The Wicked Little Monthly Review of August 2024

Posted on September 1, 2024 by badblokebob

In the spirit of “littleness”, I don’t have any great or insightful or amusing intro ideas for this month, so let’s just dive on in…

This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#59 Scenes from a Marriage (1974) — Blindspot #7
#60 Robot Dreams (2023) — New Film #8
#61 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) — Failure #7
#62 Road to Bali (1952) — Series Progression #9
#63 Clue of the Silver Key (1961) — Series Progression #10
#64 Hamilton (2020) — Rewatch #8
#65 Wicked Little Letters (2023) — Wildcard #2
#66 The Swordsman of All Swordsmen (1968) — Genre #6

I watched 11 feature films I’d never seen before in August.
Six of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with two rewatches.
That leaves me bang on target with the Challenge, which is slightly better than this time last year — which is good, because things only got worse month by month last time.
This post’s namesake, Wicked Little Letters, could’ve qualified as a wildcard on two fronts: as an additional New Film or an additional Failure. It doesn’t really matter which I class it as, but because it was a Failure in both February and July (and as one festival screening makes it, on most listings, a 2023 film rather than a 2024 one), it felt more fitting to designate it an additional Failure.
This month’s Blindspot film was Scenes from a Marriage. I should’ve watched two to get fully caught up, but (as discussed last month) I’m intentionally putting off that double-bill until October (let’s hope that pans out!)
No WDYMYHS film this month. I had a few days at the end of the month where I intended to get one in and, you know, I just didn’t feel like any of them. That’s just how it goes sometimes. I feel like that’s ok when I’ve still got a whole third of the year left to get caught up. That said, out of the past five runs of Blindspot/WDYMYHS I’ve only succeeded once, so maybe I should take the task a little more seriously.
From last month’s “failures” I watched Wicked Little Letters and rewatched The Man from U.N.C.L.E..

The 111th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
At either end of this month’s viewing sit the two best (new) films I saw this month. Now, I should probably pick the “insight into the human condition”-packed Bergman film, but, you see, that movie doesn’t have any sword fights, whereas The Swordsman of All Swordsmen has seven really good ones. Sorry, Ingmar.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
I expected Save the Cinema to be a pleasantly quirky British true story kinda film — a sort-of genre we seem to have specialised in for the past couple of decades — and it is, kinda… but it also feels like an imitation of one, where it’s going through the expected motions but doesn’t properly hang together in its own right. Shame.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
No reviews again this month (at this point you’d be more surprised if there had been, right?), so once again it’s a two-way battle between the monthly review and failures. The victor, by a considerable margin — and, somewhat intriguingly, continuing the alternating pattern that’s been going on since April — is July’s monthly review. Will the failures win again next month? Will there actually be some reviews in contention? Find out in 30 days’ time…

Summer’s over, here comes autumn. I know that kind of thinking depresses many people, but I welcome it. Heck, it’ll be Christmas before we know it. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves — I’ve still got 34 films left to go in my challenge, after all.

The Mysterious Monthly Review of July 2024

Posted on August 1, 2024 by badblokebob

I know why you’re really here, dear reader. Films? Pfft! It’s for the latest update on how many hours of Critical Role I’ve watched, isn’t it?

Well, even if it isn’t, totting that up sparked something of a mystery for me this month. I don’t feel like it’s been a particularly unusual 31 days, and yet my Critical Role-related viewing was less than half that of June, meaning it was even below what I watched in April and May (though not quite back down to where I started in March).

Did that mean I reverted my viewing time to films? Nope! I’ve still only made it to ten new films this month (plus one rewatch for the Challenge), and even getting there included a little bit of a deliberate push over the last week. Perhaps it was TV, then? Well, I did watch a few classic Doctor Who serials — but even they only add up to about 7½ hours of viewing.

So where did my time go instead of any obvious options? No idea! Probably wasted it on Twitter or something. This is why I continue to benefit from the existence of the Challenge: to motivate me to stop wasting my time.

This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#50 Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024) — New Film #7
#51 Like Stars on Earth (2007) — WDYMYHS #6
#52 Alice (1988) —Failure #7
#53 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) — 50 Unseen #10
#54 Moana 3D (2016) — Rewatch #7
#55 Kung Fu Hustle (2004) — Genre #5
#56 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) — WDYMYHS #7
#57 The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935) — Series Progression #8
#58 Army of Shadows (1969) — Blindspot #6

I watched 10 feature films I’d never seen before in July.
Eight of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
With Mutant Mayhem, 50 Unseen becomes my first completed category of this year’s challenge. In the end, 7 out of 10 films were from 2023’s list — which is fine. I mean, it’d be nice to watch more from older lists too, but it’s no surprise that the most recent list gets more focus. (Of course, more 50 Unseen films may still qualify (indeed, I hope they will) in the Wildcard category.)
Conversely, Genre has only just reached the halfway point. But at least that’s not too far behind where it should be. And there’s only been one Wildcard, but then that’s partly their point (i.e. to still be around towards the end for maximum flexibility).
This month’s Blindspot film was the first I’ve seen directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, namely his French Resistance thriller Army of Shadows.
That means I’m still behind with Blindspot (having missed it in May, I’ve still got one to catch up). But I’m currently kind of ok with that, because I realised that I have two horror films on the list (Possession and Rosemary’s Baby) so, consequently, October would be the best month for a double dose.
I did catch up on WDYMYHS this month, though. Those films were Bollywood dyslexia drama Like Stars on Earth and three-hour post-war romantic melodrama — and Best Picture winner — The Best Years of Our Lives.
From last month’s “failures” I watched Alice.

