5 Years of 100 Films, Part 6

Posted on March 3, 2012 by badblokebob

As a final salvo in my fifth birthday celebration (yes, normal service resumes next week), here’s something I was kindly awarded by Colin of Riding the High Country… back in December. Couldn’t find quite the right outlet for it. Or, to be more honest, couldn’t think of the answer to one of the questions. You’ll spot my solution.

But now is most appropriate, because what better time for such a self-reflective award than when I’m already looking back at five years of my own blog? Hurrah! Thank you, Colin.

1) Tell everyone something that no one else knows about.

100 Films is certainly my most successful blog, in terms of both longevity and readership, but over the years I’ve set up loads of others for various reasons. To give you some idea of how good I am at sticking at them, there are nine blogs currently associated with my Blogger account and here’s how long each lasted, arranged from shortest to longest:

0 posts
1 post
1 post
1 post
29 posts
40 posts
91 posts
3,749 posts

OK, one other I stuck at.

2) Link to one of my posts that I personally think best fits the following categories:

Most Beautiful Piece
I suppose there’s an element of interpretation involved when applying this category to a film review blog. I toyed with a few where I got clever with the pictures (try the filenames on that last one), but decided that was too literal and I should look at the writing. So I say Is Anybody There?, because I think I did a decent job of tapping in to and explaining the film’s own beauty.

Most Helpful Piece
I don’t know if I’m ever particularly helpful, but my review of Inception is ludicrously long and detailed and was described as “great” — that must have something useful in it, right?

Most Popular Piece
I looked to my hit stats for this, but the top few are bolstered by regular spam hits (based on where my spam comments go) so I thought I best discount them. Instead I’m going to say my reviews of The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight: The IMAX Experience, a connected pair that sat pretty atop my list of most-viewed posts until the spam started flooding in. (Neither are in the top 10 any more, but, as I said, I don’t trust that.)

Most Controversial Piece
I wouldn’t say I’m all that controversial… though I did put the widely reviled Alien Resurrection in a top ten, so… But it’s not my love for that I’ve chosen, but instead Sucker Punch. It was slagged off by everyone, but I was impressed enough to defend it for over 1,900 words.

Most Surprisingly Successful Piece
Looking back, this one surprises me even now: Wallander: The Revenge, the theatrically-released second season premiere of the Krister Henriksson Wallander series. It got three comments — that’s a lot for me anyway, especially on something like that — and is the second most-viewed post. But that might be spam.

Most Underrated Piece
All of them! No, I jest. There are a few lengthy in-depth ones I could choose, but maybe I’d go with Trainspotting — I was very pleased with the concept behind that one.

Most Pride-worthy Piece
I could say the fact that I’ve written lengthy reviews of all seven Saw films, but that would be seven posts not one. Looking back, I surprised myself with how many of my reviews I’m actually quite proud of, so I’m going to really cheat and say two, for different reasons: Ministry of Fear, because I liked the idea of how much I go on about the cake and I think I nailed it (unlike some of my other attempts at humour), and Watchmen, because it’s rare one gets to write a well-informed review on a blog all about first viewings, and I think that (and its companion Director’s Cut review) are exactly that.

I feel like I should now go on to highlight seven that fail in these regards (especially as I’ve basically cheated and linked to 23 posts across those seven categories), and I’m sure I could, but maybe that wouldn’t be in the spirit.

3) Pass this award on to seven other bloggers.

This is where I once again realise I don’t read enough blogs. It rather defeats the object to leave this one out (it’s called a “link” award, after all), but I fear I shall have to return to it at a later date. But I will — I’m making a list, and checking it twice.

(That I’m actually Santa would’ve been good for that first fact, eh.)

That’s it!

Time to stop patting myself on the back and get back to regular business. And so, I shall.

5 Years of 100 Films, Part 5

Posted on March 2, 2012 by badblokebob

100 Films in a Year is five years old this week, and to mark the occasion I’m having five days of top fives from the past five years. On Monday I bemoaned the five worst films I’ve seen as part of this project, on Tuesday I slammed the five most overrated, on Wednesday I lamented the five most underrated, and yesterday I selected the five best.

For today’s final list, then, I’ve chosen…

My 5 Favourite Films

Dark City
A strong contender for “most underrated” — despite being championed by the likes of Roger Ebert, Dark City still seems to have slipped largely under the radar. It’s a dystopian sci-fi tale that thematically prefigures The Matrix trilogy, without getting as bogged down in its own self-importance as those sequels did.

The Dark Knight
I haven’t seen this since the cinema, so maybe there’s a degree of nostalgia in my love for it. Or maybe it’s just a great action-thriller that happens to star a man who dresses as a bat (not that Batman actually looks like a bat). At the time I asserted it was one of the greatest films ever made, and IMDb’s Top 250 continues to bear that out: it’s currently 8th.

Kick-Ass
Controversy dogged Kick-Ass‘ release, both for its foul-mouthed murderous pre-teen and geek hype not translating to box office dollars. Those who dismiss it underrate it (some high-profile critics were shockingly blind to its intentions) and only a US-centric view holds it a flop: it did OK Stateside, well worldwide, and was a huge hit on DVD & Blu-ray.

Sherlock Holmes
After placing this 8th on my 2010 favourites (behind six not included here) and seeing it again, I’ve realised I love it. Funny, exciting, with some of the best-directed examples of how it would feel to be Holmes. Plus it’s got a proper mystery with a proper solution. It may not be a traditional take on the character, but it’s surprisingly faithful and bloody good fun.

