365 Films in 365 Days

Upon inspiration from Rhys' thread, I thought I might start a daily movie thread of my own. I've seen my share of movies, but there are a lot of good ones I haven't watched, so I'm hoping that I could use this thread as a motivation to get me watching. With the coming of the new year, I'm hoping this would start as an annual movie marathon for me.

I'll be updating both this thread and letterboxd account. I won't be posting my entire history of movie-viewings here, only the ones that I've started watching recently, but if you want to take a look at my entire record, my letterboxd account is http://letterboxd.com/johnwolff/

So, without further ado, here's the list of movies I've watched throughout December. Much like Rhys, I'll be posting each day one movie I've watched, sometimes more than one depending on my schedule. And much like Rhys' thread, you could feel free to drop your recommendations if you want, but just know that I'm a fussy movie-viewer. :P

December 2014

8th December - Curse of Chucky
10th December - Nightcrawler
12th December - The Babadook
13th December - Oculus
16th December - The Incredibles, Jack Jack Attack, Toy Story
17th December - Mulan, Finding Nemo, Predators, Toy Story 2, The Fly (1986), Speed
18th December - Casino Royale (2006), Back to the Future, Toy Story 3

19th December - Tropic Thunder, Dawn of the Dead (2004) Director's Cut, Ghostbusters, Toy Story Toons (Hawaiian Vacation, Small Fry, and Partysaurus Rex), Toy Story of Terror, Toy Story That Time Forgot

20th December - You're Next, The Bourne Identity, Robocop, Crank
21st December - Mad Max, Basic Instinct
22nd December - Natural Born Killers, Dirty Harry, Caché

Total Films Watched in:
December 2014: 58

Total Short Films Watched in:
December 2014: 9

Current Film Total: 954

Start of January Entry

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“It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so ****ing what." - Stephen Fry, The Guardian, 5 June 2005

Despite its over-the-top nature that sometimes stretches the suspense of disbelief, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is a beautiful (and fun) love letter to Asian cinema, including anime, samurais, and kung-fu


First Blood
Aside from a few over-the-top silliness that comes with '80s action movies, First Blood is a gritty action flick much darker than your standard shoot'em up.

Rocky
Overrated. But despite its slow build-up, it has intense enough of a fight at the end to satisfy.

The over-the-top nature is the punchline of Kill Bill, nevertheless glad you liked it.

Awesome, I'll check into this thread once in a while to see your progress!

It could be cool to watch a movie every day for an entire year, but I think I'll wait until I get old and retired or something lol. I can't see myself making time for a movie EVERY SINGLE day. And I would be pissed if I started doing this and then 6 months in something really important came up and I couldn't watch a movie. Also, to me it would feel too forced. I want to enjoy movies not endure them. Right now I do actually watch a movie pretty much every day but that's because I currently have the time.

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Right now, I currently have enough time to do what I do. I know what you mean when you mentioned "feeling too forced", and my decision might come up and bite me in the butt later...

But I think I'll stick with it. It's nice to keep yourself disciplined with something you love every once in a while. It's been a while since I've been watching movies (been spending more time with anime before December came around), so this might just be the start of a beautiful relationship.

Yeah I might actually do it, but not as a necessity. I'll keep it going for as long as I can, and if something comes up it's just too bad.

I've been wanting to try out letterboxd, think I'll make a profile there now, it looks great!

Yeah, it is something, but its limitations can be rather annoying sometimes. But I've been using it for a while now, and the way you get to keep a whole library listing of movies is pretty cool.

Good luck with this man!

That was a great review!

But I disagree with this part. The iron giant is a great movie and it's not action-oriented! It is an homage to sci-fi fantasies like E.T. and a poignant story of friendship between two very different beings... The themes you mention for Ratatouille are there as well, there is the issue about unrecognized talents, there is the deception of pale appearances, actually those are much closer to the core of the story than the action-oriented mindset you mention and which is very minor.

