Tag Archives: 100 Films in a Year Challenge

The Back to the Start Monthly Review of January 2025

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As always, the triumph (or failure, but you feel it more after triumph) of the end of the year is followed by being kicked right back to the start. So, without further ado, the 19th year of my Challenge began with…



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#1 Death Goes to School (1953) — Wildcard #1
#2 Anna Karenina (2012) — 50 Unseen #1
#3 The Six Triple Eight (2024) — Wildcard #2
#4 Run Lola Run (1998) — Failure #1
#5 Eraserhead (1977) — Blindspot #1
#6 Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger (2025) — New Film #1
#7 Milano Calibro 9 (1972) — Genre #1
#8 Ice Age: Collision Course 3D (2016) — Series Progression #1
#9 Empire of Light (2022) — 50 Unseen #2
#10 Fist of Fury (1972) — WDYMYHS #1
#11 Oliver & Company (1988) — Rewatch #1


  • I watched 10 feature films I’d never seen before in January.
  • All of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
  • Regular readers may be aware that the target for the end of January (to be on track for #100) is #8, so I’m nicely ahead. Mind you, I’ve been ahead every year of the new Challenge so far; in 2022, I even made it one further. Point being: it doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot.
  • More importantly (I think), I’ve managed to get all nine Challenge categories underway — the first time I’ve achieved that in January.
  • An even longer-held first (which I can report on because, yes, I keep records of ridiculous things like this): 2025 is the first time in the 19-year history of this blog that I’ve watched films #1 and #2 on the same day. (With the caveat that my records are a bit less thorough for 2007 and 2008, so it may have happened all the way back then as well.)
  • On the downside, I didn’t manage to post any film reviews this month — neither an attempt at starting 2025’s coverage, nor my favourite film winner from last month. Having devoted so much time to my end-of-year wrap-up posts at the start of the month, then having a busy time at the ol’ day job, I didn’t squeeze any review-writing in. I’ll try to get back on it next month.
  • This month’s Blindspot film was the debut feature by David Lynch (RIP), Eraserhead.
  • This month’s WDYMYHS film was Bruce Lee classic Fist of Fury.
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched Run Lola Run.



The 116th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
I’d never previously seen a poliziotteschi, this year’s chosen genre, so I decided to dive in with something that is regularly highly recommended — and (as you’ve surely guessed from this intro) it paid off, with Milano Calibro 9 (aka Caliber 9) being just about my favourite film this month (“just about” because there were a couple of other very good ones). That’s fortunate — imagine if I’d hated it just after I’d committed myself to a year of them?

Least Favourite Film of the Month
I finally went back to a film series I was working through a few years ago, and almost immediately regretted it. I did wonder if they were always this bad, but the internet assures me that, no, Ice Age: Collision Course really is a nadir.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
You might be expecting me to again mention my lack of reviews, and I was going to, but something more pressing has emerged. Unfortunately, WordPress / Jetpack recently changed the way they display traffic statistics, which means it’s become a pain in the arse to work out the winner of this category every month. I battled through to the end of last year, but I’m not going to put up with it going forward — so, sadly, the audience award is no more.

And on that downer…


February is the shortest month of the year. Fortunately, I’m already ahead of schedule. Will I still be ahead as we head into March? Find out in 28 days!

What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen These Films You’ve Bought Multiple Times?

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Reader, I want to make a confession: sometimes I buy new copies of films I already own but have never seen. Never mind blind buying, I blind upgrade. It’s stupid, I know — why not at least watch the copy I already have to see if I like the thing before purchasing it a second time? But when Blu-ray came along, the leap in quality from DVD was so great (especially with a new transfer and/or restoration) that sometimes it feels like “why would I watch this crappy version just because I already have it when that better one exists?” And now with 4K… well, I do it less often, because the jump between HD and UHD isn’t always as pronounced (and if they fuck it up, sometimes the new version is worse).

Nonetheless, the theme of this year’s WDYMYHS was provoked by my relatively recent (i.e. in October) purchase of Le Samouraï in 4K. I first owned that film on DVD, didn’t get round to watching it, then a Blu-ray came along, and it seemed like it would be worth an upgrade. I didn’t get round to watching that either before the 4K came along — well, I wasn’t going to upgrade again! But then the reviews were so good… I did at least manage to resist until it was discounted. Although, all three of those were Criterion editions, so it was never truly cheap. Eesh. I really hope I like it as much as I’m expecting to…

That might be my most egregious example of ridiculous triple-dipping (I feel like I’ve more than triple-dipped on some titles, but at least those were ones I already knew I liked), and it’s what led me to this theme: I wanted a selection methodology that would force me to finally watch Le Samouraï, so what better than the very reason I wanted to be forced to watch it? I was certain I’d find another 11 films (at least) that had a similar purchase history. And, reader, I did. Of course I did. I won’t give you the full story of how many times I’ve re-bought them or why, but I’ve owned them all at least twice without ever actually watching them — until now!

