Track the Films You Watch (2007) - Page 85

Greg Layton · 01-01-2008, 11:18 AM

2007 in review:

Megan and I saw 248 movies in 2007. That's roughly a 62% increase over 2006 (155.) If we can manage a 30% increase in 2008 we'll easily break the 300 movie barrier.

We watched 79 movies in theaters in 2007, which is a 247% increase over our 2006 total of 32. I'm guessing this number will go down in 2008 due to the fact that we've moved from Chicago to Grand Rapids and won't have as many indie/arthouse films to attend. I'm thinking 50 is a realistic number to shoot for.

Top 12 2007 first-time viewings (1 per month):
01/13/2007 - Letters from Iwo Jima
02/17/2007 - Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)
03/18/2007 - The Big Sleep
04/16/2007 - Birdman of Alcatraz
05/26/2007 - Waitress
06/02/2007 - It Happened One Night
07/20/2007 - Rescue Dawn
08/24/2007 - Sunset Boulevard
09/29/2007 - In the Valley of Elah
10/19/2007 - Gone Baby Gone
11/17/2007 - Shane
12/09/2007 - Atonement

Sandro · 01-01-2008, 11:31 AM

Yearly Recap

361 films seen, 248 for the first time

21 best films seen for the first time this year (out of

)

Tokyo Story

Best Years of Our Lives

Emperor of the North

M (1931)

Eyes Without a Face

1/2
Rescue Dawn/Little Dieter Needs to Fly

1/2
Pan's Labyrinth

1/2
Face of Another

1/2
Quiz Show

1/2
Isolation

1/2
House with the Laughing Windows

1/2
All About Eve

1/2
Ordet

1/2
Ratatouille

1/2
The Lookout

1/2
Rififi

1/2
The Tin Drum

1/2
Ben-Hur (1959)

1/2
Man on the Flying Trapeze

1/2
Lone Star

1/2

Worst films seen for the first time this year

An American Haunting
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
Black Sleep
Cry_Wolf
Dead Men Walk
Lady in the Water
Stargate
Trog
West of Shanghai
Zombies of Mora Tau

Bill McA · 01-01-2008, 02:14 PM

December Recap Total Seen: 72

Best 1st Time Viewing: Lars and the Real Girl, Bug, Syndromes and a Century, The Face of Another, Tunes of Glory

Also Notable: Factory Girl, Blades of Glory, The Gladiators, Ace in the Hole, Rabbit Moon, Beowulf, Blade Runner (workprint), Un Chant d'amour.

2007 Films

American Gangster (Ridley Scott) (Cinema) 2/5
Beowulf (IMAX 3D)(Robert Zemeckis) (Cinema) 4/5
Blades of Glory (Will Speck, Josh Gordon) (DVD, Library loan) 4/5
Halloween (Rob Zombie) (DVD, Own) 3/5
Hitman (Xavier Gens) (Cinema) 3/5
Lars and the Real Girl (Craig Gillespie) (Cinema) 5/5

2006 Films Viewed in '07

American Hardcore (Paul Rachman) (DVD, Library loan) 2/5
Basic Instinct 2 (Michael Caton-Jones) (DVD, Library loan) 1/5
Breaking and Entering (Anthony Minghella) (DVD, Library loan) 2/5
Bug (William Friedkin) (DVD, Library loan) 4/5
Factory Girl (George Hickenlooper) (DVD, Own) 4/5
Lonely Hearts (Todd Robinson) (DVD, Library loan) 3/5
Syndromes and a Century (Sang Sattawat) (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) (Cinema) 4/5
Ten Canoes (Rolf de Heer) (DVD, Library loan) 3/5

