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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Big day for the official HM Treasury discord server

Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

1. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985) The most epic adaptation of Shakespeare ever filmed. A sprawlingly epic samurai film, as a warlord confronts his children carving up his empire. Blood! Flags! Swords! Water and fire and hills! Vivid, glorious reds, yellows, greens, blues! Nothing else hits like this.

Tatsuya Nakadai as Lord Hidetora Ichimonji in Ran (1985)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

2. Alice in the Cities (Wim Wenders, 1974) Every Wim Wenders film unfolds like the most magical dream, in the truest sense of film as dream. It conjures a sense of place and experience like nothing else. A man finds himself with a little girl, as they hunt through Europe for a remembered house.

Rüdiger Vogler as Philip Winter and Yella Rottländer as Alice van Damm in Alice in the Cities (1974)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1969) Absolutely monumental filmmaking. Totemic. Watching this is like witnessing the entire grandiosity of human history placed before your very eyes. A masterwork of precision, every shot constructed like in nothing else. Astonishing.

Keir Dullea as Dr David Bowman in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

4. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982) A 5 hour runtime washes away as this delightfully compelling tale of a family in 1900s Sweden unfurls into an epic of intimate proportions. Profound joy, tragic loss and the terror of power dynamics are brought to life with visual beauty.

Bertil Guve as Alexander in Fanny and Alexander (1982)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

5. City of God (Fernando Meirelles, 2002) There is rhythm and groove in every pore of this kinetic realisation of violent crime in 1970s Rio. Impossible to look away from, constantly changing gear and exploding with life even as the streets explode into blood and death.

Alexandre Rodrigues as Rocket in City of God (2002)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

6. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003) A man is in prison, but he doesn't know why, until one day he mysteriously emerges out into the world in a suitcase. What's going on? Whatever it is, it's a perfectly executed, dynamic thriller with some shocking twists and direction to die for from Park.

Choi Min-sik as Oh Dae-Su in Oldboy (2003)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

7. Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1997) A terrifying whirlwind of nightmarish terror and confusion, as a pop idol finds her world and sense of reality crashing around her amidst the madness of celebrity obsession and the darkness of fandom. Another masterclass in animation from Satoshi Kon.

Mimi, a pop idol, confronts herself in Perfect Blue (1997)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

8. Tokyo Story (Yasujirō Ozu, 1953) A couple travel from their rural town to the big city to visit their adult children, but find themselves more of a burden than a blessing. An intimate, moving, tragic portrait of life. It will make you call your parents and wallow in regret and fear.

Chisū Ryū as Shukichi Hirayama, Setsuko Hara as Noriko Hirayama and Chieko Higashiyama as Tomi Hirayama in Tokyo Story (1953)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

9. Paper Moon (Peter Bogdanovich, 1973) A travelling conman finds himself in debt to a forthright young girl in the Depression-era American south. It is a timeless film, and a perfect road trip film and a portrait of a lovely relationship with all the thrill of a crime movie.

Oscar-winning Tatum O'Neal as Addie and Ryan O'Neal as Moses Pray in Paper Moon (1973)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

10. I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun, 2024) What if you got too into a TV show? Or maybe... maybe you're not into it enough What can that kind of obsession help you learn about yourself? When that path opens, you can embrace your identity, or suppress it. This is a unique exploration of that.

Justice Smith as Owen and Jack Haven as Maddy in I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

11. The Best Years of our Lives (William Wyler, 1946) Three men return from the Second World War, and try to re-enter their old lives. But it is no longer so simple. Relationships have changed and the men themselves have been irrevocably changed by events. Pitch perfect comedy drama.

Harold Russell as Homer, Dana Andrews as Fred and Fredic March as Al in The Best Years of our Lives (1946)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

11. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010) Two people meet for the very first time. Or do they? How long have they known each other? Which version of themselves and their lives is real, and which is pretend? What is a relationship? What is a lifetime? What is it to love, and to know another?

William Shimell as James and a Cannes award-winning performance from Juliette Binoche as Elle in Certified Copy (2010)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

11. All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979) Absolutely insane autobiopic from Fosse. Unhinged, really, to make a film like this about oneself - to call it "warts and all" is an understatement. Fosse presents himself as a demented figure, and the crescendo is perhaps his most maximalist number ever.

Roy Scheider as Joe Gideon (a Bob Fosse self-insert) and Ben Vereen as O'Connor Flood in All That Jazz (1979)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

12. Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant, 1997) Robin Williams is stunning in this impeccably crafted drama about a troubled genius and his grieving therapist. It's such a lovely human story, that starts as being about unappreciated talent but becomes something all the more special.

Robin Williams as Sean Maguire and Matt Damon as Will Hunting in Good Will Hunting (1997)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

13. Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959) James Stewart is stunning in the role of a lawyer defending a violent killer. We want to root for him because he's James Stewart, but his goal here is so troubling - and the result is a masterclass in tension and play with audience expectations.

James Stewart as Paul Biegler, the lawyer who dominates Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

14. Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960) A kaleidoscope of colourful horror about a killer with a movie camera by the master of technicolour cinema, painted in vivid hues and dynamic movement. A masterclass in horror and visual spectacle - screencaps simply do not do ot justice.

