Yes, I am still alive, though this blog is on life support at the moment (and after I left you with a dramatic season ending “list” cliff-hanger, I am incorrigible, the Twin Peaks season 2 of blogs).
Here are my film viewing stats for 2013, if you would like
to review my prior year’s entries, click on these links: 2012, 2010, 2009,
2008. I didn’t do one for 2011, hence wiping that entire year from existence.
If you want to see which specific films I watched or see what I gave each film
on a handy five star scale, or are just stalking me in general, you can check
out my letterboxd profile.
Total # of Films
watched in 2013: 354
First film watched:
Q: The Winged Serpent (1982, Larry
Cohen) (DVD) on 1/2/13
First film watched
theatrically: Rust and Bone
(2012, Jacques Auidard) (Laemmle Playhouse) on 1/11/13
Last film watched:
All the Right Moves (1983, Michael
Chapman) (DVD) on 12/30/13
Last film watched
theatrically: Her (2013, Spike
Jonze) (Arclight Pasadena) on 12/29/13.
That is a huge one film increase from my 2012 total. Factors
to consider when comparing totals of those years: My son was born in February 2012, hence making
film watching slightly less of a priority (slightly); 2012 was a leap year thus
giving me an extra day than 2013; I was also off of work for about four months
in 2012 on parental leave; we had a 10 day vacation to Kauai in 2013. So is
this small increase an accomplishment or an utter failing? You make the call!
Films by decade:
1920s or before:
10
1930s: 14
1940s: 10
1950s: 11
1960s: 28
1970s: 38
1980s: 107
1990s: 20
2000s: 24
2010s: 92
Like last year, I made a goal of seeing at least 10 films
from each decade. Again, the 80’s and this current decade are my most viewed,
and actually increased percentage this year. I’m still working on my 1980s
project which attributes to that. The 1970s, probably my favorite decade in
film history saw the sharpest decline, down 22 films watched compared to 2012.
Films by method
watched:
DVDs: 162
Netflix Instant
Streaming: 59
Blu-Ray: 46
DV-R: 37
Theatre: 25
Streaming/online (not
including Netflix or Amazon prime): 17
Amazon Prime Streaming:
8
Physical media still reigned as my preferred method of
watching films in 2013, with DVDs and Blu-Ray contributing to 59% of my
viewings. However, streaming saw a sharp increase (aided by some free trials of
Hulu Plus and Warner Archive services), at 24% contribution, an increase of
seven percent. Sadly, my theatrically viewing went down yet again, decreasing
by four this year. And I was averaging at least 80 films watched theatrically a year prior to 2012.
Films by number of
times I have watched them:
1st Time Watches:
247
2nd Time Watches:
61
3rd of
more Time Watches: 46
That is an increase of 10 first time viewings over last
year.
By Month:
January: 31
February: 34
March: 34
April: 25
May: 31
June: 33
July: 30
August: 24
September: 23
October: 35
November: 27
December: 27
By Country of Origin:
United States:
208
United Kingdom:
24
Italy: 14
Japan: 11
France: 11
China: 10
South Korea: 10
Russia: 10
Germany: 10
Spain: 10
Mexico: 6
Sweden: 6
Canada: 5
Norway: 4
Denmark: 3
Australia: 3
Chile: 2
Brazil: 2
New Zealand: 2
Poland: 2
Finland: 1
My major focus for film watching in 2013 was to increase the
total of foreign films I watched, so I decided to set a goal of watching at
least 10 films from 10 different countries or regions: Italy, Japan, France,
China, South Korea, Russia, Germany, Spain, Mexico and South America, Scandinavia
(Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland). And I succeeded! Yay!
That said, the United States of America again led the way,
but there was an eight percent decrease of US films watched from 2012. With
that in mind, I decided to set the same goal for myself this year, and actually
include two countries whose cinema history I am sadly lacking experience with:
Iran and India. Also, I am going to expand the regions a little more so that more
countries are included. France will be France/Belgium, China will include
Taiwan, Germany will be Germany/Austria, Spain will be Spain/Portugal, and I
will have the Eastern European countries of Russia, Romania, Poland, and the
Czech Republic enveloped under one region.
