THE T STANDS FOR TOP TEN


It was in 2013 with my then-partner that I first kept a numbered list of the films that I had seen in the cinema, with the  goal of hitting a century of big screen motion pictures. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and the first year that I set myself that goal was the first year that I failed to accomplish it. Now, it's 2019, I'm finally starting to get into The Good Place, and I've finally done it. 
 

I keep looking at those images, like they were pictures of a newborn child or, better yet, a puppy. My eyes can't believe that I've pulled it off – 100 films in a cinema AND a collage of 100 film posters in a 9x9 square grid. My estimate is that I spent about 188 hours on the former, and about half that on the latter.

For a long time, there was a reflective Twitter moment in the works, but apparently the maximum number of tweets you can add to a moment is 98. Maybe the subconscious knowledge that Twitter was not, as initially suspected, working in tandem with my dreams was what held me back from this achievement for the last half decade. Regardless, if you really want to see the fruits of my labour, then the hashtag #RhysehT100 will see you through from #26 onwards. But like every self-respecting online article since 2013, I've distilled my thoughts, feelings, expenditure and love for cinema into an all-new, equally indispensable list:

The #RhysehTen

Like / share / retweet / subscribe / add me to your weekly email blast but, most importantly of all – go to the cinema. It's the best, and we might get Roma and Annihilation in the cinema if you make enough noise about it.


10


ISLE OF DOGS

I love dogs. Yeah, that’s the joke – I get it, you get it, we all get it. But I love dogs. So, I’m ready to admit that my own personal bias played a huge role in this film making it into my annual top ten. But it’s MY top ten; these things are subjective and as you might see later, my own emotional dispositions played a huge part in this ranking. If you don’t like it, spend a year making noise about your own cinematic adventures. But this right here is about dogs. I’ll admit to being a little underwhelmed – every part of me expected to place this as #1 before the year started – but the DOGS. Stop-motion, tiny and probably not as furry as they look on screen, this was the first time since I was a kid that I wanted to reach into the screen and touch the animation in front of me. I wanted to tell all of them (even the robot dogs) that they were good boys and good girls, and that I would play baseball with and adopt all of them. But, I couldn’t. Hey, maybe THAT’S why I didn’t rank it higher?




9

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT
 
In recent years, I fell victim to the film student's curse and bashed holy hell out of all sequel-based film-making. Thus, it may surprise anyone I spoke to from 2014-2017 to see a shameless franchise film on this year’s list. But, I’m not a student anymore, and it’s a lot of work to remain angry at the one thing that brings you peace in; more importantly, in the midst of this mammoth run to 100 films, I was accompanied on more than a handful of occasions by my mother, who managed an all-time best 20 cinema visits of her own this year (nice one, MT!). Anyway, she LOVES Mission Impossible, which obviously fills me with incredible bias. More to the point, there’s a school of thought where the idea of cinema is to just find the biggest available screen, and watch the craziest shit possible on it, and if that ain’t Mission Impossible then I don’t know what is. It’s mad fun in the way that summer blockbusters were before audiences were “owed” an interconnected narrative universe, and it’s mad fun that I miss on a yearly basis. And then, for all the work the unfairly-rated Tom Cruise does, there’s also Rebecca Ferguson, who is much more the absolute badass stunt-prone equal she is in this film than the “bitch homewrecker from The Greatest Showman” that everyone chooses to remember her as - erase that one from your minds as quickly as possible.




8

HEREDITARY
 
Since August, I’ve gone back to my roots and kept a little gray book wherein I write about how each movie I watch makes me feel. For Hereditary, which I watched on the summer solstice, I imagine the response would have been something like “oh lord, please help me, I want to be able to move again”. Existing outside of and yet comfortably within the genre of jump-scare terror, this terrifying bastard of a movie seemed to literally grip me in the first half hour and leave me so shaken that it was a formidable task to even reach for the bottle of water the summer heat demanded. Horrors have never been a big deal for me as it’s a genre that studying film and media really rips the proverbial curtain away from: Hereditary didn’t care what I thought I knew. Hereditary just wanted to push me into the back of my seat. Toni Collette’s unbelievable performance personified the death of my otherwise omnipresent filmic rationale, and after a rapid-breathed 2 hours and 7 minutes, I was finally able to encapsulate and vocalise what I had just been through in a single word – “Fuck.”




