Category Archives: year in review

Annual posts looking back at the successes and failures of another year of film watching.

2012 In Retrospect

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Here we are — the final end of 2012. What better way to wrap up than to reflect on the good, the bad, and the other? And so there’s a top ten, a bottom five, and a bunch of stuff I missed. (This post is long; you might appreciate those links.)

“What’s the point,” you may ask, “of choosing a top ten from a wholly arbitrary list of 97 films?” And to that I say, “best not to think about it too much.”

As ever, all of these are selected from what I watched this year. The full list of eligible titles is here.



The Five Worst Films I Saw For the First Time in 2012

In alphabetical order…

The Book of Eli
I gave four main-list films one star this year, and 14 two stars, yet a film I awarded three stars makes this list. Why? After a great beginning, Eli gradually descends into sanctimonious tosh; it becomes almost offensively bad. For that reason, I remember it with considerably less affection than its star rating would suggest, and certainly worse than those 14 others.

The Final Destination
I came to the Final Destination series late, but initially found them to be divertingly enjoyable teen horror movies. The third one went a bit off the rails (literally), but this fourth entry has no redeeming features. The definite-article title neatly indicated it was the last in the series, but then they went and made a fifth and so ruined that too.

The Last Airbender
Some people have called M. Night Shyamalan’s adaptation of the Asian-tinged US cartoon one of the worst films ever made. I don’t necessarily disagree. Poorly made in every way but its special effects, the only joy in The Last Airbender comes from tittering at the double entendre every time the hero is described as “a powerful bender”.

Legion
I don’t necessarily have anything against films with a religious theme, yet this is the second one on this year’s list. Legion doesn’t contain the objectionable moralising of The Book of Eli, though — it’s just a really badly made film. You might forgive bad dialogue and acting if the action sequences were well-done, but they’re not. Irredeemable.

The Spiral Staircase
A needless modernised remake of the ’40s adaptation of Ethel Lina White’s novel Some Must Watch. This isn’t that bad judged in its own class (turn-of-the-millennium US cable TV movies made For Women), and it even has a couple of good bits, but by comparison to the fabulous earlier film, it’s contemptuous.



The Ten Best Films I Saw For the First Time in 2012

An uncomplicated low-budget British period action movie, but one that delivers on all the fronts it promises to. It may be too bloody and gory for some, but that adds a certain realism to the Seven Samurai-esque medieval story that isn’t unwelcome. Paul Giamatti stands out as a scenery-chewing villain par excellence, but a likeable cast all round help pull the film through some of its slower moments.

I couldn’t care less about Fashion — indeed, in many respects I despise that world as much as the next right-headed human being — but Bill Cunningham transcends that to be a social documentarian. A documentary about a documentarian may sound trite, but this simple portrait of a simple man is anything but. I imagine it won’t connect with everyone, but I loved it.

I love a good procedural thriller (look at Anatomy of a Murder, the only pre-millennium film to crack my 2010 top five), and this adaptation of a Michael Connelly doorstop is in broadly the same mould. Matthew McConaughey endears even as a smarmy small-time lawyer thrust into a big-league murder case, with (bit of a spoiler here) his own client certainly the villain. There’s been talk of a sequel, for which I have my fingers tightly crossed.

A big franchise is relaunched because a writer had a good idea for a story? Wonders never cease! And it pays dividends, because Rise isn’t your usual blockbuster: it’s an intelligent science-inspired drama that just happens to link up to a studio sci-fi/action series. Its pretty much Proper Science-Fiction, in fact. Even better, that doesn’t stop it from having a barnstorming climax.

I don’t think even TDKR’s staunchest defenders could claim in good faith that it was a perfect film (though some of the holes people harp on about aren’t holes at all and that bugs me). I think a lot of people wanted The Dark Knight: Part 2, but instead Nolan delivered something that was, despite the sheen of realism, much more comic-book-y. And you know what, I loved it. Caution after the non-stop unconvinced reaction of so many others leaves it low-ish in this list; when I get round to a pre-review re-watch I’ll see if I should’ve ranked it higher (or, indeed, lower).

A British spy thriller, yes, but about as different from Bond as you can get. A measured pace unveils an intricate plot (too intricate for some (mostly American) critics), it’s gorgeously shot, and Gary Oldman pulls off a mission many thought impossible by delivering a Smiley that can stand up to Alec Guinness’ classic performance. Superb. I really need to re-watch it though, which may have seen it place higher on this list.

