2010
Mission accomplished. 120 films in the cinema in a calendar year. Phew. It looked dicey for a while there in May/June when I saw only 2 films in seven weeks and was a whopping 21 films behind, but the Melbourne International Film Festival in August and a sustained effort in the last third of the year (not to mention a good old fashioned last ditch effort in the last week) saw me right.
My eleven favourite films of the year* (because ten was way too hard):
- Somewhere: It’s still fresh in mind having only just seen it last week, but so it should be, it’s such a cracker.
- Up In The Air: Way back in January I gushed and gushed about this unconventional romantic drama. I saw it again on DVD recently - I wasn’t wrong then, and I’m not wrong now.
- Winter’s Bone: So bleak, so beautiful.
- Monsters: A monster movie, sure, but what a monster movie.
- Scott Pilgrim Versus the World: So, so much fun. I giggled the whole way through it. And then for quite a while afterwards.
- Me and Orson Welles: Some of the more stylish and quietly accomplished filmmaking of the year in my book.
- Wasteland: A documentary that rocks on a few levels, great story telling being least of them.
- Catfish: See above re: docos what rock
- Brotherhood: The story of the doomed love of gay Danish neo-nazis. What’s not to love.
- Bright Star: Swoon!
- The Raft: Those who scoffed and said it was cheating to include video art installation The Raft in the count will probably have something to say about my including it in the top ten! But I reckon they’d quiet down if they went to see it (it’s still screening at ACMI in Melbourne until February 20, y’know).
EDIT, January 2011: I recently saw How To Train Your Dragon on DVD. If I had've made it to see this in the cinema, it would most definitely have ended up in my top eleven. So lovely!
2011
I’ve decided not to try for 120 films again for 2011, for a couple of reasons. First, I thought seeing 120 films in 2010 would up the amount of foreign language and, in general, good stuff that I saw. But by and large everything I really liked I would have seen anyway. I really just upped the number of average and, let’s face it, American films I saw.
Second, I’m going to spend 2011 writing a whole lot more (earning that emerging writer’s grant I won), which means going to the movies less. I’ll still post about the movies I do see (which will probably still be an absurd amount) but not with a specific target in mind. Starting now, as I dash out the door to see Tron: Legacy, let’s see if it’s an auspicious start to the new year…