Zodiac: Director’s Cut
I love David Fincher’s work, and this was a toss up with The Social Network, but I think I prefer his methodical examination of the real-life hunt for a serial killer and how it affected the lives of the people hunting. With some top-flight performances and virtuoso directing, this might actually be Fincher’s best film. And that’s saying something.

Honourable Mention: Léon (Version Intégrale)
Léon is one of my favourite films. I’ve loved it since a friend lent me the VHS at some point in secondary school. And that’s why, though the extended Version Intégrale was different enough to merit inclusion on the main list (it’s some 23 minutes (21%) longer), I would feel uncomfortable including it in a list culled from new films I’ve seen in the past five years. But it’s still one of my all-time favourites.

P.S.

I note that all but one of these (plus Léon) were new releases during 100 Films‘ existence. Is it a good or a bad thing that my tastes skew modern? I do like older films — I’ve given plenty five stars and regularly enjoy watching them, as I’m sure you’ve noticed — but I don’t tend to place many on my lists of favourites. I wonder why?

And so that’s that…

Five years, 545 new films (not to mention 28 new shorts and 25 other features I decided to review), and just 25 that stuck in the memory. And if you disagreed with any of my choices, particularly if you felt there was something else I’d reviewed that I should have included, then know that I had much longer shortlists for every category. I could do these lists over and quite easily choose another 25; and probably even over again after that; and for some of them, over a few times more beyond that.

But that’s the joy of films, and why we keep searching out new ones rather than only re-watching a few on loop, and why that’s the driving force behind my entire blog — because there’s so much good stuff out there.

Long may it continue.

Tomorrow…

OK, I’m not quite done. One final anniversary-y post tomorrow, then I’ll leave it be. It’s not some stats, but something else I thought appropriate.

5 Years of 100 Films, Part 4

Posted on March 1, 2012 by badblokebob

Choosing films for all of these lists has been tough, but I think today’s was hardest of all. I could easily list another five or ten or twenty films here (Let the Right One In came closest, for some reason; I could also have had The Greatest Film of All Time, which was one of the reasons I left it out — you don’t need me to recommend it (not that some of these need that either)), but these are what I’ve settled on as…

The 5 Best Films

Anatomy of a Murder
I’m not one of the hardcore devotees of the crime genre (the many millions who buy the endless stream of crime paperbacks or watch all the TV cop shows), but I love a great thriller, and this is certainly one. Expertly judged by director Otto Preminger, with a barnstorming performance by Jimmy Stewart, this is a procedural tour de force.

Brief Encounter
Truly a film of another era; one where a romantic affair consists of cups of tea, discussions of the weather, trips to the cinema, tea, guilt, indecision, and more tea. First-class writing, direction and acting convey all the repressed emotions that make it truly British. That and the tea. It may be of another era, but it still shines today.

M
Inspired by real cases, Fritz Lang’s prototypical thriller tells of the hunt for a child killer by both the police and the criminal underworld. Innovative filmmaking helps tell a story that still thrills today, with themes that have an enduring relevance. Loaded with moments of pure cinema, M is essential viewing for any fan of the medium.

Rashomon
So influential its name has become an adjective, Akira Kurosawa’s film is still the archetypal story about conflicting accounts of one event because it does it so well. There are many imitators, but few have done it with such conviction. Add beautiful cinematography, music and performances and you have a masterpiece.

United 93
Before he got sidetracked into action filmmaking, director Paul Greengrass helmed documentary-esque dramas about real events. Here he brings those skills to bear on ‘the other plane’ from 9/11, the one crashed in a field by its brave passengers. But he doesn’t deify them — these are ordinary people in a horrible situation. For that truth, it’s all the better.

Honourable Mention: Blade Runner: The Final Cut
After a couple of decades, Ridley Scott was finally able to realise his ideal Blade Runner. Some prefer the 1992 Director’s Cut; some even like the largely-ignored original release; but, unlike his Alien Director’s Cut (which he admits is an older man having a fiddle), this is Scott’s definitive version. It’s a great film, and by finally existing I deemed it eligible for inclusion, but really it’s a tweaked version of the Director’s Cut and I’d seen that before.

To be continued…

Tomorrow 100 Films’ birthday celebrations continue with my final top five: my favourite films from my last five years of viewing.

After that… well, we’ll see.

February 2012

Posted on February 29, 2012 by badblokebob

In the middle of my self–congratulatory fifth anniversary posts, it’s time to pause to look back at the month that just was.

More and less

I watched 13 films this February, exactly the same number as I watched last year. I’ve ended up two behind this point last year, though, because I watched two less in January. Damn you January! Funny thing is, last year it felt like a sprint to get to this point, whereas this year it feels like I’ve been pushing less hard. Either way, I’m seven films ahead of target and that’s always good.

Part of the thanks for viewing going so well can be attributed to the Oscars. Not because I’ve been catching up on the nominees (based on form, that’ll take me the next few years/decades), but because in order to watch the increasingly irrelevant ceremony I added Sky Movies to my Virgin Media package for a month, and that now includes hundreds of movies available on demand. Getting value for money ‘n’ all, I’ve been trying to get stuck in to those — hence lots of watching and not so much reviewing. Everything from #14 on is thanks to that.

February’s firteen

#11 The Book of Eli (2010)
#12 Unknown (2011)
#13 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
#14 Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)
#15 Priest (2011)
#16 Knight and Day (2010)
#17 Unstoppable (2010)
#18 102 Dalmatians (2000)
#19 Devil (2010)
#20 Burke & Hare (2010)
#21 Legion (2010)
#22 The Sum of All Fears (2002)
#23 The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Next time on the all-new 100 Films in a Year monthly update…

The influence of Sky Movies may not be over: I subscribed mid-February and it’s for a minimum of one month, meaning I should have it until mid-March (provided I remember to cancel in time). Hopefully it’ll give a similar kick to next month’s total too.

