Ryan McNeil
New year, new image. Hope you enjoyed twelve whole months of Valentine and Maria, now I turn the weekly post over to Sebastian and Mia.
Sorta feels strange to be writing one of these posts without making mention of the #52FilmsByWomen project. I already miss it! While I’m not going to be making it a weekly mission anymore, I am going to be keeping my eyes peeled for projects to support and artists to listen to. Already, I am hotly anticipating THE ZOOKEEPERS WIFE by Jessica Chastain and XX by Annie “St. Vincent” Clark.
As for the new year of film, it got off to a bit of a slow start with three whole days of 2017 going by before I watched so much as a single frame! What can I say – the holidays are a busy time. Dedicating three hours of home entertainment time to Sherlock doesn’t help matters either.
However, as I caught-up with some of the holdovers from 2016, it cemented my opinion that the final few months of the year brought us a lot of good works…and that the winter/early spring will be a wonderful stretch of filmgoing.
Maybe that’s the benefit of not getting to see all of the year’s offerings as they drop; it provides nourishment during the time that follows. Maybe I’ll leave myself some cinematic provisions more often!
Here’s the two weeks at hand…
Screenings
SILENCE – Matineecast about this coming up soon. I’ll be interested to see how this ages.
FENCES – Very much a play, but very much an exceptional set of performances.
Streaming/Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
OH, GOD! – It’s amazing what they show on TCM these days!
MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO – The missus is watching “Looking”, so I countered with queer content of my own.
SAUSAGE PARTY – Yeah, that was dirty!
BRIGHT LIGHTS – This doc really makes it clear how Debbie Reynolds was so ferociously rocked by the death of Carrie Fisher.
10 CLOVERFIELD LANE – I mean, this was fun, but y’all really overhyped this
HELL OR HIGH WATER – If I have a regret of a film I didn’t see before my year-end content, this is it.
Streaming/Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Seen Before
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT – Why can’t pop groups make anything like this?
EX MACHINA – Even with all of the lists and awards love, it’s possible that this is the most underrated movie of 2015.
THE SWEET HEREAFTER – An American story that feels like a distinctly Canadian movie
THE BIG LEBOWSKI – “…It really tied the room together…”
LIFE OF PI – A great achievement in film, or a great achievement in effects?
Boxscore for The Year
8 First-Timers, 5 Re-Watched
2 Screenings
13 Movies in Total
How’s about you – seen anything good?
First-Timers: 5 to 7, The Spy in Black, Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago, High Anxiety, David Bowie: The Last Five Years, Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, The ’85 Bears, Gymkata, Yellowbeard, and just now, Zabriskie Point.
Re-Watches: What We Do in the Shadows, Run Fatboy Run, Sydney White, Galaxy Quest, Ants in the Plants, Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars, Hail, Caesar!, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and The Swap.
I saw 10 Cloverfield Lane on DVD and didn’t find it overhyped. John Goodman in particular was so good at playing the calm, but fairly unhinged captor. The end was a litle disappointing, but it still clicked with me.
I’m with you on Hell and High Water, which snuck up on me by the end. It seemed more like standard genre fare but really grabbed me, particularly with its look at economic issues and the relationship between the marshals.