The 110th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
A tight race between two excellent films from the end of the month, here, but I’m going to give the edge to Army of Shadows because… I don’t know, probably because I watched it most recently. Maybe if they were the other way round, The Best Years of Our Lives would’ve snagged it. They’re both great, anyway.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
No outright duds this month — arguably The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes came closest, but it’s mostly fine with flaws inherited from the source novel. The reason it’s not my pick here is that it was about what I expected it to be, whereas I’d been somewhat looking forward to Kung Fu Hustle for some time, but found it to be a little disappointing. There’s some good kung fu sequences, but a lot of the humour didn’t land for me and the narrative felt like too much of a shaggy dog story.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
Just two to choose from again this month (I really need to put some effort into reviews). The monthly review won last time; the time before was the failures; and the time before that was the monthly review again… This month, the pattern continues (or, you could argue, is properly established) thanks to a victory by June’s failures.

Disc releases of big films from earlier in the year are beginning to come through now, so hopefully I’ll finally start catching up on all those films I sort of intended to see at the cinema but couldn’t be bothered to.

The Sunny Monthly Review of June 2024

Posted on July 1, 2024 by badblokebob

We’ve been experiencing a patch of seasonal weather for a change here in the UK, hence the adjective in the title of this month’s review. For some people, such weather might affect their film viewing — getting out while it’s nice and all that. Not me, though — I prefer the colder, winterier weather myself.

Not that staying inside in the cool has done anything to help my film viewing either, mind. It might have done, were it not for my Critical Role addiction continuing to get implausibly stronger: this month it ratcheted up to over 74 hours of my viewing time. During that, I crossed the quarter-way mark of Campaign 2, which made me realise just how long it’s going to take to catch up at my average pace so far (literally years), so that might explain why I watched quite so much this month — some futile attempt to speed that along. “Futile” because, even if I kept up 74 hours a month from now on, it would still take me roughly 16 months to get in pace with new episodes. So maybe I’ll ease off. Or, who knows, maybe I really will watch three solid days’ worth every month until the end of 2025…

This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#43 Man at the Carlton Tower (1961) — Series Progression #7
#44 Sleepless in Seattle (1993) — Rewatch #6
#45 Argylle (2024) — New Film #6
#46 Fast X (2023) — 50 Unseen #9
#47 Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) — Failure #6
#48 A Separation (2011) — WDYMYHS #5
#49 Yi Yi (2000) — Blindspot #5

I watched ten feature films I’d never seen before in June.
Six of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
The end of June is halfway through the year, of course, so only being on #49 makes it look like I’m behind; but the months are longer in the second half of the year, on average, so #50 isn’t actually ‘due’ until about July 2nd. I had hoped to get to #50 this month nonetheless, but things didn’t quite work out.
Also not working out as planned this month: Blindspot and WDYMYHS. After failing both last month, I should’ve watched two of each to catch up, but didn’t. On the bright side, I did get them both ticking over; coupled with the fact I’m still on target overall, that’s not too concerning — yet. I’ll try again next month.
So, this month’s Blindspot film was Edward Yang’s Yi Yi — I finally watched it after three years on the list (sort of: it was on 2022’s list and 2023’s allowed wildcards). It’s hard to say if it lived up to the hype when the hype is so large, but it’s certainly very good.
And this month’s WDYMYHS film was Iranian relationship drama (that turned out to not really be a relationship drama after all; at least not primarily) A Separation.
From last month’s “failures” I watched Four Flies on Grey Velvet (though via a UHD download I already had, rather than the Prime Video appearance that earnt its place on the failures list).

The 109th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
The past few days I’ve been feeling like I haven’t seen a film I truly loved for ages and, looking back over June’s viewing for this category, I can see that feeling isn’t exactly wrong. There were some I admired this month though, most of all Yi Yi. I wouldn’t bank on anything from June making my year-end best-of list, mind. That said, it’s not been a stellar year all round, so if thing’s don’t pick up…

Least Favourite Film of the Month
On the other hand, it’s not exactly been bad — I have most of my viewing from this month down for a 3 (when I finally get round to posting reviews). Aside from a couple of 4s (and Yi Yi may yet nudge a 5 on reflection), the only outlier is Fast X — I may yet decide that only deserves a 2.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
No reviews this month (oops), so the contenders here are limited to just the two posts from the start of the month. Of those, May’s monthly review triumphed with 77% more views than May’s failures.

