So, September was good. I watched a solid 28 films, and that's the definition of a good month for me here. As a matter of fact, it's the best month I've had this year. It's surprising, because I expected September to be down from normal.
I'd love to say that October will be all about horror, but it won't be. I might squeeze a few in, but don't expect a lot different from what I've been doing. I'll update the list with new films whenever possible.
Oh, minor milestone, which I didn't announce because I expected the list to expand today. For however briefly, I'm at fewer than 300 to go. Putting up the review of Crash last night pegs me at 299 films left on the current list.
UPDATE!
As stated by Jay Cluitt and confirmed by Chip Lary in the comments below, the 14 additions to the 2012 edition of The Book are:
Senna (2010)
Le Havre (2011)
Shame (2011)
The Tree Of Life (2011)
The Kid With A Bike (2011)
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Drive (2011)
War Horse (2011)
A Separation (2011)
Bridesmaids (2011)
The Descendants (2011)
Hugo (2011)
The Artist (2011)
Thanks for your superior sleuthing skills, gentlemen!
And with that, I'm back up to 310 films to go.
Dammit, I was relying on you to update me with what to add to The List! I can't make it to a bookshop before they shut during the day, so I;ve been refreshing yours and Squish's sites throughout the day, but nothing! Ah well, a few more days won't hurt I suppose. Congrats on the 300 mark, alas I've not yet even reached 800!
ReplyDeleteSo! Roughly a year to go, then? Most excellent. How will you celebrate after your final review? And what will become of this blog? Will you shed it the way a moulting tarantula sheds its exoskeleton?
ReplyDeleteI don't know that bricks and mortar stores will be in a rush to stock the newest book. I would say the rate of having a copy of the last edition in various bookstores over the past year was below 50%. You may have to buy it online to get it.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on getting under 300. I'm just about done with having seen every film that has been added since the first edition...just in time to have a bunch more added.
Thanks, all.
ReplyDelete@Jay--I usually just wait for Squish to update his site. I was hoping to preempt him this time.
@Kevin--Look to the right. See those other pages of Oscar films? They're next.
@Chip--Sadly, you're probably right, and I'm not in any hurry to buy a copy just for a dozen new reviews. What bothered me more than anything was the folks at the B&N acted like they had no idea what I was talking about.
I checked Barnes & Noble's site to see if they had the newest edition, even in a pre-order capacity, and the site didn't have it at all, so maybe B&N technically doesn't know about the new edition yet to order copies for their regional stores, or even their online shop. Certainly nothing to blame the folks who work there, unless they were deliberately obfuscating or something.
DeleteI checked Amazon (U.S.), which is where I picked up the cover image for the wiki. They had had a date of Oct 1 for when it would be available. This morning their entry for it shows they are not even stocking it. They do have links to 4 independent sellers that are carrying it, though.
DeleteWhen I was researching the various editions to nail down the additions/removals in each one, and to maybe acquire a used copy of each, I found that the hardcover and softcover versions are published by two completely different companies and that the paperback one seems to be U.K.-centric. This might explain the very British TTSS on the cover of the 2012 paperback edition. It might also mean that companies in the U.S. that want to sell it will need to arrange to import it. Just a theory.
Chip - I am almost positive that you are correct. The US version is released every 2 years I beleive - the hardcover edition/ I do have a copy of the edition from 2010 with Avatar on the cover - a softcover book that I ordered through the Amazon.com UK site.
DeleteHey, I found a site where someone revealed the new additions to The List. The thread is here:
ReplyDeleteand the films apparently are:
Senna (2010)
Le Havre (2011)
Shame (2011)
The Tree Of Life (2011)
The Kid With A Bike (2011)
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Drive (2011)
War Horse (2011)
A Separation (2011)
Bridesmaids (2011)
The Descendants (2011)
Hugo (2011)
The Artist (2011)
It seems like quite a few to me though, not sure if its legit.
Sorry, the thread is: http://www.listology.com/flogged/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-you-die
ReplyDeleteThat's about right--this list has 14, and I expected between 10 and 15. The average is about a dozen, and there's a lot here that I expected.
DeleteAttached is a blog listing that I ran across from someone in the UK - if you click on the Pdf file you can see the entire updated list. The 14 additions mentioned above appear to be correct.
Deletehttp://blog.matthewhunt.com/2012/09/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die.html
Thanks for the link. The post says there were 15 additions, but I only saw the 14 that we know about in the PDF. By the way, I went through the doc and here are the 14 removals I found:
DeleteThe Pianist (2002)
Distant (Uzak) (2002)
The Best of Youth (2003)
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Paradise Now (2005)
Apocalypto (2006)
Borat (2006)
Once (2006)
Paranormal Activity (2007)
The Hangover (2009)
In the Loop (2009)
Fish Tank (2009)
Monsters (2010)
Four Lions (2010)
The Mel Gibson movies are not a joke. They have been added and removed several times each. I think two sets of critics are used on alternating years and they are fighting over these movies being in or out of this list.
