Category Archives: statistics

2012: The Full List

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2012, eh? What a year: the Jubilee, the Olympics (I still call it the Jubilympics); the Paralympics; the highest-grossing film in Britain ever; the most-watched video on YouTube ever; the world not ending… it was certainly a year to remember.

Not so much for 100 Films, unfortunately: as we know, I fell just a trilogy box set short of reaching my titular goal. Not the first time, and as we’ll see later it may even have been predictable (except not really). Nonetheless, there are lists to be reeled off and statistics to be over-analysed. And this year there are more statistics than ever! If you’re like me, you’ll be excited by that; regular folk may just skip to the end.

Before those, there’s The List itself. After two years (is that all?) of presenting it in numbered order, I’m switching back to alphabetical. Why? Well, as you’ll see just before said full list, there’s my monthly updates. They cover the year in order, as it happens, and now that I’m linking to them from this post there’s no real need for a numbered list here too. Indeed, for those who like to cut up facts and statistics and lists in multiple different ways (as I do), this means that a year of 100 Films is presented as both numbered and alphabetical lists for the first time — exciting!

And as this post is now longer than ever, here’s a quick contents list, so you can just skip straight to the stuff you prefer…

So without further ado…


As It Happened

Below is a graphical representation of my viewing, month by month. More importantly, each of the twelve images links to the relevant monthly update — as noted (three times now?), this is where you’ll find the numbered list of everything I watched this year.













The List

Alternate Cuts
Other Reviews
Shorts

The Statistics

For only the second time ever I fell short of my goal, watching just 97 new feature films in 2012. (All are included in the stats that follow, even if there’s no review yet.) What’s perhaps more interesting is the pattern that I’m forming: in the six years I’ve been doing this blog, I’ve repeated a run of 120-something (2007, 2010), 100-exactly (2008, 2011), and under-100 (2009, 2012). Weird.

I also watched one feature I’d seen before that was extended or altered in some way, as well as reviewing 10 others that I’d seen before (easily the most ever). All 108 films are included in the statistics that follow, unless otherwise indicated. (Despite not making it to 100 on the main list, that’s more films in the stats than either of the two years I made it to 100.)

I also watched five shorts (none of which shall be counted in any statistics). As noted last year, I own quite a few DVDs of shorts (my database informs me that it’s nearly 400 individual short films), so I really should make more of an effort in this area.

The total running time of new features was 146 hours and 17 minutes. That’s the lowest ever, in part thanks to a lot of Saint and Falcon films that only run around an hour each. The total running time of all films (including, for this stat only, shorts) was 169 hours and 35 minutes. That means that the shorts, alternate cuts and other reviews run nearly 24 hours — over double the next nearest (which was last year, at nearly 12 hours). You may like to compare the following graph to the number-of-features one above — does the total number watched tarry with their total length? (As it turns out, yes, yes it does.)

I saw two films at the cinema this year. That’s the same as last year, and so the joint lowest-ever. Cinemas are so pricey and time-consuming these days. Still, there were near misses for The Avengers and The Hobbit, which would have made it my best year at the box office since 2009. But alas, no.

The highest format is once again TV, this year totalling 53 films. After accounting for hardly any of my viewing in the first two years, TV surged to dominance in 2009 and has remained there ever since. Considering the size of my unwatched disc collection, that really shouldn’t be the case. Second place this year again went to Blu-ray (third year running). With 41 films it’s about the same as last year. DVD, however, sinks further into the doldrums: just six SD discs graced my player this year. Again, considering I have literally hundreds of the things I’ve not got round to, that’s a disgrace. There was also a single download (one of the Falcon films that I missed on TV and had to retrieve from iPlayer, as will be the case with all of them when I get on with the rest of the series).

Much to everyone’s surprise, streaming has undergone a resurgence and so makes a moderately significant appearance on the list this year. Whoever thought (even in the comparatively-recent early days of dedicated services like YouTube) that streaming would be a viable way to watch films in a reasonable quality? But that’s where we’re at now, thanks to increasingly fast broadband and a preponderance of rental services looking to make it easy to view films for those punters not all that concerned with image quality. All my streaming films this year were watched on a Wii, via either Netflix or LOVEFiLM. The former seemed to provide DVD-like quality; the latter looks more like an over-compressed downloaded pirate copy. In spite of that, I’m not going with Netflix — I have LOVEFiLM for DVDs/BDs by post, and my package comes with free unlimited streaming (it’s an old one that’s no longer available, haha!) If only they could step up the picture quality… Anyway, four films came down the pipes to me this year — it may not sound like much, but the previous average was 0.2. At this point I wouldn’t like to predict if that will be higher or lower next year.

This year the most popular decade was the 2010s, with 46 films (42.6%). That’s the first time it’s topped the list, just losing out to the ’00s last year. It’s a solid victory: though the first decade of the new millennium still comes in second, it’s with just 21 films (19.4%). It would be an even wider percentage gap were it not for the other reviews (adding a pair of Batmans to the ’00s) — indeed, looking at the main list alone, the three years of this decade account for over 47%. Clearly I err towards the modern.

That said, third place this year goes to the ’40s: buoyed by the Saint and Falcon films, it totals 14 (13%). Of the rest, the ’90s managed a respectable nine (up on last year’s low of five); both the ’80s and the ’60s reached five; the ’30s achieved four; the ’50s made it to three; and the ’70s had just one. That’s every decade since the 1930s covered, the same as last year — oops! I have a moderate collection of silent films that I really should get stuck into. (I’d do a graph for this section, but with all those decades to factor in it’d just be a mess.)

This is also the first full year to feature my new top information line (I say “new” — I was surprised to find this was the first whole year of it, so I guess I started in mid-2011). That means lots of opportunities for new statistics, and so that opportunity shall be seized! The main area this can be applied are the countries and languages info, which reveal I watched 106 films that were either wholly or significantly in English. 106, out of 108. Diverse. Some of those did share languages — Iron Sky, for instance, has a lot of German; and there were a couple of Hong Kong films that also rated English as a listed language. Cantonese and Mandarin chalked up three films apiece, one way or another. And that’s it.

