2017 was quite the film (and TV!) watching year for me. I got really obsessed with a lot of things and I watched more films this year than I have in a few years. After the cut you can see all 628 new-to-me films I watched (and you can read my monthly breakdowns here). This year was filled with a lot highlights both in terms of what I watched, but also places I visited and people I met. Here’s hoping 2018 will be even better!
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- (January) American Gangster
- Déjà Vu
- The Book of Eli
- Fingers at the Window
- Il giustiziere sfida la città (Syndicate Sadists)
- He Got Game
- The Mirror Has Two Faces
- Underworld: Blood Wars
- Paterson
- Claire In Motion
- Elle
- You Got To Move
- Freedom on My Mind
- Rome Adventure
- Julieta
- Neruda
- (February) I Am Not Your Negro
- 20th Century Women
- D’Est (From The East)
- Bar Bahr (In Between)
- John Wick: Chapter Two
- The Salesman
- Sud (South)
- Là-bas (Down There)
- De l’autre côté (From The Other Side)
- La folie Almayer (Almayer’s Folly)
- Chantal Akerman, de cá (Chantal Akerman, From Here)
- I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman
- Toni Erdmann
- A United Kingdom
- Virtuosity
- Yin shi nan nu (Eat Drink Man Woman)
- Play It As It Lays
- (March) Kedi
- A Summer Place
- Get Out
- Lemon
- Lucky
- Fits and Starts
- Flesh and Blood
- David Lynch – The Art Life
- The Exiles
- Raw
- Personal Shopper
- Tension
- Song to Song
- Antonia’s Line
- Something Wild
- (April) The Zookeeper’s Wife
- Street Scene
- Their Finest
- Colossal
- Assigné à résidence (Locked-in Syndrome)
- Something of Value
- Stolen Holiday
- Blondie of the Follies
- Uncle Yanco
- Du côté de la côte
- Judex
- Jean de Florette
- Manon des sources (Manon of the Spring)
- On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
- Les Portes de la nuit
- Lemon (1969)
- Manual of Arms
- Process Red
- Zorns Lemma
- Hapax Legomena I: Nostalgia
- Hapax Legomena II: Poetic Justice
- Hapax Legomena III: Critical Mass
- Gloria!
- Magellan: At the Gates of Death, Part I: The Red Gate I, 0
- The Birth of Magellan: Cadenza I
- (May) Cronaca di un amore (Story of a Love Affair)
- Shield for Murder
- I vinti (The Vanquished)
- Il grido
- The Prowler (1951)
- The Passenger (1975)
- Identificazione di una donna (Identification of a Woman)
- Vanessa: Her Love Story
- Happy Land
- An American Tragedy
- Everything Everything
- The Times of Harvey Milk
- Laavor et hakir (The Wedding Plan)
- Black Panthers (Huey)
- Mur murs
- (June) Wonder Woman
- Never Let Me Go (1953)
- Trouble for Two (1936)
- Just a Gigolo (1931)
- The Vanishing Virginian
- No Time for Love
- There Goes My Heart
- Storm at Daybreak
- Words and Music (1948)
- Paris Can Wait
- To Sir, With Love
- Cleopatra Jones
- For Pete’s Sake
- Summer Stock
- The Enchanted Cottage
- Split Second (1953)
- Stallion Road
- Rich, Young and Pretty
- June Bride
- The Small Back Room (Hour of Glory)
- Girl of the Port
- Wakefield
- Desire (1936)
- Rancho Notorious
- The Song of Songs
- The Seventh Sin
- Sincerely Yours
- Les Girls
- One Crowded Night
- Death In Venice
- I Could Go On Singing
- Victim
- Maurice
- Gentleman’s Fate
- Devotion (1946)
- Les soeurs Brontë (The Brontë Sisters)
- Ride the Wild Surf
- Return of the Secaucus Seven
- Lianna
- The Brother from Another Planet
- Casa de los babys
- (July) The Beguiled (2017)
- The Big Sick
- The White Sister (1923)
- The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926)
- Bulldog Drummond (1929)
- Raffles (1930)
- The Devil To Pay!
