Monday, December 21, 2015

Recapping Steve’s Selections for 2015

As you may know Steve Honeywell at 1001plus and I selected twelve films for the other to watch and review in 2015.  We have completed those and so I am doing this post to recap and rank those selections.  I have also included links to Steve’s twelve reviews of the films I picked for him.

Steve’s Selections - ranked:

1.      The Orphanage (2007) – 5 stars

If you had told me going in that a horror movie would end up being the one I picked as the best I would have had a lot of doubts.  As it turns out, The Orphanage is far more than “just a horror film.”  In addition to having great suspense, it has fully developed characters, a terrific story, and a reveal that I did not see coming.   My review.

2.      The History of Future Folk (2012) – 4 stars

This one was the most fun of the twelve.  It may be too “weird” for some, or too nice for those who are grumps, but for everyone else it should bring lots of smiles to your face.  My review.

3.      The Train (1964) – 4 stars

There is some great action as Burt Lancaster tries to stop a Nazi train loaded with valuable and historic art from making it to Germany, while also avoiding attacks from the Allies.  My review.

4.      My Favorite Year (1982) - 3.5 stars

Peter O’Toole carries this film and it rests entirely on his shoulders as he plays a version of Errol Flynn in the 1950s who is supposed to appear on a TV show and whose drinking and womanizing causes lots of havoc for them.  My review.

5.      The Changeling (1980) - 3.5 stars

There is some great suspense in this movie as George C. Scott moves into a haunted house.  The ending is a little too over the top for the rest of the film, but it’s a good journey before that.  My review.

6.      Seven Psychopaths (2012) - 3.5 stars

This is a very “meta” movie – perhaps the biggest example I’ve seen since Adaptation (2002).  A character reveal is pretty obvious, but it doesn’t detract from the film.  My review.

7.      I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Okay (2006) – 3 stars

This is a sweet, albeit off-kilter love story that is let down some by an ending that is not very clear.  Reading up on it afterwards showed me that if I had understood what the director was trying to convey then I would have liked it a lot more.  My review.

8.      The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) – 3 stars

There is some great cinematography in this, especially with the opening scene of a train at night.  The story could use some trimming, with less time spent on fringe characters.  My review.

9.      Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984) – 3 stars

As you might expect there are tons of great fight scenes in this martial arts film.  They even had some pole fighting styles and weapons that I had never seen in a movie before.  My review.

10.  Auto Focus (2002) – 3 stars

This is a perhaps more fictional than true look at the life of actor Bob Crane from his rise to stardom on Hogan’s Heroes to his still as yet unsolved murder in the late 1970s.  In between is lots of filmed sex with groupies and swingers.  My review.

11.  Jesus Camp (2006) – 3 stars

This is an unvarnished look at what far Right Christians do to indoctrinate their children into their core beliefs.  It’s a little sad when you realize how messed up it’s going to make some of these kids as they get older.  My review.

12.  Elevator to the Gallows (1958) – 2.5 stars

This was the only one I did not give a recommendation rating to, although it still works out to “it was okay”.  I’m in the minority in not liking it.  It just didn’t connect with me and I didn’t know why at the time I reviewed it.  Thinking back now I believe it’s because it started with the heist.  While that was different for a noir and probably got it some praise, it didn’t allow me to connect with the characters since there was no build up or getting to know them.  The result, for me, was that I didn’t much care what happened to them.  The film still had a good impression on me in some areas, especially the jazz score from Miles Davis.  My review.


And here are the ones I chose for Steve and his reviews of them (click on the titles):

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)


Finally, Steve and I have agreed to continue this for 2016.  We’ve each chosen twelve more films and we’re taking a few more chances this time.