Pre-2006 Films Seen for the 1st Time

4 (2005|Ilya Khrjanovsky) (DVD, Own) 3/5
25 Watts (2001|Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll) (DVD, Library loan) 1/5
Ace in the Hole (1951|Billy Wilder) (DVD, Own) 4/5
April (Aprili) (1961|Otar Iosseliani) (DVD Rent) 3/5
Blade Runner (workprint) (1982|Ridley Scott) (DVD, Own) 5/5
Buffalo Boy (Mua Len Trau) (2004|Minh Nguyen-Vo) (DVD, Library loan) 2/5
Changing Times (Les Temps qui Changent) (2004|André Téchiné) (DVD, Library loan) 3/5
Un Chant d'amour (1950|Jean Genet) (DVD, Own) 4/5
The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khilari) (1977|Satyajit Ray) (DVD, Library loan) 4/5
Cleopatra (1934|Cecil B. DeMille) (DVD Rent) 3/5
The Crusades (1935|Cecil B. DeMille) (DVD, Own) 3/5
The Diary of an Unknown Soldier (1959|Peter Watkins) (DVD, Own) 3/5
The Face of Another (Tanin No Kao) (1966|Hiroshi Teshigahara) (DVD, Own) 4/5
Falling Leaves (Giorgobistve) (1966|Otar Iosseliani) (DVD Rent) 2/5
Fireball 500 (1966|William Asher) (DVD, Library loan) 2/5
Four Frightened People (1934|Cecil B. DeMille) (DVD Rent) 3/5
From Beyond the Grave (1973|Kevin Connor) (DVD, Own) 3/5
The Gladiators (Gladiatorerna) (1969|Peter Watkins) (DVD, Own) 4/5
Hands Across the Table (1935|Mitchell Leisen) (DVD, Library loan) 3/5
Horrors of Malformed Men (Edogawa Ranpo Taizen: Kyofu Kikei Ningen) (1969|Teruo Ishii) (DVD, Own) 3/5
Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969|Kenneth Anger) (DVD, Own) 3/5
Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965|Kenneth Anger) (DVD, Own) 2/5
Love Before Breakfast (1936|Walter Lang) (DVD, Library loan) 3/5
Love Is Better Than Ever (1952|Stanley Donen) (Cable) 3/5
Lucifer Rising (1981|Kenneth Anger) (DVD, Own) 4/5
Man of the World (1931|Richard Wallace) (DVD, Library loan) 3/5
The Man We Want To Hang (2002|Kenneth Anger) (DVD, Own) 2/5
The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970|Basil Dearden) (DVD, Own) 3/5
The Man Who Wouldn't Die (1942|Herbert I. Leeds) (DVD, Library loan) 4/5
Michael Shayne: Private Detective (1940|Eugene Forde) (DVD, Library loan) 3/5
Pastorale (Pastorali) (1975|Otar Iosseliani) (DVD Rent) 1/5
A Peck on the Cheek (Kannathil Muthamittal) (2002|Mani Ratnam) (DVD, Library loan) 2/5
The Princess Comes Across (1936|William K. Howard) (DVD, Library loan) 3/5
Rabbit's Moon (1979 version|Kenneth Anger) (DVD, Own) 5/5
La Ronde (1950|Max Ophüls) (Cinema) 3/5
Scorpio Rising (1964|Kenneth Anger) (DVD, Own) 3/5
There Once Was a Singing Blackbird (Iko Shashvi Mgalobeli) (1970|Otar Iosseliani) (DVD Rent) 1/5
Thunder Alley (1967|Richard Rush) (DVD, Library loan) 2/5
True Confession (1937|Wesley Ruggles) (DVD, Library loan) 3/5
Tunes of Glory (1960|Ronald Neame) (DVD, Own) 4/5
We're Not Dressing (1934|Norman Taurog) (DVD, Library loan) 3/5
Werther (1938|Max Ophüls) (Cinema) 3/5
Winter Kept Us Warm (1965|David Secter) (Cinema) 3/5
Yoshiwara (1937|Max Ophüls) (Cinema) 3/5

Re-Visits

300 (2006|Zack Snyder) (DVD, Own) 3/5
Blade Runner (The Final Cut) (2007|Ridley Scott) (DVD, Own) 5/5
Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965|Otto Preminger) (Cinema) 4/5
Chinatown (1974|Roman Polanski) (DVD, Own) 5/5
Ghost Story (1981|John Irvin) (DVD, Own) 3/5
Hairspray (2007|Adam Shankman) (DVD, Own) 5/5
Help! (1965|Richard Lester) (DVD, Own) 3/5
Ikiru (1952|Akira Kurosawa) (DVD, Own) 5/5
Matthew Hopkins: Witchfinder General (1968|Michael Reeves) (DVD, Own) 4/5
The Milky Way (La Voie Lactée) (1969|Luis Buñuel) (DVD, Own) 4/5
Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven (Mutter Küsters Fahrt zum Himmel) (1975|Rainer Werner Fassbinder) (DVD, Own) 4/5
Raining Stones (1993|Ken Loach) (DVD, Own) 4/5
Tales from the Crypt (1972|Freddie Francis) (DVD, Own) 3/5
The Vault of Horror (1973|Roy Ward Baker) (DVD, Own) 3/5

