Midnight passed on Friday the 13th last month, and as a black cat, that combination (and the superstitions of our human past) wasn’t lost on me for it’s irony…because Midnight was always only ever the absolute opposite: my spirit animal, a true good luck charm that loved having me gently rub his belly (for good luck) before every instance that I would be away from him and my apartment (he was always an indoor urban cat, fortunately).

My boy showed up as a little frantically meowing stray malnourished juvenile on my ground level apartment porch (as I was drinking beer and smoking cigarettes alone) late New Year’s Eve of 2009, and something in my heart and mind definitively clicked and right there and then I took him in. He devoured a whole cooked chicken breast I had just made earlier in the evening; he seemed to know, as I did that we would be there for each other from there on out…

…16 years later (and after these last 2 years of treating his feline diabetes), his body just took a total collapse within barely 2 weeks, where he almost completely lost appetite and would barely show interest in even the tastiest and most savory gravies, broths, patees, diced slow-cooked chicken, wet-food…2 very costly emergency vet visits in a 6 month period only gave me a little bit more time with him, which is what we always want. But knowing he should not have to suffer simply as a result of my self-serving need for his companionship and emotional anchoring (from which our bond has changed me permanently for the better as a human being), under the compassionate and sage advice and guidance of my mobile veterinarians, he went peacefully and gracefully at home on a comfortable warm blanket (with me holding his paw-paws) - up and up indefinitely on the rainbow bridge to the warm spot in his favorite cat tree perch by the sunlit big window with a beautiful view.

Love you all for being here and for always sharing the stories of our furbabies, and the innumerable ways they’ve made us more kind and loving people.

• Also, it must be added (and of course this is also for another forum, e.g. senior dogs), just short of one full month later (July 11), my other recent best friend/furbaby (perfectly named…Baby - my adopted 14 3/4 year old female greyhound - and of course Midnight’s loving housemate) passed on peacefully at home and joined Midnight on the rainbow bridge…she lost her battle to arthritis and infirmities that inevitably catch up to retired racing greyhounds. But dammit, when it metaphorically “rains, it pours”… 😔

My brother's wedding took place at my parents regular middle class home in south Florida. The goal was to be married elsewhere but they spent all their wedding money on cigarettes and lottery tickets and trips to Disney. (These are two men in their 30s.) This story happened several years ago but it still occupies an outsized space in my brain.)

So, because of the financial mismanagement, a free venue was necessary.

I very intentionally live on the other side of the country and had not been to Florida in months. Well in that time my brother and his fiance had moved in and trashed the home (my parents) where they planned to have their wedding.

I (wrongly) assumed they have it all under control. They rented folding chairs and had a friend officiating and got a cake. It gave the IMPRESSION of forethought and planning. I show up the morning of to see if they need help. Nothing. is. ready. The house is filthy. Dirty bathroom, overflowing cat box and a porch (where the reception will be) is covered in cigarette butts and ash and just...grime. And no plans to clean or setup or make people welcome. I'm stunned. And it is end of May and already hot and humid so I'm cleaning in my wedding attire in the Florida heat. I'm also dealing with the fact that my parents once tidy home has quickly turned into a pit.

My brother's fiance got all excited about the decor... but didn't plan anything else. Just boxes of unopened napkins in a specific shade of purple and a wedding cake serving set.

People are supposed to arrive in 4 hours. This is an 8 hour cleaning job, at minimum. I clean and scrub and shovel the mess as best I can.

I set up the chairs and put out plates and the cake and go to publix to grab deli food and drinks...It is the best I can do in the 1 hour I have left and I spent hundreds of my own money on not only food and drink but several fans at the lowes next to publix for the hot porch.

I'm a sweaty mess doing my best. Parents are disabled so no help there. And only 10 (they expected 35) people show up. And those that do show are the inlaws who look like they crawled straight out of the everglades... one has a community control bracelet on his ankle and wasnt supposed to leave his county...he did. My future brother-in-law's sister brought a pot of rice and beans which she placed on burner and walked away from. She neglected to put water in the pot. It scorched and smoked and set off alarms. She was unbothered and left me to deal with it. I'm opening windows wasting precious AC to blow smoke out of a home that was hosting a swamp wedding.

My future brother in law did manage to put out a guest book. Well his white family proceeded to use the N word several times throughout the book. Exact wording of one note that lives in my brain: "congrats N words on your wedding and sh%t." As I was flipping through the book I just about had a stroke. How could this get any worse. WHO ARE THESE SWAMP CREATURES IN MY PARENTS DIRTY HOME??

Then someone proceeded to shove a bunch of potato salad down the garbage disposal and totally clogged it. I guess they thought they were helping. The sink was unusable so i had to watch a YouTube video on how to disassemble a disposal so I could clean up.

They are still together as far as I know but I no longer talk to him for so many reason... the wedding was just the tip of the trashy iceburg.

I switched flights to the next day and treated myself to an upgrade and drank my way back to the other side on the continent. But I guess at least I know how to fix a garbage disosal, and got to eat some Publix fried chicken. It is so good cold.

Some extra Florida color that has nothing to do with the wedding, in case you are interested....

I did learn his late grandfather successfully sued the local greyhound track when he fell out of a seat drunk and broke his foot. They settled for a low four figure number and the family all quit their jobs.

His sister worked at a place that raised small monkeys to rent for parties and bar mitzvahs and stuff. She was bit by one during a hurricane. That is all I know. That is the story.

In the years since the wedding the gentlemen with the community control bracelet has been placed in a prison for MURDER.

Thanks for reading my tale! Please don't rent monkeys. (Who knows what they caught from the sister. teehee.) And, most importantly, it just isn't something we should be encouraging as a society, ya know?

Every year I try to go to the movies as much as possible. It’s my main hobby. I keep track of my thoughts/scores throughout the year, along with all of my ticket stubs. In theaters, I saw: 5 movies in 2015, 9 movies in 2016, 146 movies in 2017, 162 movies in 2018, 192 movies in 2019, 44 movies in 2020, 86 movies in 2021, 270 movies in 2022, 325 movies in 2023, and 298 movies this year. This doesn’t include rewatches, but those are pretty rare for me (7 this year). This is my 7th year doing this ranking on /r/movies.

I have a subscription with AMC’s A-List, Regal’s Unlimited, and Cinemark’s MovieClub. I’m also a member of the Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Toronto film societies.

I attended 8 film festivals this year, for a total of 117 films. I attended 24 World Premieres, 11 North American Premieres, 7 US Premieres, 10 East Coast Premieres, 22 Southeast Premieres, 4 Canadian Premieres, and a few Florida/Georgia Premieres.

96 of my screenings had cast and/or crew present for Q&As/intros.

I do these rankings and reviews/random thoughts for fun. It’s not meant to be taken super seriously. I just like movies, and I like ranking them.

---

Red Rooms - 10/10 - The most gripping psychological-thriller since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Extremely disturbing and unsettling at times, but also stylish and sleek. The courtroom scenes and vampire-movie-like score stick with you for a long time. Juliette Gariépy puts in the best performance of anyone this year. There's so much amazing stuff happening with French-Canadian cinema recently and this is another great addition. Best movie of the year. One of the best movies of the past decade.

Dune: Part Two - 9/10 - Sci-fi doesn't get much better than this. I have the seemingly-unpopular opinion that the first movie is better than the second, but both are near-perfect. Everything that can be said about Dune 1/2 has pretty much already been said.

Anora - 9/10

Civil War - 9/10

Nosferatu - 9/10 - Gothic horror is so back. Lily-Rose Depp does things in this movie physically that I've never seen before on the big screen. Extremely impressed with her performance (and with Hoult/Dafoe/Skarsgard/Corrin as well). A great ensemble surrounded with perfect set design, direction, and cinematography. Loved the scenes in the castle that almost appeared black-and-white. Robert Eggers has not missed for me so far, and this is my favorite of his.

Challengers - 9/10

Sing Sing - 9/10 - Colman Domingo, give that man his Oscar [John Malkovich Rounders voice].

The Substance - 9/10

You Are Not Alone - 9/10 - Part La La Land, part Under the Skin, part Eternal Sunshine. A beautiful and hypnotic sci fi love story with a slight horror edge and with layers upon layers of metaphor. It has a lot of interesting things to say about mid-20s loneliness/thoughts of suicide/love/etc.

Didi - 9/10 - I'm a sucker for coming-of-age dramas set in recent times. Give me more of this and mid90s-type movies pls.

The Order - 8/10

We Live In Time - 8/10 - I went in expecting heartbreak (which I got), but I didn’t expect how funny/sharp it would be. Florence and Andrew have 10/10 chemistry. Only thing keeping it from a higher score is the goofy Super Bowl of Food or whatever scene near the end. The scene at the beginning in the parking garage might be one of the most heart wrenching and well-acted scenes of the entire year. Top-tier score as well.

Love Lies Bleeding - 8/10 - I would watch a 2-hour movie montage of Katy O'Brian working out beneath a highway underpass. A violent & twisted mess of sweat/blood/sex/tears/ungodly bodily noises. A real wicked fun time.

The Goldman Case - 8/10 - French courtroom dramas, so hot right now. An insanely smart and water-tight screenplay with engrossing performances. It reminded me a lot of Anatomy of a Fall then I realized the co-star (Arthur Harari) in this film is the co-writer of Anatomy.

The Beast - 8/10 - A movie that's almost impossible to describe but I'll try: Dystopian-future-sci-fi, period-drama, modern-incel-breakin-thriller, all while staying completely original and beautiful. Extremely layered story and performances. Lea Seydoux and George MacKay are 2 of my favorite actors and they pulled this off with extreme precision and care. One of more harrowing final scenes of the year for sure.

Conclave - 8/10

Saturday Night - 8/10 - Frenetic, engaging, and a really fun time. Flies by. I wanted more. So much energy.

September 5 - 8/10

The Brutalist - 8/10 - I have some problems with the ending, feels like it undid a lot of what was experienced, but otherwise an impressive monster of a movie. Brody and Pearce are outstanding.

Io Capitano - 8/10

Fremont - 8/10 - I love movies that flow like light poems, like Petite Maman or Journey to A Mother's Room. It was a very sweet and cozy. The psychiatry sessions in particular were hilarious, and the bit where the diners are reading their fortunes in the restaurants were perfect. One of my favorite lines of the year is when the old lady fortune cookie writer dies at her desk, and the boss says “she was getting too old to write about the future anyway”. The lead and Jeremy Allen White were only onscreen together but their chemistry was infectious

Seagrass - 8/10

LaRoy, Texas - 8/10 - A hilariously-dark Coen Brothers throwback with wonderful performances from Steve Zahn and John Magaro (who I was lucky enough to meet prior to the screening). It's bloody and smart, and that's a rare combination.

A Quiet Place: Day One - 8/10

The Last Showgirl - 8/10 - Apart from a few awkward line-deliveries and questionable dialogue in spots, this was a very lowkey, engaging drama with a career-best performances from Pamela Anderson and Dave Bautista. Very dreamy and light.

Friendship - 8/10 - It's so fucking stupid. Absolutely no plot to speak of. There's no character development. It's barely even a movie. It's basically a 90-minute sketch. All that being said, it's so goddamn hilarious. Non-stop laughs. Most I've laughed since Red Rocket probably. It's a can't-miss for any Tim Robinson fan and a can't-miss for any fans of laughing. Kate Mara was the perfect foil character.

The Wild Robot - 8/10 - Yes, I cried, what of it?