Many Bat-fans would argue that the finest screen depiction of the Dark Knight is the ’90s animated series, and this is the theatrically-released spin-off — which many Bat-fans would argue is the finest big-screen depiction of said hero. Boasting an original new take on Batman’s backstory and origin, plus a fine cameo-sized turn from Mark Hamill’s arguably-definitive Joker, it’s definitely up there with the best Bat-films.

It took me a long time to get round to this 2003 Oscar nominee, for which I give myself a rap on the wrist because it’s excellent. Mass audiences also ignored it in droves, meaning we’re unlikely to get a sequel (despite there being well over a dozen further novels in the series). A shame. If, like me, you weren’t interested and haven’t bothered to see it, I encourage you to reconsider.

Spielberg’s World War One epic got lost last awards season under the weight of a silent French film and relative critical indifference. I thought it was a fine film, more family-friendly than its 12 certificate might suggest, but with a nonetheless realistic portrayal of a horrid period of history. Perhaps too melodramatic for some tastes, I loved it.

Is this really a surprise? I shouldn’t’ve thought so. I’m a big Bond fan and Skyfall is a big entry in the Bond canon, and I wrote a bloody big review of it too (lest you forgot). Whether it’s the best Bond film ever — or even the best Bond film to star Daniel Craig — is still open for debate, but the very fact it’s a debate to be had signals Skyfall as something very special.



Special Mentions

Having got my 36-film long list down to just 14, I struggled with some parts of the final top 10. Just bubbling under (and maybe they would’ve got in on a different day) were The Hunger Games, The Scarlet Claw, With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story… and Avengers Assemble. I love the work of Joss Whedon (which I’ll talk more about in my review), but arriving on Blu-ray after years of hype and a rapturous reception in cinemas, I found the culmination of Marvel’s Phase One movies to be underwhelming. Though it may not be a five-star insta-classic (and, believe it or not, I’m far from alone in that view — indeed, Whedon himself agrees), it’s still a rollicking good time.

An honourable mention too for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the final instalment in what has turned out to be quite an incredible series, in its own way. Following those characters and actors as they grew up over ten years and across eight films is a fairly unique achievement, and while the films aren’t always objectively great, they’re rarely less than engrossingly entertaining. I didn’t unconditionally adore the finale as much as (British, at least) critics and audiences seemed to, meaning it’s pipped to a place on my top 10, but it was a fitting climax to what turned out to be an epic saga.

I also can’t end this without mentioning the nine main-list films that earned themselves 5-star ratings this year. Almost all of them (seven, to be precise) made it into the top ten: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Bill Cunningham New York, The Dark Knight Rises, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Skyfall, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and War Horse. The other two were The Lost Weekend and With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story. Plus, among my other reviews, there were also full marks for Batman Begins, Batman Returns, The Dark Knight (I’ve seen it three times, reviewed it three times, and given it five stars three times!), From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, and the lovely Christmas-telly short Room on the Broom.

Additional thanks this year to the ’30s/’40s series of Saint and Falcon films, which between them accounted for 14 films. It should’ve been more, but my regular viewing of them kind of tailed off. I’ll aim to complete the Falcon films this year… but as I’ve been working my way through the Rathbone Sherlock Holmes flicks almost since this blog began, we’ll see how that pans out.



The Films I Didn’t See

In case you missed it at the start, this post isn’t about the films of 2012, only my 2012, and as always there were a large number of notable releases this year that I’ve yet to see. As is traditional, then, here’s an alphabetical list of 50 films from 2012 that I’ve not seen. Normally I slavishly stick to those listed as 2012 on IMDb, but this year there are several where their year listing is dubious, so I’ve (partially) thrown that notion out the window. Maybe next year I’ll go whole hog and just go by UK release dates. But that might be a bit radical.

Debates about precise years-of-production aside, this list is always a mix between a year’s biggest films and ones I think I might actually get round to seeing, considering that I tick it off going forward (see the last post’s statistics for how I’ve got on down the years). This year is particularly awkward at the top end of this balance, with a ton of kid-aimed animated films among the highest-grossing films both in the US and worldwide. I love a Pixar, Dreamworks, or whoever crossover as much as the next man, but Ice Age 4? Madagascar 3? The Lorax, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, Rise of the Guardians? All were financially very successful, but how many am I likely to care about enough to get round to – especially as I’ve seen not even seen Ice Age 2, never mind Ice Age 3. I usually try to include about the top 20 highest grossing films, but I’ve dumped that this year to exclude some of those movies I don’t imagine I’ll ever see. Though, as it’s the fourth highest-grossing film of the year worldwide, I couldn’t really ignore Ice Age 4.