Brook K · 01-01-2008, 02:59 PM

December Recap

Another epic fail as I fell a few films shy of 300 for the year thanks to holiday travel and other distractions.

Films Seen: 25

Best 1st Time Viewing: After the Wedding (current #1 film of '07)

Honorable Mention: The Threepenny Opera, No Country for Old Men, The Boss of It All, Once

2007 Films (Based on NY/LA Release)
After the Wedding (2006, Susanne Bier) (DVD Rent) - A
Black Book (2006, Paul Verhoeven) (DVD Rent) - B+
The Boss of It All (2006, Lars Von Trier) (DVD Rent) - B+
Flandres (2006, Bruno Dumont) (DVD Rent) - B
I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006, Ming-Liang Tsai) (DVD Rent) - C
Live Free or Die Hard (2007, Len Wiseman) (DVD Rent) - B-
Meet the Robinsons (2007, Stephen J. Anderson) (DVD Rent) - B
My Best Friend (2006, Patrice Leconte) (DVD Rent) - B-
No Country For Old Men (2007, Joel & Ethan Coen) (Theater) - A-
No End in Sight (2007, Charles Ferguson) (DVD Rent) - B+
Once (2006, John Carney) (DVD Rent) - B+
Public Fears in Private Places (2006, Alain Resnais) (DVD Rent) - B
Reign Over Me (2007, Mike Binder) (DVD Rent) - B+
The Simpsons Movie (2007, David Silverman) (DVD Rent) - B
Snow Cake (2007, Marc Evans) (DVD Rent) - B
Superbad (2007, Greg Mottola) (DVD Rent) - B
Time (2006, Ki-Duk Kim) (DVD Rent) - B
You Kill Me (2007, John Dahl) (DVD Rent) - B-

2006 Films Viewed in '07 (Based on NY/LA Release)
Sweet Land (2005, Alim Selim) (DVD Rent) - B+

Pre-2006 Films Seen for the 1st Time
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964, Michael Carreras) (DVR TCM) - C+
Sawdust and Tinsel (1953, Ingmar Bergman) (DVD Rent) - B+
The Threepenny Opera (1931, G.W. Pabst) (DVD Rent) - A-

Re-Visits (All DVD's owned unless otherwise noted)
300 (2007, Zack Snyder) (HD-DVD) - C+
It's A Wonderful Life (1946, Frank Capra) - A
The Searchers (1956, John Ford) (HD-DVD) - A

Commentary (not included in total)
The Searchers (Peter Bogdonovich)

george kaplan · 01-01-2008, 03:14 PM

When Harry Met Sally

My final film of 2007 was our annual New Years Eve watching of this great romantic comedy.

Mario Gauci · 01-03-2008, 12:00 PM

12/30/07: SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS (Enzo G. Castellari and, uncredited, Luigi Cozzi, 1989) BOMB

One of my earliest encounters with “Euro-Cult” cinema was virtually two decades before the term itself came to be coined and it happened via a TV screening of an obscure, Italian-made, comical Arabian Nights fantasy entitled SINBAD AND THE CALIPH OF BAGHDAD (1973) which, unsurprisingly, I haven’t seen again since. Incidentally, while Italians usually dabbled more in Greek mythology than in tales from the 1001 nights – in fact, I would love to revisit both the afore-mentioned SINBAD film and the Steve Reeves version of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1960; which, again, is lost to me in the mists of time) someday – the character of Sinbad featured in at least two other Italian productions I know of – SINBAD AGAINST THE SEVEN SARACENS (1964; with Gordon Mitchell in the lead and which I’ve actually missed out on twice on TV recently) and, naturally, the film under review itself.