Here are the ones Steve selected for me:

The Collector (1965)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002)
Nighthawks (1981)
Quadrophenia (1979)
Rollerball (1975)
Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
Stake Land (2010)
Testament (1983)
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969)
Went the Day Well? (1942)

Here are the ones I picked for Steve:

Another Earth (2011)
Departures (2008)
House of Flying Daggers (2004)
Incendies (2010)
Iron Sky (2012)
Ondine (2009)
The One I Love (2014)
Ruby Sparks (2012)
Scotland, PA (2001)
Stoker (2013)
The Way We Get By (2009)
Widow’s Peak (1994)

Monday, December 14, 2015

Steve’s Selections #12 – I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Okay (2006)

We have come to the last of twelve movie selections Steve Honeywell at 1001plus has made for me for 2015.  This one is I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Okay, a South Korean film that is decidedly different.  When Steve finalized his list this was one selection I had never heard of, but the title alone amused me so going in I was predisposed to like it.  I have to admit that I was undecided on it while watching until it had, of all things to encounter in a Korean film, a yodeling section that was simultaneously funny and touching.  (Don’t worry, it makes sense in the context of the film – well, as much sense as anything else.)  I ended up liking this movie, although the ending was a letdown until I read up on it afterwards (more on that below).

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

I Finished Watching All the Oscar Best Picture Nominees

I need to qualify the title of this post: one nominee (1928’s The Patriot) is presumed to be lost and another nominee (1934’s The White Parade) exists only as a single copy in the UCLA film archive.  Reportedly, if you arrange an appointment and physically travel there they will allow you to watch it – not a very practical way to see a movie.  I have seen the other 518 (as of this writing) nominees that can be watched.

I started this effort a few years ago after completing the 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list.  Actually, that’s sort of misleading.  I partially started long before that. 

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

November Movie Status

In the month of November I saw 24 new films, plus re-watched 1 film, plus watched three seasons of one TV show and one season of another.

I had a lot of time to devote to watching movies, if I chose, in November because I had most of the month off.  As it turns out I had a more even mixture of activities.  And I did watch a bunch of TV show seasons, so that took time away from movies.

As I write this I have seen 499 of the 520 Oscar Best Picture nominees.  (Had I looked for the number yesterday I would have found a way to squeeze one more movie in before the end of the month, but oh well.)  Two of those nominees do not exist to watch, so I have 19 left to finish them off.  They are all from the 3rd through 8th Oscar ceremonies (Nov 1930 to 1936). 1935 and 1936 had twelve (!) nominees apiece; 12 of the 19 films I have left are from those two years alone.  My goal is to get all 19 done this month so I can end the year on a high note.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

In Defense of the Movie Tomorrowland (2015)

Note: this is a revised and expanded version of the comments I left on Letterboxd after seeing this film a few weeks ago.

Back in 1999 parents were crying out for a well done animated movie they could take their kids to, one that wasn't incredibly stupid and/or made primarily to sell toys.  Brad Bird answered that call and came out with The Iron Giant. The result?  It was a blip at the box office and quickly went to video.  I saw it when it came to VHS and loved it.  I couldn't get anyone to watch it, though.  “No singing?  No toys for my kids to play with?  What kind of animated movie is that?”

Friday, November 13, 2015

Orphan Black

I still owe a post on the movie Tomorrowland, but I’ve just spent the last three days watching all three seasons of the BBC America show Orphan Black and I was so blown away by it and its star Tatiana Maslany that I had to write about it.

For some of you reading this I’m very late to the party because it has been airing since 2013.  For the others, though, I’d love to say, “Just take my word for it and watch it” and let you go in knowing as little as possible so that you could get the full effect of it.  Unfortunately, that would both make for a very short post and also likely cause some people to shy away from it.

Picture the following scenario: it’s late at night on an empty train platform.  You’ve just finished a phone call and notice one other person in the distance, their back to you.  Out of curiosity you walk towards them and notice they are acting oddly.  They take off their expensive shoes and jacket then finally turn towards you.  This person has your face.  As you stand in stunned disbelief this person calmly steps in front of a moving train, killing themselves.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Steve’s Selections #11 – Auto Focus (2002)

We have come to the eleventh of twelve movie selections Steve Honeywell at 1001plus has made for me.  This one is Auto Focus, a look at 15 years in the life of actor Bob Crane who is best known for his starring role as Colonel Hogan on the TV show Hogan’s Heroes, and for being the victim of a still unsolved murder.  Not as well known is that he was an early adopter of video camera and video tape technology which he then used to record himself having sex with any number of female fans.  This movie delves into that quite a bit.  From listening to the separate commentary tracks from both the director and the two main actors it’s apparent that they saw Bob Crane in completely different lights.  The result is a mixed view of the man.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

October Movie Status

In the month of October I saw 27 new films, plus re-watched 2 films, plus rewatched a season of a TV show.

