As I mentioned last week, I have officially logged in 100 screenings this year. I can’t really say I saw this coming, after all last year I ended off the entire year with 97. Getting to 100 this year seemed likely, but to do so with two full months left to jack the number even higher seems odd. Allow me a moment to sum up the numbers…

84 releases from 2011
16 screenings of older films
8 of those 16 were films I’d seen before
There wasn’t a single film I watched more than once.
I saw movies in 20 different venues, 1 of which was out of town
By far, my most visited venue was The Lightbox with 26 shows
Second place is Silvercity – which is the closest to home – with 18

Admittedly, taking part in four different film festivals through the course of the year helped to make this “achievement” happen. In the end I can only shrug and say some people go to the bar, some people go shopping, I go to movies.

On to this week…

Screenings
LOVE – A beautiful meditative piece.
A LONELY PLACE TO DIE – Part of me thinks I’ll be watching films by this director in years to come and take pride in saying “I was there when…”
THE RUM DIARY – Part of me believes that HST deserves better.

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3 – Yup, y’all were right, this horror morsel was a boatload of fun.
FIVE EASY PIECES – Another selection from the BBS box set, one that I’ll have to stew on a little longer and perhaps rewatch.

Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
SHUTTER ISLAND – If you’re watching it for the second or third time, make sure to pay attention to Mark Ruffalo. Watching what he does is so much fun.

Boxscore for The Year
210 First-Timers, 140 Re-Watched
350 Movies in Total

How’s about you – seen anything good?

14 Replies to “Days of The Week (Films Watched 10/22 – 10/28)”

    1. Just watched Cat People last week! The eeriness of it holds up pretty well, doesn’t it? Open Your Eyes is a film I loved quite a bit…it’s been far too long since I last watched it though.

  2. I was really hoping The Rum Diary didn’t suck. I need Depp to get back on track.

    Anyways, firsts: 1) No Country for Old Men– Not my favourite Coen Bros. film but really good, though I have not been this scared in a film in the longest time. Anton Chigurh is going to haunt my nightmares.
    2) Hard Eight– Had to finish my P.T. Anderson filmography.
    3) Heavenly Creatures– Didn’t love it as much everyone else seems to, but solid effort from Jackson.
    4) 30 Minutes or Less– Not as good as Zombieland, but still fun.
    5) Badlands– I thought it was very good, but I was half-asleep while watching it which wasn’t the smartest idea.
    6) 28 Days Later– Finally finished it and glad to find out that it’s not like every other outbreak film.
    7) Bollywood film Ra.One, which I thought would be the film that paves the way for Indian films to make proper action blockbusters, but no. So bad. It’s still going to make tons of money though.

    Rewatched: Blow Dry– Used to love watching this in my Josh-Hartnett-is-my-husband era. It’s still fun though. Simple little British comedy.

  3. The Other F Word: I hate 99% of all band docs and this one shows off why. No insights, no drive. These things are always either tragic or victorious, and this one dabbles in the shallow end of the former with some weak hope to offset it.
    A City of Sadness: What a striking, singular piece of work. Realism as filtered through a distancing, even geometrically precise direction that I can’t quite explain. Combines the best of Ozu and Mizoguchi to showcase some of the finest Taiwanese cinema I’ve seen (which would place it in the running of finest overall)
    Les Diaboliques/Diabolique: Man, this really got under Hitchcock’s skin. His entire late career can be seen in this masterwork by Clouzot, who may well top everything Hitch did to overcome him here.

    Rewatches:
    Shotgun Stories: Still haunted by Michael Shannon’s performance and Nichols’ David Gordon Green-esque direction.
    Captain America: The First Avenger: Still the best superhero movie of the summer and indeed the ONLY one of this year I even liked.

    1. This year has been especially tough on cape & cowl movies. The good news though is that next year should be infinitely better. Of all the ones we got this year, I’m with you in enjoying CAP the most.

      As for the rest of your list, I am sadly ignorant…though SHOTGUN STORIES has been on my radar ever since the moment TAKE SHELTER ended.

  4. New on DVD: Kings of Pastry

    Entertaining documentary about France’s master pastry chef competition, which combines baking with an endurance test worthy of extreme sports. Often I multi-task while watching documentaries but not this time; looking away would have meant missing shots of exquisite food-as-art.

    1. That’s a pretty good week of watchin’ right there! When I did my first round of horror correction last fall, HALLOWEEN was one of the films I enjoyed the very most.

      Why don’t they make ’em like that anymore?

      1. The original is superb; i just wish that they would have left the character alone and went with an anthology like Carpenter suggested.

  6. Whew. If I watch two tomorrow, it’ll be 31 films in October.

    Shine: A good movie with some great performances.
    A Woman Under the Influence: Hard to watch, but incredible
    The Lion King: Evidently, I like this movie less than everyone else does.
    Gaslight: Amazing. Flat out amazing.
    The Terminator: The effects don’t hold up, but it’s better than you remember.
    Terminator 2: Judgment day: The effects DO hold up, but it’s not quite as good as you remember.
    Wild Strawberries: Bergman’s best? Probably not, but worth seeing.
    The King’s Speech: Last year’s best? Probably not, but worth seeing.

    1. Did you get your two in?

      I’m enjoying the comments people are leaving on these posts because it inevitably has me adding to my to-see list (such was the case with GASLIGHT and STRAWBERRIES here).

      I need to revisit THE KING’S SPEECH. Lindsay bought it on blu-ray a while back but I haven’t seen it since the theatre. You’re bang-on in saying that it’s solid despite probably not being the best in what was a rather good year.

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