And I really ought to get round to Thor and Captain America — Marvel Avengers Assemble will be irritating us with its needless title change in gloating (but week-before-the-US) 3D before we know it.

5 Years of 100 Films, Part 3

Posted on February 29, 2012 by badblokebob

100 Films in a Year was five years old yesterday, and to mark the occasion I’m having five days of top fives from the past five years. On Monday I bemoaned the five worst films I’ve seen as part of this project, while yesterday I slammed the five most overrated. It’s all nice from here on though, starting with…

The 5 Most Underrated Films

Easy Virtue
I’ve called up Easy Virtue before (recently) as underrated, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing again. I really don’t see why it came in for such a drubbing (see my review for more details) — I thought it was witty and funny, with a distinctly mischievous streak, all wrapped around a surprisingly dramatic core.

Gambit
Gambit‘s underratedness is beginning to be called into question — “thank you”s for Drew McWeeny‘s recommendation are still popping up on my twitter feed — but only so many people will see that, so I’m doing my bit. Watch it, but don’t give in to temptation and read about it first — the opening deserves to be seen unspoiled.

The King of Comedy
There are many films Scorsese is praised for, and deservedly so, but having watched Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and more in the past five years, I think this is my favourite. A black comedy about a wannabe-famous comic whose obsession goes too far, apparently “Scorsese has called De Niro’s role… his favorite of their collaborations.” What better endorsement?

Speed Racer
Someone somewhere recently commented that if Speed Racer had been a CG ‘toon by Pixar it would be beloved, and they may be right. In fact it’s live action, but exists in the kind of heightened candy-colour cartoon world only the digital era has made possible. It’s fast, exciting, funny, not perfect, but visually astounding, and great.

Stranger on the Third Floor
This only seems to get mentioned as “the first film noir”, a nominal title established after the fact. It was tricky to see too — it’s available on UK DVD now, but I caught it on a rare TV airing, at which point it didn’t even have a BBFC certificate. It’s not the greatest noir, certainly, but I think it’s better than its lowly reputation would suggest.

This week’s featured images

You may have noticed a theme developing in this week’s Big Picture At The Top Of The Post (or, as WordPress calls them, “featured images”; or, as I normally call them, “banners” — whatever will do). I realised that the look of 100 Films has undergone five phases, which equates to one a year and makes it sound more turbulent than it really was, and decided that would be a neat way to top these five posts.

Monday was taken from the blog’s origins on deviantART. When I realised I was going to continue this project past the first year and make it a ‘proper’ blog (rather than just an on-going part of my dA journal), I got a Blogger site — the one seen on Tuesday. That was short-lived, because I found FilmJournal and that was better. The initial FJ look of 100 Films forms today’s picture, then.

I don’t think it will take much guesswork to deduce the final two: tomorrow is the most enduring version, its still-current style at FilmJournal; while Friday is taken from this new one.

I was quite pleased with this linking theme — so pleased I’ve decided to blatantly highlight it to make sure you all know how clever I am. Also, apparently, how fickle.

The individual posts I chose to feature in each banner are also in some way relevant (quite an obvious way, really). But I’ll leave that one up to anyone who cares to think about it.

To be continued…

Overrated, underrated, wombling free… Wait, what? Sorry. Um, tomorrow — the five films I thought were the best from my last five years of viewing.

5 Years of 100 Films, Part 2

Posted on February 28, 2012 by badblokebob

100 Films in a Year is five years old today, and to mark the occasion I’m having five days of top fives from the past five years. Yesterday I bemoaned the five worst films I’ve seen as part of this project, and today it’s…

The 5 Most Overrated Films

March of the Penguins
I think March of the Penguins gained such popularity in America because they don’t have the rich history of wildlife documentaries that the BBC has bestowed upon us Brits. This is a solid documentary, but it has a narrow focus and isn’t a patch on something narrated by David Attenborough. I don’t care for it.

Million Dollar Baby
Bad Best Picture winners are two-a-penny — as most film fans know, the Oscars aren’t the be-all-and-end-all of filmic taste that they’re widely perceived to be. Million Dollar Baby isn’t a bad film, but I don’t think it’s a very good one either. It’s also 161st on IMDb’s Top 250, a list I wouldn’t let it near if it was up to me.

No Country for Old Men & There Will Be Blood
I’ve lumped these together as the two titans of the 2008 awards season, which now sit on the IMDb Top 250 at #131 and #164 respectively. And I didn’t really get either of them. I don’t think they’re bad films, but I struggled to get what they were for (especially the latter), and I certainly didn’t like or enjoy either. You don’t have to like a film for it to be great, but these two… Maybe I need to take the time to re-evaluate them, but I’ve already seen No Country two or three times and I’m not sure I can face it again.

Point Break
This isn’t overrated in the traditional sense — it only has 6.9 on IMDb for example, far off troubling the Top 250 — but in recent years it’s garnered a significant cult following, praising it as a great action movie. I blame Hot Fuzz, and probably Swayze’s death, and maybe even Bigelow’s Oscar win. It’s mediocre at best.

Honourable Mention: Avatar
Despite being on the IMDb Top 250 when some of my other choices aren’t (#223 at time of writing), Avatar is down here because I think there’s plenty of dislike for it. There’s no doubt those who really praise it tend to overrate it, especially blind followers of Whatever The Oscars Say (even though it didn’t win), but there’s enough people who know it’s good-not-great, or even outright hate it, to balance that out.

