Showing posts with label movies 2018. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies 2018. Show all posts

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Krypto Awards: Worst and Best of 2018



It's been a few days since 2018 wrapped, so it's fair to call it a year and take a look over the list of movies we watched and name a few as outstanding and a few...  we'll still say "outstanding", just, you know, in a different way.  I'll mostly discuss "new to me" movies, of which I watched over 100 (my life is a shallow, meaningless parade of nothing-better-to-do).  This list might look different in a month, so, you know, this is what I think today.

You can see the complete list from 2018 here.  Check the tabs for filtering by categories.

As always, there were movies I had to go back and look up and say "what was that again?".  It happens.  But this is why I write them up.  There aren't that many "this is terrible" movies because I generally don't go to see movies unless I *think* they'll hit the mark for me, but fate is a funny thing and it happens.  Also, unless RiffTrax or MST3K is involved, I turn off movies I'm not enjoying, which disqualifies them from consideration.

With that - Let's consider this the "Krypto Awards" for 2018.

Did Not Like


Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Movies 2018 - Running the Numbers


So.  Here's a rundown of what we watched in 2018.

The categories and methodology here are my own, but I think they work and they're fairly understandable.

In 2018, I watched 179 movies.

The numbers are derived from my blog posts, and should be fairly accurate.  It is likely I missed a movie or three somehow.

You can view the spreadsheet here.

I do not include movies I watched only in part, especially on television.  Example: I did not include National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, as I only watched 45 minutes of the movie in the largest chunk, and other chunks I caught out of order on cable television.

I am also not including anything that is a television series or part of a serial of episodes.  I am including movies that were intended for an initial release on television, streaming services, etc...  The movie does not need to have had a theatrical release.

(edit:  NathanC released his watch list for 2018 within minutes of this post going up.  Here you go.)

So... how'd it go?

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Musical Watch: Call Me Madam (1953)



Watched:  12/30/2018
Format:  disc
viewing:  first
decade:  1950's

When we were kids Ethel Merman was still part of the popular consciousness, but I'm not sure what folks my parents' age thought of her (I can pretty much guarantee my dad found her annoying).  Merman was a Broadway performer with a brassy voice and who had a sort of streetwise persona paired with a self-deprecating wit.  I think. 

Call Me Madam (1953) was originally a Broadway show with music by Irving Berlin and starring Merman, apparently a Tony Award-winning show.  I only listened to about five minutes of the commentary, but the narrator was quick to leap on the notion "look, this was based on stuff everyone in 1953 would have just known from the news, but hasn't really remained in the zeitgeist".  Despite the fairytale-like story, apparently Call Me Madam is loosely based on a real person and events. 

Monday, December 31, 2018

Action Watch: The Raid (2011)



Watched:  12/30/2018
Format:  DVD
Viewing: First
Decade:  2010's

Jamie Watch: Santa Jaws (2018)


Watched:  12/23/2018
Format:  DVR from SyFy
Viewing:  2nd
Decade:  2010

Before I forget, we rewatched Santa Jaws (2018) while Jamie's brother and sister-in-law (The Dug and K) were in town. 

Sunday, December 30, 2018

Second Watch: Spider-Man - Into the Spider-Verse (2018)


Watched:  12/28/2018
Format:  Alamo
Viewing:  Second
Decade:  2010's

No real write-up other than to mark that Jamie and I caught Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse a second time.  Generally prepared for what we were going to see, I think I was able to appreciate the animation far more this time, and... dang.


Catching Up Watch: Boyhood (2014)



Watched:  12/30/2018
Format:  Netflix
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's

I missed Boyhood (2014) during its theatrical release, and it's basically taken me this long to slog through the gushing, near-manic insistence folks had that I HAD to see this movie.*  I'm okay with some of Linklater's output, but aside from Slacker, haven't ever really responded to it the way you're supposed to.  Especially as an Austinite of a certain generation. 

Friday, December 28, 2018

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Holiday Watch: White Christmas (1954)


Watched:  Some time in December
Viewing:  Unknown
Format:  Netflix
Decade:  1950s

I watched White Christmas (1954) a couple of weeks ago and forgot to write it up.  It's a Michael Curtiz flick, which means it's automatically a decent sort of film.  I understand Bing Crosby thought the film's final product was a disappointment, and I have to say - there's something odd about the movie I can never quite put my finger on that doesn't work.

Likely my main issue is that the third act misunderstanding between Rosemary Clooney and Crosby makes no sense at all (and seems like a single question posed by Clooney's character would have cleared things up).  And I learned this viewing that the part played by Danny Kaye was originally supposed to be Donald O'Connor, which...  we'll just have to let our imaginations fill in the blanks, but some of what's in the script makes more sense if that's who you wrote the part for.

While mostly a bit of holiday fluff, it is an interesting peek into the Post WWII American mindset and does give us a bit of the returning soldier's melancholy as some try to find their useful place in society when they aren't commanding a regiment.

Also, Rosemary Clooney wears a black dress that Jamie and I are going to have to agree to disagree about.

RiffTrax-Watch: Ready Player One (2018)


Watched:  12/25/2018
Format:  Rifftrax
Viewing: First
Decade:  2010's

I am not a gamer.  The only console I own is one of those 2600 emulator boxes and it hasn't been out of the closet in a year.  I get that people spend a lot of time on video games, and that I have no stones to throw about people wasting their time and money on non-real-things.  I write on a blog that needlessly analyzes movies and occasionally comics and talks a lot about comic-based movies.  Take all of the below with the necessary grain of salt.

RiffTrax-Watch: Santa's Summer House (2012)


Watched:  12/23/2018
Format:  Rifftrax
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's

Finally, a movie that raises infinitely more questions than it answers.

Let's start with foundational queries (that we will never answer):

What is this?  Why does it exist?  Who is this for?  How did it happen?

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Saturday, December 22, 2018

Thursday, December 20, 2018

PODCAST: "Love Actually" (2003) - Episode 4 in the Signal Watch Holiday Cinema Series - w/ SimonUK and Ryan!


Watched:  12/17/2018
Format:  DVD
Viewing:  Second
Decade:  2000's

Simon brings a bit of British Christmas into the PodCast to class the place up a bit. We talk 2003's new-classic, "Love Actually", a multi-story, ensemble romantic comedy featuring an all-star cast. And Simon explains to Ryan the stuff he didn't get as a slow-witted American.




Music:

Christmas Time is Here - Vince Guaraldi Trio from A Charlie Brown Christmas
Christmas is All Around - Bill Nighy as "Billy Mack" Love Actually OST
O Tannenbaum - Vince Guaraldi Trio from A Charlie Brown Christmas


Holiday Cinema Series Playlist


Sunday, December 16, 2018

Noir Watch: "The Naked City" (1948)


Watched: 12/15/2018
Format: TCM on DVR (from Criterion, natch)
Viewing: first
Decade: 1940's

"There are 8 million stories in the Naked City.  This has been one of them." is probably a line you've heard used somewhere - maybe not from this movie, exactly, but from the television show loosely based on this movie that was a sort of crime-anthology series that started off in the late 1950's, aping the style of police procedural that The Naked City (1948) may not have originated, but it did get down to a T. 

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Noir Watch: The Big Sleep (1946)


Watched:  12/14/2018
Format:  Big screen at Austin Film Society
Viewing:  unknown.  Fifth?
Decade:  1940's

I'm not actually going to write up this movie.  You should watch it.  And behold Bacall.  I need to re-read the novel.  It's been a long time.