2009 in Films
I've been keeping a list of films I've watched all year, and had this mad idea of actually using it as the basis of an LJ post. 64 at the cinema, 45 at home, just 11 films I had seen before. There is a lot to be said for living a minutes walk from a cinema that hows a pretty good selection of stuff for a multiplex and having an unlimited card. 20 minutes walk gets us to The Electric, for some of the things that don't make it to Cineworld. In June we started a Lovefilm subscription (cheers bibliolicious ), and are using this to watch all sorts of things we wouldn't catch otherwise.So,
January
Cinema
1. Australia
I hated the first 40 minutes or so of the film so much I considered walking out, but the lack of anything better to do on New Years Day and Hugh Jackman's face kept me in my seat. And then I got into it enough it started to work on me and I got caught up in it and cried at it. I've never had a similar experience of such different reactions to one film.
2. Che Part1
Much more absorbing than I expected. I think part 1 worked better than 2 as a piece on its own, but I wish we had seen them closer together than 6 weeks.
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Frost/Nixon
5. Rachel Getting Married
One of those US indie's that could end up rubbing you up the wrong way, particularly with such an unlikeable central character, but this family of misfits worked for me.
6. The Wrestler
Stapling yourself looks like a really bad idea.
TV/DVD
1. Badlands
2. Gangster No1
Paul Bettany is much more frightening than Malcolm McDowell, which I would not have anticipated.
February
Cinema
7. Milk
Sean Penn is good, and lots of fine support in this story, although Diego Luna did seem to have wondered in from some other picture (I assume this was intentional?). It made this non activist feel she should go and march about something, so I think that means it did something right.
8. Revolutionary Road
Good. Not much fun. Are the oscars coming up perchance?
9. The Good the Bad the Weird
Is indeed quite weird. It is perhaps not quite as mad as it needs to be across the whole length of the film, but this Korean western was lots of fun.
10. Doubt
February's Oscar bait continues. Worth seeing for Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman doing their thing, and I do like Amy Adams as well.
11. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The first Allen film I've seen since 99's Sweet and Lowdown, due to the reviews all those have received. The central performances made this film work in a rather sweet and funny way, and giving the Woody Allen character of old to Rebecca Hall worked very well.
12. Che Part2
TV/DVD
3. Bloody Sunday
I really like James Nesbitt when he gets given good dramatic roles, and this is one of them. A hard film to watch.
March
Cinema
13. Gran Torino
This film made me wish I could growl like Clint Eastwood does in it, which is sadly never going to work.
14. Watchmen
Much better than I expected. At this distance I can't remember much else, except for the stand out pain that was that sex scene.
15. The International
I'm not sure the generally downbeat international wanderings should be in the same film as the great looking shoot out in the Guggenheim, but this was pretty good at what it did. Probably helps if you find Clive Owen as pretty as I do.
16. Il Divo
A brilliant film about Italiam politics, with some lovely cinematic touches which I can't imagine a filmmaker in this country would bring to the same material. Servillo's Andreotti is Nosferatu presiding over Italy for decades, and it a fascinating performance.
17. The Class
Interesting for lots of reasons, including the improvised nature and the teacher playing a version of himself, but for me not least because I went to such a different sort of school.
18. The Damned United
TVDVD
4. Croupier
5. Nashville
I've seen quite a lot of Altman, but never this one before. Very good fun, quite mad in places, and I can't imagine anything like this being made now as it is so amazingly 70s.
April
Cinema
19. Duplicity
Fun stuff, but I could have done with more Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti
20. Let the Right One in
Great. Apart from all the other stuff I imagine the US remake will get wrong, it seems unlikely they will get two such fine child actors.
21. Crank High Voltage
Probably the stand out use of the unlimited card to see something I would never have handed over actual money for. Largely a really impressive mess of total offensiveness, with lots of Jason Statham doing his thing and a couple of moments of sheer genius.
22. In The Loop
As funny and painful as the tv show, thankfully.
23. State of Play
Quite fun, if of course never going to be absorbing in the way 6 hours of telly can be.
TV/DVD
6. Hud
7. Sideways
May
Cinema
24. Good
We saw this in a screening with one other person. Its possible most people don't want to spend their Saturday lunchtime with Nazis, even ones played by Viggo Mortenson. Great performances from him and Jason Isaacs.
