I watched Gravity on the 1st of March. I didn’t watch another film ’til the 18th. Let’s see how this pans out…

March’s films

#13 Gravity (2013)
#14 World War Z (Extended Action Cut) (2013)
#15 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
#16 Chicken Little (2005)
#16a The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Extended Edition) (2012/2013)
#17 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
#18 Space Battleship Yamato (2010)
#19 Union Station (1950)
#20 Mad Max (1979)
#21 Monsters vs Aliens (2009)
#22 Veronica Mars (2014)
#23 Legends of the Knight (2013)
#24 The Searchers (1956)

Analysis

Surprise!

March was set to be a bit of a challenge: I accumulated a deficit of four films across January and February, meaning I needed to be viewing at 150% normal necessity to get back on target; and I wasn’t going to sacrifice my annual Game of Thrones catch-up week just to accommodate some paltry movies, no sir.

So I feel a little pleased with myself that I managed to not only watch this month’s allocation of movies (for the first time since last October, in fact), but also that extra 50%. And all of Game of Thrones season three, of course.

Now, you may note that it’s the end of March — a quarter of the way through the year — and I’m not yet at 25 films. How can I be on target? Well, technically — technically — I don’t need to reach #25 until the start of April (thanks to February’s shortness, a day-by-day breakdown puts the quarter-way film on April 1st), so by making #24 at the end of March I am back on target. Technically.

That said, I’m more than 10 films behind where I’ve been for the past few years (2010, 2011 and 2013 all found me at #38 now, coincidentally), so that’s a shame. This year is shaping up to be a funny one though, so goodness knows what April will bring.

What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen…?

Squeezed in at the end there is The Searchers, this month’s WDYMYHS film, meaning I’m still on track with that too. Maybe it’ll all work out this year? That’ll be the day…

5 Cancelled TV Series That Continued on the Big Screen

Many TV shows have been remade for the big screen, often old favourites revived with all-new casts and a bigger scope. In fact, a surprising number have made the leap to the cinema with the original cast intact — all those infamous “the regular show, but in Spain” sitcom movies from the ’70s, but also successful shows where someone saw moneymaking potential just by doing the same thing but bigger.

Rarer, though, are TV series that were dropped but then, due to the dogged determination of fans and/or creators, found themselves with a large-scale reprieve. The following aren’t just any movies based on TV shows (like I said, there are loads of those), but specifically ones that were continued on the big screen — not rebooted, restarted, recast, or in any other way remade, but continued.

1. Veronica Mars
   The recently-released inspiration for this list. An underrated series from the late ’00s, its creator and stars have tried to get a movie made ever since it was ditched. With traditional options failing, they famously turned to Kickstarter — and fans coughed up almost $6 million. Relatively strong limited-release box office and VOD chart positions suggest their wish for a sequel may be granted. Unlike:
2. Firefly
   The modern marker of true TV success — DVD sales (they also led to a return for series like Family Guy) — saw Joss Whedon’s short-lived, beloved space Western revived for a lap of honour. Sadly it struggled to find a big enough audience there either, dashing hopes of a sequel. But at least we got one movie. One big damn movie. One day, I’ll tell you all about how I think it’s better than Star Wars…
3. Star Trek
   Sci-fi fandoms lend themselves to this kind of list. Now that it’s a massive multimedia franchise, spanning half a dozen long-running TV series and twice as many movies, it’s easy to forget the original Star Trek was cancelled after just three years. The post-Star Wars movie world saw it rescued for the big screen. A bit like what J.J. Abrams is doing now, one might argue.
4. Police Squad!
   The what now, you might ask? Police Squad lasted just six episodes in the early ’80s, but then they spun it off onto the big screen as The Naked Gun (hence that first film’s ludicrous subtitle) — which was obviously a success, because it spawned two sequels and people still go on about it. Apparently “many gags from the show were recycled for all three films,” which I guess is fair enough if no one watched your show.
5. Twin Peaks
   Twin Peaks was a cultural phenomenon, and is widely attributed with revolutionising US network television thanks to its filmic style and long-running storylines. Too long-running, as it turned out, when audiences abandoned it after things got weird (the fact it was masterminded by David Lynch should’ve been a clue) and the driving mystery was kinda-solved. A prequel movie did little to clarify things. (Apparently. I’ve still only seen season one.)

But then there’s…

The X Files
Sure, the first X Files movie came mid-series, but the second was a considerable time after the show left our screens. And after the TV series ended on a cliffhanger, what better than to return to the big screen so you can tell… a completely standalone and unrelated story with a TV-friendly small scale. Oops. Hopes for a third movie that would deal with the hanging plot threads were basically killed right there.

Was it worth these TV shows being continued, or should they have left well enough alone? What other demised shows deserve the same treatment?

Next month on 100 Films in a Year…

#25.

As one-sixth of the year passes, things are not going as planned…

What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen…?

Well, some things are — those things being WDYMYHS. Though only just, in the dying minutes of the month — just like the good ol’ days of 2013, then.

