Category: Films and other dramas

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Shows of the Year 2022

As is tradition, listed below are all the films and TV shows I’ve watched this year.  The ones that surpassed my expectations are marked with *, and any that I thought were overrated with !

Standalone films

Elvis

KungFu Panda

Four Lions*

Sorry We Missed You

Encanto

Stuck Together

Still Life*

West Side Story

House of Gucci

The Thirteenth Floor

Death on the Nile

The Most Unknown

TV series

Dead to Me, season 1

Happy Valley, seasons 1 and 2*

Harry & Meghan

Agatha Christie, Lucy Worsley

The Capture, season 2*

We Were Four

Love is Blind

The Crown, season 5

Unsolved Mysteries, season 3

KaDaWe

Inside Man

Never Have I Ever, season 3*

Le Bureau, season 1*

Tehran, season 1

Slow Horses, season 1*

Stalking Pete Doherty

Ozark, seasons 1-4*

Three Identical Strangers

The Pursuit of Love*

Chernobyl*

The Split

7Up: Millennials

House of Maxwell

Prisoners of War, season 1

Our House

Blackfish*

Ridley Road

Steps of Freedom

Jeremy Kyle: Death on Daytime

Married at First Sight Australia, season 9

Britain’s Forgotten Wars

Young Wallander, season 2

Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta?

Caroline: The Murder that Fooled the World

Puppet Master

Chloe*

Showtrial

The Apprentice 2022

The English Game

Alice in Borderland, season 1

The Tinder Swindler

Challenger: The Final Flight*

Trigger Point

The Detectorists, seasons 1, 2, 3

The Pharmacist

The Tourist

House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths

Podcasts

The Lady Vanishes*

Up and Vanished

Paradise

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Shows and films of 2021

I think I can fairly say I spent most of 2021 watching TV shows, with relatively few books and films thrown in. As before, anything particularly outstanding is rated with * and anything particularly woeful with !

Emily in Paris, seasons 1 and 2, 2021, Darren Star

The Girl Before, 2021, J P Delaney

Married at First Sight Australia, Season 8, 2020*

Squid Game, 1 season 2021*

Atypical, seasons 1-4, 2017-2021*

Vigil, one season, 2021

The IT Crowd, all 4 seasons, 2006-2010*

Motherland, seasons 1-3, 2017-2020*

Starstruck, 2021

Unsolved Mysteries, Netflix version, seasons 1 and 2, 2015, 2020*

The Investigator: a British crime story, season 1, 2016 !

Murder among the Mormons, 2021, Jared Hess

The Keepers, 2017, Ryan White*

Sophie: A Murder in West Cork, 2021, John Dover*

The Staircase, 2018, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade*

Never Have I Ever, 2020, Season 2*

This Way Up, 2019-2020, Seasons 1, 2*

Good Trouble, 2020, Season 3*

If I hadn’t met you, 2018 (one season)

10% (Call My Agent), Seasons 1, 2,  3, 4*

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, seasons 1, 2, 3, 4*

Fringe, Season 1

Line of Duty, season 6

El Desorden que Dejas, (The Mess You Leave Behind), 2020, Roger Gual

Crashing

The Circle UK, season 3*

The Circle UK celebrity

Money Heist/La Casa de Papel, seasons 1-4 of 4,  2017-2020, Jésus Colmenar

The Lost DNA

Lupin, season 1

The Vanishing at the Hotel Cecil

An American Murder*

A Teacher

The Secrets She Keeps

The Circle USA, season 1*

RuPaul’s UK Drag Race, season 1*

Bridgerton, season 1

How to Get Away with Murder, seasons 1 and 2

Surviving Death

 

Films:

 

The Holiday, 2006, Nancy Meyers !

Don’t Look Up, 2021, Adam McKay

Man Up, 2015, Ben Palmer

Nobody, 2021, Ilya Naishuller

The Tomorrow War, 2021, Chris McKay

The Settlers, 2021, Wyatt Rockefeller

Eli, 2019, Ciaran Foy

Minimalism: Less is Now (2021) !

Casting JonBenet, 2017, Kitty Green

Saint Frances, 2019, Alex Thompson

Fatima, 2020, Marco Pontecorvo

Sixty Six, 2006, Paul Weiland

Belle, 2013, Amma Asante

Exam, 2009, Stuart Hazeldine

The Gentlemen, 2020, Guy Ritchie

Pleasantville, 1998, Gary Ross

Flying Blind, 2012, Katarzyna Klimkiewicz

Circle, 2015 (Aaron Hann, Mario Miscione)

Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga, 2020, Will Ferrell !

