One film for a year challenge. (Suggest your favorites).

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

A couple of really great movies I got to see last year were "The Last Samurai" and the animated "Treasure Planet". Both completely surprised me on how much I enjoyed watching them, so there's a few suggestions for you. (I'll also highly recommend "The Iron Giant" if you haven't seen it yet, it's one of my favorites)

 

[Zeostar]

@Alex_Among_Foxes Thank you! I had heard of Treasure Planet and Iron Giant. Will be checking out them out soon.

I could add more horror movies to my list, but I haven't been in the mood to view gore. Maybe I'll go through some of the Friday 13th films.

 

[Zeostar]

Watched Mean Creek today. :<

Oh gosh. I went in expecting a short and unremarkable indie film. Left with a very powerful display of bullying, conflict, and mental illness.

Scarily realistic depiction of how conflict can escalate into something horrible. Felt like I was right in the middle of it. Among these many movies, this is one I will remember.

 

[Thizguy]

January has been a very good month for picks and overall I'm happy with what I watched.

Hit my first rough patch today with Sword in the Stone. This was a slog. No compelling characters, boring art style and animation, boring story.

It didn't feel like a Disney movie. There was no charm or heart. I've had a few I consider 'not incredible'. (Dumbo for example). But I would have to completely knock this on the bottom if I were ranking them. >.>

Dumbo is just a movie about a kid getting picked on and made fun of who is trying to see his mom in jail. It's the only Disney movie I refuse to watch.

 

[Zeostar]

@Thizguy Ancient animations are interesting to me. Dumbo was only 60 minutes so wasn't a big deal. I'll give some quick thoughts on it:

You are correct about the bullying. Dumbo is about a circus elephant who gets shunned by the other animals and humans for having abnormal ears. The mom is taken away for fighting his bullies off. Dumbo ends up being able to fly and becomes a circus star. It's simple enough.

Morally it's clear the message is "Make the most of being different". Which was sweet enough.

The negatives were the racial undertones (1940 disney so of course). The music wasn't memorable aside from a couple songs. Random scenes like the elephant LSD trip. For a short 60 minute movie, the pace plodded. It felt slow.

If I were putting these movies from "F tier to S tier", I'd probably place Dumbo into C. It was serviceable.

 

[Zeostar]

I'm flying out of the country late this year. There's going to be a big time zone change. I realize it might be challenging to keep this up during that time.

Erm...I'll think of something. I'm determined to go through with this. Even if I have to watch movie shorts instead of feature length films.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

You could always watch a couple of movies for a day or two before your flight and count them for any day/s missed?

 

[Zeostar]

@Alex_Among_Foxes Yeah that's a possibility. I'm not so worried about the flight (I can sneak a movie in the morning). But I'll probably be super busy on the days I'm actually traveling. I could fit in a pixar short maybe.

Today I watched Society of the Snow. I mentally checked out of this one. I get there's going to be times when I don't enjoy a movie, but this one did not keep my attention at all. Funny enough I could see what I was watching was 'good', but I simply wasn't enjoying it.

 

[Zeostar]

Happy with the last couple of days.

L.A Confidential was a pleasant surprise. Intense story that really sunk in.

High Plains Drifter...erm, that was a great movie with some poorly aged scenes. The rape scene was atrocious and could do without that. Clint Eastwood as a director often has 'those' kinds of scenes which drag down the movie. (The Mule being another one).

 

[Zeostar]

@Tuqueakin Yeah L.A Confidential had really strong dialogue. A slow burn that you can't feel because it's written so well. Showed it to my mom later and ahhh it didn't click with her.

On the other hand, I watched The Sting today. Didn't quite pull me in, but the ending twist got me.

 

[Zeostar]

Fight Club was exhausting, but I get what it was going for.

 

[Starlight]

The Tomm Moore "Irish Folklore trilogy" (The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, and Wolfwalkers) all come recommended from me if you want some nice animated films that are neither Disney or Ghibli.

Ghibli is obviously another good collection of films that could fill quite a few days of your challenge for you. Just don't be afraid to watch their less famous movies (films like Only Yesterday, Ocean Waves, Whisper of the Heart, The Cat Returns etc.) because some are absolutely fantastic. If you do watch those last two then without spoiling anything it might be nice to watch Whisper of the Heart first but it's not really a problem if you watch them the other way round 🐱

 

[Zeostar]

@Starlight

Thanks for the recommendations. I haven't been spoiled on any movies which makes this all much nicer. (Lesser famous films are something I could do more of).

Yesterday I watched Shrek. As a little kid I watched Shrek 3 in theaters, but was too young and missed out on the first two.

 

[Zeostar]

I watched All Quiet on the Western Front (2022). Had full mental focus today. Aha couldn't have picked a more gut punching movie for that either.

The film was great, but at the end I was a little over watching them rip the main characters guts apart. (as in, every bad thing possible started happening to him and the film was quickly falling into the torture porn label). The scene of the french solider being stabbed in the pit and suffocating in his own blood made me turn away. Has not happened to me since I watched Game of Thrones. I will find something lighter hearted tomorrow.

 

[Zeostar]

Pulp Fiction was incredible. Lived up to everything I thought it would. The most immersed I have ever been in a movie.

 

[Hermione Granger]

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes was a good movie you might enjoy if you enjoyed The Hunger Games Series.

 

[Zeostar]

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes was a good movie you might enjoy if you enjoyed The Hunger Games Series.

I hold a soft spot for The Hunger Games. I saw the original in theaters in 2012. It was the first PG-13 movie I had ever seen, at the time I wasn't old enough and had been afraid of being stopped. (Not aware they only check for NC-17). That did actually happen years later when trying to see Deadpool 2.

Watched the sequel Catching Fire but fell out of the franchise after.

 

[Zeostar]

Today I watched Once Upon a Time in the West. This shall be my lesson that I need to make sure I'm mentally ready to do a 3 hour movie. I wasn't. And I hated this movie and wanted it to end. Yet I feel it had little to do with the movie quality. (Because I loved the good the bad and the ugly). Mental note to revisit this film some day.

That said, I'm going to be plowing through the recommendations posted here starting tomorrow.

 

[Starlight]

Are you ranking the movies as you go? Do you have a favourite so far of those you hadn't seen?

It sounds like Pulp Fiction is a contender so far?

 

[Zeostar]

Are you ranking the movies as you go? Do you have a favourite so far of those you hadn't seen?

It sounds like Pulp Fiction is a contender so far?

Almost all of these are new movies I had not seen. Toy Story is the only series I rewatched so far.

It would take me a long time to rank (and i'm lazy and tired right now). But the major standouts would be:

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. (is my undisputed favorite). Stand by Me, Pulp Fiction, and A Silent Voice. I felt these were all heavily emotionally impactful.

Mood can effect this too. There are obviously going to be days when I don't feel like sitting down and watching a film, but force it for the sake of the challenge. That will cause a bad opinion. Thankfully, most days I feel okay about it. My watch of Jurassic Park was affected by a sour mood.