After watching a whole bunch of Oscar Best Picture nominees in September – enough to get me within range of being able to finish them off in October – I didn’t watch a single one this month.  I actually noticed on the 20th that I had only seen a total of two films so far in October.  I took a look and just didn’t have any desire to dive back into the Oscar nominees again.  I don’t know why.

Instead I saw that the movie this month for Steve’s Selection also happened to be on the 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die list put out by the same people who do the 1001 Movies books.  I knew that among the six genre lists Horror was one I had more left to see for than, say, Action or Sci-Fi.  I’ve always felt watching horror movies in the month of October was a cliché and I’d avoided it in the past, but I decided to get off my high horse and get with the masses this year.

I figured I’d get some of the gorefests out of the way, sort of an “eating my broccoli” approach (except I doubt any of these movies were good for me.)  Once I did that I decided why not watch the earlier entries on the list, ones from back before they were putting gore in movies.  That then led to me just trying to knock off as many as I could, usually in sittings of several at a time.  One of the advantages of doing these is that they were almost always less than 90 minutes long.

The result of this work is that while I started the month with 27 entries to see I’ve now got only four films left to finish off the 101 Horror Movies list – better than Action (12), Cult (18), Gangster (28), Sci-Fi (16), and War (26).  I may watch three of those four and then just wait for the last one to come to me someday from Netflix (The Bad Seed).  Even then I won’t be done with horror movies, though, since there are several others on the Cult list.

As I sit here and write this I do feel a lot more energy and interest in working on the 101 genre lists, and not much interest at all in the 35 remaining Oscar Best Picture nominees.  On the other hand, having a goal of completing the Oscar films by the end of the year would be good because I’ve set them aside before and it took me the better part of two years to pick them up again.

One thing that will help is I will have a reduced work schedule in November so that will leave a lot more time to watch movies, if I want to.

Here are the 27 films I saw in October.  Ones I would recommend (give at least a three star rating to) are highlighted.

Oscar (0):

101 Genre (24): The Orphanage (2007), The Brood (1979), Cannibal Holocaust (1980), Friday the 13th (1980), The Beyond (1981), The Golem (1920), White Zombie (1932), Island of Lost Souls (1932), The Old Dark House (1932), The Tingler (1959), Drunken Angel (1948), Carnival of Souls (1962), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), The Devil Rides Out (1968), Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), Blacula (1972), The Last House on the Left (1972), Deathdream aka Dead of Night (1974), Deep Red (1975), The Howling (1981), Re-Animator (1985), Hellraiser (1987), Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)

Other (3): Black Dog (1998), Inside Out (2015), Tomorrowland (2015)

Re-Watches (2): Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Back to the Future Part II (1989) – you should all know why.


The Orphanage (2007) – This was Steve’s Selection for October.  It is a truly great film.  You can read my review of it here.   5 stars

Black Dog (1998) – I happened to run across this while skimming channels.  I missed the beginning, but with this kind of film it took maybe 45 seconds to figure out what was going on.  There are some decent crash scenes, but the villain is just silly.   2 stars

The Brood (1979) – Way too much psychobabble, way too little suspense.  Not one of Cronenberg’s better efforts.   2 stars

Cannibal Holocaust (1980) – Much like Snakes on a Plane or Hobo with a Shotgun you don’t need to wonder what to expect from a film titled Cannibal Holocaust.  I watched this just to check it off from a movie list to complete.   1 star