February’s choice is a film I’ve been meaning to watch for years, and the desire to get it included in this year’s 12 films was one of the guiding principles behind the selection criteria. It is, simply, Up. Which was also an Oscar winner and Best Picture nominee, making it highly appropriate right now.

Elsewhere, however, things were less rosy…

February’s films in full

#8 Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
#9 The Next Three Days (2010)
#10 Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
#11 The House of Fear (1945)
#12 Up (2009)

Analysis

With only five films watched, this is the worst February since before Up was released. It’s less than half what I managed last year, and that was down slightly on the three years preceding it too. Not only that, but it’s a full three films off the amount I should watch in any given month; add that to the single film shortfall of January and I’m a full four films behind — which, at this stage, amounts to a quarter of my intended viewing. Oh dear.

On the bright side… um…

Yeah. Must try harder.

With this year’s Oscars tomorrow, I thought I’d see how my WDYMYHS films for 2014 fared at that esteemed event. Turns out, only seven of them were even nominated — so this week’s top 5 is a top… well, 6. You’ll see why.

5 7 6 (kinda) WDYMYHS Films With Oscar Nominations

1. Braveheart
   With five wins from ten nominations, Mel Gibson’s Braveheart is the most successful film here both in terms of “number of wins” and “percentage of nominations to wins”. Perhaps that’s apt, with the forthcoming Scottish referendum frequently dominating the news at the moment; perhaps it just says something about the level of film appreciation the Academy work at.
2. Up
   Pixar were once known for releasing a critically-acclaimed non-sequel every year. Up will be five years old soon, but it’s their last non-sequel to score over 80% on Rotten Tomatoes (and the same but with “over 70%” on Metacritic). It also bagged five Oscar nominations, including a Best Picture consideration, taking home gongs for Animated Feature and Original Song.
3. Amélie
   Although it scored a total of five nominations across the board, with particularly notable categories like Original Screenplay and Cinematography among them, this French film didn’t even manage to win the Best Foreign Feature award. That honour instead went to Bosnian war drama No Man’s Land. No, I don’t remember it either.
4. Rear Window
   Hitchcock infamously never won an Oscar. I don’t know how his films fared generally speaking, but Rear Window certainly didn’t nab any. It did get four nominations though, including a Best Director nod for Hitch. He lost to Elia Kazan, whose On the Waterfront dominated that year (though three different pictures bested Rear Window in its other three categories).
5. 12 Angry Men
   There were three nominations for this jury room thriller from director Sidney Lumet — a Best Director consideration among them. He lost that to David Lean for The Bridge on the River Kwai, which similarly triumphed over the Angry Men in the contests for both the Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay trophies.
6. Blue Velvet and Requiem for a Dream
   Just one nom apiece for these two. David Lynch secured his second Best Director nomination for the former, but lost to Oliver Stone for Platoon. Meanwhile, Requiem for a Dream appeared in the Best Leading Actress group with a nod for Ellen Burstyn, but she was defeated by Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich in Erin Brockovich.

None of the others even merited a nomination, apparently… though one did even worse…

The Shining
Not only was Kubrick’s acclaimed horror movie not nominated for any Oscars, it found itself in contention for two Razzies. Shelley Duvall was one of the ten Worst Actresses (Brooke Shields in The Blue Lagoon was deemed worst of all), while the sainted Stanley Kubrick was declared one of the year’s Worst Directors (he ‘lost’ to Robert Greenwald for Xanadu). And there you were thinking everyone always loved it.

And remember that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences consider all of those films to be infinitely better than The Big Lebowski, Modern Times, Oldboy, and The Searchers. I’ve only seen two so I couldn’t possibly comment… but you can, here. (Ooh, that was smoothly mentioned, wasn’t it?)

TV plug

It’s the UK network TV premiere of The Lincoln Lawyer on Channel 4 tonight at 10pm. My four-star review is here, and you can also read about the film when it placed eighth on my list of the 10 best films I saw in 2012.

As you can see, it comes recommended.

Next month on 100 Films in a Year…

By the end of March I should be at the quarter-way point, aka 25 films. Only 13 to go, then — a higher number than I’ve managed so far this year, true… but also the same amount (or less) that I managed in three of the last four Marches and three of the last four Februarys.

There is hope for me yet.

November: the month with Men in its posters!

(I was going to open this post by ‘singing’ Europe’s The Final Countdown. Then I realised I did exactly that in November 2011. I’m nothing if not unoriginal.)

Ooooooone-huuuuuundred!

Yes, for the first time in 23 months, 100 Films in a Year has a #100! And for the first time in the history of ever, I’ve made it to #100 in a month that isn’t called “September” or “December”.

There’s a more detailed history of this blog’s #100s further down, but an analysis-like bit first: in the previous six years, I’ve made to 100 films a total of four times. Two of those were reached in September, two on December 31st. November now joins those illustrious ranks, completely ruining any patterns you thought you might’ve been able to see. But that’s good, because it breaks a cycle that only led to expectations, and expectations are always awkward.