- Cynara (I Was Faithful)
- Arrowsmith (1931)
- Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
- The Ring (1927)
- Downhill
- The Farmer’s Wife
- The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
- The Manxman
- Blackmail
- The Skin Game
- Rich and Strange
- Jamaica Inn
- Aventure malgache
- Bon Voyage (1944)
- Miss Firecracker
- La Bohème (1926)
- The Show
- A Woman of Affairs
- Desert Nights
- Way For A Sailor
- The Seventh Victim
- Moka
- Baby Driver
- Clive of India (1935)
- The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo
- If I Were King
- The Light That Failed
- Ladybug Ladybug
- Lions Love (…And Lies)
- Documenteur
- Jane B. par Agnès V.
- Kung-fu master! (Le Petit Amour)
- L’univers de Jacques Demy
- Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (The Gleaners and I)
- Kid Glove Killer
- A Matter of Time
- Dunkirk (2017)
- The Umbrella Man
- The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography
- The Silver Horde
- Rockabye
- Chance at Heaven
- Lucky Partners
- Kismet (1944)
- A Little Romance
- Deadline at Dawn
- Sabotage
- Secret Agent
- The Paradine Case
- The Trouble with Harry
- The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
- A Double Life (1947)
- Girls Trip
- The Night of the Iguana
- Landline
- Maudie
- Lady Macbeth
- Pop Aye
- Torn Curtain
- Topaz
- Frenzy
- Family Plot
- (August) Ladies of the Chorus
- Love Nest
- Laugh, Clown, Laugh
- The Penalty
- The Ace of Hearts
- Oliver Twist (1922)
- The Monster (1925)
- The Unholy Three (1925)
- The Black Bird
- Tell It To The Marines
- Mr. Wu
- West of Zanzibar
- Where East is East
- The Unholy Three (1930)
- Blackthorn
- Country
- Steel Magnolias
- Voyager (Homo Faber)
- The Only Thrill
- A Life of Her Own
- Let’s Do It Again
- Alias Nick Beal
- Panic In Year Zero
- When Strangers Marry
- Story of G.I. Joe
- Exclusive Story
- The Wife Takes a Flyer
- The King Steps Out
- The Unguarded Hour
- Gentlemen Are Born
- Between Two Women (1937)
- Uncle Vanya (1957)
- Old Enough
- Johnny Angel
- Crack-Up
- Borderline
- Step
- Cry, the Beloved Country
- Good-bye, My Lady
- The Bedford Incident
- Brother John
- Buck and the Preacher
- A Warm December
- Whose Streets?
- Unstoppable
- Chicago (1927)
- Roxie Hart
- The Purchase Price
- My Reputation
- Elvis on Tour
- Clambake
- Kissin’ Cousins
- Live a Little, Love a Little
- Elvis: That’s the Way It Is
- Ricochet (1991)
- Condemned (1929)
- Biography of a Bachelor Girl
- I Was A Male War Bride
- Sage femme (The Midwife)
- In Name Only
- Mr. Lucky
- Good Time
- The Hard Way
- Dragnet (1954)
- Drive a Crooked Road
- Classe tous risques
- Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
- Blue Collar
- Hearts Divided
- Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World
- Breathless (1983)
- (September) The Song of Bernadette
- Too Wise Wives
- Where Are My Children?
