Cinema reaches beyond mere entertainment. It is an expresser, a communicator, a time capsule, a voice, a memory box, a guru, a language, and the provider of myriad frames through which we view life. Like the age-old question as to whether art imitates life or life imitates art, we are made by the films we see but we also make the films we experience, by imbuing them with meaning and understanding.

This is an article I have been meaning to write for a considerable while. Tyler the Creator once said, “I don’t care what is people’s objective ‘top’ nothing. Tell me what is your favourite.” It is something that stuck with me in my writing here. This is not an attempt at outlining what I think are the best films of all time, but rather those I have found to be the most subjectively important. These are the films which have most moved me, shaped me, built me, taught me, and challenged me.

Part memoir and part recommendation, part paean and part guidebook, the following list possesses more of my selves than anything I’ve ever written. It is an acknowledgement of the people I have been and an expression of gratitude for the people and films who have made and continue to make me. It is therefore with great pleasure that I share with you, My Life in 100 Films.

1. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Mildred Hayes, a grieving, resentful, hard-as-nails mother takes to action after the local police department has failed to make any arrests in the case of her raped and murdered daughter. What follows is an astoundingly human, aching, beautiful and meaning-filled film.

Martin McDonagh, playwright (The Pillowman) turned screenwriter and director (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths), writes here some of my favourite characters in all of cinema. Mildred Hayes, Chief Willoughby and Officer Dixon are done justice and then some by Francis McDormand’s, Woody Harrelson’s and Sam Rockwell’s respective performances. Rockwell’s is up there with my favourite performances and character arcs of all time. The soundtrack is both haunting and mellow, and the film looks gorgeous. It’s so funny and yet also a wrenchingly profound meditation on loss, grief, death, and redemption. A brilliant film. And probably my favourite of all time. 

2. Matilda (1996)

There are no two people in the whole world that I love like I love my two brothers. They are the most kind, funny, thoughtful, impressive, moral and loving men I know, and so much of our shared language is born from the films we have grown up watching together. Throughout this list, I make multiple references to them both, as many of the films that have defined my life have been shared experiences with the two of them. We often use the phrases “the most classic” or “the most classic ever” to describe something that is a core shared memory or a pattern of our lives. This can describe a person, a place, an object, a word, the way that someone says something, a facial expression, a habit, or, indeed, a film. I use these phrases on occasion here as it is the best language I have for describing the weight that a film carries in my brothers’ and my collective being.

Matilda, the film itself, is one of the most classics, and there is so much in it which would be crowned with this status too. Every single frame contains something that the three of us love. The film embodies the world of Roald Dahl and the illustrations of Quentin Blake in a way that no other live-action adaptation does. It is sweet and silly, and magical and joyous and funny, and just such a dear delight. This summer the three of us spent a month together travelling around Vietnam. After a halcyon evening on an isolated beach in Da Nang, watching the sunset, drinking soju, diving over the waves and laughing about life, we returned to our room, ordered a banquet of food from an Uber-Eats-equivalent, and stuck on Matilda. Amazing.

3. Your Name (2016)

Working in my local cinema whilst in sixth form, an Everyman which served margaritas and margheritas right to the velvet seats, was the coolest thing in the world. I was 17, most of the staff were in their twenties, and they all deeply and passionately loved film. Every week or two we’d do a staff screening. Once all the customers had left and the screens had been cleaned, we’d all arrive soon after midnight and put a film on. 

The one that stands out most in my memory is Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name. I’d never seen any Japanese animation, and I remember its central love story, visual creativity, manipulation of timelines and body swapping Splitting my brain. I have watched it since and I can confirm the magnificence was not solely induced by the set and setting in which I first experienced it.

4. Paris, Texas (1984)

Emblematic of one of my greatest cinematic gurus, my friend Luc. We worked together for three years at an Everyman, and he introduced me to myriad films I’d never previously heard of. He often cited his love for Paris, Texas and it’s a testament to his great taste. Beautiful imagery, astoundingly acted, excellent writing. Wim Wenders’ neo-Western road film is unmissable.

5. Coco (2017)

Delightful animation, loveable characters, and a story imbued with meaning and profundity – this is Pixar at its imagination-spurning best. It is rare one can attribute a life-changing moment to a film, but Coco burns brightly in my memory as such. Through a series of fortunate albeit unforeseen events, my youngest brother and I ended up in a screening together in a cinema in Bluewater. I remember vividly the shift in our relationship, from being older and younger brothers seemingly existing in entirely different worlds to being friends and equals, just glad to enjoy each others’ company.

6. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

To a 16-year-old boy, is there anyone cooler than Ferris Bueller? The whole film drips with Matthew Broderick’s inviolable charisma and effortless charm. It’s funny, delightfully paced, perfectly self-aware and just terrific fun. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”. I think about this line almost every day. It makes me smile but serves also as a sincere memento mori. Long Live Ferris.

7. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Taika Waititi’s first foray into Marvel is one of the most fun films I’ve seen. His distinctive brand of Kiwi humour breathes life and laughter into a franchise which so sorely needs more of it. It’s the supporting cast that Waititi builds around the big-name characters – Waititi’s Korg, Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster, and Karl Urban’s Skurge – which injects it with real vitality, love and humour. For me personally, there is a cyclically self-renewing quality to this film. I’ve rewatched it with many different people, and with each of these shared viewings, new common jokes are built and new meaning is imbued. That’s a pretty unique quality of a film, and one I like very much.