In alphabetical order, they are…

The City of Lost Children

The City of Lost Children

Fist of Fury

 Fist of Fury
The Lodger

The Lodger

Out of Sight

 Out of Sight
Project A

Project A

Saboteur

 Saboteur
Le Samouraï

Le Samouraï

Spartacus

 Spartacus
Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Tenebrae

 Tenebrae
The Untouchables

The Untouchables

The Wolf Man

 The Wolf Man

As I intimated in the introduction, these aren’t the only 12 films I’ve upgraded without watching, so how did I settle on this particular batch? For once, it was mostly personal preference rather than other people’s rankings. I started by making a list of eligible titles, along with how many times I’d owned them — given the theme of the list, I wanted to err towards the ones I’d repurchased the most. Then I simply picked the ones I wanted to include.

Except it wasn’t quite that simple. In compiling the list, I noticed a couple of themes. Thanks primarily to some films being released repeatedly in sets, there were multiple films on the list directed by Alfred Hitchcock, or Dario Argento; or starring Bruce Lee, or Jackie Chan, or Buster Keaton; or from the classic period of Universal’s horror output… I decided that, as those were clear groups, representative examples of each should definitely be included. And that’s when I did fall back on old tricks: I ranked each group by their popularity and average ratings on Letterboxd. That wasn’t the be-all-and-end-all (neither of the two Hitchcocks I chose were in his top two), but it was a useful guide. I chose one from each category, with the exception of Hitchcock, who gets two because I’ve upgraded his films in different ways for different reasons. Saboteur represents the 14 titles that Universal have repeatedly reissued in box sets of varying kinds. The Lodger represents the rest, though in particular his British pre-Hollywood career.

With the five other films featuring work by visionaries like Stanley Kubrick, Steven Soderbergh, Brian De Palma, and Jean-Pierres both Jeunet and Melville, it looks like another exciting year ahead for this category. Let’s hope they live up to my expectations — I’ve certainly spent enough money on them.

Blindspot 2025

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This is my 13th year doing a version of Blindspot, so I’m not sure my customary introduction to the concept is still necessary. But in case there are still people who haven’t heard of it: this is a challenge in which you pick twelve films you’ve never seen but feel you should have (your blindspots) and watch one per month throughout the year.

Regular readers will know that my Blindspot selection process is often tortuously complicated. I don’t just pick twelve films I feel like watching, but compile various “great films” lists and use them to concoct some kind of ranking. Not so this year. I’m still using other people’s opinions, I’ve just made it very simple: every film on the list is the most popular one I’ve not seen (according to Letterboxd) from each decade since the origin of feature films.

In chronological order, they are…

Intolerance

1910s
Intolerance

1920s
Häxan

 Häxan
Freaks

1930s
Freaks

1940s
Cat People

 Cat People
Rebel Without a Cause

1950s
Rebel Without a Cause

1960s
The Graduate

 The Graduate
Eraserhead

1970s
Eraserhead

1980s
Kiki’s Delivery Service

 Kiki's Delivery Service
Girl, Interrupted

1990s
Girl, Interrupted

2000s
The Notebook

 The Notebook
Midsommar

2010s
Midsommar

2020s
Saltburn

 Saltburn

Normally I close out this post with a lengthy explanation of my process, but, um, I’ve already covered that this year. I suppose I should preemptively add that, yes, I’m aware the very first feature-length film was released in 1906; but few followed until the 1910s, so I still feel fine with this basic concept.

To finish, a bit of… trivia? I don’t know. Anyway: I did consider making this year’s selection simply the all-time most popular films I’ve not seen (that’s sort of what Blindspot is, after all), but Letterboxd skews incredibly recent in that regard. I mean, if I’d taken those twelve, two-thirds would have been from 2023–2024, and the oldest would have been from 2012. That’s the kind of thing I have the 50 Unseen category for.

The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025

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For the 19th year in a row, I’m going to try to watch 100 films in a year. And for the fourth year in a row, I’ve made it much more complicated than that. I don’t know if I can still call it “new-style” at this point, but nonetheless, here I go again with the, er, more-recent-style 100 Films in a Year Challenge.

This year, I feel a renewed sense of confidence in this Challenge actually having a point, thanks to finally completing it in 2024. I mean, if I kept failing it, why keep doing it? Surely that would mean it just doesn’t work? But now I’ve done it, I’ve proved to myself I was right: it’s not an unreasonable exercise. (Talking entirely about myself, here. I’m sure the kind of people who routinely watch 300 or 400 or 500 or more films year after year would have no problem dashing this off in amongst their viewing.)