Friday the 13th (1980) – For a long time this was probably the most famous film that I had never seen.  I’m not sure what that might be now.  This had the typical set of too-dumb-to-live teenagers.  Nice reveal on the killer, but not enough to save the movie.   2 stars

The Beyond (1981) – Is it a demonic possession film? Yes. Is it a haunted house film? Yes. Is it a satanic film? Yes. Is it an animal terror film? Yes. Is it a creepy crawly film? Yes. Is it a zombie film? Yes. Is it a gorefest? Yes.  Is it a really bad movie? Yes.   1.5 stars

The Golem (1920) – It's a little tough to know how to interpret this film. Was it made by Jewish people and all the fantastic powers given to the Jewish rabbi were hyperbole and artistic license or was it made by non-Jews and it's incredibly anti-Semitic?  In this film we see a rabbi practicing black magic, summoning a demon, creating illusions that can kill, etc. The golem is an old Jewish legend, of course - a man fashioned out of clay to protect the Jews, but that can also bring great ruin on them. What little I know of the legend had nothing to do with demons and the dark arts, though - it was not evil because of its origins; it was simply stupid and literal so if you set it to doing a chore it would keep doing it even if it knocked down the entire house.  Regardless, this film is engaging and the breaks between the five chapters are well placed to keep the viewer wanting more.   3 stars

White Zombie (1932) – This clocks in at not much more than an hour, but even at that length it was kind of slow and boring. Other than lots of piercing stares by Bela Lugosi there's not much in this movie that makes an impact. In fact, the most lasting thing about it is probably that it gave Rob Zombie the name of his first band.  Oh, and you've got to love the main setting being a huge stone castle high on a rocky cliff....in Haiti.   2 stars

Island of Lost Souls (1932) – This movie is really dark in tone. Combine that with several things either overt, or heavily suggested, and there is no way this film gets made a year later when the Production Code finally gets enforced full time.  Laughton is very fey in the role of Dr. Moreau. I'm not exactly sure what he was going for, except maybe that was the way "decadent" was communicated out to audiences at the time.  And any fan of Devo should see this movie. "Are we not men?!"   3 stars

The Old Dark House (1932) – This was interesting. It takes a very basic concept - a group of travelers seeking shelter from a storm in a large old house with a strange family living in it - and does a lot with it. This movie had to have been the direct inspiration for the opening of Rocky Horror Picture Show. It might also be the first horror film to use the crazy, dangerous family concept. I'm far from an expert on the genre, but off the top of my head I can't think of any earlier ones.  And this is the second 1932 horror film in a row with Charles Laughton in it that I saw.  In this film he's just part of the ensemble - one of the travelers. It was also interesting seeing Gloria Stuart (old Rose in Titanic) in one of her very first roles. She's 21 or 22 and spends much of the movie in a slinky dress and looks great. Boris Karloff yet again wears some intense makeup while playing the mute butler-who's-way-too-scary-to-be-a-butler.   Director James Whale throws in some weirdness and humor - such as having a scene where an elderly man is very obviously being played by a woman.   3 stars

The Tingler (1959) – I'm sorry, but this is a completely ridiculous concept, even for a B movie from 1959. And this film somehow not only made it onto the 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die list, but also the They Shoot Pictures Don't They list for three straight years. Is it a crime against humanity? No, it's just not very good (and not "so bad it's good", either.)   2 stars

Drunken Angel (1948) – This is an earlier Kurosawa film set in (then) present day post-WWII Japan. I immediately recognized Takashi Shimura as the title character - a (probably unlicensed) doctor living in a slum and who has a serious drinking problem. His main patient is a young Yakuza leader who has tuberculosis. I remember thinking at one point, "isn't Toshiro Mifune supposed to be in this somewhere?" It wasn't until after the film was over that I found out Mifune WAS the Yakuza patient. He's quite young and in makeup to make him look like death warmed over.  The story in the film is uneven. It starts out focused on the doctor and establishes his drinking problem, his caustic personality, and his hopeless fight to keep the people in this neighborhood from the many diseases running rampant there. (Hell, they all live around a literal cesspool.)  While we mainly see the doctor there are scenes of the Yakuza man interspersed among them. However, after around an hour the film switches focus over to the Yakuza and the doctor becomes a background character. Both his vices and his crusade are forgotten about. Then for about 20-30 minutes the doctor disappears entirely and we only see the Yakuza. We don't see the doctor again until the end of the film.  I read afterwards that Kurosawa intentionally did this because he liked what Mifune was bringing to the Yakuza role and so shot a lot of footage there that was never originally intended. Unfortunately, this leaves us with an unfocused film.  It's still Kurosawa, though, so that means it's still well worth seeing.   3 stars