No predictions (other than “more Critical Role”), but I’m now beginning to amass movies I missed earlier in 2024 on disc, so I ought to pay attention to those, really. (More details on which movies those are exactly in the failures post, which would normally land tomorrow but might be a day or two late this month.)

The Thin Monthly Review of May 2024

Posted on June 1, 2024 by badblokebob

A year after I started a rewatch of the Thin Man films by bingeing half of them, I finally got round to the other half — hence the title of this monthly review; because, while it’s by no means a spectacular month, it’s not an especially thin one either.

That said, movie watching still continues to be sidelined by my current obsession: Critical Role. After last month’s solid 48 hours of viewing, my pace dipped slightly to 43½ hours — though that shortfall can be entirely explained by my time not being wholly my own for the last week of the month. The way things are going, maybe I should rechristen the blog “100 Episodes of Critical Role in a Year”. (And it was only after drafting that sentence in my mind and drafting it again on screen that I remembered this site isn’t actually called “100 Films in a Year” anymore. Ho hum.)

This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#33 Strays (2023) — Failure #5
#34 The Mystery of Chess Boxing (1979) — Genre #4
#35 Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023) — 50 Unseen #7
#36 The Menu (2022) — 50 Unseen #8
#37 And Life Goes On (1992) — Series Progression #4
#38 Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) — Rewatch #4
#39 The Thin Man Goes Home (1945) — Rewatch #5
#40 Song of the Thin Man (1947) — Series Progression #5
#41 October Moth (1960) — Series Progression #6
#42 Murder and Cocktails (2024) — New Film #5

I watched 10 feature films I’d never seen before in May.
Seven of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with three rewatches.
That means my Challenge is back on target, after being slightly behind for the last two months. In fact, it’s ever so slightly ahead (by a grand total of one film), which is nice.
It also means I’ve hit my ten new films minimum target for every month in 2024 so far, equalling my annual total for each of 2022 and 2023. I managed ten months in 2021 — hopefully it’ll be all twelve this year (which I last achieved in 2020).
And Life Goes On is the second film in Abbas Kiarostami’s Koker trilogy, after watching the first for Blindspot last month. It’s also known as Life and Nothing More…, which seems to be a more accurate translation of the original Persian title, but the Criterion BD uses And Life Goes On, and as that’s the film’s primary release method in the UK and US nowadays, I feel like that’s the title I should go with, whatever the rest of the internet wants to pretend.
As I mentioned in the introduction, I finally finished the Thin Man series again, the first half of which I watched at the end of last May — neat, but I didn’t realise it had been so long. This trio could qualify as either Rewatches or Series Progression; as I was behind on the former, that’s where I counted two of them, with the series’ final film getting the latter category to its halfway point.
It feels a little like cheating to count October Moth as “series progression” for the Edgar Wallace Mysteries, because it wasn’t really an Edgar Wallace Mystery: it was one of seven other films bundled with those films for TV sales. But it’s included in the DVD set (albeit as a special feature), and I watched it as “the next film in the Edgar Wallace Mysteries box set”, so I think that’s qualification enough. Just about.
Despite all those successes, I didn’t watch either a Blindspot or WDYMYHS film this month. Well, it wouldn’t truly feel like my 100 Films Challenge if I didn’t have something that needed catching up.
From last month’s “failures” I watched Strays.

The 108th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
I’d heard good things and so been looking forward to Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves anyway, but obviously it particularly aligns with my other interests right now. It may not be the outright ‘best’ movie I watched this month, but it’s a massively fun action-adventure.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
Almost like the antithesis of Honor Among Thieves, the ’80s TV movie Mazes and Monsters is notorious for two reasons: starring a pre-fame Tom Hanks, and being a ludicrous ‘Satanic Panic’-motivated riff on Dungeons & Dragons, which at the time was a fairly new game that reactionary oldies were, well, reactionary about. The film itself doesn’t manage to transcend that drawback — it starts out more-or-less alright, but ends up just silly.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
A random bunch of reviews of films I watched years ago clearly weren’t of particular interest to readers, because May’s winner was April’s failures.

Every review posted this month, including new titles and the Archive 5

Bill & Ted Face the Music	Dumb and Dumber
Mangrove	Out of Africa
Rambo: Last Blood

2024’s halfway point approaches.

The Critical Monthly Review of April 2024

Posted on May 1, 2024 by badblokebob

In the introduction to last month’s review I mentioned that, among other things, I’d spent 26½ hours watching Critical Role (and related content… by which I just mean after-show Talks Machina). Well, my maths tells me that in April I watched another 48 hours. Two solid days’ worth! Sure, when you consider that in the context of 30 days it doesn’t sound a lot, but I’m not sure I spent that much time on one other single thing (excepting sleep). And I’m actually holding back a bit, forcing myself to do other things with my free time and not just stream, stream, stream. There’s certainly a lot to get through: I’m only 10% through Campaign 2 — just 630 hours to go.

