Top 5 0f 2022

Well there goes another year of inactivity on here (but who's keeping count or reading this anyway)
Not sure I've watched a whole lot this year or at least not as much as I'd have liked to. Here's my five favourites that I saw, released in the UK in 2022.

5. Del Toro's Pinocchio - the attention to the details and the craft in which this film is lovingly made makes it an easy top 5 position. A lovely take on the tale with some surprising melancholia

4. Violent Night - nice to have something festive in the list this time of year, I thought I'd throw it in for fun. Unashamably a love letter to Die Hard and Home Alone yet being its own thing in its own right.

3. Everything Everywhere All at Once - sometimes amongst the art films and the popcorn movies you need something that fuses/blends the 2 cinematic ends of the scale to excite and surprise you with something new or different. Nutty, multiverse, OTT extravaganza. Everyone plays their part brilliantly. False ends, alternate realities and talking rocks (amongst many other things...) leads to the most creative film of the year

2. Top Gun: Maverick - a few years ago 2 films were, perhaps unjustly, held up with the responsibility of 'saving cinema' due to the terrible impact of Covid. Neither No Time to Die or Tenet could pull off the lofty expectations put upon them by the culture at large but this year we saw the potential of having a film succeed in reinvigorating the box office AND be a worthy and exciting watch. Top Gun pulled the mammoth task off. A true cinema experience to be seen big and loud and multiple times! Brilliant stuff

1. The Banshees of Inisherin - hitting all the emotional range possible, this film is extremely funny, poignnant, sad across the course of its tale. Amazing performance from everyone (and a donkey). The drama plays out in and around beautiful Irish scenery and leaves you with a mixed bag of feelings. Beautiful film making...

Some honourable mentions to Trainwreck Woodstock '99 (an indepth and in some ways morbidly interesting look at how an event can go oh so wrong), Brian and Charles (brilliantly english in the best and most sombre ways), All of Us are Dead (love me some zombie action coming out of Korea) and The Batman, of which has been my favourite job to have worked on so far.

As usual I happened across some stuff I was not keen on; three of which are below 1. The Reef: Stalked 2. Disneys Pinocchio 3. Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Top 5 of 2021

Along with this list (and the only post of the year. What a pointless blog this is...), I'm including a list of every film I saw in full this year. Off the back of Edgar Wright's yearly list, I was inspired/curious as to how many movies I could or do watch in a year. For now here is my usual Top 5 that came out in the UK this year...

5. Riders of Justice
- Mads Mikkelsen plays an incredibly wound up soldier who, going through a family tragedy, exacts some revenge through the help of statistic experts. Odd right? Wait til you see the rest of the film. The blackest of comedic moments and at times horribly depressing made for a watch where you were never quite sure which direction the film would head. It's good to be kept guessing...

4. Dune
- can only really go off the one watch in the cinema but I enjoyed it enough as a big screen experience.

3. Free Guy
- accept for three minor plot issues I had, Free Guy represents the fun that can be had at the cinema. Anyone with a youtube account will probably be aware of the build up to this film thanks to Ryan Reynolds consistant and amusing teasings of the film. Marketed as if it was almost never going to arrive and RR being peak RR, you knew exactly what you were getting in terms of humour and action. I just really enjoyed it as a whole.

2. King Richard
- I went in to see this with little to no knowledge of its background and was genuinely entertained by the whole thing. An account of the tennis-pro William's sisters early beginnings and upbringing by their dad its by far the best performance from Will Smith in a long time. That's not to say Will hasn't been great recently but I can't remember when I last saw him not as Mr Smith but as the character he was playing. I think he may be deserving of at least a best actor nomination this year.

1. Another Round
- Mads Mikkelsen makes a second appearance. A brilliant ensemble shows the potential highs and many more realistic lows to pushing the limit of alcohol consumption. A deeply personal project for the director Thomas Vinterberg and yet again Mads proves himself to be one of the best acting talents of the past 15 years.

