We’re officially three-quarters of the way through 2012 now (scary, ain’t it?) and this month I pass the three-quarters mark. Indeed, I’ve reached 81, which is exactly where I was this time last year.

Other than that, it’s quite unremarkable. I watched eight films, which is the average needed per month to make 100. After last month’s features being entirely Saint and Falcon vehicles, this month not only had more variety but not a one is a ’40s RKO flick. Back on that train next month, perhaps.

Other than that, the only observable trend is perhaps films of note. And by “note” I mean “success”: a surprise-ish franchise hit from 2011, two of 2012’s biggest films (one of them amongst the very biggest of all time), and an enduring ’80s ‘classic’. Also, Fantastic Four.

September’s films

#74 Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
#75 The Hunger Games (2012)
#76 Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, aka The Other Woman (2009)
#77 Fantastic Four (2005)
#78 Avengers Assemble, aka Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
#79 Ip Man 2, aka Yip Man 2 (2010)
#80 RoboCop (1987)
#81 Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project (2011)

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

The beginning of the home straight, you could say. But watching 100 films in a year is always a marathon not a sprint, and with 19 still to go form tells me it’s going to be another month or two — or three — before the titular goal is reached.

Less optimistic than some of my previous end-of-month “how I might do next time” declarations, but more realistic.

The name’s Templar — Gay Templar.

No, wait…

A two-note month

This month’s viewing has been dominated by two things: on the one hand, sport — much to my surprise, I got very involved in the Olympics (and, currently, the Paralympics); and on the other, ’40s series B-movies from RKO. After taking in the first two Saint movies last month, I continued through the remaining six, and then straight on to the similar Falcon series, which I’m currently almost halfway through.

It makes for a pretty successful month in terms of my overall goal. Watching twelve features, on top of July’s ten, means that I’ve moved from 16 off last year’s pace (at the end of June) to only four behind. September 2011 was a weak month (just four films), so when I surge on with the Falcon after the sport ends, I should be well on my way.

August’s films

#62 The Saint in London (1939)
#62a Dirty Laundry (2012)
#63 The Saint’s Double Trouble (1940)
#64 The Saint Takes Over (1940)
#65 The Saint in Palm Springs (1941)
#66 The Saint’s Vacation (1941)
#67 The Saint Meets the Tiger (1943)
#68 The Gay Falcon (1941)
#69 A Date with the Falcon (1942)
#70 The Falcon Takes Over (1942)
#71 The Falcon’s Brother (1942)
#72 The Falcon Strikes Back (1943)
#73 The Falcon in Danger (1943)

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

Even more of the Falcon — there’s another seven left yet — but hopefully some other films too!

As I noted, last year’s September was poor, so I could well see myself pushing ahead. #100 in November? Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

This month: how I’m doing (as usual), and a little something of interest courtesy of the BFI. (Or should that be a something of little interest?)

Comparisons

I think it’s fair to say that, after a few poorer months recently, July has gone pretty well. In total I watched 16 reviewed films, although as five of those were my Batman retrospective and one was a different version of M (2010’s #20), only 10 actually count towards my total. Still, that’s as good as May and June put together and my best month since March — and when you include the Batmans and M, it’s my best month of the year so far!

So I’m pretty happy with that, it must be said. Especially so as it comes as a bit of a surprise — ‘busy’ months normally feel it, but this one has really crept up on me.

July’s films

#52 Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, aka Di Renjie (2010)
#53 Green Lantern: Extended Cut (2011)
#54 16 Blocks (2006)
#54a Batman (1989)
#54b Batman Returns (1992)
#55 Passchendaele (2008)
#56 Cowboys & Aliens: Extended Director’s Cut (2011)
#56a Batman Forever (1995)
#56b Batman & Robin (1997)
#56c Batman Begins (2005)
#57 Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
#58 The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
#58a M (British version) (1931/1932)
#59 The Saint in New York (1938)
#60 The Saint Strikes Back (1939)
#61 The Final Destination (2009)

87 Films in a Year

In my experience, twitter is generally defined by what you happen to see. Unlike a website, where you might log on and peruse posts going back days or even weeks, twitter gives you a snapshot of what everyone’s saying right now.

So I’m glad I happened to see a tweet from the BFI that declared that “2011 saw an average of 87 film viewings per person in the UK”. Considering what my blog’s all about, I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I’ve often wondered this. And I must admit, it’s considerably higher than I would’ve expected, which makes me wonder how they arrived at it. After all, they didn’t survey everyone in the country, so who’s likely to be reached by BFI polling? Film fans, of course.

All statistics are of course dubious, and there’s no information on how this was collated. Was it a random sampling of the general population or was it specifically people who found it via the BFI (i.e. film fans)? Is it only at the cinema or at home too? Is it any film or only ones new to them? Were they asked to guess or were they asked to keep a thorough record? Were they even asked to guess at all or is it somehow derived from box office admissions?

The penultimate one is especially likely to throw the whole affair (so’s the last one, but we’ll ignore that for now because it makes the whole exercise pointless). People often wildly over- and under-estimate, especially when it comes to how many times they’ve watched something. Perhaps that would mean it averages out OK, or perhaps it skews higher. “Oh, I must’ve watched 100 films this year, easy”, when really they watched one every a week.

And if it is derived from people who kept a thorough record, that brings us back to the point that they must be dedicated film viewers — what regular person is going to count up what they watch now and then for an entire year?