- 711 Ocean Drive
- Columbus (2017)
- New Balls Please
- Beach Rats
- The Girl Downstairs
- The Other F Word
- Two Trains Runnin’
- First They Killed My Father
- Brad’s Status
- California Typewriter
- Scandal Sheet
- Polina
- From the Earth to the Moon
- (October) Three Days To Live (1924)
- Calino veut être cow-boy
- Pendaison à Jefferson City
- La prairie en feu
- Cent dollars mor ou vif
- Le revolver matrimonial
- The Scapegrace
- La Baronne Raymonde de LaRoche, aviatrice
- L’aviatrice mademoiselle Marvingt, décolle de mourmelon
- Madame Hélène Dutrieu, aviatrice vers 1915
- La vie aérienne sur l’aérodrome d’Orly, mademoiselle Adrienne Bolland a battu son propre record en exécutant 212 fois le looping
- L’autre aile
- The World And The Women (1916)
- Synnöve Solbakken (A Norway Lass) (1919)
- How Bridget Served The Salad Undressed
- How Bridget Made The Fire
- The Finish of Bridget McKeen
- La course à la saucisse
- Victoire à ses nerfs
- Le rêve des marmitons
- Her First Biscuits
- Lucky Jim (1909)
- Het Onwillige Dienstmeisje (The Reluctant Housemaid)
- Le signe de Pétronille
- Een Dierenvriend (Animal Lover)
- Are Waitresses Safe?
- Shima No Musume (The Island Girl)
- Call Of The Cuckoo
- Don’t Tell Everything
- Le contremaître incendaire
- L’emigrante (1915)
- Fauno
- Feeding The Pigeons In St. Mark’s Square
- Grand Canal, Venice
- Panoramic View of the Vegetable Market, Venice
- Neapolitan Dance At The Ancient Forum of Pompeii
- Panoramic View of the Frere Camp Taken The Front of an Armored Train
- Menai Bridge: The Irish Daily Mail From Euston Entering The Tubular Bridge
- Warships At Sunset
- Amann The Great Impersonator
- Prestwych Platform Scene
- Fat Ox 1897. Car of the ‘She-Cats’ – The Hats
- Vienna Street Scene
- Panorama of Pompeii
- Fun On A Clothesline
- Kavirondongrene Paa Fisk (Kavirondo Tribe Members Fishing)
- Der Gelbe Schein (The Yellow Ticket)
- Lesniye Liudi (Forest People)
- Tungusi (Tungus)
- Le bateau de Léontine
- Les ficelle de Léontine
- Léontine en apprentissage
- Ventilateur breveté
- Les malices de Léontine
- Amour et musique
- Un ravalement précipité
- Rosalie et son phonographe
- Rosalie et Léontine vont au théâtre
- Rosalie emménage
- Léontine garde la maison
- Fiore Selvaggio
- Tvä Hungrande Städer Vid Donau (Two Starving Cities on the Danube)
- 1917 Val Duchesse
- La Paura Degli Aeromobili Nemici
- Les ruines des ville d’armentières lens et la bassée
- La vie reprend dans les régions libérées
- Massaiernes Menn Og Kvinner (Maasai Men and Women)
- Fante-Anne (Gypsy Anne)
- Mieux valait la nuit
- Amma, le voyeur aveugle
- Le coeur et les yeux
- [Messter-Woche:] Modeschau Im Zoo
- Water Lilies (1911)
- Mr. Myope chasse
- Le mensonge de Jean le Manchot
- Blindeninstituut En Ooglijdersgasthuis Te Bandoeng (Insitute For the Blind Home in Bandung)
- A Flash of Light
- Trappola
- Now We’re In The Air
- The Reckless Age
- Schatten: Eine Nächtliche Halluzination (Warning Shadows)
- Die Bergkatze (The Wildcat)
- Le railway de la morte
- Face au taureau
- Nel Paese dell’Oro
- Onésime sur le sentier de la guerre
- Kikujunegrene Danser (Kikuyu Tribe Members Dancing)
- Captain F.E. Kleinschmidt’s Artic Hunt
- Il Baco Da Seta
- La Guerra Italo-Turca
- La Gloriosa Battaglia Del 12 Marzo A Begasi Nell’Oasi Delle Due Palme
- The Victorious Battle For the Conquest of Mergheb, Africa
- La Vita Dei Nostri Ascari Eritrei In Libia
- Plotoni Nuotatori Della 3 Divisione Cavalleria Comandata Da S.A.R. IL Conte Di Torino
- Sixième Bataille De L’Insonzo
- Kaffeplantasje I Afrika/Kenya (Coffee Plantation In Kenya)
- Aelita
- Vem Dömer? (Love’s Crucible)
- Ménilmontant
- Fièvre
- Il Fiacre N. 13 (1917)
- Viaggio In Caucaso E Persia
