Tag Archives: April

The $1.2 Billion Monthly Review of April 2019

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We’re in the endgame now… except we’re not, because it’s only May — there’s two-thirds of the year left yet.

And because it’s May, it’s time to look back at what I watched in April…


#50 The Howling (1981)
#50a Cotton Wool (2017)
#51 Searching (2018)
#52 The Gold Rush (1925)
#53 Creed II (2018)
#54 A Good Year (2006)
#55 Aquaman 3D (2018)
#56 Early Man (2018)
#57 The Purge: Anarchy (2014)
#58 The Silence (2019)
#59 Amour (2012)
#60 Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970), aka Zatôichi to Yôjinbô
#61 Rampage 3D (2018)
#62 Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
#63 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
#64 Click (2006)
#65 The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015)
#66 Captain Marvel (2019)
#67 Avengers: Endgame (2019)
#68 Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
#69 Mortal Engines 3D (2018)
#70 The Help (2011)
Searching

Creed II

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

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  • So, I watched 21 new feature films in April.
  • That’s a long way down from last April’s total of 33, but then that was my second best month ever.
  • In every other respect, April 2019 did good. It’s the joint best month of 2019 so far (tied with March), and is also in the top 11% of all months. It smashed the April average (previously 12.1, now 12.8), overleapt the 2019 average (previously 16.3, now 17.5), and equalled the rolling average of the last 12 months (previously 21.083, though it now drops by exactly one whole film to 20.083).
  • Not content with having about 15 different film series on the go (depending how you count it), this month I picked up three more: The Purge (after watching the first last year), Resident Evil, and Ice Age. The first of those was because the sequel’s on Netflix UK and the threequel was on TV this month, so the stars kinda aligned; the other two… I dunno, it’s a whim as much as anything. As they both began with rewatches, I’ve written a little more under Rewatchathon.
  • This month’s Blindspot film: Edgar Wright’s comic book-adapted video game homage, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I kinda expected it to be a bit hipsterish and self-consciously ‘cool’, but I bloody loved it.
  • This month’s WDYMYHS film: Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush, in its original longer form. No Chaplin film I’ve yet seen has lived up to The Great Dictator for me, but, as with them all, this has its moments.
  • From last month’s “failures” I watched Captain Marvel, Creed II, The Help, Searching, and Game Night (see Rewatchathon).



The 47th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
This month was a right old mixed bag, with films ranging from terrible to exceptional, from adequate to underwhelming, from surprising to disappointing. The two films that are frontrunners for this category both took a digital-based gimmick and turned it into something special. In the case of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, that was to apply arcade video game aesthetics to what is, really, an indie romance; and in the case of my ultimate pick, Searching, it was to present a missing person mystery entirely from the point of view of the computer screens our characters are using for their investigation. It’s fascinating, engrossing, and ultra-timely.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
As I said above, lots of middling-but-not-really-bad films this month, but there were a couple of genuine clunkers too. The worst of the bunch was probably Resident Evil: Apocalypse. There’s nothing wrong with a trashy zombie action B-movie, but its low genre aspirations are no excuse for it being so poorly made.

Best Movie Actually Based on a Video Game of the Month
Step aside, Scott Pilgrim and Ralph Breaks the Internet — we’ve got some based-on-real-video-game movies here! (Incidentally, how come I watched so many game-based movies this month?! Total coincidence.) As already outlined, Resident Evil: Apocalypse was a borderline disaster, but Rampage turned out to be very enjoyable. Its concept is pretty bloody stupid, obviously, but the end result was a lot of daft fun.

Biggest Missed Opportunity of the Month
Mortal Engines was so almost excellent, with astounding production design and visuals, but lacking something in character and narrative. But that’s trumped by Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo, which takes the exciting, surefire combination of two remarkable screen heroes and bungles it into a dreary mess.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
Avengers: Endgame may’ve obliterated every box office record going this past weekend, but it wasn’t the most popular post on this blog. In fact, it finished third. It was a victim of extraordinary circumstance, because I had two other uncommonly popular new posts this month. Indeed, together they weren’t just my three most-viewed new posts, but the top three most-viewed posts overall. That never happens — even the winner is normally only somewhere in the top five (sometimes even lower), with second and third way down the overall chart. So, each of those three posts received enough views to be the clear winner most months, but instead it was a close-run thing. In second place, fuelled by Game of Thrones, was my latest TV column. But the winner was, of all things, mediocre direct-to-Netflix horror rip-off The Silence. Better luck next time, Marvel. I’m sure you can wipe away your tears with some of those 1.2 billion dollar bills…



After failing to watch the Matrix sequels last month, this month I only failed to watch one of them.

