December firsts:
1) Killer Joe- Haha, what an batshit crazy film! I kind of loved it. Matthew McConaughey!
2) Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon- I would have probably loved it if it weren't for all that flying. Wtf happened to gravity, people?
3) A Serious Man- Hey, a Coen brothers movie I actually liked! Michael Stuhlbarg probably had something to do with it.
4) This Must Be the Place- I liked it a lot, but it got very slow for me.
5) Cafe de flore- Absolute love. And so addicted to the soundtrack.
6) Premium Rush- This was fun. Michael Shannon is the best!
7) The Rules of the Game- I can see why this film is so widely regarded. Totally timeless and entertaining and relevant.
8) The Science of Sleep- It got too quirky and eccentric. If they had controlled that, I would have loved it.
9) Talaash- The best Bollywood film I have seen all year. Look out for Kareena Kapoor in my favourite performances of the year.
10) Amour- Never-ending tears, literally. I might write a post about it, but god this film hit home in the weirdest way. I wish I could have watched it objectively.
11) Traffic- I liked it, especially how it looked.
12) Modern Times- Beautiful and hilarious and kind of ballsy.
13) Liberal Arts- It just made so much sense. Really enjoyed it.
14) Metropolis- I highly doubt if such a film can even be made today. The vision, oh the vision!
15) Monster- Charlize Theron was fantastic. Still, Mavis Gary > Aileen Wuornos.
16) The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Lovely and releatable. Logan Lerman is my dream husband and Ezra Miller is my dream bff and Emma Watson is well, dream me.
17) Dogville- Woah! That was brutal but brilliant. Nicole Kidman was excellent and oh so beautiful.
18) Life of Brian- Biggus Dickus :')
19) Winter Light- Very profound and absolutely stunning to look at.
20) Broadway Danny Rose- Oh Woody! Maybe the second-best Woody Allen performance ever. Also, he should really make a film in monochrome again.
21) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey- Really wish I hadn't watched it in 48 fps. Completely reduced the magic for me. Still, loved Martin "Bilbo" Freeman and Richard Armitage and the Bilbo-Gollum-riddle scene.
22) Frankenweenie- Oh glorious old-school Tim Burton! How I've missed you. Also, I am Weird Girl.
23) The Bridge on River Kwai- I had really expected to fall asleep in this. Pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was.
24) 2012- "The Mayans saw this coming thousands of years ago." NO THEY DIDN'T! It had to be watched on 22nd December, 2012. Just had to.
25) The Wrestler- As much as I love Milk, Mickey Rourke deserved that Oscar.
26) Amadeus- I don't know why but I was convinced I would hate it. Ended up loving it. Gotta learn Mozart's laugh!
27) Flight- Denzel was great and the over-all film was nice enough.
28) Pitch Perfect- Fat Amy is my spirit animal.
29) Gremlins- Yeah so my future kids, if any, are not going to watch this before they turn 12. Terrifying, tbh.
30) Moonstruck- "Sexy" Nicolas Cage :')
31) Rise of the Guardians- Adored it. Jack Frost is the prettiest animated character of the year, after Merida and her hair. So much joy.
32) Hesher- Was kind of creeped out while watching it, but the more I look back on it, the more I appreciate it.
33) The Heartbeats- Officially joining my favourite-looking films list. Also, a wake-up call as Xavier Dolan is 23 and I will be 21 this year (OMG!) and what the hell am I doing with my life?
34) Lincoln- *snore* (But I did love Tommy Lee Jones and the voting scene).
35) The Lives of Others- Love a well-made film, and especially the kind that makes one think. This was it.
36) Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans- Just beautiful.
37) The Kid with a Bike- It was interesting and beautifully shot.
38) Cloud Atlas- The most entertaining film of the year by a mile. Have to rewatch it!
39) Munich- Now this I loved. Tense and thought-provoking. Daniel Craig's accent though :/
40) Bernie- This was sweet. Jack Black was great.
