People ask me, “How do you find the time to watch so many movies?” The answer is, “Bit by bit.” Most of my watching happens on my iPad, in 15-minute increments, sometimes on the subway, sometimes before I go to bed, sometimes when everyone else in the house is miraculously preoccupied, and, yes, sometimes on the can. It can take six or more of these little sessions over days and days for me to get through a single feature length film.
You know what else helps? Going on vacation for a few weeks, as I did in July, which afforded me ample free time to watch a ton of stuff. Even if it was still mostly in 15-minute increments, I fit in twenty-one movies, including “The Magnificent Ambersons,” which was one of the best cinematic experiences I’ve had all year. Not only is it an exquisite work, but I got to see it at Le Desperado, one of the handful of charming revival theaters on the Left Bank in Paris—and with our niece, too, who had never seen it before. As soon as the lights went up, she said with a big smile, “That was so good!” Watching movies doesn’t get more satisfying than that.
Here’s the full list.
- “This Is Spinal Tap” Still makes me laugh out loud.
- “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” I had no idea this John Huston classic was so uncompromising.
- “2001: A Space Odyssey”
- “The Dictator”
- “The Incredibles” The story holds up, but much of the CG does not.
- “Finding Dory” I cried a little.
- “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
- “Taxi Driver” It’s really remarkable how Scorsese’s work really stands up to the test of time.
- “Robocop” The original, which was meh.
- “The Magnificent Ambersons”
- “Psycho”
- “The Bourne Identity”
- “To Kill a Man”
- “Zero De Conduite” Catching up on Jean Vigo.
- “Little White Lies”
- “The Hateful Eight”
- “Star Trek Beyond” Not terrible, but it definitely didn’t leave me wanting more sequels.
- “L’Atalante”
- “Vice and Virtue”
- “The Big Lebowski”
- “The Secret Life of Pets”
If you’re interested, here’s my list from June, May, April, March and my list for January and February. And you can follow along with my film diary on Letterboxd, too.
+