You might think that, having apparently hit upon the right formula after three years of trying, I wouldn’t make any changes to the Challenge for 2025. And… you’d sort of be right. That wasn’t my motivation, but I have got a balance of categories that I’m happy with. So, no brand-new categories this year, although I have completely changed the rules for one (and another almost got replaced — read on to find out which); plus, a couple of others have changed their specific theme, as always.

But enough of being vague — let’s get into this year’s categories and their rules.

First, the one rule that applies across all categories: a film can only count once. Sounds 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 2025’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 are discussed in a dedicated post here.

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, are discussed in a dedicated post here.

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 2024’s list as I catch up on what I missed last year, but anything from the previous 18 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, and martial arts movies. This year, it’s back to Italy for poliziotteschi.

Series Progression

x10. I considered replacing this category (not just for the sake of it — I had a specific idea), but it fills a gap the other categories don’t reach (and my replacement wouldn’t have been so unique). Besides, Letterboxd tells me I still have 33 series underway, so it’s a worthwhile cause. The rules haven’t changed: any instalment of a film series I’m already watching qualifies; if I start a new series, the first film can’t count but any further films can.

Wildcards

x10. For 2025, I’m turning the Wildcard category on its head, because it now has only one rule: films can’t have qualified in any other category. If I watch two brand-new releases in January? Sorry, that second one just doesn’t count. If I’ve filled up Series Progression and then watch an eleventh film? Nope, no doing. This is a way to capture (and encourage) my viewing of anything and everything not covered by the other categories. (With such simple qualification criteria, there’s every chance I’ll burn through these ten slots fairly quickly. I considered introducing a second rule to mitigate that, but decided to see how it goes in 2025 and maybe I’ll tighten it up for 2026, if that would be productive.)

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.

2024: The List

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As fun and interesting as they are, my Failures posts always takes a while to write each month (I fail to watch so much stuff, after all), which proves an extra challenge at the start of January, when I have so many other posts I’m working on for my annual review. So, while I continue to write that, here’s something else.

Throughout the year, my monthly reviews keep you up-to-date on my progress with the 100 Films in a Year Challenge; what they no longer record is all my first-time watches. Fortunately, to rectifying that omission we have The List: every film I watched for the first time in 2024, plus a couple of other bits at the end (see the section introduction for more on that).

But first, something else about the Challenge…


Here is a graphical representation of my viewing for the 100 Films in a Year Challenge, month by month, courtesy of the monthly review header images. Each one links to the relevant monthly review, which contain a chronological list of my Challenge viewing, as well as other fun stuff, like my monthly Arbie awards.

Here is an alphabetical list of all my first-time watches during 2024. That’s followed by a list of rewatches that have had (or for which I intend to write) ‘Guide To’ posts, then short films I watched for the first time. On the rare occasion that a title is a link, it goes to my review (no link means no review yet).

