The big news since the last rankings update is that I’ve launched a new home for my Chinese Cinema project. I’m moving all the old writings over there, and they’ll remain free for everyone. But all my future full reviews will be behind a modest paywall. The subscription is $1/month or $10/year while the site is under construction; after that’s done (or after April 1, whichever is later), it’ll go up to $2/month or $20/year. So far I’ve revised and transferred everything in the 36th Chamber category, and I’m about halfway through the Fallen Angels. New subscriber only reviews are up for the late Chor Yuen’s Web of Death and Fruit Chan’s latest, Coffin Homes. I really like how the site is shaping up and if you enjoy my writings, I hope you’ll consider subscribing.

Before the move, I wrote about a number of films at the old Chinese Cinema site, including: Kung Fu Stuntmen, The Rescue, Schemes in Antiques, 7 Grandmasters, The 36 Deadly Styles, The World of the Drunken Master, The Shaolin Kids, The 18 Bronzemen, Return of the 18 Bronzemen, Project S, The Inspector Wears Skirts series, The Seventh Curse, The Legend of Fong Sai-yuk, The Legend of Fong Sai-yuk II, Burning Ambition, and Angel Terminators 2.

Elsewhere, I reviewed Hosoda Mamoru’s Belle, the reconstruction of John Liu’s New York Ninja, Hell Hath No Fury and Kate, West Side Story, Karnan, and One Shot at Seattle Screen Scene. I also wrote about Benedetta and Licorice Pizza for InReview Online, had some double feature ideas for the Mubi Notebook, and wrote about Bob Dylan’s Shadow Kingdom at Frame.land.

I also appeared on a couple of podcasts: talking about Lau Kar-leung and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin on The Dead Beat Film Society; and about Jia Zhangke for The Great Movies Pod.

End of the year content here at The End includes the best books I read last year, my favorite film discoveries, and the Endy Award nominees of 2021.

These are the movies I’ve watched or rewatched over the last few weeks, and where they place on my year-by-year rankings.

The Haunted House (Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton) – 11, 1921
Mickey’s Trailer (Ben Sharpsteen) – 9, 1938
Casey at the Bat (Jack Kinney) – 13, 1946
Rabbit Transit (Friz Freleng) – 17, 1947
Buccaneer Bunny (Friz Freleng) – 24, 1948

Beep, Beep (Chuck Jones) – 12, 1952
Operation: Rabbit (Chuck Jones) – 17, 1952
Duck Amuck (Chuck Jones) – 5, 1953
Robot Rabbit (Friz Freleng) – 31, 1953
Roman Legion-Hare (Friz Freleng) – 40, 1955
Yankee Dood It (Friz Freleng) – 29, 1956

Hercules in the Haunted World (Mario Bava) – 8, 1961
A Charlie Brown Christmas (Bill Melendez) – 3, 1965
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Chuck Jones) – 15, 1966
Original Cast Album: Company (DA Pennebaker) – 4, 1970
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Bill Melendez & Phil Roman) – 38, 1973

Shaolin Kung Fu (Joseph Kuo) – 39, 1974
The Shaolin Kids (Joseph Kuo) – 15, 1975
Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (Phil Roman) – 19, 1975
The Web of Death (Chor Yuen) – 14, 1976
The 18 Bronzemen (Joseph Kuo) – 23, 1976
Return of the 18 Bronzemen (Joseph Kuo) – 28, 1976

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Lau Kar-leung) – 2, 1978
The 7 Grandmasters (Joseph Kuo) – 15, 1978
Warriors Two (Sammo Hung) – 23, 1978
The 36 Deadly Styles (Joseph Kuo) – 23, 1979
The World of the Drunken Master (Joseph Kuo) – 38, 1979
The Old Master (Joseph Kuo) – 43, 1979

Airplane! (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker) – 6, 1980
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Steven Spielberg) – 32, 1984
Lost in America (Albert Brooks) – 9, 1985
Mr. Vampire (Ricky Lau) – 15, 1985
The Seventh Curse (Lam Nai-choi) – 15, 1986

The Inspector Wears Skirts (Wellson Chin) – 50, 1988
Mr. Canton & Lady Rose (Jackie Chan) – 21, 1989
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Steven Spielberg) – 28, 1989
Burning Ambition (Frankie Chan) – 33, 1989
The Inspector Wears Skirts II (Wellson Chin) – 62, 1989