#13 Resident Evil (2002)
#14 The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
#15 Game Night (2018)
#16 Ice Age (2002)

Resident Evil and Ice Age each kick off series, as I mentioned earlier. In both cases, the initial instalment is the only one I’d previously seen, and both many years ago, close to their original releases — both of which were in 2002, coincidentally. I always intended to continue Resident Evil; Ice Age not so much. But two of them are on my 50 Unseen lists (2009’s and 2012’s, if you’re interested; two Resident Evil films are on those lists too, weirdly enough), and the fact the series somehow rolled on to five financially-successful films (even the last made over $400m worldwide) long after it felt like everyone had stopped paying any attention (or Americans had, anyway: only $64m of that $400m came from the US, down almost $100m from the film before) kinda fascinates me. Oh, and three of them are in 3D (in fact, that’s also true of Resident Evil — this is getting weird now).

If you remember my review of Game Night (and if you don’t, it’s linked above), you might remember I bemoaned the Blu-ray’s dearth of special features (it only has about ten minutes’ worth). Having now watched them, it’s actually even worse, because the cast seem pretty fun to hang around with in the brief interview clips that are included (and I even laughed at some of the gag reel, which is a rarity). A little more of that (the interviews, not outtakes) might’ve been enjoyable, or a cast commentary. And considering how well-made the film is, a commentary from the directors would’ve been nice as well. Ugh. Anyway, I enjoyed the film even more on a second viewing — I think it’s a consistently hilarious, genuinely superb piece of work.


This month’s misses on the big screen include the poorly received Dumbo, the well received Shazam, and the belated UK theatrical release of Eighth Grade. They thought it would be a good idea to release that last one on the same day as Endgame, and consequently it’s not even screening near me.

At home, I’ve got rentals of Bad Times at the El Royale and Widows awaiting me on Amazon. Recent Blu-ray purchases include Finnish fairytale horror The White Reindeer, Fritz Lang film noir Human Desire, and far too much from Arrow’s recent sale. I also imported the German box set of The Hunger Games quartet for the sake of Mockingjay (both parts) in 3D, as well as all the special features that were missing from the UK releases. It doesn’t include the IMAX ratio on Catching Fire, though, so I’ll also be hanging onto my UK Steelbooks… though I guess I could sell the other three, but then I wouldn’t have a complete set. Ah, the life of a collector.

Last month I noted there were 29 films recorded on my V+ TiVo, and that I’d never get round to all of them. Well, me being me, I only went and recorded some more; namely Everybody Wants Some!!, Filmworker, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983 version), Nebraska, The Purge: Election Year, Snowden, Wild Bill, and Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth — all 8 hours of it! That’s not getting watched, is it? I did watch some things though, and downloaded or bought others (for various reasons), so the current tally stands at… 29. Ha!


Films and stuff, sure, but also: the end of Game of Thrones! If that TV review isn’t my most-viewed post next month, [episode 3 spoiler warning] I’ll take off my magic necklace and go die of old age in the snow.

The Record-Breaking Monthly Update for April 2018

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While Infinity War sets about breaking box office records, I’m breaking some of my own…


#58 Paddington 2 (2017)
#59 The Director and the Jedi (2018)
#60 The Hurricane Heist (2018)
#61 The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017)
#62 Baywatch Extended Cut (2017)
#63 Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
#64 Knocked Up (2007)
#65 Logan Lucky (2017)
#66 American Psycho (2000)
#67 Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)
#68 Shockproof (1949)
#69 Das Boot: The Director’s Cut (1981/1997)
#70 Geostorm 3D (2017)
#71 A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
#72 The Karate Kid (2010)
#73 Princess Mononoke (1997), aka Mononoke-hime
#74 Witness (1985)
#75 Muppets from Space (1999)
#76 Fight, Zatoichi, Fight (1964), aka Zatôichi kesshô-tabi
#77 When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
#78 Identity (2003)
#79 American Assassin (2017)
#80 Call Me by Your Name (2017)
#81 The Room (2003)
#82 The Disaster Artist (2017)
#83 Killing Gunther (2017)
#84 The Snowman (2017)
#85 The Death of Stalin (2017)
#86 Yes Man (2008)
#87 Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
#88 New York, New York (1977)
#89 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 3D (2017)
#90 Wild Strawberries (1957), aka Smultronstället
Logan Lucky