Country-wise, the USA dominate with a massive 88 films (81.5%). No surprise really. Second goes to jolly old Blighty with 30 (27.8%), a mixture of co-productions and… not co-productions. Indeed, it’s the former that gives third place to Germany (13) and accounts for many others, which I’ll list in a minute. Some films could easily be narrowed down to a specific country of origin (several of those German films are definitely US productions with co-funding), but others are truly multi-national — how do you decide where to draw the line? I’ve taken to just listing every country IMDb offers. So some of the following ‘genuinely’ produced films I watched — Hong Kong, Canada (both 4) — while many others were just somehow in on it — France (4), China (2), India (2), and one each for Australia, Finland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and Spain.

A minuscule three films from the main list appear on IMDb’s Top 250 Films as of New Year’s Day 2013. To put that in perspective, the previous low was seven, and that was half of some years’ total, and a third of the first’s. It’s not as if I’ve seen most of the IMDb Top 250 either — I’m missing about 119. To rub it in, the three I did see are all from the past 18 months. Main lesson: try to watch more classics next year. Nonetheless, the positions of those present range from 38th (The Dark Knight Rises) to 220th (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2), via 130th (Avengers Assemble). I know, Skyfall isn’t on there! Positively shocking.

As ever, there are too many other similar lists to consider checking them all. And based on those results, I wouldn’t be able to tick much off any of them anyway.

I’ve yet to re-watch any of the films from this list, only the second time that’s happened — and the last was the other year I failed to make 100. Weird coincidence. Not a surprise when one doesn’t see much at the cinema, really — I’ve got more than enough to catch for the first time without re-watching things in under 12 months. That said, a good few of the remaining reviews (especially the lower numbers) will likely require a re-watch before I cover them. Films like Tinker Tailor deserve thought in their review, not a quick dashed-off-from-11-month-old-memories comment or two.

At the end of all five previous years’ summaries I’ve included a list of 50 notable films I’d missed from that year’s releases. With 2012 over, I’ve managed to see (deep breath) one more from 2007 (bringing the total for that 50 to 27), no more from 2008’s list (leaving it at 14), two more from 2009’s (bringing that to 15), and six more from 2010’s (bringing it to 22). Finally, in the year since listing 2011’s 50, I’ve managed to see 16 of them. As that beats all I’ve seen in four years of 2008’s list and three years of 2009’s, it’s not a bad start. Still a lot of viewing to do, mind, and I’ll be adding another 50 from 2012 in my next post.

A total of 85 solo directors and seven directing partnerships appear on the main list. A record low have multiple films on the main list, with just Jack Hively and Irving Reis scoring three (all Saint and Falcon films, respectively) and Scott Stewart claiming a risible pair (Priest and Legion). However, Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher and Christopher Nolan each put in two appearances thanks to my retrospective on the Batman series — which actually makes three for Nolan, as I also saw The Dark Knight Rises. Matching that is Terence Young, director of three of the first four Bond films; and, like Nolan, Fritz Lang features in both the main list and the ‘other’ list, making two for him too. Numbers are rounded out by Guy Hamilton, director of Goldfinger, bringing the overall total of feature directors to 96. (I should also mention Leythum, director of the first two Marvel One-Shot shorts.)

This year’s star ratings kick off with 14 five-star films — the lowest ever (and five of those weren’t in the main list). Conversely, there were five one-star films — the highest ever. Oh dear. Plus, for the first time ever, the majority of films (41 of them) scored three stars. That’s well above average, and the most ever by nine. Consequently, four-star films were well below average, just 34 of them, the lowest ever by eight. Normally they account for around 50% of my scores, but this year it’s just 32%. The only bit of sanity came from the two-star films, back to their regular ballpark with 14 after last year’s record-low-by-half.

That gives an average score of 3.4 — easily the lowest ever. No surprise, considering the low 5s, high 1s, and uncommonly dominant 3s. The first four years’ average score alternated between 3.6 and 3.7, but they were all actually even closer, ranging just 3.63 to 3.66. Last year saw an extraordinary leap up to 3.83, while this year it sinks to 3.35 — a whole half mark lower. No wonder it’s been awkward compiling my top ten (but more on that next time).

Finally, a record-low 26 of the films (plus three of the shorts and all the other reviews) are currently in my DVD/Blu-ray collection.


Coming next…

Nearly done! Later this weekend I’ll look back over the 97 new films I saw to pick out my worst five and best ten, and remind you of 50 new releases from the past 12 months that I’ve yet to see.

2012 in Review, Part 1

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I normally post two year-end summary posts (for newer/first time readers, one has the full list of films I watched plus statistics about them; the other a bottom five and top ten, plus a long, long list of all the stuff released this year that I didn’t see), but as WordPress have kindly offered up some statistics about the site itself over the past year, how could I refuse? From now on, three it is.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,800 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 8 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

2011: The Full List

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

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

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

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


The List

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


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

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

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


The Statistics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Coming next…

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

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

I better get writing…

The movies everybody’s seen but you

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I Check MoviesI may have mentioned iCheckMovies.com before, but in case not, it’s a fun (if you’re someone like me) site where you can tick off movies you’ve seen. I guess that’s in the name. It started out wholly based around “best ever” lists but has since widened to include all movies (and much TV). The focus remains on completing / seeing how well you’re doing on various lists, it’s just now you can tick anything — which is handier in my opinion, especially as some titles have a tendency to yo-yo on and off lists.

Anyway, one of the lists they have — amongst the usual suspects like the IMDb Top 250 and They Shoot Pictures’ Top 1000 and the Empire 500 — is the iCheckMovies Most Checked. It does what it says on the tin: these are the movies checked by the most people. These are the movies everybody’s seen.

Most CheckedOf course, being a website, the user-base skews younger, and that’s reflected in the list: the top 10 spans 1994 to 2008. Widen that to the top 25 and you can only add two films from the ’80s and one from the ’70s — and two of those are Star Wars. Of the whole 250 included there’s only ten from before 1970, and six of those are Disneys. Kids today, eh?

Even if it does only reflect what a certain demographic have seen, it’s still fun (if you’re someone like me) to see what films everyone’s seen except you. So in that spirit, here are the top ten films everyone else has seen that I haven’t (with their current place on the overall list in brackets).