And yet, despite that, my movie watching is doing ok. So ok, in fact, that in April I watched the most films of any month so far this year. As the star of one of them might say: wahoo!

This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#23 The Monuments Men (2014) — 50 Unseen #5
#24 American Fiction (2023) — Failure #4
#25 The Fourth Square (1961) — Series Progression #3
#26 The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) — Wildcard #1
#27 The Inspector Wears Skirts Part II (1989) — Genre #3
#28 Spawn: Director’s Cut (1997/1998) — Rewatch #3
#29 I.S.S. (2023) — New Film #4
#30 12th Fail (2023) — WDYMYHS #4
#31 No Hard Feelings (2023) — 50 Unseen #6
#32 Where Is the Friend’s House? (1987) — Blindspot #4

I watched 14 feature films I’d never seen before in April.
As I said at the start, that’s the best month of 2024 so far, meaning it raises the average for the year to date from 10.3 to 11.3, and the rolling average of the last 12 months from 9.1 to 9.3.
Nine of those counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
That’s more than the usual eight needed to keep things ticking over, but not quite enough to catch up to target pace. Still, I was two behind at the end of March, now I’m only one behind. Maybe one day I’ll get ahead again, like I used to in the old days…
Several of this month’s Challenge films presented a choice of which category to qualify them for. For example, American Fiction could have been April’s New Film, as it was only released in February here; but as I.S.S. was actually released this month over here, that seemed even more fitting for the category. Plus, American Fiction had been in the Failures two months in a row (from its theatrical release in February and its subscription streaming debut in March), so that felt even more fitting.
Meanwhile, The Super Mario Bros. Movie could have been another 50 Unseen; but as that category is already halfway complete, I decided to finally inaugurate the Wildcards, counting the film as an additional Failure from March.
This month’s Blindspot film was the first film in Abbas Kiarostami’s Koker trilogy, Where Is the Friend’s House?, which I’ve wanted to see since learning about it in The Story of Film nine years ago (see the reference under my comments on Part Thirteen).
This month’s WDYMYHS film was one of the newest entries into the IMDb Top 250, Indian exam drama 12th Fail.
From last month’s “failures” I watched American Fiction, The Inspector Wears Skirts 2, No Hard Feelings, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

The 107th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
Quality-wise, this is one of those months that felt fine but, when I look back, there aren’t a huge number of contenders for films I really loved. That makes this winner an easy pick, though: it’s American Fiction.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
The flipside is that there aren’t too many terrible films, either. By a nose, the (dis)honour goes to The Inspector Wears Skirts Part II. On the bright side, watching it now did save me from spending £30+ on parts three and four…

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
Not many posts in contention this month, My review of I.S.S. interested hardly anyone, so the winner almost by default (there’s also the “failures”, of course) was March’s monthly review.

Every review posted this month, including new titles and the Archive 5

I.S.S.

I’ve got some time off work at the start of May, so it may be an absolute banger of a month… or I may spend all that time watching Critical Role. Find out in 31 days!

The Eggy Monthly Review of March 2024

Posted on April 1, 2024 by badblokebob

In case you somehow missed it, it’s Easter weekend. That’s the only reason for the title. There are no eggs involved anywhere else in this post.

In terms of observations actually related to the blog, I only managed to keep one of my two main viewing goals ticking over — that is to say, I hit my “ten new films per month” target, but fell short of keeping my 100 Films Challenge on track (more detail in Viewing Notes, as usual). That said, I’m pleased to have achieved even that much in March, when films have found themselves competing with an uncommon amount of other stuff for my entertainment time. To be specific, I’ve started a rewatch of the ’90s X-Men animated series (I’m ten episodes in, which adds up to 3½ hours); finally been playing point-and-click adventure classic Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (for about 11 hours); and, most consumingly of all, found myself somewhat obsessed with cult-phenomenon actual-play Dungeons & Dragons series Critical Role (I’ve watched 26½ hours, plus untold more spent reading around it, and barely made a start on it); and that’s without counting up sundry other bits and pieces, like reading books and comics, or slowly rewatching Blackadder.

