So, like a lot of people at the end of the year, I'm making up a list of movies for 2008. I looked through this list of 2008 releases to see how many I've watched. Any guesses? It's a whopping three! I saw:
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Iron Man (unfortunately)
WALL-E (a couple times)
(I do still want to see some more on this list, like Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.)
Yes, three movies in a year would be rather pathetic for a movie blogger, but I did watch tons of other, older movies. This just goes to show a few things about me. Firstly, I am out of the habit of seeing movies in the theater. It used to be an almost weekly event for me, but living in NY for a while (with low funds and high ticket prices) cured me of that. I had to get more selective about what I watched, and became more content to wait to see things when they came out on video.
Also, I think it's possible that I'm just not a movie critic at heart. Sure, I enjoy ripping a bad movie to shreds and analyzing all the details of a good movie, but I'm not trying to be the next Roger Ebert or anything. Nobody pays me to sit through a crappy movie, and if they offered to I would probably tell them no anyway! I don't watch movies that I think from the start will stink. I also don't usually like being shocked, scared, or offended, which for me rules out (even popular) films with lots of language, sex, and violence.
Finally, this just reinforces my stand as a classic movie lover. While I only managed to see three new releases this year, I did see many new-to-me classic movies. Although I wasn't keeping track and therefore may be leaving some out, here's a list of old movies I sought out or discovered in 2008 (links are to my reviews):
Boomerang! (1947)
The Doll
The Grapes of Wrath
Hud
Jane Eyre (1944)
Rachel and the Stranger
The Thief
The Thin Man
The War of the Worlds (1953)
Witness for the Prosecution
Not that I didn't watch any newer movies, here's a few more recent movies that I watched in 2008:
Across the Universe
Dreamgirls
Eat Drink Man Woman
Enchanted
Helvetica
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
P.S. I Love You
I watched these newer ones with more mixed results than the older movies. I also re-watched tons of favorites, as I do every year, but I won't even try to include them here. So, that's my list. Where else could you find WALL-E and The Grapes of Wrath together for 2008?
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5 hours ago
4 comments:
Do you plan to see Australia? I thought it was a nice callback to old Hollywood epics.
Australia does have epic written all over it. It looks interesting, but the mixed reviews and long running time are not making me want to rush out to see it. I probably will see it eventually, though.
There's a movie called Helvetica????? Must investigate.
On Helvetica: Yeah, it's interesting seeing how strongly different people feel about a font. I had no idea it was such a polarizing issue. (I think you'll love it, you graphic designer you.)
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