2007 Movie Challenge Recap
Holy Moly, I watched 81 movies last year! That’s a lot, no? My behavior (making an effort to see movies) matches my priorities (love of movies; desire to learn more about film)–I started the annual challenge after I had my son Drake, and I hardly ever went out to the theater. I feel some lurking guilt that I could have devoted more time to reading, but that’s just because I’m prone to endless second guessing and self recrimination.
I’m not going to list them all. They’re linked to in movies to the right. But I saw about a quarter in the theater, watched a quarter from the home shelves, borrowed 34 from the library, and only watched 7 new purchases. (I’m not sure how many more I purchased and DIDN’T watch, which is one thing I’m trying to cut down on.) But the fact that both theater and shelf sitters got about three times as much attention as new purchases makes me feel again that my priorities are in the right place. So, onto the movies:
Favorite films: Lives of Others, Michael Clayton, Juno
Favorite series: Jason Bourne movies
Favorite dvds: Infernal Affairs, Volver, House of Games
Underrated films: Children of Men, Stranger Than Fiction
Illusionist vs. Prestige: Prestige, definitely
Movie I liked even though it wasn’t that good: Hairspray
Best new-to-me classic: La Regle du Jeu
Critical darlings that I just don’t like: Jonny To’s Triad Election, Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole, and all three by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
For 2008, I think I’d like to cut back on the library dvds. Oops, I said that last year. But seriously, they’re so easy to reserve that I’m much less discriminating then I am in choosing DVDs to purchase or films see in theater.