An honourable mention goes out to The Beatles: Get Back documentary, Bo Burnham's Inside, Moxie, Nobody and Raya and the Last Dragon. As always the bottom 3 for me are worryngly poor. I give you the title and nothing else.
1. Father Christmas is Back
2. Twist
3. Thunderforce


AND so to this list I compiled. This is the list of films watched in the order I happened to see them. Bold for new releases, standard text for rewatches. The only repeat was seeing No Time to Die twice in the cinema. Enjoy

Monsters Inc (2001)
Hellraiser (1987)
Dark Waters (2020)
Easy Rider (1969)
Mortal Engines (2018)
#Alive (2020)
Cats (2019)
Taking Lives (2004)
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Ghost (1990)
- 10
Inside Man (2006)
The Wife (2017)
Mank (2020)
Mindhorn (2016)
The Sixth Sense (2000)
What's Your Number (2011)
Monty Python's Holy Grail (1974)
A Dogs Journey (2018)
Semi Pro (2008)
The Nutty Professor (1996)
- 20
Widows (2018)
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
6 Underground (2019)
A Hard Days Night (1964)
Lucky (2017)
Jojo Rabbit (2020)
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
The Drowning (2016)
Dredd (2012)
Bumblebee (2018)
- 30
The Gentlemen (2020)
Evil Dead (2013)
THX 1138 (1971)
The Boy with the Striped Pyjamas (2008)
Twist (2021)
Sputnik (2020)
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
Forces of Nature (2000)
Instant Family (2018)
Just Mercy (2020)
- 40
News of the World (2021)
The Invisible Man (2020)
The Notebook (2004)
Sliding Doors (1998)
Table 19 (2017)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Dawn of the dead (1978)
Tag (2018)
Pearl Harbour (2001)
Pele (2021)
- 50
Witness (1985)
Arrival (2016)
Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)
I Care Alot (2021)
Black or White (2019)
Grosse Point Blank (1997)
Disciples of the 36th Chamber (1985)
Moxie (2021)
Eighth Grade (2019)
Cyrus (2010)
- 60
Carry On Screaming (1966)
Doctor Sleep (2019)
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Best of Enemys (2019)
Soul (2020)
S.W.A.T (2003)
Bird on a Wire (1990)
Back to the Future (1985)
Willy's Wonderland (2020)
Thunder Force (2021)
- 70
Ghost Ship (2002)
Stowaway (2021)
Baby Mama (2002)
The Duelists (1977)
Nobody (2021)
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005)
I Origins (2014)
Sound of Metal (2021)
My Octopus Teacher (2020)
The Art of Self-Defence (2019)
- 80
Enough Said (2013)
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
Unhinged (2020)
Red Tails (2012)
Mission Impossible: Fallout (2019)
The Devil's Own (1997)
Nomadland (2021)
Promising Young Woman (2021)
Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
The Unholy (2021)
- 90
Things Heard and Seen (2021)
The Doors (1991)
There Will Be Blood (2008)
Angel Has Fallen (2019)
Cruella (2021)
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
The Father (2021)
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark (2019)
A Quiet Place Part 2 (2021)
- 100
The United Way (2020)
Breakdown (1997)
Mad Max Fury Road (2015)
The Truman Show (1998)
Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
Army of the Dead (2021)
Ma (2019)
Palm Springs (2021)
Supernova (2021)
Another Round (2021)
- 110
The Comeback Trail (2021)
F9 (2021)
Luca (2021)
Yesterday (2019)
Space Cowboys (2000)
The Hunted (2004)
Black Widow (2021)
Midway (2019)
Raw Deal (1986)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
- 120
Old (2021)
The Fighter (2013)
The Mitchell's vs The Machines (2021)
Run (2021)
High Crimes (2002)
11:14 (2003)
Jungle Cruise (2021)
Callan (1974)
The Client (1994)
Unbreakable (2000)
- 130
Love and Monsters (2021)
The Dark Knight (2009)
Archive (2020)
Free Guy (2021)
'71 (2014)
Bad Trip (2021)
ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas (2019)
Seaspiracy (2021)
Candyman (2021)
Wonder woman 1984 (2020)
- 140
Fatal Attraction (1987)
Reminiscence (2021)
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
Richard Jewell (2019)
Copshop (2021)
Malcolm X (1992)
Malignant (2021)
Kate (2021)
Summer of Soul (2021)
Deep Rising (1997)
- 150
Split (2016)
Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar (2021)
A Clockwork Orange - 4k restoration (1971)
The Firm (1993)
Pale Rider (1985)
Minari (2021)
Coogan's Bluff (1968)
Man on Fire (2004)
Romy and Michelle's Highschool Reunion (1997)
Respect (2021)
- 160
The Fellowship of the Ring - 4k restoration (2001)
The Two Towers - 4k restoration (2002)
Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984)
Hidden Figures (2016)
I Feel Pretty (2018)
Quantum of Solace (2008)
Breaking In (2018)
Casino Royale (2006)
The Voyeurs (2021)
No Time To Die (2021)
- 170
No Sudden Move (2021)
Dune Pt1 (2021)
The Guilty (2021)
The Last Duel (2021)
The Loved Ones (2008)
Something Borrowed (2011)
Halloween Kills (2021)
Halloween (1978)
V for Vendetta (2006)
After.Life (2009)
- 180
The Founder (2017)
Last Night in Soho (2021)
Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
Ransom (1996)
Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
No Time To Die (2021) x2
Coherence (2014)
Crazy/Beautiful (2001)
- 190
Red Notice (2021)
Halloween V: Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Ewoks: The Battle For Endor (1985)
Paths of Glory (1957)
The Christmas Chronicles (2018)
Rocky IV: Balboa vs Drago (2021)
Thor (2011)
Ghostbusters Afterlife (2021)
King Richard (2021)
House of Gucci (2021)
- 200
She's The Man (2006)
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
The Matrix re-release (1999)
Riders of Justice (2021)
Lovehard (2021)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings (2021)
Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
West Side Story (2021)
The Christmas Chronicles Part 2 (2020)
Last Christmas (2019)
- 210
Godzilla vs Kong (2021)
Mechanic Resurrection (2016)
Splash (1984)
Home Alone (1990)
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
Spiderman 3 (2007)
Ron's Gone Wrong (2021)
South Pacific (1958)
Highlander (1987)
The Rookie (1990)
- 220
The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019)
Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
Encanto (2021)
Scrooge (1970)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
The Haunting (1999)
Father Christmas is Back (2021)
Klaus (2019)