7


BLINDSPOTTING

 “Fuck Alfred Hitchcock!” So says Mama Liz in Blindspotting, perhaps the most unexpectedly-placed and sudden-funny line in a film unafraid to embrace shock and comedy in equal measure. It's ironic, however, that such a piece of dialogue exists in a film where suspense is used so liberally and successfully. Certain scenes seem to last so long that the 95 minute runtime feels like a falsehood when it's all over, and whilst racial tension of course rears its ugly head, it's almost a wider-picture backseat to the bad luck that protagonist Collin just can't seem to shake. Yet, it's not all discrimination and hostility. The best-executed opening title sequence of the year is equal parts celebratory and sartorial, showcasing all the things of modern Oakland that all its residents love (for better or worse – though there is a distinct absence of Moneyball). Impractical as it may sound, rap is used as dialogue in a number of scenes. Sometimes, it plays for laughs as Miles smart-mouths his way to a buck, but its application culminates right as the film climaxes, in a scene that will have you screaming “Don't do it!” more than any other horror or thriller in recent times. Blindspotting assuredly isn't afraid to grapple with and question the actions of its heroes as much as its villains. It is easy to mark it as 'a powerful movie' for its comments on civil rights, but it's the examination of character defects that stays long after the sun sets in Northern California.  




6

BLACKkKLANSMAN
 
It’s really quite difficult to tell someone that you found a film like BlackkKlansman, a film set in the 70s about the KKK, “quite funny”. And yet, for reasons both simple and incredulous, Spike Lee offers a healthy dose of laughs from beginning to (just before the) end. Unafraid to tackle contemporary racism through the lens of a past we either thought or hoped we had left behind, there is a stark contrast between bumbling Alec Baldwin in the opening scene and calculating Topher Grace in the lifeblood of the plot. Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro undoubtedly inspired the short documentary scenes that play over the end credits, likely to cause more controversy than anything in the preceding 135 minutes, and every scene drips with tension as you sit there thinking, “there’s surely no way this isn’t all about to go South.” It’s buddy cop comedy, it’s historical magnifying glass, it’s exploitation slapstick – and it has the most righteous cinematic guitar riff this side of Wonder Woman. Does it hurt that it also holds the distinction of being the first film I ever watched overseas? Absolutely not.



5

ASSASSINATION NATION

 End-of-year releases are difficult to rank for many reasons, chiefly because it's so easy to get wrapped up in everything you've already seen (particularly when you watch a hundred films on the big screen😉). It takes something dauntless and unhesitating to demand your attention in the cold months, just before the awards season starts – something like Assassination Nation. An opening montage/manifesto second perhaps only to the aforementioned Blindspotting warns you of all the modern and traditional hot takes that the film will tackle, and it isn't mere hyperbole. At once the culmination of social media on-film to date, and revenge horror in the vein of I Spit on Your Grave, it's as if the words of Bad Reputation, Cherry Bomb and We're Not Gonna Take It came together to inspire a bloodthirsty offspring ready to take on the worlds both diegetic and peripheral. The ensuing physical violence is gratuitous (and seeing Jeff Winger from Community go full Jack Torrance is disconcerting to say the very least), but so is the preceding mental brutality the protagonists endure. Most important of all is four young women in a 2018 film coming together to exude both rabid cool and a quite literal take-no prisoners attitude. A common colloquialism over the last twelve months has been “don't sleep on this”; it could not be more fitting here and, whilst it might not quite be 'The Film of the Year – 2018', it is almost definitely 'The Film of 2018 – The Year'. 