25. Wolverine
I actually enjoyed this much more than I expected, which I don't think was just down to my ability to watch Hugh Jackman - though as Australia showed, this is quite high.
26. Star Trek
Really good fun, I particularly enjoyed Spock and McCoy. The plot is a bit bobbins, but this is Star Trek so that didn't really bother me.
27. Synecdoche, New York
I was completely drawn in by this, even as it went on and got stranger and stranger. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Samantha Morton great as always.
28. Coraline
TV/DVD
8. Junebug
9. Annie Hall
Dan had never seen this before. About 20 minutes in, he asked me between laughter why he had never watched it, and I did not have a good answer for this. As funny as I remembered.
10. Flags of our Fathers
This was good, but I rather wish we had been able to catch it at the cinema and therefore see it and Iwo Jima in the right order, as there were a couple of story points which would have worked better this way (and I think Iwo Jima is the better film).
June
Cinema
29. Terminator Salvation
Oh dear. I did like Sam Worthington in this, but that was about it.
30. Last Chance Harvey
Z and I just found this lovely, and I think not just because we both want to be Emma Thompson when we grow up. I'm not often much for the romcom, but I loved the way these two played off each other.
TV/DVD
11. Tell No One
I saw this at the cinema last year, and it was as good seeing it the second time around. A brilliant thriller.
12. The Science of Sleep
Not sure this really added up to much, but I did enjoy this, and not just for the pretty provided by Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
July
Cinema
31. Rudo y Cursi
I think we were the only people in the world to watch Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal on screen together again, but who hadn't yet seen Y Tu Mama Tambien. A fun film, and the music video by Gael's character needs to be seen in all its glory.
32. Public Enemies
Apparently I do need something more than Johnny Depp being pretty in a film, and Marion Cotillard also being pretty wasn't enough to stop this being all empty surface and rather unsatisfying.
33. Harry Potter Half Blood Prince
34. 35 Shots of Rum
A beaufiful, simple story about a French family. I was so caught up their story and the performances I could have watched them for days.
35. Antichrist
Hmm. I was much more caught up in the story and the characters than I expected to be, and then the stupidly unpleasant last 20 minutes of violence kicked in and I was completely pulled out of the film by it. I thought I might have a problem watching the end, but it was all so over the top I couldn't feel offended by it, but the problem was I also couldn't feel anything about it at all.
36. The Taking of Pelham 123
I went to see this on Friday night when I just needed to get out of the house, and this was perectly serviceable for that purpose. Needed more of James Gandolfini's Mayor.
TV/DVD
13. Son of Rambow
I was put off seeing this in the cinema, and I'm not sure why as it was very good. I've seen Bill Milner in a couple of other things and he is wonderfully natural young actor.
14. OSS 117 Cairo
Its a french spy spoof, and while I think I was probably missing some stuff not knowing the source material this was lots of fun in a broad and silly way.
15. Before Sunrise
Hadn't seen this since it was in the cinema and I was a teenager - it stood up much better than I feared it would now I am a cynical old thing. Lovely.
16. The Man from Earth
A rather obscure little SF film suggested by an american colleague of Dan's, a very interesting idea about a man who has lived for ever which withstood the fact it was clearly made for tuppence and some of the acting is not much cop.
17. The Outlaw Josey Wales
August
Cinema
37. Moon
The future looks better with models and Sam Rockwell is great as always.
38. Coco Avant Chanel
39. Mesrine: Killer Instinct
40. Mesrine: Public Enemy No1
I could probably watch Vincent Cassell read the phone book and be unable to take my eyes off him, so it is perhaps not surprising I really enjoyed these films, but they are excellent gangster movies. If only Public Enemies had been anywhere near as interesting.
41. Inglourious Basterds
I really enjoyed this, more so probably than any Tarantino since the 90s, and hope to see lots more of Christoph Waltz and Melanie Laurent in particular.
42. The Hurt Locker
We didn't like this nearly as much as pretty much every other reviewer I've seen. Once it stops being the set piece scenes of the first half and gets to the revenge mission and such, it just seemed a bit ordinary and cliched.