As ever, the rest of the list is made up of Things People Have Talked About – not necessarily big earners, but Oscar contenders and those smaller, usually foreign, films the cinephile press and sites seem to have been discussing. Bit more of the latter this year, I think, just because I’ve been paying a little more attention.

21 Jump Street
The Amazing Spider-Man
Amour
Anna Karenina
Argo
Battleship
Berberian Sound Studio
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
The Bourne Legacy
Brave
The Cabin in the Woods
Chronicle
Cloud Atlas
Dark Shadows
Django Unchained
Dredd
End of Watch
The Expendables 2
Flight
Frankenweenie
The Grey
Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Holy Motors
Ice Age: Continental Drift
Jack Reacher
John Carter
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Looper
Magic Mike
The Master
Men in Black 3
Les Misérables
Moonrise Kingdom
The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists
Rise of the Guardians
Rust and Bone
Seven Psychopaths
Silver Linings Playbook
Snow White and the Huntsman
Taken 2
Ted
Total Recall
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2
Underworld: Awakening
The Woman in Black
Wrath of the Titans
Wreck-It Ralph
Zero Dark Thirty



A Final Thought

Congratulations if you’ve made it this far, especially if you’ve read through all the end-of-year posts I’ve produced this year. I do waffle on, don’t I?

But that’s it now! I’m done! Well, apart from the whopping pile of unposted reviews. They’re going to require some re-viewing before reviewing, I think.

And it’s also time to get stuck into 2013. Maybe this year I’ll reach 100 again; indeed, based on form I should reach 120-something. Always good to set oneself up for failure, eh…

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.

December 2012

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It’s the end of the world as we know it, said some people who paid a mite too much attention to an ancient calendar. But though the world did not end, 2012 most certainly has, so it’s time to reflect.

I say “it’s time to” — most websites, magazines and what have you have already done so. But for a blog that counts how many new films one has watched in a year in its entirety, everything — to the very last minute — counts. And what number has that count reached, you may ask. Well…


Drumroll please

And the final total is… 97.

That makes only the second time I’ve failed to reach 100, and it was even closer (last was 2009, when I reached 94). A helluvan end to the year for all the wrong reasons put paid to much film watching, including plans to see The Hobbit (which I’ll hopefully now see soon and not let slide into another Avengers situation), and I couldn’t quite drag it back in the closing days. It’s disappointing, of course, but not the end of the world. Unless this is what the Mayans meant.


December’s films
Predators
#92 The Keep (1983)
#93 Predators (2010)
#94 The Expendables (2010)
#94a Room on the Broom (2012)
#95 Iron Sky (2012)
#96 Stiff Upper Lips (1998)
#97 The Plank (1967)


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

And so the cycle begins again.

Will I reach 100 in 2013? Well, last time I failed, the next year wound up my second-best ever. Just sayin’

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 In Retrospect

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A week into the new year, it’s time to wrap up 2011…


Introduction

Everyone has different criteria about what constitutes a Great Film. Some people despise Hollywood-produced mass-market action fare; other people it’s all they watch. Some people can’t stand a slow-paced meditative drama with subtitles; other people it’s all they watch. And, naturally, there are various less extreme opinions in between.

So choosing a best (or worst) films list is always a highly subjective and personal experience, and however acclaimed the critic or definitive the source it will always be so. There’s also arguably a difference between Favourite and Best, and I can never quite decide which my list is; never mind the initial hurdle that I have quite broad tastes. How do you qualify two vastly different films against each other?

But anyway, I’m sure you’ve heard such musings about the compilation of such lists before — I shan’t go on (for a change). Here’s some lists; they explain themselves. Through the cleverness of HTML, I shall provide a linked contents list:

(OK, they’re not all lists.)

As ever, all of these are selected from what I watched this year, so the full list of eligible titles is here.



The Five Worst Films I Saw in 2011

Cloak and Dagger
I think I’ve been quite generous with my scores this year — I was surprised upon reviewing my worst-of-the-year shortlist to find three stars on this review. Whether you’re looking at his German silents or Hollywood noirs, Fritz Lang is an exceptional director. But even exceptional people have off-days.

