All the movies: 2013

By my count I watched 167 films in 2013-- 166 features and 1 short substantial enough that I counted it. Three were viewed in a movie theater. The vast majority of them either came from Netflix (discs by mail!) or were recorded to the ol' DVR-- usually from Turner Classic Movies. I watched a few of 'em on my RCA SelectaVision CED player, which is older than I am.

Purely for my own amusement, I list them below, in the order they were viewed. Unless otherwise noted, I watched them for the first time. That's right, before 2013 I had never seen such classics as Mad Max, Chinatown, or Billy the Kid vs. Dracula. 

January:

Funny People

Trouble with the Curve

Doomsday

Ocean's 11 (1960)

Looper

The Bourne Legacy

Your Sister's Sister

Beasts of the Southern Wild

To Rome with Love
Total Recall (2012)

Stolen (2009)

Premium Rush

February:

Seven Psychopaths

Frankenweenie (2012)

Ted

Flight

The Thing (1982) (rewatch)

That Guy... Who Was in That Thing

Taken 2

End of Watch

Holy Motors

March:

Liberal Arts

Robot & Frank

The Master

Wreck-It Ralph

The Intouchables

Sleeping Beauty (2011)

Argo

Zero Dark Thirty

Phil Spector

Les Miserables (2012)

Lincoln

April:

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Evil Dead (2013)

The Raid: Redemption (rewatch)

Killing Them Softly

Page Eight

Gremlins (rewatch – but basically new to me)

A Late Quartet

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (rewatch – but again, basically new)

Lifeforce

Hitchcock

Life of Pi

Django Unchained

Sound of My Voice

Repo Man

May:

The Howling

An American Werewolf in London (rewatch)

The Fog (1980)

Juan of the Dead

Silver Linings Playbook

Iron Man 3

John Dies at the End

The Guilt Trip

Hyde Park on Hudson

Drive (rewatch)

Jack Reacher

Stand-Up Guys

The Last Stand

The Killer

Behind the Candelabra

Rise of the Guardians

Murder by Death

Shaft's Big Score!

Shaft in Africa

June:

Gangster Squad

After Fall, Winter

Killer Joe

Warm Bodies

The Silence of the Lambs

Adaptation.

The Searchers

Certified Copy

Head

Dredd

Man of Steel

Rushmore

Night of the Creeps

Promised Land

Mad Dog and Glory

Lola Versus

Oz the Great and Powerful

Bottle Rocket

Side Effects

Superman (1978) (rewatch)

Quartet

July:

V/H/S

Upside Down

Superman II – theatrical cut (rewatch)

A Good Day to Die Hard

Lady in the Lake

Jack the Giant Slayer

Sharknado

Superman III (I must have seen this before... but I don't remember it)

Hunky Dory

Save the Date

The Expendables 2

Smashed

August:

Anna Karenina (2012)

Hopscotch

GI Joe: Retaliation

The Sapphires

Day for Night

The Man with the Iron Fists

Admission

The Fury

42

Trance

Clear History

Mud

California Suite

The Twelve Chairs

Upstream Color

Lawless

September:

Oblivion

Star Trek Into Darkness

The Place Beyond the Pines

Now You See Me

Brazil

Rollerball (1975)

Mad Max

World War Z

The FP

The Great Gatsby (2013)

October:

Unfinished Song

Kon-Tiki (2012)

Billy the Kid vs. Dracula

La Jetee (short)

Much Ado About Nothing (2013)

After Earth

The East

Europa Report

Before Midnight

Only God Forgives

November:

I Give It a Year

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Theatre of Blood

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning

White House Down

Olympus Has Fallen

Rope

Chinatown

Frances Ha

Hatchet for the Honeymoon

Rust and Bone

The Heat

The Internship

The Way, Way Back

December:

Skyfall (rewatch)

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

R.I.P.D.