TV/DVD
18. Sunset Blvd
Gorgeous and horrible and brilliant.
19. Anchorman
More fun than something this silly really had any right to be, if clearly no Dodgeball.
20. Silent Running
21. Dark Star
Following Moon, some 70s SF we hadn't seen before seemed in order. I really enjoyed both of these, but particularly Dark Star for being very funny indeed.
September
Cinema
43. Broken Embraces
I've not watched very much Almodovar, but this was great and Penelope Cruz is just mesmerising.
44. District 9
Much more taken with the first half before it got more generically action filmy, but I did enjoy this.
46. The Thing
The films that have been re-released at the cinema this year have been quite random. I really enjoyed this, and the effects are still quite impressively unpleasant.
47. Fish Tank
Excellent. Read an interview with Katie Jarvis recently in which she seemed really rightheaded about where the film had got her too, I hope she does lots of equally good stuff.
48. (500) Days of Summer
I can see why this is a love or hate film really, but I did really enjoy this and not just because I have lots of time for Joseph Gordon-Levitt who has been brilliant in everything I've seen him in in recent years.
49. Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs
Simply the most fun I had in a cinema all year - I was plastered in a huge grin or laughing aloud all the way through. As with Up, didn't bother going for 3D (expense and I tend to get a migraine from the glasses) and I can't imagine it would have been able to add anything to a story this good.
TV/DVD
22. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
As impressive and eventually heartbreaking as I remembered, which is always a plus when you haven't seen something since your teens. I'm glad we put this in the queue as Dan hadn't seen it - otherwise I'm not sure I would have gone back to it as it is so affecting.
23. Duel
Lorries are scary!
24. His Girl Friday
Cary Grant is such a charming bastard.
25. On The Waterfront
Of the early Brando films I've seen, I enjoyed A Streetcar named Desire a lot more, but this is interesting and I like Karl Malden's priest a lot, having not really remembered this from seeing it years ago.
October
Cinema
50. Zombieland
Really good fun.
51. Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee
52. The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
I did largely enjoy this while I was watching it, and I'm glad it got finished, but I enjoyed Heath Ledger outside much more than I did his replacements in the fantasy sequences.
53. Up
Really enjoyed this, and cried as much as one might expect, particularly at the first ten minutes.
TV/DVD
26. Double Indemnity
Great, vicious noir film.
27. Ed Wood
Lots of fun, and Martin Landau is just wonderful.
28. La Grande Illusion
I put a load of Jean Renoir on our rental list as I love La regle de jeu and haven't seen any of this other films. This is a brilliant (anti) war film, perhaps the best old film I saw this year, alongside Sunset Boulevard.
29. A Christmas Tale
The French know how to celebrate Christmas - with a family who largely hate each other. Good stuff.
30. Control
31. Y tu mama tambien
Gosh, don't they look young? I enjoyed this, but it is the sort of thing to make me glad of a single sex education, meaning I largely avoided teenage boys until they had grown up just a little bit.
November
Cinema
54. An Education
Is as good as the reviews all said
55. Jennifer's Body
56. An American Werewolf in London
Watched Jennifer's Body and then this in an unusual for us late showing at the cinema. Had fun with them both - I may have to recant on my usual blanket assertion that I don't like horror films.
57. Bright Star
Beautiful - I was much more caught up in this than I had thought I might be, and the central performances are very good. Also a lovely turn from Kerry Fox as Mrs Brawne.
58. A Serious Man
Very funny, very dark - hooray for the Coens doing their thing.
TV/DVD
32. Inland Empire
Hmm. I'm sort of glad I made it to the end, but this was pretty hard going. Apparently I only have so much patience for a total lack of plot.
33. Kind Hearts and Coronets
No idea how I had managed to never see this before. Brilliant.
34. Network
I imagine this seems a much less unlikely scenario than it did when made in the 70s. Peter Finch is great.
35. Romanzo Criminale
Italian crime drama (as you might have guessed), quite messy and interesting.
36. Starter for Ten
Very cheesy, watched for the James MacAvoy and Rebecca Hall pretty (she steals the film out from under him).
December
Cinema
59. White Ribbon
The first Haneke I've seen, and am looking forward to seeing some more. Utterly absorbing and looked rather beautiful, which is always a good counterpoint to terrible things going on.
