I almost never watch films theatrically anymore. I watch them on Blu-ray and/or Sky Movies HD instead. I keep track of the films I watch as I see them for the first time. So far this year I've seen 97 films that I hadn't seen previously:
Mr. Brooks (2007) - very effective film; unexpectedly funny in a very dark sort of way
Run Fat Boy Run (2007) - a good light comedy
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) - I was a bit disappointed with it on first viewing, but it grew on me when I watched it again later; great production design
Wedding Daze (2007) - awful
Black Sunday (1977) - pretty good
Hoodwinked (2005) - a decent storyline is undermined by cheap, lousy animation
Nancy Drew (2007) - pretty good
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) - beautifully filmed and well acted, but overlong; there have been a lot of Jesse James films but none have really stuck to the historical record
The Dark Knight (2008) - the greatest superhero film made to date
Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) - reasonably entertaining with some cute moments, don't see why so much hate was aimed at it
Them (2006) - a very effective French horror film, although the claim that it's based on a true story doesn't hold up to scrutiny
In the Land of Women (2007) - a good film, and it was nice to see Meg Ryan looking more like her old self again
Breaking and Entering (2006) - a good film
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) - good, but not quite as good as its reputation
Cloverfield (2008) - a good idea, but the extent of the shaky cam was too damned annoying for it to be enjoyable
McLintock! (1963) - rousing good fun, although it'll give feminists fits
The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) - very cheesy and low budget, but kinda fun
The Good German (2006) - pretty good in parts, but too self-conscious
The Goonies (1985) - lots of fun; I'm a child of the 80s, but somehow this one slipped through the net and I only got around to seeing it now
A Bridge Too Far (1977) - a good film, but the outcome of the battle doesn't make for a good cinematic ending
The Darjeeling Limited (2007) - pretty good, but not as good as Wes Anderson's previous films
Edison (2005) - awful
St. Trinian’s (2007) - even more awful
The Great McGinty (1940) - a good film
The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) - a very good film, much better than the remake
How to Steal a Million (1966) - a charming film with Audrey Hepburn looking especially great decked out in mod fashions
House of Bamboo (1955) - interesting to see all of the location shooting in 1950s Tokyo, but a dull film overall
The Duellists (1977) - Ridley Scott's first feature film and a fine one at that
Definitely, Maybe (2008) - pretty good
Derailed (2005) - pretty good
1408 (2007) - good, but not quite as good as I'd heard
A Clockwork Orange (1971) - great film, worthy of its status as one of the classics of science fiction cinema
The Wicked Lady (1983) - crap, but cheesy fun; lots of nudity, including from Marina Sirtis
Howard the Duck (1986) - awful, even worse than its reputation
The Virgin Suicides (1999) - pretty good, but doesn't amount to much
Frenzy (1972) - latter day Hitchcock with some very dark comedy; London and its inhabitants never looked grubbier
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) - a good film
Mama’s Boy (2007) - pretty bad
The High and the Mighty (1954) a decent film, a prototype of the disaster genre
Battleship Potemkin (1925) - interesting for its place in cinema history as a film that advanced the art of editing and screen composition and fascinating as a time capsule; the plot is pure commie propaganda
Fairy Tale: A True Story (1997) - a good film
The Cotton Club (1984) - great production design and the young Diane Lane is ravishingly beautiful, but the plot meanders around and doesn't amount to much
Southland Tales (2006) - awful
Zulu (1964) - a very good film, although the battle scenes have dated somewhat (the stabs with spears and bayonets are very obvious in how they were faked)
Blow Out (1981) - an effective chiller with an unsettling ending
The Front Page (1974) - pretty good Lemmon/Matthau remake
True Grit (1969) - rousing good fun with John Wayne in great form; "Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!"