Anyway, to get back to the films (though there’s always the comment section if you’d like to talk about the other stuff), here’s, um, the films…

This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#17 Dune: Part Two (2024) — New Film #3
#18 Maestro (2023) — 50 Unseen #4
#19 The Inspector Wears Skirts (1988) — Genre #2
#20 Black Tight Killers (1966) — Failures #3
#21 My Darling Clementine (1946) — Blindspot #3
#22 My Father and My Son (2005) — WDYMYHS #3

I watched 11 feature films I’d never seen before in March.
Just six of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge.
That means (as I said at the start) that I exceeded my “ten films per month” minimum target — for the first time this year; also, that’s the fourth month in a row, which is the most consecutive ten-film months since a pandemic-aided run of 21 months in 2020/21. (The all-time record remains 60 months, aka five solid years.)
But (as also mentioned at the start) I fell short of where I should be in my Challenge — but only by two films. I’ve got the rest of the year to catch that up, so it’s far from a disaster. Yet.
This is also the first month of 2024 without any rewatches; although I did still manage two short films (I don’t think I’ve mentioned it, but I’m aiming to watch at least one of those each month too. That’s sort of an “unofficial” goal, though, in that I’m not exactly tracking it… except I am, because I keep records of all these things).
In terms of history and percentages and stuff, this is the best March since 2021, but because it’s still below March’s all-time average of 14.9, it brings it down to 14.6.
Conversely, being higher than last March means it does increase the rolling monthly average of the last 12 months, bringing it from 8.8 to 9.1. If I can continue my ten-films-per-month streak, eventually it’ll get above 10.0 again…
I posted my Dune: Part One review right at the end of February, fully intending to quickly follow it with my Dune: Part Two review in early March. That didn’t happen, obviously.
I’ve been buying Radiance releases since they sprung into existence back in mid-2022 (indeed, I’ve got 30 of the 37 titles they’ve released to date, plus several of their “partner label” releases too), but Black Tight Killers is the first one I’ve actually watched. I’m not one of those collectors who buys stuff just to keep on his self unopened… but I do have a bunch of stuff on my shelf unopened, because I am one of those collectors who’s interested in almost everything but can’t find the time to watch it all.
This month’s Blindspot film was John Ford’s version of the Wyatt Earp / gunfight at the O.K. Corral legend, My Darling Clementine.
Letterboxd informs me that My Darling Clementine was the first film I watched on a Tuesday this year. So there you go.
This month’s WDYMYHS film was Turkish intergenerational family drama My Father and My Son.
From last month’s “failures” I watched Black Tight Killers.

The 106th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
I confess, I didn’t have any particular expectations of John Ford Western My Darling Clementine. Not that I thought it would be bad, but — despite it clearly having enough acclaim to get onto my Blindspot list — I didn’t sit down expecting a masterpiece or something either. Perhaps that’s what allowed it to blow me away, first from a visual standpoint (this is a film where even the day-for-night photography looks good) and then by… well, everything else.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
This has to be Alan Bennett adaptation Allelujah, which for much of its running time is an amiable-enough pro-NHS / anti-cutbacks polemic, before a final-reel twist threatens to undermine the whole thing. What a way to mangle your own point.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
Now, technically — technically — the winner for this month was February’s Failures, which was way down the overall chart. I stress technically because I’m going to say the award actually goes to something I posted in February… but I posted it on February 29th, so it didn’t have much of a chance last month; and February 29th isn’t a real day anyway, so it’s sort of part of March. Very tenuously sort of. Anyway, that makes the winner my review of Dune: Part One, which actually cracked the overall top ten (at #8).

Every review posted this month, including new titles and the Archive 5

The Adventures of Prince Achmed	Boss Level
Coded Bias	Crooked House
Evil Under the Sun	In the Mood for Love
Shadow of a Doubt	Sneakers
A Star Is Born	Us

What balance will my entertainment choices level out at in April? Find out next month!

The Leaping Monthly Review of February 2024

Posted on March 1, 2024 by badblokebob

It’s coming up to nine years since I started naming these monthly progress reports, which means this is the third leap year they’ve existed in, and yet it’s the first time I’ve thought to reference that in the name of February’s update. I don’t know if I should be ashamed of that because I didn’t do it sooner, or because it suggests I’m running out of fresh ideas. Either way, clearly it’s not good. Or maybe it just doesn’t matter. (Yeah, that’s the one.)

Anyway, on to the films…

This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#10 The Kitchen (2023) — New Film #2
#11 Despicable Me 3 3D (2017) — Series Progression #2
#12 RRR (2022) — 50 Unseen #3
#13 Ambulancen (2005) — Failures #2
#14 Dune: Part One 3D (2021) — Rewatch #2
#15 The Innocents (1961) — Blindspot #2
#16 Wild Tales (2014) — WDYMYHS #2