Carnival of Souls (1962) – On what is obviously not much of a budget the filmmakers crafted an effectively creepy movie. It relies on the simple things such as big empty spaces and key scenes with a loss of human contact. I wonder if this movie got in trouble when it came out for showing that organ music in a big empty church can be very creepy.   3 stars

Inside Out (2015) – I was a fan of the TV show Herman's Head back about 20-25 years ago. I finally got to revisit it when I watched Inside Out. It's the exact same concept. Just because the movie rips off an earlier concept does not make it bad, though - far from it. Hell, The Incredibles is a rip off of the Fantastic Four and it's hugely entertaining. So is Inside Out.  This is Pixar fully returning to form for the first time since Toy Story 3. I would place Inside Out in the top five movies Pixar has done, which is saying something.  Just a side note: I didn't read IMDB's message boards for the film (because I assumed they'd be insane), but I'd bet a lot of money that some people there are having conniptions over the fact that Anger is male, Joy is a tall, slim, attractive female who doesn't like to think, and Sadness is a short, fat, dumpy, female who wears glasses and is smart.   4.5 stars

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) – I'm guessing that the enduring appeal of this film is based more on the fact that it's the first onscreen pairing of longtime Hammer horror stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee than it is the movie itself. Don't get me wrong: there's nothing particularly dislikable with it. It just doesn't really add anything to the Frankenstein story, other than color photography. All in all I felt it was just okay.   2.5 stars

The Devil Rides Out (1968) – This movie certainly doesn't waste any time getting to the "there's evil about and we've got to stop it!" plot line. And it pretty much stays full bore the entire film, too. They pack about 3 hours of plot into not much more than half that time. That's accomplished by having Christopher Lee constantly spew exposition explaining everything we need to know about the dark arts and how to stop them. He's practically a running narrator for the film. In fact, I was figuring he'd turn out to be one of the evil people, considering he knew so much about what they were doing, but after a while I realized it was just a way to get across what the audience needed to know.  There are some good production values for this Hammer horror film, including several classic 1920's British roadsters that are put to the test during a couple of well-shot chase scenes.
Ultimately, the movie wasn't bad, but it also didn't do much for me.   2.5 stars

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970) – This reminded me of something Jodorowsky might have done, except there were no naked little boys running around. Instead there is a teenage girl who never wears underwear and is occasionally naked, along with a whole lot of sexual and religious iconography mixed together.   1 star

Tomorrowland (2015) – I feel that this movie unjustly got a bad rap when it didn’t do well at the box office last spring.  I wrote a longer than usual review on Letterboxd – about the length of one I would usually post here – so I’ve decided to not try to condense that down for this post, but instead I will do a separate post reviewing Tomorrowland here in a few days.   4 stars

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) – Interesting early 1970s horror movie, although it's more campy than scary. It's actually an early version of Se7en. The Saw movies lifted some key elements from it as well.   3 stars

Blacula (1972) – I went into this film with a smirk on my face and a chuckle already forming. I mean, c'mon - "Blacula"? How can anyone take that title seriously? Then the film started and William Marshall appeared right away. He was a victim of Dracula, cursed to become a vampire himself. He brought a great deal of dignity and presence to this role. So much so that it almost saves the movie. I read afterwards that he had played Frederick Douglass in another production and I could immediately see him in that role.  The rest of the movie is a little goofy, but there is some good music from The Hues Corporation (although not their biggest hit Don't Rock the Boat.)   2.5 stars

