Theo Rollason — Features — Cinema As We Know It

Theo’s Top Ten Films of 2022

If you’re anything like me, you might have slight list fatigue; 2022 ended with Sight and Sound magazine’s once-in-a-decade poll of the best films of all time, which meant months and months of film writers getting philosophical about lists followed by fierce online debate about whether its winner was a worthy one. (New Year’s resolution: spend less time on Twitter.) Only time will tell if any of the films I’ve chosen below have what it takes to crack a future version of the Sight and Sound list, but for now it’s enough for me that I loved them all.

Theo’s Top Ten Films of 2021

If 2020 was the year of watching movies at home, 2021 was the year of the movie theatre. For me, it meant a return to two cinemas I particularly adore which provided a chance to catch up with favorites old and new. But as the year drew to a close with COVID-19 cases again on the rise in the UK, the bizarre question of whether I should be going to the cinema again weighed on my mind. And so, it was another weird year for movies and moviegoers – but far from a bad one. The difficulty I had in putting this list together is testament to the fantastic quality of films released in the period; any year in which sublimely sweet works from Paul Thomas Anderson and Céline Sciamma didn’t make my top ten is surely a good one.

Back to the Movies

The movies are back! As theaters begin to reopen and restrictions are lifted, we can begin to take our places again, seated alongside friends or strangers, and find fresh joys in the world on screen. The celebration and preservation of film and filmgoing will be ongoing, but the best reasons for returning to the theater and committing to making them as accessible as possible, with as much selection as possible, are those personal. In honor of their return, our August & September theme is all about our favorite theatrical experiences and why in the light of the big screen anything is possible.

Take It To Print! : April - May Theme

For our April & May theme, we’re selecting films that focus on journalism, and more specifically print journalism. As much as the medium has shifted to online publication, there remains a special place in our hearts for ink and paper and the means with which it arrives in our hands every morning without fail. These films embody the age-old tradition of journalism — hitting the streets, getting the facts, writing the story, and breaking the news — and define the complicated relationship between the profession and the public and do so through the lens of printing presses and Sunday editions.

Features, ThemesCinema As We Know ItApril 4, 2021Features, Themes, Greg Arietta, Kevin Conner, Theo Rollason, 2021

Sonic Dreams : February - March Theme

Like a good mix tape, a soundtrack cherry picks songs from disparate sources and strings them together to create an auditory experience all its own. The best films with soundtracks do this over and over again, playing track after track that cultivates a rhythmic liminal state of euphoria where sound and image become greater than the sum of their part. A Sonic Dream so to speak. For our February — March theme, we’re selecting our favorite film soundtracks that make us feel what cannot be rendered visually and add to the cinematic experience in ways only music can.

Features, ThemesCinema As We Know ItFebruary 8, 2021Features, Themes, Greg Arietta, Kevin Conner, Theo Rollason, Sonic Dreams, 2021

Best of the Rest - 2020

Each year, the Cinema As We Know It writing team publishes features for our personal top ten films in tandem with our favorite scenes and performances. However, no matter how much write for those features, there are always a handful of achievements that fall outside their purview. While we don’t have dedicated lists for each and every category under the sun, we still want to recognize a few items from last year that we think deserve notice. Loosely, this feature is a forum for us to write about the categorical ‘other’ in the media landscape, so for one reason or another, these are the best of rest for 2020.

Bump in the Night : September - October Theme

Did you hear that? There was… a noise… a murmur emerging from across the house. Probably nothing you tell yourself. But you can never be sure of a BUMP IN THE NIGHT. For our September & October theme, we’re picking a selection of some of our favorite horror films. Slashers, creature features, home invasions, 80s camp, Cronenberg body horror, final girls, and the like find their way on this list, and while we could make this list a hundred times over, we managed to select just eight for your consideration.

Hot Summer Nights : July - August Theme

This month’s theme is dedicated to the films that feel like summer more than anything else. On the surface, they bear the hallmarks of the summer time — endless sunshine, coastal beaches, seasonal vacations — but underneath they distill the essence of the season and capture the memories made therein. These films can take us back to simpler times when all we had to worry about were the plans for the next day and who it would be with, because even though summer comes around every year, it’ll never be the same as those Hot Summer Nights.

Medicine for Melancholy : May - June Theme

Right about now we could all use a little pick me up. Staring down at the problems in front of us and looking out into the future ahead, it’s hard to stay optimistic, but if there’s anything we’ve come to know about cinema is that it has the unique ability to transplant us elsewhere. Our May and June theme is focused on films that can change the mood for the better, films that to their core inspire unrelenting joy, happiness, and elation like no other.

In the City : March - April Theme

For this month’s theme, we’re selecting films that put particular emphasis on concrete jungles, films where the city itself becomes not just a location, but also a character. We may be following the lives of protagonists on screen, but it’s place they inhabit that plays just as much an important role as they do. We hate the traffic, the loud noises, and the lingering pollution, but we’ll be damned if we ever trade the metropolitan madness for suburban life. Because it’s the city, and there’s nothing like it.