. Long Story Short (2021)
  5. Grand Theft Hamlet (2024)
  6. Marty (1955)
  7. Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)
  8. Hooray for Hollywood (1976)
  9. Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983)
  10. Mobile Suit Gundam (1981)

The Dragonborn Monthly Review of November 2025

Posted on by
3

Another month, another title that doesn’t actually refer to my film viewing.

I point you in the direction of my September review, where I reported my good fortune in winning a Steam Deck. Well, in November I installed a little game called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I’d bought it on sale at some point due to its reputation, but actually started it up this month on a whim, half expecting to wander around a little bit, get said whim out of my system, and move on to something else.

Over 58 hours of playtime later — during which I’ve only progressed the main plot about as far as I have to* (i.e. getting out of the tutorial, plus a tiny bit more) — and, yeah, I think I’m in this for the long haul. For perspective: according to HowLongToBeat, if you do focus on the main story, the average completion time is about 27 hours; but there’s so much else to do in the game that there are recorded playtimes over 700 hours; and even the “all play styles” average is 130 hours. Even after 58 hours, I still feel like I’m very much just getting started.

* (Somewhat ironically, I haven’t actually got to the point where the adjective I’ve chosen for this post’s title comes into play; but I didn’t have any other decent ideas for references, so it is what it is.)

I certainly didn’t spend that many hours watching films this month, let me tell you. Although I didn’t shirk either, as you can learn in the viewing notes…



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#88 Hedda (2025) — New Film #11
#89 Midsommar (2019) — Blindspot #11
#90 Superman (2025) — Failure #11
#91 Street Law (1974) — Genre #9
#92 Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953) — Rewatch #10
#93 Le Samouraï (1967) — WDYMYHS #11
#94 Top Hat (1935) — Rewatch #11


  • I watched 12 feature films I’d never seen before in November.
  • Five of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with two rewatches.
  • The first-time-watches tally ties with June for the highest in 2025 (so far), but add in the rewatches and the total of 14 makes November the year’s largest month overall.
  • And one of those 12 was my 100th first-time watch of the year — that may not be my ‘official’ challenge anymore, but it still feels nice to hit that marker.
  • All the many Blu-rays and 4Ks I own and streamers I’m already subscribed to full of stuff I’ve been meaning to rewatch, sometimes for decades… and yet I signed back up to MUBI (albeit with a free trial) just to watch Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, a film I didn’t even like when I watched it 20-odd years ago. Big sigh. But that was the point of me rewatching it, of course — to reassess — and sometimes the itch you get is the one you’ve got to scratch, y’know?
  • This month’s Blindspot film was Ari Aster’s folk horror Midsommar, watched right near the start of the month so it still kinda tied in with Halloween.
  • This month’s WDYMYHS film was the one that inspired the category’s theme this year, Le Samouraï. For that reason, I’d been intending to save it ’til last; but, for various other reasons I shan’t bore you with, it felt like it made more sense to watch it now and leave the other outstanding film for December.
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched Superman.



The 126th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
Looking back over this month’s first-time watches — both the five listed above and the other seven (nowadays the best place to see my whole month-by-month viewing is Letterboxd) — and there’s a lot I liked, a lot I have down as 4 stars, but not a lot I loved. Perhaps the closest to nudging up an extra half-star was Le Samouraï, which had the misfortune of coming with high expectations. It didn’t completely fail to live up to them, but perhaps the burden was still unfairly great.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
This is, unfortunately, a little easier. Clocking in as the biggest disappointment of the month was the new Red Sonja. Now, given its production and release history (i.e. incredibly low-key and minor), I was expecting it to be poor. But I enjoyed the ’80s movie (even if, yeah, it’s not actually good either) and I’ve been vaguely following the existence of this remake/re-do for years (and it has been in the offing for years), hoping it would wind up with some talent behind it and manage to fill the gap between the previous version’s potential and its actual achievements. Even when it became clear that it didn’t have the backing for that to happen, I hoped it might at least be another flawed-but-fun run at the material. But no, it’s simply not very good, sadly. There are ways it could have been even worse, and there are ways it’s not bad, but that really is damning with faint praise, isn’t it?