8. Juno (2007)

There’s so much I love about this film that I struggle to put into words. The fierce independence and spirit of the central Juno as she navigates her pregnancy, held in balance with an equally vulnerable innocence and uncertainty. The soundtrack, so beautifully curated and underscored by Kim Dawson. The irreverence of the comedy, married with the weight of the subject matter. Note perfect acting from a stellar cast – J.K. Simmons, Michael Cera, Elliot Page, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. It all combines into a wonderful film. I watched it with a former girlfriend in my late teens, and it encapsulated so much of how I felt for her and about relationships too at the time. Great art.

9. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

One of the most profound cinematic experiences of my life. I saw it first in France with Dad, well late into the night, on a big screen in the basement with both of our draws emphatically dropped. Kaleidoscopic, time-defying, tension-mastering, deeply philosophical and masterfully crafted. The pinnacle of cinema.

10. Moonage Daydream (2022)

A media-melting documentary about Bowie’s life. Having gained free access from the Bowie Estate to previously inaccessible archives, Brett Morgen curated a film that really blew my mind. My first real introduction to Bowie the man and to the extraordinarily iridescent flame which he was, as well as to the art born from his fire. Both are done justice by the inconceivably well-sculpted collage that is layered here. Genius on genius.

11. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010), “” Rodrick Rules (2011), and “” Dog Days (2012)

The chronicles of Greg Heffley as he navigates his way through secondary school. Another three films which are just so classic. My memory holds that every day after school my brothers and I would watch one of these three films every evening. They are the basis for so many of our shared jokes, that we still make and reference regularly. Rowley, Rodrick, Fregley, Chirag, Manny, Patty Ferrell, Heather Hills, Coach Malone. So so good, and so so funny. The only other film we watched as much was Jack and Jill (2011), in which Adam Sandler plays both twins and Al Pacino plays himself.

12. The Wall (1982)

Pink Floyd’s surrealist visualisation of their magnum opus rock opera, The Wall. My dad has always loved Pink Floyd, and throughout the first lockdown, I too became enamoured. The film is dark and twisted, ambitious and impressive, and is a musical scored by one of the greatest albums of all time.

13. The Sound of Music (1965)

My mum’s favourite film. Her best guess is that she’s seen it ninety times, and I shared in many of these viewings throughout my childhood. Julie Andrews is a dream, the vision of the Alps is beatific, and the music is delightful too. Mum said she always wanted to be Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, a seed which germinated into our family spending much of our lives together in the French Alps. I love this film for that, and I love it for how happy it makes my mum.

14. Inception (2010)

Maybe the most Nolan-y Nolan film. I’ve watched it at multiple major junctions throughout my life, and its ingenuity, conceptualisation, construction and coolness always bring me joy. A particular viewing that stands prominent in my memory was with my friend Charlie on a rainy and wonky Sunday afternoon in our second-year university house. Good times, and a very good film.

15. Arrival (2016)

When considering entire bodies of work, Denis Villeneuve is probably my favourite director. So consistently original, elegant, philosophical, and fresh. And Arrival is probably also the film I find myself recommending to people more than any other. Its meditation on language, humanity, relationships, parenthood and meaning is persistently profound and well-grounded; Amy Adams is fantastic; and the imagery of the film is some of the most visceral in my mind. I love this film.

16. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

Tarantino at his best. Succulent dialogue, assured direction, electric characters and a world constructed with such meticulous detail (the soundtrack, the costume, the sets, the ambience) that it is nothing but a pleasure to spend a few hours in.

17. The Big Lebowski (1998)

“No one calls me Lebowski. You got the wrong guy. I’m the dude, man”. This film awakened me to a certain flavour of hippie-dom and humour that I found intoxicating. Jeff Bridges’ titular character exudes chill and the world which he exists in the centre of is one filled with originality and distinctive charm.

18. The Worst Person in the World (2021)

Good art should make you feel and understand the inexpressible and every turn of frame within this magnificent film did that for me. The director, Jaochim Trier, maps four years in the life of a woman in her late twenties, as she embattles to understand, establish and explore her self. Through varying relationships and encounters, she contends with the expectations of others, of herself, and of normative expectations. It’s spellbindingly good.

I first watched it by myself on the recommendation of an ex-girlfriend who loved it, soon after the relationship ended ended. It completely floored me. It enabled an understanding, a knowing of a perspective that had otherwise been so alien. The magic of cinema lies in the communication of feeling and knowledge and emotion. And this film exemplifies just that.

19. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

A film about off-the-wall philosophical concepts that is baked with love and basted with humour. The creativity of The Daniels behind the camera is unbounded, and the script and story are full of humanity and life. It is a multiverse film fully realised as such and the central theme of substituting nihilism for existentialism is beautifully done. The ‘rock’ scene in particular always makes me smile.

20. The Dictator (2012)

Sacha Baren Cohen’s General Aladeen, a ruthless and ridiculous dictator of a fictionalised country, Wadiya, arrives in New York for a UN conference. He is subsequently kidnapped, replaced by a double, and thus tasked with reinstating himself. Between the ages of seven and twelve, my friend Ollie and I had innumerable sleepovers, and my memory says that we watched The Dictator at pretty much every single one. I’m not sure how it would stand up on viewing now, but I have no doubt there are still many laughs to be found in it. Hairy Potter, HIV Aladeen, John C. Reily’s pear and umbrella, pointy rockets, the helicopter tour. Funny stuff.

21. The Hunger Games (2012)

I remember being obsessed with The Hunger Games books. I never wound up watching Mockingjay (Part 1 or Part 2), as I assume the love and interest had passed by the time they came out, but I remember going to watch Catching Fire in Leicester Square cinema, on a school night, with my friend Tom and his dad, and feeling that it was just so cool.

