Days of The Week (Films Watched October 7 – 28)

A year ago, I marked on this site a week that had gone by without a single film watched. The experience was freeing and added a wonderful dose of perspective to this little obsession of mine.

Today I sit here and find myself on the tail end of another one of those moments.

Three whole weeks have passed since I last wrote a watchlist entry, and while my diary should be brimming with entries, and my ‘to-watch’ list should be dwindling. Instead, three weeks have passed with just three screenings, the home-viewing tally from that time is equally tiny, and at one point a whole week passed with merely a single addition to my film diary.

Even my #52FilmsByWomen project is lagging, now a whopping three entries behind. (Don’t worry – a few weeks of double-features and I’ll be caught up).

Do I feel my passion waning? Am I, perhaps, beginning to drift from my cinematic obsession?

Far from it.

Instead, I feel re-energized. I’ve spent several happy nights surrounded by my family celebrating birthdays and holidays. I watched my favorite baseball team go on another amazing playoff run (and then promptly tuned-out for their unfortunate exit). Then, of course, I went on an incredible journey.

All of this…and all of the quiet cups of coffee, and mornings spent reading books, have only gone and enhanced my love for this beautiful art form. It has coloured in between the lines, adding glorious texture. Some films now take on new meaning considering the memories attached to where and when I watched them. Other films, likewise, gain new appreciation after standing on the very spots where they were filmed.

In short, taking a moment and doing some living has gone and re-energized my love for watching.

Such moments are important, I believe. To step out of the cinema…to put down the remote…to close the laptop. It can slow down tallies and stall personal projects, but none of those things are the end of the world. Instead, by enriching one’s personal life, they allow for an enriched experience with film and a better appreciation for the places and people around us.

And so it is that I sit here, a few films short, a few entries behind, and a little bit rusty where writing and podcasting are concerned. However, I also sit here re-energized and with a new hunger for stories.

Taking some time off can do that for ya.

Here’s the three weeks at hand…
Screenings
INFERNO – Not awesome, but there was something cool about watching it in Florence.
DENIAL – While in Rome we discovered a film festival and caught this. The experience was a bit surreal.
MOONLIGHT – I’ll have a lot to say about this movie in the days ahead.
Streaming/Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
OBSESSION – Seen VERTIGO? Then you’ve seen this movie.
MASCOTS – Good Guest, if not Great Guest.
KEANU – For the most part, I read on my flights back and forth to the old country…for a moment though.
MON ONCLE ANTOINE – Sometimes when you dip your expectations, you get a beautiful surprise.
Streaming/Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Seen Before
A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – It’s always trippy to see a flop gain new life, isn’t it?
THE WOLVERINE – Anyone else super excited for LOGAN?
THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN – This might well be one of the worst Director’s Cuts I’ve ever seen. Pace gets thrown to hell in the name of showing every last joke.
BIG – I feel the urge to learn how to play “Heart and Soul”
FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF – Got any movies you can recite by memory?
THE FULL MONTY – I’ll always remember growing up with the full screen VHS copy of this. Scenes like the gnomes were chopped to bits.
ZOOTOPIA – Cute, but I still wish it was so much more than cute.

Boxscore for The Year
207 First-Timers, 111 Re-Watched
72 Screenings
318 Movies in Total

How’s about you – seen anything good?