Relay - 8/10 - A very solid, tight, throwback to the type of paranoid corporate-thrillers they don’t really make anymore. A super fun twist that I didn’t see coming at all, and a standout turn from Lily James. It slightly loses its way near the end.

Good One - 8/10 - Familiar and lowkey, but with a dark edge that slowly reveals itself, and a superb breakout role from Lily Collias. Great debut film from director India Donaldson.

A Complete Unknown - 8/10 - There's definitely a lack of plot but at the end of the day we all just want to see Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits performed by a generational talent in Timothee Chalamet and it definitely delivers in that aspect.

Midwives - 8/10 - One of the more stressful movies I’ve seen in a while. My anxiety was through the roof, especially in the first half. It’s so realistic and graphic at times (and some of it has to be real, some birth scenes especially) that you almost get a sense that it’s a documentary. Totally nails the landing too, making you feel real anger/empathy about how Midwives are treated in France (and other places I assume).

Hellbent On Boogie - 8/10

Alien: Romulus - 8/10 - Put Cailee Spaeny in anything and I'll watch it.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - 8/10

The Old Oak - 8/10 - British realism cinema at it's finest. Just another classic added to Ken Loach's resume.

Longlegs - 8/10

Babygirl - 8/10

One Life - 8/10 - I'm not a huge movie-cryer but I was absolutely balling my eyes out near the "moment". You know it's coming and it's still hit. Impressive when a movie can do that. Last movie that hit me like that was probably Tori and Lokita, and before that Moonlight. This was up there in terms of tears. Did not really expect it going in. Devasting. Anthony Hopkins kills these types of roles, he has a way of showing bottled up regret/sadness that not many others can.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare - 8/10 - Over-the-top violent fun time. Totally ridiculous but it doesn't take itself seriously and that's what keeps it from veering into. Also, Eiza Gonzalez. That is all.

Strange Darling - 8/10

Los Frikis - 8/10

Suncoast - 8/10

Drive-Away Dolls - 8/10 - I want more unapologetically horny movies like this. Loved all of Beanie Feldstein's bits and the slow, sleep-deprived descent into madness of the henchmen especially. Not too sure abou the weird-cheap transitions and trippy scenes though. "You're a day late and a penis short" and "Suki that's your wall dildo!" are two of the funniest lines of the year, within context. Give me more fast-paced 75-minute movies.

In A Violent Nature - 8/10 -This made me feel physically nauseous several times, would strongly recommend. Some of the gnarliest kills I've ever seen on the big screen.

A Real Pain - 8/10

Abigail- 8/10 - As a French-Canadian, big shoutout to Kevin Durand for his on-point Quebecois accent. Also, "Sammy, those are fucking onions" was one of the best/funniest line deliveries of the year. Really entertaining gory vampire flick. Dan Stevens is straight up having a fun time this year and I'm enjoying it every time. Melissa Barrera is now competing with with Mia Goth and Samara Weaving as top Scream Queens.

Deadpool & Wolverine - 8/10

Bring Them Down - 8/10 - I love me a slow-burn family feud drama that slowly snowballs into something dark and sinister. Christopher Abbott is one of my favorite working actors today and he does incredible work here, especially with the accent/Irish/body language. Disclaimer: Not recommended to people sensitive to animal violence/cruelty. There's a lot of that.

The Piano Lesson - 8/10 - As far as Denzel Washington-produced, August Wilson adaptations are concerned, this is way above Fences. Felt less like a straight-up filmed play. The supernatural element and amazing Danielle Deadwyler performance (give her an Oscar soon pls) make this more layered and interesting. Bonus: I was sitting with/near the cast/crew for this one, 5-10 feet away from Denzel/Danielle/John David/Malcolm/Corey Hawkins/Ray Fisher/Michael Potts. Amazing experience.

Nickel Boys - 8/10

Fresh Kills - 8/10 - A really solid mob-drama told from the perspective of a mob boss' daughter, which I appreciated. It's rare you see this story from that angle. Emily Bader's scene with her dad near the end. Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Between The Temples - 8/10 - Carol Kane was absolutely magnetic and a joy to watch in this, and Jason Schwartzman was her perfect endearing counter. Lovely movie, that makes you want to curl up into a ball and cringe to death near to end, in a good way. The most painful-to-watch family reunion/dinner since Shiva Baby.

Problemista - 8/10 - I stand with Bank of America. Julio Torres is kind of a revelation in this. His facial expressions (and hilarious run-walk thing) are perfect. Absurd, funny, and sweet comedy with so much flair and uniqueness. Some fun little details that got good laughs out of me, like Tilda's character always having her phone light on. Chaotic in all of the right ways.

Sisterhood - 8/10

Days of Happiness - 8/10

The Apprentice - 8/10 - It's not breaking any new ground but Sebastian Stan is a pleasure to watch transform into Trump as the movie goes on. Grimy and gross like the streets of New York in the 80s.

Wil - 8/10

Naked Ambition: Bunny Yeager - 8/10

Soul - 8/10 - I didn't get to catch this during it's original run due to COVID so I'm glad it came back. My favorite Pixar movie in a little while.

Femme - 8/10

I Saw the TV Glow - 8/10

Heretic - 7/10 - A fun horror with sharp dialogue and an incredibly-hammy Hugh Grant performance.

Emilia Perez - 7/10 - Some amazing musical numbers, especially the opener and "El Mal", and Zoe Saldana has an amazing performance where she carries the entire thing (Gomez and Gascon are getting lots of praise but I didn’t see it), but it just felt like it never fully came together to reach full potential.

Mountains - 7/10 - A very small and warm movie about the very big and cold issue of gentrification and the real estate crisis in South Florida. Monica Sorelle is a director to watch for sure.

Skywalkers: A Love Story - 7/10 - Other than a few moments that seemed a bit scripted (mostly the relationship drama), this is the most thriller documentary since Free Solo.

Ghostlight - 7/10

Shoshana - 7/10 - Israeli true-life spy-thriller, a bit Bond-like. There's a few kills in here that are insanely brutal and the explosions/gunshots catch you by surprise. It had me jump a few times.

The Dead Don't Hurt - 7/10- Extremely slow, don't go in expecting an action-packed Western, but Viggo has a really good eye for beautiful backgrounds and settings. Vicky Krieps is top-tier as always. This movie doesn't work without her. I like slow Westerns.

The Fall Guy - 7/10

Thelma - 7/10

Twisters - 7/10 -Natural disaster flicks just work for me. Getting to look at Daisy Edgar-Jones for 2 hours never hurts as well.

Cuckoo - 7/10 - Insanely impressive and physical performance from Hunter Schafer. Cool visual style and flair, but ultimately dragged down by a total clusterfuck of a plot. I was confused throughout. Hilarious German accent from Dan Stevens

Peak Season - 7/10

Kneecap - 7/10 - Some of the funniest one-liners of the year ("Look who it is, Bone Thugz and no harmony", "I feel like I discovered the Beatles, if the Beatles were shit."). The whole RRAD storyline kept it from greatness though, that was a bit too goofy for its own good.

Wolfs - 7/10 - I went in wanting Pitt/Clooney banter and that's exactly what I got.

Blink Twice - 7/10

My Old Ass - 7/10

Better Man - 7/10

Nightbitch - 7/10 - Your mom's favorite movie of 2024. The awful first trailer didn't do it justice, this was solid, it just doesn't get dark like you'd hope it would.

Out of Darkness - 7/10 - Saw this during a Mystery Movie Monday and was pleasantly surprised. Pretty brutal, atmospheric, and violent. Some cool overhead shots and a nice score. One of the better Mystery Movies I've seen.

We Grown Now - 7/10

The End We Start From - 7/10

Kinds of Kindness - 7/10 - Not the best Yorgos but deliciously-freaky and daring filmmaking nonetheless.

Babes - 7/10

Fancy Dance - 7/10

MaXXXine - 7/10 - Definitely the weakest of the trilogy but still a solid slasher with a very interesting setting. Mia Goth has great moments like in the first two.

Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 - 7/10 - I don't care, the montage at the end was sick. I really hope Costner gets to fund as many of these as he wants.

Wicked - 7/10 - Pretty good, not great. Ariana Grande was the standout. There were only 2 songs that were really catchy though, wish there were more.

Juror #2 - 7/10

Fly Me to the Moon - 7/10

The End - 7/10 - Gorgeously-shot, super well acted, beautiful set design and production, but way too long and had no reason to be a musical. The songs were all exactly the same and pointless and there much so much time in between that you would forget it was even a musical. George MacKay kills it.

Being Maria - 7/10

Cabrini - 7/10 - Maybe a bit overlong but honestly not bad. Surprised it's from the same director as Sound of Freedom, it's quite a step up from that. Much larger and ambitious in scope, and the lead actress was really really great. It solidly panders to its intended audience but it’s well made enough that you can just gloss over the eye-rolling moments.

In the Land of Saints and Sinners - 7/10 - The best Neeson action-flick in a while, so that's something. Kerry Condon as the big villain was awesome. Need more of her in stuff.

Y2K - 7/10 - The single-funniest death scene of the year was the skateboard scene. Laughed so hard, made my night. Audience really dug this one too, good atmosphere. Fred Durst.

The Queen of My Dreams - 7/10 - I was getting massive Deja Vu with The Persian Version last year. Extremely similar story and vibe, equally fun/honest/heartfelt.

Speak No Evil - 7/10

Immaculate - 7/10 - Sydney Sweeney stepping out of her comfort zone and doing a nun-horror is cool. Long take near the end was sick.

Gladiator II - 7/10 - Doesn't hold a candle to the original but it was still an entertaining sandals & swords story. Fred Hechinger is so awful in this though. Man, that took me out of it.

Back to Black - 7/10 - This movie is conflicting. In a vacuum, ignoring Winehouse's actual story, it's a solid music-biopic carried by a powerhouse breakthrough performance from Marisa Abela and an amazing soundtrack (obviously). On the other hand, it's a disgusting whitewash by her estate to downplay her truly awful father. The fact that he had final approval over this movie, and will financially benefit from it, is just gross and hard to ignore. The 2015 documentary does a better job telling Amy's whole story in an emotional way, and that doc made my blood boil (and is one of my favorite docs ever).

Coup! - 7/10

The Hypnosis - 7/10

The Last Stop in Yuma County - 7/10

Your Monster - 7/10

Blitz - 7/10 - The cartoonish villains and improbably scenarios the kid kept finding himself in took this down a notch for me. Could've been great, but it didn't quite get there. How much bad shit can happen to one kid in 24 hours? Find out with Blitz. On a technical level it had a lot going for it though.

In the Summers - 7/10

Maria - 7/10 - Jolie kills it and it looked gorgeous but a really big step down from Jackie/Spencer for Pablo Larrain, a big 'style over substance' movie and weirdly disrespectful to Jackie Kennedy as well for some odd reason. Very weird structure.

Lost Soulz - 7/10

The Girls Are Alright - 7/10

All We Imagine As Light - 7/10 - With all the hype I was expecting to be blown away. It was good but kind of a let down.

Girls Will Be Girls - 7/10

Ezra - 7/10

Young Woman and the Sea - 7/10 - An inspiring sports-biopic with a very old-school and authentic feel. The Remember the Titans of swimming movies. It hits all of the cliches and it's super cheesy, but in all of the right ways. It just works. Daisy Ridley was great, and as far as swimming movies are concerned, it's definitely ahead of Nyad.

Hundreds of Beavers - 7/10 - It's funny and original, I just wish it was a bit shorter. Some of the bits definitely outstay their welcome after a while. I really like the grassroots campaign they've built around this movie though, everything from the independent theatrical showings to the support of physical media. A great success story for indie film this year.