22. The Lobster (2015)

My first introduction to the gloriously surreal work of Yorgos Lanthimos. The worlds he creates exist at the base of a cavernous uncanny valley. The dialogue’s stiltedly analogue flow, the grating soundtracks, and the violations of social convention. Like with Dogtooth and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, there exists within The Lobster a lurking darkness that is underscored by a bubbling humour. It’s funny, it’s sharp, it’s thought-provoking, it’s excellently executed, and when I saw it for the first time, it was unlike anything I’d seen before.

23. Nightcrawler (2014)

At its core, it is a scathingly no-holds-barred critique of the grotesque voyeurism that is much of the 24-hour news. The direction is as cold as the subject matter, Jake Gyllenhall is at his best, and the film does a stellar job of consistently ratcheting up the tension and the stakes, before building to what is a brilliant final scene. Strong supporting roles too from Riz Ahmed and the guy who plays Jeff Tracey in Thunderbirds.

24. Gone Girl (2014)

Between the ages of 14 and 15, I’m confident I’d have said this was my favourite film. The story of a woman who goes missing under mysterious circumstances, and her husband’s efforts (along with the FBI and pretty much the rest of the nation) to find her. Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck are breathtakingly good, the cinematography is excellent, and the soundtrack sets the perfectly atmospheric. What I love most about this film though is Fincher’s pacing. Weaving and turning with a decidedly slow burn between past events and present ones, Fincher enables the audience’s brain to tick along at the same pace as the detectives. A master at work whom it is a pleasure to bask in the brilliance of.

25. Highlander (1986), Alien (1979), Predator (1987), Terminator (1984), Robocop (1987)

It may seem like cheating to group these five films but they are all of a piece. In what was probably one of the most formative (traditions? rituals? experiences?) of my childhood, my Dad and I would stay up to watch films once my brothers and Mum had gone to bed. I’d guess this started early, around probably the age of eight or nine, and the films he picked were probably always beyond what was widely deemed appropriate for an ten-year-old to watch. But I think Dad was always of the thinking that what I understood I’d be mature enough to understand, and what I didn’t understand would just go right over my head.

The most classic of these films were five of Dad’s favourites: Highlander, the story of Scottish immortals who can only die if they get decapitated; Alien, Ripley Scott’s classic sci-fi-horror, following a perfectly evolved killing creature stalking astronauts on a spaceship; Predator, an extraterrestrial species of trophy-hunters who are set on killing a group of commando’s in the jungle; Terminator, a time-hopping advanced humanoid robot sent back from the future to assassinate the boy who will become the leader of the resistance in the war between man and machine; and Robocop, an injured cop who becomes a half-robot, half-man, tasked with cleaning up Detroit.

Joyous memories associated with each and all of them, and a tradition that I would unreservedly recommend to any new father. A true privilege to have shared all those evenings with Dad and an immensely formative engine of joy.

26. Grease (1978), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), Billy Elliott (2000), and The Great Escape (1963)

Aside from The Sound of Music, these are the four films that will always make me think of Mum. Films that she loved and still loves, and that I associate with her boundless love and patience. These films maintain the same feeling tone of getting back from school, and sitting down with my brothers to eat whatever Mum had cooked us for tea.

In writing this I’ve just watched several clips from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and what a wave of glorious nostalgia has just washed through my being. The tide slowly creeping in, Truly Scrumptious, the two kids, Posh with a capital P, Caractacus Potts, the child catcher, the music box, and Hushabye Mountain. A truly timeless classic. Grease, too, occupies a similar part of my psyche. John Travolta’s sauntering swagger, Sandy’s beauty and sweetness, the soundtrack, and the vision of high school, romance and friendship.

27. Mulholland Drive (2001)

Unrivalled. My introduction to David Lynch. I recall the sensation of being greeted by a brilliance so far beyond the bounds of what I could have thought possible. An aspiring actress arrives in Hollywood and finds herself in a world of a dream-like non-reality more real than any world I’ve ever lived in. There is just so much depth and complexity here, with weaving rabbit holes leading to somewhere, or nowhere, or everywhere. To be placed in the hands of someone so visionary and so competent, and then to be taken on a journey entirely unfamiliar and unknown, is a profound blessing. Stunning.

28. The Holy Mountain (1973)

Another recommendation of Luc’s, but one I did not end up watching until July of last year. I’d just finished the Appalachian Trail and had made my way down to Portland, Maine. A section hiker (by the name of Eagle Eye) I’d met back in Pennsylvania had been true to his word, and graciously let me come stay with him there after I’d finished the trail. We spent the day drinking IPAs in a bar on the pier in the sun and ate pizza by the docks in the evening. I recall he had a phenomenal record collection, and a great knowledge of film too. We flicked through what he had and stumbled onto Holy Mountain, which neither of us had seen.

Jodorowsky’s magnum opus is an ethereal, transcendent, beautifully iconoclastic exploration of spirituality, religion, and humanity. The images conjured are like none I have seen before or since. Completely surreal, deeply unsettling and intrinsically holy.

29. Us (2019)

Iconic. And probably the most gleefully fun horror I know. The red jumpsuits, the scissors, the rabbits, the hall of mirrors, the brooding thud of the baseline from I Got 5 On It which punctuates much of the film. But this is a darkness both lifted and elevated by the brightness of the Santa Fe scenery, the humour that rings throughout, and the lighter parts of the soundtrack (Janelle Monae and Le Fleurs). Jordan Peele’s most entertaining work.