Princess Mononoke

The Room

Avengers: Infinity War

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  • I watched 33 new films this month — more than one a day, on average (and that’s not counting my rewatches).
  • More importantly, that means it passes October 2015 as my Best. Month. Ever!
  • Obviously that means it affects a bunch of stats: it boosts the April average by more than two films, from 10.0 to 12.1; increases the rolling average of the last 12 months by over a film-and-a-half, from 15.2 to 16.8; and makes the 2018 average-to-date surge by three-and-a-half films, from 19 to 22.5. If I maintained that average all year, my final tally would be 270!
  • Building on a decent-to-strong first three months, #90 is also the furthest I’ve reached by the end of April (the previous best being #88 in 2016). I should definitely cross the #100 mark next month, therefore, likely on the earliest date I’ve ever reached it.
  • One record this month didn’t achieve: the earliest I’ve reached the three-quarters point. I watched #75 on April 16th this year, but in 2016 I was there on April 8th.
  • Over a third of this month’s viewing was films from 2017 — 12, to be precise. (Once upon a time, 12 total would’ve been a really good month.) And that’s even with going through a 13-film stretch in the middle where I only watched two films from the whole of the 2010s. It was a really big month, basically.
  • Downside to all this: I now have a backlog of 90 films waiting to be reviewed. Ninety! When I started that “coming soon” page it was because I’d reached the terribly high backlog of ten.
  • This month’s Blindspot film: the shortest film on this year’s lists, Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries.
  • This month’s WDYMYHS film: the longest film on this year’s lists, Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot: The Director’s Cut.



The 35th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
Maybe I’m still a bit caught up in the hype, but I reckon the film I most enjoyed this month was Avengers: Infinity War. After reading glowing reviews before seeing it, I went in with tempered expectations — at this point I’ve seen plenty of Marvel movies that I felt had been overrated by early buzz, starting with the very first, Iron Man (I wrote about that in my review, even. I also said “what it most resembles is a great TV pilot” — oh, little did I know how relevant that view would become!) But Infinity War, while not perfect, did put a smile on my face.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
You may’ve noticed in the above list that I watched The Room this month, the cult favourite “worst movie of all time” that has been described as “the Citizen Kane of bad movies”. But, as the fact it has a fanbase will attest, that film actually has considerable entertainment value, and so it didn’t even come close to making my five-strong shortlist for this Arbie. No, I’m going to give this (dis)honour to Geostorm, which is certainly trash but can’t even manage to be entertaining trash.

Longest Slog of the Month
The director’s cut of Das Boot may be three-and-a-half hours long and have bits I’d’ve cut back, but overall it’s a quality work. I wouldn’t say the same about New York, New York. It’s not often one cites a Martin Scorsese film as the worst of something, but, out of all 33 films I watched this month, perhaps the least enjoyable overall experience was slogging through those two-and-a-half-hours-plus-six-minutes-and-thirty-seconds-beyond-that. Sometimes watching on DVD has its advantages: without PAL speed-up it would’ve lasted another six-and-a-half minutes.

Best Storm of the Month
Storms were everywhere this month, be they of the world-threatening “geo” variety, or a hurricane so bad you could carry off a massive heist during it, or merely one that strands a bunch of strangers at a motel with a serial killer (in Identity). There may well have been some smaller ones I’ve forgotten, too. Anyway, for the sheer volume of wind and water being chucked around — and because it was the best part of the movie — this month’s best storm was definitely the one that enabled The Hurricane Heist.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
Sometimes reviews posted right near the end of the month don’t have the time to pick up much attention, even when they’re of new releases. Not so with this month’s victor, Avengers: Infinity War — in its first day it gained almost six times as many hits as the second-place post (The Hurricane Heist) had in three weeks. As of midnight on the 30th, it’s already my 8th most-read film review of all time.



Another slightly lighter month means I’ve now slipped back to being merely on-target with my Rewatchathon. Still, that’s not really anything to complain about.

