Category Archives: 2014 in Films
2014 in Films: A 365 New-To-Me Films Year-End Recap
While I watched less films this year than I have in several years, I saw so many films this year that I truly loved (and a few dogs!). I also watched a lot of television (Hannibal, The Leftovers, Outlander, You’re the Worst, Boardwalk Empire (RIP!), The Knick, Louie, black-ish and Jane The Virgin are all worth your time!) and read 60 books! I also added a new feature to the site: Female Filmmaker Friday. You can read all of those pieces here. After the cut is my list of 365 new-to-me films I watched in 2014 (46 of which were directed by women), as well as a few highlights.
It’s The End of the Year As We Know It: December 2014 in Films
I didn’t even manage a film a day in December this year. The end of the year is always crazy, and I was running around a lot (my parents were here for a week!), but also I was trying to surpass a book reading goal (I made it to 60 this year!), so that took up a lot of time. I did, however, watch several of my favorite 2014 films in December. As always, the full list is after the cut.
Noirvember 2014 in Films
I hope you all had a great Noirvember! Aside from watching 30 noirs, I watched four 2014 releases and seven other films (Including two Joan Crawford films; I’ve now seen 66 of her films!), bringing my total for the month to 41. I also read eight books! Actually, that brings me to 52 books, which was my goal for the year. Huzzah! As always, a breakdown of what I watched follows after the cut.
Horror, Lady Directors, And More: October 2014 in Films
I meant to watch a Horror Movie a Day in October, but I went out-of-town one weekend for a wedding and got behind and then apparently forgot that I was behind, so I only saw 29 horror movies in October, but I think that’s still pretty good. Some of them were so not good, though, it was a bummer. I also saw a lot of great 2014 releases and continued to watch TV. Boardwalk Empire had its series finale!!! I’m still not over it. And The Knick won’t be back til next summer. But I also started watching Jane The Virgin and it is delightful! Also it’s now Noirvember! Which, obviously, is the best mont of the year! As always, my full recap of October can be found after the cut.
Pre-codes, TV and Lady Directors: September 2014 in Films
I actually managed to watch the equivalent of a movie a day this month! (That’s probably because I failed to read a book a week). I also started watching more TV shows. I watched all of Being Mary Jane and You’re The Worst, finished up The Leftovers, continued watching The Knick and Outlander and started watching the last season of Boardwalk Empire. I also watched the pilots for Gotham (well, two episodes), black-ish, and How To Get Away With Murder. Of those three, I’ll probably only continue watching black-ish. Movie-wise, I watched a lot of pre-codes thanks to TCM, and a bunch of films directed by ladies (awww yeahhh). As always, after the cut are all the movies I watched and my five favorites.
Los Angeles, Netflix and Summer Under The Stars: August 2014 in Films
So much like last month, I did a lot of television watching in August (The Knick, Outlander, The Leftovers, You’re the Worst), but I also did a lot of rewatching. Some were thanks to TCM’s Summer Under the Stars (I rewatched Marty, The Blue Dahlia, Shane, Citizen Kane, Portrait of Jennie, The Third Man and several others. I just couldn’t help it!) I also went to a screening series at AFI called Reel Grit Six Shooter where they played six films (mostly in 35mm), each film being introduced by an AFI alum and they didn’t tell you what the film was til right before. As it turns out, I had seen 5/6 of the films before and three of those five I’d seen on the big screen before, but it was still a delightful series and I got to see Rocky on the big screen for the first time and there was lots of tears (“What’s gaps?”), so I can die happy now. As always, below you’ll find all the new-to-me films I watched last month and a short discussions of my favorites. Although, most of I watched last month was great and I had trouble narrowing it to five, so I actually talk about more films than normal.
New Releases, Television and Comic-Con: July 2014 in Films
I honestly can’t believe how fast July just disappeared! I guess it probably didn’t help that I spent the long 4th of July weekend sick and last weekend at Comic-Con (where time flies by super fast, but also feels like a month instead of five days). I didn’t watch the equivalent of a movie a day again this month, but I did re-watch about 15 episodes of Gilmore Girls (I just really need to watch all the major Rory/Jess episodes!), finished the last four episodes of FX’s Fargo, watched all of season 1 on Hannibal in two nights and started watching HBO’s The Leftovers (though I am two episodes behind). Also, during those five days at Comic-Con I didn’t watch any movies, but I did see the pilot episodes of The Flash and Constantine. I imagine August will just as full of television, as I hope to get my hands on season 2 of Hannibal, Boardwalk Empire comes back and I want to watch Steven Soderbergh’s The Knick. I think I’ll add my television escapades into this wrap-up every month from now on as well. As for movies, I watched a lot of 2014 releases that I highly recommend.
Women Are Best! June 2014 in Films
Another month where I didn’t manage to watch a movies a day, though I did watch all four season of Louie, in which time I could have probably watched like ten movies. I also had some person problems with my cat, Mr. Rochester, who is doing much better! And I was out-of-town for four days for a wedding. That said, I watched quite a few great films this past month. I wish I had the energy to write about them all! As always, after the cut is a list of all the films I watched and a few highlights. Oh, and yesterday was my birthday!
Joan Crawford, Polish Films and New Releases: May 2014 in Films
While this is the second month in 2014 where I didn’t average a film a day, I did watch a lot of great films – most of which I saw in theaters! I saw three Orson Welles films at LACMA: Too Much Johnson, The Lady From Shanghai and Mr. Arkadin. At the screening of Too Much Johnson I met Joseph Cotten’s nephew Joe Cotten and we’re slowly becoming good internet friends, so that’s awesome. I also ran into him on the way back to my car at the Orson double (his aunt, Jo’s second wife, Patricia Medina has a great part in Mr. Arkadin). I saw several films directed by women this month and will highlight a few of those after the cut. Female Filmmaker Friday has been going well (I hope you’ve been reading!), I also came up with some handy lists: eight movies that are out now or will be released through August directed by women and 100 movies on Netflix directed by women. Also! If you have Twitter and would be so kind as to retweet this, that would be great. So use those and watch more movies by ladies! And now, as always, here’s a breakdown of some of my favorite films I watched this month.
TCM Film Fest, Docs and Dicks: April 2014 in Films
It’s surprising how little time you have to watch films when you a) work forty hours a week 2) do things with friends d) are trying to read a book a week. Actually, no it’s not. I think gone forever are the days when I’ll average 2 or more films a day. I’m barely averaging one a day these days. But, because I live on Los Angeles, I am getting to see some really amazing films on the big screen! I saw the entire Decline trilogy and several really great docs that had limited runs. In fact, all five of my “favorite” films for this month I saw on the big screen! So, as always, after the cut is the full count, plus five highlighted films. Oh, and if you want to check out all of my coverage from this year’s TCM Film Festival, go here.
the diary of a film history fanatic 