60. Me and Orson Welles
Slightly taken aback while watching the trailers in the cinema to be in a room with someone laughing like a drain at the St Trinians film, until I remembered the Zac Efron factor. I really rather liked him in this, but it was Christian McKay's show as a great Welles.
61. Where the Wild Things are
62. Red Shoes
I love this film, and seeing the restored print on Christmas Eve was brilliant.
63. Sherlock Holmes
Just as much fun as I had hoped. I have now finally seen a Guy Ritchie film.
64. Avatar
As covered just about everywhere, looks impressive shame about the plot/script etc. Bows and arrows win out against future tech thanks to an ending I have dubbed 'gaia ex-machina', and I was sufficiently caught up at the time to enjoy it, but there isn't a lot too it.
TV/DVD
37. Broken Flowers
Bill fucking Murray!
38. The Lost Weekend
Difficult I think to appreciate how unusual this film was in its depiction of alcoholism on screen. Great performance from Ray Milland, and I can see how this did well at the Oscars and at Cannes - can't imagine the same film getting best picture gongs from both of these nowadays.
39. Days of Glory
Tthis film finally shamed the French government into sorting out its pension payments to soldiers from its colonies who fought in WW2, it is also a well made, interesting war film.
40. The Incredibles
I've been less interested in some of Pixars recent stuff - really good to see this for the first time since the cinema and find it as much fun as I remembered.
41. Citizen Kane
Yay for the beeb having a bit of an Orson Welles season. Really enjoyed the Arena doc and the Orson Welles Sketchbook show from the 50s. Hadn't seen this in years and it is impressive - perhaps more so directly following this year's Christmas day Doctor Who ;)
42. Journey into Fear
Orson Welles is a Turkish police captain!
43. The Stranger
Orson Welles is a Nazi hiding in the US!
44. In Bruges
A couple of fun rewatches for New Years eve. My Nana has got into watching DVDs in the last year or two, and has enjoyed a wide range of things one might not expect a lady in her 80s to get. However, my folks and I did think the amount of swearing in here was a bit much even for her when she expressed an interest in it - which is a shame as this is just very very funny.
45. Miller's Crossing
Mmm, Gabrial Byrne. And the film does look great.
All these notes written today, if I am really organised this year I might record thoughts as well as titles as I go along.
January
Cinema
1. Australia
I hated the first 40 minutes or so of the film so much I considered walking out, but the lack of anything better to do on New Years Day and Hugh Jackman's face kept me in my seat. And then I got into it enough it started to work on me and I got caught up in it and cried at it. I've never had a similar experience of such different reactions to one film.
2. Che Part1
Much more absorbing than I expected. I think part 1 worked better than 2 as a piece on its own, but I wish we had seen them closer together than 6 weeks.
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Frost/Nixon
5. Rachel Getting Married
One of those US indie's that could end up rubbing you up the wrong way, particularly with such an unlikeable central character, but this family of misfits worked for me.
6. The Wrestler
Stapling yourself looks like a really bad idea.
TV/DVD
1. Badlands
2. Gangster No1
Paul Bettany is much more frightening than Malcolm McDowell, which I would not have anticipated.
February
Cinema
7. Milk
Sean Penn is good, and lots of fine support in this story, although Diego Luna did seem to have wondered in from some other picture (I assume this was intentional?). It made this non activist feel she should go and march about something, so I think that means it did something right.
8. Revolutionary Road
Good. Not much fun. Are the oscars coming up perchance?
9. The Good the Bad the Weird
Is indeed quite weird. It is perhaps not quite as mad as it needs to be across the whole length of the film, but this Korean western was lots of fun.
10. Doubt
February's Oscar bait continues. Worth seeing for Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman doing their thing, and I do like Amy Adams as well.
11. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The first Allen film I've seen since 99's Sweet and Lowdown, due to the reviews all those have received. The central performances made this film work in a rather sweet and funny way, and giving the Woody Allen character of old to Rebecca Hall worked very well.
12. Che Part2
TV/DVD
3. Bloody Sunday
I really like James Nesbitt when he gets given good dramatic roles, and this is one of them. A hard film to watch.
