Top Gun: Maverick

#45 at the time of writing.

I recently had the best week in cinema I've had in 20 years, having seen two mind-blowing smash hits back to back: Everything Everywhere All At Once, and this action masterpiece.

I haven't re-watched the original Top Gun for many years, and I don't think you need to have watched it at all to enjoy this sequel. (I suspect the original has aged - I seriously doubt it could be as exhilarating as this new incarnation.) I mean, sure, it's military propaganda, and it stars Tom Cruise whose dodgy Scientology connections have apparently included the perk of having been preserved in aspic for the last 35 years, but it's the most thrilling action film since Mad Max: Fury Road - or, perhaps, since ever.

You definitely want to see this on as big as screen as possible. It is incredible how face-meltingly well the G-forces have been captured as we go along for the ride in those fighter jets, preparing for a wonderfully improbable Death Star trench run.

And the emotional beats are well pitched, both in-story and meta - from the nostalgic nods to the original film's homoerotic brand of machismo, to seeing Val Kilmer on screen despite his acting career having been ended by throat cancer (he cannot talk at all, and his few lines in this film are emulated by an AI).

Took my breath away.