Some series I managed to get through this year...
Cobra Kai S3 (2020)
The Terror S1 (2020)
Black Summer S2 (2021)
Them S1 (2021)
Mighty Ducks: Game Changers S1 (2021)
Rick and Morty S5 (2021)
Vigil S1 (2021)
Final Space S3 (2021)
The Beatles: Get Back (2021)

Top 5 of 2020

I initially thought the look back on this is going to be limited. 2020 was crap and we all know it. But rifling through my watched films released this year, on IMDb, I have somehow caught 29 movies despite the limited availablity for the silver screen. So as usual, what follows is the best I personally saw in 2020 and then a short list of the drivel I also encountered...

5. The Gentlemen
- a genuinely fun time is had following the usual reprobates and charismatic characters from a new Guy Ritchie film. Just gets in there with a 1st Jan release date. Let's just forget he made Aladdin...

4. Calm with Horses
- a small but tough Irish family drama with a truely believable performance from actor Cosmo Jarvis about an ex-boxer who makes the mistake of not doing his master's bidding.

3. The Invisible Man
- somewhat of a surprisingly good remake but that feels unfair. Remake seems the wrong word as it's simply a modern telling of a classic story. The camera's lingering performance elevates the whole thing which reminds me of Carpenter's original Halloween...

2. Tenet
- this years "saviour of cinema" didn't quite live up to such a title but realistically what film would. The pandemic isn't going anywhere any time soon. A lot has been said of the film already. For now I think it's Marmite for many people. I feel that second viewing makes all the difference and in time, may be looked at with more favoured eyes. I do however agree with some views of whether a film should perform on first viewing for an audience unlikely to go for repeat screenings. It lacks the balanced entertainment and smart story telling that instant classic, Inception, has going for it but maybe this film is a fine wine in the long run.

1. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
- a documentary film but a film nonetheless. And possibly the most important film of the year for the world to watch. If the message doesn't sink in after watching it then I can't the lesson being learnt in quick enough time. Sad, informative, entertaining, inspired.

An honourable mention goes out to Saint Maud, for a quietly unsettling envoyable time at the cinema and The Last Dance, for being absolutely brilliant across the board. As always the bottom 3 are the pants of what I saw this year. I throw little more than the title and no extra attention to them.
1. Dolittle 2. Bloodshot 3. Mulan

Top 5 of 2019

Well this is depressing. The one and only post of the year is my end of year round up...

To be fair, Ive been busy in the best of ways work wise this year having worked on Fast & Furious 9 followed by Batman so Ive had zero time to make any personal work.
As we end this decade Im definately coming out of it in a far different place than what I came in to it, for good, and sadly, for bad also (but that's not for here).

OK, so whats my Top 5 of the year? (As always based purely on what Ive seen released in 2019 in the UK...

5. Toy Story 4
- could they do it again. One more time. Apparently so. Some fun highlights like Duke Kaboom, the ventriloquist dummys and the high five soldier made this a fun film but it brought the emotion with a real sense of goodbye between Woody and Buzz that anyone who grew up with these characters could feel as well. But I will say Buzz is sorely under-used in this film...