I watched 10 feature films I’d never seen before in February.
That makes this the third month in a row with ten new films. Compared to my history, it’s baby steps (the record is 60 months), but it’s two years since I last managed three consecutive months, so it is worth noting.
Six of the ten counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
The usual monthly average for the Challenge is eight, but February being short (even with the extra leap day) means it only needs seven, so I remain on target.
This month’s Blindspot film was classic British Gothic (in the true sense) horror The Innocents. Maybe I should have tried to save that for October, but any intentions I have to watch horror movies in October usually fail to pan out. To be honest, I chose it now because it’s the only film on this year’s Blindspot that I don’t own on disc, so I thought I’d free up some space on my TV hard drive for other stuff I’ve downloaded. Sometimes my viewing decisions are as pragmatic as that.
This month’s WDYMYHS film was Argentinian revenge anthology Wild Tales. That’s another one deleted off the hard drive.
From last month’s “failures” I watched Ambulancen and The Kitchen.
Also this month, in aid of my Genre category, I compiled a list of all the martial arts titles I own that I haven’t seen (it’s on Letterboxd here) and it came to… 213 films! And I’ve got more on preorder, and even more that are coming out soon that I will order; and I even left some off that I wasn’t sure counted (although I also included some I wasn’t sure about, so maybe that part balances out). Anyway, my point is: setting a target of “ten” barely scratches the surface here — even less than it did last year with giallo, where my similar list featured just 50 titles. Maybe, rather than try to think of more genres for that Challenge category, I’ll just set it on a triennial loop of noir, giallo, martial arts…

The 105th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
I enjoyed most of the films I watched this month, some very much, but nothing came close to the marvel that is RRR.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
Proving that star ratings aren’t everything (or possibly that I need to rethink mine), I rated My Son two stars, but its three-star The Kitchen that I feel I enjoyed least from this month’s viewing. I’ve been assigning ratings to films solidly for over a decade-and-a-half now (the blog passed its 17th anniversary this week, by-the-by) and yet how many stars I should give a film, and how my ratings compare to one another, still regularly gives me pause for thought.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
Now that I’m getting back into the swing of reviewing (touch wood), there’s more stuff to compete in this category — that makes a nice change from most of last year. And yet, despite that, it’s my monthly review of January that comes out on top here. It even cracked the overall top ten for the month, which is an uncommon achievement for a new post. (In second place, the highest charting film review was Barbie.)

Every review posted this month, including new titles and the Archive 5

Barbie	The Best of the Martial Arts Films
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget	Dune: Part One
The Kid Detective

Returning to the cinema* to return to Arrakis.

* shockingly, it’ll be my first visit since Oppenheimer last July.

The Welcome Monthly Review of January 2024

Posted on February 1, 2024 by badblokebob

Welcome to 2024 — almost a quarter of a century on from the millennium! Jesus. Think of all those bold predictions they had about how amazing life would be by the year 2000. Imagine what they would’ve thought another quarter-century would bring. And look at the shit we’ve actually got…

But anyway, let’s leave the depression of the wider world aside for a moment, because the new year is actually off to a pretty decent start here at 100 Films — including more film reviews in one month than I published in the whole of 2023. More of that later. First, as always, my Challenge progress…

This month’s viewing towards my yearly challenge

#1 Lift (2024) — New Film #1
#2 Only Yesterday (1991) — Blindspot #1
#3 Jackass Forever (2022) — Series Progression #1
#4 Barbie (2023) — 50 Unseen #1
#5 Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023) — Failures #1
#6 The Best of the Martial Arts Films (1990) — Genre #1
#7 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 3D (2018) — Rewatch #1
#8 Bottoms (2023) — 50 Unseen #2
#9 In the Name of the Father (1993) — WDYMYHS #1

I watched 10 feature films I’d never seen before in January.
Meeting my “10 new films a month” minimum target has been problematic for the last couple of years, so it’s nice to see 2024 off to a good start.
Eight of them counted towards my 100 Films in a Year Challenge, along with one rewatch.
I managed to spread those around enough that I’ve started all eight ‘proper’ categories (the exception being Wildcards, which is a category, obviously, but also… isn’t, in that the defining feature is they’re extra films for the other categories).
Talking of categories, Jackass Forever was the first film of the year where I had a choice: it could qualify as either 50 Unseen or Series Progression. I chose to watch it because it qualified for the former, but I decided to actually count it as the latter. That leaves an extra slot open to help encourage me to watch even more Unseens, and also helps ensure variety in Series Progression (I was worried it would end up full of Edgar Wallace Mysteries). Either way, it wraps up the Jackass film series (I’m not counting all the .5s and spinoffs), thus finally reducing the number of series I have on the go. I feel like I’m just constantly adding to that list, so it’s nice for something to come off it.
Just under five years since I imported the Blu-ray from Australia, I finally watched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in 3D. I’d say it was worth the wait, but there didn’t need to be a wait; but if the wait had been enforced, it would’ve been worth it, because the 3D is incredible. As is the movie, but I knew that.
This month’s Blindspot film was Isao Takahata anime Only Yesterday.
This month’s WDYMYHS film was miscarriage-of-justice thriller In the Name of the Father.
As my WDYMYHS challenge this year is tied to the IMDb Top 250, it’s possible that qualifying films will shift throughout the year. I mention this now because it’s happened already: in the last month, Poor Things had entered the chart, and both Gangs of Wasseypur and the 2015 remake of Drishyam have dipped back in. When I conceived of doing this, I had 17 films to see; now, it’s up to 23. If it carries on at this rate, it’ll be two years’ worth of WDYMYHS…
From last month’s “failures” I watched just Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.

