A friend and I made a pact to watch only new movies for 2011 ... well, that didn't exactly stick but I was very surprised with the amount of 'new' movies I watched given the intentional goal to do so. As such, I plan to do it again this year. Something that is fun is going back and thinking about how those movies impacted you. Below are all the movies that I very proudly have taken the time to watch. My life does not have a lot of time available to watch films, so while I realise that this list isn't exactly comprehensive compared to many, it's especially long for me given that I had to break down and watch my film series for background noise while I work. These series usually involve English mystery such as Midsomer Murders or Law & Order (Criminal Intent and SVU) with a smattering of sci-fi such as the billionth run of Firefly, Bab5 or even DS9.Beside each movie listed below starting with January 2011 includes what I remember, which can be really amusing since I don't have a great memory for movies.
Silverado - a Western, I think
All that Jazz - some sort of tragic 70s Broadway that put me to sleep
Tron (cinema) - lots of very cool graphics and storyline
The Day the Earth Stood Still - apocalyptic
Big Fish - really interesting perspective of storytelling
The Assassination of Jesse James - the assassination of Jesse James
Million Dollar Baby - horrible and wonderful film that is about ethical dilemma
Brokeback Mountain - ummmm, I'm not really sure how I felt, actually
End Game - I have zero memory of this
Three Kings - remember liking it; refugees or gold? Mmmm
The Day After Tomorrow - yet another apocalyptic film
The Hurt Locker - a reminder that some of us are best at something; otherwise depressing
Jumper - fun teleportation sci fi
2012 - guess what! ANOTHER apocalyptic film. Noah's Ark spin off was interesting
Walk the Line - definitely a pencil in the eye, unless of course you're mad about Johnny Cash
Just Cause - a completely unexpected twist that made an otherwise dull movie memorable
Invictus - fascinating view into South African issues during Mandela's time (as leader)
The Secret Life of Bees - /really/ depressing
The History of the World: Part 1 - absolutely hysterical
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - meh; interesting perspective
Zombieland - totally funny and worth owning
Lost Boys - a classic that I missed somehow, but has now been rectified
Legion - really loved everything about this film - apocalyptic supernatural
Ladyhawke - long, but a nice classic fantasy film
Fierce Creatures - I haven't stopped laughing - must own
Thor (cinema) - they did so much better than I expected - I was terrified of mega cheese
The Dilemma - so painfully stupid and horrible, biggest pencil in the eye ever
Priest ( cinema) - LOVED this post-apocalyptic supernatural
X-men: First Class (cinema) - absolutely awesome (except for Angel...that was messed up)
Pirates 4 - Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom...oh, and Penelope Cruz. Apparently stuff happened.
Ghosts of Machu Picchu: Nova - trying to dip into documentaries - learned a lot
The Dark Ages - more documentary - I feel asleep
Solomon & Sheba: Biography - I'm not so great at paying attention to documentaries
Brain Candy - funny, sort of - lots of mockery
Inspector General - way out of my comfort zone, but found this mid-century comedy amusing
Maverick - awesome western comedy
Miyazaki's Spirited Away - excellent anime, worth owning
Pandorum - new Adam and Eve via cryogenic disaster
Hudson Hawk - very funny - not really something I expected from Bruce Willis
Moneyball - it kept my attention the whole time as a baseball movie, which is impressive
Brewseter's Millions - absolutely funny watching somebody get sick of money
Johnny Mnemonic - a really good cyberpunk movie that is sparking my interest in cyberpunk
Starship Troopers - interesting futuristic military action with aliens
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (cinema) - loved this as much as the first - they are creating the movies in the spirit of the original style of the actual books
My major takeaways include a new interest in cyberpunk (reading Neuromancer now) and that while I really dislike apocalyptic films, I completely adore /supernatural/ apocalyptic films. I also need to watch more anime. Avoiding drama seems to be a good thing for me, although I wouldn't have figured that without reviewing this list and realising how bored I was with the drama style films.