41) Killing them Softly- Uhhhh, I did not get what this film was trying to tell me. Brad Pitt was v. cool though, and Scoot McNairy is one actor to look out for.
2) The Bicycle Thieves- So tragic and lovely. Saw it for film studies.
3) How the Grinch Stole the Christmas- Jim Carrey is the only one who could have played this role.
4) Jingle All the Way- Christmas tradition.
5) Up- The married life scene = perfection.
Books:
1) The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand- One can see why this book is so well-loved. Kind of mind-blowing and good lord, Howard Roark!
2) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green- So funny and poignant at the same time. I can see why many consider it Green's best, even though I still believe Looking for Alaska is absolutely extraordinary.
And now looking back at the whole year, I will say that it was a good and interesting one. I spent most of the first-half of 2012 being a college dropout. I'm back in a different college now, and am kind of liking it. It's an all-girls college though, so yeah... Still, I have made some good friends, who I like. I directed a play, which did suck but one has gotta start somewhere. And I turned 20, which was a weird birthday.
Finally, the blog turned 3, which I celebrated with lists- Favourite Looking Films, Favourite Male Performances, Favourite Female Performances, Favourite Directors and a revamped Favourite 100-ish Films.
Total 2012 Film Statistics:
First watches- 300
Shorts- 17
Rewatches- 122
Total- 439
Most watched film of the year- The Avengers, obviously.
And finally, my top 10 new watches of the year, not including the 2012 releases.
Interiors
My Dinner with Andre
In the Mood for Love
Persona
Fantasia
Brokeback Mountain
Alight, let's do this.
A lot of people complained on the flying in Crouching Tiger but I thought it was ok because it's just a tradition of Chinese cinema... much like song and dance in Indian films.
ReplyDeleteAlso great to see some love for Liberal Arts, Perks, Dogville and Sunrise here. Personally, I'd prefer Ezra Miller for a husband but I think he's gay.
I liked Pitch Perfect and Amadeus too... wow, you didn't see Life of Brian before?
I know, but it just got too much.
DeleteHe's queer. He swings both ways, honey ;-)
I had watched Holy Grail.
439 films? Jesus Christ! I liked Freeman and Armitage in the Hobbit too, but my favorite character was definitely Sebastian the hedgehog :D
ReplyDeleteHaha yes :P
DeleteSebastian was adorbs.
Did you see all these movies in December? There are so many classics, so many of my favourites in there. Munich, The Lives of Others, Amour and Metropolis. You know the funniest thing is I was writing about Metropolis for a post that I will post in couple of days and its Vision is exactly the thing I mentioned I love the most.
ReplyDeleteAnd I see you reached 300 as well. Good Job !! :)
Yes I did.
DeleteThe vision for Metropolis is outstanding.
Thanks :)
Yay! Metropolis, Winter Light, Heartbeats, Sunrise, The Kid with a Bike, Cloud Atlas, and Munich! Glad you liked them. I can't wait to see Xavier Dolan's other films: I Killed My Mother and Laurence Anyways.
ReplyDeleteI have to see them too, though that will reduce my self-worth even more :/
DeleteVery solid list there I just rented Premium Rush last night and had a lot of fun with that flick. I will give you McConaughey's performance in Killer Joe was really good, but that main character from Perks of Being a Wallflower that Logan Lerman played just annoyed me. I hope Cloud Atlas get released again. It seems more interested in telling a good story with a strong message rather than making box office bucks. Throughout the years it will be discovered by more and more people including me
ReplyDeleteThanks. It was a hoot.
DeleteLerman's character annoyed me in the book, but his take on the character made him so much more endearing.
Yes, fingers crossed!
There are 8760 hours in a year. I estimate that you spent 700-900 of them watching movies. Holy f--king s--t. Technically, that's like a job or a marriage or something =)
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly right. That's how I planned it :P
Delete