The 104th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
There may be multiple films that end up with a five-star rating this month (I haven’t quite settled on a couple), but only one film this month — heck, only one film in the past 18 years — has inspired me to watch it again immediately after my first viewing, and that was Bottoms.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
Nothing outright bad this month, so I look to the gaggle of three-star-ish films. I expect such mediocrity from the likes of Lift or Jackass Forever, but Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget being no more than “fine” is disappointing from Aardman.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
For the first time in almost a year, this award is a reasonable competition — it’s not just a two-way face-off between the previous month’s review and “failures”, but includes all my year-in-review posts about 2023, as well as some actual film reviews. Indeed, it was the latter that won, with 2024 Week 2 — which contained reviews of Lift (as a new Netflix release, this is likely what did most of the, er, lifting), Only Yesterday, and Jackass Forever — not only being the top new post, but coming 2nd overall. Neat.

Every review posted this month, including new titles and the Archive 5

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad	The Breakfast Club
A Brief History of Time Travel	Chopping Mall
Dead Man’s Folly	Jackass Forever
Lift	Misery
The Mummy	One Cut of the Dead
Only Yesterday	So Dark the Night
Wild Target

The shortest month of the year, for slightly longer than usual (because it’s a leap year).

The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2024

Posted on January 8, 2024 by badblokebob

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Nonetheless, here I go for a third time with the new-style 100 Films in a Year Challenge, despite having failed to complete it the first two times. Hopefully, another hoary old saying will apply: third time lucky.

There are two reasons to be optimistic. First, it’s not exactly the same each year — it’s (mostly) new films, and I’ve also tweaked the categories… although not necessarily to make them easier, because of the second reason: I’ve almost got there both years so far. Okay, in 2022 I stopped pretty far short at #89, but that was because 100 became unattainable and so I didn’t keep trying to close the gap. In 2023, I stuck at it a bit longer, reaching #92. In both cases, better time management earlier in the year could have made a huge difference in terms of completing the challenge. Indeed, in both years I met my old-style challenge (“watch any 100 films I’ve never seen”) with relative ease.

I’m hoping that in 2024 I’ll finally learn from my mistakes and pull my finger out earlier in the year — though I did try to do that in 2023, with limited success, so we’ll have to see how it goes.

Now, this year’s categories and their rules.

First, the one rule that applies across all categories: a film can only count once. Sounds kinda obvious, but the categories are not mutually exclusive: I could rewatch a film from a series I’m halfway through that’s in this year’s genre, and thus it could qualify in three categories — but it can only be counted in one of them.

New Films

x12. Any film that’s general release date (i.e. not festival screenings, etc) in the UK (i.e. not in the US, nor any other country) is between 1st January 2024 and 31st December 2024. Maximum one per month (but rolls over if I fail to watch one).

Rewatches

x12. Any film I’ve seen before (unless it’s already been counted in 2024’s Challenge). Maximum one per month (with rollovers, as above).

Blindspot

x12. Unlike most other categories, these 12 films are specifically chosen and named in advance. They’re all films I feel I should have seen, or that “great movies” lists tell me I should have seen. Designed to be watched one per month, but doesn’t have to be. You can read about this year’s 12 in their own post here.

What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen…?

x12. Similar to Blindspot, in that these are 12 specifically chosen films to be watched one per month, but my selections here are based around a theme. This year’s theme: the IMDb Top 250. Wait — 250 films?! No, don’t be silly. But it’s not exactly 12, either. For a full explanation, look here.

Failures

x12. Every month, I list my “failures” — brand-new releases, additions to streamers, and disc purchases that I failed to watch in the previous month. Sometimes, I catch up on some of them the next month. Often, I don’t. Making them a Challenge category helps force my hand. A maximum of one per month counts, but rolls over if necessary.

50 Unseen

x10. This year’s only entirely-new category, although it’s broadly similar to “failures” in that it’s an incentive to watch films I missed — in this case, from previous years (my annual “50 Unseen” lists) rather than just the previous month.

50 Unseen replaces Physical Media. It was a nice idea to try to make me watch more DVDs that I’ve owned for decades, or 3D Blu-rays that I simply haven’t got round to, and I still support that as a goal; but, in reality, I foresaw that category in 2024 filling up with Edgar Wallace Mysteries and/or random freshly-purchased 4Ks. I wanted to find space here for my 50 Unseen, and Physical Media seemed the best category to lose for now. If I ever get my series watches in hand, hopefully I can replace Series Progression with a new version of Physical Media sometime in the future.

Genre

x10. Any films from within a specified genre. Unlike most of the above categories, these can be watched at any time — maybe I’ll spread them throughout the year; maybe I’ll binge them all back to back. Most likely it’ll be somewhere between the two. This year’s genre: martial arts.