10) Requiem for a Dream (#98)Unseen
9) Amelie (#94)
8) The Big Lebowski (#89)
7) The Hangover (#87)
6) District 9 (#83)
5) A Clockwork Orange (#82)
4) Bruce Almighty (#80)
3) The Shining (#62)
2) Braveheart (#53)
1) Up (#39)

And I own six of those too.

Do feel free to go find out what you’re a social pariah for missing out on here. Report back in the comments, if you like.


UPDATE (25/7/2012)

It’s been over a year since I first posted this, and in that time a few things have shifted around on this list. I thought I may as well offer an update.

In terms of the top most-ticked movies (the tiny picture on the left — you can see it at a legible size here), The Dark Knight remains #1, The Matrix has dropped to #5, Forrest Gump has taken its place at #2, Fellowship of the Ring has dropped to #7, The Lion King has moved up to #3, Toy Story has moved up to #4, and Finding Nemo comes in at #6.

In terms of my unseen films (deep breath, this’ll get long…)

  • Up is still first, but is now #24 overall (up 13 places);
  • Braveheart is now fourth, down 16 places to #69;
  • The Shining is still third, but has risen seven places to #55;
  • Bruce Almighty has tumbled to seventh, but only down five places to #85;
  • A Clockwork Orange and District 9 swap places, to sixth and fifth respectively. The Kubrick changes one place to #83, while Blomkamp’s South African sci-fi rises five to #78;
  • The Hangover is the big grower, now second and risen a massive 35 spots to #62;
  • The Big Lebowski remains eighth, slipping a slight three places to #92;
  • Amelie drops to tenth, and eight spots to #102;
  • Requiem for a Dream is the only one to leave the top ten completely — it’s now twelfth, falling nine spots to #107;
  • and its replacement is A Bug’s Life, in ninth. No idea where that was 14 months ago.

And what can we learn from this? Not much, really. But thanks to general rearrangements I’ve clearly seen more well-seen films than I had before: whereas my #10 used to be #98, it’s now #102; so whereas I had only seen 90 of the top 100, now I’ve seen… 91. Well, every little helps.

What I can also see is I’ve not watched a single one of these in the last 14 months, despite now owning seven — if you include A Bug’s Life, eight. Story of my life…

2010: The Full List

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I did it!

After last year’s slight shortfall, that’s the big news this year. And unlike 2008, where I scraped to 100 in the year’s dying days, I instead made it in the dying days of September — leaving a whole three months to spare! Sadly I didn’t use those to beat my previous best, 2007’s 129, but there’s always next year.

So, here’s the list of all I saw. Slight change this year: the list is in numerical order, aka order viewed. Because I don’t post reviews in order any more, and because there’s an alphabetical list of all reviews, this seems the most unique — and therefore vaguely worthwhile — way of doing it. I go back and forth on whether numerical or alphabetical is ‘right’ every year, so don’t be surprised if it changes back in 2011.

After the lists comes the usual array of fascinating statistics. If you’d like to skip straight down to those — scrolling can be an awfully tiring business after all — then please click here. Otherwise, on with the 131 things I have to mention…


The Full List

#1 Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
#2 His Girl Friday (1940)
#3 The Man Who Sued God (2001)
#4 Ich möchte kein Mann sein, aka I Wouldn’t Want to Be a Man (1918)
#5 Die Puppe, aka The Doll (1919)
#6 Die Austernprinzessin, aka The Oyster Princess (1919)
#7 Sumurun (1920)
#8 Anna Boleyn (1920)
#9 Die Bergkatze, aka The Mountain-Lion (1921)
#10 Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin: From Schönhauser Allee to Hollywood (2006)
#11 Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
#12 Wallander: The Secret, aka Mankell’s Wallander: Hemligheten (2006)
#13 Air Force One (1997)
#14 Million Dollar Baby (2004)
#15 What About Bob? (1991)
#16 Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
#17 Saturday Night Fever (1977)
#18 Kung Fu Panda (2008)
#19 Elektra (2005)
#20 M (1931)
#21 Speed Racer (2008)
#22 Frankenstein (2004)
#23 Doctor Faustus (1967)
#24 Deja Vu (2006)
#25 Juno (2007)
#26 The September Issue (2009)
#27 Choke (2008)
#28 Clue (1985)
#29 Death Wish (1974)
#30 Seraphim Falls (2006)
#31 Waitress (2007)
#32 The Illusionist (2006)
#33 Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009)
#34 Saw V (2008)
#35 Titanic (1997)
#36 The Condemned (2007)
#37 Ghost Town (2008)
#38 Alice in Wonderland (3D) (2010)
#39 Kick-Ass (2010)
#40 Wallander: The Revenge, aka Mankell’s Wallander: Hämnden (2009)
#41 Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone, aka Evangerion shin gekijôban: Jo (2007/2009)
#42 Burn After Reading (2008)
#43 Inkheart (2008)
#44 First Blood (1982)
#45 Sherlock Holmes (2010)
#46 Righteous Kill (2008)
#47 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)
#48 Taken (2008)
#49 Sherlock Holmes (2009)
#50 Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960)
#51 Tu£sday (2008)
#52 Insomnia (1997)
#53 Coraline (2009)
#54 Knowing (2009)
#55 Ivanhoe (1952)
#56 National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
#57 Max Payne (Harder Cut) (2008)
#58 Public Enemies (2009)
#59 Final Destination (2000)
#60 2012 (2009)
#61 The International (2009)
#62 True Lies (1994)
#63 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
#64 Mulan (1998)
#65 Get Smart (2008)
#66 Guess Who (2005)
#67 Pale Rider (1985)
#68 Is Anybody There? (2008)
#69 Inception (2010)
#70 Ministry of Fear (1944)
#71 Panic in the Streets (1950)
#72 Terminator Salvation: Director’s Cut (2009)
#73 Dragonslayer (1981)
#74 Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
#75 Nanny McPhee (2005)
#76 Final Destination 2 (2003)
#77 Total Recall (1990)
#78 Late Spring, aka Banshun (1949)
#79 Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
#80 Ocean’s Eleven (1960)
#81 Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
#82 Bride & Prejudice (2004)
#83 Final Destination 3 (2006)
#84 Matchstick Men (2003)
#85 The Damned United (2009)
#86 Snake Eyes (1998)
#87 Daylight (1996)
#88 Night at the Museum (2006)
#89 The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (2007)
#90 Bhaji on the Beach (1993)
#91 The Band Wagon (1953)
#92 Force of Evil (1948)
#93 Brigadoon (1954)
#94 The History Boys (2006)
#95 Gigi (1958)
#96 Robin Hood: Director’s Cut (2010)
#97 Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)
#98 It Happened Here (1965)
#99 Hercules (1997)
#100 The Hurt Locker (2008)
#101 Road to Rio (1947)
#102 The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)
#103 The Good German (2006)
#104 Witchfinder General (1968)
#105 Grindhouse (2007)
#106 Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
#107 Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
#108 The Night Listener (2006)
#109 Born Free (1966)
#110 Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
#111 Living Free (1972)
#112 The Spiral Staircase (1945)
#113 Solaris (1972)
#114 Toy Story 3 (2010)
#115 Odd Man Out (1947)
#116 The Outrage (1964)
#117 The Wolfman: Unrated Version (2010)
#118 Surrogates (2009)
#119 Rambo III (1988)
#120 Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
#121 A Good Woman (2004)
#122 Iron Eagle (1986)