March
Cinema
13. Gran Torino
This film made me wish I could growl like Clint Eastwood does in it, which is sadly never going to work.
14. Watchmen
Much better than I expected. At this distance I can't remember much else, except for the stand out pain that was that sex scene.
15. The International
I'm not sure the generally downbeat international wanderings should be in the same film as the great looking shoot out in the Guggenheim, but this was pretty good at what it did. Probably helps if you find Clive Owen as pretty as I do.
16. Il Divo
A brilliant film about Italiam politics, with some lovely cinematic touches which I can't imagine a filmmaker in this country would bring to the same material. Servillo's Andreotti is Nosferatu presiding over Italy for decades, and it a fascinating performance.
17. The Class
Interesting for lots of reasons, including the improvised nature and the teacher playing a version of himself, but for me not least because I went to such a different sort of school.
18. The Damned United
TVDVD
4. Croupier
5. Nashville
I've seen quite a lot of Altman, but never this one before. Very good fun, quite mad in places, and I can't imagine anything like this being made now as it is so amazingly 70s.
April
Cinema
19. Duplicity
Fun stuff, but I could have done with more Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti
20. Let the Right One in
Great. Apart from all the other stuff I imagine the US remake will get wrong, it seems unlikely they will get two such fine child actors.
21. Crank High Voltage
Probably the stand out use of the unlimited card to see something I would never have handed over actual money for. Largely a really impressive mess of total offensiveness, with lots of Jason Statham doing his thing and a couple of moments of sheer genius.
22. In The Loop
As funny and painful as the tv show, thankfully.
23. State of Play
Quite fun, if of course never going to be absorbing in the way 6 hours of telly can be.
TV/DVD
6. Hud
7. Sideways
May
Cinema
24. Good
We saw this in a screening with one other person. Its possible most people don't want to spend their Saturday lunchtime with Nazis, even ones played by Viggo Mortenson. Great performances from him and Jason Isaacs.
25. Wolverine
I actually enjoyed this much more than I expected, which I don't think was just down to my ability to watch Hugh Jackman - though as Australia showed, this is quite high.
26. Star Trek
Really good fun, I particularly enjoyed Spock and McCoy. The plot is a bit bobbins, but this is Star Trek so that didn't really bother me.
27. Synecdoche, New York
I was completely drawn in by this, even as it went on and got stranger and stranger. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Samantha Morton great as always.
28. Coraline
TV/DVD
8. Junebug
9. Annie Hall
Dan had never seen this before. About 20 minutes in, he asked me between laughter why he had never watched it, and I did not have a good answer for this. As funny as I remembered.
10. Flags of our Fathers
This was good, but I rather wish we had been able to catch it at the cinema and therefore see it and Iwo Jima in the right order, as there were a couple of story points which would have worked better this way (and I think Iwo Jima is the better film).
June
Cinema
29. Terminator Salvation
Oh dear. I did like Sam Worthington in this, but that was about it.
30. Last Chance Harvey
Z and I just found this lovely, and I think not just because we both want to be Emma Thompson when we grow up. I'm not often much for the romcom, but I loved the way these two played off each other.
TV/DVD
11. Tell No One
I saw this at the cinema last year, and it was as good seeing it the second time around. A brilliant thriller.
12. The Science of Sleep
Not sure this really added up to much, but I did enjoy this, and not just for the pretty provided by Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
July
Cinema
31. Rudo y Cursi
I think we were the only people in the world to watch Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal on screen together again, but who hadn't yet seen Y Tu Mama Tambien. A fun film, and the music video by Gael's character needs to be seen in all its glory.
32. Public Enemies
Apparently I do need something more than Johnny Depp being pretty in a film, and Marion Cotillard also being pretty wasn't enough to stop this being all empty surface and rather unsatisfying.
33. Harry Potter Half Blood Prince
34. 35 Shots of Rum
A beaufiful, simple story about a French family. I was so caught up their story and the performances I could have watched them for days.
35. Antichrist
Hmm. I was much more caught up in the story and the characters than I expected to be, and then the stupidly unpleasant last 20 minutes of violence kicked in and I was completely pulled out of the film by it. I thought I might have a problem watching the end, but it was all so over the top I couldn't feel offended by it, but the problem was I also couldn't feel anything about it at all.