More about November’s total and the usual analysis in a bit. First:

What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen…?

I always intended each year’s #100 to be a film that was significant in some way. That hasn’t always panned out (missing it twice and “squeezing in anything I can” two other times have seen to that), but with a more leisurely arrival this year I was able to plan it out. And what could be more appropriate than one of my WDYMYHS films, supposedly the greatest examples of the cinematic art that I’ve yet to see?

And so, #100 was also my latest WDYMYHS conquest, and it was… David Lean’s acclaimed and beloved epic Lawrence of Arabia. That was one of the films that inspired me to start WDYMYHS in the first place, so it seemed only fitting.

I tried to squeeze one more in before the end of the month, but no doing. That leaves three to get through in December, which wasn’t the plan in the slightest. We’ll see how that goes.

November’s films in full

#99 The Falcon’s Alibi (1946)
#100 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
#100a Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1965)
#101 The Wolverine: Extended Cut (2013)
#102 Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor (2013)
#103 Man of Steel (2013)

Analysis

I meant to post my review of The Day of the Doctor by now, in which I will explain/defend why an episode of TV counts as a film; but as I haven’t got round to that yet, let’s quickly run through it here as well: it was simultaneously released in cinemas; it’s feature-length. That’s good enough for me. Oh, and it did huge business and cracked into the charts both here and in the US — that’s not “oh, and it’s in cinemas too”, is it? No. Good.

Moving on to November itself, then. The past three years (i.e. 2010, 2011 and 2012) I’ve watched exactly four films in November, so it’s good to break another cycle of expectation with this month’s five. That also means it’s not 2013’s worst month (a two-way tie between June and July), but instead equals April’s five.

Having reached #103, November sits in a unique place in the history of Totals Reached By The End Of November. In the two years I’d reached #100 in September, I was in the 110s or 120s by now; in 2008 and 2009 I was at #81 and #80 respectively; and in 2011 and 2012 I was at #92 and #91 respectively. If you really want to dig into it there’s almost some kind of pattern there, but I think it’s best I leave well enough alone.

With just one month to go, I’ve averaged 9.36 films per month in 2013, on which basis I should end the year having watched 112 or 113 films. But considering said average includes months with viewing as low as four and as high as 17, my final tally could theoretically be anywhere from 107 to 120. My money says closer to the former than the latter.

5 Number 100s

In seven years of 100 Films, I’ve made it to the titular goal five times. Here are those films that received the glorious honour of being #100…

1. Citizen Kane
   Upon reaching my goal the first time, I decided (quite rightly, I think) that #100 should be An Important Occasion — and what can be more important than The Greatest Film Ever Made™? Many viewers these days seem to struggle with Kane’s reputation, or it just leads them to dismiss the film out of hand, but I thought it was genuinely exceptional and deserving of its acclaim.
2. Swing Time
   Come the second year, and watching Something Significant went out the window as I scrabbled through 11 films in 6 days to make it to 100, and this Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers picture happened to be the last of them. That said, Swing Time is hardly a poor movie — while not my favourite Astaire/Rogers movie (not that I’ve seen many, but the honour goes to Top Hat), their dancing is nonetheless sublime.
3. The Hurt Locker
   Having failed in 2009, 2010 was a return to form. Whether its #100 is a classic for the ages remains to be seen, but at the time it was the most recent Best Picture winner. How much insight it casts on the broad scope of recent conflicts is debatable, but it’s an interesting — and certainly tense — depiction of modern warriors’ mentality.
4. The A-Team
   Though not as much of a rush as 2008, in 2011 I only just made it to 100 again — and, again, it was less a special choice more something fit-in-able. That said, I liked The A-Team: it sets out to be a funny, entertaining action movie and, by and large, it achieves that goal. Not for those who like Serious Movies, or for those who take their movies too seriously.
5. Lawrence of Arabia
   And so, after missing it again in 2012, we come to this year. The alternation continues, with arguably the most acclaimed and beloved film that I’d never seen earning the spot of my fifth #100. As a double bonus, it’s one of my WDYMYHS films too (OK, that’s not an accident). That status, and the film’s sheer size (its length! its scope!), makes it a little tricky to get your head around. But wow, it looks incredible on Blu-ray.

And also…

Failure.
What of the other two years? Well, in 2009 I fell well short at 94. #94 itself was the 1974 Murder on the Orient Express, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring an Oscar-nominated Albert Finney as Poirot.

And then last year, when I made it even closer with 97, but couldn’t quite reach those final three films. #97 itself was cult favourite comedy The Plank, which I didn’t really connect with and is the lowest-scored of these seven films.

What will the next #100 be, I wonder? Hopefully we won’t have to wait another 23 months to find out…

P.S.

For December, my 100 Films Advent Calendar is starting up again. The introduction is here; reviews commence in the morning.

Next month on 100 Films in a Year…

Join me on New Year’s Day (you’ve got nothing better to do, right?) for the first of my usual array of retrospectives on the year just passed.