100 movies - #5 - Battleship Potemkin (1925) Silent movies are hard to rate, but it's no denying that the Odessa steps scene is one of the most visceral scenes in all of cinema. Like the movie made me want to go off and fight a revolution.

100 movies - #4 - Brief Encounter (1945) It's a great love story about what could've been. So much conveyed in looks, in a squishing of a shoulder, such longing that can never be fulfilled between those two. Plus the music of "all by myself" playing in the background.

100 movies - #3 - It happened one night (1934) I love road trip movies, this one happening at the height of the depression. Plus the chemistry between the two main characters is off the charts (phew, I even swooned at Clarke Gable). A lot of rom-com tropes were invented by this movie!

100 - movies - #2 - To Be or Not to Be (1942) I love a good rebellion movie against the Nazis. But this one is shot right as the war is going on around them (the line "so they call me Concentration Camp Erhardt" hits especially hard). And then it's so funny and so inventive, truly great!

100 movies - #1 - M (Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder) (1931) This movie now makes me shudder when I hear "In the Hall of the Mountain King", amazing for 1931! Such heinous is the crime that all of Berlin bands together to find the murderer. It encapsulates Berlin perfectly even almost 100 years later.

Before 2024 - #6 - The Hunt for Red October (1990) Pretty obsolete as soon as it comes out. It shouldn't work on me - like it's the ultimate dad movie. It's a movie where people are in cramped spaces yelling at screens. It's long. Yet, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Before 2024 - #5 - "Pride and Prejudice" (2005) Another movie that shouldn't work on me. Like I'm not Jane Austen's biggest fan. Who marries who isn't my type of subject. Yet Keira Knightley plays such a wonderful Elizabeth Bennet it gave me pangs just thinking about certain scenes.

Before 2024 - #4 - "Scarface" (1983) Watched this, because I saw the original 1932 one. In this one Tony Montana was much, much scarier, much more unpredictable. Al Pacino delivers and amazing performance where you know that greed is going to get him in the end, but it's one hell of a journey.

Before 2024 - #3 - "Blade Runner 2049" (2017) A cinematic masterpiece, so beautiful to look at! I liked these themes of hope being universal much more than the age old question of what it means being human. 'K' is such a tragic protagonist.

Before 2024 - #2 - Before Sunset (2004) My favorite of the trilogy. Celine and Jesse are so much more guarded, cynical. They give off a world-weary appearance, but you know they are longing for each other beneath that thin veneer they put on. "You're gonna miss that plane", "I know".

Before 2024 - #1 - Mullholland Drive (2001) I was always scared of this movie, that I wouldn't get it. But with David Lynch's passing, I finally tackled it and I "got" it. But not in the way I thought. This movie defies logic, has a weird plot, it's all feeling, but boy that feeling, heart racing!

New - #5 - Wake Up Dead Man (2025) Never thought that a Knives Out movie would make my list, but Josh O'Connor's performance is wonderful (you know the scene with the construction lady) and yet I had the biggest smile on while watching the movie, so it's gotta be good, no?

New - #4 - The Sound of Falling (2025) This movie works as memories, not always reliable, sometimes even fantastical, but it's those scenes from childhood that stay with you. Not easy to look at, beware! But, it really sounded like the memories my Uroma, Oma and mom used to tell of East Germany!

New - #3 - Train Dreams (2025) This movie was beautiful to look at. Such a quiet telling of a man's life including all the tragedy, hardship, but also beauty, joy and muted contentment. And the landscape around him just relentlessly changes. The end just hit me hard in its beauty!

New - #2 - One Battle After Another (2025) This movie just clicks, touches the nerve of the moment, is full of an amazing cast and has amazing cinematography. But it works on so many other levels, too. Some people found it too long, I didn't even notice, such was the tension PTA built up!

New - #1 - Sentimental Value (2025) I laughed, I cried, I became very pensive. A beautiful story about family and art all told with the device of an old house. The two sisters - Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas deliver such effortless amazing performances, you forget they are acting!

Some honorable mentions: Sinners (2025) - Amazing music, Michael B. Jordan looks mightily fine F1 (2025) - Weak story, but who cares, amazing racing! One Fine Day (2025) - Had me literally cackling! Weirdly, from 2024 that I saw this year maybe only Nosferatu or Anora even vaguely make my list.