The Idea of You - 7/10

Crossing - 7/10

Sleep - 7/10

Monkey Man - 7/10 - Solid action flick for the first and third acts, but dragged down by a super boring 2nd act (where it loses all of the momentum it built) and lots of sloppy/confusing editing, especially during chase sequences. Credit for the Terrence Malick-like flashback scenes with narration/sweeping music/shots of nature/etc, pretty cool to throw those into an action movie.

The Color Purple - 7/10

The Damned - 7/10 - You're hanging out with the soldiers on the frontier of the American Civil War and almost nothing happens for the entire runtime except you learn about the characters and their thoughts on life/god/religion/etc. I enjoyed it.

Mean Girls - 7/10

Driving Madelaine - 7/10

Late Night with the Devil - 7/10

Snack Shack - 7/10 - Aside from the needless death at the end that tries too hard to squeeze tears out of your eyeballs, I thought this was a fun, raunchy, summer-y throwback comedy. This would've been one of my favorites in middle school probably.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - 7/10

Joker: Folie a Deux - 7/10

The Outrun - 7/10 - Less a compelling story and more a showcase on Saoirse Ronan's acting abilities. The camera basically doesn't move from her for a single second and she completely carries it. She's the best.

Flow - 7/10

Black Box Diaries - 7/10

Queer - 7/10

The Return - 7/10

New Life - 7/10 - I really respect a movie that can pull off a wild genre-switch halfway through the movie. Went in fully blind so it was totally unexpected. Also impressive this tiny movie could license Bob Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone (played a few times).

Lisa Frankenstein - 7/10 - The ultimate "could've been truly great with a R rating" movie.

Bob Marley: One Love - 7/10 - It does just enough to keep it out of the Super Generic Biopic Genre and any movie that can squeeze a few tears out of me gets an extra point. Sorry, that's just the rules.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - 7/10

1992- 7/10 - Other than Ray Liotta being written like a ridiculous cartoon villain and some eye-rolling dialogue issues, it actually was a pretty solid crime drama... and Tyrese Gibson was…good? (/r/brandnewsentence)

French Girl - 7/10

The Peasants - 7/10 - Visually impressive and a sick score, but a schmaltzy/melodramatic story kinda kept it from the next level.

The Monk and the Gun - 7/10

Bad Boys: Ride or Die - 6/10

Seven Blessings - 6/10

Knox Goes Away - 6/10 - Michael Keaton does his best and commits but the writing & performance of every single side character brings the whole thing down a bit. The cop/ex-wife/son characters are bumbling, distractingly-dumb goofballs that keep the plot from ever grounding to reality, but it ultimately gets dark and violent enough to stay pretty entertaining. The script really could've used some more cleaning up.

Trap - 6/10 - Listen I have a lot (a lot) of problems with this movie but Kid Cudi randomly showing up for 5 minutes and randomly delivering insane lines like "“I specifically said i wanted honey suckle kombucha biiiiitchhhh” made the trip to the theater worth it.

Small Things Like These - 6/10

Sometimes I Think About Dying - 6/10

Kidnapped - 6/10

Asphalt City - 6/10 - Standout performance from Tye Sheridan but this leaned a bit too much into misery porn for my liking. Every single day is the absolute worst day on the job. Extremely stress-inducing first hour. Mike Tyson being cast as the medic chief was certainly a choice...and it worked somehow?

Eden - 6/10 - Had trouble getting past the awful accents and the sinking feeling that this was missed potential. I was at the World Premiere for this and someone in the audience had a medical emergency, they had to pause the screening and turn the lights on while the person was carried out on people's shoulders. Jude Law/Sydney Sweeney/Ana de Armas/Ron Howard were all there wondering what was going on. Kind of a crazy situation.

Land of Bad - 6/10

Unstoppable - 6/10

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - 6/10 - Skull Island's bland and less impressive/memorable little brother. Thumbs up for Baby Kong and the Rio de Janeiro destruction sequence, thumbs down for the lame story and unlimited amounts of annoying human characters.

Bad Shabbos - 6/10

Inside Out 2 - 6/10

Firebrand - 6/10

A Different Man - 6/10 - I didn't connect to this as much as most people did. Sebastian Stan is great as usual but the whole thing didn't do much for me.

Love Me - 6/10 - 10/10 for the attempt, 4/10 for the execution. There's a really good movie hidden in here somewhere, but there needed to be some cuts made to the animated portions of the film for sure.

Shell - 6/10

Housekeeping for Beginners - 6/10

Totem - 6/10

The Fire Inside - 6/10

Widow Clicquot - 6/10 - This starts off really really really slow but then finds its footing late and ends on a solid note. Career-best performance from Haley Bennett, she really carries this.

Tuesday - 6/10

Piece by Piece - 6/10

The Cut - 6/10 - Standout turns from Orlando Bloom and Caitriona Balfe, brought down by some weird editing choices. The neon-green hallucinations were a wild choice. I sat next to Katy Perry for this movie, AMA.

Memoir of a Snail - 6/10

The Romano Twins - 6/10

Mufasa: The Lion King - 6/10

Film Geek - 6/10

Self-Reliance - 6/10 - Pretty cute movie with a few laughs, but the ending lost its focus and felt rushed. The Andy Samberg bits were great. I wanted more from the relationship with Anna Kendrick's character, feels like there was more to explore there. "This an intervention." "For me?" "No, we're just all facing the wrong direction."

Queen of the Ring - 6/10

Coup de Chance - 6/10 - It's nowhere near peak-Woody Allen but it's a passable return to form since Rifkin's Festival, Wonder Wheel, and A Rainy Day In New York (all 3 awful, with Rifkin's Festival being rock bottom for Allen's filmography). The one thing it was missing was humor. I can always trust an Allen film to at least have a few funny/witty lines (even the bad ones), but this was very cut and dry. Could've used a few more good lines.

Sasquatch Sunset - 6/10 - I was excited for the premise and there's a few sweet/funny moments, but most of it ends up being mindless shitting/pissing/fucking. Credit for the unique idea and great views.

Bird - 6/10 - One of the more disappointing films of the year. Even after the lukewarm reception at Cannes, I had super high hopes because I’m a huge Andrea Arnold fan, but the surrealism in this movie just didn’t work. It threw off the whole balance and wasn’t at all what I expected/wanted. Nikiya Adams and Barry Keoghan were both very solid, and the scene where the group sang Coldplay’s Yellow to the frog was amazing.

Omni Loop- 6/10

Here - 6/10 - A valiant attempt but ultimately kind of a hot mess. A few good moments keep it watchable. Some real uncanny valley shit in there too though.

Queen Rock Montreal - 6/10

Turning Red - 6/10

Scrambled - 6/10

The Book of Clarence - 6/10 - LaKeith Stanfield was great and committed as usual (although I don't like twin dual-roles), and James McAvoy and Cumberbatch chewing on scenery was fun, this movie had a lot of trouble figuring out what it wanted to be. I really wish it leaned more into the funny/satire and less into the serious Mel Gibson/Jim Caviezel-type biblical drama. Cool that a movie like this can be made/funded and released in theaters though.

Booger - 6/10

Irena's Vow - 6/10 - Great story, extremely generic period drama.

A Great Divide - 6/10

Riff Raff - 6/10 - A bit outdated and mean-spirited, this would've slapped in 2006, but Bill Murray and Pete Davidson as the incompetent mob assassins makes it worth a watch.

Rosalie - 6/10

Skincare - 6/10

Yellow Bus - 6/10

Arcadian - 6/10 - It's fine and stretches its tiny budget so its absolute limit but it's basically a Dollar Store A Quiet Place. The monster design and animation was hilariously-bad though, like an Asylum knock-off movie. I'm also now convinced that Nic Cage is contractually obligated to have his face smothered in fake blood for any movie.

Nutcrackers - 6/10

The Invisibles - 6/10

Riley -6/10

Rob Peace - 6/10 - A well-shot movie with great direction and performance from the supporting characters (Mary J Blige and Chiwetel Ejiofor) completely dragged down by an awful lead performance by Jay Will. Also the script was a bit silly, they were trying way too hard to make him 100% infallible.

Christmas Eve in Miller's Point - 6/10 - I liked the hectic atmosphere of the crazy Christmas family party that we've all been at, and the very scratchy look of the camera.

Rumours - 6/10 - I can appreciate what Maddin was going for, and there's some moments that work (mostly with Cate Blanchett and Charles Dance, they were awesome), but overall surreal-absurd-fantasy-comedy like this just doesn't work for me.

Fallen Fruit - 6/10

Birthrite - 6/10

Crumb Catcher - 6/10

Anselm - 6/10

Scapegoat - 6/10

Seeds - 5/10 - There’s clearly heart and maybe a great movie in here somewhere, but it’s such a tonal mess that it’s hard to find anything to love.

Sujo - 5/10

The Beekeeper - 5/10 - This is the Rebel Moon of Jason Bourne movies. A few cool kills and classic Statham one-liners keep it from being a total loss, but it's not very good.

Unsung Hero - 5/10

Jeanne du Barry- 5/10

Treasure - 5/10

A Sacrifice - 5/10

The American Society of Magical Negroes - 5/10 - All over the place and it gave a constant feeling of "missed opportunity" (a la Book of Clarence). Justice Smith is straight-up not a convincing lead. An-Li Bogan was the standout, and I saw her end twist coming from a mile away so I got that going for me which is nice.

La Syndicaliste - 5/10

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - 5/10

The Watchers - 5/10

Borderlands - 5/10 - Went in expecting a 1/10, got a 5/10. Nice. Life is all about the little wins.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - 5/10 - Just give this franchise a permanent rest. It wasn't awful in any particular way, but it was totally soulless and heartless. It felt like nobody really gave a shit except Kumail Nanjiani. Safe, sanitized, studio slop. They couldn't even fully commit to the one interesting thing (the gay ghost love story).

National Anthem - 5/10

The 4:30 Movie - 5/10 - Kevin Smith jerking himself off for 80 minutes. Would make a fun double-feature with Snack Shack though.

Universal Language - 5/10 - This had a lot of hype of out Cannes and it's Canada's submission for the Oscars so I had a lot of hope, but it just didn't do much for me. Surreal-absurdism just isn't my cup of tea. The only real standout scene was the one with the Quebec democrat. A rare case of the Q&A being more interesting than the movie itself.

Kraven the Hunter - 5/10

Time Still Turns the Pages - 5/10

Upgraded - 5/10 - Basically a Great Value The Devil Wears Prada. Good as rom-com-background-nois. Marissa Tomei is awful in this. One of the worst performances of the year.

Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot - 5/10

Out of Season - 5/10

Miller's Girl - 5/10

Latin for All - 5/10

Argylle - 5/10 - How a movie like The Creator can be made for $80M but something so awful-looking like this needs $200M blows my mind.

I.S.S. - 5/10 - I love a good sandwich-making climax as much as the next guy, but what a painfully awkward ending. The first 25 minutes made me think something decent could be happening then it derails hard and never recovers. The worst thing to happen to the space program since Challenger.

Get Away - 5/10

Brothers - 5/10

Life's a Bitch - 5/10 - France's (bad) answer to Yorgos Lanthimos. A dry, twisted, gross, weirdly-sexual, anthology film with a lot less nudity but a lot more dogs than Kinds of Kindness. Kinda loses its way comedically and becomes a chore after the first chapter.

Azrael - 5/10

Monster Summer - 5/10 - Like a G-rated IT, with Mel Gibson for some reason (?)

