I did the music I liked last year just before Christmas and I have now decided to round the year off with Films and Tv series I have enjoyed over the last year. In no order

1. Perfect Days – Wim Wenders back in Tokyo he had done a documentary years ago there and had it in the film until the end of the world but this focus on one man’s life a toilet cleaner listening to old ta-pes collecting seeds from a holy tree taking a picture on his break this is interrupt by firstly his young work mate a lad unsure of the world and then his niece. Perfect, his best film.
2. Past Lives a young girl leaves Korea and the boy she was close too she licves in Canada then the US. So when her teen boyfriend contacts her. They spend a few days together. This is sort of the opposite of the previous series of films, a man who laments the loss of his friend and hasn’t moved on, and a girl who used to cry a lot is now a woman full of life. Poignant.
3. Per Apsera Ad Astra, the Russian sci-film, a decisive lead role by the female lead Niya, a weird female who had to return an odd and well-made sci-fi film for the money.
4. The Fifth Seal is A Kafka-like tale of a group of men drinking in a restaurant one evening. The world turns around when they are accused of a crime by the local fascist forces. How apt it became more available to see on the eve of Trump’s returning to Power
5. Blitz / Hope and Glory I put these together as they tackle the Blitz Furstly. The newer film, the Blitz, has great young kids, the star, and some great cameo appearances as we follow him running off and returning home after being sent to be a refugee. Then Hope and Glory is based on John Boorman’s childhood as we see a family struggle through those years. A sister falls for a Yankee, the father go off to war, and the young boy at the heart of the story is caught as a child in the bombsites as they form gangs and relive the war through their games til they lose the house and he ends up in the idyllic upper Thames are at his grandparents. Excellent viewing together these two.
6. Slow Horse Now on to TV Shows What say about Slow Horse? It gets better with each series. Many misfits work in a sort of dumping ground for failed mi5 agents. This time, the past returns to Haunt River Cartwrights’ grandfather and the team River works with, who are caught up in the heart of the action from France back to London.
7. Master of The Air formed the third of a loose trilogy of tv series that started with Band of Brothers the Pacific and now this followed the 100th Bomb group from training to flying the b-17 flying fortress in the war from the book by Donal L Miller it was like the other series showed the cost of war on the men that took part and also the comradeship they have.
8. Madness a Netflix show I think has maybe gone unnoticed, follows Mucie Daniels, an up-and-coming talking head ion CNN as he has a retreat away and, whilst there, sees a white supremacist get killed and is framed for his death, leading to a web of lies and influential figure in the tech world not hard see some of these characters being based in part on actual folks we often see talking about being right wing.
9. Baby Reindeer this was just such a close-to-the-bone tale of obsession. A woman falls for a barman and weaves a web of lies, but who isn’t being truthful? Both the characters, for me, came off as flawed people. I felt that for the actual woman this was based on, the guy who wrote the show may need to remove it from the actual facts. But given that a well acted drama by the two lead characters.
10. Threads I had seen this years ago. How could I not mention this horrific BBC drama following the collapse of the country after a nuclear attack focused in Sheffield, which, as many of you may know, is just a short drive from my home? Still as hard-hitting as it was when I saw it years ago. The best of a series of films like this, I know the US version, The Day After, is well acted with lots of stars but just has the grit this has.

Well, that is just a small selection of films and shows I need to get better at filling my letterbox in during the year. I will get it at some point. I was the same with the Goodreads account, but it is now a habit to do every book I read, so I hope in 2025, I can record every film I watch. But there are maybe another ten or so films and Shows that just missed the cut. I think next year, I will aim to do two lists of TV shows and films, with some great shows already on my list in January. Starting with series two of the rig, what have you enjoyed or looking forward to next year