The Letterboxd pro subscription automatically compiles summary stats, which makes this an easy exercise. I logged 204 feature films this year, which actually is the most since I logged 365 in 2021. 200 films feels like the sweet spot for a casual movie-lover because it’s much more lenient than the degenerate one-a-day pace (for those not in the industry), yet allows for a balance of new releases and classics with wiggle room for guilty pleasure trash content. If I had the capacity to consistently watch a slow film or lengthy emotional drama after full work days I would, but the reality is that sometimes you just want to turn off the brain. That’s probably the primary reason why watching all of Ozu’s sound-era films took me the whole year; I simply lacked the patience for his pace and minimal plotting some days even though his movies aren’t even that slow. Along with lots of Ozu, I also watched everything from Kim Jee-woon and Im Sang-soo which ended up being a great time.

For new releases, I liked Dune Part Two the most (honorable mentions to The Substance, Civil War, Anora, and The Wild Robot), though I haven’t gotten around to watching The Brutalist, Nosferatu, or a handful of foreign films on my watchlist like All We Imagine as Light. Tied for worst I had the Venom movie, Following, the Joker sequel, and Argylle. It’s hard to concisely describe how much I disliked these movies.

Luckily when it came to older flicks I had a blast. I recently bought a 4k Blu-ray player which has transformed my at-home viewing experience. With it, I finally got around to watching Kagemusha, Dreams, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly which are all amazing and have been discussed online ad nauseum. Movies like Millennium Mambo greatly benefit from a more theatrical experience because the sound and colors are so rich. Besides movies in the obvious “Top X” canon, I also mixed in some awesome yakuza movies (Hanabi, Sonatine), weirder stuff (Cold Fish), cult classics (Repo Man) and contemporary Chinese movies (The Breaking Ice).

All of these are worth watching, although my favorite movies watched this year that I would recommend to anyone are:

  • Killers of the Flower Moon - a long film, but the length is required to make you feel the slow but deadly impact of greed as it curses and deteriorates a community. It’s a killer story, and mostly true.
  • In the Mood for Love - rewatched at home with my 4k blu-ray + projector + surround sound setup; this is my all time favorite movie and that is unlikely to change any time soon.
  • Cure - an awesome detective/serial killer movie about our collectively repressed violent urges. One scene literally dropped my jaw which is fairly rare these days.
  • Michael Clayton - a legal thriller based on a screenplay that is probably a GOAT screenplay contender. This script is what inspired me to want to start screenwriting as a hobby.
  • An Autumn Afternoon - the culmination of Ozu’s craftsmanship mentality applied to the intergenerational family drama. It’s life and melancholy as it is, transcending the usual clash traditional and progressive values in an accepting way that’s unusually devastating. I was crushed after watching this movie even though it’s not a tearjerker. The last movie to leave me like that was probably An Elephant Sitting Still.

Honorable mentions (sadly no real hot takes this year): The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Army of Shadows, Tokyo Story, Sweet Smell of Success, American Beauty, Before Sunset, After Hours, I Saw the Devil, Late Spring.

On to 2025! Maybe I’ll do a Bresson binge, or continue working through the top Sight and Sound critics’ picks. All I know is that with only 1880 films watched, I still have plenty to look forward to.