You, sir, rock.
DeleteI'm disappointed to see some of these go. I'd argue to keep The Best of Youth, Paradise Now, Apocalypto, In the Loop, and Four Lions. I'm ambivalent on Monsters. Good riddance to Paranormal Activity and Fish Tank!
Thanks.
DeleteThe only ones I feel a little bad that they went were The Pianist and In the Loop. The Best of Youth is quite good, but it's not a movie and shouldn't have been on the list in the first place (ditto The Decalogue and Berlin Alexanderplatz).
For me it's good riddance to The Passion of the Christ, Borat (God yes), and Paranormal Activity. I haven't seen Distant. The rest I'm okay with them being removed.
Yeah, I agree on The Passion of the Christ--what a reprehensible film.
DeleteI really enjoyed The Decalogue and understand why it's here. I liked the inclusion of Four Lions because it's so extreme in what it does, in such bad taste, and still so enjoyable.
Just a note here as well: the person who posted the PDF at the link above says he made a mistake on it. He says that Paranormal Activity was not removed. It was The Good, the Bad, and the Weird that got deleted.
DeleteWhich means they lost a great, entertaining film and kept a piece of crap. Figures.
DeleteYou mean I have to watch Bridesmaids now?
ReplyDeleteThat was my exact thought.
DeleteCongrats on the hard work Steve! I have been slacking a bit the past couple of months - still 437 down though with 666 to go after adding the latest updates.
ReplyDeleteBy the way - I watched Senna last night on Netflix On Demand - I was really amazed at how much I enjoyed the movie. I consider myself a major sports fan but other than remembering the names of the Formula One drivers shown in the story I had forgotten the exact details of what happened. I was very impressed.
It's funny that you say this. I just paused Senna to check my email and do a few other things.
DeleteI watched Senna yesterday the same way, via Netflix Instant. It had been in my queue for months and I had never gotten around to it. I wonder if someone at Netflix is sitting there saying, "What's with all the activity on Senna all of a sudden?" I liked it, but I did remember what was going to happen. I didn't realize it was that long ago, though.
DeleteI also watched The Kid with a Bike via the link I posted at the wiki, since it's not available in the U.S. A better title for it would have been "The Miserable Rotten Ungrateful Brat with a Bike". Thankfully it was only an hour and a half.
I've got Le Havre coming from Netflix on DVD and that will finish off the 2012 additions for me. (I had already seen 11 of them.)
And here I went into the month with only two seen. The next thing on my queue is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I'm going to try to pick up War Horse from a local library tonight. My goal is to get through all of the new stuff by the end of the year, and I think that's pretty reasonable. Twelve movies, 12-13 weeks left. Of course, if I ever actually went to a theater, I'd have a lot more of these done.
DeleteI'm actually quite interested in a lot of these films, but I had no opinion on The Kid with a Bike since I'd never even heard of it.
The Kid with a Bike was the only one I had never heard of either. I think it's on the list because it was the runner-up at Cannes and it was directed by the Dardennes, who did Rosetta, which is in the book. (I haven't seen Rosetta yet.)
DeleteI saw most of those films already because I do a set of posts on the Oscar nominated films in January and February. Shame was the only one with no Oscar nominations among the 11 I saw.
I didn't see A Separation until it finally came to DVD this August, and that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. I doubt The Kid with a Bike will come to DVD in the U.S. before the end of the year, if ever.
I appreciated Rosetta pretty well, and it sounds like it might have some things in common with The Kid with a Bike. Kid is currently listed, but not available on NetFlix, so I have some hope. I'll probably save it until last.
DeleteSeems like you had a good month of viewing, even if the book you wanted wasn't at the store.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised War Horse (2011) and Le Havre (2011) have been added to the book, those are average cinema in my opinion, and I can think of better ones from 2011, We Need to talk about Kevin & Certified Copy come to mind. As always, a subjective verdict!
I liked The Kid with a Bike, so diagree with Chip on that.
Happy to see Drive, Shame, & Tree of Life get recognition since the Academy were bold enough to give those 3 films zero oscars...
I'm the most disappointed in The Skin I Live In being left out, because that's a great film and it's interesting, innovative, and shocking--all things the editors seem to like.
DeleteI'd have loved to see them include The Muppets even though I knew they wouldn't. And I still think they've missed out on including any of the Harry Potter films, if for no other reason than the significant cultural impact those films have had.
Nice work on getting below the 300 mark. I've had a slow summer of reviews (particularly watching anything on the list). I'm hoping to get to the half-way mark before the new year. Are you planning on saving a particular film for your "final" 1001 list review?
ReplyDeleteThere's a part of me that really wants to end with The Last Picture Show.
DeleteWait a minute,they add movies to this book? So it means they also take out 14 older films from it?
ReplyDeleteYep. Every year they update with new films from the previous year. So the list now totals 1103 that have appeared in at least one edition.
Delete