36. The Taking of Pelham 123
I went to see this on Friday night when I just needed to get out of the house, and this was perectly serviceable for that purpose. Needed more of James Gandolfini's Mayor.
TV/DVD
13. Son of Rambow
I was put off seeing this in the cinema, and I'm not sure why as it was very good. I've seen Bill Milner in a couple of other things and he is wonderfully natural young actor.
14. OSS 117 Cairo
Its a french spy spoof, and while I think I was probably missing some stuff not knowing the source material this was lots of fun in a broad and silly way.
15. Before Sunrise
Hadn't seen this since it was in the cinema and I was a teenager - it stood up much better than I feared it would now I am a cynical old thing. Lovely.
16. The Man from Earth
A rather obscure little SF film suggested by an american colleague of Dan's, a very interesting idea about a man who has lived for ever which withstood the fact it was clearly made for tuppence and some of the acting is not much cop.
17. The Outlaw Josey Wales
August
Cinema
37. Moon
The future looks better with models and Sam Rockwell is great as always.
38. Coco Avant Chanel
39. Mesrine: Killer Instinct
40. Mesrine: Public Enemy No1
I could probably watch Vincent Cassell read the phone book and be unable to take my eyes off him, so it is perhaps not surprising I really enjoyed these films, but they are excellent gangster movies. If only Public Enemies had been anywhere near as interesting.
41. Inglourious Basterds
I really enjoyed this, more so probably than any Tarantino since the 90s, and hope to see lots more of Christoph Waltz and Melanie Laurent in particular.
42. The Hurt Locker
We didn't like this nearly as much as pretty much every other reviewer I've seen. Once it stops being the set piece scenes of the first half and gets to the revenge mission and such, it just seemed a bit ordinary and cliched.
TV/DVD
18. Sunset Blvd
Gorgeous and horrible and brilliant.
19. Anchorman
More fun than something this silly really had any right to be, if clearly no Dodgeball.
20. Silent Running
21. Dark Star
Following Moon, some 70s SF we hadn't seen before seemed in order. I really enjoyed both of these, but particularly Dark Star for being very funny indeed.
September
Cinema
43. Broken Embraces
I've not watched very much Almodovar, but this was great and Penelope Cruz is just mesmerising.
44. District 9
Much more taken with the first half before it got more generically action filmy, but I did enjoy this.
46. The Thing
The films that have been re-released at the cinema this year have been quite random. I really enjoyed this, and the effects are still quite impressively unpleasant.
47. Fish Tank
Excellent. Read an interview with Katie Jarvis recently in which she seemed really rightheaded about where the film had got her too, I hope she does lots of equally good stuff.
48. (500) Days of Summer
I can see why this is a love or hate film really, but I did really enjoy this and not just because I have lots of time for Joseph Gordon-Levitt who has been brilliant in everything I've seen him in in recent years.
49. Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs
Simply the most fun I had in a cinema all year - I was plastered in a huge grin or laughing aloud all the way through. As with Up, didn't bother going for 3D (expense and I tend to get a migraine from the glasses) and I can't imagine it would have been able to add anything to a story this good.
TV/DVD
22. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
As impressive and eventually heartbreaking as I remembered, which is always a plus when you haven't seen something since your teens. I'm glad we put this in the queue as Dan hadn't seen it - otherwise I'm not sure I would have gone back to it as it is so affecting.
23. Duel
Lorries are scary!
24. His Girl Friday
Cary Grant is such a charming bastard.
25. On The Waterfront
Of the early Brando films I've seen, I enjoyed A Streetcar named Desire a lot more, but this is interesting and I like Karl Malden's priest a lot, having not really remembered this from seeing it years ago.
October
Cinema
50. Zombieland
Really good fun.
51. Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee
52. The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
I did largely enjoy this while I was watching it, and I'm glad it got finished, but I enjoyed Heath Ledger outside much more than I did his replacements in the fantasy sequences.
53. Up
Really enjoyed this, and cried as much as one might expect, particularly at the first ten minutes.
TV/DVD
26. Double Indemnity
Great, vicious noir film.
27. Ed Wood
Lots of fun, and Martin Landau is just wonderful.
