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Film Viewings 2010

This year marked a dramatic decrease in the number of movies I screened compared to last year. Convenience of going to the movie theatre played a major role in the amount of films I was willing and able to see on the big screen. There’s something too about going to the movies in New York that makes it more of an “event” than I often want it to be which sounds like a paradox but I find it more difficult to be spontaneous on this front than I am in Seattle. Even though I live in New York, I saw only three films in the theatres there this year.

Between an increased workload, a more regular TV schedule, more required and volunteer theatre viewings, film did take a hit. Because of this however, I think what resulted was a more fine-tuned viewing experience, forcing myself to be more selective when it came to the experience of sitting down, devoting my time to a roughly two hour visual treat that seemed to be split fairly evenly between solo and social viewings.

Finally, this year saw a rise in the critical conversations I had with films as I screened several films as research (e.g. The Merchant of Venice, Drag Me To Hell, House of the Devil), as a result of extended cultural curiosity (e.g. Heavy Metal, Little Shop of Horrors, A Nightmare on Elm Street) and through the Dialogical Film Club (DFC) which I list below.

The trend of fewer movies is likely to continue for awhile with the final semester of classes beginning in a few short weeks, work responsibilities and two big TV “events” I’ve embarked on—that is on top of other regular programming—which include a first watch-through of LOST (begun late December 2010) and the Great Buffy Rewatch hosted by Nikki Stafford and for which I will be guest-blogging several times over the course of 2011.

The list you see here and the “awards” I’ve given a select few stem only from my viewing record this year so I likely have missed many a cinematic gem.

May your 2011 be filled with many forms of pop-culture goodness.

Total Films Watched in 2010: 65

Average Per Week: 1.25

Films Seen in Theatres: 17

Most Frequent Film Companion: Kj with 12 films (7 in theatres, 5 via the DFC.) 41% of the films I saw in theatres were with Kj.

Films Watched Twice:
An Education*
Where the Wild Things Are*
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

*Re-watched not due to a fondness for the film but creative and psychological frustrations that merit re-viewings with a group of insightful minds.

Dialogical Film Club Viewings:
The Nines
Where the Wild Things Are
An Education
The Secret of NIMH*
All Dogs Go to Heaven*

*Screened as part of our DFC Summer Monday series under the title “Facing Childhood Cartoon Trauma–Double Feature”

Animated Features:*
Toy Story 3
The Secret of NIMH
All Dogs Go to Heaven
The Princess and the Frog
Heavy Metal
Ponyo
The Last Unicorn
Tangled

*I was very tempted to include Avatar in this category, because really…

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

Documentaries:
Walt Disney Treasures: Disneyland USA
The September Issue
Waking Sleeping Beauty

Best Documentary: Waking Sleeping Beauty

Top Films of 2010 (New/In Order of Viewing):
A Single Man
Toy Story 3
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Tangled
Waking Sleeping Beauty (wide release in 2010)

Most Disappointing Films of 2010:
The Last Airbender
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
An Education

Viewings 2010
*denotes theatrical viewing

Avatar*
The Nines
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus*
The Hangover
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Julie & Julia
The Box
The Young Victoria
Where the Wild Things Are
A Single Man*
The Wolfman*
An Education*
Stop-Loss
Walt Disney Treasures: Disneyland USA
Little Shop of Horrors
Where the Wild Things Are
Triangle
The Runaways*
Out of Africa
Pandorum
Drag Me To Hell
House of the Devil
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Dead Alive
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Splice*
Toy Story 3*
Up in the Air
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse*
The Last Airbender*
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice*
Inception*
An Education
Shutter Island
Kick-Ass
All Dogs Go to Heaven
The Secret of NIMH
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World*
9
The Merchant of Venice
The Princess and the Frog
The September Issue
Heavy Metal
Ponyo
Legend (Theatrical Version)
The Last Unicorn
Star Trek (2009)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1*
Waking Sleeping Beauty
Tangled*
The Black Hole
Black Swan*
When in Rome
Sunshine Cleaning
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Bright Star
The Duchess
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Agora
Grumpy Old Men
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
Easy A
Time Bandits
Tron: Legacy*