The Wicker Man (1973)

Monsters University

Pacific Rim

Stoker

This Is Spinal Tap

Celeste & Jesse Forever

The Abominable Dr. Phibes

The World's End

The Stepford Wives (1975)

Minority Report

Drinking Buddies

Mission: Impossible (1996)

Die Hard (rewatch)

Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Klute

The Wolverine

Suggested titles for the next John McClane adventure

Live Fast, Die Hard
Die Hard or Die Trying
Old Habits Die Hard
Twenty-Sided Die Hard
It's Die Hard Out Here for a Pimp
Can You Die Harder than a Fifth Grader?
Die Soft? Die Hard with Cialis ®
Die Hard Die (German for "The Hard, The")

Die Darkman Die Hard (crossover with Liam Neeson)

I wrote a crossword puzzle

Writing a crossword puzzle is something I've wanted to do for a while. I did not realize how difficult it would be. The following is not very good, but at least it's finished. Please feel free to click the following to embiggen and print out, and play along at home:

Further Comic Book Prequels to Explore

Daredevil: Born the First Time
A the First Man
To Hell
Dredd Passes the Bar Exam
Maus Babies
The Dark Knight Retires
Before Before Watchmen

The Best Movies of 2011

I know, I know, we're like halfway through 2012. But I finally think I have seen enough movies from last year to provide a decent list of the best films of 2011. Your mileage, as always, may vary. But your mileage would be wrong. (These aren't really in order but they're sort of in order. They're in an order.) (I have not seen The Artist yet, but I've seen all the other Best Picture nominees, except Extremely Loud and Incredibly Cloying, which you can't pay me to see. None of the other nominees are on this list, but Midnight in Paris comes the closest, mostly because I have an English degree.)

Drive: I was riveted from the first frame; and each frame could be a poster.

The Guard: The dialogue really sparkles in this. It's funny, violent, a bit sad. It's like a Coen brothers movie from the 90s. It is better than Fargo.

Attack the Block: In the beginning, I did not think this was for me. By the end, I was for it. This movie is leaner than a greyhound and twice as energetic.

The Ides of March: Maybe I just have a man-crush on Ryan Gosling. If George Clooney quit acting and switched to directing, I'd be fine with that. His films are always good.

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop: I have a lot in common with Conan, and I don't just mean we have the same hair.

The Adventures of Tintin: This is the Indiana Jones 4 we didn't get the first time.

Captain America: The First Avenger: I had no complaints. They got everything right.

Honorable mentions:

Rango; Beginners; Midnight in Paris; Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol;

The worst movie of 2011:

Sucker Punch: Ugh.

Anything I am missing? Anything I should see? Anything I saw but didn't like that much but you did so you're gonna tell me about it anyway?

Where we're at with the whole DC Comics thing

Remember when I ranked all 52 #1s from DC? Well let's do something like that and check in on what I'm actually still reading.

BUYING:

Batman
Demon Knights
Dial H

BUYING BUT THINKING ABOUT GOING OUT FOR MILK AND NOT COMING BACK:

Animal Man
Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE (let's see what Kindt brings to it)
Swamp Thing

DROPPED:

Blackhawks
Justice League Dark
Stormwatch

 CANCELLED:

Static Shock (I would have dropped it anyway; what a massive dive from a promising debut issue. Bernardin's two issues were an improvement, though)

WAITING FOR THE COLLECTION:

Action Comics (I have gone to hardcovers-only for Grant Morrison comics)
All Star Western
Batman Incorporated
Wonder Woman

SHOULD GET THE COLLECTION BUT WILL PROBABLY CONVENIENTLY FORGET TO DO SO:

Batman and Robin
Batwoman
Birds of Prey
Flash

STRONGLY THINKING ABOUT PICKING UP:

Green Arrow (Ann Nocenti edition)


"WAVE THREE" TITLES I INTEND TO BUY:

...


And just to be fair:

MARVEL TITLES I AM BUYING:

Daredevil (ordered the first trade)
PunisherMAX (one trade left to go)

THE BEST COMIC:

Atomic Robo

Team Comics

(Image by Michael Kupperman. Copyright him.)