Alternate Cuts
#100b Angels & Demons: Extended Version (2009)
#115a The Special Edition of Beauty and the Beast (1991/2002)


Shorts
#20a Zum Beispiel: Fritz Lang (1968)
#40a Pixels (2010)
#66a 1945-1998 (2003)
#88a The Met Ball (2010)
#100a Tales of the Black Freighter (2009)
#103a How Long is a Minute? (2001)
#118a Verity (2010)


The Full Statistics

In the end, as you can see, I watched 122 new feature films in 2010 — my second-best year. (All films are included in the stats that follow, even if there’s no review yet.)

Plus, I watched two features I’d seen before that were extended or altered in some way — three if you count Evangelion: 1.11. (All 124 films are included in the statistics that follow, unless otherwise indicated.)

I also watched seven shorts this year (none of which shall be counted in any statistics).

The total running time of new features was 208 hours and 12 minutes. The total running time of all films (including shorts) was 213 hours and 50 minutes.

This year I’ve re-watched just one film from the list already, which was Clue. Toy Story 3 and Inception very, very nearly managed it though…

Last year, for the first time, DVD slipped from the top spot of my viewing format of choice, bested by TV. The story’s even worse this year. TV is more definitively the leader with 68 films, including 24 in HD. Both those numbers beat DVD. Second is Blu-ray with 29, a massive increase from last year’s six. And so DVD comes third (or fourth, if you split TV in two) with just 22. How the mighty have fallen, and all that.

Of the rest, there’s 2 downloads (one in HD) and, more depressingly, my cinema tally: I saw just 3 films on the big screen this year (just one in otherwise-abundant 3D). That’s down on previous years’ totals of (in chronological order) nine, ten, and last year’s six. Quite by bad coincidence, I started this blog at a time when I began going to the cinema an awful lot less — just one year earlier and it would’ve been bursting with theatrically-viewed films. My record on this front is now a bit meagre, really. Finally, VHS stays dead — having dropped from five in my first year to zero last year, I don’t even have a machine set up any more. Poor VHS. (What I failed to notice last year was how that’s almost an exact inversion of Blu-ray, which progressed over the first three years from zero to two to six. Neat.)

The most popular decade was, as ever, the ’00s, with a round 60 films. The competition is for second place, then, and this year it goes to the ’90s with 15. Despite few trips to the cinema, new-boy decade the 2010s managed a fairly respectable 7, leaving it joint 5th. In an improvement on the last two years, every decade since 1910 is represented this year. In chronological order, 3 films were made in both the 1910s and the 1920s, 1 was from the ’30s, 10 from the ’40s, 6 from the ’50s, 8 from the ’60s, 4 from the ’70s and 7 from the ’80s. Diverse.

The average score this year was 3.6. That includes 16 five-star films (joint lowest with the first year) and just 1 one-star film (an improvement on last year’s four). As usual, the majority of films — 62 — scored four stars. There were also 31 three-star films and 14 two-star films. All numbers fall more or less in line with my previous tallies, which is a nice mark of consistency — indeed, the average is the same as 2008, which is only 0.1 less than 2007 and 2009. I’m alternating; how lovely.

7 films appear on the IMDb Top 250 Films at the time of posting. Their positions ranges from 6th (Inception) to 241st (Kick-Ass). As ever, there are too many other lists around to consider them all.

At the end of all previous years I’ve included lists of 50 notable films I’d missed from that year’s releases (and, as usual, 2010’s lot will be in my next post). This year I’ve managed to see 4 more from 2007 (bringing the total number seen from that 50 to halfway, 25) and 9 more from 2008’s list (bringing that total to 13). From the freshest batch — i.e. 2009’s selection — I’ve seen 8. Hopefully further films from all the lists will crop up as I go through 2011 — heck, maybe one day I’ll have even seen them all! Probably not though.

A total of 99 solo directors and a record 10 directing partnerships appear on the list this year. The most-represented is Ernst Lubitsch with six films, followed by Vincente Minnelli with four. Those with two films to their name are James Cameron, Gurinder Chadha, Clint Eastwood, Jonathan Frakes, Fritz Lang, Ridley Scott and James Wong. Also, R.J. Cutler manages one feature and one short. The remaining 89 directors and all 10 partnerships have, naturally, one each.

36 of the films are currently in my DVD/Blu-ray collection (plus three of the shorts). I’ve also got one digitally downloaded (it was free).


Coming soon…

Last year I still had a huge pile of reviews to post well into January; this year, only a handful. And quite aside from them, there’s my ever-so-exciting Top 10 and Bottom 5!

Stay tuned.

Or, y’know, go away and come back later.

2009: The Full List

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Introduction

So, 2009… the first year I failed to reach my stated goal. Still, I saw 94 new films and bothered to review several others — and here’s a full alphabetical list of the lot of ’em!