Karlheinz Böhm as Mark Lewis and Moira Shearer as Vivian in Peeping Tom (1960)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

15. Swing Girls (Shinobu Yaguchi, 2004) Absolute riotous fun as a group of schoolgirls (and a boy) start a swing band, and get into a whole range of wild antics over a wild and joyful few weeks. Rhythmic, energised, an absolute ton of fun

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

16. Look Back (Kiyotaka Oshiyama, 2024) A beautiful new Japanese animation about a young artist who meets her biggest fan, which leads her onto a sort of intimate odyssey that ends up being profoundly affecting. It packs a lot of pathos into a short runtime.

Fujino and Kyomoto, the main characters of Look Back (2024), sitting on a train.

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

17. Sing Sing (Greg Kwedar, 2023) Intimately realised drama about the arts programme in the Sing Sing prison, where some inmates are able to participate in the creation of theatrical plays. This true story is wonderful celebration of human creativity, and a damning indictment of the penal system.

Colman Domingo as John 'Divine G' Whitfield in Sing Sing (2023)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

18. Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, 2022) A woman reflects on a childhood holiday she spent in Turkey with her father many years ago. Memories inflected with the digital video camera on which footage was recorded, and the sense of pre-adolescent confusion and realisation, power this masterpiece.

Paul Mescal as Calum and Frankie Corio as Sophie in Aftersun (2022)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

19. The Lunchbox (Ritesh Batra, 2013) In Mumbai, there is a huge, efficient system of delivery of home cooked meals to people's workplaces. This film takes that concept and weaves it into a wonderful, imaginative human story about two people connected unexpectedly by chance and by food.

Irrfan Khan as Saajan in The Lunchbox (2013)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

20. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986) A typically mysterious, suburban work from Lynch, who shakes Americana out of a salt grinder, rooted in unique images and melodies meshed together in the mind of a mad genius Like all Lynch films, it cannot be described. It can only be beheld.

Isabella Rossellini as Dorothy Vallens in Blue Velvet (1986)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

I personally have been having a grand old time this year watching MAD MEN for the first time! A very engaging TV show about advertising executives facing a changing world increasingly leaving them behind in the 1960s (I'm still on Season 6 so no spoilers please)

The lead cast of Mad Men, including Jon Hamm as Don Draper

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

TV shows of the year: Some TV shows with some excellent runs this year have included: Andor Severance Pluribus Film Club Squid Game

Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma in Andor

Aimee Lou Wood as Evie and Nabhaan Rizwan as Noa in Film Club

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Best Doctor Who episode of the year: The Story and the Engine Dr Who goes to Nigeria to get a haircut. What follows is a wonderful, folklore-infused work that's different from anything Doctor Who had ever done, or could even have attempted prior to the casting of Ncuti Gatwa. Genuinely ambitious.

The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) gets ready for a fresh trim in Doctor Who: The Story and the Engine (2025)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

1. I'm Still Here (Walter Salles) An astonishing, heartbreaking true story, about one woman's life in the face of oppressive military dictatorship in 1970s Brazil. It is moving and funny, as well as angry and resolute. An unforgettable portrait of a place, a time, and an incredible life.

Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva in I'm Still Here (2025)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

2. Flow (Gints Zilbalodis) One small cat is very happy in its lovely, welcoming environs, until a vast, apocalyptic event occurs and throws our heroic cat into the unknown What unfolds is perhaps the greatest of adventure films, and a new high watermark in computer animation.

The black cat protagonist of Flow (2025), swimming in the water and surrounded by fish.

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

3. Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor) A deeply moving, funny, human story, centred on a perfectly sketched, immaculately played central character as she navigates trauma. Slowly envelopes you and then consumes your heart whole.

Eva Victor as Agnes and John Carroll Lynch as Pete in Sorry, Baby (2025)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

4. Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Ariane Louis-Seize) Does what it says on the tin. What more could you want than a jet black comedy about a vampire who refuses to kill, and her willing victim? Acebic in its humour. Coming of age and coming of death. Irresistible!

Félix-Antoine Bénard as Paul and Sara Montpetit as Sasha in Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (2024)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

5. A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg) Two cousins go on holiday to Poland, where they confront a shared Jewish heritage, and their own relationship and psychoses The result is a beautiful, profound, moving exploration of the characters and the world, raising big questions in stunning locales. Glorious.

Kieran Culkin as Benji and Jesse Eisenberg as David in A Real Pain (2025)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

6. Eternity (David Freyne) A classical-feeling high concept romance drama, with heavy elements of satire and meditation on the human condition. Brilliant central concept, strong execution, lots of bright concepts - it's aiming for Powell and Pressburger and it works.

Miles Teller as Larry and Elizabeth Olsen as Joan in Eternity (2025)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

7. Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro) An artistic and visually stunning new take that feels true to the novel without adapting it word for word. Extremely compelling and feels grand and gothic - Del Toro is the master of this kind of thing so it was a perfect match for him.

