Cinema has always been an act of discovery. Each year, new stories, storytellers, cultures, people and technical feats allow us to take a break from our lives or remind us beautifully and brutally of the world and history we share.
In the last few months, the latter has proved vital to our wider understanding and awareness of how geopolitics and warfare can distort humanity to a grotesque level. From The Zone of Interest to Bye Bye Tiberias, potent films highlight the nonchalance of evil, and how history is repeating but through it all, the power of generational love and solidarity will always resist.
So here are the 278 films I made time for over the last twelve months. Whether they be for work or pleasure, nostalgia, comfort or education, I'm grateful that movies exist and that I get to write about them for a living. I'm looking forward to 2024 proving to be just as rich a cinematic gateway as the years before.
LOVED
A Thousand And One
About a Boy
Aftersun
After the Fire
All of Us Strangers
Amiko
American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Barbie
Beau Is Afraid
Blue Jean
Book Club: The Next Chapter
Bottoms
Broker
Bye Bye Tiberias
Cairo Conspiracy
Cassandro
Cocaine Bear
Crazy Stupid Love
Creed 3
Day Off
Death of England
Down Terrace
Dream Scenario
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Evil Dead Rise
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Far And Away
Fast X
Fremont
Game Night
Guardians of the Galaxy Vo. 3
Hairspray
Heathers
Hitman
Hoard
How to Blow Up A Pipeline
How To Have Sex
In Camera
Iron Mask
Joyride
Kissing the Ground You Walk On
Knock At the Cabin
Kokomo City
L'Immensita
LA Confidential
Lie With Me
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Little Woods
Lucky Number Slevin
Maestro
Magazine Dreams
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
May December
Medusa Deluxe
Memento
Missing
Moana
Nam June Paik: Moon Is The Oldest TV
News From Home
Nyad
One Fine Morning
Opening Night (1977)
Oppenheimer
Other People’s Children
Our River, Our Sea
Paris Memories
Passages
Past Lives
Persona
Poor Things
Pretty Red Dress Pressure (1976)
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Q
Reality
Rebel Without A Cause
Return to Seoul
Rye Lane
Saint Omer
Scrapper
Semi-Pro
Service For Ladies
Squaring the Circle
Talking Freedom
The Blackening
The Boy and the Heron
The Cable Guy
The Damned Don't Cry
The End We Start From
The Exorcist
The Exorcist: Believer
The Fablemans
The First Wives Club
The Incredible Jessica James
The Marvels
The Nice Guys
The Old Oak
The Red Shoes
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Royal Hotel
The Sound of Music
The Wicker Man (1973)
The Zone of Interest
Theater Camp
They Cloned Tyrone
Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan
Titanic 3D
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Un Chien Andalou
Under The Fig Trees
Unicorns
Wild at Heart
Winners
LIKED
Shazam: Fury of the Gods
Master Gardener
(500) Days of Summer
A Haunting in Venice
A Man Called Otto
Alice, Darling
American Symphony
Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania
Asteroid City
Blue Beetle
Boys in the Boat
Brother
Chevalier
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Degrade
Double Thomas
Drift
Dumb Money
Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves
Earth Mama
Edge of Tomorrow
Fear of God
Five Nights At Freddy's
Gaga
Girl
Godzilla (2014)
Godzilla Minus One
Harka
Hopeless
Hounds
Infinity Pool
Invisible Beauty
John Wick 4
Killers of the Flower Moon
Klokkenluider
Leave the World Behind
Love Life
Luther: The Fallen Son
M3gan
Mad About The Boy: The Noël Coward Story
Magic Mike's Last Dance
Marathon Man (1976)
Meg 2: The Trench
Mission Impossible 2
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One
More Than Ever
Napolean
Next Exit
Pickpocket (1959)
Plane
Polite Society
Polytechnique
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
R: 21 Solidarity
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Renfield
Rodeo
Saltburn
Sattar
Scream 6
Serpico
Sharper
Sick of Myself
Smoking Causes Coughing
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Stamped From the Beginning
Subject
Tetris
The Boogeyman
The Boy Who Lived
The Boys
The Cord of Life
The Creator
The Dream
The Goonies
The Kitchen
The Pigeon Tunnel
The Pod Generation
The Remains of the Day
The Square
Together With Lorenza
Transformers 5
Twelve Beds
We Have A Ghost
Wham!
You Hurt My Feelings
MEH
65
A Life on the Farm
Accused
Allelujiah
Babylon
Bestsellers
Cat Person
Cobweb
Exmas
Femme
Ferrari
Gran Turismo
Happiness for Beginners
Haunted Mansion
Hellraiser
High & Low John Galliano
Horror of Dracula (1958)
Indian Jones and the Dial Of Destiny
Inland
Love At First Sight
Maybe I Do
Meet Me In The Bathroom
My Neighbour Totoro
Next Goal Wins
No Hard Feelings
Pain Hustlers
Rabid
Rally Road Racers
Rebel Moon -- Part One: A Child of Fire
Shortcomings
Sisu
Stand Up Story
Strays
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The Beanie Bubble
The Book of Clarence
The Family Plan
The Founder
The Invitation (2022)
The Kissing Booth 2
The Mother
The Out-Laws
The Pale Blue Eye
The Perfect Find
The Strays
We Dare to Dream
Wildcat
Wonka
You People
NOT FOR ME
After
After We Collided
Alone Together
Dario Argento's Dracula
Dead Shot
Expend4bles
January
Love Both Ways
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
Saw X
The Old Way
The Other Zoey
What Happens Later