Valley of Fear
An easy one this, but hey-ho. It’s probably the least-well-regarded of the four Sherlock Holmes novels, and while it’s not the worst in this series of animated adaptations — the woefully misjudged version of The Hound of the Baskervilles takes that honour — it’s still not got much going for it.

Saw 3D
Some people write off Saw too readily — while at its worst it does sink to the risible depths of torture porn, at its best it’s an engrossing and complex thriller. This franchise-ender is a disappointment even to those of us who border on liking the series, though. Full of good ideas wasted. Shame.

Monkey Business
Here’s another one I gave three stars (there are several not here that scored lower), but my memory of it is worse. Despite some considerable talent — Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Marilyn Monroe, Howard Hawks — it doesn’t tie together into something particularly entertaining, in my mind. Passable.

Beyond the Pole
I didn’t hate Beyond the Pole, but there wasn’t a great deal I enjoyed about it either. It’s good when a comedy makes you laugh and, unlike Monkey Business even, this one doesn’t really. It’s a waste of a talented cast. Impressive production values for such a small British film though.



The Ten Best Films I Saw For the First Time in 2011

10) Gambit
“Go ahead tell the end… but please don’t tell the beginning!” Gambit is worth watching for its opening conceit alone, but once that’s done there’s tons of fun to be had with Caine and MacLaine, bumbling through a con in delicious fashion. Largely forgotten, it deserves to be remembered; perhaps the Colin Firth-starring Coens-penned remake will do it a favour.

9) Centurion
With Scottish landscape shots to rival Lord of the Rings‘ New Zealand, Centurion is breathtaking to look at. Underline that with a tense story and a fantastic cast (not the last time Michael Fassbender will appear in this top ten), not to mention some brutal but not excessive action, and I think you have a winner. A little blokey, but also a little more.

8) Easy Virtue
Looking at reviews and aggregate sites, Easy Virtue seems to be almost maligned. Shame. Adapted from a Noel Coward play, it’s very witty, surprisingly dramatic, and with an outrageously cheeky score. This changeability and irreverence is, I think, quite British. Perhaps it confuses some by not being easily pigeonholed. I adored it.

7) My Neighbour Totoro
It’s hard to think of a film more gentle than Totoro, although some might find things like the cat-bus a bit creepy (me not entirely excluded). Gorgeously animated with a beautiful soundtrack, it lures you in to a world and tells you a thoroughly nice story, with no enforced peril or nasty characters. Refreshingly lovely.

6) Monsters
Made for next to nothing and with all the computer effects home crafted by director Gareth Edwards, Monsters is an amazing technical achievement. But it’s also a character drama about disaffected twenty-somethings and man’s destructive nature, amongst other things no doubt. Edwards is unquestionably a genre filmmaker to watch.

5) Super
It may have the same subject matter as Kick-Ass, but Super scores bonus points for its low-budget very-real-world aesthetic… in spite of featuring some of the craziest anime-inspired CGI you’ll see from a US movie. Very funny, but with a kick too, while Kick-Ass slid into fantasy this remains reality (pretty much). They make a helluva pair.

4) Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
The first film from anime master Hayao Miyazaki has been described by no less than Steven Spielberg as “one of the greatest adventure movies of all time”. Do you need higher recommendation? Exciting and funny, while it may lack the emotional resonance that made Miyazaki so acclaimed later, it appeals rather to my blockbuster sensibilities.

3) Let the Right One In
This is how you do a vampire love story (for everyone but teenage girls). Genuinely touching and emotional, with highly identifiable themes and characters despite the story’s genre subject matter, Tomas Alfredson’s film is an affecting drama as well as a creepy and horrific fantasy thriller. Genre movies don’t get much better than this.

2) X-Men: First Class
Some reviews spied flaws, attributed to First Class‘ hasty production, but I don’t hold with that. As young versions of McKellen and Stewart, Fassbender and McAvoy bring as much acting gravitas as can be had from their generation. Vaughn manages genuine cinematic spectacle, something I thought lost in the age of anything-is-possible CGI. Marvellous.

1) The Social Network
Some unlikeable brats sit at computers programming websites and argue amongst themselves. Sounds like a bloody awful film, but with dialogue by Aaron Sorkin and direction from David Fincher, not to mention a cast of fine young actors, it’s engrossing, exciting and exceptional. It may be The Movie About Facebook, but it’s about so much more. Like.