The Last House on the Left (1972) – This appears to have been Wes Craven's take on A Clockwork Orange (or further out, The Virgin Spring), at least in part (not enough to get sued, though). It also appears that Haneke had this for inspiration for his film Funny Games.  Neither the brutality with the psychos nor the stupidity with the Sheriff and Deputy (hey, it's that guy from The Karate Kid) did anything for me. Frankly, I'd be worried about anyone who had the brutality scenes work for them.   2 stars

Deathdream aka Dead of Night (1974) – Boy, Vietnam screwed people up more than we thought.  There were long stretches where the returning soldier just sat in a chair as if he had PTSD. I'm guessing this was intended to increase tension wondering when he was going to do something, but after a while it got boring.   2 stars

Deep Red (1975) – This is really more a murder mystery than it is a horror movie. Yes, the deaths are slightly more graphic than the norm for the time, but they wouldn't even get a blink from TV show viewers now, let alone people in a movie theater.  I thought I had the killer figured out because of a pointless scene early in the movie that would only be not pointless if the person in it was the killer, but I was wrong. I guess Argento just wanted to shoot that scene for no apparent reason.   3 stars

The Howling (1981) – Like An American Werewolf in London this film has some impressive (for the time) practical effects in regards to the werewolf transformations. Unfortunately, I couldn't take the one in this film as seriously because Dee Wallace Stone just stands there for minutes apparently admiring the great practical effects work instead of getting the hell out of there. It's a film that is still worth checking out, though.   3 stars

Re-Animator (1985) – Let me just say right off the top: not the strangest sex scene I've ever watched in a movie, but definitely in the top 5.  Cartoonish levels of gore, bad acting, really stupid characters, but also a decent amount of bizarre, goofy fun.   2.5 stars

Hellraiser (1987) – "Hey babe. I'm back from the dead and have sort of reanimated myself by using my brother's blood. Hows about you go out and bring back a whole bunch of other men so you can kill them and I can get more blood to become more human so we can go back to having mass quantities of sex again? Don't worry about how to get rid if their remains, all the clothing you'll ruin from their blood, or the stench they'll leave behind. No one will notice."   "No problem honey. Be right back."   "Oh, and hey, have you seen my hot niece anywhere?"   "Why do you ask?"   "No reason."   1 star

Ju-on: The Grudge (2002) – I saw the remake first, so that took some of the edge off of this when I watched it just now. It still made the hair on my arms stand up in places, though. I did have kind of a problem with the very loud score that played when there was no dialogue. It was pretty obtrusive. Maybe I just got a copy with a bad sound mix on it.   3 stars

Monday, October 12, 2015

Steve’s Selections #10 – The Orphanage (2007)

We have come to the tenth of twelve movie selections Steve Honeywell at 1001plus has made for me.  This one is The Orphanage, one of two horror films he included.  Over the years we have known each other it has been clear that Steve likes the horror genre quite a bit more than I do.  I was a little worried about having not one, but two horror films among the twelve he picked.  However, Steve also knows that I prefer suspense over gore and story over cheap scares, so he did a good job with the first one I watched – The Changeling (1980) – and as it turns out, an even better job with The Orphanage.  This is much more than “just a horror movie.”  It has a great story with a central mystery, but also has a lot of compassion for the characters in it. 

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Book – Driving Heat

Note: This is part of my ongoing reviews of the Castle television show’s seasons, the books written by “Richard Castle”, and some events related to the show.  For the parent post with links to all of these, please click here.

Driving Heat is the seventh Nikki Heat book by “Richard Castle”, the fictional writer on the TV show Castle.  The actual author of these books is speculated to be one of the real authors who have appeared on the show (i.e. Michael Connelly, James Patterson) or one of the show’s creators (i.e. Andrew Marlowe).  Like the first six books, this one has events or plot points similar to things that have happened on the Castle TV show in the prior season.  However, this book may be the most standalone one yet.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

September Movie Status

After the last month and a half of not really watching movies I got back into it in September.  I saw 68 new films, plus re-watched Season 7 of the TV show Castle.