Last year I entered December on #93 and went on to complete my Challenge for the first time since I rejigged it in 2022. This year, I go in on #94… but complacency breeds failure, so I’m still going to try and get those final six films crossed off with relative haste. In 2024 I got to #100 on the 21st, and while I’m not aiming to beat that just for the sake of beating it, getting there even earlier wouldn’t hurt.

The Aramánian Monthly Review of October 2025

Posted on by
3

The much-anticipated (if you move in circles that anticipate such things) fourth Critical Role campaign started this month, with a quartet of ‘overture’ episodes that set the scene for a different-feeling but hopefully-epic new adventure — or set of adventures, with three groups in play. It felt like watching the start of something like The Wire or Game of Thrones, in the best possible way. If you’ve ever been curious but never started, it’s a great time to dive in… so long as you can find 18 hours a month for it, that is.

Despite all of that (including staying up overnight twice to watch episodes as they premiered), I still found time for enough films to keep my Challenge on track. Indeed, I head into November the furthest ahead I’ve ever been in the new-style Challenge era…



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#81 The Tough Ones (1976) — Genre #7
#82 The Woman in Cabin 10 (2025) — New Film #10
#83 Bride of Frankenstein (1935) — Rewatch #9
#84 Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage (1989) — Failure #10
#85 Slap the Monster on Page One (1972) — Genre #8
#86 Tenebrae (1982) — WDYMYHS #10
#87 Häxan (1922) — Blindspot #10


  • I watched ten feature films I’d never seen before in October.
  • That’s the sixth month this year to land on exactly ten new films, but the first since May.
  • Six of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
  • This month’s Blindspot and WDYMYHS films — silent witchcraft documentary Häxan and Dario Argento giallo Tenebrae, respectively — were ones I’ve been saving most of the year to watch around Halloween. They didn’t make the lists for that reason, but it was a fortunate side effect. In the end, my schedule meant I watched them as a double-bill on the night itself — kinda perfect, really
  • I’ve also been saving Midsommar for the same reason. At one point I was aiming to watch all three in the run-up to Halloween, sacrificing the intended ‘one per month’ structure for seasonal appropriateness; but then I realised that, with Halloween falling on a Friday, the first weekend of November is also Halloween-y — so I could both watch one a month, as intended, and watch them all at Halloween. Now I just need to make sure I actually do that today or tomorrow…
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage.



The 125th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
Widely regarded as one of Dario Argento’s best, Tenebrae mostly lives up to that hype. I’m not convinced the plot entirely hangs together, but the sheer abundance of gorgeous style is enough to carry it.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
While I didn’t outright dislike it, The Woman in Cabin 10 is a by-the-numbers holiday-paperback of a thriller.


2025 races toward its conclusion! There are 13 films remaining to complete my Challenge, which should feel surmountable (the end felt comfortable last year, and I had 15 left at this point), but so much of this year has raced by, and the state of my calendar makes it feel like Christmas is the day after tomorrow… Well, I can but try.

The Steamy Monthly Review of September 2025

Posted on by
4

Ooh, saucy…

Nah, actually. The title was inspired by this turn of events: I recently won a Steam Deck (yep, won — lucky me!), and have consequently spent a disproportionate amount of my free time playing around with it, and generally getting back into gaming along with it. I imagine at some point the shine of newness will wear off, though hopefully not entirely because I’ve gone a bit crazy with buying stuff to play. Brand-new high-profile titles are insanely expensive nowadays, as the gaming media will often harp on about, but older games and indie titles regularly go for insanely low prices — which is great if you’re catching up on the past 20-ish years of the medium… though it does lead to your library bulging pretty quickly. Or it does if you’re me.

Anyway, naturally there was a knock-on effect on my film viewing. Not disastrous, but it does mean I failed to achieve ten first-time watches for the second time this year. Well, next month is always a fresh chance to start a new run.



