Category / Movies

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2024: The Year In Movies Part 2

98 different people starred in the 52 movies I saw last year (starring in being the first two named stars, a tradition dating back to the old Chicago Tribune TV guide which populated the early days of my database), and a whole five of them were in more than one film. Those five thespians are:

Films Per Actor Per Year

Actor Name Films
Eva Longoria 2
Glen Powell 2
Paul Rudd 2
Sydney Sweeney 2
Denzel Washington 2

Now let’s take a look at the remaining movies that I saw in 2024, following up on last week’s post.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
The team reunites to keep a mysterious key out of the wrong hands.

Challengers (2024)
Two friends, who met at tennis camp, let a woman, a former tennis champion, come between them.

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2024: The Year In Movies

The return of my annual long December vacation helped push up a weak first eleven months of the year, giving me my lowest total since 2021.  I managed to watch 52 movies last year, my fourth consecutive year under 100, despite being home all day and not needing to bother with pesky things like a commute.  Or exercise.  Reading 62 books and watching game shows all day probably didn’t help either.

Here’s a look back at the first 50 movies I watched last year and what recollection, if any, I have of them. The films are listed in the order I saw them.

The Assistant (2019)
A day in the life of an assistant to a film producer, who quickly realizes that abuse is all around her.

The Holdovers (2023)
A tight-assed teacher and a troublesome student bond when they are left alone at their boarding school over winter break.

May December (2023)
An actress starts to come between a couple who, twenty years ago, had a notorious tabloid relationship.

The Equalizer 3 (2023)
The latest entry in the Denzel Washington series.

Wrong Turn (2021)
A group of friends hiking the Appalachian Trail come across a community none too happy to see them.

The Equalizer (2014)
When a young girl is kidnapped by Russian pimps, a former commando comes out of retirement to rescue her.

Plus One (2019)
Longtime friends agree to be each other’s plus one at the various weddings they get invited to.

Pearl (2022)
A young woman tries to become a star to escape from her overbearing parents and living on an isolated farm.

Thanksgiving (2023)
A killer attacks on Thanksgiving.

Upgraded (2024)
An intern at an auction house misrepresents herself to impress a man.

Continue reading →

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The Academy Award Goes To

side_oscarAs they finish polishing up the statues for tonight’s ceremony, it’s time to finish up our predictions with the major categories for the 96th Academy Awards.  So, without further ado, we begin with:

Best Picture

American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest

I’ve seen a grand total of two of these, but neither is likely to win so I’ll go with Oppenheimer, which seems like the type of movie to win these awards.

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Colman Domingo, Rustin
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

Paul Giamatti’s performance in The Holdovers is the best of the nominated work that I have seen.  Of course, it is also the only nominated performance that I have seen.

Best Actress

Annette Bening, Nyad
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Emma Stone, Poor Things

I’ve seen none of these, so I’ll take a stab in the dark and pick Emma Stone.

Continue reading →

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The Nominees Are

side_oscarThe 96th Academy Awards are going down next Sunday night and that means it is time for another go-around of my woeful predictions.  I don’t know that I’ve heard of many of these movies let alone seen them, so, with less basis in fact than most years, here’s my uneducated predictions for the non-acting awards.

Best Original Screenplay

Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, Anatomy of a Fall
David Hemingson, The Holdovers
Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer, Maestro
Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, May December
Celine Song, Past Lives

I’ve seen a whopping two of these films, so I’m going to pick my favorite of the two, The Holdovers.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Barbie
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Tony McNamara, Poor Things
Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest

I’m assuming this will be the start of a big night for Nolan and Oppenheimer.

Best Animated Feature

The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Once again, I’ll go with the one I’ve seen.

Best Cinematography

Edward Lachman, El Conde
Rodrigo Prieto, Killers of the Flower Moon
Matthew Libatique, Maestro
Hoyte van Hoytema, Oppenheimer
Robbie Ryan, Poor Things

Seems like I’m going all in with the atomic bomb movie.

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran, Barbie
Jacqueline West, Killers of the Flower Moon
Janty Yates and Dave Crossman, Napoleon
Ellen Mirojnick, Oppenheimer
Holly Waddington, Poor Things

This seems like as good a place as any for Barbie to get on the board.

Continue reading →

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2023: The Year In Movies Part 2

159 different people starred in the 88 movies I saw last year (starring in being the first two named stars, a tradition dating back to the old Chicago Tribune TV guide which populated the early days of my database), and a whopping twelve of them were in more than one film. Those twelve thespians are:

Films Per Actor Per Year

Actor Name Films
Margot Robbie 3
Sebastian Stan 3
Joanna Arnow 2
Kevin Bacon 2
Neve Campbell 2
Josh Duhamel 2
Gal Gadot 2
Madison Pettis 2
Saoirse Ronan 2
Paul Rudd 2
Lulu Wilson 2
Reese Witherspoon 2

Now let’s take a look at the remaining movies that I saw in 2023, following up on last week’s post.

They/Them (2022)
A killer is attacking people at a gay conversion therapy camp.

The Apparition (2012)
A couple is haunted by a supernatural presence that is unleashed during a college experiment.