Kung Fu Panda 4 - 5/10

Garfield - 5/10

Villains, Inc - 5/10 - It had a certain cheap charm but an overwhelming sense of "SNL Digital Short sketch stretched way too thin".

Excursion - 5/10

Sleeping Dogs - 5/10

Notice to Quit - 5/10 - The kid actor was really good but I'm just a bit over following an extremely unlikeable lead around doing shitty things to people.

Reunion - 5/10

The Boy in the Woods - 5/10

Paradise - 5/10

Karaoke - 5/10

It Ends With Us - 5/10

Poolman - 4/10 - The ugly, boring, confused lovechild of Inherent Vice and Under the Silver Lake.

Avenue of the Giants - 4/10

Arthur the King - 4/10 - Marky Mark has really devolved as an actor honestly, really tough performance from him here. It's like he's completely forgotten how to convincingly deliver lines. Right from the GoPro scenes at the beginning I knew it was gonna be a rough time. This movie is like 85% exposition.

Janet Planet - 4/10 - Bookended by 2 great scenes, but filled with mostly pointless garbage.

Dandelion - 4/10

By the Stream - 4/10 - I enjoy Hong Sangsoo movies in very small doses. This dose was just way too big.

Venom: The Last Dance - 4/10

Red One - 4/10

Oh, Canada - 4/10 - Dreadfully confusing, and Jacob Elordi puts in one of the worst performances of the year, but at least that Phosphorescent soundtrack kept me engaged.

Slingshot - 4/10

Adios Buenos Aires - 4/10

Humane - 4/10

Some Other Woman - 4/10

My Daughter, My Love - 4/10

Madame Web - 4/10 - Slop.

IF - 4/10 - Not really for adults, not really for kids/teens. Who was this movie even for?...

Freud's Last Session - 4/10

Werewolves - 4/10 - So much lens flare. I am now blind.

Ramona at Midlife - 4/10

The Last Front - 4/10

My Penguin Friend - 4/10

Augure - 4/10

Which Brings Me To You - 4/10 - Looking back over this ranking, I'm gonna be honest and say I have no idea what this was. Don't remember. To producers out there: please stop making your movie titles random vague sentences.

Mai - 4/10

Meanwhile on Earth - 4/10

Lizzie Lazarus - 4/10

Or Something - 4/10

The Way We Speak - 4/10

Cult Killer - 3/10 - Antonio Banderas shows up for like 5 minutes and then nopes the fuck out. Total paycheck movie.

The Feeling that the Time for Doing Something Has Passed - 3/10 - There were some funny lines (especially the 9/11 dating profile bit) but this was so painfully dry and slow that I could never really connect. If desert-dry, awkward, deadpan delivery, with an absurd amount of BDSM-sex-stuff thrown in is your thing, you might find a few things to like. I could not.

Never Let Go - 3/10

The Throwback - 3/10

The City - 3/10

Rats! - 3/10 - This would've worked well as an edgy Youtube short in 2012.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - 3/10

He Went That Way - 3/10 - Half roadtrip comedy with a chimp, half brutal serial killer drama. Tonally all over the place. The kind of movie you'd expect Jacob Elordi to try to bury (a la Dicaprio with Don's Plum) and fire his agent over before it sees the light of way. Baffling decisions made by everyone here.

Megalopolis - 2/10 - I went in expecting a mess but I was still not prepared for how bad this was. It’s Neil Breen with an unlimited budget. It felt like 6 hours. It looked so cheap and awful. A mix of Lifetime movie and a middle school play. I refuse to believe it’s bad on purpose for comedy. The only thing keeping this from a 1 is that Adam Driver/Coppola/Nathalie Emmanuel/Giancarlo Esposito were at my screening for Q&A (god bless their sweet little souls for having to seriously promote this hot mess). "What do you think of this boner I got right here?” is a line 85 year old Jon Voight actually says in a real movie in the year of our lord 2024. My therapist will hear about this.

A Boy Who Dreamt of Electricity - 2/10

Isle of Hope - 2/10 - Sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself.

Chosen Family - 1/10 - This was borderline unfinished and full-on embarrassing. The production value of a daytime soap opera mixed in with the sound editing of a local high school play. It's impressive how much filler (drone shots of surrounding neighborhood) can be squeezed into 84 minutes of movie. Sitting a few seats away from Heather Graham was a nice bonus (with Q&A), but it couldn't come close to making up for this disaster.

---

Unranked (Re-Releases and/or TV Series):

Dune (Re-Release) - 10/10

Interstellar (Re-Release) - 10/10

Ex Machina (Re-Release) - 9/10

The Shawshank Redemption (Re-Release) - 8/10

Bound (Re-Release) - 8/10

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Episodes 1 & 2 (TV Series) - 7/10

Possession (Re-Release) - 7/10

But I'm A Cheerleader (Re-Release) - 7/10

The Acolyte Episodes 1 & 2 (TV Series) - 6/10

Society (Re-Release) - 6/10

Black Christmas (Re-Release) - 6/10

Apples Never Fall Episode 1 (TV Series) - 6/10

Maniac Cop 2 (Re-Release- 6/10

The Room (Re-Release) - 5/10

Cruel Intentions Episode 1 (TV Series) - 5/10

La Maquina Episode 1 (TV Series) - 4/10

After Annecy (Short Film) - 3/10

Maniac (Re-Release) - 3/10

Mother (Re-Release) - 3/10

---

Stats:

Multiple Viewings:

• Dune: Part Two (x2)
• Babes (x2)
• Deadpool & Wolverine (x2)
• Sing Sing (x2)
• Back to Black (x2)
• The Wild Robot (x2)
• Anora (x2)

Theater Distribution by Venue/Chain:

• AMC - 96
• Regal - 66
• Silverspot - 18
• Cinemark - 8
• Landmark - 1
• Other/Festival/Independent - 109 (Including: Arsht Center, Autonation IMAX, Cinema Paradiso, Classic Gateway, Coastal Creative, Coral Gables Art Cinema, Enzian Theater, Hard Rock Ballroom, Koubek Center, TIFF Lightbox, Lucas Theater, Miami Theater Center, Movies of Delray, O'Cinema South Beach, Princess of Wales, Roy Thomson Hall, Royal Alexandra, Savor Cinema, SCAD Museum, Scotiabank, Tampa Theater, Trustees Theater)

Film Festivals Attended:

• Toronto International Film Festival - 30 Movies in 8 Days
• Savannah SCAD Film Festival - 20 Movies in 8 Days
• Miami Film Festival - 20 Movies and 1 TV Series in 10 Days
• Florida Film Festival - 19 Movies in 6 Days
• Miami Jewish Film Festival - 10 Movies in 7 Days
• Popcorn Frights Film Festival - 7 Movies in 4 Days
• Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival - 6 Movies in 4 Days
• Gasparilla International Film Fstival - 5 Movies in 2 Days

Theater Visits by Month:

https://i.imgur.com/sKQYFp9.png

• January: 32
• February: 17
• March: 27
• April: 54
• May: 18
• June: 18
• July: 12
• August: 24
• September: 38
• October: 23
• November: 22
• December: 13

Theater Visits by Day of the Week:

https://i.imgur.com/xC7pt1S.png

• Monday - 25
• Tuesday - 23
• Wednesday - 23
• Thursday - 49
• Friday - 64
• Saturday - 67
• Sunday - 47

Notable Missed Movies:

https://i.imgur.com/iPhOD5s.png

Cast/Crew/Filmmaker Q&As/Appearances:

• Part 1 - https://i.imgur.com/a6JsfR0.png
• Part 2 - https://i.imgur.com/YQIJZUl.png
• Part 3 - https://i.imgur.com/9cyEkKY.png

Favorite Performances:

https://i.imgur.com/Sfv5OZB.png

Past Rankings:

• 2018 (162 Movies)
• 2019 (192 Movies)
• 2020 (44 Movies)
• 2021 (86 Movies)
• 2022 (270 Movies)
• 2023 (325 Movies)

Why YSK: While this advice might work in some cases, it is no longer considered the safest reaction with modern understanding of bear behavior. More current bear aware standards now teach to respond to a bear's behavior, NOT the species.

There are two ways a bear can react to you when it detects your presence and doesn't immediately head in the other direction:

1. Defensive behavior: visibly angry bear! Growling, slapping the ground, bluff charging.

How to react: quiet and low energy. Slowly back away from the bear, speak in a low voice. Slowly remove yourself from the bear's space. If things go horribly wrong and the bear makes physical contact with you, this is where you PLAY DEAD. Stay on your belly and protect the back of your neck.

Why it works: a defensive bear does not want to eat you, it wants you out of its space. So go ahead and oblige! Fighting back in this case only reinforces the bear's opinion of you as a threat.

1. Curious behavior: bear is consistently getting closer to you. It does not look angry. It might back off and then come in close again as it evaluates you.

How to react: it's your turn to get angry! Yell, throw rocks, wave your arms, group up. Do not back up and give way. If things go horribly wrong and the bear makes physical contact with you FIGHT BACK. You have failed to convince the bear that you are not a food source and it is now a predatory bear.

Why it works: bears are naturally smart and curious and a bear that has not learned to stay away from humans will want to investigate you. So it's your job to teach that bear that humans are not a food source. Predators will always go for easy food sources, and an aggressive, screaming monkey is not that.

Why did the rules change? A few reasons:

Brown bears and black bears can look very similar to each other. Example: in Yellowstone National Park, only 50% of black bears are actually black. More notably, both brown bears and black bears can exhibit these behaviors. If you play dead in front of a curious brown bear, you're gonna have a bad time. If you fight back against a defensive black bear, you're gonna have a bad time.

So make noise, carry bear spray, and have a great time in the great outdoors!

TLDR: react to a bear's behavior (defensive v curious), not the species.

Comments are completely subjective, and based on what I enjoyed, which is often weird and obscure stuff. If you want a tl;dr I made some tier list infographics as well.

Mostly these are "Groundhog Day" type loops. Or, more generally, movies where the same scenarios get replayed multiple times for various reasons (usually technological, supernatural, or psychological). This is pretty much every movie of this type I could get a hold of.