  • 12th Fail (2023)
  • Adam and 6 Eves [3D] (1962)
  • The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
  • Alice (1988), aka Něco z Alenky
  • Allelujah (2022)
  • Ambulancen (2005), aka Ambulance
  • American Fiction (2023)
  • And Life Goes On (1992), aka Zendegi va digar hich
  • Argylle (2024)
  • Army of Shadows (1969), aka L’armée des ombres
  • Attempt to Kill (1961)
  • Bad Tidings (2024)
  • Bank of Dave (2023)
  • Barbie (2023)
  • The Batman (2022)
  • The Best of the Martial Arts Films (1990)
  • The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
  • Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)
  • The Birdcage (1996)
  • Black Tight Killers (1966), aka Ore ni sawaru to abunaize
  • Blitz (2024)
  • The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), aka Satan’s Skin
  • The Bookshop (2017)
  • Bottoms (2023)
  • Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
  • Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023)
  • A Chorus Line (1985)
  • Clue of the Silver Key (1961)
  • The Cranes Are Flying (1957), aka Letyat zhuravli
  • Desperado (1995)
  • Despicable Me 3 [3D] (2017)
  • Dragons Forever (1988), aka Fei lung mang jeung
  • Dreadnaught (1981), aka Yong zhe wu ju
  • Duel to the Death (1983), aka Xian si jue
  • Dune: Part Two (2024)
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023)
  • Encounter of the Spooky Kind (1980), aka Gui da gui
  • Eyeball (1975), aka Gatti rossi in un labirinto di vetro
  • The Fall Guy (2024)
  • Fast X (2023)
  • Flashdance (1983)
  • Fletch (1985)
  • Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971), aka 4 mosche di velluto grigio
  • The Fourth Square (1961)
  • The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981)
  • From Roger Moore with Love (2024)
  • Frozen II [3D] (2019)
  • Goblin Slayer: Goblin’s Crown (2020)
  • Godzilla Minus One (2023), aka Gojira -1.0
  • Golem (1980)
  • The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008), aka Joeun nom, napun nom, esanghan nom
  • The Great Escaper (2023)
  • Guys and Dolls (1955)
  • Hellraiser (1987)
  • The Holdovers (2023)
  • Hopscotch (1980)
  • Host (2020)
  • Hotel Rwanda (2004)
  • I Love You Again (1940)
  • I.S.S. (2023)
  • An Ideal Husband (1999)
  • In the Name of the Father (1993)
  • Incendies (2010)
  • The Innocents (1961)
  • Inside Out 2 (2024)
  • The Inspector Wears Skirts (1988), aka Ba wang hua
  • The Inspector Wears Skirts Part II (1989), aka Shen yong fei hu ba wang hua
  • Jackass Forever (2022)
  • The Kitchen (2023)
  • Kung Fu Hustle (2004), aka Kung fu
  • Lee (2023)
  • Lift (2024)
  • Like Stars on Earth (2007), aka Taare Zameen Par
  • Look Back (2024), aka Rukku Bakku
  • Love Wedding Repeat (2020)
  • Lover Come Back (1961)
  • Maestro (2023)
  • Man at the Carlton Tower (1961)
  • Man Detained (1961)
  • Man in the Dark [3D] (1953)
  • Mazes and Monsters (1982)
  • The Menu (2022)
  • The Monuments Men (2014)
  • Mrs Palfrey at The Claremont (2005)
  • The Phantom of the Open (2021)
  • Murder and Cocktails (2024)
  • My Darling Clementine (1946)
  • My Father and My Son (2005), aka Babam ve Oglum
  • My Favorite Brunette (1947)
  • My Son (2021)
  • The Mystery of Chess Boxing (1979), aka Shuang ma lian huan
  • No Hard Feelings (2023)
  • October Moth (1960)
  • The Old Oak (2023)
  • Only Yesterday (1991), aka Omohide poro poro
  • Partie de Campagne (1946), aka A Day in the Country
  • Possession (1981)
  • The Prosecco Murders (2017), aka Finché c’è Prosecco c’è speranza
  • Rio Bravo (1959)
  • Road to Bali (1952)
  • Robot Dreams (2023)
  • Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
  • RRR (2022)
  • Save the Cinema (2022)
  • Scenes from a Marriage (1974), aka Scener ur ett äktenskap
  • Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob (2021)
  • A Separation (2011), aka Jodaeiye Nader az Simin
  • The Seventh Victim (1943)
  • Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
  • The Steal (1995)
  • Strays (2023)
  • The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
  • The Swordsman of All Swordsmen (1968), aka Yi dai jian wang
  • Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)
  • Ticket to Paradise (2022)
  • To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
  • Triangle of Sadness (2022)
  • The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935)
  • Le Trou (1960)
  • The Wages of Fear (1953), aka Le Salaire de la peur
  • Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
  • When Eight Bells Toll (1971)
  • Where Is the Friend’s House? (1987), aka Khane-ye doust kodjast?
  • Wicked Little Letters (2023)
  • Wild Tales (2014), aka Relatos salvajes
  • Wolfs (2024)
  • Wonka (2023)
  • Yellow Canary (1943)
  • Yi Yi (2000)
  • Young at Heart (1954)
The 100 Films Guide To…
  • Cutthroat Island (1995)
Shorts
12th Fail

And Life Goes On

The Batman

A Chorus Line

Duel to the Death

Flashdance

Godzilla Minus One

Hellraiser

I Love You Again

Inside Out 2

Out of the Past

Man Detained

My Favorite Brunette

The Prosecco Murders

Robot Dreams

A Separation

Tarzan the Ape Man

When Eight Bells Toll

Wonka

Cutthroat Island

Steamboat Willie

.

My favourite part of the year: breaking all of the above down with statistics!

The Mission: Accomplished Monthly Review of December 2024

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In my introduction to the 2024 edition of my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, I wondered if it would be “third time lucky” — having failed to complete the Challenge in 2022 and 2023, could I manage it in 2024? And the answer is: yes. Hurrah! Although it’s not really “luck”, but a mixture of dedication (sticking at it all year), tweaking (making changes year-on-year to keep the task challenging but make it achievable), and working out the best way to approach it (learning what didn’t work on my first two goes so I could avoid those mistakes).