Hm. This statistic started out as really interesting to me, but with all of this logic and analysis I think I’ve ruined it. Maybe that’s for the best.

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

I’ve been watching a surprising amount of the Olympics over the past few days. With it set to continue for about the first half of August, will that be a problem for my continued film viewing?

I’ll let you know… in a month. Enforced tension to maximum!

It’s officially the halfway point of the year. How are things going?

Fine.

Yeah — another month over, and another that hasn’t gone as well as it might. From the 10-film lead I’d built up by the end of March, I’m now crushingly only just ahead of target. Still, it’s not my worst year ever: I’d only reached 45 at this point in 2008, and 38 in 2009. (For what it’s worth, the best is last year’s 67.)

Despite the end of June ostensibly being halfway through the year, I’d actually be on target with only 49: thanks to February and August breaking the pattern of month-lengths, the halfway-point in days actually falls just inside July (even in a leap year). But that’s swings and roundabouts; and besides, the way I go about things, it pays more to look at the year in terms of months rather than days.

June’s films

#47 Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
#48 The Beast Stalker, aka Ching yan (2008)
#49 The Spiral Staircase (2000)
#50 The Lost Weekend (1945)
#50a Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation (2011)
#51 Cars 2 (2011)

John Carter

I was going to watch John Carter and review it tomorrow. Life got in the way. The story’s the same for so many other things I’ve intended to watch recently (it took me a week longer than intended to watch The Lost Weekend, a rare success story). Will try to watch it soon regardless. I’m very curious.

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

Most years at this point I’m quite far ahead. Of the two where I wasn’t, one just scraped 100, the other was my only failure to date.

No pressure to get things back on track, July!

May has proven to be a tough month, for various reasons. None of them directly relating to my film viewing (though writing off my car fully put paid to belated plans to see The Avengers; it’s a definite BD watch now), but they’ve just generally got in the way.

So May becomes this year’s low viewing month, with just five new films watched. Could be worse, and at least I remain a few films ahead of target (five, to be precise).

And I think I posted more reviews this month than I have for a while, so that’s good too… even if it was only seven. Oh dear.

May’s films

#42 The Return of the Musketeers (1989)
#43 The Negotiator (1998)
#44 Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
#45 Scre4m (2011)
#46 The Scarlet Claw (1944)

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

Just four more films in June would see me stay on track, but hopefully next month will pan out a little better than that and I’ll remain ahead. I’ll let you know in 30 days…

33.3% through 2012…

41% through 100 films

Another month over with not many reviews posted. That backlog is getting quite ridiculous now. No significant strategy for getting caught up with it, I’m afraid to say, other than that I do aim to tackle it. Plus the leftovers from last year! Some may need a re-watch; alternatively, I may attempt another Ip Man-style summary.

Viewing progresses well though. Not as many new titles as previous months — down to seven features versus 10, 13 and 11 from previous months — but as #41 is the target for the end of May, I’m happy.

April’s films

#35 Repo Chick (2009)
#36 Chatroom (2010)
#37 Thor (2011)
#37a Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant (2011)
#38 Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
#38a Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer (2011)
#39 Drive Angry (2011)
#40 Special (2006)
#41 Conan the Barbarian (2011)

Catching up on 2011

Recent weeks seem to have seen a fresh inundation of 2011 releases hitting home entertainment formats — The Adventures of Tintin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol are all among my purchases this month, with The Artist, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, War Horse and more imminent. That’s not to mention stuff released earlier that I’ve still not got round to, like Cowboys & Aliens, Green Lantern, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (not that I’ve deigned to buy all of those). As the 2012 blockbuster season officially kicks off (I think we can call The Avengers‘ already-happened international debut & forthcoming US release that), it’s about time I performed my usual trick of catching up on last year’s big hitters.

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

Goodness knows. But some of the above, I should imagine. And I haven’t even mentioned all the exciting catalogue releases that have been happening recently!

2012 is one-third done already. Honestly, where does the time go?

March madness?

March hasn’t gone quite as well as previous months, with 11 films watched. Nonetheless, 11 isn’t bad at all — the average needed to reach 100 by the end of December is just eight, and I ‘only’ watched 10 in January, and with a boost of 13 from February I’m still well ahead of target (which, for the end of March, is 24).

Things feel worse than they are because I haven’t really been writing or posting reviews. Just five all month, in fact, which has left me with a quite extraordinary backlog of 36. And to think, the reason I started that “coming soon” page was because I’d reached a ludicrously high number of unposted reviews, and that number was 10. Shame on me, etc.

March’s films

#24 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
#25 The Lady Eve (1941)
#26 The Other Guys (2010)
#27 Stepping Out (1991)
#28 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
#29 The Court Jester (1956)
#30 Serpico (1973)
#31 The Last Airbender (2010)
#32 Rules of Engagement (2000)
#33 Megamind (2010)
#34 Despicable Me (2010)

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

Every last one of those is courtesy of Sky Movies, the lingering after-effect of the Oscars. That’s gone now though (I think), so it’s time to start work on my DVD/BD pile and LOVEFiLM’s whims. I should start (as mentioned last month(!)) with those Marvel films I’ve not watched. Other than that, I make no promises. And it would be foolish of me to even promise them, based on my track record.

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.

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.