Special Mentions

Compiling this year’s top ten felt hard — I managed to get my typically long long list (42 titles this year) down to a short list of about 15, then set about re-reading my own reviews… but whichever film I last read about seemed an obvious contender. In the end I plumped for a couple that ‘needed the support’, as it were. Lingering just outside the ten — or perhaps simply unlucky on the day — were The Big Heat, Fritz Lang’s exceptional dark noir; How to Train Your Dragon, an exciting CG-animated movie that proves it isn’t all about Pixar; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, an effective procedural-ish thriller that gives the US remake a lot to live up to; The Three Musketeers, anarchic fun; and the new Winnie the Pooh, which was flawed but loveable.

As ever, I must also mention the 17 films that earned themselves 5-star ratings this year. Eight of them made it into the top ten, the most ever. The two that missed out were close too, but I think I may’ve got tougher as the year progressed: the last perfect score I handed out was in September, and before that July. Anyway, those in the top ten were Easy Virtue, Let the Right One In, Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro, Monsters, My Neighbour Totoro, The Social Network, Super and X-Men: First Class. From the handful that missed out, The Three Musketeers was also a five-star-er. The remaining eight were Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Dog Day Afternoon, An Education, Harry Brown, Holiday, The King’s Speech, Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang and Roman Holiday. Whenever I do this bit I always feel like there were some other films I should have given top marks, and maybe some that only deserved four, but here we are.

On top of those 17, David Fincher Week (I promise this is the last time I’ll mention it in these round-ups) furnished us with five-star reviews for two films I’d previously seen — namely, Se7en and Fight Club — and a third for the only-slightly-different Zodiac: Director’s Cut.



The Films I Didn’t See

To finish off, then, here’s my annual tradition: an alphabetical list of 50 films, that are listed as 2011 on IMDb, that I didn’t manage to see this year. These are chosen for a variety of reasons, from box office success to critical acclaim via simple notoriety.

As usual I’ve stuck to my rule of only including films that are listed as 2011 on IMDb, irrespective of their UK release date. So no Senna, no Submarine, no Brighton Rock, for just three British-made examples; but films that aren’t even out here for over a month are included. What can I say, it’s a flawed system. Maybe I’ll finally change it next year.

The list may show a bias towards my personal interests — I do use this as a checklist going forward after all — but then I have quite wide interests, and I had a look at Box Office Mojo’s account of the highest-grossing films in the US to include all I’d not seen from the top 15 (I drew the line at Rio and The Smurfs), and a Best Of list or two too, so it hits most of the major bases. Nonetheless, I’m certain Stuff You’ll Have Heard Of is missing, but that’s what a limit of 50 does. Maybe I should increase it to 100 — that’d be fitting.

But I digress. Here are some films:

The Adjustment Bureau
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
The Artist
Attack the Block
Bridesmaids
Captain America: The First Avenger
Cars 2
Conan the Barbarian
Cowboys & Aliens
The Devil’s Double
Drive
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Fast Five (aka Fast & Furious 5)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Gnomeo & Juliet
The Green Hornet
Green Lantern
The Hangover Part II
Hanna
Happy Feet Two
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
The Help
Hugo
The Inbetweeners Movie
The Iron Lady
Ironclad
Kill List
Kung Fu Panda 2
Melancholia
Midnight in Paris
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
The Muppets
Paul
Puss in Boots
Rango
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Scream 4
Shame
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Super 8
Thor
The Three Musketeers
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The Tree of Life
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
War Horse
Warrior
Wuthering Heights



A Final Thought

That’s it for another year… well, apart from the 17 reviews I have left to post. Ought to get a wriggle on with those really.

With that, 100 Films is officially five years old. Oo-ooh! Originally I started it in February 2007, looking back on the first few weeks of the year to get it going (to this day I wonder if I forgot any films I watched in that period), and come the proper fifth birthday next month I may have a post or two to acknowledge the relative longevity of this enterprise.

But until then… well, I’ve got a lot more films still to watch…

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…

December 2011

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2011 is over. 2012 has just begun. But did I make it to 100 in time?


If you follow me on Twitter you know

I did! Just. Three films in the final 24 hours of the year, the last of them finishing just an hour before midnight, see me reach 100 exactly this year. Phew!

In addition to that, six of the finishing eight features listed below were watched in the final three days of the year. Not quite as close to the wire as I had it back in 2008 (11 films in six days, seven of them in the last three), but I didn’t think I was going to get there.