- Daleko Na Sever (Far In The North)
- The Right To Happiness
- Mediolanum
- 24e chasseurs alpins: sauts d’obstacles
- Danse au bivouac
- Fête au village
- Pompiers: alerte
- Salut dans les vergues
- Fête du palais-royal #1
- Fête du palais-royal #2
- Fête du palais-royal #3: re-enactment of scene from Notre-Dame de Paris
- Panoramic Painting of the Battlefield
- Military Parade at the Cour d’Honneur in Versailles
- Panorama on the Creuse river #1
- Dam on the Creuse river
- Panorama on the Creuse river #2
- Paper Manufacture
- Journalists and Typographers In Editorial Office
- Men Unloading A Train
- Train Pulling Into A Factory
- Carmen (1918)
- Nebuvalyi Pokhid (An Unprecedented Campaign)
- Tokyo No Yado (An Inn In Tokyo)
- The Taming of Jane
- An Up-To-Date Squaw
- The Corporal’s Daughter
- The Night Rider
- Patouillard a une femme jalouse
- Lea Bambola
- The Circus Imps
- The Pouting Model
- Living Pictures Production
- Birth of the Pearl
- Un duel après le bal
- Spirit of ’76
- Combat sur la voie ferrée (1898)
- Combat sur la voie ferrée (1899)
- Mort de marat
- Charlotte Corday (1908)
- Death of Nelson
- Les dernières cartouches (1897)
- Les dernières cartouches (1899)
- Les dernières cartouches / Bombardment d’une Miason
- La fiancée du volontaire
- Flagrant délit d’adultère
- Le jugement de Phryné
- Akt-Skulpturen
- La vie et la passion de Jésus-Christ (1902)
- Vie et passion de N.S. Jésus-Christ
- La vie et la passion de Jésus-Christ (1897)
- La nativité
- Les cloches du soir
- Rouget de lisle chantant la Marseillaise
- What Are the Wild Waves Saying, Sister?
- Waiting For Santa Claus
- Le réveil de Chrysis
- Le bain des dame de la cour
- An Affair of Honor
- The Spirit of His Forefathers
- The Whisky of His Ancestors
- Der Golem (1915)
- Der Gang In Die Nacht
- Il Carnevale Di Nizza
- La Campana Dei Caduti Rovereto 24 Maggio 1925
- Le femme rêvée
- Glomdalsbruden (The Bride of Glomdal)
- Sulla Vie Dell’Oro
- Manden Uden Fremtid (The Man Without A Future)
- Dawn (1928)
- Lea In Ufficio
- Lea Sui Pattini
- Tilly’s Party
- Cunégonde trop curieuse
- Cunégonde femme cochère
- Onésime et la toilette de mademoiselle Badinois
- Everybody’s Doing It
- She’s A Prince
- Thora Van Deken (A Mother’s Fight)
- La chasse aux signes
- The World and Its Women
- Antologia Filmati Neuropatologici Realizzati Dal Prof. Camillo Negro Con Robert Omegna
- Med Bærerkaravene Gjennem Østrafika (By Caravan Through East Africa)
- A Fool There Was (1915)
- Mania. Die Geschichte Einer Zigarettenarbeiterin (Mania. The Story of a Cigarette Factory Worker)
- Kara-Dag Zhemchuzhina Vostochnogo Kryma (Kara-Dag. The Pearl of Eastern Crimea)
- Podvig Vo L’Dakh (Feat in the Ice)
- Anna-Liisa
- Seven Footprints To Satan
- Après L’Incendie De Salonique, Août 1917
- La croix rouge suisse accueille des réfugiés française en gare de bäle
- La femme française pendant la guerre (1918)
- Noël de guerre (1916)
- Morænen (The House of Shadows)
- The Deadlier Sex
- le rosier miraculeux
- The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927)
- Careers (1929)
- Dolores (2017)
- Bardelys the Magnificent
- Professor Marston & the Wonder Women
- Battle of the Sexes
- Körkarlen (The Phantom Carriage)
- Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages
- Madam Satan
- Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton
- Fright Night (2011)
- The Florida Project
- 2 Guns
- Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold
- The Killing of a Sacred Deer
- Poltergeist (1982)
- (Noirvember) The Street With No Name
- So Dark the Night
- Edge of Doom
- Jane (2017)
- Vicki (1953)
- Katok i skripka (The Steamroller and the Violin)
- I Was a Communist for the F.B.I.