You’re reading this post on my new blog!

Congratulations, you have the good taste to be reading this post on my snazzy new blog (though I do still love the old one). Doesn’t it look great even in this little thumbnail?

For more on why I’ve started this so-called simul-blog, please look here.

To be continued…

Tomorrow it’s the turn of the five most underrated films from my last five years of viewing.

5 Years of 100 Films, Part 1

Posted on February 27, 2012 by badblokebob

100 Films in a Year is precisely five years old tomorrow!

Happy Birthday to me!

I’m aware my fifth year ended in December, but here we’re talking about the fifth anniversary of my first ever post, from 28th February 2007, where in one fell swoop I covered most of the year to date. Sometimes I’m tempted to go back to those teeny-tiny reviews…

Anyway, in celebration of me managing to stick at something for so long, I thought I’d have a little week of it: five top five lists (see what I did there?), culled from the films officially counted as part of 100 Films during those first five years. So that’s the 545 films covered on these five lists, not the 585+ on here.

Five Top Fives

So what five top fives have I come up with? Well, there’s perhaps the obvious two: the five best and the five worst. There’s also my five favourite (distinct from best — essentially, one being Worthy Films and one being Entertaining Films), the five I think are the most underrated and, conversely, the five I think are the most overrated. The only rule is that films are only allowed to appear on one list — so nothing can be both a favourite and underrated, say. These lists are too short to go duplicating things like that.

And at the weekend I may post some statistics, if I can think of something suitably different to say than in my last regular year-end one. I hope I can — I do love some statistics.

If you’re not interested in any of this (party pooper!), normal service will resume next week. And also on Wednesday night, when I post my summary of February.

Oh, by the way…

Before I get on to today’s inaugural list, I’ve decided to take this opportunity to ‘officially’ announce this shiny new ‘simul-blog’. Y’see, I say new — I’ve been updating it with new posts for most of the year (it’s currently got everything going back to January 2012), and if you’d known to look (or happened to see me mention it on twitter) it’s been publicly available too.

As FilmJournal sadly seems to be slowly slipping away, I thought it time to start something new. I’ve no intention to stop posting there — hence “simul-blog” not “new blog” — but, yeah, this new one’s here now. It’s got some advantages, like a pretty front page and cool big banner pictures at the top of every page, which I’ve taken the opportunity to customise for every single review (goodness knows how quickly that’ll eat through my WordPress storage allowance, but it doesn’t half look good), and some disadvantages, like my lack of familiarity (and the fact I’m still formatting the posts for FilmJournal first) meaning the pictures sometimes look a bit awkward. But that’ll surely get ironed out in time.

I’ve not been able to export my blog in a way the new one will accept, for some reason, so transferring will have to be done manually. Which has its advantages — I can re-do all links and re-format pictures as I go — but also its disadvantages — over 600 posts! (Golly!)

Another advantage is that you can easily subscribe to get an email every time I post something new: there’s a little box to the left on the front page, just pop your address in there. That goes some way to getting over the lack of FilmJournal front page (I don’t know about anyone else, but that’s always been my main way of keeping up with other FJ blogs). Emails aren’t perfect right now — I’ve always uploaded pictures at a bigger size then used HTML to make them fit the page nicely, but the emails seem to ignore that and just bung them in full size — something I need to see to going forward. And when I begin back-posting it’s going to flood people with 600+ emails unless I find a way to stop it. Oh dear.

Anyway, please check it out — the URL, in case you somehow missed the link above, is 100filmsinayear.wordpress.com. Any thoughts welcome. (First one: I’m intending to change that big ol’ logo to a banner of thumbnails, a bit like the one on the old blog.)

And with that said and done…

The 5 Worst Films

Alone in the Dark
The first Uwe Boll film I saw, and quite possibly the last. It’s not just bad, it’s impressively bad — how do you make a film this shoddy? Of course there always has and always will be bad writing, bad acting, bad directing, but how do you create something with so little awareness of how to tell a story? It baffles me.

AVPR – Aliens vs Predator: Requiem
If you saw Alien vs. Predator when you were about 14 then you might love it. More or less everyone else hated it. That is, until you see this. It’s dull, it’s poorly constructed, it’s so dark you can’t even tell what’s going on… What a waste of the franchises. Bonus disgust for dragging the once-great Alien series so low.

Cube²: Hypercube
I love Cube; it might be one of my most favourite films. It doesn’t need a sequel, but if it was going to have one it really shouldn’t have been this. The original was great because of its simplicity and ambiguity; this ditches both, being over-complicated and with a woeful explanation ending. Pretend it doesn’t exist.

Flight 93
I despise this film. I think it’s disrespectfully bad. Maybe its poorness has been hyped up in my memory, I don’t know. Thankfully we also have the exceptional United 93, which is an absolute must-see to my mind. Funny that a single true story has inspired both one of my most reviled and one of my most esteemed films.

Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic
Comedy should be funny, but not everyone agrees what’s funny — that’s why some love Frankie Boyle and some wish he would die (insert the name of any comedian/’comedian’ you like there). I quite like Silverman, which is why I was disappointed by this. I don’t think I even laughed once. Maybe out of desperation.

To be continued…

Tomorrow I’ll list the five films from my last five years of viewing that I consider to be the most overrated.

January 2012

Posted on January 31, 2012 by badblokebob

Hold on, it’s February? When did that happen?!

Joking aside…

Ah, January — the start of a fresh new year to fill with 100 new films. And I’m off to a solid start with 10 titles. Fewer than either of the previous two years, true, but as the January target is eight I shan’t complain.

