The first week of the year with no trips to the theatre! It says a bit about what’s in theatres and a lot about how nutty this week was. There wasn’t a whole lot to pick from, though I’m considering taking a whack at MAMA. Actually, if I had a number one pick this week, it would have been seeing UGETSU at The Lightbox.
Unfortunately, my schedule wasn’t going to let that happen.
As you can see below, the Best Picture Project has begun in earnest. This oughta pick up a lot of steam starting at the end of next week, since more than half of the ones I’ve never seen will be aired on TCM. Perhaps I should say a prayer to Our Lady of The PVR.
Y’know, I’m considering starting to list the films I watch pieces of. I wouldn’t count them in the actual tally or anything, since as I said many moons ago I don’t count the films I’m not 1005 paying attention to…but just to make note of the sorts of things I caught glimpses of.
Thoughts?
Here’s The Week at Hand…
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES - Yup. I can see why this one is so acclaimed.
BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO - One of my biggest regrets from TIFF 2012, many thanks to James McNally for setting me up with this gem.
CHARIOTS OF FIRE - High on craft, thin on story.
ORDINARY PEOPLE - Having finally seen this, I now feel a massive urge to rewatch THE ICE STORM.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
SHALLOW GRAVE - That pile of dvd’s I was given for Christmas is starting to get awful small.
BLACK HAWK DOWN - For Matineecast purposes. It’s better than you remember.
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) - You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to buy myself a copy of this. Now I’m the proud owner of it on Blu-Ray no less!
Boxscore for The Year
16 First-Timers, 15 Re-Watched
5 Screenings
31 Movies in Total
20 comments
Colin Biggs says:
Jan 26, 2013
First-time
A Separation
The Skin I Live In
Beginners
Re-watches
Young Frankenstein
The Dark Knight Rises
Skin I Live In absolutely floored me, I haven’t been taken in by a home watching experience like that before.
Ryan McNeil says:
Jan 29, 2013
I saw SKIN at 9am on the last day of TIFF. Suffice it to say that weary and bleary was not the way one should experience that film for the first time.
I had to rub my eyes more than a few times to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing.
Omar says:
Jan 26, 2013
Watched these at random, will have to be far more selective next week.
Damsels In Distress – Greta Gerwig was the only reason I sat though this. I did appreciate the comedy/satire but not really my cup of tea.
To Rome With Love – There were some good bits here and there but what a mixed bag. Still curious to what Woody Allen will do next tho.
Junebug – This was such a chore to sit through, I really don’t understand all the praise.
Cashback – Couple of unique ideas but not worth the runtime.
Ryan McNeil says:
Jan 29, 2013
I wanted a lot more from ROME. I mean, I love that Woody Allen is getting so much inspiration by wandering away from New York, but he felt like a wandering tourist here.
Heck, I would have loved a film that focused solely on the young Italian newlyweds…
Steven Flores says:
Jan 26, 2013
First-Timers: An Angel at My Table, The Union, Citizen Kane (for my Blind Spot series), The Magnificent Ambersons, The Lady from Shanghai, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 (easily the best one so far because it’s so bad), Partie de campagne and later tonight, Margaret.
Re-Watches: Short Circuit, Varsity Blues, and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.
Steven Flores says:
Jan 26, 2013
I just pushed Margaret for tomorrow as I ended up watching Touch of Evil for the first time. Orson Welles rules!
Ryan McNeil says:
Jan 29, 2013
Have you seen THE THIRD MAN? If not, give it a look. I consider it and KANE 1 and 1A where Welles is concerned.
One of these days, I really must watch MARGARET and see what all the fuss is about.
Will says:
Jan 26, 2013
It might be interesting to list pieces of films you watched, but I don’t know what the purpose would be for readers. For you it’d probably fun to go back and remember the week with even better clarity than the current list gives you, though.
Anyway, for me:
All first time–
Ace in the Hole – for the Blind Spot
Six Assassins
Birth Rite
Battle Royale
The Hand of Death
Ryan McNeil says:
Jan 29, 2013
You’re right re. pieces of film. Pretty sure I was just thinking out loud with that note…there’s not much merit in documenting them.
Really glad you liked ACE IN THE HOLE, it was one of my very favorite first-timers of 2012…the sort of film the immediately prompted me to buy myself a copy (love it when that happens).