Idiocracy, 2006, Mike Judge

Tenet, 2020, Christopher Nolan

The Lobster, 2015, Yorgos Lanthimos*

White Tiger, 2021, Rahmin Bahrani

Vivarium, 2019, Finnegan and Garrett Shanley

7500, 2019, Patrick Vollrath

What Happened to Monday?, 2017, Tommy Wirkola

2067, 2020, Seth Larney

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Shows of the Year 2020

As is becoming usual, listed below are all the films and TV shows I’ve watched this year.  The ones that surpassed my expectations are marked with *, and any that I thought were overrated with !

Standalone films

  • The Hunt, Craig Zobel
  • Inheritance, Vaughn Stein
  • Serenity, Steven Knight
  • Yesterday, Danny Boyle
  • Contratiempo, Oriol Paulo
  • A Suitable Girl, Sarita Khurana and Smriti Mundhra*
  • First They Killed My Father, Angelina Jolie
  • Birdbox, Susanne Bier
  • The Platform, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
  • The Proposal, Anne Fletcher
  • Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Céline Sciamma*
  • Two States, Abhishek Varman
  • The Two Popes, Fernando Meirelles
  • Aurore (I Got Life), Blandine Lenoir*
  • Sir, Rohena Gara*
  • Badla, Sujoy Ghosh
  • Judy, Rupert Goold
  • Contagion, Steven Soderbergh
  • American Woman, Jake Scott
  • Ad Astra, James Gray
  • Knives Out, Rian Johnson !

Shows/series

  • The Queen’s Gambit*
  • Journey with my Daughter
  • Utopia: season 1
  • The Man in the High Castle: seasons 1 and 2
  • Get Organized with The Home Edit
  • The Crown: seasons 1 to 3.5
  • Masaba masaba
  • Good Trouble: seasons 1 and 2*
  • Sex and Love around the World
  • Bandersnatch
  • We Are The Wave
  • A Suitable Boy
  • Normal People
  • Never Have I Ever*
  • Tiger King
  • When the Boat Comes in: seasons 1 and 2
  • The Inventor Out For Blood
  • Fall Cabal
  • Indian Matchmaking
  • I May Destroy You*
  • Line of Duty: seasons 1 to 5*
  • Killing Eve: season 3
  • After Life: season 2
  • Killing Eve: season 2
  • The Island !
  • The Messiah
  • Devs
  • Dr Foster: season 2
  • Dr Foster: season 1*
  • Orange is the New Black: season 1
  • After Life: season 1
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Films of the Year 2019

Since I’m always on some kind of mission to see films that various people have recommended over the years (read: decades), why not list the films I’ve caught up with this year?

As with the books, those that I was particularly impressed with are marked with *, and the ones I thought had a budget that would have been better off spent on regenerating my home town are marked with !

In chronological order:

  • Disobedience – 2017
  • A Most Wanted Man – 2014
  • The Other Boleyn Girl – 2008
  • 28 Days – 2000
  • The Age of Innocence – 1993 *
  • The Jane Austen Book Club – 2007
  • White Chicks – 2004
  • Mr Turner – 2014
  • The Handmaiden – 2016
  • Call Me By My Name – 2017
  • Wolf of Wall Street – 2013
  • Book Club – 2018
  • The Second Mother – 2015 *
  • The Post – 2017
  • Casanova – 2005 *
  • Philomena – 2013
  • The Bucket List – 2007
  • Finding Your Feet – 2017 *
  • Gandhi – 1982
  • Plein Soleil – 1960
  • Bridge of Spies – 2015
  • Night Train to Lisbon – 2013 !
  • Crazy Rich Asians – 2018 *
  • Queen of the Desert – 2015
  • Downsizing – 2017
  • Infinity Chamber – 2016
  • Molly’s Game – 2017 *
  • The Color Purple – 1985
  • Fitzcarraldo – 1982
  • Spaceballs – 1987
  • 10×10 – 2018
  • Mary, Queen of Scots – 2018
  • The Favourite – 2018
  • Midnight’s Children – 2012
  • The Life of Brian – 1979
  • Isle of Dogs – 2018
  • A Star is Born – 2018
  • The Incredibles 2 – 2018
  • 500 Days of Summer – 2009
  • How to be Single – 2016
  • The Aftermath – 2019
  • Aladdin – 2019
  • Boy Erased – 2018
  • The Hate U Give – 2018 *
  • Vice – 2018
  • Kimi No Nawa (Your Name) – 2016
  • Pete’s Dragon – 2016
  • Matilda – 1996
  • Close – 2019
  • Escape Room – 2017 (Will Wernick) !
  • I am Mother – 2019
  • There Will Be Blood – 2007
  • Oranges and Sunshine – 2011
  • El Camino – 2019
  • Avant l’hiver – 2014
  • Une nouvelle amie – 2015 !
  • Belle Epoque – 2019 *