I’ve felt a greater sense of achievement in completing the Challenge this year than I have for years. Partly that’s because I failed the last two years, so no achievement-feeling there; but also, the previous version of the Challenge had become de rigueur. Some years I completed it as early as May (four times out of fifteen, to be precise, so almost a third of the times I did it). Even if I didn’t manage that, completing it hadn’t been a problem since 2012 (which was the last time I failed — every success since then happened no later than November). It had become a sprint to the finish line, which wasn’t really what I wanted it to be — it was supposed to be a challenge, and it was supposed to take all year. That’s more or less why I decided to mix it up, and the fact I failed the new-style Challenge on my first two attempts shows I’d succeeded in making it trickier for myself. So, to manage it on my third go… I think it’s justified to feel a sense of achievement. Sure, it’s still only “watching films” — arguably one of the easiest, most passive hobbies you can have — but it’s something.

Anyway, there’ll be more reflection on the Challenge in its entirety in the days to come, when I trot out my usual array of year-end retrospectives. For now, let’s zoom in on the final stretch…



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#94 Look Back (2024) — Failure #12
#95 Hotel Rwanda (2004) — WDYMYHS #10
#96 The Holdovers (2023) — New Film #12
#97 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) — WDYMYHS #11
#98 Le Trou (1960) — Blindspot #12
#99 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) — WDYMYHS #12
#100 Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) — Rewatch #12


  • I watched 14 feature films I’d never seen before in December.
  • That means I’ve achieved at least 10 first-watches in every month of 2024 — the first whole calendar year I’ve managed that since 2020!
  • And 14 equals April for the most first-watches in a single month of 2024.
  • I haven’t been mentioning those kinds of stats much this year, because most months have been unremarkable. December’s done alright, though: it’s beaten the rolling average of the last 12 months (10.9); beaten the average for 2024 to date (previously 10.6, now 10.9 too, natch); and beaten the average for all Decembers (previously 11.6, now 11.8).
  • Back to my 100 Films in a Year Challenge: six of those first-watches counted towards my Challenge, along with one rewatch.
  • Normally I’d count the first 2024 film of a month as the New Film, because it’s a ‘higher’ category; and normally I’d be only too happy to keep the Failures slot open a little longer, because there’s always so many of them. But there are so many 2024 releases I’ve missed, it felt more productive to try to force myself to watch another one of them rather than another Failure.
  • This is the first time I’ve completed Blindspot in this new era — I was one shy in 2022 and three short in 2023. (I didn’t complete WDYMYHS in 2022 either, but did in 2023.)
  • I watched all six Wallace & Gromit films this month, but only one of them counted towards my Challenge. It was nearly none at all, but I didn’t get in the other rewatch I had planned, so Curse of the Were-Rabbit snagged that space. Shorts don’t currently count anyway (maybe one day), but Vengeance Most Fowl could’ve been here as a New Film, if there’d been any slots left.
  • This month’s concluding Blindspot film was French prison break thriller Le Trou.
  • This month’s WDYMYHS films represented a whole quarter of the list. They were genocide drama Hotel Rwanda, racism drama To Kill a Mockingbird, and superhero adventure Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Bit of a change of tone at the end there.
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched The Holdovers and Look Back.



The 115th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
As I get started on my yearly review posts, I’m endeavouring to give everything a final score (for the stats) and starting to think about my top ten list. There are a few films this month that are in contention for the latter, and I’m still considering giving 5s for the former. One that feels like a lock for the list but maybe not for a 5 (because I enjoyed it a heck of a lot, but is it a 5-star film? Not sure yet) was The Good, the Bad, the Weird — recently released on 4K by Arrow, but I watched my old Blu-ray copy to decide if I wanted to buy that new version. Suffice to say, I did.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
I’m beginning to suspect 2024’s average score might be a strong one (but, hey, you never know) because this was another month with no truly bad films (a sentence I feel I’ve written a lot this year). That said, Hotel Rwanda struck me as a somewhat old-fashioned movie-ised treatment of a very real tragedy, which is a less than ideal reaction to something that should really be powerful.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
Wordpress seem to have revised their stats presentation, making this harder to work out (they no longer highlight it for me — I have to look up every post one by one), which is a shame and makes me disinclined to continue this next year. But, for now, I can say the most-viewed post during December was the November monthly review — the fifth time the previous month’s review has won this award in 2024. It only beat the Failures by one hit, though.(For what its worth: of the other seven winners, it was the previous month’s failures twice, and a film review the other five times.)



Every review posted this month, including new titles and the Archive 5


It’s 2025 — a quarter of the way through the century! Jesus. Everything just conspires to make you feel old nowadays, doesn’t it?

As ever, before I get into the swing of the new year, I’ll be spending a good few posts looking back at the old one. After another mostly-quiet year here on 100 Films, it’s going to be a busy week (give or take).

100 Films in a Year Challenge 2024: Final Standing

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As the challenge tracker page will soon be replaced with a version keeping tabs on 2025’s effort, here’s an archive of how it looked at the very end of 2024.