Outlaw Brothers (Frankie Chan) – 50, 1990
Home Alone (Chris Columbus) – 70, 1990
Raid on Royal Casino Marine (Wellson Chin) – 78, 1990
Dreaming the Reality (Tony Lou Chun-ku) – 46, 1991
Naked Killer (Clarence Fok) – 22, 1992
Angel Terminators 2 (Tony Lu Chun-ku & Chan Lau) – 47, 1992
The Inspector Wears Skirts IV (Wellson Chin) – 57, 1992
Angel Terminators (Wai Lit) – 61, 1992

The Legend of Fong Sai-yuk (Corey Yuen) – 10, 1993
Addams Family Values (Barry Sonnenfeld) – 36, 1993
The Legend of Fong Sai-yuk II (Corey Yuen) – 47, 1993
Project S (Stanley Tong) – 66, 1993
The Sandlot (David Mickey Evans) – 75, 1993

Drunken Master II (Lau Kar-leung) – 6, 1994
Party Girl (Daisy von Scherler Mayer) – 16, 1995
The Daytrippers (Greg Mottola) – 12, 1996
Forbidden City Cop (Stephen Chow & Vincent Kok) – 41, 1996
Muppet Treasure Island (Brian Henson) – 55, 1996

The Matrix (Lana & Lilly Wachowski) – 3, 1999
Platform (Jia Zhangke) – 2, 2000
The Cat’s Meow (Peter Bogdanovich) – 34, 2001
The Matrix Reloaded (Lana & Lilly Wachowski) – 16, 2003
The Matrix Revolutions (Lana & Lilly Wachowski) – 32, 2003
Elf (Jon Favreau) – 42, 2003

Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow) – 5, 2004
Howl’s Moving Castle (Miyazaki Hayao) – 22, 2004
Still Life (Jia Zhangke) – 2, 2006
Speed Racer (Lana & Lilly Wachowski) – 2, 2008

A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke) – 7, 2013
The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji (Miike Takashi) – 28, 2013
Spectre (Sam Mendes) – 109, 2015
The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio (Miike Takashi) – 113, 2016
Trainspotting 2 (Danny Boyle) – 137, 2017
Peter Rabbit (Will Gluck) – 139, 2018

Kung Fu Stuntmen (Wei Junzi) – 28, 2020
Love After Love (Ann Hui) – 45, 2020
The Rescue (Dante Lam) – 52, 2020
The New Mutants (Josh Boone) – 60, 2020

Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven) – 4, 2021
West Side Story (Steven Spielberg) – 5, 2021
Get Back (Peter Jackson) – 8, 2021
Karnan (Mari Selvaraj) – 9, 2021
Belle (Hosoda Mamoru) – 12, 2021

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (Jane Schoenbrun) – 15, 2021
The Matrix Resurrections (Lana Wachowski) – 19, 2021
Drifting Petals (Clara Law) – 21, 2021
One Shot (James Nunn) – 30, 2021
Hell Hath No Fury (Jesse V. Johnson) – 32, 2021

Coffin Homes (Fruit Chan) – 34, 2021
The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier) – 35, 2021
The Voyeurs (Michael Mohan) – 39, 2021
Kate (Cedric Nicolas-Troyan) – 40, 2021
The Last Duel (Ridley Scott) – 42, 2021

Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas (Steve Cox) – 43, 2021
Spider-Man: No Way Home (Jon Watts) – 51, 2021
JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass (Oliver Stone) – 52, 2021
Schemes in Antiques (Derek Kwok) – 54, 2021
No Time to Die (Cary Joji Fukunaga) – 58, 2021

Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro) – 59, 2021
The Mole Song: Final (Miike Takashi) – 60, 2021
Queenpins (Aron Gaudet & Gita Pullapilly) – 61, 2021
King Richard (Reinaldo Marcus Green) – 62, 2021
New York Ninja (John Liu & Kurtis Spieler) – 67, 2021

Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay) – 69, 2021
House of Gucci (Ridley Scott) – 70, 2021
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Michael Showalter) – 71, 2021
Gunpowder Milkshake (Navot Papushado) – 73, 2021

Blue Island (Chan Tze-woon) – 1, 2022
I Want You Back (Jason Orley) – 2, 2022