So, my closing salvo included…

#93 Diner (1982)
#94 Nativity! (2009)
#94a The Gruffalo’s Child (2011)
#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)


Where does that leave us in the grand scheme of thi— well, this blog?

Thus, 2011 ties with 2008 as my third-best year. Hurrah! Though to put it another way, 2011 ties with 2008 as my second-worst year, so, y’know…

It does represent the greatest drop off in potential, though. At the halfway point of the year I was further ahead than I’d ever been — in my best-ever-year, 2007, I’d made it to #60; in my second-best-ever-year, 2010, I’d made it to #64; but this year I’d reached #68. In tied-with-this-year 2008 I’d only limped to #46. Clearly, I need to keep momentum up into the year’s back half.

But hey, 2012’s another year — who knows what’ll happen next time round!


But before all that…

Screw 2012, I’m not done with 2011 yet! There’s my great big long list of everything I’ve watched still to come, along with all those lovely statistics, and the list of films I didn’t see, and — best of all — the statistics.

Oh, I mentioned those? I love the statistics. But almost as good, my bottom five and top ten for the year.

And having to push hard to cross the finish line means I haven’t even made a start on any of that. This’ll be interesting… for me, anyway — you just have to sit tight ’til it all turns up. Probably not that much later than I usually get round to it.

Until then… Happy New Year!

2011’s summary posts are already available here and here.

2010 In Retrospect

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2010 has been kinder to 100 Films after the last two years, where I first barely scraped to 100 and then failed to reach it (not that I’ve gone on about it). This year, I made it to 100 in September before going on to a grand total of 122 — which, if you’re interested, makes it my second best year, behind the first by seven films.

But now 2010 is over — well, obviously, it finished a week ago — but I mean that 100 Films’ 2010 is over, this being the final post related to those 122 films… other than the half-dozen reviews I’ve yet to post, that is (and that too is an improvement on last year, when I had 20 left over). This final look back has my usual mix of features: a ‘Bottom Five’, a ‘Top Ten’, some ‘Also Ran’s, and ‘Didn’t Run’s too.

I’m sure you don’t need reminding at this point (but just in case) that this is all a review of my 2010 — the films I saw for the first time, not those that hit cinemas for the first time. If you’d like a list of the 122 titles that had a chance of reaching either of these lists, please look here.

Sitting comfortably? Good. Then how about:


The Five Worst Films I Saw in 2010

Max Payne
This year’s only single-star film nearly didn’t sink to such depths, but it was ultimately deserved. It’s an action movie without much action; a thriller without any thrills; a fantasy movie that isn’t meant to be one. It’s also a load of rubbish and you should avoid it. Play the game instead.

Righteous Kill
De Niro and Pacino, together, for a whole film! Cor! Except it’s more bore (see what I did there?) in Jon Avnet’s needlessly complex thriller, with filmdom’s most guessable twist — there’s a good chance you’ll’ve got it from the trailer. Watch their one shared scene in Heat on loop instead.

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising
Another British children’s fantasy book series reaches the big screen, but unlike uber-success Harry Potter or the Narnia series, this is ruined the traditional way: Americanisation. Though set in Britain with a largely British cast, ruinous changes abound. A few good moments can’t redeem it.

Elektra
If you thought Daredevil was bad, don’t even consider going anywhere near its spin-off. I liked Daredevil, but I could find little to enjoy in this sloppy, ill-considered fantasy/action flick. It’s this kind of incohesive tosh that kills whole genres. How do such risible screenplays even get made?

The Emperor’s New Groove
I could’ve put something like Iron Eagle as my last choice, but I just don’t care enough about it to hate it. Emperor’s New Groove, on the other hand, is a Disney animated film — I always want to like Disney’s animated films (I guess it’s a childhood thing) and this one is rubbish. Boo.


The Ten Best Films I Saw For the First Time in 2010

This year’s top ten seems inordinately coloured by comedy — perhaps, more than ever, it’s not so much the “best films I’ve seen” as “my favourite films I’ve seen”. Look out for a few more serious honourable mentions at the end.

10) Clue
I think it’s safe to say Clue isn’t the greatest film ever — indeed, I’ve ranked nine above it (ho ho), and there are certainly Better films I’ve left off this list — but I enjoyed it immensely, now that I’ve finally seen it. I can’t help but think its lowly-to-non-existent reputation means a lot of others who’d enjoy it haven’t seen it either.