The most noteworthy thing: it’s complete! For the first time since I revamped my Challenge in 2022, I’ve actually managed to get all the way to 100.

I’ll write more about that in the days to come. For now, here are the films that got me there…

On this page, I’ll track my progress with The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2024. Learn more about the challenge here.

New Films

  1. Lift (2024)
  2. The Kitchen (2023)
  3. Dune: Part Two (2024)
  4. I.S.S. (2023)
  5. Murder and Cocktails (2024)
  6. Argylle (2024)
  7. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)
  8. Robot Dreams (2023)
  9. The Fall Guy (2024)
  10. Lee (2023)
  11. Inside Out 2 (2024)
  12. The Holdovers (2023)

Rewatches

  1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse [3D] (2018)
  2. Dune: Part One [3D] (2021)
  3. Spawn: Director’s Cut (1997/1998)
  4. Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
  5. The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
  6. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
  7. Moana [3D] (2016)
  8. Hamilton (2020)
  9. Cutthroat Island (1995)
  10. Erin Brockovich (2000)
  11. First Knight (1995)
  12. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

Blindspot

  1. Only Yesterday (1991)
  2. The Innocents (1961)
  3. My Darling Clementine (1946)
  4. Where Is the Friend’s House? (1987)
  5. Yi Yi (2000)
  6. Army of Shadows (1969)
  7. Scenes from a Marriage (1974)
  8. Rio Bravo (1959)
  9. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
  10. Possession (1981)
  11. The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
  12. Le Trou (1960)

What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen…?

  1. In the Name of the Father (1993)
  2. Wild Tales (2014)
  3. My Father and My Son (2005)
  4. 12th Fail (2023)
  5. A Separation (2011)
  6. Like Stars on Earth (2007)
  7. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
  8. Incendies (2010)
  9. The Wages of Fear (1953)
  10. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
  11. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
  12. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Failures

  1. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023)
  2. Ambulancen (2005)
  3. Black Tight Killers (1966)
  4. American Fiction (2023)
  5. Strays (2023)
  6. Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
  7. Alice (1988)
  8. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
  9. Desperado (1995)
  10. Host (2020)
  11. The Seventh Victim (1943)
  12. Look Back (2024)

50 Unseen

  1. Barbie (2023)
  2. Bottoms (2023)
  3. RRR (2022)
  4. Maestro (2023)
  5. The Monuments Men (2014)
  6. No Hard Feelings (2023)
  7. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023)
  8. The Menu (2022)
  9. Fast X (2023)
  10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

Genre: Martial Arts

  1. The Best of the Martial Arts Films (1990)
  2. The Inspector Wears Skirts (1988)
  3. The Inspector Wears Skirts Part II (1989)
  4. The Mystery of Chess Boxing (1979)
  5. Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
  6. The Swordsman of All Swordsmen (1968)
  7. Encounter of the Spooky Kind (1980)
  8. Dreadnaught (1981)
  9. Duel to the Death (1983)
  10. Dragons Forever (1988)

Series Progression

  1. Jackass Forever (2022)
  2. Despicable Me 3 [3D] (2017)
  3. The Fourth Square (1961)
  4. And Life Goes On (1992)
  5. Song of the Thin Man (1947)
  6. October Moth (1960)
  7. Man at the Carlton Tower (1961)
  8. The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935)
  9. Road to Bali (1952)
  10. Clue of the Silver Key (1961)

Wildcards

  1. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) — additional Failure from March
  2. Wicked Little Letters (2023) — additional Failure from July
  3. Godzilla Minus One (2023) — additional 50 Unseen
  4. Frozen II (2019) — additional Series Progression
  5. The Batman (2022) — additional 50 Unseen
  6. Golem (1980) — additional Failure from August
  7. Attempt to Kill (1961) — additional Series Progression
  8. Man Detained (1961) — additional Series Progression
  9. The Guest (2014) — additional Rewatch in October
  10. Blitz (2024) — additional New Film in November

It’s almost time…

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A belated Merry Christmas to you, dear readers — I hope you’ve had a good one, whatever you’ve been up to.

Me? I’ve been kept busy most of the month, first with wrapping up the year at the day job, then with family stuff across the holiday. It hasn’t left much time for the ol’ blog — plans to write a review of my year’s TV viewing, or promptly say something about the new Wallace & Gromit film, have fallen by the wayside. Such is life.

But as the new year approaches (2025! A quarter of the way through this century that I, at least, would still refer to as “new”), I’m once again preparing for my barrage of annual review posts. Lists! Rankings! Statistics! It’s all brewing; all on the way soon now. I have a slight suspicion it’s not going to roll out as quickly and smoothly as usual (it doesn’t help that the first weekend of 2025 is so early — the chances of having 2024 finished by January 5th seem slim), but I’ll do my best.