#14 Shrek 2 (2004)
#15 Mission: Impossible II (2000)
#16 Liar Liar (1997)

Despite my predictions last month, I didn’t rewatch any Marvel films before Infinity War in the end. I did get back on both my Shrek and Mission: Impossible rewatches, though. Indeed, my rewatch of Shrek is now complete, because the first two were the only ones I’d previously seen.

M:i-2 was part of my 100 Favourites series the year before last, but I hadn’t actually watched it for a decade or more. Consequently, after this rewatch I spotted a couple of errors in my 100 Favourites post… which I’ve now fixed. Anyhow, I stand by my assertion that its qualities are undervalued — I wrote a bit about them on Letterboxd.


Don’t call it a comeback — I’ve been here for years. I’m rocking my peers, puttin’ suckers in fear, makin’ the tears rain down like a monsoon. Listen to the bass go boom!

Deadpool 2, ft. badblokebob the duck

The General Unselfish Love for Everyone Monthly Update for April 2017

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♫ Chai-ai-ain, keep us together…

Any excuse to get some Fleetwood Mac on loop.


#50 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
#51 The BFG (2016)
#52 War on Everyone (2016)
#53 Dazed and Confused (1993)
#54 Now You See Me 2 (2016)
#55 Nocturnal Animals (2016)
#56 The Legend of Tarzan (2016)
#57 The Magnificent Seven (2016)
#58 Sully (2016), aka Sully: Miracle on the Hudson
#59 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
#60 The 39 Steps (1935)
#61 Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
#62 Split (2016)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Nocturnal Animals

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  • I watched 13 new films this April, making it the lowest month of 2017 so far (but only by one).
  • It falls short of the average for the last 12 months (previously 14.75, now 14.08), and of 2017’s average to date (previously 16.3, now 15.5), but it does drag the April average up from 9.67 to precisely 10. (That leaves just June, July, and November as months with averages below 10.)
  • This month’s Blindspot film: one of Hitchcock’s definitive early works, solving the mystery of The 39 Steps.
  • This month’s WDYMYHS film: underwhelming Oscar-winning rom-com Silver Linings Playbook.



The 23rd Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
A lot of films vie for my affection this month. I was charmed by a friendly giant, found Tom Ford’s latest to be pleasantly provocative, enjoyed some magnificent gunslinging, was thrilled by classic Hitchcock, and chilled by Shyamalan’s return to form. But, to slightly modify this award to “most surprisingly among my favourite films of the month”, one film caught me unawares more than any other: I confess that I half expected to hate Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, what with its lead character seeming like a dick ‘n’ all, but the skill of writer-director John Hughes is not to be underestimated.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
Richard Linklater set out to make an anti John Hughes movies with Dazed and Confused, and I guess he succeeded based on this neat little favourite/least favourite mirroring we’ve got here.

Best Pilot in the Galaxy
Star-Lord and Rocket can bicker about it all they want, but neither can hold a candle to Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger.

End Credits Scene I’m Most Annoyed I Had Spoiled
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 may have five (five) scenes during its credits, but they’re all a bit something-and-nothing (I can’t even remember what was in them all now, and I only saw it three days ago). But that scene at the end of Split (it comes after the second title card, so I think we can argue it’s in the end credits)… damn, I wish that hadn’t been widely reported all over the shop and I’d instead been able to discover it in situ. That said, it’s so well constructed that it gave me a tingle of long-awaited excitement nonetheless.

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
Since I’ve started posting my content on IMDb my TV reviews have really taken off in the hits. It’s the latest one of these, The Past Month on TV #16 (in which I shared my thoughts on the likes of Doctor Who, Iron Fist, The Crown, and Twin Peaks), that takes this month’s gong. (My most-viewed new film review was Don’t Breathe.)



Back to just one rewatch this month, which I reviewed at the time:

#8 Guardians of the Galaxy 3D (2014)

This is not going to plan.


We’ll see if the new Pirates of the Caribbean film, Dead Men Tell No Tales Salazar’s Revenge, is the return to form that they’re claiming. And La La Land makes it to Blu-ray over here, so I’ll finally see it.

The Delayed Monthly Update for April 2016

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I was away this weekend and didn’t have much time for blogging, and most of what I did have was spent finishing 1999 Week, so that’s why this post is later than normal (and also why I have plenty of your posts & comments still to catch up on!)