The Full List

– Airplane! (1980)
– Aliens (1986)
– Alien³ (1992)
– Alien Resurrection (1997)
– Alone in the Dark (2005)
– An American in Paris (1951)
– Angels & Demons (2009)
– Anne Frank Remembered (1995)
– La Antena (2007)
– The Apartment (1960)
– Ashes of Time Redux (1994/2008)
– Avatar (2009)
– AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)
– AVPR – Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)
– Babel (2006)
– Batman (1966)
– Big Nothing (2006)
– Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982/2007)
– Brute Force (1947)
– Children of Heaven (1997)
– Cinderella (1965)
– Copycat (1995)
– Culloden (1964)
– Dark Floors (2008)
– Eastern Promises (2007)
– Exiled (2006)
– Fatal Instinct (1993)
– A Few Good Men (1992)
– Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
– Flesh for Frankenstein (3D) (1973)
– For All Mankind (1989)
– For Your Consideration (2006)
– Friday the 13th Part III (3D) (1982)
– Glory (1989)
– The Great Dictator (1940)
– Hamlet (2009)
– Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour (3D) (2008)
– Hard Candy (2005)
– Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
– High Anxiety (1977)
– High Society (1956)
– In Bruges (2008)
– In the Shadow of the Moon (2007)
– Inglourious Basterds (2009)
– Insomnia (2002)
– Jumper (2008)
– The Kite Runner (2007)
– The Knack …And How to Get It (1965)
– The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
– Lethal Weapon (1987)
– The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
– Marnie (1964)
– Michael Clayton (2007)
– Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
– No Country For Old Men (2007)
– Paths of Glory (1957)
– Predator 2 (1990)
– Rage (2009)
– Red Riding: 1974 (2009)
– Red Riding: 1980 (2009)
– Red Riding: 1983 (2009)
– The Right Stuff (1983)
– Ripley’s Game (2002)
– Rock n Roll Nerd (2008)
– Runaway Train (1985)
– Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic (TV edit) (2005)
– Saw (2004)
– Saw II (2005)
– Saw III (2006)
– Saw IV (2007)
– Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
– Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
– Sherlock (2002)
– Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)
– Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
– Solaris (2002)
– Son of Paleface (1952)
– Son of Rambow (2007)
– Stand By Me (1986)
– Star Trek (2009)
– State of Play (2009)
– Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
– The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
– There Will Be Blood (2007)
– The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
– Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
– Transporter 3 (2008)
– Wallander: Before the Frost (2005)
– Wallander: Mastermind (2005)
– Watchmen (2009)
– Watchmen: Director’s Cut (2009)
– Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
– The X Files: I Want to Believe – Director’s Cut (2008)
– X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Alternate Cuts
– Alien: The Director’s Cut (1979/2003)

Other Reviews
– The Birds (1963)
– Flash Gordon (1980)
– Predator (1987)
– Some Like It Hot (1959)

Shorts
– Commentary! The Musical (2008)
– Cut (2009)
– The Gruffalo (2009)
– The Lunch Date (1990)
– The World of Tomorrow (1998)
– The Wraith of Cobble Hill (2005)


The Full Statistics

In the end, I watched 94 new feature films in 2009, the first year I’ve failed to reach 100.

I watched three features I’d seen before that were extended or altered in some way. Two of them even factored in the main list. I also reviewed four films I’d seen before. (All 99 films are included in the statistics that follow, unless otherwise indicated.)

I also watched six shorts this year, which by some coincidence falls exactly mid-way between the number I saw in 2007 and the number I saw in 2008. Exciting stuff. (Shorts aren’t counted, except the total total running time.)

The total running time of new features was 166 hours and 51 minutes. The total running time of all features and shorts was 177 hours and 44 minutes.

I saw 6 films at the cinema this year, including, for the first time, one in 3D. That’s far beaten by the number of new films I saw on DVD though, which stands at 29 (rising by just one if counting extended/altered films, five if counting all features). Surprisingly, however, that’s also soundly beaten by the number I watched on TV: 44, including 8 in HD and, appropriately, 3 in 3D. This compares to 14 in 2007 and 10 last year, making 2009 a highly unusual year by comparison. Otherwise, I watched 8 via download, 6 on Blu-ray and 1 via online streaming, which is a first (for a feature-length film) for me. VHS has finally disappeared however, dropping steadily from five in 2008 to two last year, and now to zero.

The most popular decade this year was, as ever, the 00s, with 51 films. Of the rest, 10 were made in the 90s, 12 in the 80s, 5 in the 70s, 8 in the 60s, and 6 each in the 40s and the 50s. The oldest film on this year’s list dates from 1940. (Where alternate cuts offer up multiple decades (Ridley Scott, I’m looking at you) only the decade of production/original release is counted.)

My average score was 3.7, equal to 2007’s and 0.1 higher than 2008’s. Seems I’m consistent. This year that average comes from 21 five-star films (up on both previous years) and 4 one-star films, the first year I’ve doled out more than one of the latter. The majority of films, as usual, scored four stars (there were 42 of them this year). There were also 21 three-star films (down on 2008, which was down on 2007) and 11 two-star films (in the same ballpark).

15 films appear on the IMDb Top 250 Films at the time of writing, which is slightly up from last year. Their positions range from 28th (Avatar) to 231st (Glory). From Empire’s Top 10 of 2009 (only to be found buried away here, apparently) I’ve managed just two. As ever, there are too many other lists around to consider them all.

At the end of both 2007 and 2008 I included lists of 50 notable films I’d missed from that year’s releases. With all of 2009 taken into account, I’ve managed to see four more from 2007 (bringing the total number seen from that 50 to just 21), and, equally, a mediocre four from 2008’s list (shamefully, I actually own or have recorded 14 of the remaining 46). Hopefully further films from both lists will crop up in 2010.

A total of 87 directors appear on this year’s list, as well as two partnerships (both pairs of brothers) and two directing teams. Topping the list of those with multiple films is Darren Lynn Bousman with three (all Saw sequels), while there’s two apiece for James Cameron, Alfred Hitchcock, Rob Reiner, Ridley Scott and Billy Wilder. Zack Snyder also appears twice, with two cuts of the same film.

35 of the films are currently in my DVD/Blu-ray collection (plus four of the shorts).