4. Us
- I enjoyed Getout but perhaps not as much as the rest of the world apparently. Us on the other hand was a step up for me and it took Peele's horror sense to larger, national scale. Great stuff indeed!

3. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
- is it long, yeah; self-indulgent, perhaps. Is it his best thing since Basterds, I think so. Also Brad Pitt has created the coolest QT character since Sam Jackson showed up in Pulp Fiction!

2. Le Mans '66
- this film was dramatic, exhilarating and above all else, damn fun. Seeing it on the big screen helps and I just really enjoyed a film that takes you comfotably through the story with solid performances and confident directing from Mangold.

1. Avengers Endgame
- was there going to be anything else? for story telling, juggling the size of it, emotional beats and sheer entertainment which is what these films sometimes forget to be. Also, so so satisfying. Something never to be under-appreciated. Marvel did it. Congrats. I can leave the MCU behnd now and be perfectly happy if I never saw another one. Amazing

Notable shoutout to The Irishman and Chernobyl which I'd love to have included in the list.

Bottom 5 as always based on what Ive seen and not particularly bad films. Just lowest rated by me...
1. Gemini Man
2. In The Tal Grass
3. Men in Black International
4. Godzilla King of Monsters
5. Dumbo

Top 5 of 2018

Time once again for my personal Top 5 of the year based purely on UK releases that I have managed to catch within the year; so before you ask 'why no SpiderMan?' it is because I haven't seen it yet!

5. Mission Impossible Fallout
One of, if not the only film series to be getting better as they go on. It's easy to have gotten caught up in the media surrounding just how practical this film was to be and how much of the work in camera was done by the Cruise himself but it all paid off massively with great story callbacks and continuations from previous entries which made me very happy. Ive been vocal to people about my theory on how you can rate the quality of an MI film based on the length of Tom Cruise's hair in each particular film so I was pretty confident going into this one. Equally, director Chris McQuarrie's Epic Empire Podcast Part 1 and Part 2/3 are just as good as the film!

4. Bohemian Rhapsody
Saw this twice at the cinema. It is horribly inaccurate with its timeline of events but by using the Live Aid performance as a bookend, it is structured in a way to play more to your feelings. An average enjoyer of the Queen catalogue its a great time to enjoy what is effectively a "Greatest Hits" of their work. It's a null point at this time to go on about how good Rami Malek's interpretation of Freddie is. It's all just so enjoyable! Seeing it big and loud was its biggest strength. Being too young to witness an original Queen lineup, I realised half way through the film I had never heard the band in a loud bombastic way like that of a gig. Hearing the tracks on a stereo system definately takes away from their impact. The film in a cinema corrects this...

3. Incredibles 2
The family dynamic is finally back and fittingly carrying on almost seamlessly from the first film. Just as many fun moments as the first and lovely spectacle we've come to expect from Pixar. Minor weakness would be the 'badguy' of the film feels a tad weak in comparrison to Syndrome but Im nitpicking... Jack Jack jokes and parenting is a super power are the greatest take-aways from this film.

2. They Shall Not Grow Old
A film of great importance, it feels somewhat wrong to describe this as "entertainment" in the same way as Saving Private Ryan's opening 20mins. The work gone into making hundred year old war footage come alive is something to truely marvel at. It's approach to pull you in through the black and white world as we enter the war with a gradual zoom and colour increase is magical without ever being a "look at this!" moment. THe voice work is brilliant and at times intense and heartbreaking. Stunning work and quite rightly compulsary viewing in our schools now. Thank you Peter Jackson.

1. Avengers Infinity War
A bit obvious but it couldn't be anything else right? 10 years of building. There have been a few dips and troughs along the way but nothing to cry about. Amazing visuals aside the story was strong and bolstered by an imense cast all doing their part. A fully realised Thanos is the icing on the cake. Possibly like the original Yoda in Empire, if audiences didn't believe in this character than the film may have collapsed on itself. With strong foundations in the Marvel world, they've built a towering series of films for the 21st century... Come on Endgame. You've got us all ready and waiting...

Honourable mentions go to the following for all being great bits of film throughout the year; The Last Movie Star, The Shape of Water, Lady Bird and Haunting of Hill House for beign a great little mini series on Netflix.

As for my bottom 5 once again the list is by no means the worst things I ve ever seen as Ive likewly avoided the truely aweful titles. These are just lower rated in my opinion

5. Venom
4. After The Screaming Stops
3. When The Devil and Father Amorth
2. The Cloverfield Paradox
1. The Open House

Top 5 of 2017

That time of year again! So, there were many titles I'd have like to have seen (happens every year, of course) and am guessing may have even made the list (Get Out perhaps? Girl with All the Gifts? Raw?). But alas, my top and bottom 5 are based on this year’s viewing habits.