Series Progression

x10. Any instalment in one of the many film series I’m already watching (there’s a Letterboxd list of them here). If I start a new series, the first film can’t count, but any further films can.

Wildcards

x10. Slots that can be used to add a film or films to any other category, provided the category’s own requirements have already been met (e.g. no 11th Genre film until I’ve filled the original ten, but I could use a wildcard for a second New Film in January).

As the year goes on, you can follow my progress on the Challenge Tracker page, and also via my monthly reviews; or there’s always my Letterboxd for the guaranteed most up-to-date status of my film logging.

2023: The List

Posted on January 3, 2024 by badblokebob

My December “failures” are still in the works, but, in the meantime, let’s continue with the overall review of 2023.

I’ve published an end-of-year list of all my first-time watches every year since this blog began. They used to be of dubious worth, considering I’d either reviewed everything throughout the year or listed it all in my monthly progress reports. But nowadays — with posting of the former being scattershot to nonexistent, and the latter focusing on my 100 Films in a Year Challenge — it feels like there’s a point to it again.

Nonetheless, as well as the aforementioned list of all my first-time watches from 2023, there’s also a full set of links to my monthly progress reports, which uses their header images to present a kind of visual summation of how my Challenge went.

Without further ado (aside from me reintroducing each list before itself), off we go back through 2023…

Below is a graphical representation of my viewing for the 100 Films in a Year Challenge, month by month. Each image links to the relevant monthly review, which contain a chronological list of my Challenge viewing, as well as other exciting stuff, like my monthly Arbie awards.

Leaving the Challenge behind, here is an alphabetical list of all my first-time watches during 2023. That’s followed by a list of short films I watched for the first time. (Normally there’d also be a list of rewatches that have ‘Guide To’ posts, but there weren’t any this year.) On the rare occasion that a title is a link, it goes to my review (no link, no review yet).

65 (2023)
7 Women and a Murder (2021), aka 7 donne e un mistero
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Air (2023)
All the Old Knives (2022)
Ammonite (2020)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Au hasard Balthazar (1966)
Austenland (2013)
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Beau Travail (1999)
Belfast (2021)
Benediction (2021)
Best Sellers (2021)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), aka L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo
Black Girl (1966), aka La Noire de…
Blood and Black Lace (1964), aka 6 donne per l’assassino
The Book Thief (2013)
A Castle for Christmas (2021)
The Cat o’ Nine Tails (1971), aka Il gatto a nove code
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
Chopping Mall (1986)
Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), aka Cléo de 5 à 7
Clerks II (2006)
Close-Up (1990), aka Nema-ye Nazdik
Clue of the New Pin (1961)
Clue of the Twisted Candle (1960)
Confess, Fletch (2022)
A Deadly Invitation (2023), aka Invitación a un Asesinato
Die Hart (2023)
The Duke (2020)
Elevator to the Gallows (1958), aka Ascenseur pour l’échafaud
Engima (2001)
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (2021)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Fantasia (1940)
Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)
Fear Eats the Soul (1974), aka Angst essen Seele auf
Fisherman’s Friends: One and All (2022)
Flora and Son (2023)
From Beijing with Love (1994), aka Gwok chaan Ling Ling Chat
Georgetown (2019)
The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963), aka La ragazza che sapeva troppo
Glass Onion (2022)
The Goddess (1934), aka Shen nu
Greatest Days (2023)
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)
Gun Crazy (1950)
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
In the Heights (2021)
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
The Jigsaw Man (1983)
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
Killer of Sheep (1978)
The Killers (1946)
The Lady in the Van (2015)
A Life Less Ordinary (1997)
Living (2022)
The Magician (1926)
The Man Who Was Nobody (1960)
Marriage of Convenience (1960)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
Mr. Vampire (1985), aka Geung see sin sang
Murder Mystery 2 (2023)
Night and the City (1950)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
Nightmare Alley (1947)
Nothing Sacred (1937)
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023)
Operation Mincemeat (2021)
Oppenheimer (2023)
Out of the Past (1947), aka Build My Gallows High
Partners in Crime (1961)
The Pied Piper (1986), aka Krysař
The Pigeon Tunnel (2023)
Police Story (1985), aka Ging chaat goo si
The Possessed (1965), aka La donna del lago
Quiz Lady (2023)
Remember the Night (1940)
Road to Utopia (1945)
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical (2022)
Santo vs. Evil Brain (1961), aka Santo contra Cerebro del Mal
Santo vs. Infernal Men (1961), aka Santo contra Hombres Infernales
Santo vs. the Zombies (1962), aka Santo contra los zombies
Scarlet Street (1945)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
The Shiver of the Vampires (1971), aka Le frisson des vampires
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Shotgun Wedding (2022)
Song for Marion (2012)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Swallows and Amazons (2016)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Trading Places (1983)
Tropical Malady (2004), aka Sud pralad
Urge to Kill (1960)
Le Week-End (2013)
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)
You Hurt My Feelings (2023)