I refocused on the Empire Top 500 Movies list and completed that during the month.  I also discovered that even though I had completed the original Entertainment Weekly Top 100 Films list from 1999 they had published a new one in 2013.  It was quite a bit different, but as it turns out there was only one film on it that I had not yet seen, so I took care of that this month, too.

With the Empire list done I didn’t have a strong feeling for what I should work on next.  I did have an unsatisfied feeling of having left some lists undone when I put them on hold to concentrate on the TSPDT list last year.  Those were the list of all Oscar Best Picture nominees, as well as the six genre specific lists of 101 Movies You Must See Before You Die, which were put out by the same folks that did the 1001 Movies books.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Here are the Official Changes for the 2015 Edition of the 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Plus the Renumbered List

The U.S. Hardcover Edition
The U.K. Softcover Edition


















I received the 2015 edition of the 1,001 Movies book from Amazon today.  Note to anyone else who is thinking of buying it from them: Amazon shipped a two pound, 1000 page hardcover book in nothing but a thin, padded, soft mailer.  The book came all dented in at the corners and looking very much like a used book that had been around for a few years.  I paid full price for a new book and received one in used book condition.  This is similar to my experience buying last year’s paperback volume from Amazon U.K.  I have an email in my Inbox asking for packaging feedback.  You’d better believe I will be giving them some, along with a request to return the book they mailed to me.  I will buy it in a bookstore where I can ensure the New condition of it.

Anyway, on to the important stuff.  There were a total of ten (10) films added in the newest volume.  Eight of them are from 2014 and two from 2013, although one of those (Ida) is really a 2014 film that happened to be shown at some film festivals in 2013.  Eight of the additions received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Documentary, or Best Foreign Language Film.  Of the remaining two one was a box office blockbuster and the other is a decidedly different take on the story of an alien coming to Earth.  Without further ado, here are your ten new films to add to the 1,001 Movies list:

The 10 films added to the list (new numbers):

1168. Ida (2013)
1169. Under the Skin (2013)
1170. Citizenfour (2014)
1171. Leviathan (Leviafan) (2014)
1172. Boyhood (2014)
1173. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
1174. Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
1175. Whiplash (2014)
1176. The Theory of Everything (2014)
1177. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

All are readily available on DVD.  Ida is also streaming on Netflix Instant.  As it turns out, I’ve already seen all ten of them, so I am still at 100% for the 1,001 Movies list.

The 10 films removed from the list (old numbers):

1096. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
1104. Gomorrah (Gomorra) (2008)
1116. The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Bande: Eine Deutsche Kindergeschicte) (2009)
1137. The Tree of Life (2011)
1138. The Kid with a Bike (Le gamin au velo) (2011)
1153. Blancanieves (2012)
1159. Nebraska (2013)
1160. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
1164. American Hustle (2013)
1166. A Touch of Sin (Tian zhu ding) (2013)

Of those ten, Blancanieves is the only one I am a little sad to see go.  All the rest are ones I either didn’t think were that special, or that while I could appreciate what went into making them I didn’t particularly care for them.

New Numbering:

Now, how does this affect the numbering of the list, especially in light of the fact that entries were removed as far back as 2007?

The numbering of the list remains the same from the beginning up to #1095 – Paranormal Activity (2007).  In the book this equates to no changes through page 908.  The subsequent 82 films, which include the 10 additions, do end up with new numbers.

You may remember that for the Tenth Edition it was decided that a new numbering method be employed which tied the list to the physical presentation in the book.  And for those films that had been removed and did not appear in the publication, they would be placed at the end of their years, in the order they had originally appeared. 

Like last year I have redone the 1,001 Movies Tracking Sheet I have so that it has columns for the old numbers and the new numbers.  You can view/download that here.  Remember that the first 1,095 entries’ numbers remained the same, so you do not have to worry about them.