5. Hacksaw Ridge
When people in power make mistakes, it's rare we let them forget about it in this modern age, let alone forgive them for it. I feel it's safe to say after the better part of a decade Mel Gibson made a deserved comeback with this film. Like him or not, the film itself is a very strong entertaining (if you can call war just that) tale based on the humbling truth of a soldier who didn't give up on his beliefs. Like a lot of war titles, it displays the best (and worst) in people. If you don't feel like doing 'the right thing' after its viewing, you have missed the point...

4. Baby Driver
We were promised speed, colour, action and lightning fast dialogue and for a first time experience it didn't fail to deliver. Subsequent viewings have yet to occur so I'm interested to see what life the film manages to take on past this year (if viewed more times, I may have placed this at no3). But for now, a vibrant original film with loving references to 70's car action has been a welcome distraction to the familiar OTT car-nage of the FATF series amongst other tentpole action films with too much bang for its buck. Enough talk has been made on its kinship with its soundtrack.

3. Logan
So, we got the Wolverine western we'd been asking for (apparently). A pretty fitting and respectable end to a character/actor many my age have grown up with. The noir edition is a nice touch for those interested. In time I feel my generation may look on this first 'wave' of superhero films the way older generations debate the best Bond era; typically championing the ones we grow up with. There may be better or 'more-like-the-comic' versions of Logan in the coming years but Jackman's portrayal will no doubt set a benchmark for the conflicted elements of a worn-out anti-hero that we, and certainly I, hold as one of my favourite of all fictional greats.

2. IT
The hype machine on this was selling the best thing in a long time in horror circles. Up front I cannot claim to be anything of a King fan or that of previous telling’s of the IT story so I entered this with no preconceived notions or expectation. I was all-round entertained, suitably chilled (never quite scared) and importantly left eager with the promise of a concluding part to this film. A tale more about youth, growing up and its fears and friendship then simply some bulbous headed clown killings. Great casting makes this film work.

1. War for the Planet of the Apes
This film was THE experience for me this year. The hope to enter that dark room and be taken on a journey for 2 hours that leaves you with something is always what I want from a cinema experience. This film managed that beautifully. Already a great admirer of 'Dawn' (less of 'Rise') the conclusion to this Cesar-arc was handled greatly by Matt Reeves who really has proven himself again and again with big budget film. A war film that brings to mind many a great title from Bridge on the River Kwai and The Great Escape to more harrowing moments that I can't help comparing to Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List. Good company to be amongst no doubt...
I expect Dawn and War will be played often in my home over the coming years.

Honourable mentions go to Blade Runner 2049 and Life, two sci-fi's just shy of my top list. Also check out the documentaries called One of Us, which can be found on Netflix about the Hasidic Jewish community; and Five Came Back (also Netflix) about the pioneering directors of Hollywood who served during WWII.
The ultimate mention goes to Stranger Things season 2. If I wasn't so strict about my list being films, I'd have this as the no1 thing I watched this year. I feel I could write forever about the strengths of this show but for now all I say is this; in a time where spectacle is measured as being "epic!" and "awesome!", few things are ever "wholly satisfying", and Stranger Things is satisfying as f**k!

My bottom 5 in no real order or importance because nothing here is overly harmful. In fact, this year’s post really doesn't warrant a bottom list as I didn't see anything that was painful enough to call rubbish

5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge
4. The Babysitter
3. Death Note (Netflix)
2. Beauty and the Beast
1. Ghost in the Shell

The 99

So today the big reveal is I am now able to post work from my time on the TV series The 99 for Endemol UK.

The work was completed between 2010-2012 so a little while ago and early in my career.
Check this link here to see the work.

No Im not dead...

but I have been away from the beloved concept art world for too long. Sad times. I need to change this predicament and hopefully this is a starting point. Today is just a link post to old work that has been given the OK to be shown. In August the new series of Chuggington aired on CBBC and I was fortunate to work on it. On my website I have posted a small handful of designs that have aired.

It was the first job that required me to use 3D in my workflow so I had to learn SketchUp pretty quickly. The benefit of this on my other work was impressive and now its pretty cool to have blocked out and sometimes even basic renders to work from. Anyway enough chat.

My Chug work is here

Tomorrow I have an even bigger run of old work that can finally see the light of day! News to follow...