30. About Time (2013)

I adore this film with all my heart. A joyous celebration of life and of all the things that matter within in it. A beautiful and profound meditation on the salience of embodying the present; my favourite representation of falling in love; and above all, a film which nails the indescribable magic of having a dad. “My dad. My son.”

31. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Describing my adoration for the Harry Potter books and films between the ages of 6 and 11 as an infatuation would undersell it. I had trivia books and quiz books that I knew all the answers to. I can remember the awe-inspired feeling of seeing the book of the Deathly Hallows for the first time when it was published. And I watched the films ad infinitum. The Goblet of Fire was undoubtedly my favourite but The Half-Blood Prince is chosen here as it is a very good film and because it holds particular sentimental value.

Every year on Dad’s birthday, my brothers and I would all do something individual with him. Joe would go to Cafe Rouge in the morning and they’d have a Full English breakfast together. Charlie would go for a drive with Dad to the tip. And I would go to the cinema with him. There was a three year period where the cinematic release of Harry Potter 6, 7 (Part 1) and 7 (Part 2) lined up perfectly with this. A very beautiful tradition (no doubt orchestrated by my Mum) and one I would love to someday recreate.

32. The Social Network (2010)

Another masterwork. Fincher takes a potentially innocuous story (an internet start-up founded by a college freshman) and spins it into an enthrallingly thrilling tale of greed, power, betrayal, manipulation, and brilliance. Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson and Justin Timberlake are all electric, Aaron Sorkin’s script is the generator which provides the film with such zip, and Fincher is characteristically unflappable.

33. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Holy moly. I’d seen There Will Be Blood and had greatly admired it, but this was the first Paul Thomas Anderson film that really made my jaw drop. It is quirky and effervescent, and bursts with flair and vibrant originality. Adam Sandler is really good in it, actually acting a gorgeous spectrum of emotion, rather than simply playing himself. The film is funny and adorable, sharp and sad. Most simply put, it is brilliant.

34. Suspiria (1977)

Whilst working at the Everyman I worked alongside a friend named Dan, who had an encyclopaedic knowledge of film and an equally impressive love for it. On NYE, the day after I’d turned 18, Dan was on the closing shift at the cinema. I had the night booked off work, as a school friend of mine was hosting a black tie party that night, but Dan had suggested that we watch a film in the cinema as the New Year ticks over. Too cool an idea to say no to. 

So I went to the party and at 11:40 ran down the hill from my friend’s house to the cinema. Found Dan, found myself my favourite sofa, fashioned myself an Old Fashioned, and sat back to welcome in the New Year as the opening scenes of Suspiria played.

Dario Argento’s 1977 Italian film is about a young ballerina arriving at a prestigious dance school in West Germany. What follows is purified supernatural horror. The score and the use of colour are terrific, as are the imagery and the acting.

35. Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

So loveable. Ricky Baker, a troubled orphaned Kiwi teenager who has been in and out of care homes, is fostered by a kindly couple who live out in the wilderness of New Zealand. This film has soul and heart oozing from its pores. The characters, the dialogue, the direction, the feeling – it’s relentlessly funny and it still represents Taika Waititi’s best film.

36. Con Air (1997)

“You should have put the bunny back in the box”. Nick Cage is a police officer, imprisoned for manslaughter, who is offered a free flight back home after his sentence. The only catch is that the flight is on a plane transporting the U.S.’ worst criminals. From front to back, it’s delightfully fun. The prisoners (Garland Green, Johnny 47, Diamond Dog) are so caricature-ally excellent; Nick Cage is at his best, really chewing the scenes (as are John Cusack and John Malkovich); and it perfectly strikes the understanding of how silly it is without becoming too silly.

This film occupied a very similar part of my life as did Face Off (“I could eat a peach for hours”) and The Rock, as films that Mum and Dad loved and we all ended up watching together as a family many times over. ConAir takes the crown though, as being just that little bit more special, as it was the film I chose for a staff screening on my 18th birthday.

37. Goodwill Hunting (1997)

I always loved the story of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck writing this film and casting themselves in the lead roles. I love also Robin Williams in it (I love Robin Williams in everything). I love the dialogue, I love the premise, I love that it feels like a cool film, and I love that it is a film that feels like it was made with love. It’s also the name of one of my favourite songs.

38. District 9 (2009)

South African sci-fi about an apartheid enforced by the native humans against an alien species. When I was 8 I went to my friend Michael’s house after school and we somehow found this and put it on. I don’t remember much of the film itself (although I’ve heard that it’s great) but I do remember how it scared the absolute bejesus out of me.

39. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

This film encapsulates everything that I love about Wes Anderson’s work. The extraordinary attention to detail, the idiosyncratic quirkiness that sings through all his films, the plinky soundtracks, the speed of the motion contrasted with the moments of stillness, and the characters that he writes, which the actors always seem to have so much fun bringing to life. I probably like Isle of Dogs more, but Fantastic Mr Fox was the favourite film of my first serious girlfriend which thus makes it [insert the Mr Fox finger wiggle by the ears] different”.

40. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

A Charlie Kaufmann script, starring Jim Carrey in a serious role, as a man deeply in love with a woman who is no longer in love with him. He visits a futuristic clinic where they can remove all memories associated with someone or something. It is an achingly bitterly sweet contemplation of love, memory, attachment, meaning and mental illness. Dad and I watched it late one night, just days after I’d come out of a relationship with someone I still then loved very much. One of those films that it feels like an injustice to try and speak on the meaning and magic of.

41. The Lion King (1994)

There’s a chance this is the first film I ever remember watching. The other contender would be Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I must have seen this film dozens of times. Gorgeous animation, perfectly pitched characters, and a soundtrack to get lost in. Brilliant.