- Ivanovo detstvo (Ivan’s Childhood)
- Wonderstruck
- The Suspect
- Nightfall (1956)
- Andrei Rublev
- The Shanghai Gesture
- Solaris (1972)
- Dog City (1989)
- Zerkalo (The Mirror)
- One Way Street
- Stalker
- L’Opéra (The Paris Opera)
- Black Widow (1954)
- Nostalghia
- The Square (2017)
- Crimes of Passion (1984)
- Offret (The Sacrifice)
- The Mob (1951)
- Somewhere in the Night
- Cornered
- The Racket (1951)
- 120 battements par minute
- City That Never Sleeps
- Lady Bird
- The Last Seduction
- Mudbound
- Obsession (The Hidden Room)
- House of Strangers
- Menschen am Sonntag (People On Sunday)
- Ins Blaue hinein (Into The Blue)
- The Long Night
- The Tattooed Stranger
- Born In Flames
- Roman J. Israel, Esq.
- The Magdalene Sisters
- Jeffrey
- Novitiate
- God’s Own Country
- Jeopardy
- Red Rock West
- Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives
- After Dark, My Sweet
- Dark City (1998)
- This World, Then the Fireworks
- Deadline – U.S.A.
- Blast of Silence
- (December) Daisy Miller
- Pushover
- Thelma (2017)
- Woodshock
- The Crow
- Times Square
- Local Hero
- What’s Love Got To Do With It
- The Mark of Zorro (1940)
- Dramatic School
- They Won’t Forget
- Dancing Co-Ed
- Honky Tonk
- Umirayushchii lebed (The Dying Swan)
- The Great Garrick
- The Cossacks (1928)
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Lady on a Train
- We Who Are Young
- Two Girls on Broadway
- Somewhere I’ll Find You
- The Youngest Profession
- Slightly Dangerous
- Keep Your Powder Dry
- Sumerki zhenskoi dushi (Twilight of a Woman’s Soul)
- Posle smerti (After Death)
- Peyton Place
- Tom of Finland
- Un conte de Noël (A Christmas Tale)
- Dance in the Sun
- In Paris Parks
- Bullfight (1955)
- Brussels Loops
- A Moment in Love
- Bridges-Go-Round
- Skyscraper
- A Scary Time
- Robert Frost: A Lover’s Quarrel with the World
- Butterfly
- 24 Frames Per Second
- Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Initiation
- Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Mysterium
- Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: One-Two-Three
- Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Trans
- Savage/Love
- Tongues
- The Disaster Artist
- Tomka dhe shokët e tij (Tomka And His Friends)
- La petite vendeuse de soleil (The Little Girl Who Sold The Sun)
- Princess Cyd
- Remember The Night
- Marriage Is a Private Affair
- Week-End at the Waldorf
- Cass Timberlane
- Homecoming
- Call Me by Your Name
- Plácido
- L’assassinat du Père Noël (Who Killed Santa Claus?)
- Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
- Love Finds Andy Hardy
- The Merry Widow (1952)
- Latin Lovers
- Betrayed
- Madame X (1962)
- Portrait in Black
- Bachelor in Paradise
- The Big Cube
- Mr. Imperium
- The Sea Chase
- The Prodigal
- Diane
- By Love Possessed
- Love Has Many Faces
- Bittersweet Love
- Forever Amber
- Dawson City: Frozen Time
- Chemi Bednieri Ojakhi (My Happy Family)
1880s: 0
1890s: 40
1900s: 33
1910s: 82
1920s: 71
1930s: 53
1940s: 63
1950s: 58
1960s: 39
1970s: 39
1980s: 28
1990s: 23
2000s: 9
2010s: 90
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Every year I see one movie that changes my life completely. That finds its way deep into my soul. This year that movie was James Ivory’s adaptation of E. M. Forster’s Maurice. Cohen Media Group released a new 4k restoration of the film out in theaters for its 30th anniversary and I am so grateful that not only did it play at the Midtown Art Cinema, it played for two weeks so I was able to see the film twice. It is such a lovely, passionate, heart-wrenching, soul-stirring film. I cannot recommend it enough. I also recommend seeking out the book. I read it in one sitting and it made my love of the film grow exponentially. The restoration was also released on DVD and Blu-ray, so if you missed it in theaters you can track that down and check it out. If you want to see what pure joy looks like, watch my (spoiler filled) review of the film here on YouTube.
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This is my second year tracking my watching of films directed by women using the hashtag #52FilmsByWomen (take the pledge here). I watched 79 films directed by women in 2017 (32 of which were films released in 2017; 8 of which made my Favorite Fifteen Films of 2017 list). You can see the whole list of films directed by women I watched here. Using FilmStruck I was able to catch up on the filmographies of several women directors including Shirley Clarke, Agnès Varda, and Chantal Akerman. I’m hoping in 2018 to watch more films from some of the silent women directors like Alice Guy and Lois Weber.
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I returned to the Pordenone Silent Film Festival for the second year in a row and I hope to go there as many years as I possibly can. I love that festival so damn much. The pure immersion in silent cinema is really the greatest of experiences and add to it all the gelato and good wine and you’ve really got heaven on Earth. As you can see from my list above, I watched A LOT of films from the silent era this year, most of which were films you can’t see elsewhere unless you work in the archive where the prints live. If you feel so compelled as to go in the coming years, hit me up and I can give you great tips on how to get there and stay there on the cheap. It’s worth it, I promise!
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As you probably already know I do the social media for TCM and FilmStruck, so I am intimately informed about what films we will have on either at any given time. This has led to a lot of binge watches. Usually on FilmStruck I slack off until right before a film or theme is about to expire and then I watch them just before they disappear. With TCM, I went hard for several of our themes this year. In June I watched almost every single film we showed for our spotlight on Gay Hollywood, in July I watched the John Gilbert birthday tribute films, all of the Star of the Month Ronald Colman films, *and* all of the Alfred Hitchcock films we showed that I had not seen before, in August I spent a lot of time with Lon Chaney and Elvis Presley, and last, but certainly not least, this December I watch THIRTY-TWO Lana Turner movies. Yep. I missed two the first week because my commitment was not yet at 100%, but I doubled down during my vacation and I made magic happen. I now only have 9 Lana Turner movies from her entire filmography left. I will track them down and I will watch them. She is marvelous. Hit me up on Twitter if you want some recommendations!
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This was a great year for film noir. TCM launched Noir Alley hosted by Eddie Muller and I got to help lead the marketing of the weekly Sunday morning series. I also got to go to Noir City in Chicago, which was so much fun. Noirvember celebrated its 8th year!!! Not only did Eddie mention Noirvember in all of his intro/outros on air for the month, but Videodrome ATL let me curate a Noirvember shelf not once, but twice!, a Czech cinematheque held a weeklong film festival (and called me a “rentless cinephile), and #Noirvember even got a shout out in the New York Times! Not too shabby for a little movement I started by myself when I was living in the back of my parents’ house!