Dubbed a “complete disaster” by Euro-Cult expert Marco Giusti, this was originally intended as a 4-part TV mini-series and was to have been directed by Luigi Cozzi (who had previously helmed the two HERCULES movies with Lou Ferrigno) but he had to be replaced due to conflicting commitments. As it happened, incoming director Castellari (whom I’ve met personally while at the Venice Film Festival in 2004) entirely rewrote Cozzi’s script but, despite the considerable budget spent on the production, it was actually shelved for two years before Cozzi was eventually recalled to re-edit Castellari’s rough-cut! Cozzi also shot new scenes – including the entire framework featuring Daria Nicolodi and his own daughter Giada, which purports to pass the following fiasco as a faithful filmization of an obscure Edgar Allan Poe Arabian Nights story! In an unwieldy attempt to bestow on the disparate elements a semblance of cohesion, Nicolodi’s narration was overused to such an absurd extent (covering whole stretches of dialogue between Sinbad and his men) that it was an endless source of irritation for me throughout. Even so, this troubled Italian production, ironically, does not seem to have ever received theatrical release in its native country hence the official English title! Furthermore, Castellari was unaware that the film had actually been completed and released and only learned this when he chanced upon the film in a video store and, understandably, he couldn’t bear watching more than a few minutes from it himself! Incidentally, despite the released version not being Castellari’s “vision”, he is the only director credited (due to contractual obligations) – although the IMDB lists someone called Tim Kincaid as a co-director…but his name does not appear anywhere in the credits of the version I’ve seen!!

John Steiner’s outrageously over-the-top, eye-rolling performance – complete with elongated green fingernail and madly tilted framing – as (what else?) Jafar the wicked Vizier is something that has to be seen to be believed but is, in fact, one of the minimally bright spots in the film; the same applies to the actress playing Kyra, Sinbad’s belated love interest (Stefania Girolami, who was not only director Castellari’s daughter but this actually proved to be her swansong to acting before embarking on a directorial career herself!). Steiner’s muscular female ally Soukra (Teagan) seems only to be there to belittle the former’s would-be infallible plans and does not even have a decent exit of any kind! Future Italian TV personality Leo Gullotta, then, is embarrassing as the aptly named Nadir, a silly wizard/inventor who talks gibberish and is also Girolami’s father.

Lou Ferrigno’s one-note performance in the title role extends only to his perennially bemused facial expression – even when required to play his evil doppelganger – making Sinbad seem unintentionally moronic, never more so than when he impulsively “frightens” Gullotta or when he is made to mouth such utterly terrible lines as “Gosh, you’re sure beautiful” (to a would-be irresistible Amazon Queen) and “No, dice, huh?”. Naturally, Sinbad has a motley crew of followers: a grumpy Viking, a martial arts expert spouting such dubious Confucian proverbs as “When the world around you has been turned upside down, chin up”, a “Prince Charming” named Ali, a Greek cook who is also a hulking coward and, a staple of the peplum genre – the would-be comic relief provided by an irritable (and irritating) dwarf, here stupidly named Poochie! Besides, it’s hard to believe that Alessandra Martines (who plays the kidnapped princess here) went on to become the wife of someone who, at his best, was considered one of the most sophisticated film-makers of his time – Claude Lelouch!; incidentally, she would eventually star in her own cult fantasy franchise – the numerous “Fantaghiro`” series directed by Lamberto Bava!

Listing the film's other tasks would be a Herculean task; suffice it to mention Dov Seltzer’s hideously inappropriate electronic soundtrack, a hilarious sequence in which Sinbad is dropped into a snake pit but eventually escapes by making a rope out of assorted cobras(!) and the cheapskate usage of stock footage lifted from a much earlier peplum, HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN (1964) as just three examples of the seemingly limitless ineptitude at work here; to the film’s credit, it uncannily predates Disney’s wonderful animated feature, ALADDIN (1992), in many respects – not least the appearance of Jafar and the Caliph!

Furthermore, ironically enough, my viewing of this total turd led to my discovery that the Image R1 DVDs SADKO aka THE MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1953) and ILYA MUROMETS aka THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON (1956) are now out-of-print! Actually, I had originally intended to watch SINBAD THE SAILOR (1947) as well during the Christmas period but had to postpone that viewing due to time constraints and unforeseen family events. Ultimately, the two HERCULES movies with Lou Ferroigno were also pretty awful but at least they showed a modicum of imagination and ingenuity at work and were undeniably lots of fun to watch and make fun of; SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS doesn’t even have that mixed blessing to offer its unfortunate viewers.

