The count is now 132 films left to review. Based on April and what is left, I'm looking at being done in September, which is pretty much what I figured at the end of last year, just in time for the 10th edition.
My biggest issue right now is staying focused. There are so many films I want to watch that aren't on the list that it's really easy for me to get distracted.
Sounds as if you're in the home stretch. Stay keen.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteApril was my laziest month ever, I only managed to watch a measly five movies! And since I have only 16 left, half of them between 4 and 10 hours in length, I gather things will probably continue to be slow.
I have also cheated a little, watching some non-1001 movies...
It's felt a little like you were itching to try something new recently. I hardly blame you. You've stuck with it for far longer than I have. I'm only 15 months in and already I am looking forward to having it done. The other "issue" is that the fewer we have left, the less and less we can bypass that movie we figure will be annoying as hell. Although I have to say, from looking at what you have left, which is a lot of popular movies, you seem to have done a very good job of "eating your broccoli" before moving on to the dessert.
ReplyDeleteI took a quick pass through what you have left and nothing new jumped out at me for double features, other than multiple movies from the same director. I saw at least three different directors where you could do that. One thought I had was a Paths of Glory/Grave of the Fireflies pairing because of the "effects of war" theme, but each movie is very good on its own and both are depressing, so watching them back to back might be a bit much.
One word of warning: I notice you have not yet done The Story of Women. I just watched that this month. DO NOT read the blurb from Netflix about the movie, either online or on the DVD sleeve when you get it. It contains a massive spoiler. I idly read the DVD sleeve when I got it and it told me what was going to happen with the main character, which didn't occur until about 5 minutes were left in the movie. It killed any suspense and definitely affected how much I got into the film.
@Kevin--hard to call it the home stretch when I still have five months to go, but yeah, I'll take it. Nicolas is really in the home stretch.
ReplyDelete@Nicolas--That's exactly why I got all the long stuff done. I've got two left that approach three hours. I'm hoping to do both in the next two weeks.
@Chip--Heh...we responded at the same time. When I wrote the last response, you hadn't put anything here, so it looks like I ignored you.
ReplyDeleteI have tried to "eat my broccoli" as much as possible. There were a number of films that I was actively fearing, and I've tried to do a couple every month when I could. Where I haven't done well is my ambivalence. There are a bunch of films left that I just don't care about that much, but I've run out of opportunities to ignore them.
I have tried to keep a few back, though--some that I'm really interested in seeing (Targets, for instance) or that I'm excited to watch again (The Princess Bride, Rear Window) that I've held onto so that I can watch them when I really need a morale boost.
"it looks like I ignored you."
DeleteI cried for a little while, but I got over it. (kidding)
I just watched The Spirit of the Beehive and I was going to recommend a double bill with Heavenly Creatures, but I checked and you had already seen Beehive. Oh well.
I saw Targets a week or so ago. I liked it. Perhaps some of the ones you feel ambivalent on are ones that I think are good. I've gone through your remaining films and these are the ones I think are the best of what you have left (skipping the ones you have already seen, but not reviewed, and the 21 of your unseen that I have not seen yet either):
Dramas:
Paths of Glory
Head On
Grave of the Fireflies
The Barbarian Invasions
Just Plain Fun:
Good Bye Lenin!
Clueless
Pretty Woman
Meet the Parents
Other:
The Thin Blue Line (documentary)
The Double Life of Veronique (fantasy or artistic license)
The Last Seduction (noir)
Drowning By Numbers (dark comedy - watch the numbers from 1 to 100 appear in the movie as it goes along)
These aren't the only ones I like; I'd recommend many more, but I wanted to keep it to a reasonable number.
Most of these are ones I'm actively looking forward to seeing, or am at least interested in. Meet the Parents is the lone exception, since I've never been much of a Ben Stiller fan. But we'll see.
DeleteI think I'm due to get Head On in the mail tomorrow.
Keep on being an inspiration to me, Steve. Love your reviews, love how dedicated you are.
ReplyDeleteAND I'll add that if you want to watch non-1001 movies, I think you SHOULD. Take a break if it's what you really want to do, watch other films! I look at this as a hobby, not work, and it should never feel like work. If it feels like work, I'm doing it "wrong." I'm doing a disservice to a movie if I watch it only because I feel like "I need to watch a movie today." My mental state won't be in a good or accepting place, and I'm far more likely to be annoyed with a film if I feel like I'm forcing myself to watch it just to "check one off tonight." All movies deserve my open opinion, and I should give everything a fair shot.
Anyway. Sorry, stepping off the soap box. That's just my opinion, or at least how I'm approaching this whole 1001 Movies Blogging thing. To each his (or her) own, of course.
No, I'm with you. That's why there are days every month with no update, and why I sometimes toss up a horror film review or a non-List Oscar film. I also watch films most weeks that don't show up here.
DeleteBut, there are always going to be films that feel like homework, and I've done my best to get through as many of those as possible. It's just the nature of things--if I want to say I've watched everything on the list, it means watching ones that I don't really have an interest in seeing (but some of those turn out to be some of my favorites).