Film Journal 2012 - February

1/6 of the year is now complete, I know not a great milestone by any stretch, but getting past leap year we are now onto the month of March. There will be a day or two that's incredibly warm, enough to make us think winter is gone forever, then probably one random blizzard that'll last for a day and then voila spring at last. St. Patrick's day will be here soon enough, I plan on seeing Maggot Twat for those that are interested. We also have Spring Training upon us, and by the end of the month I'll be in full baseball mode ready to be hopefully surprised at Chicago's baseball teams which right now look incredibly bad.

The Oscars have come and gone, not too long ago the ceremony took place at the end of March which gave me an extra month to do some research, which usually meant me researching year's past. Now it is past. I've still not adjusted to 2012 in terms of cinema yet. Mainstream releases stay pretty bad this time of year, and in the wake of the Oscars I anticipate a few worthwhile movies starting to hit the smaller venues. I've found a few yet-to-be-distributed films that I'll get started on over the next month or two, after all I don't want to find myself behind the 8-ball when this year is over in trying reach my unnecessary quota.

Since it is March 1st it's a good time to post last month's journal. Part of me wants to wait so that you all get a chance to read yesterday's post which took an absurd amount of time to write, go ahead read it, it's still there, just keep scrolling. That said you might be surprised by at least one of my ratings this month considering how much I bashed Vertigo.

With a few Oscar breaks, the focus of this year remains on the Rosenbaum list, I now have less than 200 films to go, sure nothing to get too excited about, but progress is being made. I expect the next month to continue in this fashion. For no particular reason I decided to watch a ton of Jan Svankmajer films one day, which you'll note below, and also found myself digging a little deeper into Yasujiro Ozu's work. Some good films were unearthed this month, a few extremely good films and a couple revisited classics that have maintained their status as favorites. Even one or two that may have improved a bit.

Citizen Kane is still the greatest film ever, so it seems pointless to say it's my favorite film I've seen this month. There isn't a type-o down there either, I did watch Major League on consecutive days, once by myself and a day later with a group of friends, hell who am I to say no to the greatest baseball film ever made?

I'll blame it on having two fewer days, but I saw about 10 less films this month than last. I'm still on my way to putting up some stellar year end numbers. I've listed Fantomas under the day I finished the final part, rather than put all five parts on the respective days watched. Sure Svankmajer bumped up my total numbers with his short films, but I watched a few shorts in January as well so those are kind of awash. Any comments, questions, or complaints about my particular ratings I'm more than willing to hear you out. So I'll just shut up and do the posting.

2/1
The Newton Boys (1999) 8/10
Hamlet (2000) 10/10
The Scent of Green Papaya (1993) 7/10
Public Housing (1997) 10/10

2/2
Up Down Fragile (1995) 10/10
Mikey and Nicky (1976) 8/10

Best New Discovery of the Month

2/3
Forbidden Zone (1980) 9/10
Mystics in Bali (1981) 2/10
Iceman Cometh (1989) 7/10

2/6
Divorce Iranian Style (1998) 9/10
New Rose Hotel (1999) 5/10
Close My Eyes (1991) 7/10
All About Eve (1950) 10/10
The African Queen (1951) 9/10

2/7
Filming Othello (1978) 9/10
Chunhyang (2000) 5/10
The Cat’s Meow (2002) 8/10
Behind the Screen (1916) 5/10
A Married Woman (1964) 7/10
Modern Romance (1981) 8/10

2/8
The Iron Lady (2011) 3/10
Le Havre (2011) 9/10
Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1975) 9/10
That Night’s Wife (1930) 8/10
The Birth of a Nation (1915) 10/10
Major League (1989) 10/10

2/9
Rock a Baby (1958) 6/10
India (1959) 6/10
Snatch (2001) 7/10
Major League (1989) 10/10

2/10
*Corpus Callosum (2002) 9/10
Stoopnocracy (1933) 8/10
Defending Your Life (1991) 10/10
Besieged (1998) 4/10

2/12
Citizen Kane (1941) 10/10

2/13
Vertigo (1958) 7/10
The Graduate (1967) 10/10

2/14
The Philadelphia Story (1940) 10/10

2/15
Two Weeks in Another Town (1962) 7/10
Life is Sweet (1991) 8/10
The Castle of Otranto (1977) 7/10
Passing Fancy (1933) 7/10
The Discipline of DE (1982) 8/10
Jammin’ the Blues (1944) 8/10
Gimme Some Truth (2000) 6/10

2/16
Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasia in G-moll (1965) 5/10
Manly Games/The Male Game (1988) 8/10
Historia Naturae (1967) 6/10
The Ossuary (1970) 7/10
Don Juan (1970) 8/10
The Last Trick (1964) 6/10
Darkness Light Darkness (1989) 10/10
Pistol Opera (2001) 6/10
Topaze (1933) 8/10

2/17
Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941) 8/10

2/18
The Room (2005) 5/10

2/19
On the Waterfront (1954) 10/10
Bombshell (1933) 9/10

2/20
The Searchers (1956) 10/10
Psycho (1960) 10/10

2/21
The Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947) 6/10
A Hen in the Wind (1948) 7/10
Tokyo Story (1953) 10/10

2/22
My Week With Marilyn (2011) 3/10
The Adventures of Tintin (2011) 8/10
Wayne’s World 2 (1993) 8/10

2/23
The Mother of Tears (2007) 4/10

2/24
Aerograd (1935) 7/10
The Lady Without Camelias (1953) 8/10
Les Annees 80 (1983) 9/10
11 x 14 (1977) 8/10

2/25
The Nativity (1910) 6/10
The Dwarf (1909) 5/10

2/26
Frankenstein (1931) 10/10

2/27
99 River Street (1953) 10/10

2/28
Fantomas (1913-1914) 9/10
Puissance de la parole(1988) 5/10
LMNO (1978) 9/10
Orpheus (1950) 10/10

2/29
Chameleon Street (1989) 6/10
Hammett (1982) 7/10
Ivan (1932) 8/10
1984 (1984) 8/10

Best Film of the Month - Citizen Kane
Worst Film of the Month - Mystics in Bali
Best New Discovery of the Month - Up Down Fragile