What I do have is a standard array of Films From Last Year being caught up on — skipping most stuff at the cinema, and with family who predominantly pick the Brand New Films They’ve Heard Of from my Christmas suggestions, means January is a strong time for catching up on what I’ve just missed. Or scratching the surface of it anyway: four films from the 50 I listed last month are here, which is about 8%. But then I’m not sure all of those have even made it to cinemas still, so…

Oh, and this was the first year I watched a film on New Year’s Day since 2009, something I’d previously achieved every year. So that was nice.

January’s films were…

#1 Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
#2 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
#3 Outland (1981)
#4 Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
#5 Tombstone (1993)
#6 Rush Hour 3 (2007)
#7 With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story (2010)
#8 Ironclad (2011)
#9 2000 AD, aka Gong yuan 2000 AD (2000)
#10 Rango: Extended Cut (2011)

More failures

I was actually going to do a Sergio Leone week this month too, which was proposed a while back, in some post’s comment section either here or on Ghost of 82, but when I plan a week I plan a week and life has unfortunately got in the way of the potential for such things that recently.

It’s a workable way of getting me to watch specific films, actually — witness the success of silent Lubitsch week (over a year ago! so much for Silent Week as a theme), David Fincher week, that Quantum of Solace thing I did, and so on; and recently I watched the three Underworld films on consecutive nights (see review above, if you missed it/care) — so I should put more effort into doing more of them really. I know where to start.

Next time on the all-new 100 Films in a Year monthly update…

If anyone’s watching, please know the target for February is 16 films (not much of a surprise if you think about it), so we’ll see how I get on. I predict more 2011 films, more things LOVEFiLM throw my way (both Ironclad and Rango were courtesy their decisions from my massive rental list), and whatever happens to be on TV. Which at the moment seems to be mostly premieres of things I’ve owned on DVD/BD for years and not got round to yet.

2011 In Retrospect

Posted on January 7, 2012 by badblokebob

A week into the new year, it’s time to wrap up 2011…

Introduction

Everyone has different criteria about what constitutes a Great Film. Some people despise Hollywood-produced mass-market action fare; other people it’s all they watch. Some people can’t stand a slow-paced meditative drama with subtitles; other people it’s all they watch. And, naturally, there are various less extreme opinions in between.

So choosing a best (or worst) films list is always a highly subjective and personal experience, and however acclaimed the critic or definitive the source it will always be so. There’s also arguably a difference between Favourite and Best, and I can never quite decide which my list is; never mind the initial hurdle that I have quite broad tastes. How do you qualify two vastly different films against each other?

But anyway, I’m sure you’ve heard such musings about the compilation of such lists before — I shan’t go on (for a change). Here’s some lists; they explain themselves. Through the cleverness of HTML, I shall provide a linked contents list:

The Five Worst Films I Saw in 2011
The Ten Best Films I Saw For the First Time in 2011
Special Mentions
The Films I Didn’t See
A Final Thought

(OK, they’re not all lists.)

As ever, all of these are selected from what I watched this year, so the full list of eligible titles is here.

The Five Worst Films I Saw in 2011

Cloak and Dagger
I think I’ve been quite generous with my scores this year — I was surprised upon reviewing my worst-of-the-year shortlist to find three stars on this review. Whether you’re looking at his German silents or Hollywood noirs, Fritz Lang is an exceptional director. But even exceptional people have off-days.

Valley of Fear
An easy one this, but hey-ho. It’s probably the least-well-regarded of the four Sherlock Holmes novels, and while it’s not the worst in this series of animated adaptations — the woefully misjudged version of The Hound of the Baskervilles takes that honour — it’s still not got much going for it.

Saw 3D
Some people write off Saw too readily — while at its worst it does sink to the risible depths of torture porn, at its best it’s an engrossing and complex thriller. This franchise-ender is a disappointment even to those of us who border on liking the series, though. Full of good ideas wasted. Shame.

Monkey Business
Here’s another one I gave three stars (there are several not here that scored lower), but my memory of it is worse. Despite some considerable talent — Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Marilyn Monroe, Howard Hawks — it doesn’t tie together into something particularly entertaining, in my mind. Passable.

Beyond the Pole
I didn’t hate Beyond the Pole, but there wasn’t a great deal I enjoyed about it either. It’s good when a comedy makes you laugh and, unlike Monkey Business even, this one doesn’t really. It’s a waste of a talented cast. Impressive production values for such a small British film though.

The Ten Best Films I Saw For the First Time in 2011

10) Gambit
“Go ahead tell the end… but please don’t tell the beginning!” Gambit is worth watching for its opening conceit alone, but once that’s done there’s tons of fun to be had with Caine and MacLaine, bumbling through a con in delicious fashion. Largely forgotten, it deserves to be remembered; perhaps the Colin Firth-starring Coens-penned remake will do it a favour.

9) Centurion
With Scottish landscape shots to rival Lord of the Rings‘ New Zealand, Centurion is breathtaking to look at. Underline that with a tense story and a fantastic cast (not the last time Michael Fassbender will appear in this top ten), not to mention some brutal but not excessive action, and I think you have a winner. A little blokey, but also a little more.

8) Easy Virtue
Looking at reviews and aggregate sites, Easy Virtue seems to be almost maligned. Shame. Adapted from a Noel Coward play, it’s very witty, surprisingly dramatic, and with an outrageously cheeky score. This changeability and irreverence is, I think, quite British. Perhaps it confuses some by not being easily pigeonholed. I adored it.