12/31/07: FLESH + BLOOD [Extended International Version] (Paul Verhoeven, 1985)

This exceedingly unpleasant medieval epic is technically well-crafted though it hardly feels necessary – especially since the plot is nothing special. Unsurprisingly, Verhoeven treats events with unflinching realism – this doesn’t make for entertainment, however, despite a bombastic score from Basil Poledouris. Indeed, watching it, I was reminded of a line from “A Christmas Carol”, which I paraphrase: “There’s more of gory than glory about it”; besides, the unusual emphasis on sex displayed throughout (very typical of its director) proves distracting, to say the least – being incongruous for the genre involved!

Casting is quite good: Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh make a fine pair; Susan Tyrell’s bawdy character is overbearing, however; Euro-Cult favorite Simon Andreu’s presence is surprising; Ronald Lacey is notable as the eccentric priest; Brion James and Bruno Kirby appear as members of Hauer’s gang (the former in love with Tyrell – Hauer’s girlfriend, whom he forsakes for Leigh – and the latter as Andreu’s partner!). There are some scattered moments of compelling drama (the fate of an unlucky novice, for instance) and elaborate action (the imposing-looking but inefficient wooden contraption devised for combat by a young Da Vinci enthusiast) during the course of its not inconsiderable length (which is two minutes longer than the original release version) – but, ultimately, the appropriately-titled FLESH + BLOOD isn’t a film one would be likely to return to often…

12/31/07: THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE (Ron Clements, Burny Mattinson, Dave Michener and John Musker, 1986)

I recall this being released, but I had missed out on it back then; consequently, I’d been looking forward to catching up with it ever since – in view of the subject matter and the distinctive vocal involvement of horror icon Vincent Price in the role of the fiendish Professor Rattigan (it’s ironic, then, that when I finally watched it, his voice was dubbed in Italian!). Anyway, while it was generally engaging and mercifully involved only a handful of songs, I was somewhat let down by it: being only 74 minutes long, the plot was too slight – and obvious – to generate the requisite suspense (still, the way it integrated the kidnapping of a toymaker with Rattigan’s intended takeover of the British monarchy was cleverly done).

While the classic Disney animation style is seldom in evidence (the visuals being flat overall when they should have been stylized), the studio’s penchant for anthropomorphized characters is well up to par. Basil and Dr. Dawson are close enough, at least, to Hollywood’s typical conception of Conan Doyle’s creations (with the sleuthing rodent using logical ingenuity when cornered by his arch-nemesis and even adopting eccentric disguise during his investigation). However, much of the proceedings are stolen by Basil’s amiable hound and Rattigan’s absent-minded bat; the climax involving Big Ben, then, proves to be satisfactorily exciting.

Mario Gauci · 01-08-2008, 05:01 PM

Mike,

You’ve watched a lot of interesting stuff towards the end of last year and it would be a sin to let some of your comments pass by unacknowledged. Therefore:

Re: A nous la liberte (1931)

I haven’t seen this film since it was first released on DVD by Criterion some years ago and it was my one and only viewing of it so far, so I can’t really make a suitable argument here; besides, I’ve discussed Rene` Clair at length on HTF in the past with other forum members. I guess you know of my ambivalent relationship to Charlie Chaplin and, actually, I almost had myself a Chaplin marathon over the Christmas period (what with its being the 30th Anniversary of his death). The fact remains that MODERN TIMES (1936) is my second favorite Chaplin film and Clair himself was flattered that Chaplin had deemed him worthy of inspiration! Still, it’s rather ironic that Clair himself later emulated Chaplin when he tinkered with his own film for a theatrical re-issue and it is this cut version which is available on the Criterion DVD!

Re: The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935)

I know I’ve said this before but it’s still an unfathomable mystery to me what’s keeping Warners from releasing a Biopics Collection…unless the sales figures for THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA (1937) were painfully low, that is!

Re: Portrait of Jennie (1948)

My rating of this one would be more in the region of <