4

SEARCHING
 
Since 'Starring John Cho' went viral in 2016, the world has been crying out for a John Cho-led wide release feature film. Since Noah went viral in 2013, the world has been hastily awaiting the day that the desktop/screen-life genre truly entered the world of film. Somehow, after a handful of smash-and-grab horrors dominated the latter – how? - the former arrived to deliver us something truly special. The optimist in me says that anything can work in the medium of film, and despite the low expectations offered by Unfriended and Friend Request – or perhaps, in part because of them – there can be no doubt that Searching meets that idealism. Lost in the shuffle of this surprise (mild SPOILER WARNING) is that the disappearance of an ethnic minority was, refreshingly, not the main cause for their disappearance, or the catalyst for the search attempts. What's more, an unexpected 12A rating for a film that was, at its heart, a thriller means that a young crowd can be exposed to a creative warning of some of the overlooked perils of online companionship – and in the screening I watched, there was indeed a decent number of young teens. Finally, there is director Aneesh Chaganty, who as you can see in this tweet truly is both fighting the good fight and living the dream; an inspirational motion picture on every imaginable front.




3


SKATE KITCHEN

 An astonishing soundtrack and glorious photography are the minimum requirements for a New York City picture, but in its documentarian director Crystal Moselle and amateur actor/seasoned skate crew cast, Skate Kitchen manages to find a treatment of 'The City That Never Sleeps' rarely seen on the big screen. Interestingly, there are several points in the film where it's made clear that this world is more often and keenly observed through 1:1 ratios on smartphone screens – but it's all to the advantage of the plot and appeal, all the while managing to re-examine many of the ideas of the 'coming of age' film. The best thing about Skate Kitchen is that, in amongst all the genre tropes, lives the message that all humans – all young adults – go through the same things, deal with the same problems, and make the same mistakes. Yes, there are injuries specific to the skate game with horrific monikers (see: “credit card”), but there's boy and girl trouble, parental conflict and confidence issues. The ethos of Skate Kitchen reckons with the attitude of the real-life Skate Kitcheners: it doesn't matter your race, sexual orientation or who you are on the other side of your Instagram uploads. Here, you're equal. Relatable at the same time that it stirs envy in the non-skateboarder (trust me on both of those points), this is one of those rare and happy times in cinema that you can feel overwhelmed by what you're watching, and accept it. 




2
LADY BIRD
 
2002 was awesome. There was a World Cup, there was a movie's worth of new Star Wars merch and the internet was something you could only access through Sting singles distributed with the Sunday papers. It was the time of AoL, not LOL. Now, in a jarring turn of events for this particular 26 year-old, it's now become the year now most ripe for a new wave of 'yesteryear media'. Of course, what I'm overlooking in this bittersweet retrospective is just how fucking awesome Greta Gerwig is as a director. We're all such suckers for coming of age stories that, Cameron Crowe aside, we tend to forget that they're a film production just like any other. Most live and die on the strength of their fashions and dialogue and whilst both are in attendance more here than the titular Lady Bird (née Christine McPherson) is to her school classes, it's the juxtaposing super-cool/uber-nerdy auteur stylings which live long in the memory. If I were a more neutral reviewer, this likely would have retained the top spot which it held for a solid 7 months. Luckily, there is much more to come from Greta Gerwig.




1
FIRST MAN
 
Like Interstellar before it, there are any number of technical terms and self-righteous learnings that I could lean on to justify placing Damien Chazelle's unenviable biopic right at the top of my annual decemvirate. But, like Christopher Nolan's intergalactic epic before it, it boils down to one simple truth: space is awesome. I am undeniably once again an unashamed fan of the fledgling yet established director behind the lens of this year's early-winter prestige sci-fi; but, more to it, I am also a lifelong admirer of the incredible work and story of Neil Armstrong. This was a film that demanded a repeat viewing (and an IMAX experience) because so much of the first watch is spent short of breath and patience waiting for the main event – The Moon landing. The second look offers the deftest of glimpses behind the greatest achievement and hero in the history of mankind.. and then you're on The Moon again. I presume this is the closest the current generation can ever get to knowing the triumph and potential of those glorious mid-60s summer days. Get these sci-fis to the early-year award season release slates where they belong!
 
 
 
 

#RHYSEHT100 x #RHYSEHT10

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