42. Love Actually (2003)

My second favourite Richard Curtis film, my third favourite Christmas film, and one of my favourite rom-coms. Probably also a subconsciously motivating factor for why I wanted to travel to the U.S.

43. Parasite (2019)

Bong Joon-Ho’s ground-breaking, Best-Picture-Winning South-Korean-language thriller-comedy is phenomenal. The reveals, the tension, the cinematography, the acting, the social commentary, the set-pieces, the humour, and the landing that it very much sticks. I saw it twice in the cinema, once on a whim with a then-loose-friend called Billy, who since that day has become a great friend indeed. 

44. Whiplash (2014)

My favourite film of Damien Chazelle’s. The intensity is phenomenal and J.K. Simmons’ performance is excellent.

45. Hot Fuzz (2007)

My favourite work by Edgar Wright. A hot-shot Met-policeman is moved to the countryside and finds the change of pace of life to be numbing until he realises that everything may not be as it seems. Unbelievably snappy and terrifically self-referential. The direction and comedy communicated through it are so good, and Frost and Pegg are at their best. It’s fun and funny, and deeply impressive too.

46. True Romance (1993)

Tarantino has been saying for decades that his tenth film (i.e. the next film he releases) will be the last film he directs, after which he will instead write screenplays and turn to other approaches. If this yields films as great as True Romance, then this ought not to be an occasion for melancholy. Written by Tarantino but sold to fund the production of Reservoir Dogs, True Romance was instead directed to wonderful effect by Tony Scott.

Ironically, it is probably my favourite Tarantino film. The story of a comic book employee who falls in love with an undercover prostitute his boss hires him for his birthday. Of course, they then come into possession of a suitcase of cocaine and all hell breaks loose. The dialogue is so tight, there are many excellent scenes, the cast is phenomenal (Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken, Denis Hopper, Brad Pitt, and Gary Oldman), and at the centre lies a love story which I very much love.

47. Green Book (2018)

This came out whilst I was working at the Everyman, and I remember thinking just how terrific it is. The central story, of a friendship that emerges between a black virtuosic piano player and his white driver as they tour the Deep South in 1962, is explored with such elegance and taste. Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali are excellent, the script is so tight, and the attention to detail in the situating of the period is stellar.

48. Captain Fantastic (2016)

Wow. Viggo Mortensen again, but in such a different way. His character and his wife have opted to raise their six children in the wilderness of Washington state. The children are extremely fit, intelligent, empathetic, and critical in their thinking, and the life the family have forged seems beautiful. But after their mother dies, they are thrust into conventional American society as they navigate her funeral and their respective futures.

This is a film I often have cited in my top five favourites. Filled with so much philosophy, yearning, beauty, celebration, love, tragedy, empathy and understanding of the human experience, I find something new to savour in every repeat viewing. I do not doubt that it shaped in some small way my beliefs and feelings towards all the above values. And the Sweet Child of Mine scene? Transcendent.

49. Into the Wild (2007)

The true story of Alexander Supertramp, who after graduating from university destroyed his I.D.’s, donated all his money to charity, abandoned his conventional middle-class life and family, and set off in search of something greater and something more true. This is another film that made a deep and lasting impression on me. I saw it at a probably pivotal age (around 17 or 18) and the central character’s yearning for something indelible is something I identified greatly with.

The brilliance of this film, however, is its ability to hold multiple conflicting truths together at once. It maintains a deep empathy for all characters involved, never passing judgement or condemning, but instead just presenting, and allowing the viewer to glean their own understanding.

50. Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Warm and sensual and patient and wise. Also the favourite film of my friend Sam, who has a brilliant knowledge and taste of cinema.

51. Flight (2012)

Denzel Washington stars as a pilot who successfully makes an emergency landing of a plane, but is called before a tribunal for allegedly having been under the influence of alcohol. A barn-storming, heart-wrenching, no-holds-barred exploration and portrayal of alcoholism and addiction. A crushing performance by Denzel Washington, and a crushing depiction of what is such a crushingly cruel disease.

52. Johnny English Reborn (2011)

Such a most classic ever for my brothers and me. The most classic characters – Tucker, Johnny, Simon Ambrose, and Kate Sumner. And the most classic scenes – the cat, the chair, the lozenges, Pentobarbital Timoxeline Barbebutenol, the cleaner, the golf, don’t give up on me baby, Shusan. Brilliant.

53. About a Boy (2002)

A film that I watched at a young age that struck me very deeply, and stuck with me long after. It taught me about depression, about lacking meaning, about intergenerational friendship, about adults just being children with more experiences, and about love sometimes not being enough. Hugh Grant, Toni Collete and Nicholas Hoult are outstandingly astounding, and the final scenes are enough to make you cry with sequentially changing motivations (cringe, then relief, then sadness, then joy). A beautiful film.

54. Hancock (2008)

Man, I used to love this film. Will Smith is great as Hancock, a superhero weighed down by loneliness, alcohol and apathy, as is Jason Bateman, a middle-class suburban man who tries to help Hancock by changing his image. It’s a superhero film which takes the concept seriously. It’s gritty, fun, badass and cool, but also an honest insight into the human condition. Hancock walked so that The Boys could run. 

55. Birdman (2014)

A wicked cool film. Michael Keaton, Emma Stone and Edward Norton are so impressive, in acting as actors who are themselves acting. The stage sequences, the dialogue, the ending and the huge, long, uninterrupted shot from the opening sequence still stick in my brain.