You’re Killing Me (2023)
A high school girl finds herself in a fight for her life when she finds out her classmates killed someone and recorded it on their phones.

The Passenger (2023)
A man goes off, killing his co-workers and then takes the one remaining one on a trip down memory lane.

Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023)
A man gets a new job guarding a closed down arcade/restaurant with animatronic entertainment.

The Final Wish (2018)
A man returns home after his father’s death and finds a mysterious artifact.

No Hard Feelings (2023)
Jennifer Lawrence stars as a woman who agrees to take a high school senior’s virginity in exchange for a car, but instead finds herself becoming his friend.

Fingernails (2023)
When a test is developed to determine if two people are truly in love, one of the administrators wonders if she should be with her husband or her co-worker.

Heart of Stone (2023)
A spy tries to stop a hacker from stealing a dangerous weapon.

Last Sentinel (2023)
A group of soldiers on an abandoned base wait for someone to relieve them. Continue reading →

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2023: The Year In Movies

The return of my annual long December vacation helped push a healthy increase in movie watching for me, with my highest total since the lockdown in 2019.  I managed to watch 88 movies last year, my third consecutive year under 100, despite being home all day and not needing to bother with pesky things like a commute.  Or exercise.  The extended WGA and SAG strikes limiting new output probably didn’t help either.

Here’s a look back at the first 50 movies I watched last year and what recollection, if any, I have of them. The films are listed in the order I saw them.

Luckiest Girl Alive (2022)
Mila Kunis stars as a woman who sees her life start to unravel when she is faced with a years-old trauma.

Do Revenge (2022)
Two high school girls decide to trade off and get revenge on each other’s bully.

Orphan: First Kill (2022)
A long-delayed sequel to the 2009 horror film.

Margaux (2022)
A smart house sets its targets on a group of friends who have rented it for the weekend.

American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules (2020)
The latest sequel to the comedy hit flips the script and has a trio of girls looking to lose their virginity before graduation.

Sick (2022)
Two friends quarantine at a lake house, but they quickly find out they are not alone.

The Menu (2022)
A chef prepares his final meal, taking out his frustrations on his diners on the way out.

Death on the Nile (2022)
Hercule Poirot takes on another case, based on the Agatha Christie novel.

Unhuman (2022)
A bus full of high school students try to survive after a crash leaves them vulnerable to an attacker.

Shotgun Wedding (2023)
A destination wedding goes off the rails when the wedding party is held hostage. Continue reading →

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You Ought To Be In Pictures Wrap Up

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 107 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of July 1.

Last week, we wrapped up our latest look at the films I’ve seen over my lifetime.  There were six new actors who hit or surpassed the ten-film plateau since the last time we did this three years ago, with Christina Ricci, Gerard Butler, Amanda Seyfried, Kevin Bacon, and Daniel Craig all tied the biggest leaps, going from either eight to ten or nine to eleven.  An astounding 63 actors did not see any change in their totals, with Raymond Burr heading up the top of those actors.

Thanks in part to a global pandemic that shut down theaters and movie sets, thirteen actors tied for the lead by picking up just two additional firms over these past three years.  The remaining 31 actors increased their total by a single film.

 

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You Ought To Be In (36) Pictures

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 107 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of July 1.

We wrap up our series today with the lone actor that has starred in exactly 36 movies that I have seen, a new high from three years ago.

Bruce Willis

The actor that I have seen in the most films is Bruce Willis, who maintains a five-picture lead over his closest competitor.  I first saw him in 1985’s Moonlighting, the pilot to the television show that introduced him to America.  His first big screen work that I saw was 1988’s Die Hard.  His longest streak was four years, from 1995 through 1998.  I’ve seen him in multiple films in nine different years, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2019, and 2020.  The last time I saw him in a film was 2020, when he checked in with three different performances: 2017’s Once Upon a Time in Venice and, both from 2020, Hard Kill and Survive the Night.  Unfortunately, Willis’s family announced last year that he was retiring after being diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder impacting his language expression and comprehension.

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You Ought To Be In (31) Pictures

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 107 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of July 1.

We continue today with the one actor that has starred in exactly 31 movies that I have seen, a level left bare 3 years ago.

Tom Hanks

In 1984, Tom Hanks splashed on to the movie scene in the aptly titled Splash.  My biggest Tom Hanks year was 2017, when I saw four of his films, and there were six other years where I saw at least two of his films.  He has added a single new film, retaining his second-place position, which came earlier this year when I saw A Man Called Otto, the adaptation of the similarly named Fredrik Backman novel.

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You Ought To Be In (29) Pictures

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 107 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of July 1.

We continue today with the only actor that has starred in exactly 29 movies that I have seen, a plateau not reached 3 years ago.

Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage can also point to special circumstances behind his high film total: real estate issues and IRS trouble.  After being accused of owing the government over $6.5 million in unpaid taxes and losing millions in bad real estate deals, Cage filed a $20 million lawsuit against his business manager and started taking any and every role offered to him.  Seven of his films that I have seen have come since, including four in 2010 alone.  My first exposure to a starring Cage role was likely 1987’s Raising Arizona.  There have been eight years since where I have seen multiple Cage films.  My most recent exposure came in 2022, when I saw 2017’s Mom and Dad.