(Also-also, if you were wondering where the “top films of 1999” post I promised had got to, I wrote about three-quarters of it before I decided it was rubbish, so I abandoned it. I’m sure I’ve published lots of rubbish on this blog over the years, but never deliberately.)

Anyway, on with what I watched in April…


#68 Of Human Bondage (1934)
#69 Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)
#70 Cool World (1992)
#71 Warrior (2011)
#72 The Limey (1999)
#73 The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
#74 Election (1999)
#75 The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984), aka Wu Lang ba gua gun
#76 Ghosts of Mars (2001)
#77 Caesar Must Die (2012), aka Cesare deve morire
#78 300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
#79 Lost River (2014)
#80 The Fighter (2010)
#81 Wuthering Heights (2011)
#82 A Royal Night Out (2015)
#83 Locke (2013)
#84 Maleficent (2014)
#85 Christine (1983)
#86 The Iron Giant (1999)
#87 Badlands (1973)
#88 Pixels (2015)

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  • This is the earliest I’ve ever reached #75 — the previous best was 1st June, last year.
  • Coincidentally, I reached #75 this year on the date that I reached #50 last year (8th April) — which at the time was a record.
  • “What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen” continues at pace with Brad Bird’s popular animated B-movie homage The Iron Giant. I’ve already reviewed it here.
  • Four films from 1999 this month. We know what that led to.


For the fourth month in a row, I’ve crossed the 20 film boundary. Out of 112 months I’ve been doing this, it’s only the 7th time that’s happened. Expressed another way, it only happens 6.25% of the time; before 2016, it only happened 2.78% of the time (and before 2015, it only happened 1.04% of the time!)

The final number of films this month was actually 21, which is slightly behind the 2016 average — but only slightly, because that was 22.3. It’s now adjusted to a round 22. Conversely, being five films better than April’s previous best, it raises the April average from 8.25 to 9.67.

Predictions are typically futile, though it’s beginning to look like I’ll be away for most of December, which throws an interesting variable in the mix. (I say “interesting” in a relative sense.) Of course, “most” is not “all”, so it likely won’t count for 0 — but will it reach the 10-per-month minimum I’ve been holding steady on for nearly two years now? Well, that’s a discussion for December itself. In the meantime, even if December doesn’t reach 10, my final tally should be in excess of 160 — easily enough to score the second best year ever. If I hew closer to that 22 average, 2016 could wind up passing 250…



Foreign deconstructions of American values, genre revisionism, high camp, one of the greatest Bond films, and paternal revelations — it’s all go in this month’s eight favourites!



The 11th Monthly Arbitrary Awards

Favourite Film of the Month
Quite an easy choice this month. Films that are made ‘artily’ (for want of a better word) sit on a fine line, for me: too far one way and they tip off into pretentious dullardom, but get it right and they can be utterly fantastic. A couple of films erred on the right side of that line this month, thankfully, but only one really nailed it, and that was The Limey.

Least Favourite Film of the Month
Even in a month that includes multiple critically-reviled films (Cool World, Ghosts of Mars, Lost River, Pixels), my pick for this category was really easy — and it’s none of those. This winner’s predecessor wasn’t exactly high art (far from it), but it had something to it — some innovation; some merit in its extremeness. This sequel doesn’t have that. For being almost entirely vacuous and looking cheap as chips, this month’s travesty of cinema is 300: Rise of an Empire.

Most Inexplicably Popular Film of the Month
I’m going to steal a bit from the draft of my forthcoming review to explain this one: “The weirdest thing is, this is the kind of movie I regularly give 4-stars to, while loads of other people give it 3 and I think they’re being a bit harsh but I can see where they’re coming from. Yet somehow Warrior transcends such criticism from people who usually have too much ‘taste’ — they acknowledge it’s terribly clichéd, but then give it a pass on that. Why? Why don’t you give the same leniency to the tonnes of other movies you cruelly rip to shreds for their clichés?” (For more on this theme, see table9mutant’s review.)

Most Critically-Reviled Film of the Month That I Actually Really Enjoyed
As I alluded to above, there are several contenders for this trophy (not Cool World, though — that is rubbish). Leaving aside a couple of sci-fi blockbusters that, while not as bad as many critics made out, are still not really more than “entertaining while they’re on”, the winner here is Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut Lost River. Heavily influenced by other filmmakers, certainly, and almost self-consciously elliptical with its pace and storytelling, I nonetheless thought there was a lot to like if you’re open to ‘that kind of film’ (think Lynch).