56. Up (2009)

One of my favourite Pixar films. A beautiful tale of adventure, of love, of duty, and the common humanity shared by people of differing ages. My brothers and I watched this many times growing up. The imagery overflows with life, and the bells of the soundtrack will forever toll in my mind.

57. The Departed (2006)

For me, probably the most fun Scorsese film, and one I have seen many times. Following undercover cops and undercover criminals in the Boston underworld, this is an unrelenting ride of violence, wit, tension, deception and surprise. Leonardo Di Caprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, Vera Farmiga, Mark Wahlberg, Ray Winstone, and Martin Sheen. Has a better cast, who delivered so unanimously, ever been assembled? Excellent.

58. Apocalypse Now (1979)

A film that I’ve seen at major critical junctions, and that my perspective on has shifted with each viewing. Strong memories of being in France with my friends George and Joe, debilitatingly worse-for-wear, and watching the 3 hours director’s cut whilst eating gallon tubs of ice cream. The scale of the film, the direction, the acting, the portrayal of the indiscriminate brutality of war. Deep parallels run between it and Herzog’s excellent Aguirre, The Wrath of God. They would make for a great double bill.

59. Amélie (2001)

A smorgasbord of sweetness, colour, delicacy and delight, that feels like lunching in a Parisian patisserie. Very very nice indeed.

60. The Lost Boys (1987)

An 80’s classic. Late teenage vampires in Santa Carla, California, all of whom have impossibly bouffy hair, sport slick leather jackets and ride great big Harleys. Quite scary and funny too, it is the soundtrack that I love most of all. Cry Little Sister and People Are Strange stand out for me. Also a film well loved by my dad, as well as my friend Joe, and his dad too.

61. The Graduate (1967)

After my parents had the living room refitted the year before last, but before any of the furniture went back in, I placed a big armchair in the centre of the room and watched The Graduate on the screen. What a film. Dustin Hoffman is excellent and the visual tone of the cinematography marries perfectly with the mood of the film. The tonal atmosphere is set by Simon and Garfunkel’s hauntingly sparse and folk-ish soundtrack. It is the film which strikes me as being most timeless and one that nails its representation of many core human experiences.

62. High School Musical 2 (2007)

This list would not be complete without this film’s presence. For a few years throughout primary school, I loved High School Musical. So much so that my long flicky-swishy hair was an attempt to be more like Troy (Zac Efron). I always thought the second one was the coolest (the baseball song, the kitchen song, the idea of summer camp, the agony of Troy and Gabrielle’s breakup) and I used to have the soundtrack on a CD that my friend Michael got me for my birthday. Formative.

63. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Denis Villeneuve drank from the poisoned chalice that was making a sequel to the 1982 classic, but rather than collapsing in a fit of inadequacy, he instead established himself as one of the great science fiction auteurs. It’s a masterclass in world-building. The ever-present rain, the use of colour, Ryan Gosling’s performance, and the respect it has for the original whilst carving out a space of its own. Most importantly, however, Blade Runner 2049 exemplifies what good science fiction does best by providing a pristinely clean mirror through which to view ourselves and our society.

64. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

Terry Gilliam’s adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s classic, starring Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro and Tobey Maguire. Gilliam captures the two journalist’s drug-fueled mad dash through the desert with relish, panache, accomplish, and purely absurdist psychedelic energy.

65. Se7en (1995)

Yet another Fincher film and yet another that made an indelible impression upon me. A serial killer detective film like no other, featuring excellent performances from Spacey, Pitt, Freeman and Paltrow. Gritty, dark, original, human, timeless and extraordinarily well orchestrated.

66. Snatch (2000)

“D’u laike dargs?”. A thrilling crime thriller. A brilliant cast of characters, Brad Pitt in one of his best roles, and so many memorable scenes. Guy Ritchie at his slick, imperturbable best.

67. Point Break (1991)

Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. Bank robbery and surfing. Two of the coolest guys, doing two of the coolest things, whilst also playing a ruthless game of cat-and-mouse. Excellent fun and a film that my mum loves too.

68. Leon: The Professional (1994)

On Christmas day, when I was 11, Mum and Dad bought me a pair of over-ear Denon headphones. I spent much of that Christmas morning watching Luc Bessont’s Leon, giving them a spin by plugging them into a small TV upstairs. The headphones were great, and so was the film. There’s a distinctive and patient charm to Leon, which is only exacerbated by the violence which it concerns itself with. One of Gary Oldman’s best villains, an astounding debut by Natalie Portman, and one of those performances from Jean Reno that give the impression you could not imagine him ever playing anyone else.

69. Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

So far out. The animation, especially on my first viewing, cleaved my brain in two. So ambitious and unique that every frame is a worthy poster to be framed on a bedroom wall. The soundtrack matches the buoyant joy of the visuals, and the story is another multiverse film that does the philosophical concept justice.

70. Catch Me If You Can (2002)

A film that we watched multiple times together as a family, and one I like very much. Di Caprio and Hanks are so well cast in this cat-and-mouse fraudster thriller, that says a lot about greed, desire, ego, faking-it-till-you-make-it, family and responsibility. A lot of fun.

71. The Matrix (1999)

Probably the coolest film of all time and one I first watched with Dad, late on a school night. It has the feeling that it was carved from stone – that this film has always been made and just had to be made, and that there is nothing in it that could have been done differently. The philosophy, the action sequences, the revelatory camera work, the costume, the lighting, the dialogue, the acting, the casting, and just pure imagination. A true work of genius.