9) Is Anybody There?
Comedy-drama — or “dramedy”, if you’re American — often comes in for stick for being neither funny enough to be a comedy nor dramatic enough to be drama. And, sometimes, this is rightly so. When pitched right, however, it’s like real life, and that’s the tone Is Anybody There? hits. An affecting exploration of loneliness, regret, hope, and more.

8) Sherlock Holmes
The Guy Ritchie-directed reinvention of Sherlock Holmes could — perhaps should — have been a blockbusterised disaster. Instead, he’s still the genius detective we know and love, only now with added ass-kicking abilities. No, it’s not the definitive Holmes, but it is a jolly good and surprisingly inventive take on the character.

7) His Girl Friday
Sharp, fast, intelligent, hilariously funny — they don’t make films like this any more. Quite literally. Instead, we have the risible …Movie series pumped out at us every year. Something to do with the lowest common denominator Hollywood world we live in, I’m sure, though that’s an explanation rather than an excuse.

6) Coraline
Last year two documentaries formed the centre point of my top ten, this year it’s two children’s films — but both are ready to be enjoyed by adults too. In fact, Coraline’s so dark and scary in places one might argue it’s more aimed at a slightly older audience. Plus Eamonn Holmes hates it. What more recommendation do you need?

5) Nanny McPhee
More childish than Coraline, perhaps, but there’s an awful lot to enjoy nonetheless. Far more than the Mary Poppins rip-off it looks like from the outside, Nanny McPhee rattles along through a colourful but grounded tale that imparts moral messages without battering you round the head. It’s properly magical.

4) Anatomy of a Murder
Procedural crime dramas relentlessly fill our TV schedules these days, but few can hold a candle to Otto Preminger’s masterpiece. The precision-engineered storytelling masterfully refuses to deviate from the case at hand, and who but James Stewart could be a lawyer defending a murderer and still have us cheering for him to win?

3) Inception
Christopher Nolan’s latest managed the rare feat these days of being a genuine blockbuster with an original story, and converting that into high praise and box office too (and without the ticket-selling boost of 3D). More impressively, it did this while baffling much of its audience. Remains to be seen if it benefits or suffers from repeat viewings.

2) Toy Story 3
Returning to a beloved franchise over a decade later would be a mistake in the hands of most filmmakers, but this is Pixar. Toy Story 3 is a worthy successor to its ’90s predecessors; a funny and moving tale that tackles big, emotional themes while still providing a kid-friendly adventure-comedy. It may well be the best film of 2010.

1) Kick-Ass
I’ve not had so much debate over my #1 film before (though 2008’s 2 & 3 kept me busy for a while). Despite provoking outrage in some quarters, Kick-Ass is an arresting deconstruction of the superhero myth, both as “what if someone really did it?” and how the genre has been presented on our screens. Funny, exciting, it really does… yeah, you can add the pun.


Special Mentions

As usual, I just want to highlight a few other films, for various reasons.

I normally mention the 5-star films first, but this year I found it tougher than usual (or, at least, tougher than last year) to settle on the final few slots in my top ten. The films that consequently just missed out by a sliver of fate — and the way my opinions wavered on that particular day — were The Hurt Locker, M and Speed Racer. A few others survived almost as long, but those are the ones I really struggled with.

Secondly, then, I must mention the 16 films that earned themselves 5-star ratings this year. A very respectable seven of them made it into the top ten, namely Anatomy of a Murder, Coraline, His Girl Friday, Inception, Kick-Ass, Nanny McPhee and Toy Story 3. It always seems silly to include 4-star films over some of those that achieved full marks, but that’s life. Two more are among those ‘almost’s — The Hurt Locker and M — while the other seven main listers I left out were The Damned United, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Miracle on 34th Street, Die Puppe, Slumdog Millionaire and The Spiral Staircase. Finally, from outside the main list, was The Special Edition of Beauty and the Beast — or Beauty and the Beast SE to you and I.

Penultimately, a quick mention for a few noir-ish oldies. None of them quite managed to squeeze into my top ten, but this year I’ve really enjoyed the likes of Ministry of Fear, The Outrage, Odd Man Out and, of course, The Spiral Staircase. Plus, the cake-centric intro to my Ministry of Fear review is still one of my favourite things I’ve written for this blog.

And finally, while I’m on older pictures, a quick nod to the rest of the Ernst Lubitsch silents I watched in a rather intensive week back in January. Die Puppe was my favourite, but it was great all round to indulge in a chronological run of one filmmaker’s early work. I find silent movies to be a rather rich flavour of film — there’s much to appreciate, but too many too close together and it gets a bit sickly. I rather gorged on them that week, hence why there’s been no repeat (as yet) of my Silent Week concept. Hey-ho.