And then it will be on to 2025 proper. Plans are afoot for the fourth year of my new-style Challenge. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, eh?

The Tough Monthly Review of November 2024

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Some months, I find it easy to know how to title or theme this monthly review. Other times, it’s tough to come up with an idea.

Yeah.

Anyway, on with the regular stuff…



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#86 Lee (2023) — New Film #10
#87 Inside Out 2 (2024) — New Film #11
#88 The Seventh Victim (1943) — Failure #11
#89 Duel to the Death (1983) — Genre #9
#90 Blitz (2024) — Wildcard #10
#91 The Cranes Are Flying (1957) — Blindspot #11
#92 Dragons Forever (1988) — Genre #10
#93 First Knight (1995) — Rewatch #11


  • I watched 11 feature films I’d never seen before in November.
  • Seven of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
  • I’d hoped to get to #95 this month, which is the maximum I could by the end of November (because five categories have a “one per month” limiter in their rules). Still, only having seven left for December feels manageable.
  • Perhaps more importantly: reaching #90 means I’ve already beaten how far I made it in 2022’s Challenge (which I chose to abandon at #89).
  • And reaching #93 means I’ve also beaten 2023 (which I didn’t consciously abandon, although I stood no serious chance of achieving it at this point that year, when I entered December with 17 films still to go).
  • Shockingly, I almost made it all the way through the Martial Arts Genre category without properly including Jackie Chan (although he did feature in the clip-based documentary I watched as the category’s first film). With hundreds of films to choose from to finish off the category, making sure to include Chan properly seemed as good a deciding factor as any; although Letterboxd’s new list-stats feature showed me even that left 40 films to pick from. I chose Dragons Forever because it co-stars fellow big names Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, and was the trio’s final collaboration. That seemed like a fitting end-cap for the year.
  • More importantly: this is the first year I’ve actually completed the Genre category! (Though, as a caveat, I did watch 11 (out of 12) films for it in 2022, which would’ve been enough to meet the reduced count of 10 in 2023 and 2024.)
  • After reading ghostof82’s review, I found I had the passion* to make it happen**, and so watched Flashdance. It didn’t qualify for the Challenge, but I felt like mentioning it.***
    * a vague interest that wasn’t there before
    ** watch a film that was available on a streamer I’m already subscribed to
    *** just so I could repeat this quote/footnotes joke from my Letterboxd.
  • This month’s Blindspot film was Russian wartime drama The Cranes Are Flying.
  • No WDYMYHS films this month, even though I should have watched two. I’m at the pointy end of the IMDb Top 250 now, with all the films I’ve not already got round to for one reason or another; usually length or seriousness of subject. Getting through three of those in December — when the vibes are Christmassy joy, and so much time is consumed with family activities — is going to be the most challenging aspect of completing my Challenge.
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched The Seventh Victim.



The 114th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
There were several strong contenders this month, and several where the difference between “best” and “favourite” may have come into play. Ultimately, I think the answer is probably the same either way, because I’m going to select Russian World War 2 drama The Cranes Are Flying — not the most fun film I watched this month, nor necessarily the one I’d rewatch soonest, but surely the most accomplished.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
I suspect I’m broadly politically aligned with Ken Loach, but that doesn’t mean I enjoyed The Old Oak. Sure, its storylines are worthy and its ultimate perspective correct, but it’s still heavy-handed, borderline amateurish, and occasionally a tough watch (as soon as the cute little dog encountered the barely-controlled bully breeds, I knew where that subplot was going).

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
Since I’ve brought them back (albeit at the current rate of one a month — maybe I’ll manage to increase that in 2025?), film reviews have consistently outshone monthly reviews; and so it is this month too, with my review of Rosemary’s Baby the clear victor from November’s new posts.



Every review posted this month, including new titles and the Archive 5


Will it be third time lucky? I failed my new-style Challenge in its first two years, but this time I’m closer than ever. We’ll find out sometime in the next 31 days…

The Spooky Monthly Review of October 2024

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I’ve never been one to go in for the whole “watch only horror movies in October” thing. I’m not enough of a fan of the genre to delight in the prospect of immersing myself in it for 31 days straight; and, while I’m sure I have more than enough qualifying titles I want to see to fill that period (probably several times over), there’s so much else to watch too. I don’t know if I’ve ever gone a whole October without watching a single horror movie (I haven’t bothered to go back and check), but the very fact I think it’s possible says all it needs to, I feel.

That said, this year I did make a bit of an effort — while also aiming to hit my remaining Challenge categories, of course. So, for example, I picked out martial arts horror movies to tick off slot(s) in the Genre category; for my Rewatch, I looked to horror movies I’d been meaning to revisit; and for Blindspot, I specifically saved the two horror titles for this month — they weren’t originally included for that purpose (if they had been, I would’ve only picked one), but it’s a fringe benefit.