Still to come…

I’m not done with 2009 yet. Aside from 21 outstanding reviews (by which I mean they’ve yet to be posted, not that they’re exceptionally good), there’s my Top 10 and Bottom 5 of what I saw this year. All of that to follow shortly… or, y’know, one day…

2008: The Full List

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Introduction

And so the end is here, and here is the end — part one. I’ve flipped the final two entries this year, so my top ten (and bottom five) will be here in a day or two, but before that…

Although there’s now a full list of reviews (with handy links to every one), I’m still posting this list of all I saw in 2008 because, while it may not be as useful as a complete reviews archive, it still shows what I watched this year.

This year hasn’t been quite as successful as last, at least in terms of film viewing. As the year neared its end I didn’t think I’d make it to 100, and was all prepared to settle for 90 around Christmas time, but a final push saw me make it in the nick of time. Hurrah! On the other hand, the move to FilmJournal has had a huge, positive impact on readership. In that vein I’d like to thank everyone who’s commented on the blog, as well as all regular (and irregular) readers who don’t — I know I follow several FilmJournal blogs and never or rarely comment, so I’m sure there must be some doing the same with mine. And while I definitely appreciate all comments (even if I don’t reply, or agree!), special thanks to Colin and Mike for their regular and enjoyable comments on my Rathbone Holmes reviews, even when my articles are neither.

With that said, here’s the list. Scroll to the end for a bunch of irreverent stats about my viewing this year.


The Full List

– 24: Redemption (2008)
– The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
– After the Sunset (2004)
– Agatha (1979)
– Almost Famous (2000)
– The Aristocrats (2005)
– Atonement (2007)
– The Baskerville Curse (1983)
– Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)
– Be Kind Rewind (2008)
– Becoming Jane (2007)
– Beowulf: Director’s Cut (2007)
– Best in Show (2000)
– The Blues Brothers (1980)
– Brideshead Revisited (2008)
– The Cable Guy (1996)
– Calendar Girls (2003)
– Cathy Come Home (1966)
– Chicago (2002)
– Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004)
– Clockwise (1986)
– Cloverfield (2008)
– Cube²: Hypercube (2002)
– Cube Zero (2004)
– Dark City (1998)
– The Dark Knight (2008)
– Die Hard 2 (1990)
– The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
– Done the Impossible: The Fans’ Tale of Firefly and Serenity (2006)
– Double Indemnity (1944)
– Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (2003)
– Enchanted (2007)
– Field of Dreams (1989)
– Fist of Legend (1994)
– Flushed Away (2006)
– The Fountain (2006)
– Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
– The Golden Compass (2007)
– Great Expectations (1998)
– The Green Mile (1999)
– Hairspray (2007)
– Hamlet (1996)
– The Happening (2008)
– Hard Boiled (1992)
– Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
– Henry V (1944)
– Henry V (1989)
– Hitman: Unrated (2007)
– The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
– Hulk (2003)
– I Am Legend (2007)
– The Incredible Hulk (2008)
– Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
– The Invasion (2007)
– Iron Man (2008)
– The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)
– Jane Eyre (1944)
– L.A. Confidential (1997)
– Leon: Version Integrale (1994/1996)
– Madagascar (2005)
– Mamma Mia! (2008)
– The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
– The Mirror Crack’d (1980)
– Notorious (1946)
– Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
– Quantum of Solace (2008)
– Rashomon (1950)
– Ratatouille (2007)
– Rebecca (1940)
– Road to Singapore (1940)
– A Room With a View (1985)
– Russian Ark (2002)
– Scenes of a Sexual Nature (2006)
– Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943)
– Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)
– Shoot ‘Em Up (2007)
– The Simpsons Movie (2007)
– Snakes on a Plane (2006)
– Southland Tales (2006)
– St. Trinian’s (2007)
– Stardust (2007)
– Starwoids (2001)
– Stay (2005)
– Sunset Blvd. (1950)
– Sunshine (2007)
– Superhero Movie (2008)
– Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
– Swing Time (1936)
– Texas Across the River (1966)
– Throne of Blood (1957)
– Transformers (2007)
– Troy: Director’s Cut (2004/2007)
– Ultimate Avengers (2006)
– Ultimate Avengers II (2006)
– Vantage Point (2008)
– WALL-E (2008)
– Wanted (2008)
– White Christmas (1954)
– The Wizard of Oz (1939)
– Zodiac (2007)

Alternate Cuts
– The Dark Knight: The IMAX Experience (2008)
– I Am Legend: Alternate Theatrical Version (2007/2008)

Other Reviews
– Casino Royale (2006)
– Cube (1997)

Shorts
– Gasman (1997)
– Inside-Out (1997)
– Presto (2008)
– Wallace and Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008)


The Full Statistics

Before we begin, I’ll just point out that all of these stats include every film on this list, even if I’ve yet to post the review.

In the end, I watched exactly 100 new feature films in 2008. While this is a 22% drop on last year’s total of 129, it’s still my target (obviously).

I watched three features I’d seen before that were extended or altered in some way, two of which I’d only seen for the first time earlier this year. This is three less than in 2007, which, really, is neither here nor there. I also reviewed two films I’d seen before, in each case because I was about to watch their sequel(s). (All 104 are counted in the following statistics, unless otherwise indicated.)

Additionally, I watched four shorts this year (none of which shall be counted in any of the statistics), half of what I saw in 2007. Somewhat surprisingly (to me, anyway), three of these can be found in my DVD collection.

The total running time of new features was 175 hours and 57 minutes. The total running time of all features and shorts was 184 hours and 55 minutes — almost 8 days’ solid viewing, which doesn’t sound much put next to the 366 days available.

I’ve already seen six films from this list again — specifically, The Green Mile, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Mamma Mia!, Stardust, The Dark Knight (on IMAX) and I Am Legend (in its alternate cut).

I made 10 trips to the cinema this year. That’s far beaten by the number of new films I saw on DVD however, which stands at 64 (rising to 67 with those extended/altered/seen ones). It’s downloads that (just) come in a distant second place with 11, while TV equals the cinema with 10. VHS still skulks around with two, and there are three formats new to this blog as well: Blu-ray, also with two, and one each for IMAX and in-flight. A ragtag bunch if ever there was one.