28. La Grande Illusion
I put a load of Jean Renoir on our rental list as I love La regle de jeu and haven't seen any of this other films. This is a brilliant (anti) war film, perhaps the best old film I saw this year, alongside Sunset Boulevard.
29. A Christmas Tale
The French know how to celebrate Christmas - with a family who largely hate each other. Good stuff.
30. Control
31. Y tu mama tambien
Gosh, don't they look young? I enjoyed this, but it is the sort of thing to make me glad of a single sex education, meaning I largely avoided teenage boys until they had grown up just a little bit.
November
Cinema
54. An Education
Is as good as the reviews all said
55. Jennifer's Body
56. An American Werewolf in London
Watched Jennifer's Body and then this in an unusual for us late showing at the cinema. Had fun with them both - I may have to recant on my usual blanket assertion that I don't like horror films.
57. Bright Star
Beautiful - I was much more caught up in this than I had thought I might be, and the central performances are very good. Also a lovely turn from Kerry Fox as Mrs Brawne.
58. A Serious Man
Very funny, very dark - hooray for the Coens doing their thing.
TV/DVD
32. Inland Empire
Hmm. I'm sort of glad I made it to the end, but this was pretty hard going. Apparently I only have so much patience for a total lack of plot.
33. Kind Hearts and Coronets
No idea how I had managed to never see this before. Brilliant.
34. Network
I imagine this seems a much less unlikely scenario than it did when made in the 70s. Peter Finch is great.
35. Romanzo Criminale
Italian crime drama (as you might have guessed), quite messy and interesting.
36. Starter for Ten
Very cheesy, watched for the James MacAvoy and Rebecca Hall pretty (she steals the film out from under him).
December
Cinema
59. White Ribbon
The first Haneke I've seen, and am looking forward to seeing some more. Utterly absorbing and looked rather beautiful, which is always a good counterpoint to terrible things going on.
60. Me and Orson Welles
Slightly taken aback while watching the trailers in the cinema to be in a room with someone laughing like a drain at the St Trinians film, until I remembered the Zac Efron factor. I really rather liked him in this, but it was Christian McKay's show as a great Welles.
61. Where the Wild Things are
62. Red Shoes
I love this film, and seeing the restored print on Christmas Eve was brilliant.
63. Sherlock Holmes
Just as much fun as I had hoped. I have now finally seen a Guy Ritchie film.
64. Avatar
As covered just about everywhere, looks impressive shame about the plot/script etc. Bows and arrows win out against future tech thanks to an ending I have dubbed 'gaia ex-machina', and I was sufficiently caught up at the time to enjoy it, but there isn't a lot too it.
TV/DVD
37. Broken Flowers
Bill fucking Murray!
38. The Lost Weekend
Difficult I think to appreciate how unusual this film was in its depiction of alcoholism on screen. Great performance from Ray Milland, and I can see how this did well at the Oscars and at Cannes - can't imagine the same film getting best picture gongs from both of these nowadays.
39. Days of Glory
Tthis film finally shamed the French government into sorting out its pension payments to soldiers from its colonies who fought in WW2, it is also a well made, interesting war film.
40. The Incredibles
I've been less interested in some of Pixars recent stuff - really good to see this for the first time since the cinema and find it as much fun as I remembered.
41. Citizen Kane
Yay for the beeb having a bit of an Orson Welles season. Really enjoyed the Arena doc and the Orson Welles Sketchbook show from the 50s. Hadn't seen this in years and it is impressive - perhaps more so directly following this year's Christmas day Doctor Who ;)
42. Journey into Fear
Orson Welles is a Turkish police captain!
43. The Stranger
Orson Welles is a Nazi hiding in the US!
44. In Bruges
A couple of fun rewatches for New Years eve. My Nana has got into watching DVDs in the last year or two, and has enjoyed a wide range of things one might not expect a lady in her 80s to get. However, my folks and I did think the amount of swearing in here was a bit much even for her when she expressed an interest in it - which is a shame as this is just very very funny.
45. Miller's Crossing
Mmm, Gabrial Byrne. And the film does look great.
All these notes written today, if I am really organised this year I might record thoughts as well as titles as I go along.