Well, those were my plans, anyway. Did I meet them all, or did I drift somewhere along the way? Read on to find out…



This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#76 Attempt to Kill (1961) — Wildcard #7
#77 Man Detained (1961) — Wildcard #8
#78 Host (2020) — Failure #10
#79 Encounter of the Spooky Kind (1980) — Genre #7
#80 Erin Brockovich (2000) — Rewatch #10
#81 The Wages of Fear (1953) — WDYMYHS #9
#82 Rosemary’s Baby (1968) — Blindspot #9
#83 Dreadnaught (1981) — Genre #8
#84 Possession (1981) — Blindspot #10
#85 The Guest (2014) — Wildcard #9


  • I watched ten feature films I’d never seen before in October.
  • Eight of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with two rewatches.
  • I only ‘needed’ to get to #83 this month, so I’m currently ahead of schedule. More on why that’s especially beneficial right now in the “next month” section.
  • Outside of the Challenge, Encounter of the Spooky Kind was my 100th new film in 2024. That may not be my ‘official’ goal anymore, but hitting that milestone still feels worthy of note.
  • This month’s Genre films were both chosen because they were also labelled as horror films. Encounter lived up to it; Dreadnaught was a stretch (it’s sort of like a slasher movie, but only in a handful of individual sequences, not across the entire movie).
  • Three more Wildcards down, leaving just one for the final sixth of the year. I should have gone for a New Film on Halloween (I even had several horror options on hand), as I didn’t watch a 2024 release in October in the end, but I really fancied rewatching The Guest (which, if you don’t know, is set around Halloween, including a climax at the venue for a high school Halloween dance).
  • Possibly my most film-snob-y habit / opinion / whatever is that I insist on watching (feature) films on a TV (or at the cinema, obv). I don’t watch them on a computer; nor on a tablet; certainly not on a phone. But I made an exception for Host, because it’s such a ‘Zoom call’ movie that it kinda felt wrong to watch it on my TV when it was just as easy to watch it on my desktop (because it’s streaming on iPlayer).
  • This month’s Blindspot films were a pair of horror flicks I’d been saving especially for October, so I’m glad I got them both in. Specifically, they were Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby and Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession. Also, I’ve just realised they were both directed by Polish émigrés and about bad/abusive marriages. Coincidencetastic!
  • I didn’t have any outright horror films to choose for this month’s WDYMYHS viewing, but I went for The Wages of Fear because it has “fear” in the title — as good a reason as any, I guess.
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched Host.



The 113th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
It was a largely middling month, quality-wise, which would often make this category hard, but in fact made it easy, because one new film I watched was actually great and so stood head and shoulders above the others — that being Rosemary’s Baby. (I just realised the award title doesn’t actually specify “new film”, but it should. If rewatches were eligible, The Guest would’ve walked it.)

Least Favourite Film of the Month
The flip side to (almost) everything being middling is that there was nothing outright terrible. The two I’d single out at the bottom of the barrel are Dreadnaught and Attempt to Kill. The latter takes it because, although it’s not bad, it is thoroughly mediocre from beginning to end; and while I didn’t actually care for a lot of Dreadnaught, at least it has some fantastic sequences.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
There was only one film review to compete with my monthly summary and “failures” this month. Whether or not the fact it was for an acclaimed film by a beloved director had any bearing on the post’s success, I don’t know; but either way, the victory goes to Incendies.



Every review posted this month, including new titles and the Archive 5


Just two months of the year remain, and I feel like I need to be tactically-minded to complete my goals — after all, I failed in my New 100 Films Challenge in both its first and second years, so perhaps a different focus is needed to get it over the line this time.

On the bright side, I’m currently ahead of target pace, which is potentially a big bonus. That should go without saying as a general point, but it’s specifically the case with regard to the end of December. The final weeks of the year are a bad time to be trying to catch up, or even stay on target, as Christmastime family commitments make it trickier to watch films (especially specific films, as opposed to “what can we find to appease everyone?”) If I can get further ahead of target in November, that might enable me to push through the final few Challenge films in early December. According to the rules, December could be left with a minimum of five films (a new film, a rewatch, a ‘failure’ from November, plus the twelfth films from Blindspot and WDYMYHS) — if I can get to #95 by the end of November, that would be super.

All of which said, I don’t want to ‘gamify’ my film viewing too much, because that tick-box mentality is not the right way to approach art. But it’s been my attitude (for almost 18 whole years now) that if having these goals pushes me to watch a film, rather than spending another evening deciding it would be easier to just veg on social media or whatever, that can only be a good thing.