“It’s pretty Albuquerque, even for Albuquerque.”
Sean Kelly says:
Jan 26, 2013
I’ve finally started going back to the Christmas blu-rays (well one of the them)
Screenings:
Lincoln – I liked it, but I also think it’s a bit over-hyped
The Waiting Room – Decent enough cinema verite doc
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters – Somewhat cheesy at times, but I enjoyed it
Rashomon – Sadly I was tired and was dozing off at inconvenient times (i.e. when subtitles were on screen). Good thing I saw it before.
Netflix First Time:
Stake Land – Definitely not your usual vampire film (in fact, it’s more a post-apocalyptic drama).
Blu-Ray Rewatch:
The Expendables 2: Even if you don’t watch the film, watch this quote – http://youtu.be/b8dzi3fqTKs
Ryan McNeil says:
Jan 29, 2013
Hype is a killer come Oscar time, but there’s a lot to love within LINCOLN.
SJHoneywell says:
Jan 26, 2013
A slimmer week than normal. Stupid work.
New to me:
Traffic: Pretty heavy-handed, but not bad.
Marketa Lazarova: Why did I watch this?
Safe: The 1995 Todd Haynes film, and it’s a wow.
Bus 174: Cidade de Deus on steroids.
East of Eden: Did James Dean always play a disaffected youth? Yep.
Rewatches
The African Queen: A grand adventure surrounding a lukewarm romance.
Ryan McNeil says:
Jan 29, 2013
How the heck I made up a new list of twelve Blind Spot titles and didn’t include THE AFRICAN QUEEN is beyond. Lordy do I ever drop the ball sometimes!
TRAFFIC is on my all-time desert island Top Five, so I will hear no ill-speak directed at it.
Nikhat says:
Jan 27, 2013
I am going through some regressive movie-watching phase. Presently, I just don’t care about watching any films or writing about them. It’s slightly worrying, and I hope it shall pass soon. I have spent most of the week watching Noel Fielding stuff instead, due to my new-found love for him.
Firsts: Oslo, August 31st- Very beautiful and sad.
English Vinglish- Excellent movie. Best Hindi film of 2012.
The Sessions- It was very nice.
Rewatched: Les Miserables- Goddamn Russell Crowe.
Django Unchained- I appreciated Django so much more this time round. He is awesome.
Ryan McNeil says:
Jan 29, 2013
Don’t sweat it.
The desire to watch – and likewise the desire to write about what you’ve watched – comes and goes. It rises and falls with our workloads, health, and schedules. In actual fact, I’d much rather read that you were in a down-cycle with your want to watch film than hear you pushed yourself to watch something so you could write about it.
That sort of thinking can sometimes seem like compulsion, and often leads to great films being dismissed.
So don’t be worried, they’re just movies and they’ll always be there for you. Just come to them when you feel up to it.
Dan Heaton says:
Jan 27, 2013
Ryan, it’s great that you were able to see The Best Years of Our Lives. I watched it in November for the Blind Spots series, and I wasn’t that excited to check it out. I was really surprised by how much I was engaged with the characters, especially given the length.
This week, I’ve only watched three movies, all first timers:
Amigo – the latest from John Sayles; great story but pretty slow-moving
Code Unknown – amazing movie from Michael Haneke – my January blind-spot post for Tuesday
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth – a documentary about a failed St. Louis government housing project; it’s fascinating and pretty sad about the evolution of the city
Ryan McNeil says:
Jan 29, 2013
I was stunned at how breezy it was for a three hour film. Not breezy in tone of course, but in pace! Lordy did that thing ever sail, which is wild since it’s almost entirely grown-ups sitting around and talking.
I’m remiss to say I’ve never seen any of the films you watched this week…or even heard of them.
Dan Heaton says:
Jan 30, 2013
I’m a little surprised that you haven’t heard of Code Unknown since it’s Haneke, but the other two totally make sense. Amigo barely got a release theatrically, and there isn’t even a widely available DVD. It is free for instant streaming on Amazon Prime. My wife let me know about the Pruitt-Igoe Myth from a story on the local NPR station about it. I’m glad that I saw them, though.
Helen says:
Jan 28, 2013
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES is a wonderful movie. I get more from it every time I watch it.
Ryan McNeil says:
Jan 29, 2013
I imagine that it will remain rather high on the list of my favorite first-timers of 2013.