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.
#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)
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.
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…
June’s films
#38 
#93 
Anyway, here’s the exiguous (thank you thesaurus) list of films that have got me to this point…
#82 
100Films.co.uk 