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#73 7 Women and a Murder (2021) — Rewatch #8
#74 KPop Demon Hunters (2025) — New Film #9
#75 An Aleutian Adventure (1920s) — Failure #9
#76 The Italian Connection (1972) — Genre #6
#77 Rebel Without a Cause (1977) — Blindspot #9
#78 9 (2009) — 50 Unseen #9
#79 The City of Lost Children (1995) — WDYMYHS #9
#80 Drive-Away Dolls (2025) — 50 Unseen #10


  • I watched eight feature films I’d never seen before in September.
  • Seven of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
  • I remain ahead of pace for the year (to be at pace, September would end on #74), though the “whole month ahead” lead I had back in March, May and June is definitively over for the year (I would’ve needed to get to #83 to achieve it this month).
  • I say “definitively” because of the limitations on certain categories: there are five that should feature every month, meaning the highest point I could end October is #90, and pace for the end of November is #91.
  • Of course, as I mentioned in the intro, I didn’t hit my monthly target of ten first-time watches, so it’s not all sunshine and roses.
  • The Italian Connection is the second film in director Fernando Di Leo’s Milieu trilogy. Its predecessor, Milano Calibro 9, was the first film I watched for this year’s Genre category. I’ll give you one guess which film I’ve got earmarked to include among the remaining four Genre films…
  • I’d owned 9 on Blu-ray for 15 years, never played, before I finally watched it this month. I’m ridiculous like that — 9 is far from alone in suffering such a fate. And it might have stayed unplayed and mostly forgotten (as I’m sure many other things are, especially titles on DVD), were it not for it being on one of my 50 Unseen lists, which means it gets brought to mind every now and then, whenever I peruse that catalogue of failures for something to belatedly watch. I don’t watch as many of those as I’d like nowadays, but they’re still a useful reminder.
  • Talking of 50 Unseen, I finished that category this month. The final tally sees half of the films coming from last year and half from years before that. Seems like a pretty good balance to me.
  • This month’s Blindspot film was ’50s teen classic Rebel Without a Cause.
  • This month’s WDYMYHS film was dark steampunk fairytale The City of Lost Children.
  • When I decided to watch The City of Lost Children, I thought how it was nice that for once I was watching a disc I’d only bought relatively recently. Then I looked it up and discovered I purchased it 2½ years ago. Oh well.
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched An Aleutian Adventure and KPop Demon Hunters.



The 124th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
Last weekend came in swinging here: September had been an above-adequate (no bad films) but unexceptional month (like much of 2025 has been — my 5-star list is looking very thin), but then I watched a trio of films that impressed me mightily. Of those, my pick is probably Rebel Without a Cause. I thought I knew what it was going to be, and it wasn’t; not exactly. Also, James Dean really was very good.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
This feels harsh — as this category sometimes does by its very nature (I’m not going to go out of my way to watch one certified-awful film every month just to guarantee a ‘winner’) — because 9 actually has some very strong points… it just drops the ball on some of the fundamentals underpinning those, and thus is the least-good film I watched this month.


It’s creepy and it’s kooky, mysterious and spooky, it’s all together ooky… and yet it’s all just because of one day right at the end. Any excuse, I guess. Certainly, I’ve got a few horror and horror-adjacent films lined up to try to watch in October, and maybe I’ll focus on finding some more too.

The August Monthly Review Club

Posted on by
2

August has been a funny old month. On one hand, it’s felt like there’s been no time to get anything done — just like every month nowadays, really. But on the other, it seemed very long — it feels like ages since I wrote the July monthly review.

In a similar vein, whereas I struggled (and ultimately failed) to hit my viewing targets in July, I made it past ten new films this month without even particularly trying. Considering I’ve both been extra busy at work and had a host of other options and distractions taking up my free time — some of them excitingly new, as well as the old favourites — it’s a minor miracle. Indeed, I’d basically written off getting to ten films this month (once you’ve failed once, what does failing again the month after matter, eh?), only to succeed regardless. Wonders will literally never cease.

As for how this month’s viewing translates specifically to my Challenge… read on.