72. Being John Malkovich (1999)

Brilliant. John Cusack plays a struggling puppeteer who takes a job as a filing clerk and finds a door in his office that lets you into John Malcovich’s subconscious. A film my mum and I watched many years ago and were swept up in the weirdness and surrealness of. Another film expertly written by Charlie Kauffman.

73. Pineapple Express (2008)

Just iconic of a certain time of my life, throughout my early teens. My favourite Seth Rogen film, maybe only rivalled by The Interview. It’s very funny, it’s very silly, and it’s a lot of fun. Particular love for the opening black-and-white sequence. Vivid memories of watching this on a Saturday morning after a sleepover at my friend Angus’ house, before we headed off to play in a cricket match for the school’s third-year B team. Good times.

74. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

I distinctly remember the feeling of being stunned by the brilliance of its making, from front to back – the acting, the writing, the direction, the cinematography, the music, the pacing. Just terrific. Jack Nicholson is astoundingly good too, and Louis Fletcher’s Nurse Ratchet is toe-curlingly cruel. One of the best films of all time. So good in fact, that I had the film’s poster hanging on my bedroom wall throughout my second and third years of university.

75. Ex Machina (2014)

I’m a great fan of Alex Garland’s work (from The Beach to Annihilation, to 28 Days Later to Civil War) but Ex Machina takes the crown of being my favourite. Domhnall Gleeson’s lowly Silicone Valley coder is invited to spend a week with the company’s charismatic CEO, played by Oscar Isaac, only to find he has been invited to in fact test the consciousness of newly developed humanoid robots. It is terrific science fiction. Tense, challenging, intriguing, beguiling, fear-inducing, funny, and a lot of fun too.

76. The Goonies (1985)

A film I grew up loving and that I must have seen a dozen times. There’s so much to like about it for a young boy – a secret quest, pirates, smugglers, a rag-tag group of unique friends who are all intensely likeable, and some genuinely scary baddies. It also absolutely nails how it feels to be that age. The twin fear and admiration of people a year or two older; the starry-eyed, dumb-founded spell that girls cast; and the sense of invincibility one feels at that age when surrounded by your closest friends. Laugh out loud funny too. Particular love Mouth’s translation for Rosalita.

77. City of God (2002)

City of God does something similar to The Goonies by zeroing in on those sensations of youth but placing it in the favelas and suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. And in doing so, it goes far beyond it. A sprawlingly epic crime film, showing the chance encounters, foolish mistakes and misguided motivations that propel children into criminal life, as well as the tragically futile ends they so often meet are. The direction is slick, the writing is excellent, and the characters are so real and likeable that you forget instantaneously that you’re watching a non-English language film.

78. Cheaper By The Dozen 2 (2005)

Up there with Diary of Wimpy Kid as being one of the most classics ever for my brothers and me. Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt are the parents of 12 children, and the sequel follows them on a lake house holiday reunion. Many great scenes, so many great laughs, so many classic lines (“Can I go to the movies with Elliot Mertaugh tonight?”), all of which is underpinned by a very sweet contemplation of parenthood and familial relationships.

79. Step Brothers (2008)

Probably the film that makes me laugh the most – and certainly Adam McKay’s best comedy. 40 year-olds Brendan and Dale have never left home, but are forced to move in with each other when their single parents get married. Truly a laugh a minute, featuring some of my favourite scenes in all of comedy.

80. Mr Bean’s Holiday (2007)

Bean, Sabine, Bean, Sabine, Bean, Sabine. The brightness of Bean, of the French Riviera, of the anticipation of a holiday, is visually brought to life by the lighting and colour within this film. Rowan Atkinson is consistently terrific, and there are myriad scenes that me and my brothers grew up adoring. Trying out the phone numbers, the film set, the langoustine, the bike and the chicken farm, the opera in the square, the great big finale, and Willem Dafoe’s Carson Clay.

81. Nativity! (2009)

In making this pick I ummed and ahhed between Elf and Nativity!, as both are Christmas staples within our family and very dear to my heart. For pure Christmas energy though, the latter just about edges the former. The film bubbles and fizzes with childishly gleeful magic, which is born from the young cast’s delightful performances. These are matched by just the most classic turns from Mr Maddens (Martin Freeman), Mr Poppy (Marc Wooton), Mrs Bevan (Pam Ferris), Gordon Shakespeare (Jason Watkins), and Jennifer (“that’s what you’re paid to do”). So many references our family shares are born from it and so much joy has come from it.

82. Polar Express (2004)

Nothing evokes the feeling of Christmas itself like this film. Every year on the night of Christmas Eve, we would order a Chinese takeaway and watch the Polar Express under blankets. Pure Christmas bliss. You’ve just got to believe.

83. Four Lions (2010)

Chris Morris’ story of a group of young men from Sheffield who decide it’s their calling to wage jihad. It embodies everything that great comedy is – brave, empathetic, deeply funny, original, scathing and bold. Mashallah Brother!

84. Mrs Doubtfire (1993)

“Ohhhh Danny boy where are you!”. How me and my brothers love this film. Robin Williams’ genius is on full display. He exudes warmth, kindness and hilarity, and this is a role in which he soars. Even with the constant humour though, it is a film grounded in its realness with its perspectives on family.

85. The Florida Project (2017)

An A24 Sean Baker film about children growing up in an impoverished area of Florida, right outside of the Disney parks. Pain, trauma, addiction and danger lurk behind every door, but this is a film at its core about the enduring and freewheeling freedom of the innocence of childhood. The ever-brilliant Willem Dafoe is fantastic throughout too.