The Audience Award for Most-Viewed New Post of the Month
Thanks to a retweet by Film4, views for Starman went through the roof (relative to my normal posts, anyway). It wasn’t enough to challenge Harry Potter 1&2 for the most-viewed post of the month overall, but then nothing ever is.


Once upon a time, I made a comment that can be summarised as, “Perhaps one day I could reach #100 in May — ha ha ha ha ha, like that could ever happen!”

Well…

Belatedly, it’s April 2015

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Let’s look back to a time, not so long ago, when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge only had one child…

(There will be no more royal references in this post. Just in case you for some reason thought there might be.)


April’s films
Man of Tai Chi
#45 How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
#46 The Rocketeer (1991)
#47 Pain & Gain (2013)
#48 Monsters University (2013)
#49 Man of Tai Chi (2013)
#50 High Noon (1952)
#51 White House Down (2013)
#52 A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
#53 Bernie (2011)
The Philadelphia Story#54 The Philadelphia Story (1940)
#55 Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
#56 Room 237 (2012)
#57 Killing Them Softly (2012)
#58 Blitz (2011)
#59 Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher (2014)

Also this month…

#— Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)


Viewing Notes

  • I accidentally ended the month with a run of really poor and/or disappointing films, so that’s a shame.
  • No WDYMYHS film again. Time to put some effort into getting back on track.


Analysis

Sometimes, ensuring you watch a set number of films each month — as I am this year, of course, at ten a month — requires some forward planning. This month, for example, I’m away for the last week-ish, which is obviously the prime time for making up shortfalling numbers; plus, with Daredevil’s first season landing all at once on Netflix, Game of Thrones returning to screens, and season three of The Americans coming to an end (I save it all up and watch episodes daily. It suits it well), there’s a lot of exciting TV to fit in. So I ‘front-loaded’ the month, reaching ten films in 12 days. Planning, see.

Nonetheless, I went on to watch another five films, for an April total of 15. That surpasses the April average (7.3), beats last April’s tally (11), and makes it the highest April ever. It also slightly increases 2015’s monthly average, which previously stood at 14.67 and is now 14.75. If I continue at this rate, 2015 will end up around #177; if I stick to my ten-per-month minimum, I’ll clock up at least 139 — a new record.

Finally, this April also has the distinction of being the earliest I’ve ever made it to #50, which I reached on the 8th. The previous best was 6th May in 2011, so that’s that thoroughly bested. (For reference, I’ve reached the halfway point in May four times, in June twice, and once each in August and September.)


This month’s archive reviews

As well as the 25 archive reviews listed below, this month I also shared some thoughts on star ratings from back in 2011.


Next month on 100 Films in a Year…

The update will hopefully be on time.

April 2011

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Spring has sprung, but the number of films watched isn’t looking so lively…


The Nine

This month I watched nine feature films I’d never seen before (plus one short). That looks a bit weak compared to previous months this year, which averaged out at (just under) 13 each.

I blame TV — lots on this month; doubly so as I decided to rush through the last series of Doctor Who before the new one started. That’s about 10 hours of viewing, or an average of five films — which, if I had watched films, would bring me more in line with previous months. There’s always a reason, eh.

To put this month’s number in further perspective: I need to watch (just over) 8 films a month to reach 100 in December — I’ve beaten that. By this point last year I’d reached #41 — I’ve beaten that. And my ‘official target’ for April (any and every April) is #33 — I’ve well beaten that. So things aren’t so bad after all.


Monsters#39 The Girl Who Played with Fire, aka Flickan som lekte med elden (2009)
#40 Monsters (2010)
#41 My Neighbour Totoro, aka Tonari no Totoro (1988)
#42 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, aka Luftslottet som sprängdes (2009)
Dog Day Afternoon#43 Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
#43a Lumet: Film Maker (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)


Reviews

I was going to say that there weren’t many reviews this month either, but as you can see I’ve posted them for half of the above list — percentage-wise that’s better than the first three months of this year (at their individual ends, not to date).

That said, I’m still quite far behind overall — 22, is it? Crikey. I aim to get considerably more posted in May. We’ll see.


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

These monthly updates finally reach one year old (the first, obviously, was May 2010).

More importantly, I’ll hopefully watch enough new films to reach #55 — which will be the 500th counted film for this blog!

Exciting times.

