December 2019 in Films
The final month of the final year of the decade. How did we get here??? Time is an illusion, but the enjoyment you get from movies is real. Dig it! With that, here is everything I watched in this month.
It’s Cinema Fanatic’s 10th Anniversary!
I definitely should have planned something more fancy for my 10th anniversary, but this year has completely gotten away from me. Moving across the country and starting a new job can take a lot out of you!
Some highlights: Noirvember also celebrated its 10th year, I attended a few film festivals for the first time (mostly for work, so I didn’t see anything, but still it was fun): Toronto International Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, and New York Film Festival. I went back to Pordenone for the fourth time.
In terms of work, I did some great interviews over the year including the DP and supporting cast of The Irishman (watch those here), and some really fun director’s commentary podcasts (listen here).
I’m really grateful for all the opportunities this blog has given me of the last decade, but as we head into a new one I’m not sure that I will have the time to dedicate to it properly. I plan to close out this year like I always do with my end of the month post for December, my Favorite Fifteen Films of 2019, and my end of the year wrap up, but after that I may retire the blog in 2020. Maybe bring it back just for the end of the year next December. I guess we’ll see.
Noirvember 2019 in Films
This was the 10th anniversary of Noirvember this year! It was really amazing to see just how wide spread the celebration has grown over the last decade. I’m grateful for everyone who participates, and am so happy that so many people are able to discover new favorites every year. As always, you can see all the films I watched in November, plus a few highlighted favorites, after the cut.
October 2019 in Films
So October started with my annual trip to the Pordenone Silent Film Festival and ended with many great 2019 releases (it’s that time of year!). As always, you can find everything I watched (it was a lot!) in October, plus a few favorites after the cut.
September 2019 in Films
September has been a crazy month. I started the month in Toronto for TIFF, then I was in Austin for Fantastic Fest, and finally I’ve been in NYC for NYFF. I didn’t really get to see many films during these festivals (fun fact: when you work in the industry, you don’t get to see as many films cuz you’re working during the screenings!). I did, however, manage to get a few films watched during the month, so, as always, after the cut please find everything I watched this month plus some favorites.
August 2019 in Films
I almost made it to an average of a film a day in August. I got a little behind because the fourth season of Cable Girls dropped (it was WILD) and I started to watch a new Spanish show called 45 RPM (so far it’s great!), but I think my average for August was pretty damn good. I want to give a big shout out to KJ Relth at the UCLA Film and Television Archive for really making my summer something special with her amazing programming of female directors at the Billy Wilder Theatre. So grateful to see these thrilling films all summer, and especially to see a few of them introduced by their directors (Nina Menkes, Mary Lambert, Penelope Spheeris). As always, you can find everything I watched after the cut plus a few of my faves.
July 2019 In Films
July was another low new-to-me month for me. I blame my annual re-watch of Frasier, traveling for work, and all the rep cinema I watched (Pick up the new AGFA’s release of Sarah Jacobson’s films!!!). That said, I did see some true gems. As always, you can see everything I watch and my faves after the cut.
June 2019 in Films
June was a pretty great month in cinematic shenanigans for me, even if it was light on feature films (more on that after the cut). Halfway through the month I joined the Battleship Pretension podcast for their retrospective episode on the late Agnès Varda. I also saw a lot of really artistically challenging films (and binged a ton of soapy TV!). As always, you can see everything I watched and read a little bit about my favorites after the cut.
May 2019 in Films
May was a great month for cinema. It started with the New Beverly Cinema showcasing almost exclusively films directed by women. I guested on their podcast discussing the calendar (you can listen to it here) and went as often as I could (though I have been fighting off a bad cold and that impeding me seeing as much as I wanted). May was also filled with some great new rom-coms and I hope we keep seeing more! As always, you can see what I watched as well as some favorites after the cut.
April 2019 in Films
Apologies for the tardiness of this post. I moved into a new apartment (yay!) right before the beginning of the month, but didn’t have internet for a week (boo!). At long last I have the internet again! You will notice perhaps a wider variety than usual for April. This was due to a few factors: I had cable so I watched a bunch of films I had pointedly skipped in theaters, the TCM Classic Film Festival was a few weeks ago, and I am back in LA so I have access to so many movies! April was a very exhausting month between moving and starting a new job, but I saw quite a few gems and I’m excited to keep seeing great stuff back here in LA.