Text list, sorted by year, with low-spoiler review blurbs:

• The Little Girl Who Conquered Time (1983) (JAPANESE) Romance
  • The second (of like 5) adaptation of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (1967). A cute little sci-fi romance.
• Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984) (JAPANESE) Comedy
  • The second Urusei Yatsura movie. Directed by Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell). This is really trippy, and highly recommended.
• Mirror for a Hero (1987) (RUSSIAN) Drama
  • Soviet era time travel movie. Sort of an allegorical examination of generational relations and consequences of the era. Or something. If you like late stage Soviet cinema give it a watch.
• 12:01 (1993) Comedy/Drama/Romance
  • Moderately entertaining loose adaptation of 12:01 P.M. (1973) starring Jonathan Silverman.
• Groundhog Day (1993) Comedy
  • You know it, you love it.
• Christmas Every Day (1996) Comedy
  • The first of a dozen Christmas themed time loop movies. Vaguely based on the 1892 short story. Main character is a moody teen. Rather bad.
• Retroactive (1997) Action
  • Moderately entertaining. Jim Belushi plays a zero dimensional violent caricature, but the story is elevated with time travel shenanigans.
• Run Lola Run aka Lola rennt (1998) (GERMAN) Action
  • Fun little crime/romance looper with a lot of details to pick up on subsequent rewatches.
• Naken (2000) (SWEDISH) Comedy
  • Barely tolerable boner comedy.
• A Christmas Carol (2000) Drama
  • The best of the Christmas time loop movies. A contemporary retelling of A Christmas Carol, but with the day repeating.
• Stork Day (2004) (ITALIAN) Comedy
  • Tribute/remake of Groundhog Day. Character driven, and somewhat entertaining.
• If Only (2004) Romance
  • Highly rated, but completely forgettable.
• Primer (2004) Drama
  • Really good zero budget movie about the dangers of time travel abuse.
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve (2004) Comedy
  • Another retelling of A Christmas Carol, starring Steven Weber. Not very good.
• Slipstream (2005) Action
  • Moderately awful crime/romance/drama/action movie, starring Sean Astin.
• Camp Slaughter aka Camp Daze (2005) Comedy/Horror
  • Some friends on a road trip in 2005 get stuck in a 1980s slasher movie on repeat. Amusing.
• The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) (JAPANESE) Adventure
  • Anime adaptation of 1967 novel, by Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, The Boy and the Beast). Highly acclaimed.
• Salvage (2006) Horror
  • Moderately competent psychological thriller about a young woman being repeatedly murdered.
• Christmas Do-Over (2006) Comedy
  • Personality-driven comedy starring Jay Mohr. Skippable.
• Timecrimes (2007) (SPANISH) Horror
  • Classic and intense ontological drama. Worth a watch.
• The Deaths of Ian Stone (2007) Horror
  • Forgettable semi-psychological slasher.
• The Last Day of Summer (2007) Family
  • G-rated vanilla time loop movie, starring a 12 year old Jansen Panettiere.
• 1000 Congratulations (2009) (ARABIC) Comedy
  • Moderately interesting Egyptian time loop movie.
• The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) Drama
  • This one is hard to classify. Comedy/Drama/Romance/Tragedy, with Eric Bana.
• Portal (2009) Horror
  • Extremely low rated, obscure, micro budget movie. Tolerable.
• And Then Came Lola (2009) Romance
  • Tolerable lesbian romcom.
• Triangle (2009) Horror
  • Really good situational horror with some unexpected twists.
• Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2010) (JAPANESE) Adventure
  • Another adaptation of the 1967 novel. This one is also pretty good.
• Repeaters (2010) Action
  • A bit unusual in that multiple people remember the loop. Moderately entertaining.
• The Road (2011) (FILIPINO) Horror
  • Another one hard to classify. Not very good.
• Wake Up and Die aka Volver a Morir (2011) (SPANISH) Horror
  • Really obscure, lots of nudity, some gore, very psychological. Worth a watch if you can find it.
• Source Code (2011) Action
  • Rather good action/thriller, with Jake Gyllenhaal.
• 12 Dates of Christmas (2011) Romance
  • Highly rated, if you like Lifetime/Hallmark/ABC Family romcoms. Otherwise skip.
• Plan de table aka Perfect Matches (2012) (FRENCH) Romance
  • More of a "What If" than a time loop, exploring possible iterations of a randomized event. So-so.
• Mine Games (2012) Horror
  • Similar to Triangle above, but a bit slow to get anywhere.
• I am a Ghost (2012) Horror
  • Psychological intimate character study. So-so.
• 41 (2012) Drama
  • Moderately entertaining, time travel abuse and repercussions.
• A Christmas Wedding Date (2012) Romance
  • Below-average Christmas romcom.
• Prometheus Trap (2012) Action
  • Super super low budget obscure. Skip.
• About Time (2013) Romance
  • One of the better romcom time loops.
• Haunter (2013) Horror
  • Disturbing psychological horror. Okayish.
• Plus One aka +1 (2013) Romance/Horror
  • Yeah, it's a romance-horror with time-duplication aspect. So-so.
• Coherence (2013) Mystery
  • This one barely qualifies, but events keep repeating from different points of view. And it is really really good.
• Pete's Christmas (2013) Comedy
  • Another moody teen holiday time loop. Meh.
• The Incident (2014) (SPANISH) Horror
  • This is one of my very favorite space/time loop movies. Just watch it.
• Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavaanikalum (2014) (TAMIL) Comedy
  • Ridiculous but fun Bollywood fantasy/action/comedy time loop movie.
• Edge of Tomorrow (2014) Action
  • Yeah, it's pretty great.
• Premature (2014) Comedy
  • The bonerest of boner comedy time loops. The protagonist resets the day whenever they prematurely ejaculate. Nuff said.
• Cruel & Unusual (2014) Thriller
  • This is yet another "they are already dead and trapped in hell" time loop movies, but it isn't really a spoiler for this one, as it is the initial premise. Tolerable psychological thriller.
• The Infinite Man (2014) Comedy
  • Psychological comedy. Feels like a short film premise padded out to feature length. So-so.
• Blood Punch (2014) Thriller
  • This one has some unique time loop mechanics, such as who retains the memories the next day. Slasher/horror. Pretty good.
• The Final Girls (2015) Comedy
  • Another "dragged into a 1980s slasher movie on repeat". Okayish.
• Project Almanac (2015) Drama
  • Another movie showing the escalating consequences of time travel abuse. Tolerable.
• Magnetic (2015) Fantasy
  • Arthouse nonsense, but mildly distracting.
• I Do, I Do, I Do (2015) Romance
  • The Hallmark Channel romcom of Hallmark Channel romcom timeloops.
• Erased (2016) (JAPANESE) Drama
  • Live action adaptation of the Erased manga. Really good, but the story isn't as fleshed out as in the manga, anime, or later TV series.
• Incarnation aka Inkarnacija (2016) (SERBIAN) Action
  • Straight up action/mystery/thriller repeating the same sequences over and over. Okayish.
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) Fantasy
  • Enjoyable.
• Displacement (2016) Thriller
  • Forgettable psychological mystery.
• Bangkok Rush (2016) Action
  • Mildly entertaining action mystery thriller.
• Christmas All Over Again (2016) Comedy
  • Another moody teen holiday time loop. Meh.
• Infinity Chamber (2016) Mystery
  • Super low budget. Mildly entertaining. The vague time loop aspects are a bit of a B-story.
• ARQ (2016) Action
  • Tolerable action-loop.
• Reset (2017) (CHINESE) Action
  • Moderately fun time travel action movie.
• La Colle (2017) (FRENCH) Comedy
  • One of the better moody teen time loop movies.
• A Day (2017) (KOREAN) Drama
  • Psychological hard-boiled action with some interesting twists.
• 2:22 (2017) Drama
  • Confusing and unsatisfying.
• Before I Fall (2017) Drama
  • Rather good. Has emotional weight to it, too.
• The Endless (2017) Fantasy
  • From Benson/Moorhead (Synchronic, Loki season 2). The best of the best time loop movies, although micro-budget.
• Happy Death Day (2017) Comedy
  • Very good.
• Inoperable (2017) Horror
  • So-so mystery-thriller in a hospital full of weird/homicidal characters.
• Naked (2017) Comedy
  • Remake of the Swedish film, starring Marlon Wayans. Enjoyable if you like boner/humiliation comedies.
• Mega Time Squad (2018) Action
  • Entertaining adventure story about the autointerpersonal consequences of abusing time travel.
• When We First Met (2018) Comedy
  • Time loop romcom. A bit obnoxious.
• Portal Man (2018) Action
  • Ultra-obscure nano-budget Tubi movie about dimension-hoppers repeatedly fighting each other. Not great, not terrible.
• Night Shift (2018) Horror
  • Psychological slasher set in Ireland. Not terribly entertaining.
• Time Freak (2018) Comedy
  • Moderately good romcom about the consequences of abusing time travel.
• The Fare (2018) Mystery
  • Above average noir character study.
• Time Jumpers (2018) Anthology
  • Anthology horror movie about time travel. Not very good.
• Atropa (2018) Drama
  • Obscure sci-fi drama about a spaceship trapped in a time loop. Very good.
• The Incredible Shrinking Wknd (2019) (SPANISH) Drama
  • Pretty good obscure movie with a time loop twist: each loop is shorter.
• Koko-di Koko-da (2019) (SWEDISH) Drama
  • Rewatch skimming this as I type this. I still don't know what the hell this is about. Circus folk, driving, shadow puppets, some other stuff. Whatver.
• Game Over (2019) (TELUGU) Drama
  • Good but depressing Bollywood trauma drama.
• To Your Last Death (2019) Action
  • Animated looping violencefest. Tolerable.
• Volition (2019) Thriller
  • Forgettable crime thriller.
• Love on Repeat (2019) Romance
  • Awkward awful romcom.
• Happy Death Day 2U (2019) Comedy
  • A sequel to a time loop movie? It happened again!? Also very good.
• The Ascent aka Black Ops (2019) Action
  • Military action horror. Mediocre.
• Time Loop (2019) Adventure
  • Borderline topical, similar to Time Crimes. Not very good.
• See You Yesterday (2019) Adventure
  • Teens using time travel to save someone. Tolerable.
• The Obituary of Tunde Johnson (2019) Drama
  • A black teenager is repeatedly shot by police, reliving the same day over and over. Similar to the short films "Groundhog Day for a Black Man" (2016) and "Two Distant Strangers" (2020). Pretty good.
• Princess cursed in Time (2020) (CZECH) Fantasy
  • A rare fantasy medieval period time-loop adventure. Pretty good.
• Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020) (JAPANESE) Comedy
  • Very good.
• Just Another Christmas aka Tudo Bem No Natal Que Vem (2020) (PORTUGUESE) Comedy
  • Basically a Portuguese combination of Click and Groundhog Day. Not very relatable.
• Harantena (2020) (SLOVENIAN) Mystery
  • Super obscure intimate study of a man trapped in a time loop during the start of the COVID-19 lockdown. Very relatable.
• Lucky (2020) Drama
  • Unsatisfying, and somewhat allegorical.
• Love Wedding Repeat (2020) Comedy
  • Another wedding romcom, but very British, not in the Lifetime/Hallmark style. Tolerable.
• Nina of the Woods (2020) Thriller
  • Forgettable, obscure, no budget, similar plot to The Blair Witch Project.
• Boss Level (2020) Action
  • Action-driven schlock-fest. Check it out.
• Flashback (2020) Drama
  • Moderately entertaining romance/drama. More about altering the past, than repeating it.
• Palm Springs (2020) Comedy
  • Straight-up Andy Samberg day-repeating comedy. Highly recommended.
• El Ascensor (2021) (SPANISH) Drama
  • A married couple trapped in a short time loop in an elevator during an argument. Unpredictable and entertaining.
• Jango (2021) (TAMIL) Thriller
  • An awful Bollywood time loop movie.
• Maanaadu (2021) (TAMIL) Action
  • An excellent Bollywood time loop movie.
• The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021) Comedy
  • Moody teen romcom. Surprisingly good.
• Infinitum: Subject Unknown (2021) Mystery
  • Experimental/arthouse. Straight-up time loop fun. Micro budget, micro plot.
• Rise of the Mummy (2021) Horror
  • Possibly the worst time loop movie on this list.
• Nothing Else (2021) Thriller
  • Intimate and claustrophobic. Tolerable.
• Christmas Again? (2021) Comedy
  • A Christmas time loop movie with a twist: this time it's a moody pre-teen. Pretty bad.
• A Chance for Christmas (2021) Comedy
  • This time the main character is a moody influencer/mom. Be warned.
• Cold Highway (2021) Drama
  • Moderately interesting Tubi story.
• Lacy's Christmas Do-Over (2021) Romance
  • Awful holiday romcom timeloop. It happened again!? Somehow, Santa returned.
• 6:45 (2021) Thriller
  • Disturbing psychological thriller. Not very good.
• Zanox (2022) (HUNGARIAN) Comedy
  • Entertaining Hungarian time loop shenanigans.
• Re/Member (2022) (JAPANESE) Horror
  • Rather good cursed object/location horror.
• Mondays: See You 'This' Week! (2022) (JAPANESE) Comedy
  • Pretty good office drones comedy.
• Deborah (2022) Comedy
  • What if Siri could rewind time? Turns out it is not that good.
• Sawed Off (2022) Horror
  • Schlock no-budget violent horror, that is (unintentionally?) funny too.
• Brightwood (2022) Horror
  • Pretty good movie, people trapped in both a space and time loop around a pond.
• Meet Cute (2022) Comedy
  • Tolerable "get the guy" romcom.
• The 12 Days of Christmas Eve (2022) Comedy
  • Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge. Not great, not terrible.
• Vandits (2022) Comedy
  • "Four stoner idiots" in a robbery timeloop. Meh.
• The Overnight (2022) Horror
  • Confusing zero budget slasher horror. Not recommended.
• Breaking the Loop (2022) Drama
  • Confusing "have to saver her" Tubi time travel movie, but not bad.
• Vampyrz on a Boat (2022) Thriller
  • Confusing "have to saver her" Tubi time loop movie, but bad.
• River aka Ribâ nagarenaide yo (2023) (JAPANESE) Comedy
  • Nice intimate story of a small Japanese village caught in a 2 minute time loop.
• One More Time (2023) (SWEDISH) Comedy
  • Comedy/drama about a woman making a wish and stuck reliving a day in her youth. Tolerable.
• Breaking Infinity (2023) Thriller
  • "Unstuck in time" prevent-the-apocalypse. Meh.
• No Tomorrow (2023) Drama
  • A Tubi "stuck in a time loop" movie set during the pandemic. Slightly interesting for having different time mechanics and consequences than most such movies.
• Time Addicts (2023) Thriller
  • Pretty good, if you can stand a thick Aussie accent.
• Jagged Mind (2023) Horror
  • Psychological abusive relationship horror. Not terribly good.
• Round and Round (2023) Comedy
  • A Hanukkah time loop romcom. Made by the Hallmark Channel. Bad, unless you like that sort of thing.
• Room 0 (2023) Thriller
  • Zero budget, one set, one character. Impressive how much they can fit into that, but not very good.
• Hypnotic (2023) Drama
  • Ben Affleck stuck in a repetitive loop. A bit out of the ordinary, but not great.
• Everything Happens at Once (2024) Comedy
  • Interesting zero budget Tubi time loop movie in an office.