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 | Weeks 15-18

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After a glut of movies during the middle of the holiday things have slowed down a tad again. I say “a tad” — you can see how much by the sheer volume of weeks included in this entry and the relatively sparse number of films! (To be technical, the average-films-per-week in this entry is 1.75, compared to 2.72 overall and 6 (yes, 6!) last time.)

Nonetheless, things are progressing, and overall I’m still on track to make it well past the 100 mark. That’s from the overall average mind, not from the one for this period. From that I’ll make it to about 90. Maybe I should worry… except that summer movie season is on the way! Plenty of new films there. Plus all the ones I’ve recently missed out on DVD.

Well, that sure is shiny.

This time, I break my self-imposed rule about the length of reviews to witter on about Hidden for double the time. I also didn’t watch a single new film in week sixteen (Three Colours Red fell right at the end of week fifteen, Hidden a little way into week seventeen). And I’ve nearly hit the halfway point, a third of the way through the year. Oh my!

For anyone who may be trying to keep track, this period covers nearly all of April — from the 9th to the 30th, in fact — plus pretty much the first week of May (up to the 6th). That’s basically a month. Well well well…

#42 Three Colours: Red

#43 Hidden (Caché)

#44 Casanova

#45 Garden State

#46 Breathless

#47 Bonnie and Clyde

#48 Stormbreaker

2007 | Week 14

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My quest to watch 100 films I’ve never seen before by the end of 2007 continues toward the halfway point. However, this week I’ve hit an exact average of three films per week — if that were to continue I’d easily pass 150 films by the end of the year! It’s really beginning to seem that 100 is a rather easy mark to cross, while 150 would be more realistic… though only if I kept this rate up, and if I slipped I would fail. That’s never fun.

So, my indecisiveness shall continue. Probably until I actually reach 100 and decide if there’s enough time to see another 50 films. Oh well, they say gambling’s bad anyway.

As noted last week (and above), week fourteen means we’re now over a quarter of the way through the year, and so on the path to the halfway point (which, by-the-way, would be about July 1st, which is the Sunday at the end of week twenty-six). I’m also still on holiday, so once again I’ve seen a fair few films this week, and six of them new to me. Here they are:

#36 Ladies in Lavender

#37 The New World

#38 The Devil Wears Prada

#39 Three Colours: Blue

#40 Happy Feet

#41 Three Colours: White

2007 | Weeks 12-13 (Statistics)

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I knew I should have posted the not-too-short-really week twelve by itself, as week thirteen has seen a veritable mass of films viewed toward the end. But it’s done now, so on with the show!

The end of the second week here marks the exact quarter-way point of my filmic quest (in time terms anyway) and so it seems an appropriate point to reflect a little on my quest so far. So here are some numbers, all totalled up to the end of week thirteen:

Statistics

I have seen a total of 36 films.

Of those, 1 was released in the 1910s, 2 in the 1920s, 1 in the 1940s, 2 in the 1950s, 4 in the 1980s, 3 in the 1990s, and 23 in the 2000s. That means there’s nothing from the 1930s, 1960s or 1970s.

I have seen 27 on DVD, 6 at the cinema, 2 on VHS, and just 1 on TV.

The only directors to turn up multiple times are John Glen (twice) and F.W. Murnau (twice). As it turns out, a fair few actors turn up at least twice, mainly thanks to films like Hot Fuzz, Boogie Nights and Crash. It was only Roger Moore who managed several appearances when I first started putting these stats together!

I have awarded 4 films 5/5, 17 films 4/5, 10 films 3/5, 4 films 2/5, and 1 film 1/5. This makes the average score 3.5/5. Either I see lots of pretty good films or I need to adjust my scoring downward slightly. For anyone interested, the five-star films were Hot Fuzz, United 93, Crash and Trainspotting, whilst the one-star was Flight 93.

My weekly average is now 2.8 per week, which means I’m on course to see about 145 films this year. Maybe I should adjust that aim…

Weeks Twelve and Thirteen

Anyway, it’s time to get on. Here are the films I watched between March 19th and April 1st…

#25 Doom

#26 Flight 93

#27 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

#27a Crash: Director’s Cut

#28 The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

#29 Trainspotting

#30 Little Miss Sunshine

#31 Mrs Henderson Presents

#32 Chocolat

#33 American Dreamz

#34 Secretary

#35 The King and I