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#65 Candidate for Murder (1962) — Series Progression #9
#66 The Power of the Dog (2021) — 50 Unseen #7
#67 Gwen and the Book of Sand (1985) — Failure #8
#68 Girl, Interrupted (1999) — Blindspot #8
#69 The Road to Hong Kong (1962) — Series Progression #10
#70 The Thursday Murder Club (2025) — New Film #8
#71 Project A (1983) — WDYMYHS #8
#72 The Wild Robot (2024) — 50 Unseen #8


  • I watched 11 feature films I’d never seen before in August.
  • Eight of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge.
  • No rewatches this month, which is a shame as I’m meant to get in at least one a month. Still, it’s not the first time I’ve had to catch up on them this year, so, y’know, these things happen. (Should I be injecting more fake jeopardy into my commentary when I fail like this?)
  • I needed to get to #74 to be a whole month ahead of pace again. Obviously that didn’t happen, but I’m still six films in the clear, which is a nice buffer.
  • Part of that included finishing off the Series Progression category for 2025. 40% of the qualifying films this year came from the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series of British crime B-movies, which is perhaps more than I’d’ve liked (I’ve got so many series on the go, I’d appreciate the incentive to progress some others). That said, it was almost worse: it was set to be 50%, but then I watched something else that counted…
  • To wit: I finally finished the Bing Crosby/Bob Hope ‘Road To’ series. I watched my first of those back in 2007 — this blog’s very first year. And that’s why I like (or need) a tangible incentive to get on with these things.
  • Speaking of tangible incentives, this month’s Blindspot film was the gender-bent remake of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (okay, that’s a tad harsh, and it’s not literally that… but it certainly feels like it in places), Girl, Interrupted.
  • This month’s WDYMYHS film was Jackie Chan’s piratical actioner Project A.
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched Gwen and the Book of Sand.



The 123rd Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
I’m struggling for standout films this year — it’s been one of those years where you begin to think, “have I just seen all the great films already?” The closest I’ve come to having my faith restored is this month’s favourite pick, cosy sci-fi animation The Wild Robot.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
Greatness may be in short supply, but there’s also nothing terrible this month — although there was plenty of mediocrity. I don’t know if it was the outright worst film I saw, but the biggest letdown was The Thursday Murder Club. So much potential, and it got some of it right, but some poor adaptation decision scuppered the overall effect.


The year’s final third begins. It’ll be Christmas before we know it…

Live Like a Month, Die Like the Review of July 2025

Posted on by
2

If you’re wondering what the hell that title is supposed to mean, the only explanation I can offer is to see #61 below. Other than that, yeah, it’s meaningless. Such is life sometimes, my friends.



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#59 Heads of State (2025) — New Film #7
#60 The Invisible Swordsman (1970) — Failure #7
#61 Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976) — Genre #5
#62 Stargate (1994) — Rewatch #7
#63 The Wolf Man (1941) — WDYMYHS #7
#64 The Notebook (2004) — Blindspot #7


  • I watched six feature films I’d never seen before in July.
  • That’s the first time I’ve failed to reach my minimum monthly target of ten films since November 2023 (at least back then I had a Doctor Who-shaped excuse). Sadly, that means this ends a run of 10+ months that isn’t even my second-longest (this time I reached 19 months, but I hit 21 in 2020/2021, and my record is 60 from 2014–2019). I’m doubtful August will go too well either, but we’ll see.
  • Five of those six counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
  • That’s slightly above my minimum monthly requirement of five, but behind the average need to reach 100 (which is eight). Of course, thanks to bumper months earlier in the year, I’m still well ahead of target overall — to stay on pace, I only need to reach #58 by the end of July, and I got there last month.
  • I watched the extended cut of Stargate, which I’ve never seen before, but the additions are minor enough that it isn’t worth counting as ‘new’; especially as I haven’t seen it for the best part of 30 years, so I didn’t notice any changes myself, only read about them online.
  • This month’s Blindspot film was Nicholas Sparks-based romantic weepy The Notebook.
  • This month’s WDYMYHS film was classic Universal horror The Wolf Man.
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched The Invisible Swordsman and finally rewatched Stargate.