If you just want the new numbers and not the whole tracking sheet then here are the last 82 of 1,177 entries (new number, old number, title, and year).

1096
1097
There Will Be Blood
2007
1097
1098
La Vie en Rose
2007
1098
1099
Into the Wild
2007
1099
1100
Atonement
2007
1100
1101
Surfwise
2007
1101
1102
Bourne Ultimatum, The
2007
1102
1103
No Country for Old Men
2007
1103
1096
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The (Le scaphandre et le papillon)
2007
1104
1105
Hurt Locker, The
2009
1105
1106
Slumdog Millionaire
2008
1106
1107
Dark Knight, The
2008
1107
1108
Let the Right One In (Lat den ratte komma in)
2008
1108
1109
WALL-E
2008
1109
1110
Good, the Bad, the Weird, The (Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom)
2008
1110
1111
Wrestler, The
2008
1111
1112
Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The
2008
1112
1113
Class, The (Entre les murs)
2008
1113
1114
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
2008
1114
1104
Gomorrah (Gomorra)
2008
1115
1115
District 9
2009
1116
1117
Avatar
2009
1117
1118
Education, An
2009
1118
1119
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
2009
1119
1120
Hangover, The
2009
1120
1121
In the Loop
2009
1121
1122
Fish Tank
2009
1122
1123
Inglourious Basterds
2009
1123
1116
White Ribbon, The (Das Weisse Band: Eine Deutsche Kindergeschicte)
2009
1124
1129
Senna
2010
1125
1124
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
2010
1126
1125
Nostalgia for the Light (Nostalgia de la luz)
2010
1127
1126
Black Swan
2010
1128
1127
Inception
2010
1129
1128
Social Network, The
2010
1130
1130
Monsters
2010
1131
1131
Four Lions
2010
1132
1132
True Grit
2010
1133
1133
Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux)
2010
1134
1134
King's Speech, The
2010
1135
1139
Artist, The
2011
1136
1135
Separation, A (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin)
2011
1137
1136
Drive
2011
1138
1140
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The
2011
1139
1141
War Horse
2011
1140
1142
Descendants, The
2011
1141
1143
Hugo
2011
1142
1144
Le Havre
2011
1143
1145
Shame
2011
1144
1146
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2011
1145
1147
Bridesmaids
2011
1146
1137
Tree of Life, The
2011
1147
1138
Kid with a Bike, The (Le gamin au velo)
2011
1148
1148
Cabin in the Woods, The
2012
1149
1154
Wadjda
2012
1150
1149
Amour
2012
1151
1150
Lincoln
2012
1152
1151
Django Unchained
2012
1153
1152
Act of Killing, The
2012
1154
1155
Life of Pi
2012
1155
1156
Les Miserables
2012
1156
1157
Argo
2012
1157
1158
Skyfall
2012
1158
1153
Blancanieves
2012
1159
1162
Gravity
2013
1160
1161
Wolf of Wall Street, The
2013
1161
1165
Great Beauty, The (La grande bellezza)
2013
1162
1163
Blue Is the Warmest Color (La vie d'Adele - Chapitres 1 et 2)
2013
1163
1167
12 Years a Slave
2013
1164
1159
Nebraska
2013
1165
1160
Inside Llewyn Davis
2013
1166
1164
American Hustle
2013
1167
1166
Touch of Sin, A (Tian zhu ding)
2013
1168

Ida
2013
1169

Under the Skin
2013
1170

Citizenfour
2014
1171

Leviathan (Leviafan)
2014
1172

Boyhood
2014
1173

Guardians of the Galaxy
2014
1174

Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
2014
1175

Whiplash
2014
1176

Theory of Everything, The
2014
1177

Grand Budapest Hotel, The
2014


As I make this post the 1,001 Movies wiki is not yet updated for these new numbers, nor for the Books section to include the 2015 edition, but I hope to get to those in the coming days.  I will be letting Peter Stanley and Trevor May know what films to add to their 1,001 Movies Letterboxd lists so that we all stay in sync.