The most popular decade was once agin the 00s by a long way, with 65 films — 62.5%, easily topping last year’s 52%. The nearest was the 90s with a mere 11. A somewhat surprising third was the 40s with eight, closely followed by the 80s with seven. Of the rest, the 30s managed four, the 50s a marginally better five, and the 60s and 70s had two a piece. Nothing before 1936 though.

The average score was 3.6, marginally lower than 2007’s average of 3.7. This year there were 19 five-star films (slightly up from 2007’s 16) and just 1 one-star film (equal to last year). The majority of films — 45 — scored four stars, compared to a huge 72 last year. There were also 24 three-star films (down from 32) and 15 two-star films (practically equal to last year’s 14).

13 films appear on the IMDb Top 250 Films at the time of writing, about two-thirds of 2007’s 21. Their positions ranges from 4th (The Dark Knight, of course) to 199th (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). Some of the films undoubtedly appear on other ‘Best Films Ever’ and ‘Best of 2008’ lists, but I’m hardly going to research them all.

At the end of 2007, I included a list of 50 notable films I’d missed from that year’s releases. With all of 2008 taken into account, I’ve managed to see 17 of them, more or less a third. They’ll probably continue to pop up in 2009.

A total of 88 solo directors and 8 directing partnerships (or teams in some cases!) appear on the list this year, 15 less than last. Coincidentally, 15 directors had more than one film on the list in 2007 — one managed seven (that was Martin Scorsese) — but only six manage a second appearance this year, and none a third or more. Those with two new films are Kenneth Branagh, Marc Forster, Alfred Hitchcock, Julian Jarrold, Akira Kurosawa, and Billy Wilder. Additionally, Francis Lawrence and Christopher Nolan each put in a second appearance with the same film.

And finally… 56 of the films are currently in my DVD collection, once again nearly identical to 2007’s 57. (The IMAX Dark Knight doesn’t count, incidentally, because the IMAX scenes aren’t integrated on DVD.)


Still to come…

My Top 10, and Bottom 5, and other such things. Nearly over…

Two-thirds done

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With August now behind us, 2008 is two-thirds complete. And so, as I missed halfway, now seems like a moderately appropriate time to reflect on how well my aim of watching 100 new films is going in 2008.

By this point in 2007 I had made it to 98 films, which makes my current tally of 60 look a little lacklustre (reviews for ten of which are still in the works). At least it’s a nice round number. Still, there’s 17 weeks of the year to go — that means I need to average 2.4 films per week, or 10 per month, from here out. Considering my averages to this point are 1.7 and 7.5 respectively, it’s still all to play for.

I would say the summer blockbuster season has given me a hand though: at the end of the year’s first third I’d only made it to 22 films (averages: 1.3 per week, 5.5 per month), but, since Iron Man dragged me to the cinema for the first time in nearly a year, I’ve visited the big screen a total of eight times — not exactly a mind-blowing number, but at 8% of my aim (obviously) it’s not wholly insignificant.

Here’s a few more largely-pointless statistics to round out this post: as well as those eight cinema trips, I’ve seen 39 films on DVD, six via downloads, four on TV, and even one on VHS. There’s also been my first two films on Blu-ray, and one each for the new additions of IMAX and “in-flight”.

I’ve seen five alternate cuts (three of which warranted proper numbering) but just one short. Of all the features I saw, 16 ran over two hours (two made it past the three-hour mark!) and 15 didn’t even make it to 90 minutes! Films are often accused of having spiraling running times these days, but that’s clearly not the case for much of my viewing. I’m reviewing films from across the history of film, of course, but 10 of those 15 were produced in the last decade.

I’ve seen eight feature films that the BBFC awarded a U certificate, 20 that require some PG, 16 that warranted a 12 or 12A, 12 that pushed things to a 15, and just four of those naughty 18s. Two were unrated.

I did a statistics post earlier this year, for 100 days. Back then, I hadn’t seen any films from the ’70s, ’60s, ’50s, or before 1939. While I’ve still not managed anything from the ’70s or before 1939, I have at least seen two from the ’60s and four from the ’50s. As well as that, I’ve watched three films from the ’30s, five each from the ’40s and ’80s, and six from the ’90s. The 2000s still sit proudly atop the pile however, with a grand total of 37.

Three directors have managed to squeeze more than one film into the total so far — namely Kenneth Branagh, Alfred Hitchcock and Akira Kurosawa, each with two films. (Francis Lawrence and Christopher Nolan don’t really count as they appear twice thanks to alternate versions of the same films.)

Finally, I’ve handed out ratings right across the board. Animated Sherlock Holmes mystery The Baskerville Curse grabbed only my second-ever single-star rating, while seven films merely managed a lowly 2 stars. Ten films are theoretically average with 3, while the majority (30) made it up to 4. A total of 12 films so far this year have touched the giddy heights of 5 stars (not counting The Dark Knight twice). All of this leaves my average score for first-view films at 3.75 — as ever, I’m either largely watching good films or am just fairly generous with my scores.

That’s all for now. Back to actually watching films then… or maybe even getting round to reviewing them…

100 Days

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April 9th: the 100th day of 2008! As it’s just over a quarter of the way through the year (that would’ve been March 31st, more or less), and also a nice round number in its own right, and as I did a similar thing at roughly this point last year, it seems an appropriate time for a statisticstastic look at how things are going so far.

I’ve seen a total of just 15 films so far. That makes my weekly average a lowly 1.07, meaning I’ll manage a paltry 56 films this year should that continue. Oh dear. (At this point last year, I was on course to see 145!)

Of those few films, eight were released in the 2000s, two each in the 1990s, ’80s and ’40s, and one in the ’30s. That means I’ve seen nothing from the ’70s, ’60s or ’50s, or before 1939.

I saw nine of them on DVD, four via download, and two on TV. Nothing on VHS, and I haven’t been to the cinema yet this year.

Ratings wise, I’ve so far handed out three full marks. Those were to Atonement, Dark City and Rebecca. Of the remaining twelve, five garnered 4 out of 5, four managed a 3, and three were awarded just 2. Nothing has been poor enough to merit a 1… yet. The average rating is therefore 3.5, exactly the same as at this point last year and a pretty averagey average.