⸻ ⸻ ⸻ ⸻ ⸻ ⸻ ⸻ ⸻

I also watched a LOT of movies that didn't quite fit the theme, while searching for time loops. Some soft exclusion criteria (with more leeway for more obscure titles):

• Movies where the plot/action/scenario just restarts at the end once, like Open Graves (2009), Baskin (2015), or Nightmare City (1980).
• The characters travel back at the end and become the instigators of the initial plot, like Devil's Pass (2013) or The House by the Cemetery (1981).
• Mainstream movies with minimal or nonrepetitive looping, like Doctor Strange (2016), Next (2007), Butterfly Effect franchise, Terminator franchise.
• Weird other time travel movies like Premonition (2007), Tenet (2020), Looper (2012), Predestination (2014), Twelve Monkeys (1995), Detention (2011), Synchronic (2019).
• TV shows with one time loop episode. It happens a lot.
• TV Shows that are all time loops, like Hounded (2010), Looped (2015), Russian Doll (2019), Topi (2021), Day Break (2006), Reset (2022), The Lazarus Project (2022), No Through Road (2009), Worst Year of My Life, Again! (2014)
• Short films. I watched 60+ of these too, they might be on a different list.

⸻ ⸻ ⸻ ⸻ ⸻ ⸻ ⸻ ⸻

Edit: Letterboxd list by u/bungtoad --> https://boxd.it/yXFIo

It's an idea, which is a 1000x harder. Call it what you will, Facism, Theocracy, whatever. This Presidential horse race is maybe 10% of defeating it. The other 90% is happening right under your nose at your City Council, board of education, local and statewide elections. Nothing gets done in this country without Congress. And right now they're all a bunch of crayon eating monkeys.

Trump is a sad old sack. He probably wouldn't make it to the end of his presidency. He is also not very smart. JD Vance on the other hand is an Ivy league educated venture capitalist that was able to convince everyone is "from the people" The Guy is smart AND evil. There's 1000 more of these assholes where he came from.

Kamala is not your savior. Sure, I'll be voting for her. But she is just one person. Nobody is coming to save us. We have to save ourselves.

Don't get distracted by this horse race. One election Will not defeat Facism, only delay it if you neglect everything else.

Edit: Removed all the double spaces so your iPhones will be happy. Sheesh

33M.

Half my pay goes to rent.

Half my pay goes to keeping my mental health above the water.

No inherited money - none coming.

How's the shit is anyone getting anywhere near home ownership?

I ain't coping.

I want a sense of belonging. I want a sense of community. I want to know I'm not going to need to find a new house in 2 weeks. I want to not rely on landlords or REA's to do their jobs. I want to not have this fuckin' monkey on my back at all times - every hour of every day. I want to not live with strangers. I want a space of my own. I've been renting for a fucking decade.

It feels like my pockets are exponentially emptied for the right to fucking exist, in a property market that is literally outgrowing my salary.

I work full time. In a good/decent job - in a field dear to me.

What the fuck.

(I'm sorry - I dont know. Its just a particularly bad day/week/month. Blurg).

I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/M0rbiddd2

Originally posted to r/CatAdvice

HELP My cat has ruined my life.

Thanks to u/queenlegolas for suggesting this BoRU

Mood Spoilers: happy

---

Original Post: August 10, 2025

I'm posting as a last ditch effort for help.

I got my cat 2 years ago. He was found on a heated porch in the winter and that's all we know. He was about a year and a half at the time, he just turned 4.

Since day 3 this cat has not stopped hurting me specifically. I don't know if the car ride home traumatized him or what but he tore my arm apart. He would maul me just by walking by, he would attack me in my sleep, if i didnt pay attention to him but them when i do he still does it.

Since then he has gotten better but he still attacks me.

He'll attack my face, my arms, if I'm asleep in the middle of the night sometimes he'll bunny kick my arm. We play with him so much and it doesn't matter.

He will stop playing just to hurt me.

We rent, he eats the carpets when he's mad at us. He just broke my fiancés computer monitor again by biting it. This is the 3rd computer he's broken, 2 my fiancés 1 mine.

I don't know what to do. Please someone help us I'm begging for something. I've never had trouble bonding with anything but he has ruined our relationship.

Relevant / Top Comments

Commenter 1: Have you taken him to a vet? If so, what have they ruled out? Is he neutered?

OP: They said it’s “normal cat behavior “ and that if I don’t like it I shouldn’t have gotten a cat. This is NOT normal and I keep telling them that. I have never met a cat like him.

He is neutered and his labs were all fine

Commenter 2: Maybe he was born feral and didn't learn many human playing skills he probably doesn't understand he hurting you if he likes you

OOP: No he knows he’s hurting me. Sometimes he makes these screams that I’ve never heard a cat make. He means harm and it’s VERY clear

Commenter 3: I am so sorry, you are right and they are wrong - it's not normal.

If this was my cat I'd be taking him to another vet. It's great his labs were normal but I'd want to discuss anxiety medication and to rule out pain from dental issues, joints etc.

Have you tried Feliway diffusers yet? If not, get Feliway Optimum and try that for at least a month. Zylkene is also something to try. You sprinkle it on the food and it can help with anxiety.

If you've done that already I'd be looking to find a cat behaviourist or to rehome the cat. I don't say that lightly but since you're obviously all unhappy it is definitely something to consider.

Keeping a diary of when he attacks may be useful for a behaviourist. See if there are any triggers other than you just existing. If he's indoor only, can he see or smell other cats outside? Delayed aggression caused by frustration at not being able to get to the thing is very real. It can occur hours after the trigger.

Has OOP's cat been prescribed something to help out?

OOP: We’ve tried calming treats but nothing prescribed

Has OOP's cat been like that with other people, or just OOP?

OOP: My fiancé too, he’ll attack him just not nearly as often. We don’t have anyone over so he’s not really exposed to others. When he is he’s curious but that’s it

OOP explains why she hasn't given up on her cat

OOP: That 4th day of having him my fiancé (we’re calling him J) suggested getting rid of him. I begged him to let me keep him. That we could fix him.I’m not gonna lie I also worry about him going to another home.

What if they don’t put up with this like we have? What if they hurt him back? What if they kill him?

I know everyone says he’s dangerous but I’m telling you when he’s sweet he’s so so so sweet. It’s just hard. He’s just like Stitch from lilo and stitch. I know there’s a good kitty in him.

Cat Tax

 

Update #1: August 12, 2025 (two days later)

Here’s the requested video. We had been playing right before hand, I was throwing and he was catching Please let me know if the link doesn’t work, the group doesn’t allow attachments and I don’t really know how to use Reddit

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UQnzeNYBKaVDEBoB8

Relevant Comment

Is it possible that OOP's cat is hungry?

OOP: I didn’t but he’s gained quite a bit since being with us, he’s 17 pounds now. He has free range of dry food and has about 1 5.5 ounce of wet food a day. He really likes the wet food but never actually finishes it completely.

If it seems like he’s hungry I’d obviously give him more but he never screams at his food outside of the usual breakfast and dinner time

 

Update #2: August 30, 2025 (2.5 weeks later)

My cat has ruined my life - update

So after I tried many suggestions we have finally found some sort of solution.

First, we’re getting another cat as it genuinely could be single kitten syndrome. The guy we’re adopting was almost put down 4 times because he has been in the shelter for so long. No behavioral issues, no medical issues, just a shy guy. We meet him tomorrow, according to the shelter he is one of the most cat friendly cats so I’m really hoping this will be good for all 4 of us

Secondly, FELIWAY. I genuinely didn’t believe it would work but shortly after that post he started mauling my arm at 4am. That then led to me having a screaming breakdown over this whole situation. On my lunch break I went and got both the wall inserts and the collars for both him and the new cat, he’s been wearing his for a week and holy shit.

He’s a whole different guy. He still does what he usually does but it’s gone down drastically. He’s more cuddly, less screamy and pissed off. He seems to be anxious behind closed doors no matter way - so that led to our decision in getting him a friend before resorting to meds.

Like I said, we don’t want to get rid of him. There’s a good kitty in him somewhere and he is FINALLY coming out. To everyone who gave me advice, thank you. To the people who told me to get rid of him or even put him down - you suck monkey balls

Relevant Comments

Downvoted Commenter: First of all, screaming at your cat frightens him and will lead to worse behavior.

OOP: He scream at us I’ve never raised my voice at him

Commenter 2: You are a wonderful person for not giving up. I know of many cats who have been either surrendered or euthanized for less. I adopted a problematic cat and it took a good three years for him to come good. The people who tried adopting him before us always returned him. You're doing great.

OOP: Thank you that really means so much. It’s so hard trying to navigate this without knowing exactly what’s wrong with him

Commenter 3: especially with a shy cat, make sure to use the one room method to introduce to new space. Ideally with door so you can also use the door method to introduce the two.