7) My Neighbour Totoro
It’s hard to think of a film more gentle than Totoro, although some might find things like the cat-bus a bit creepy (me not entirely excluded). Gorgeously animated with a beautiful soundtrack, it lures you in to a world and tells you a thoroughly nice story, with no enforced peril or nasty characters. Refreshingly lovely.

6) Monsters
Made for next to nothing and with all the computer effects home crafted by director Gareth Edwards, Monsters is an amazing technical achievement. But it’s also a character drama about disaffected twenty-somethings and man’s destructive nature, amongst other things no doubt. Edwards is unquestionably a genre filmmaker to watch.

5) Super
It may have the same subject matter as Kick-Ass, but Super scores bonus points for its low-budget very-real-world aesthetic… in spite of featuring some of the craziest anime-inspired CGI you’ll see from a US movie. Very funny, but with a kick too, while Kick-Ass slid into fantasy this remains reality (pretty much). They make a helluva pair.

4) Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
The first film from anime master Hayao Miyazaki has been described by no less than Steven Spielberg as “one of the greatest adventure movies of all time”. Do you need higher recommendation? Exciting and funny, while it may lack the emotional resonance that made Miyazaki so acclaimed later, it appeals rather to my blockbuster sensibilities.

3) Let the Right One In
This is how you do a vampire love story (for everyone but teenage girls). Genuinely touching and emotional, with highly identifiable themes and characters despite the story’s genre subject matter, Tomas Alfredson’s film is an affecting drama as well as a creepy and horrific fantasy thriller. Genre movies don’t get much better than this.

2) X-Men: First Class
Some reviews spied flaws, attributed to First Class‘ hasty production, but I don’t hold with that. As young versions of McKellen and Stewart, Fassbender and McAvoy bring as much acting gravitas as can be had from their generation. Vaughn manages genuine cinematic spectacle, something I thought lost in the age of anything-is-possible CGI. Marvellous.

1) The Social Network
Some unlikeable brats sit at computers programming websites and argue amongst themselves. Sounds like a bloody awful film, but with dialogue by Aaron Sorkin and direction from David Fincher, not to mention a cast of fine young actors, it’s engrossing, exciting and exceptional. It may be The Movie About Facebook, but it’s about so much more. Like.

Special Mentions

Compiling this year’s top ten felt hard — I managed to get my typically long long list (42 titles this year) down to a short list of about 15, then set about re-reading my own reviews… but whichever film I last read about seemed an obvious contender. In the end I plumped for a couple that ‘needed the support’, as it were. Lingering just outside the ten — or perhaps simply unlucky on the day — were The Big Heat, Fritz Lang’s exceptional dark noir; How to Train Your Dragon, an exciting CG-animated movie that proves it isn’t all about Pixar; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, an effective procedural-ish thriller that gives the US remake a lot to live up to; The Three Musketeers, anarchic fun; and the new Winnie the Pooh, which was flawed but loveable.

As ever, I must also mention the 17 films that earned themselves 5-star ratings this year. Eight of them made it into the top ten, the most ever. The two that missed out were close too, but I think I may’ve got tougher as the year progressed: the last perfect score I handed out was in September, and before that July. Anyway, those in the top ten were Easy Virtue, Let the Right One In, Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro, Monsters, My Neighbour Totoro, The Social Network, Super and X-Men: First Class. From the handful that missed out, The Three Musketeers was also a five-star-er. The remaining eight were Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Dog Day Afternoon, An Education, Harry Brown, Holiday, The King’s Speech, Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang and Roman Holiday. Whenever I do this bit I always feel like there were some other films I should have given top marks, and maybe some that only deserved four, but here we are.

On top of those 17, David Fincher Week (I promise this is the last time I’ll mention it in these round-ups) furnished us with five-star reviews for two films I’d previously seen — namely, Se7en and Fight Club — and a third for the only-slightly-different Zodiac: Director’s Cut.

The Films I Didn’t See

To finish off, then, here’s my annual tradition: an alphabetical list of 50 films, that are listed as 2011 on IMDb, that I didn’t manage to see this year. These are chosen for a variety of reasons, from box office success to critical acclaim via simple notoriety.

As usual I’ve stuck to my rule of only including films that are listed as 2011 on IMDb, irrespective of their UK release date. So no Senna, no Submarine, no Brighton Rock, for just three British-made examples; but films that aren’t even out here for over a month are included. What can I say, it’s a flawed system. Maybe I’ll finally change it next year.

The list may show a bias towards my personal interests — I do use this as a checklist going forward after all — but then I have quite wide interests, and I had a look at Box Office Mojo’s account of the highest-grossing films in the US to include all I’d not seen from the top 15 (I drew the line at Rio and The Smurfs), and a Best Of list or two too, so it hits most of the major bases. Nonetheless, I’m certain Stuff You’ll Have Heard Of is missing, but that’s what a limit of 50 does. Maybe I should increase it to 100 — that’d be fitting.

But I digress. Here are some films:

The Adjustment Bureau
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
The Artist
Attack the Block
Bridesmaids
Captain America: The First Avenger
Cars 2
Conan the Barbarian
Cowboys & Aliens
The Devil’s Double
Drive
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Fast Five (aka Fast & Furious 5)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Gnomeo & Juliet
The Green Hornet
Green Lantern
The Hangover Part II
Hanna
Happy Feet Two
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
The Help
Hugo
The Inbetweeners Movie
The Iron Lady
Ironclad
Kill List
Kung Fu Panda 2
Melancholia
Midnight in Paris
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
The Muppets
Paul
Puss in Boots
Rango
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Scream 4
Shame
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Super 8
Thor
The Three Musketeers
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The Tree of Life
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
War Horse
Warrior
Wuthering Heights

A Final Thought

That’s it for another year… well, apart from the 17 reviews I have left to post. Ought to get a wriggle on with those really.