I can't talk about The incredibles, but it doesn't look that much action-oriented to me either, what I know about the movie falls more into the satire/familiar dramedy label.

Hm. That's true, about The Iron Giant. I haven't watched it for a while, so I guess I was mistaken.

As for The Incredibles though, it might have some themes underlying about, but I just felt like it was far more action-oriented than what Ratatouille had to offer. Compared to his previous movies, Ratatouille just felt more... "humble", much smaller in scale. There are no giant robots, no armies, no gunfires, just a little rat and a garbage boy. And prior to Ratatouille, aside from maybe Iron Giant, Bird's track record wasn't that impressive before, even with The Incredibles (which was a "fun" movie, don't get me wrong). So I was kinda surprised that he's able to tell a quiet little tale like this.

You should rewatch The Incredibles and The Iron Giant if you truly thought they were only sup-par, action-oriented cartoons. I actually prefer both of those films over Ratatouille (especially The Incredibles, which is one of the best animated films ever made, in my opinion).

The Incredibles handles themes like celebrity, male midlife-crisis, the difficulty and also the power of family life, while it's also set in a supercool (and actually interesting) superhero universe (and that's coming from someone who generally doesn't like superhero films because they're dull). It's also an extremely well made film technically. It's almost flawless.

Here's a great analysis of the visual aspect of The Incredibles if you're interested.

The Iron Giant is just a wonderful and heartfelt story about how deep friendship and the belief in goodness can overcome wars. It may seem a little cliche for some people, but I think it's a very effective film.

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Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019

I'm sorry, but I don't feel that way. I'm sorry if you do, but I just don't. And The Incredibles used to be my favorite Pixar movie of all time too.

So I've decided to reorganize this thread a little bit, seeing as I'm watching multiple movies per day. I don't want to post multiple posts per day, since it seems to become quite messy, so from now on, I'll wait till the end of the day before I'd post my list of movies for the day.

Feel free to offer your thoughts on this format of posting.


In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, your average, seemingly mediocre movie is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.

"Anyone can cook." That was the motto of one Auguste Gusteau, a chef that believed that anyone could become a great artist, a great cook. And how poetic it is that Brad Bird, a filmmaker whose reputation was previously sub-par at best with his decent action-oriented cartoons like "The Iron Giant" and "The Incredibles", could go on to create a charming little tale about unrecognized talents, about the deception of pale appearances, and how one little guy could do something great.

The thing that's lovable about Pixar movies, the team knows how to bring to life the universe the story is set in. With the Incredibles, there was the retro Jazz music and the campy atmosphere. With Toy Story, the innocent and naive world of a child's imagination was brought to life. And with Ratatouille, how could you not have a movie set in French, especially in Paris, without delicious, well-animated food... and a little romance?

So, it was as Anton Ego so aptly put it, not everyone can become a great artist; but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius working at Pixar, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest storytellers in Hollywood. I will be returning to Pixar soon with their upcoming movie, "Inside Out", hungry for more.


Your Friend the Rat
A witty little bonus to Ratatouille. Educational too.

Die Hard
Christmas Eve starts off with a bang.

Among all the ultimate badasses, one ordinary man stood above the Rambos and Arnolds. Unlike your '80s heroes with all them muscles and super-weapons, John McClane was merely your average cop at the wrong place at the wrong time. It doesn't get more badass than that.

Bad Santa
Not as fun rewatching this. The crude humor kinda got old the second time. Otherwise, Billy Bob Thornton offers a great performance.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
A fresh take on the Santa story. Silly, but fun.

Scrooged
A charming modernized remake of the classic tale. But alas, not original nor meta enough to impress.