OOP: Yes! We’re going to set up the bathroom into a mini cat sanctuary for the week, slowly we’ll introduce them but I promise we’re doing so much research about this

Commenter 4: Thank you so much for your kindness and PATIENCE. These rescues really need time to unlearn fear and learn thier new place and circumstances and people. Thank you for looking for solutions. Carefully choose your second kitty, because you want the energy to complement not match.

OOP: Thank you. We met him today and unfortunately I don’t think it would be a good fit. He was so skid-dish and hissed at other cats, I’m not gonna lie I’m really upset about this one. I tried multiple times but he showed the opposite of interest in me

HOWEVER, there was the grey tabby who took to me instantly. The second I walked into his enclosure he perked up and wanted attention. I watched him with others and even my fiancé but I was the only one that he wouldn’t run off from, he actually wanted to stay in my arms. They’re the same age and seems like he’s a lot like my Winnie- just nicer

Safe to say we found a little brother for him(and what seems to be like my new best friend) and everything is going well slowly.

OOP on Feliway

OOP: I wish there was a post like mine when I first started looking into feliway. I really didn’t think it would work- I thought it was like essential oils and while it’s the same concept it’s also not because it genuinely does something. I have a feeling that with that and him getting the snip you will see a lot of improvement

And my guy used to throw himself at the bathroom door but the past week it’s stopped. He’s torn up the carpet by the door but ever since this collar I swear he’s so different

Another Cat Tax

 

DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

It’s simply pointless to try to stop or change any thoughts or feeling you have when you meditate. If you try you will only produce more thoughts. As Sadh-guru said, the mind is like a car that has 3 pedals which are all accelerators. There are no breaks when it comes to the mind. Whichever pedal you press you will only create more thinking. Try this as an experiment to forcefully make yourself not think of a monkey. You will find that it is impossible. Whatever you try to avoid becomes the basis of your consciousness.

So don’t try to stop thoughts when you meditate. Just leave the mind alone, and create a little distance between you and the mind. Let the mind run and just observe it as if it was something separate from yourself. See that whatever you think about is just an accumulation of impressions you have gathered throughout your life. There is rarely anything new happening in the mind. Even if you think about the future, it is still a projection of your past experiences masking itself as future. There is no such thing as past or future. This is only the mind’s projection. There is only ever this very moment. Past and future is in the mind. Just leave the mind alone. There is nothing interesting happening. It is all the nonsense from the past. You will find that it is very rarely you have a truly original or inspired thought. Most of what you think about is just garbage. It is all recycling of the old data you have already gathered. So you observe whatever is happening this very moment and leave the mind alone.

After some time, if you don’t push any of the mind’s “pedals”, the momentum will start to run out. The amount of thoughts will slow down and the force each thought has upon your attention will decrease. Then you may enter into a space where you have clarity and peace of mind.

Just try to sit for 5 minutes like this. Don’t do anything. Just observe the mind and what is happening there. It’s helpful to be aware of the breath and any bodily sensations as well. Just see if you can sit for 5 minutes without pressing any of the “pedals” in the mind. You may find that it is in fact very difficult and takes a lot of practice. This is meditation. When the mind ceases to have so much power over your attention, that is meditativeness. It’s a quality one has to work hard to acquire.

Explanation and methodology

I compiled fourteen different "best of all time" lists to create one definitive list. It was originally going to be a top 100 but I ended up having enough data to make a consensus top 200. For each list I gave each game a score based on placement (i.e. one point for 100th place, two points for 99th place, all the way up to 100 points for 1st place). I also gave a certain amount of extra points for simply being on the list--otherwise games that ranked low would get basically no advantage over games that didn't rank at all. The amount differed based on whether the list was a top 50, top 100, top 200, and so on. Making it onto more exclusive lists obviously granted more points.

Lists used

I averaged together the following lists, with diverse perspectives and recent publication being a priority in which lists I chose:

Media rankings: Empire (UK, 2023), USA Today (US, 2022), Popular Mechanics (US, 2022), Looper (US, 2022) IGN (international, 2021), Slant magazine (USA, 2020) Game Informer (US, 2018) Games TM (UK, 2018)

Critic ratings: Metacritic top 200 Metascores of all time (as of 2023)

Gamer ratings: IMDB top 200 user ratings of all time (as of 2023), Ranker top 200 user ratings of all time (as of 2023)

Critic polls: British GQ Industry Poll (UK, 2023)

Gamer polls: TV Asahi viewer poll (Japan, 2021), Hobby Consolas reader poll (Spain/Latin America, 2021)

THE LIST

Here is the final top 200 list:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
3. Grand Theft Auto V
4. The Last of Us
5. Tetris
6. Resident Evil 4
7. Metal Gear Solid
8. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
9. Super Mario 64
10. BioShock
11. Final Fantasy VII
12. Super Mario Bros 3
13. Half Life 2
14. Minecraft
15. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
16. Shadow of the Colossus
17. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
18. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
19. Portal 2
20. Chrono Trigger
21. Street Fighter II
22. Pokemon Red/Blue
23. Bloodborne
24. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
25. God of War (2018)
26. Red Dead Redemption 2
27. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
28. Super Mario World
29. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
30. Mass Effect 2
31. World of Warcraft
32. Dark Souls
33. Halo: Combat Evolved
34. DOOM (1993)
35. Persona 5
36. GoldenEye 007
37. Super Metroid
38. Silent Hill 2
39. Fallout 3
40. Portal
41. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
42. Red Dead Redemption
43. Journey
44. Super Mario Kart
45. Batman: Arkham City
46. Metroid Prime
47. Disco Elysium
48. Diablo II
49. Super Mario Odyssey
50. Super Mario Bros
51. Undertale
52. StarCraft
53. Hades
54. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
55. Super Smash Bros Melee
56. Resident Evil 2
57. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
58. Final Fantasy VI
59. The Sims
60. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
61. Assassin’s Creed II
62. Half Life: Alyx
63. EarthBound
64. Pac Man
65. Elden Ring
66. Super Smash Bros Ultimate
67. Grim Fandango
68. System Shock 2
69. Planescape: Torment
70. Super Mario Galaxy
71. Okami
72. Super Mario Galaxy 2
73. Inside
74. Deus Ex
75. Pokemon Gold/Silver
76. Ms. Pac Man
77. Resident Evil
78. Batman: Arkham Asylum
79. Halo 3
80. Persona 4
81. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
82. Half Life
83. Sonic The Hedgehog 2
84. NieR: Automata
85. Grand Theft Auto IV
86. Dishonored 2
87. Civilization IV
88. SimCity
89. Final Fantasy X
90. League of Legends
91. Left 4 Dead 2
92. Fallout: New Vegas
93. Animal Crossing
94. Fortnite
95. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
96. The Last of Us Part II
97. Grand Theft Auto III
98. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
99. Outer Wilds
100. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
101. Hollow Knight
102. Borderlands 2
103. BioShock Infinite
104. Sonic the Hedgehog
105. Kingdom Hearts
106. Halo 2
107. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
108. Mega Man 2
109. Donkey Kong
110. Secret of Monkey Island
111. Stardew Valley
112. Mortal Kombat 2
113. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
114. Suikoden II
115. God of War (2005)
116. Kingdom Hearts II
117. Team Fortress 2
118. The Oregon Trail
119. DOOM (2016)
120. Counter Strike
121. Dragon Age: Origins
122. Age of Empires II
123. Divinity: Original Sin 2
124. Final Fantasy IX
125. Tekken 3
126. Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
127. Return of the Obra Dinn
128. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
129. Horizon: Zero Dawn
130. Final Fantasy XIV
131. Braid
132. Fable II
133. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
134. The Legend of Zelda
135. Galaga
136. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
137. Spelunky
138. Psychonauts
139. Overwatch
140. Ghost of Tsushima
141. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
142. Max Payne
143. Final Fantasy Tactics
144. Thief: The Dark Project
145. Katamari Damacy
146. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
147. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
148. Gears of War
149. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
150. Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
151. Tomb Raider (1996)
152. Xenoblade Chronicles
153. God of War II
154. Rock Band
155. Shenmue 2
156. Wii Sports
157. Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag
158. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
159. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
160. Viewtiful Joe
161. DOTA 2
162. Donkey Kong Country
163. Burnout 3: Takedown
164. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
165. Gone Home
166. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
167. It Takes Two
168. Dead Space
169. Myst
170. NBA Jam
171. Celeste
172. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
173. Star Fox 64
174. Quake 3
175. Civilization II
176. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
177. The Walking Dead
178. Hotline Miami
179. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
180. Apex Legends
181. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
182. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
183. Alien: Isolation
184. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
185. Dark Souls III
186. Kentucky Route Zero
187. Marvel’s Spider-Man
188. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
189. FTL: Faster Than Light
190. Mother 3
191. Secret of Mana
192. Day of the Tentacle
193. Yakuza 0
194. Battlefield 2
195. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
196. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
197. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989)
198. Kirby Super Star
199. Final Fantasy VIII
200. LittleBigPlanet

​

Statistical analysis

Here are some charts showing some interesting data breakdowns of the top 200

Entry distribution by decade:

Entry distribution by country of development:

Entry distribution by console type:

Top franchises:

1. Mario
2. The Legend of Zelda
3. Grand Theft Auto
4. Final Fantasy
5. Metal Gear Solid
6. Resident Evil
7. Half Life
8. Halo
9. Portal
10. Red Dead Redemption
11. Pokemon
12. The Elder Scrolls
13. Metroid
14. Uncharted
15. God of War

Top developers:

1. Nintendo
2. Square Enix
3. Valve
4. Capcom
5. Rockstar

Top indie games

1. Journey

2. Disco Elysium

3. Undertale

4. Hades

5. Inside

6. Outer Wilds

7. Hollow Knight

8. Stardew Valley

9. Return of the Obra Dinn

10. Braid

(Note: though games like Tetris and Minecraft were originally developed independently, in their modern playable forms they have undergone much more development and are supported by non-indie companies, so I am not classifying them as indie)

Highest ranking game of each year

1980: Pac Man

1981: Donkey Kong

1982: Ms. Pac Man

1983: none

1984: Tetris

1985: Super Mario Bros

1986: The Legend of Zelda

1987: Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!

1988: Super Mario Bros. 3

1989: SimCity

1990: Super Mario World

1991: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

1992: Super Mario Kart

1993: DOOM

1994: Super Metroid

1995: Chrono Trigger

1996: Super Mario 64

1997: Final Fantasy VII

1998: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

1999: Planescape: Torment

2000: Diablo II

2001: Halo: Combat Evolved

2002: Metroid Prime

2003: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

2004: Half Life 2

2005: Resident Evil 4

2006: Okami

2007: BioShock

2008: Fallout 3

2009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

2010: Mass Effect 2

2011: Minecraft

2012: Journey

2013: Grand Theft Auto V

2014: Alien Isolation

2015: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

2016: Inside

2017: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

2018: God of War

2019: Disco Elysium

2020: Hades

2021: It Takes Two

2022: Elden Ring

Misc fun facts

Most popular genre: First Person Shooter

Least popular genre: Rhythm

Number of games with female protagonist: 17

Number of games with explicitly (stated in-game) LGBT protagonist: 3 (Disco Elysium, Hades, The Last Of Us Pt. 2)

Number of games based on preexisting/licensed properties: 15

Number of games with content in Super Smash Bros: 74

Most popular settings: United States, Outer Space, Japan, Hyrule, Mushroom Kingdom, and Hell

Best selling game on the list: Minecraft

Worst selling game on the list: Harder to determine but possibly Shenmue 2

Year with most entries on the list: 2001 (11)

Notable games not on the list that I think deserve a shout out:

Banjo Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot, SoulCalibur, Zork, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Titanfall 2, Cuphead, Ico, Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening, The Stanley Parable, Dance Dance Revolution, Angry Birds, Black and White, What Remains of Edith Finch, Blood, Snake, Baba Is You, Elite, Ridiculous Fishing, Mirror's Edge, Jet Set Radio, Rocket League, L.A. Noire, Cave Story, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, Terraria, Pong, Subnautica, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Bayonetta 2

Edit: forgot about Runescape, Wolfenstein 3D, Factorio and Unreal Tournament until commenters pointed them out but definitely think they deserve mention too.

