Film Journal 2012 - January

Well we are 1/12 of the way through with 2012. As I promised earlier I'd be posting month by month listings of all the films I've watched. Now as mentioned earlier I was unemployed this past month. Add this to the fact that baseball season is still a few months away and you have a whole lot of free time for movies. Since I've been counting short films as well, that has bumped up the number a bit.

Now in previous blog entries I've already mentioned the worst damn film I've seen this month/year, just look one previous blog entry down to see. However I haven't really got into what the best of the bunch is. Since I posted my top ten list at the end of last year, I haven't really mentioned what great films I've been watching this year so far. Well I've taken the liberty of rating every film on a scale of 1-10, 10 obviously being the highest. Typically I rate films on a 5 star scale and well I thought this would be easier. To make it even easier still I've put the best films in bold. Now that doesn't mean that a few of the 9/10 films aren't worth checking out.

As you can see a lot of the 10/10 films will seem fairly well known to you. This is because I've revisited quite a few films this year. In fact the first film I've watched this year was a revisited classic on Blu-Ray. So don't assume "Oh my god you're just now watching that?" when it's probably more like my 3rd, 4th, or 5th time seeing it, in some cases far more than that.

Two films I've neglected to rate for different reasons. Star Spangled to Death I watched only the first 3 out of 6 parts. Since the last half of part three had no sound and since the entire picture is still incomplete it doesn't seem entirely fair to assign a rating to it. As soon as I can find the other half of this film I'll get right on watching the rest of it, but well it's not too easy to find. The other film was a making of documentary on Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water which although fine doesn't exactly merit the same type of criticism that even a documentary like Go Further or The Same River Twice would.

You may also take a quick count as to how many damn films I've watched from Jonathan Rosenbaum's top 1000. This list is a pain in my ass and it will continue to be until I conquer it or give up in frustration (temporarily of course). I've found a few great films from this bunch (Blonde Crazy, Matinee, Deep Cover, Unknown Chaplin), and a few films that made me think the man is a bit insane. I'll have you know the first four films I've watched in February are also from this list, so stay tuned for more of that jazz.

Mixing with this, notice January 24th the same day as the Academy Award nominees were announced, are a whole lot of nominated films from this year's Academy hopefuls. As of this blog I still need to see two of the best actress nominees; Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady and Michelle Williams in My Week With Marilyn. To show things coming full circle it's interesting that I watched another film with an actress playing "Marilyn", Nicholas Roeg's interesting if not flawed Insignificance featuring what could have been an Oscar nominated performance from Theresa Russell, but Alternate Oscars is another blog and another book altogether.

Each film is listed by date viewed and next to the film is the year it was released and my rating. I haven't listed directors of the films, so just look up the film and the year if that'll make life easier for you. At the bottom are my little awards for the best and worst of the month.

Although I'll admit I'm obsessive as hell and might need treatment, I'm far from a film snob. You'll see some films bordering on downright trash amongst that bunch, including not one but two Jesus Franco films, gotta shake it up every now and then.

1/01
The General (1927) 10/10

1/02
December 7th (1943) 6/10
Van Gogh (1948) 6/10
Comfort and Joy (1984) 7/10
Sunrise (1927) 10/10

1/3
Fixed Bayonets (1951) 7/10
Background to Danger (1943) 5/10
Brighton Rock (1947) 8/10
L’Ombere Familier/The Familiar Shadow (1958) 4/10
All the World’s Memory (1956) 8/10

1/04
Pastoral - To Die in the Country (1974) 6/10
That Lady in Ermine (1948) 5/10
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) 10/10

1/5
The Public Enemy (1931) 10/10

1/6
A Dangerous Method (2011) 10/10
Kanchanjanga (1962) 6/10
Dancing Girl (1951) 8/10
The Styrene Song (1958) 5/10

1/8
Weekend (2011) 8/10
Star Spangled to Death (1957-2004) n/a

1/9
Annie Hall (1977) 10/10
Edvard Munch (1974) 9/10
Evening Land (1977) 9/10

1/10
Uwasa no onno/A Woman of Rumor/The Crucified Lady (1954) 8/10
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) 7/10
War Horse (2011) 3/10
Dishonored (1931) 7/10
Blonde Crazy (1931) 10/10
Alone. Life Wastes Andy Hardy (1998) 6/10

1/11
The Apple (1998) 7/10
Whispering Pages (1994) 6/10
The Birth of Love (1993) 9/10
Barres (1984) 6/10
Breathless (1959) 10/10

1/12
I’ll Do Anything (1994) 4/10
Oriental Elegy (1996) 9/10
Espoir (1945) 8/10
Coeur De Fidele (1923) 7/10
Child of the Big City (1914) 5/10
I Love Melvin (1953) 9/10

1/13
Love and Death on Long Island (1997) 8/10
Leave ‘em Laughing (1928) 6/10
Two Tars (1928) 8/10

1/14
I Stand Alone (1999) 5/10

1/15
The Tracker (2002) 8/10
Matinee (1992) 10/10

1/16
Carnage (2011) 8/10

Deep Cover (1992)

1/17
6ixtynin9 (1999) 5/10
Deep Cover (1992) 10/10
Hangin’ With the Homeboys (1991) 8/10
The Help (2011) 2/10
Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998) 9/10
Safe Journey (1993) 4/10
The Same River Twice (2003) 9/10

1/18
Rashomon (1950) 10/10
Wise Blood (1979) 8/10
Insignificance (1985) 7/10
Down with Love (2003) 9/10

1/19
George Washington (2000) 5/10
Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control (1997) 7/10
The Second Civil War (1997) 8/10
Go Further (2003) 9/10
Robocop (1987) 10/10
Terminator (1984) 10/10
Nuit et Jour (1991) 8/10

1/20
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) 5/10
Deserter (1933) 8/10
Grapes of Wrath (1940) 10/10

1/22
The Son of Gascogne (1995) 4/10

1/23
Party Girl (1958) 8/10
The Man Who Envied Women (1985) 5/10
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001) 8/10
The Harmony Game: The Making of Bridge Over Troubled Water (2011) n/a

1/24
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011) 5/10
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011) 0/10
These are the Days of Our Lives (2011) 9/10

1/25
Zulu (1964) 8/10
Lord Love a Duck (1966) 6/10
Land of the Pharaohs (1955) 5/10

1/26
The Unknown Chaplin (1983) 10/10
A Better Life (2011) 8/10
Apocalypse Now (1979) 10/10
99 Women (1969) 4/10
The Marquis de Sade and Justine (1969) 4/10

1/27
Bridesmaids (2011) 8/10

1/29
White Hunter, Black Heart (1990) 9/10
Eraserhead (1977) 10/10

1/30
Take Shelter (2011) 6/10
Rundskop (2011) 3/10
Pina (2011) 6/10
Beginners (2010) 8/10

1/31
Reconstruction (1970) 5/10
The Man I Love (1946) 5/10

Best Film of the Month - Apocalypse Now
Worst Film of the Month - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Best New Discovery of the Month - Blonde Crazy

See you in February folks