1000 films at the cinema

For the last ten years, I have kept a record of everything I see at the cinema. From January 2016 to the end of 2025 I saw 621 films, or roughly 1.2 films a week. This data is made slightly useless by the Covid lockdowns (I saw 3 films at the cinema in 2020) and the fact that since I signed up to an Everyman pass I go a lot more (I saw 139 films at the cinema in 2025). But, even with the limited maths, on average an average of more than a film a week. Good stuff.

I thought that for my fifties I would set a target of one thousand films at the cinema. That’s roughly two films a week. Why? For absolutely no reason at all. Just for the love of the game. Just to see more cinema.

And while I haven’t been to the cinema this week, I have booked a ticket for the Widescreen Weekend at Science and Media Museum which I have wanted to go to for ages and never found the time for. It’s a great line-up this year too. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Searchers, How the West Was Won (in Cinerama), Sholay, El Cid, Sonchiriya, Grand Prix… Proper dad stuff. They are also showing The Sound of Music, which I have somehow never seen. So I will probably see that too. I’m a bit worried about it being three hours long but, you know, big screen, cinema, why not.

I’d like to visit some little independent cinemas too. I recently went to The Island Cinema in Lytham St Annes. Would recommend. Comfy seats, excellent snack selection. Mostly though, I’ll be going to the Everyman in Manchester, which is the best cinema in the world. In my opinion. Other cinemas might be good too.

I know what you’re thinking. 621 films, eh? What was the best and the worst films you saw at the cinema in that decade? Well, that’s an impossible question. How do you rank a great horror film against a great musical or an animation? What makes a film great? Do you mean best, or favourite? If I spent a few hours going through my notes I could give you a list of fifty indisputably great films, or a list of fifty brilliant underrated films that you might not have seen when they came out. But to name a single ‘best’ film? Impossible.

Worst film? Nocturnal Animals. A real piece of shit. Irredeemable, nasty, pro-life extremism presented as torture porn. Historically bad. Stacked with talent but with a heart of pure evil. Garbage. Hated it, mate.

As with the one thousand species, eventually I will add a page to this site where you can keep an eye on my progress. I might even give each film a (very short) review, so that it can become an invaluable resource or something, all with words on and that.