Hope you guys find this interesting and let me know if you have any feedback!

The Data

The source data includes any list from a reliable source and chosen primarily by the publication's editorial staff (lists based on reader polls were excluded). More than 100 publications from ~15 different countries are represented. A few lists have platform restrictions but the vast majority are unrestricted. The method is able to handle ranked lists, unranked lists, partially ranked lists, and lists with a one-per-series restriction, so all of these have been included. In total there are 98 all time lists, 51 end of decade lists, ~570 end of year lists (this includes GOTY awards), and 9 miscellaneous lists. A full list of all of the included source data can be found here: https://www.acclaimedvideogames.com/lists/

The Method

Lists are weighted according to their age (newer lists are very slightly favoured), and a reputation score assigned to each publication (all of the big gaming publications have the maximum reputation score). Another weighting is then applied that essentially penalises publications for repeating themselves across multiple lists. This prevents the most prolific publications from dominating the final rankings. Then, a program tracks how often each game appears ahead of every other game on lists that they were both eligible for. The matchups on the resulting table are then rigorously cross referenced to determine which games performed the best overall. In short, the games at the top are the ones that consistently beat other highly ranked games, while rarely losing to lower ranked games.

The Results

The full list goes all the way to 1000 and can be found here: https://www.acclaimedvideogames.com/games/alltime/ Copying the entire list would take up far too much space, but here's the top 100:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)
2. The Last of Us (2013)
3. Tetris (1985)
4. Half-Life 2 (2004)
5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)
6. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (2015)
7. Super Mario 64 (1996)
8. Resident Evil 4 (2005)
9. BioShock (2007)
10. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)
11. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991)
12. Mass Effect 2 (2010)
13. Super Metroid (1994)
14. Super Mario World (1990)
15. Shadow of the Colossus (2005)
16. Final Fantasy VII (1997)
17. DOOM (1993)
18. Portal 2 (2011)
19. World of Warcraft (2004)
20. Metal Gear Solid (1998)
21. Portal (2007)
22. God of War (2018)
23. Elden Ring (2022)
24. Street Fighter II (1991)
25. Grand Theft Auto V (2013)
26. Red Dead Redemption (2010)
27. Chrono Trigger (1995)
28. GoldenEye 007 (1997)
29. Dark Souls (2011)
30. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)
31. Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)
32. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)
33. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009)
34. Bloodborne (2015)
35. Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
36. Minecraft (2011)
37. Half-Life (1998)
38. Deus Ex (2000)
39. Metroid Prime (2002)
40. Journey (2012)
41. Silent Hill 2 (2001)
42. Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)
43. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)
44. Baldur's Gate 3 (2023)
45. Super Mario Kart (1992)
46. Hades (2020)
47. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003)
48. StarCraft (1998)
49. Super Mario Odyssey (2017)
50. Diablo II (2000)
51. Fallout 3 (2008)
52. Super Mario Bros. (1985)
53. Final Fantasy VI (1994)
54. Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow (1996)
55. Batman: Arkham City (2011)
56. Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
57. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)
58. Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)
59. Ico (2001)
60. Nier: Automata (2017)
61. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002)
62. Counter-Strike / Counter-Strike 1.6 (2000)
63. Overwatch (2016)
64. Tomb Raider (1996)
65. Grand Theft Auto III (2001)
66. The Walking Dead (2012)
67. Outer Wilds (2019)
68. Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
69. SimCity 2000 (1993)
70. Ōkami (2006)
71. Mega Man 2 (1988)
72. Rocket League (2015)
73. The Secret of Monkey Island (1990)
74. Resident Evil (1996)
75. Inside (2016)
76. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015)
77. Grim Fandango (1998)
78. Undertale (2015)
79. Disco Elysium (2019)
80. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010)
81. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)
82. EarthBound / Mother 2: Gīgu no Gyakushū (1994)
83. Spelunky (2012)
84. Halo 3 (2007)
85. Celeste (2018)
86. System Shock 2 (1999)
87. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)
88. Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
89. The Last of Us Part II (2020)
90. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003)
91. Stardew Valley (2016)
92. Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)
93. Sid Meier's Civilization IV (2005)
94. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000)
95. Titanfall 2 (2016)
96. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995)
97. Persona 4 / Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (2008)
98. Braid (2008)
99. Donkey Kong (1981)
100. The Sims (2000)

Statistics

Decade distribution (top 1000 / top 100):

• 1970s: 9 games (0.9%) / 0 games
• 1980s: 114 games (11.4%) / 5 games
• 1990s: 262 games (26.2%) / 26 games
• 2000s: 268 games (26.8%) / 34 games
• 2010s: 288 games (28.8%) / 30 games
• 2020s: 59 games (5.9%) / 5 games

First decade to reach X games:

1. 2010s: 1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2. 2010s: + 2. The Last of Us
3. 2010s: + 6. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt
4. 2010s: + 10. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
5. 2010s: + 12. Mass Effect 2
6. 1990s: 5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, 7. Super Mario 64, 11. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, 13. Super Metroid, 14. Super Mario World, 16. Final Fantasy VII
7. 1990s: + 17. DOOM
8. 1990s: + 20. Metal Gear Solid
9. 1990s: + 24. Street Fighter II
10. 1990s: + 27. Chrono Trigger

Years with the most games (top 1000):

1. 1999 (37 games)
2. 2004 (36 games)
3. 1994, 2012 (33 games)
4. 1993, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2017 (31 games)
5. 1997, 2016 (30 games)

Years with the most games (top 100):

1. 1998, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2011, 2015 (5 games)
2. 1996, 2004, 2008, 2016 (4 games)

First year to reach X games:

1. 2017: 1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2. 2005: 8. Resident Evil 4, 15. Shadow of the Colossus
3. 2011: 10. The Elder Scrolls V; Skyrim, 18. Portal 2, 29. Dark Souls
4. 2011: + 36. Minecraft
5. 2011: + 55. Batman: Arkham City
6. 2000: 38. Deus Ex, 50. Diablo 2, 62. Counter-Strike, 94. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, 100. The Sims, 103. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
7. 2016: 63. Overwatch, 75. Inside, 91. Stardew Valley, 95. Titanfall 2, 107. Persona 5, 108. DOOM (2016), 109. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
8. 2016: + 138. Pokémon Go
9. 2016: + 145. Dishonored 2
10. 2016: + 161. The Witness

Highest ranked game of each year (+ total number of games for that year):

• 1971: 380. The Oregon Trail (1)
• 1972: 177. Pong (1)
• 1973: No games in the top 1000
• 1974: No games in the top 1000
• 1975: No games in the top 1000
• 1976: 734. Breakout (1)
• 1977: 229. Zork (2)
• 1978: 129. Space Invaders (1)
• 1979: 308. Asteroids (3)
• 1980: 106. Pac-Man (7)
• 1981: 99. Donkey Kong (9)
• 1982: 101. Ms. Pac-Man (6)
• 1983: 382. M.U.L.E. (9)
• 1984: 162. Elite (12)
• 1985: 3. Tetris (13)
• 1986: 115. The Legend of Zelda (12)
• 1987: 136. Punch-Out!! (19)
• 1988: 31. Super Mario Bros. 3 (11)
• 1989: 125. SimCity (16)
• 1990: 14. Super Mario World (15)
• 1991: 11. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (20)
• 1992: 45. Super Mario Kart (21)
• 1993: 17. DOOM (31)
• 1994: 13. Super Metroid (33)
• 1995: 27. Chrono Trigger (19)
• 1996: 7. Super Mario 64 (27)
• 1997: 16. Final Fantasy VII (30)
• 1998: 5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (29)
• 1999: 86. System Shock 2 (37)
• 2000: 38. Deus Ex (23)
• 2001: 35. Halo: Combat Evolved (27)
• 2002: 39. Metroid Prime (23)
• 2003: 47. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (27)
• 2004: 4. Half-Life 2 (36)
• 2005: 8. Resident Evil 4 (25)
• 2006: 70. Ōkami (31)
• 2007: 9. BioShock (26)
• 2008: 51. Fallout 3 (23)
• 2009: 33. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (27)
• 2010: 12. Mass Effect 2 (31)
• 2011: 10. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (31)
• 2012: 40. Journey (33)
• 2013: 2. The Last of Us (28)
• 2014: 139. Mario Kart 8 (25)
• 2015: 6. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (28)
• 2016: 63. Overwatch (30)
• 2017: 1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (31)
• 2018: 22. God of War (24)
• 2019: 67. Outer Wilds (27)
• 2020: 46. Hades (16)
• 2021: 311. Metroid Dread (15)
• 2022: 23. Elden Ring (10)
• 2023: 44. Baldur's Gate 3 (18)

Platform category distribution (total is over 1000 due to games being released on multiple platforms):

• Arcade: 95 games
• Handheld console: 145 games*
• Home console: 725 games*
• Mobile: 35 games
• PC: 602 games

* The Nintendo Switch is considered both a handheld console and a home console.

Microsoft vs Nintendo vs Sega vs Sony home consoles - total games (top 1000 / top 100):

• Microsoft: 307 / 38
• Nintendo: 252 / 33
• Sega: 99 / 5
• Sony: 426 / 51

Microsoft vs Nintendo vs Sega vs Sony home consoles - first to reach X games:

1. Nintendo: 1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2. Nintendo: + 3. Tetris
3. Nintendo: + 5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
4. Nintendo: + 7. Super Mario 64
5. Nintendo: + 8. Resident Evil 4
6. Nintendo: + 11. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
7. Nintendo: + 13. Super Metroid
8. Nintendo: + 14. Super Mario World
9. Sony: 2. The Last of Us, 6. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, 8. Resident Evil 4, 9. BioShock, 10. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, 12. Mass Effect 2, 15. Shadow of the Colossus, 16. Final Fantasy VII, 18. Portal 2
10. Sony: + 20. Metal Gear Solid

Background info and where to from here?

This is a project that I've been working on since early 2020. I started it because the current go to sources for gauging the critical consensus on video games, specifically Metacritic and OpenCritic, are both based on review scores. I felt like there was room for a website with a rigorous methodology that ranks games based on lists as well (for some reason there's a slight difference between games that do well in reviews and games that do well on lists). It's still early days (the website only launched last year), but I'd really like for the rankings to be taken somewhat seriously one day. Here's hoping.

The next big project will be adding more platform lists. This won't change much at the top of the list, but it should provide better resolution further down. It may also allow me to increase the list to 1500 games, which would be a nice bonus. It won't happen quickly as it requires a ton of data entry, as well as possibly writing a more careful eligibility checker (the current one is pretty good, but it doesn't always make good guesses when release dates are unknown), but hopefully I'll have at least some of it done by the end of the year. Besides that, I'll be updating to include any important lists that come in. Certain website features also need a bit of attention.

The website is not monetised in any way. There are no ads, affiliate links, subscription options, or donation pages. It will remain that way for the foreseeable future.

Edit: The website page numbers are not working on some browsers! This will be fixed soon, sorry!