Jacob Elordi as the Creature and Mia Goth as Elizabeth in Frankenstein (2025)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

8. Sinners (Ryan Coolger) This unpredictable historical drama takes a new lens to African American history and culture, melting together music and folklore to create something very special that sings of centuries of shared culture.

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

9. Wake Up Dead Man (Rian Johnson) Benoit Blanc takes on the church in this engaging new murder mystery. It's very polemical - as usual, Johnson has a lot of Opinions to share through Blanc, but as usual they're all good opinions so it's okay. Great direction and story as always.

Josh O'Connor as Father Jud and Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc in Wake Up Dead Man (2025)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

10. One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson) Chase Infiniti outshines Leonardo Dicaprio's delightfully out of his depth aging revolutionary in this dynamic PTA release. Lots of great action, and a terrific unpredictability in this exciting blockbuster.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob and Bernicio del Toro as Sensai Sergio St Carlos in One Battle After Another (2025)

Chase Infiniti as Willa in One Battle After Another (2025)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Next: the Groovy Hippo award, for Best Musical! KPop Demon Hunters (Appelhans and Kang, 2025) Joyfully playful animation in this lavish new release full of bops. Rightfully a sensation this year, and I am rooting for more original films like this to be propelled into the mainstream.

The three members of Huntrix, the lead trio in KPop Demon Hunters (2025)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

We begin with the Stinky Hippo award for the WORST film of the year: Fantastic 4: First Steps (Matt Shakman, 2025) After Thunderbolts, things were looking up, but they came crashing down again in this uninspired, dull corporate slop, with a generic plotline and some weird undertones.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Pedro Pascal as Mr Fantastic, and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm in Fantastic 4: First Steps. Despite excellent production design, this image is representatively washed out.

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

But which films were the best? What's gonna be, gonna be golden What's done hiding, now they're shining, like they're born to be? It's their time, no fears, no lies They're what we're born to see

The three main characters of KPop Demon Hunters (2025)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Me when I want to find a film on Mubi that isn't about "sensual longing and animal instincts"

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Oh so this is all fine but being critical of Donald Trump means everyone has to resign

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

The British public deciding whether to be racist or transphobic this week #Strictly (They chose racist)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

1. THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (Demy, 1964) Pastel colours abound in this most astonishing, romantic, sung-through musical with a superb score by Michel Legrand Two young lovers are torn apart when one of them is called up to the army... can their love survive the time apart? The perfect film.

Catherine Deneuve as Geneviève in Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

2. SUSPIRIA (Argento, 1977) A whirlwind of colour and sound, a kaleidoscope for all the senses, with a screaming soundtrack and all the whimsy of the greatest dark fairytales... this is an absolute cinematic feast, perhaps the greatest horror film, as a series of gorgeously rendered murders occur.

Jessica Harper as Suzy Bannion in Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

3. BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (Jonze, 1999) Possibly the most unpredictable film I have ever seen. I can't even begin to describe it. A man discovers a portal into the mind of esteemed actor John Malkovich in a cupboard at his workplace... this is one of the least odd things that happens in this movie.

John Cusack as Craig Schwartz in Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's Being John Malkovich (1999)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

4. BICYCLE THIEVES (De Sica, 1948) "Papa!" In postwar Italy, jobs are scarce, and one man's livelihood lies in his bicycle. One day, his bicycle is stolen, and this leads him on a desperate attempt to recover it. One of the most stressful films I have ever seen - bitter, horrible realism.

Lamberto Maggiorani as Antonio and Enzo Staiola as Bruno in Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1948)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

5. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (Powell & Pressburger, 1943) The Archers take their incredible skill and vision to their most epic film - the story of a lifetime, of a soldier forever haunted by a lost love he keeps seeing and a lost sense of decency and fair play in war. It's heartbreaking.

Anton Walbrook as Theo, Roger Livesey as Clive and Deborah Kerr in one of three roles in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

6. THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE (Chomet, 2003) A demented, maximalist dream vision of a sort of New York/Paris hybrid where an old lady must save her cyclist grandson from the mafia with the assistance of a trio of elderly vaudeville performers It must be seen to be believed

The grandma and three elderly vaudeville performers in Sylvain Chomet's The Triplets of Belleville (2003)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

7. ROOM (Abrahamson, 2015) A moving, sometimes terrifying thriller/drama about childhood and parenthood, centred on a small boy whose whole world is the small room that he has never left in his life and which is therefore his whole universe. A career-best performance from Brie Larson in this.

Jacob Tremblay as Jack and Brie Larson as his mother in Lenny Abrahamson's Room (2015)

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Tricky Hippo @thetrickyhippo.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

8. DECISION TO LEAVE (Park, 2022) A sumptuous thriller worthy of Hitchcock, defined by the mountains and the sea A detective finds himself enthralled by the chief suspect in a case that may be murder or suicide... but once he gets close, he becomes entangled in a web of intrigue and tragedy.

Park Hae-il as Jang Hae-joon and Tang Wei as Bong Seo-rae in Park Chan-wook's Decision to Leave (2022)

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