It's A Wonderful Life
Perfect. Simply perfect. A wonderful tale with a simple premise but executed with such beauty, keeping an optimistic message while remaining mature about it instead of being naive. A definite must-watch for any movie fan.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
Not any better compared to the remake. The remake has its own flaws, but at least it offers a little more depth than this naive simple tale. Optimism without proper justification is naivety, something the creators could learn a lot from Frank Capra.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Guilty pleasure. Jim Carrey's cheesy humor is annoying sometimes, and Ron Howard missed the chance to explore more depth to the anti-consumerism classic (and ended up hitting the audiences with blatant preaching instead).

Trading Places
Aside from a few unrealistic moments, Trading Places is a more grounded version of your standard riches to rags story.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
A more realistic take (despite a few forced naivety) on the tale of Santa Claus that the cynical world today much needed. There's just such a well-blended amount of realism with fantasy in this film that it's difficult not to overlook the few lapses in the common sense of the characters.

The Snowman (1982)
A charming little spin of the classic tale that takes on a more bittersweet and realistic ending than the silliness of the traditional story.

The Nightmare Before Christmas
A dark satirical classic about breaking traditional values.

And to round it all off, late for Christmas by the margin of a few minutes...

A Christmas Story (1983)
A cute, charming little tale.

Well, that was fun. Wonder what I'll get to watch for New Year's Eve.

Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Revolutionary for its time. Offers subtle social and political commentaries on prejudice and racism. Though it's crude and amateurish, it's decent and clever enough for one of the first zombie movies, showing that humans are the monsters.

Great punchline of an ending. Best part of the movie.

Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Not as great as Vol. 1, but still nevertheless kicks a lot of ass. Though chapter 7 and the final chapter were kinda weak, Tarantino manages to cook up another great homage to Asian kung-fu and Spaghetti Western.

Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Man. Romero sure has a very depressing view of human nature.

Much better than its soulless remake and its decent predecessor, Romero's Dawn of the Dead is yet another clever social commentary, this time on the brainless consumerism of society, and the film is well-mixed with enough fun and action to satisfy.

The funniest scene of the 60s.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

The Truman Show
Despite a few unrealistic moments, The Truman Show is an entertaining and intelligent satire on the tabloid-obsessed culture of the '90s. One of Jim Carrey's best performances, the star proved that he was able to handle dramatic roles outside of comedy as well.

James and the Giant Peach
Poor Disney. The studio acts like an autistic teenager who still believes in Santa Claus and telling the other children to act as naive as well (at least until the 2000s, then the kid grew up to be an evil corporate maniac). Instead of building intelligent messages cleverly hidden under innocent guises like its counterpart (Pixar) would later do, James and the Giant Peach would have kids believe that the city is any less abusive to homeless children than the countryside. It's like an hour an a half long advertisement for New York City, hailed as the greatest place to live in throughout this silly travesty.

The sub-plot that deals with battling your childhood demons and not restraining a child's imagination was no doubt the better part of the movie - it's just too bad the film decided to do the usual song and dance you'd find in any kids movie. The songs are decent, and perhaps entertaining for a 6 year old, but I found them kinda shallow.

American Pie
A pretty decent teen sex comedy with heart and charm. 20-somethings trying to play highschoolers. As the title suggests, it's movie that's probably more relatable for Americans.

The Powerpuff Girls Movie
Not as fun as I remembered. The art and animation are nice, but the thin storyline leaves much yearning. Definitely darker than the TV series though.

Anastasia (1997)
Despite being one of the more mature animated films of the '90s compared to Disney movies, Anastasia's cliches never ceased to remind the audience that it's yet another silly cartoon.

Total Recall (1990)
Eye-popping good fun. It has Sharon Stone, it has Arnold spitting one-liners and kicking ass, it has a three-tit prostitute, and it even has mutants before Bryan Singer came into the mix! What more could you want from a sci-fi action movie? And that badass soundtrack!

Despite a few dated special effects, Total Recall is a violent but fun cult classic. The simple premise is no Nietzsche material, but it works effectively as a mindless popcorn movie.

Man you watch a lot of movies.

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Letterboxd

Yeah, but a lot of people here would probably agree that it is quantity over quality.