January Summary

I've decided to do summaries of films watched for a month on the last day of the month as opposed to the first day of the next. This is one of the changes I'm going to implement in the monthly summary post. Anyway, here's everything:

Changes Made to the Summary Pages for 2010:
1. The summary page for the month will be posted on the last day of the month after all movies have been watched for that month.
2. I will no longer include the "The rating links to my review and the title itself links to the IMDb page for the movie." line as I never used those links anyway. The month summary link at the top of these posts serves pretty much the same purpose.
3. I will include three movies for each of the lesser categories. The other categories will remain at two entries.
4. There will be voting updates at the end of each summary page, as necessary. However, starting now, the appropriate blog entries will not be changed, leaving the critique with the old score. An addendum to the critique will be added that notes the change, though.
5. There will be some notes on what I thought about the movies watched that month along with another section on what I want to accomplish in my movie watching for the following month.

January Summary

08/10 - Up in the Air
09/10 - Chinatown
07/10 - The Hangover
06/10 - Crazy Heart
09/10 - Moon
05/10 - A Serious Man
07/10 - American Beauty
06/10 - Blue Velvet
08/10 - American History X
09/10 - Inglourious Basterds
07/10 - Mulholland Dr.
06/10 - Blow
05/10 - Brick
04/10 - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
06/10 - Ghost Busters
04/10 - Lost in Translation
09/10 - Casino
10/10 - Ferris Bueller's Day Off
09/10 - Alien
08/10 - Aliens
07/10 - The Terminator
09/10 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Quick Facts:
Movies seen in January: 22
Time spent watching movies in January: 2693 minutes (44 hours, 53 minutes)

Best Movie Seen (Overall):
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
This is my favorite movie ever so it's going to be number one in lots of stuff. I think it's perfect and I gave tons of reasons why I love it in my comments.
Runner-up: Inglourious Basterds
[Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Inglourious Basterds were repeated viewings.]
[Note: These two films will not be included in the next two rankings.]

Best Movie Seen (First Viewing):
Moon
Moon barely edges out Casino. Both are amazing films but I think Moon raises some really deep questions while also being incredibly entertaining. And it does all this with really only one "character" which is crazy.
Runner-up: Casino

Best Movie Seen (Repeated Viewing):
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
This is one of my favorite movies. I love the over-the-top action of it and the crazy good (especially for 1991) special effects. It's almost a perfect action movie.
Runner-up: Chinatown

Worst Film Seen:
Lost in Translation
Yep. Lost in Translation was the worst film I saw this month. And that's not because it was the worst in a group of all amazing movies - it was because I genuinely didn't think it was well done. I also realize that hardly anyone thinks this way, but it just ground me the wrong way.
Runner-up: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Most Surprising Film Seen:
Moon
Without a doubt it was Moon. Moon blew me away with it's quality everything. No aspect was terrible in the movie. Further, I wasn't really expecting the type of movie it was but it was amazing at what it turned out to be.

First runner-up: Casino
Second runner-up: American History X
Casino loses to Moon again - and again just narrowly. Casino I was expecting to be a weaker Goodfellas but instead got an amazing story from start to finish. I think it was also De Niro's best role ever. As for American History X, I was expecting some edgy film with little substance. Instead I got a pretty good story with great performances all around. I was pleasantly surprised.

Most Disappointing Film Seen:
Lost in Translation
This has to Lost in Translation. I was expecting a deep movie wound around two incredibly well developed characters. Instead I got a rubbish movie that wanted to be too artsy but one that had pretty good acting.

First runner-up: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Second runner-up: Ghost Busters
I expected more from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I really wanted to like it before I began it but it turned into a picaresque with crazy drug scenes. In between these moments was pretty much nothing. Ghost Busters disappointed me in quite a few ways which I detailed in my comments. It was still a good movie but some of the characters seemed rushed or halfway done and it hurt the overall product.

Most Enjoyable Film Seen:
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
This is my favorite movie ever so it's no surprise it takes this award. There's something to be laughed at on each and every viewing in this film. I absolutely love it form start to finish. It's essentially flawless.

First runner-up: Inglourious Basterds
Second runner-up: Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Inglourious Basterds seems to me to be a movie about loving to watch movies. Tarantino throws in so many little things that's impossible to hate it. It's fantastically made with memorable characters and is a blast to watch. Terminator 2: Judgment Day features some of the most over-the-top and crazy action sequences from recent films. It's so well made and holds up to the test of time amazingly well. I don't know what number viewing this is but each and every one is great.

The Film More People Need to See:
Moon
Moon kind of slid under the radar with an awkward release date of I think mid-August. That's a shame because it presents an amazing tale that encapsulates the mind. Sure it's not for everyone and not everyone will enjoy it, but I still think it's worth a watch if you even remotely like the sci-fi genre.

First runner-up: Mulholland Dr.
Second runner-up: Chinatown
Two noir thrillers end this list but for different reasons. Mulholland Dr. takes your brain and turns it to putty while you're watching it. It's doesn't make any sense until a few days later when you're still thinking about it, trying to put pieces together. Not many movies can make that claim. Chinatown deserves to be seen because it is one of the best movies of its type ever made. It features a bizarre story that is incredibly engaging along with the incredible acting of Jack Nicholson.

Best Scene Seen:
Ferris Bueller's Day Off - the museum and parade sequence
I gave a whole paragraph why I believe this sequence of events constitute the best in film cinema. Specifically the parade sequence which is stunning and can cheer me up in a heartbeat. Watching these scenes I am in cinema bliss.

First runner-up: Inglourious Baseterds - the opening chapter, "Once Upon a Time... in Nazi-occupied France"
Second runner-up: Crazy Heart - when Tommy Sweet sings with Bad Blake on stage
The opening chapter in Inglourious Basterds is really one of the best scenes in modern movies. But placed against Ferris Bueller's Day Off, it has to come in second. The Morricone music, the palpable tension, the great acting, everything about this opening is simply phenomenal. I love it. As for Crazy Heart's scene, this is the highest quality scene in an otherwise "just good" movie. Nobody seems to be acting here during this time as Colin Farrell and Jeff Bridges seem to become their characters during these few moments.

Voting Update:
No voting update this month.

January Comments:
School hasn't started back up really so I was able to get in 22 movies. That number probably won't be matched for quite some time so I had a good selection of stuff to go over this month. I tried to mix it up and see some old classics along with some newer stuff from the late 2000s. I began watching some of the "Oscar bait" movies in Crazy Heart and A Serious Man and wasn't that impressed on either of these fronts. Moon, though stunned me, while Inglourious Basterds stayed great on it's second viewing.

February Outlook:
The Oscar nominations are announced on February 2, so I'll probably make a post about them and what I want to do. As it stands, I want to see every Best Picture nominee (all ten of them) and I think I've gotten around three done already, maybe more. So for February my goal will be to see the rest of these, or at least as many as I can before the Oscars in March. Next, I want to maybe watch some Hepburn movies I've been meaning to get around to (in the spirit of Valentine's Day and that, this would be checking out romantic comedies, I guess). Finally, I want to see at least ten movies this coming month. Really that's not a lot, but I fear school will pick up really soon so it might pose a large number. We'll see.