86. Deadpool 2 (2018)

Probably my second favourite MCU film. Just like the first Deadpool – self-referential, quippy, violent and snappy – but bettered by the presence of Julian Dennison and the centring of a-ha’s acoustic rendition of their own Take On Me for MTV unplugged.

87. Trainspotting (1996)

Danny Boyle’s adaptation of Irvine Walsh’s novel about heroin addicts in Edinburgh is a film that made a huge impression on me. So sad, so funny, so real, and so damn good. It features what is probably my favourite film soundtrack of all time and is a film that has inspired me and imparted much invaluable wisdom.

88. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)

When I was much younger, I recall occasionally contemplating my death. Not in a suicidal or even a necessarily morbid way, but just in coming to terms with my own mortality. I remember thinking, “When I die, I’ll be dead forever. Not like ‘forever, but actually wake up in 100 years’ . No, forever, as in ever and ever and ever”, thus spinning myself into a state of genuinely terrifying existential panic. Whilst this film did not act as the sole antidote to these thought processes, the final frames gave me a new courage and a new perspective – a kind of stoicism, and a kind of romanticism – that enabled the surpassing of these previous fears.

The plot posits that within a matter of weeks, an asteroid will collide with Earth and wipe out all human life upon it. Steve Carrell stumbles into the life of Kiera Knightley, and the two form an unlikely relationship as they share their final moments. I haven’t seen it in a long time, and I can’t remember too much about it, but I do remember how it made me feel and how it changed how I think.

89. Real Steel (2011)

One of my favourite films throughout my early teens. Hugh Jackman, robot boxing, and a soundtrack I adored. The action is excellent, the estranged-father-son dynamic is compelling and credible, and the animation of the robots is expertly done. A great mix of sentimentality and raw fun. What a brilliant final fight it is, too.

90. The Omen (1976)

Every summer our family would drive out to the French Alps. For a number of years, my mum and brothers would fly ahead, whilst Dad and I drove the car out. We had those car-DVD-players and I remember very vividly, when I was probably nine or ten, sitting in the backseat as we went through the Euro tunnel watching The Omen on Dad’s recommendation. A symbol of the films that Dad encouraged me to watch at an age when many other parents wouldn’t, and a film in its own right which is magnificently scary.

91. Ink Heart (2008)

All my life I have read voraciously. Ink Heart, a film about a man with the power to bring book characters to life, was thus one I fell in love with during my childhood. Every year, Father Christmas used to bring us each a DVD, and one year he brought me this film. I don’t remember much about it now but I remember that it had a darkness to it that I always found surprising and I remember still how it set my imagination alight.

92. Angel Heart (1987)

Such a brilliant neo-noir psychological horror-thriller. A film Dad and I watched together late one night and one that stuck with me. A private investigator, follows a series of murders through New Orleans, trying to make sense of what is afoot. Starring De Niro and Mickey Rourke, it is dark and shadowy and unsettling and thrilling. The final scene is one of genius – and one that represents one of my favourite endings to any film, ever.

93. Nanny McPhee (2005)

“If you need me but do not want me, then I must stay. But if you want me and do not need me, then I must go”. Pure delight from another childhood classic. Cedric Browne and Evangeline’s love is compelling and Emma Thompson exudes magic and warmth. A proper fairy tale.

94. Phantom Thread (2017)

Daniel Day-Lewis is Reynolds Woodcock, a highly sought-after courtier who is obsessed with his work and with himself. A waitress, the breathtakingly impressive Vicky Krieps, enters his life and becomes his muse. What emerges from the following is a thundering study of obsession, ego, grandeur, talent, power, cruelty and love. Just an amazing film; so precise, so controlled, so clinical, and so raw. Daniel Day-Lewis brings as good a performance as you’ll ever see and Paul Thomas Anderson paints a portrait of love unlike any other you have seen.

95. A Star is Born (2018)

The soundtrack is terrific, the central performances are excellent, their relationship feels real and credible, the exploration of alcoholism is essential and honest, and the pacing is great too. A beautifully devastating film.

96. Thunderbirds (2004)

How I used to love this film. Jeff Tracy, his super cool sons, Miss Penelope, Parker, Ben Kingsley, the super cool rocket-ship-plane-things. A seven-year-old’s dream, with the final scenes set in London too. Such deep nostalgia.

97. Willy Wonka (1971)

We (my brothers and I) watched this so many times with Mum and Dad. Magnificent. Gene Wilder is brilliant as is the world=building, and the weird-freaky-unsettlingness of the whole concept enthrals and tickles the imagination.

98. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

A film I loved for much of my early teens. A dramatic comedy about a teacher who has just left a mental institution and moves back in with his parents. Cooper and Lawrence have a magnetic aura here that surrounds them both. Their energy visibly repels and attracts each other, a quality that seeps through the screen, and they both exude a kind of fantastical weirdness. Two excellent performances, buoyed by equally strong performances from De Niro and Weaver, within a tightly written script that David O. Russell breathes so much life into.

99. Inglourious Basterds (2009)

My second favourite Tarantino film. Christoph Waltz is slippery dynamite, the ending is very deeply satisfying, and the film represents another instance of Tarantino rewriting history to gleeful effect.

100. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

“Axel Foley, how nice to see ya!”. Another iconic film from our childhood. Eddie Murphy is hilarious – so cool and slick and funny – and the 1980s LA in which he works is a caricature in the best sense. Scandinavian heavies in black suits with long blond hair, uzis with bottomless magazines, ostentatious hotels with huge bowls of fruit in the lobby, shootouts where ruptured barrels spew cocaine into the air like dry ice, all underscored by the soundtrack’s iconic Axel F.