The 122nd Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
Nothing spectacular this month; indeed, the highest star rating I gave on Letterboxd to a first-time watch was 3½ — hardly a ringing endorsement. I handed that out to two films, both of which were underwhelming or flawed in some ways, but entertaining in others — the latter elevating them above 3 stars, but the former preventing them from hitting the giddy heights of 4 stars. It’s basically a coin toss which I preferred, so because it has a much cooler title I’ll pick Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man. (The other was Heads of State, by-the-way.)

Least Favourite Film of the Month
I felt disappointed by two films in particular this month, so the question is: which was worse? That’s got to be The Wolf Man, which I’ve been meaning to watch for many years and hoped would be up to the high standards of the other classic Universal monster movies, but I found it to be riddled with faults. Shame. (The other was The Invisible Swordsman, which I’d never heard of before Arrow announced their Blu-ray earlier this year, so it was much less long-awaited.)


As I said earlier, I suspect August will turn out to be another below-par month — but you never know. Still, I’m glad I’ve built up a significant lead on my Challenge, because it means even if I just watch the ‘required’ five films (new film, rewatch, failure, Blindspot, and WDYMYHS), I’ll still end the month ahead of target pace.

The Unseasonably Hot Monthly Review of June 2025

Posted on by
4

“It’s summer, of course it’s hot,” cry certain people. Yeah, but yesterday was 10–12°C hotter than the average for this time of year, so all the “it’s just summer” people can F off. And let’s not start on the “oh we have those kinds of temperatures all the time” foreigners.

Also, I prefer the cold, so even “regular summer” is a pain in the arse.

Anyway, enough about UK weather (it’s due to break tomorrow anyway, hooray) — here’s what I’ve been watching over the past month…



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#51 Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) — New Film #6
#52 The Untouchables (1987) — WDYMYHS #6
#53 Shoot First, Die Later (1974) — Genre #4
#54 Hardware (1990) — Failure #6
#55 28 Days Later (2002) — Rewatch #6
#56 28 Weeks Later (2007) — 50 Unseen #5
#57 Saltburn (2023) — Blindspot #6
#58 Paddington in Peru (2024) — 50 Unseen #6


  • I watched 12 feature films I’d never seen before in June.
  • That’s the first time this year I’ve reached above my minimum target of 10.
  • Seven of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
  • That’s enough to keep me a whole month ahead of target. In fact, I’ve been doing so well at that, I now only need to average seven Challenge films per month for the rest of the year (normally it’s 8.5 for the back half of the year).
  • A fair chunk of my viewing this month was taken up with the favourite films of work colleagues. My team discussed our favourite-ever movies early in the month, and of the 18 picks, I’d not seen five — so I caught up on them all immediately. The only one that qualified for my Challenge was The Untouchables, because it was already on my WDYMYHS list (the team’s other picks didn’t conveniently slot into one of my incomplete categories — how inconsiderate!)
  • This month’s Blindspot film was Emerald Fennell’s kinda-kinky reimagining of Brideshead Revisited, Saltburn.
  • This month’s WDYMYHS film was Brian De Palma’s stylish but, uh, not exactly historically accurate retelling of the mission to arrest Al Capone, The Untouchables.
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched Hardware, Paddington in Peru, and Shoot First, Die Later.



The 121st Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
I’m not sure if it’s a “great movie” in its entirety, but The Untouchables has style to spare, plus one of the greatest shootouts in cinema history.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
I feel mean picking one of my colleagues’ favourite films here… but hey, there’s no way they read this blog, so why not? It’s not that Save the Last Dance is necessarily terrible for what it is, it’s just that what it is isn’t exactly my kind of movie. That said, nearly a quarter of a century on from its release, it does feel rather dated.


Summer, summer, summertime. Whether the “good” weather stays or not, you can feel that summer season hitting the big screen, with the likes of Superman and a new Jurassic World on the horizon. Are either enough to tempt me out to the cinema? I’m currently unsure. (Find out next month!)