Category: Film

It happens almost every year. By early December, mainstream media and professional reviewers begin publishing their best film lists. Many of them include films that have not been released to the public, and thus, we cannot see anywhere —unless one goes to a nearby film festival, if lucky. That is usually the case for so-called…

This was a blockbuster year for two non-competing films launched almost simultaneously. Even my favorite art house joint fell for them, no questions asked. One dealt with a skinny doll and was financed by the large corporation that makes such toys, now including all colors and sizes, of course. Sadly, many white feminists decided the…

Bellocchio’s The Traitor was the last film I saw in a theatre. The film was only playing once a day at 1pm, so an early lunch was required. The calendar said it was the last day of February. The very next day, officials identified the first case of COVID-19 in NY. A couple of days…

I have a distinct impression that, in my book, 2019 was not a stellar year for high-quality films. I actually saw a few fewer films this year and lack of time was not really the issue. The latest by Bi Gan and Bon Joon Ho are exceptional. The former is outstanding in terms of cinematography…

While I managed to watch a film every 2.5 days on average, online sources were instrumental in making this a reality. The astounding public library system of the US county where I happen to live at the moment also played a significant role. In addition to facilitating access to academic books (usually on the expensive side)…

Travel and work got on the way big time this year. Watching films on the big screen thus became a bit more challenging. Here is where online streaming and, to a lesser extent, DVDs come to the rescue. In the past, missing a film implied waiting for months if not years to play catch up.…

Stopping a declining trend, I saw 140 films this year. That is about 40 more than last year. One big change to note here: For the first time, I watched more than 50% of films either online and/or on DVD. This is probably a reflection of increased competition as now we have many more players…

A relatively slow year when it comes to films. Unlike previous, this year I only managed to see 99 films. That is almost 50 films less than last year.  I am sure I missed quite a few. Around 700 films are annually released in the US.  I probably saw maybe 10% of these, at most.…

This was not the best of years, that  is for sure. Let us call it a big transition year that included a huge roller-coaster ride that lasted not seconds but months. A bit longer that what is probably really needed. Yet, I was able to some how see 144 films. That is almost 10% less…

My film viewing trend continued to decline this year, now down to 158. This is just a fall of close to 7% which is probably not very significant. But this year I faced some health issues which prevented me from actually going to film theaters. In early March I broke a tiny bone in my…

Not entirely sure how but I managed to catch 169 films this year. That is 6 less than 2011 but, on the other hand, it seem to say that I was watching a film every other day of the year. Not quite, as I do have a full time job. But weekends were indeed busy…