Directors with more
than three films watched in 2013:
Pedro Almodovar
(6: Live Flesh, Dark Habits, I’m So
Excited!, Talk to Her, The Skin I Live In, What Have I Done to Deserve This?)
Alfred Hitchcock
(6: Lifeboat, Shadow of a Doubt, Marnie,
The Man Who Knew Too Much (50s), The Trouble with Harry, Torn Curtain)
David Cronenberg
(5: Dead Ringers, Videodrome, Naked
Lunch, M. Butterfly, Crash)
Woody Allen (4: To Rome with Love, You Will Meet a Tall Dark
Stranger, Zelig, Annie Hall)
Sam Peckinpah (4:
Cross of Iron, The Deadly Companions,
Convoy, The Osterman Weekend)
Clint Eastwood
(4: Sudden Impact, Heartbreak Ridge,
Bronco Billy, Unforgiven)
Roman Polanski (4:
Knife in the Water, Rosemary’s Baby,
Repulsion, Carnage)
Steven Soderbergh
(3: Side Effects, Magic Mike, Behind the
Candelabra)
John Ford (3: Wagon Master, Just Pals, Bucking Broadway)
Ki-duk Kim (3: Spring, Summer, Fall Winter…and Spring,
3-Iron, Pieta)
Howard Hawks (3: Today We Live, The Crowd Roars, The Dawn
Patrol)
Ingmar Bergman
(3: Persona, The Passion of Anna, Fanny
and Alexander)
Peter Yates (3: The Dresser, The Deep, Krull)
Alfonso Cuaron (3:
Solo con tu Pareja, Y Tu Mama Tambien,
Gravity)
John Woo (3: The Killer, A Better Tomorrow, A Better
Tomorrow II)
Giancarlo Parolini
(3: Sabata, Adios, Sabata, The Return of
Sabata)
Josef vonSternberg (3: Shanghai Express, The Last Command,
Underworld)
Rainer Werner
Fassbinder (3: Veronika Voss, Ali:
Fear Eats the Soul, Querelle)
8 comments:
Great to see you're keeping up with your film watching, Colonel. Impressive list, I must say. Happy New Year to you and yours, my friend.
The small increase is definitely an accomplishment. Every single additional viewing is an accomplishment, an escape into another world and OH MY GOD I just realized I was about to write something embarrassingly sincere so I'll just say Right On, Man.
You watched 147 more films than me in 2013, and I don't even have kids, so at the very least, you're a better moviegoing than me/I/whatever. That 10 movies for each decade deal sounds like a good way to up my numbers, gonna have to try that.
Anyway, may your new year be filled with quality viewings. My best to the family.
Thanks to both of you for the nice comments and for continuing to sift through the ashes of the once proud and consistently updated blog.
EFC--I tend to give myself some wacky goals, which can get to be a little like homework sometimes, but is totally rewarding and makes me feel like a better cinephile instead of just putting Pee Wee's Big Adventure on for the 10 millionth time (which doesn't sound like a bad idea actually...).
And if my large numbers of films watched makes you feel inadequate for any reason (hey I procreated, why do I need to do anything social from here on out), I have been vicariously living through your horror movie-thons at the New Beverly posts the last two years, wishing I could be there. Maybe one day, hey my son will be 2 1/2 in October, that's a totally appropriate age for that, right?
Impressive yet again, I thought I had seen a lot with 271 in 2013 and that was without working for a few months. Glad to see you blogging, I think you're getting more comments then my blog lately.
Impressive list, Kevin - I enjoy your write-ups a lot - did you ever consider doing film reviews for a living? Just curious...
Narry Borman approves of this commitment to watching "the talkies".
Looks like you had a busy year!
Great posst
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