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As you may have noticed the Female Filmmaker Friday never made a comeback in 2017. I want to again thank all of my guests who came on the show in 2016. It was just far more work than I was able to do on my own. I hope to bring that feature back into my writing somehow in 2018, so stay tuned! I also did not guest on as many podcasts as I have in previous years (for various reasons). I hope to remedy that as well in 2018. In case you missed them, here are the podcasts I was on in 2017:
- MatineeCast Episode 170: 89th Oscar Nominees
- Aliens Minute Episode 31: Combat Seating
- Aliens Minute Episode 32: Express Elevator to Hell
- Aliens Minute Episode 33: A Chip Off the Burke Block
- Aliens Minute Episode 34: Proto-Gamer Soldier
- Aliens Minute Episode 35: Where’s the Beacon?
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I want to give another shout out to my two favorite theaters: the Landmark Midtown Art Theatre and the Tara Cinemas, as well as Atlanta’s last video store Videodrome. These lovely establishments have kept me in the movies for the last two years and I love them so.
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I also want to write a bit about the television I watched this year. We may be in peak TV but I mostly don’t watch the prestige shows and I am okay with that. The year started with me bingeing the CW take on Frequency and I quite liked it. I think I was its only viewer and it did not get reviewed past its half season, but during my binge I was bombarded with ads for Riverdale and I am so glad. I loved that show. While the second season has been a lot rockier than the first, it is still the thing I look forward to the most each week. I also have continued watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend which gets more and more complex each season and Jane The Virgin which has had pretty rough season, but when it’s good, it’s really good. Wonder Woman got me pumped so I jumped back into the Supergirl fray and I do love what they are doing with their queer characters. I also got hooked on Dynasty, which is just trash but I can’t stop watching. On more the peak TV side of things, I got HBO so I could watch the final season of The Leftovers and it did not disappoint. I am going to miss that show so damn much, but it had a perfect three season run and not many shows can say that. I also watched Insecure, which continues to be one of the funniest, most insightful shows on television. Season two of Master of None on Netflix was pure cinematic joy and I hope Aziz Ansari finds a hook for a season three, or at least returns to TV with some other story because he is so good at what he does. Obviously, I lost my shit each week watching Twin Peaks: The Return. I don’t care if it’s a movie or it’s TV; whatever it is I loved every damn minute of it. Lastly, I did a few binge watches on Netflix. First off I spent several weeks basically doing nothing but going to work and coming home and watching Frasier. I had always been a fan of the show, but sporadically so I decided to watch the whole thing in order. It brought me much joy. We almost had a hurricane here in Atlanta and I panicked so I binge watched the incredibly stupid, but endlessly entertaining CW reboot of Beauty and the Beast. Sendhil Ramamurthy had a lengthy character arc and it was the greatest few weeks of my life.
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Before I wrap up I wanted to highlight some of the other travels I had in 2017. I went to SXSW and met John Carroll Lynch, after TCMFF I hung around LA for a bit and finally visited Marilyn Monroe’s grave (as well as Lew Ayres and several other favorites), I was on two panels at DragonCon discussing Noir in Space and Universal Monsters, I went to NYC and visited friends at Buzzfeed, Tumblr HQ, A24, and even got to go inside the Criterion closet! Not film related, but I went to Asbury Park and saw some great Springsteen sights! I’m hoping to travel more in 2018, including continuing my Joseph Cotten research.
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So that was 2017. What does 2018 look like? Well, there are a few on-going pledges that I must continue. For the last two years I have been attempting to watch my way through Denzel Washington’s filmography. Last year I had seen 28 of his films and had 19 left to see, and I failed. I still have eleven of his films left to see. No excuses, I will track those films down and watch them this year!
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Aside from Denzel, I also intend to continue #52FilmsByWomen, although this year I hope to do 52 new releases by women and 52 old releases, thus doubling the commitment. I also intend to watch more silent films throughout the entire year. I will watch at least one silent film a week, if not more. What are your film pledges for 2018? Let me know in comments.
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I hope you had as great a film year in 2017 as I did and that 2018 brings us all films that challenge us, films that make our hearts sing, and new discoveries that allow us to tap into new parts of ourselves. Grab some popcorn and I’ll see y’all at the movies!