With 38 weeks of the year to go, I have 85 films left to reach my target — that’s an average of 2.2 new films every week (or 9.5 every month) from here out. Quite low, one might think, but I’ve clearly not been living up to it.

2007: The Full List

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Introduction

And so the end is here. Yes, finally this time! (Check out the previous post for my best and worst of the year.) A nice round 25 entries, too… well, 26 with the Star Wars one…

Anyway — as we’ve reached the end, here’s the full alphabetical list of everything I saw, followed by some intensely interesting statistical whatsits.

What a year, eh?


The Full List

300
Alfie
American Dreamz
Annie Hall
Basil the Great Mouse Detective
Before Sunrise
Before Sunset
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
The Black Dahlia
Blood Diamond
Bonnie and Clyde
Boogie Nights
The Bourne Ultimatum
Breathless
Brick
Brief Encounter
Bringing Out the Dead
Bullets Over Broadway
C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America
Capote
Casanova
The Cat’s Meow
Chinatown
Chocolat
Citizen Kane
A Cock and Bull Story
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confetti
The Crowd
The Departed
The Devil Wears Prada
Doom
Educating Rita
Eragon
Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine
Fantômas: Juve Versus Fantômas
Fargo
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Flight 93
For Your Eyes Only
Garden State
Goodfellas
Great Expectations
Happy Feet
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Heat
Hellboy: Director’s Cut
Hello, Dolly!
Hidden
Hot Fuzz
An Inconvenient Truth
It
It’s All Gone Pete Tong
Johnny English
The King and I
The King of Comedy
Kinky Boots
Kramer vs. Kramer
Ladies in Lavender
The Last Days of Pompeii
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Manhattan
Manhattan Murder Mystery
March of the Penguins
Mean Creek
Mean Streets
Miracles
Monster
Mrs Brown
Mrs Henderson Presents
Mystic River
The Naked City
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
The New World
New York Stories
Night Watch
Nosferatu
Notes on a Scandal
Ocean’s Twelve
Octopussy
On the Town
Ong-Bak
Over the Hedge
The Paleface
Pan’s Labyrinth
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Piglet’s Big Movie
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Play Time
Point Break
The Prestige
Primer
The Pursuit of Happyness
Ray
The Reckless Moment
Right at Your Door
Ringers: Lord of the Fans
Road to Morocco
Romance & Cigarettes
Secretary
Sense and Sensibility
The Sign of Four
South Pacific
Spider-Man 3
Starter For Ten
Stormbreaker
Stranger Than Fiction
A Study in Scarlet
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Taxi Driver
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
This is Spinal Tap
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Three Colours: Blue
Three Colours: White
Three Colours: Red
Thumbsucker
Thunderbirds
Traffic in Souls
Trainspotting
Transporter 2
United 93
West Side Story
While You Were Sleeping
Wild at Heart
Wilde
The Woodsman

Alternate Cuts & Other Reviews
Crash: Director’s Cut
Gone With the Wind
Spider-Man 2.1
Star Wars – Episode 4: A New Hope – DVD Edition
Star Wars – Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back – DVD Edition
Star Wars – Episode 6: Return of the Jedi – DVD Edition

Shorts
Bus Stop
The End
Manhatta
Nine 1/2 Minutes
Park
A Propos de Nice
Skyscraper Symphony
Telling Lies


The Full Statistics

In the end, I watched 129 new feature films in 2007.

I also watched 6 features I’d seen before that were extended or altered in some way. (All of those are left in the statistics that follow unless otherwise indicated.)

I also watched 8 shorts (none of which shall be counted in any of the statistics).

I’ve already seen 2 films from this list again (specifically, Happy Feet and Hot Fuzz).

I saw 9 films at the cinema this year. That’s far beaten by the number of new films I saw on DVD though, which stands at 97 (rising to 103 with those extended/altered ones). I also saw 14 on TV, 4 via downloads, and 5 on good ol’ VHS.

The most popular decade by far was the ’00s, with 70 films — that’s 52%! Of the rest, 4 were made in the ’10s, 5 in the ’20s, 1 in the ’30s, 8 in the ’40s, 2 in the ’50s, 6 in the ’60s, 7 in the ’70s, 12 in the ’80s, and 20 in the ’90s. That’s every decade of the 20th Century covered.

The average score was 3.7 out of 5. That includes 16 five-star films and just 1 one-star film. The majority of films scored four stars, with a total of 72 receiving that mark. There were also 32 three-star films and 14 two-star films.

21 of my new films appear on the IMDb Top 250 Films at the time of writing. Their positions range from 15th (Goodfellas) to 247th (Manhattan). None of them are bad enough to make it onto the Bottom 100.

Additionally, 4 films appeared on Empire’s 25 Greatest Films of the Year — Notes on a Scandal (at #14), Letters From Iwo Jima (at #11), Hot Fuzz (at #8) and The Bourne Ultimatum (at #1). Many of the films undoubtedly appear on other ‘Best Films Ever’ lists, but I’m hardly going to go research them all.

A total of 111 directors (or directing partnerships) appear on the list. Martin Scorsese appears most often with 7 films. He’s closely followed by Woody Allen with 5 and Krzysztof Kieslowski with 3. Others with multiple films are Clint Eastwood, Louis Feuillade, Lewis Gilbert, John Glen, Paul Greengrass, Lasse Hallstrom, David Lean, Richard Linklater, Ian Mackenzie & Alex Nicholas, F.W. Murnau, Sam Raimi, and Guillermo del Toro. Also, Gene Kelly and the pairing of Hideaki Anno & Kazuya Tsurumaki directed 2 films each, but in both cases one of them was co-directed with someone else. Obviously, the other 94 just directed one film here.

The actors and actresses who appear multiple times are too numerous and difficult to list. There were at least a few though.

In film titles, the most common first letters are B and S (the latter thanks to a big boost from the alternate cuts). The next-closest were T, C, M and P. A total of 17 titles begin with “The”, while just 3 start with “A” or “An”. (Also, can you see the places where I’ve cheated slightly in the alphabetical list above?)

57 of the films are currently in my DVD collection.


The End…

So that was 2007. Here’s to 2008!