With that, 100 Films is officially five years old. Oo-ooh! Originally I started it in February 2007, looking back on the first few weeks of the year to get it going (to this day I wonder if I forgot any films I watched in that period), and come the proper fifth birthday next month I may have a post or two to acknowledge the relative longevity of this enterprise.

But until then… well, I’ve got a lot more films still to watch…

2011: The Full List

Posted on January 3, 2012 by badblokebob

For only the second time in the history of 100 Films in a Year, I have watched 100 films in a year.

As opposed to over-100, which I’ve done twice, or the obvious under-100, which I did once. And indeed this year I didn’t watch just 100: that’s 100 feature-length films that I’ve never seen before. But you knew that, because that’s what this blog is about. I still think no one’s going to have remembered the rules. Best to be clear, eh.

So, as we’ve reached the end, here’s the first of two summary posts. More on the second post later, but first there’s the complete list of everything I watched: the main list of 100, in numerical order of viewing again this year, followed by lists of other things I decided to review — this year, a couple of shorts and most of the contents of David Fincher Week.

And then there’s the statistics. I love the statistics. There’s some interesting stuff in there this year — including graphs! — though the way things seem to be trending next year might be even more interesting. Only 52 weeks until we get to find out… But I’m getting ahead of myself. It may be 2012, but let’s luxuriate in the events of 2011 for just a moment longer.

The List

#1 Saw VI (2009)
#2 Exam (2009)
#3 Genevieve (1953)
#4 Synecdoche, New York (2008)
#5 Melinda and Melinda (2004)
#6 The Invention of Lying (2009)
#7 Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
#8 The Big Heat (1953)
#9 Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro, aka Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (1979)
#10 The Three Musketeers (1973)
#11 Bolt (2008)
#12 The Four Musketeers (1974)
#13 Harry Brown (2009)
#14 Alien³: Special Edition (1992/2003)
#15 Monkey Business (1952)
#16 True Grit (1969)
#17 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
#18 The Social Network (2010)
#19 Easy Virtue (2008)
#20 Once (2006)
#21 Roman Holiday (1953)
#22 Sabrina (1954)
#23 Clash of the Titans (2010)
#24 Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang (2010)
#25 Up in the Air (2009)
#26 Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
#27 Cloak and Dagger (1946)
#28 Unthinkable (2010)
#29 Let the Right One In, aka Låt den rätte komma in (2008)
#30 Let Me In (2010)
#31 The Damned (1963)
#32 Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
#33 Death Race (2008)
#34 Night of the Demon (1957)
#35 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, aka Män som hatar kvinnor (2009)
#36 High Plains Drifter (1973)
#37 Young Guns (1988)
#38 The Day of the Locust (1975)
#39 The Girl Who Played with Fire, aka Flickan som lekte med elden (2009)
#40 Monsters (2010)
#41 My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
#42 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, aka Luftslottet som sprängdes (2009)
#43 Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
#44 La Règle du jeu, aka The Rules of the Game (1939)
#45 Cameraman: The Life & Work of Jack Cardiff (2010)
#46 A Bunch of Amateurs (2008)
#47 Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005)
#48 Funny Face (1957)
#49 Catfish (2010)
#50 Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
#51 An Education (2009)
#52 (500) Days of Summer (2009)
#53 Salt: Director’s Cut (2010)
#54 The Princess and the Frog (2009)
#55 Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
#56 Iron Man 2 (2010)
#57 The King’s Speech (2010)
#58 The Thief (1952)
#59 Jonah Hex (2010)
#60 X-Men: First Class (2011)
#61 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (3D) (2011)
#62 Ip Man, aka Yip Man (2008)
#63 Law Abiding Citizen: Director’s Cut (2009)
#64 Valley of Fear (1983)
#65 Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance., aka Evangerion shin gekijôban: Ha (2009/2010)
#66 A Study in Terror (1965)
#67 Saw 3D (2D) (2010)
#68 The Locket (1946)
#69 Tangled (2010)
#70 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
#71 Super (2010)
#72 Sucker Punch: Extended Cut (2011)
#73 Source Code (2011)
#74 Glorious 39 (2009)
#75 Nirvana (1997)
#76 The House on 92nd Street (1945)
#77 Browncoats: Redemption (2010)
#78 Bringing Up Baby (1938)
#79 Holiday (1938)
#80 How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
#81 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
#82 Centurion (2010)
#83 Magicians (2007)
#84 The Brothers Bloom (2008)
#85 Batman: Year One (2011)
#86 Battle Los Angeles (2011)
#87 That Touch of Mink (1962)
#88 RED (2010)
#89 Gambit (1966)
#90 Cars (2006)
#91 Beyond the Pole (2009)
#92 Cruise of the Gods (2002)
#93 Diner (1982)
#94 Nativity! (2009)
#95 Hotel for Dogs (2009)
#96 The Spider Woman (1944)
#97 Faintheart (2008)
#98 The Man from Earth (2007)
#99 Winnie the Pooh (2011)
#100 The A-Team: Explosive Extended Edition (2010)

Alternate Cuts
– Zodiac: Director’s Cut (2007/2008)

Other Reviews
– Fight Club (1999)
– The Game (1997)
– Panic Room (2002)
– Se7en (1995)

Shorts
– Catwoman (2011)
– The Gruffalo’s Child (2011)
– Lumet: Film Maker (1975)

The Statistics

As I said, for only the second time ever, I watched exactly 100 films in a year — appropriate for my fifth anniversary. (That’s just the new feature films, as ever. All are included in the stats that follow, even if there’s no review yet.)

