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.

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Nonetheless, here I go for a third time with the new-style 100 Films in a Year Challenge, despite having failed to complete it the first two times. Hopefully, another hoary old saying will apply: third time lucky.

There are two reasons to be optimistic. First, it’s not exactly the same each year — it’s (mostly) new films, and I’ve also tweaked the categories… although not necessarily to make them easier, because of the second reason: I’ve almost got there both years so far. Okay, in 2022 I stopped pretty far short at #89, but that was because 100 became unattainable and so I didn’t keep trying to close the gap. In 2023, I stuck at it a bit longer, reaching #92. In both cases, better time management earlier in the year could have made a huge difference in terms of completing the challenge. Indeed, in both years I met my old-style challenge (“watch any 100 films I’ve never seen”) with relative ease.

I’m hoping that in 2024 I’ll finally learn from my mistakes and pull my finger out earlier in the year — though I did try to do that in 2023, with limited success, so we’ll have to see how it goes.

Now, this year’s categories and their rules.

First, the one rule that applies across all categories: a film can only count once. Sounds kinda 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 that’s general release date (i.e. not festival screenings, etc) in the UK (i.e. not in the US, nor any other country) is between 1st January 2024 and 31st December 2024. 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 2024’s Challenge). Maximum one per month (with rollovers, as above).

Blindspot

x12. Unlike most other categories, these 12 films are specifically chosen and named in advance. They’re all films I feel I should have seen, or that “great movies” lists tell me I should have seen. Designed to be watched one per month, but doesn’t have to be. You can read about this year’s 12 in their own post here.

What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen…?

x12. Similar to Blindspot, in that these are 12 specifically chosen films to be watched one per month, but my selections here are based around a theme. This year’s theme: the IMDb Top 250. Wait — 250 films?! No, don’t be silly. But it’s not exactly 12, either. For a full explanation, look 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 force my hand. A maximum of one per month counts, but rolls over if necessary.

50 Unseen

x10. This year’s only entirely-new category, although it’s broadly similar to “failures” in that it’s an incentive to watch films I missed — in this case, from previous years (my annual “50 Unseen” lists) rather than just the previous month.

50 Unseen replaces Physical Media. It was a nice idea to try to make me watch more DVDs that I’ve owned for decades, or 3D Blu-rays that I simply haven’t got round to, and I still support that as a goal; but, in reality, I foresaw that category in 2024 filling up with Edgar Wallace Mysteries and/or random freshly-purchased 4Ks. I wanted to find space here for my 50 Unseen, and Physical Media seemed the best category to lose for now. If I ever get my series watches in hand, hopefully I can replace Series Progression with a new version of Physical Media sometime in the future.

Genre

x10. Any films from within a specified genre. Unlike most of the above categories, these can be watched at any time — maybe I’ll spread them throughout the year; maybe I’ll binge them all back to back. Most likely it’ll be somewhere between the two. This year’s genre: martial arts.

Series Progression

x10. Any instalment in one of the many film series I’m already watching (there’s a Letterboxd list of them here). If I start a new series, the first film can’t count, but any further films can.

Wildcards

x10. Slots that can be used to add a film or films to any other category, provided the category’s own requirements have already been met (e.g. no 11th Genre film until I’ve filled the original ten, but I could use a wildcard for a second New Film in January).

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.