Charley Varrick (1973) - pretty good crime film with Walter Matthau playing against type
Romeo and Juliet (1968) - a very well-staged adaptation; the most accurate and complete cinematic adaptation of the play ever made
To Catch a Thief (1955) - Hitchcock in fine form in one of his lighter outings; Grace Kelly is at her most radiant in this
October Sky (1999) - a very good movie, very straightforward and sincere in its drama
Custer of the West (1967) - mediocre
Torn Curtain (1966) - a mostly boring Hitchcock outing with a scene showing how difficult it is to kill someone in a hand-to-hand fight being the sole standout
Barefoot in the Park (1967) - a funny, effective comedy; the producers of Dharma and Greg obviously thought so, too
The Killers (1964) - a decent crime drama
Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) - a very good biopic with Genevieve Bujold in fine form
The Enemy Below (1957) - an entertaining submarine versus destroyer World War II film that shows both sides in a humane fashion
Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) - reasonably entertaining followup to The Robe
Sunset Blvd. (1950) - a great film; it stands up extremely well
Cries and Whispers (1973) - an Ingmar Bergman masterpiece with one of the most realistic and harrowing depictions of someone dying of cancer ever put on film
Indiscreet (1958) - reasonably entertaining
West Side Story (1961) - I'm not usually one for musicals, but this one is great
The Big Country (1958) - rousing western with a great cast
Viva Zapata! (1952) - a good film, nicely directed by Elia Kazan
The Night of the Hunter (1955) - good, with some very memorable moments, but not quite as good as its reputation
The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) - a reasonably effective, if somewhat humdrum, war drama; I can't imagine a studio film having a downbeat ending played in such an abrupt and matter of fact way these days
Burn After Reading (2008) - pretty good, but a lesser Coen Bros outing; John Malkovich is the highlight
Speed Racer (2008) - a great film, very underrated
Wanted (2008) - crap
WALL-E (2008) - a great film
Kung Fu Panda (2008) - very funny
Juno (2007) - pretty good, but overrated
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) - crap
Get Smart (2008) - mediocre
The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008) - better than its reputation, it stands as a more fitting wrap-up than the awful series finale
Wonder Woman (2009) - a very good film from the DC Universe DTV line, best one yet in fact
Appaloosa (2008) - an effective western with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen in fine form; Renee Zellweger lets the side down, though
My Best Friend’s Girl (2008) - a few funny moments, but mediocre overall; Jason Biggs now looks pretty bad playing increasingly lame versions of his American Pie character
27 Dresses (2008) - reasonably entertaining
Jumper (2008) - dull
Panic in the Streets (1950) - pretty good Elia Kazan drama
Cat People (1982) - cheesy, but fun; Nastassja Kinski and Annette O'Toole are both gorgeous in it
Silent Running (1972) - a hokey hippy trippy sci-fi film
Outland (1981) - an entertaining sci-fi take on High Noon
The Omega Man (1971) - dated, but still rousing entertainment
The Thing (1982) - a great film, John Carpenter's best and one of the best of the genre
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) - a great adaptation of Orwell's novel
THX 1138 (1971) - I saw an edited version of this on television when I was a child, but this was my first time seeing the full director's cut; it's a very effective low budget dystopian sci-fi outing from the young George Lucas (with some scenes spruced up a bit with modern FX in the director's cut)
10,000 B.C. (2008) - mediocre, dull
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) - good production values for its time, nicely made and acted
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) - so-so at the start, but it ended up being a good film
Brazil (1985) - at first it seems like it might be one of Gilliam's cacophonous, messy endeavors, but it comes together and hits the target, ultimately living up to its good reputation
Bedtime Stories (2008) - mediocre
Australia (2008) - seems like it's going to be awful in the early going, but ends up being reasonably entertaining
Quantum of Solace (2008) - a step down in quality from Casino Royale, in fact a couple of steps down
The Black Swan (1942) - mediocre
The Black Hole (1979) - some dated FX and production design (particularly regarding the robots and the visible wires), but good fun nonetheless and generally better than its reputation; the model work for the spaceships holds up well