I watched a single film I’d seen before that was extended or altered in some not-particularly-significant way. (There was also the special edition of Alien³, which I deemed suitably different to include in the main list.) I also reviewed four others just for the fun of it (well, for that David Fincher Week actually). All 105 films are included in the statistics that follow, unless otherwise indicated.

I also watched three shorts (none of which shall be counted in any statistics). That’s the smallest number ever. Considering I own quite a few shorts DVDs, both contemporary and from the silent era, I really should make more of an effort.

The total running time of new features (the 100) was 170 hours and 23 minutes — not the shortest I’ve had, but certainly not the longest either. The total running time of all films (including, for this stat only, shorts) was 182 hours and 13 minutes — not the shortest I’ve had, but… you get the idea.

I’ve already watched one film from this list again, specifically X-Men: First Class. I think a couple of others may at this point require re-viewing before I can review them, though.

This year’s format victor is TV, for the third year running: with 49 (including 16 in HD) it represents almost half my viewing. That said, last year it was over half, so… At least Blu-ray ran it a close race, totalling 42 this year — that’s 13 more than last time, which was 23 more than the year before. DVD continues its inexorable slide into oblivion (despite my massive unwatched collection) with just nine films viewed on that format, down from last year’s 22. Poor DVD — it feels like an under-loved former-champion to me now. (Oh, now I feel I’ve been cruel to it. Sorry DVD! I’ll watch more of you!) Finally, I watched three downloads (one in HD) and made just two trips to the cinema, half of them in 3D. That’s 33% fewer visits than last year. Or, another way, one less.

The most popular decade was the ’00s, as it has been every year since this blog began. Its hold is beginning to slip though: with just 37 films this year it accounts for 35.2% of films viewed, down on last year’s previous low of 48.4% (the first time it fell beneath 50%). Running a relatively close second was a decade just two years old, the 2010s, with 29 films (27.6%). Nothing else came close, with a scattering across most of the 20th century: three were made in the ’30s, five in the ’40s, nine in the ’50s, six in the ’60s and seven in the ’70s (neat), and four in the ’80s. Finally, with just five films the ’90s had its worst result by half — literally: the previous low was 10 in 2009.

I believe I’ve said in the past that I feel I’ve been more generous this year, and it would appear I have: the average score is 3.8, the highest it’s ever been. Readers with strong memories may recall the previous high was 3.7 so it might not look like much of an increase, but it’s a bit starker if we add a few more decimal points and consider percentages. The previous years’ average scores range 0.77%, from 3.629 to 3.657; this year comes to 3.838, a 4.95% increase from the next highest. Still looks small? The gap between the old highest and new highest is 543% bigger than the gap between the lowest and old highest. So there.

This is helped by 20 five-star films, the second-highest year for those (there were 21 in 2009), and, for the first time ever, no one-star films. As ever, the majority of films — 54 this year — scored four-stars. Rounding it out were 25 three-star films, which is about average, and six two-star films, about half the usual number. So with no single-star films, a drastically reduced number of two-stars-ers, and a pretty generous lot of five-stars, no wonder the average comes out so high. Must’ve been a good year.

Seven films appear on the IMDb Top 250 Films as of New Year’s Day 2012 — not the seven I’d’ve chosen, personally. That’s exactly the same as last year, which is about half the amount in the two previous years, and just a third of the first year! This year’s positions ranges from 129th (The King’s Speech) to 239th (Ip Man). Not that I’m giving IMDb’s user-voted list special treatment, but… well, I am, aren’t I. There are too many other such lists out there I could cross-reference all these films with, so I won’t do any of them. As usual.

At the end of all previous years’ summaries I’ve included a list of 50 notable films I’d missed from that year’s releases. With 2011 over, I’ve managed to see one more from 2007 (bringing the total for that 50 to 26), one more from 2008’s list (bringing it to 14) and five more from 2009’s list (bringing that to 13). In the year since listing 2010’s 50 I’ve managed to see 16 of them — a bloody good start, as you can see from 2008 & 2009’s numbers! As ever, I hope further films from all four lists will appear during 2012 — and plenty from 2011’s too (coming soon).

A record-low 80 solo directors (previous: 87) and a record-high 11 directing partnerships (previous: 10) appear on this year’s list. Topping the list of those with multiple films is David Fincher, who has eight thanks to (of course) Fincher Week. Three of those counted for the main list, leaving him this year’s top director every which way. Seven others have two films apiece: Daniel Alfredson, Kevin Greutert, Henry Hathaway, Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang, Richard Lester and Hayao Miyazaki. For the curious, that leaves 72 directors (and all 11 partnerships) with just a single film.

Also, four directors from this year’s list have surnames beginning “Sch”: Schenkman, Scherfig, Schlesinger and Schwentke. Doesn’t mean anything, I just noticed it. Random.

Finally, 33 of the films (plus two of the shorts and all the Other Reviews) are currently in my DVD/Blu-ray collection, the smallest number yet.

Coming next…

Aren’t the statistics good? I love the statistics. I should save the statistics for last.

Oh, coming next? The bottom five, the top ten, and another list of fifty films from the last 12 months that I haven’t bothered to watch yet.

I better get writing…

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Category Archives: Editorials

5 Years of 100 Films, Part 6

5 Years of 100 Films, Part 5

5 Years of 100 Films, Part 4

February 2012

5 Years of 100 Films, Part 3

5 Years of 100 Films, Part 2

5 Years of 100 Films, Part 1

January 2012

2011 In Retrospect

2011: The Full List