The Films I Didn’t See

As ever, allow me to remind you that this hasn’t been a Top 10 of 2010 (only my 2010), but as new films do feature it’s worth considering that there were, as always, a number of notable releases this year that I’ve yet to see. Unsurprisingly — I mean, I only made three trips to the cinema and only saw seven 2010 films in total.

In my annual tradition, then, here’s an alphabetical list of 50 films — chosen for a variety of reasons, from box office success to critical acclaim via simple notoriety — that are listed as 2010 on IMDb and that I’ve not seen.

This year, I considered changing my remit to cover films released in the UK in 2010, for a more accurate account of what I might actually have seen. Using IMDb’s dates means various films fall through the cracks — foreign films that take time to get here usually, but also productions like Season of the Witch, which was made in 2009 but not released ’til early 2011. But I hate it when you see all of [X Year]’s Best Picture nominees turn up in an [X+1 Year]’s list of best films simply because over here they were released a couple of days into January instead a couple of days before it. IMDb’s year of production is, one might argue, as arbitrary a way of dividing them up as UK release date, but it does last longer in the consciousness — and it stops The Best Picture Of [X Year] turning up in a My Favourite Films Of [X+1 Year] list. I suppose I’m at a slight advantage though: by definition I don’t have to have seen these films, whereas a magazine / website / film review programme / blogger has to have had the chance to see something (and, obviously, to have used that chance) to put it in their year-end Top 10.

But hark at me, I’ve waffled on for an age about something fundamentally unimportant. Here’s the damn list.

127 Hours
4.3.2.1
The A-Team
Black Swan
Buried
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Clash of the Titans
Despicable Me
Easy A
Eat Pray Love
Exit Through the Gift Shop
The Expendables
The Fighter
Four Lions
The Ghost (aka The Ghost Writer)
Green Zone
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Hot Tub Time Machine
How to Train Your Dragon
Iron Man 2
Jonah Hex
The Karate Kid
The King’s Speech
Knight and Day
The Last Airbender
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
Let Me In
Machete
Monsters
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
Piranha 3D
Predators
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Red
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Salt
Saw 3D
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Shrek Forever After
Shutter Island
The Social Network
Tangled
The Town
Tron: Legacy
True Grit
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Unstoppable
Vampires Suck
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Winter’s Bone


Still here?

That’s the end, then. And if you read it all, you encountered somewhere in the region of 78 films (slightly more if you followed the Lubitsch link). That was worth coming all the way down here for, wasn’t it?

Right, I’m off to watch some more films. I’ve got another 100 to get through you know.

And that’s the end of my repostathon, too!
The blog’s archive is now as up-to-date as it’s ever likely to be.

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.

December 2010

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Happy New Year!

In one minute, technically. But you didn’t read this in that minute, did you.


The final tally

So here we are, the final few new films I watched in 2010. This doesn’t replace my usual pair of closing summary posts, incidentally — they’ll be along as normal at some point in the next week or two.

And, as you’ll see in just a few lines, I sadly didn’t beat my previous record of 129 films. Hey ho — I made it to 100 (and comfortably over it), and after failing last year and barely scraping through the year before, I’m more than happy with that.

Those final few films, then:


#116 The Outrage (1964)
#117 The Wolfman: Unrated Version (2010)
#118 Surrogates (2009)
#118a Verity (2010)
#119 Rambo III (1988)
#120 Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
#121 A Good Woman (2004)
#122 Iron Eagle (1986)


A cancellation

You may have noticed last month that I hinted The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King would be the first film I watched this month, becoming #115d. “Where’d it go?” you may consequently have wondered.

Well, I did watch it, and it was set to become #115d, but once I sat down to write about all three Lord of the Ringses I found I didn’t have a great deal to say about them at this time, besides some vague introductions and/or conclusions to each article. I rather overestimated myself in adding all three to the roster for this year, I think, especially while I was toiling away on watching and reviewing to reach #130 (not to mention general real world stuff).

So those theatrical LotR reviews are gone, for now. Maybe they’ll turn up next time I watch them, though goodness knows when that might be.


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

It all begins again as we head into 2011, for the fifth time.

500 films in 5 years? Hopefully.

130 next year? We’ll see…

2010’s summary posts will be republished in November.