Long time, no see, movie buffs! There’s been a lot going on in life and the world, so I apologize for my absence here on TMP.
I think we can all use a bit of a distraction right now, so I’m hoping to be somewhat more consistent about sharing the movies I’m watching on the blog. But first, let’s take a look back at the past three months in viewing — January, February, and March of 2020.
New-to-Me Viewings
- January: 12
- February: 3
- March: 16
Re-watches
- January: 1
- February: 0
- March: 6
Totals
- Total for January: 13
- Total for February: 3
- Total for March: 22
That makes a total of 38 for the first quarter of the year. Pretty low, but I did spend much of January doing extra work and much of February sleeping through a terrible case of the flu. March wasn’t too shabby — I’m getting better at working “me time” (which, for me, means movie time) into my routine.
The New-to-Me Lists
January:
- Ghosts of Sugar Land (2019)
- Little Women (2019)
- Uncut Gems (2019)
- Adoring (2019)
- Seoul Searching (2015)
- The Violent Years (1956)
- Judy (2019)
- Pot o’ Gold (1941)
- Atlantics (2019)
- 1917 (2019)
- Just Mercy (2019)
- Miss Americana (2020)
February:
- Jojo Rabbit (2019)
- ReMastered: The Miami Showband Massacre (2019)
- The Call of the Wild (2020)
March:
- The Day of the Locust (1975)
- Panique (1946)
- Knives Out (2019)
- The Swimmer (1968)
- She-Devil (1989)
- Holy Hell (2016)
- The Daytrippers (1996)
- Blow the Man Down (2020)
- Aftermath (2017)
- The Slender Thread (1965)
- Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears (2020)
- Art School Confidential (2006)
- Dark River (2017)
- Badland (2019)
- Western Stars (2019)
- Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019)
Re-watches
January:
- 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
February:
- None
March:
- Twilight (2008)
- New Moon (2009)
- Eclipse (2010)
- Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011)
- Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012)
- The Little Mermaid (1989)
Viewing Methods
- Acorn TV: 1
- At the cinema: 6
- Criterion Channel: 6
- Disney+: 1
- FandangoNOW: 4
- The Film Detective: 1
- From my collection: 2
- From my sister’s collection: 5
- Netflix: 8
- Prime Video: 4
Tally by Decade
- 1900s: 0
- 1910s: 0
- 1920s: 0
- 1930s: 0
- 1940s: 2
- 1950s: 2
- 1960s: 2
- 1970s: 1
- 1980s: 2
- 1990s: 1
- 2000s: 3
- 2010s: 21
- 2020s: 4
Favorite Discoveries
My favorite discoveries of the year so far have been:
- Panique and The Daytrippers, two Criterion gems (Panique is my number one of the year so far!)
- Blow the Man Down, an indie thriller about two sisters who get caught up in a murder mystery in small-town Maine
- Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, which I knew I’d love because I love and miss Miss Fisher!
- Atlantics, which ties with Parasite for my number one film of 2019
- Knives Out, Little Women, 1917, and Jojo Rabbit — more late entries into my “top films of 2019” list
- Adoring, which made me cry in public
What have you been watching this year? I’d love to know your favorite discoveries! Hope you all are hanging in there and staying safe.
The Motion Pictures 
A couple of things of note from this post: single-digit number of movies for each decade except 2010, with a whopping 21, and out of ALL the movies listed, I’ve only ever seen two: 3:10 to Yuma and The Little Mermaid. But I do still want to see Adoring, and as soon as my library re-opens I hope to check out Jo Jo Rabbit.
As for good movies I’ve seen this year…I really liked the South Korean zombie film Train to Busan, and The Hound of the Baskervilles was a cool kick-off to the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes series, and I enjoyed a hockey documentary called Broad Street Bullies…but nothing else so far that’s new-to-me has really thrilled me much. I’ve watched a lot of neat low-budget noirs that I’ve liked and had fun with, including Cry Danger, Plunder Road, Shockproof, and yes, Women’s Prison, so I’ll probably be watching a lot more of those in the coming months.
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PS – Love the new header photo, too!
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I was not surprised by the decade counts, unfortunately. I’ve had a very bad classic slump for months because I haven’t felt like taking notes/reviewing but I feel guilty for neglecting the blog when I don’t, haha. So I just pick something I don’t feel any self-pressure to review. I do always spend a lot of time catching up on previous-year releases early in the year, too, when they finally go digital. So between those two factors, the 2010s took a big leap to the top.
I think I’m coming out of the slump, though! In March, I watched Panique, The Swimmer, and The Slender Thread for pure enjoyment with no note-taking and really loved them all. Now I actually want to go back and watch them again so I can review them, haha!
You can never have too much low-budget noir! Those and low-budg, one-hour mysteries are some of the best things to put on even though they aren’t award quality, haha. Plunder Road and Shockproof look neat!
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So want to see Jojo Rabbit. Knives Out was good fun. That went down well as an entertaining film for the whole family. Never heard of Panique (1946) added to my to watch list. Thanks for that :) What a great actress name Viviane Romance.
Both The Swimmer (1968) and The Slender Thread (1965) scored 10 out 10 from me and completely broke me in different ways. Two films that I got so emotional taken in by. Couldn’t stop thinking about them for weeks. Incredible stories.
Keep safe where ever you are in the world
All the best
Mikey
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Panique is amazing, I hope you get around to watching it soon! Very tense and twisty. Instant favorite for me and I recently ordered it from Criterion so I’ll be able to re-watch it endlessly. 🙂
I read the story of The Swimmer in college and loved it — what a great adaptation. I also found The Slender Thread very intense and emotional, and what a performance by Sidney Poitier. Glad to hear you enjoy these too.
And same to you, Mikey, I hope you and your family are doing well and staying safe!
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Can’t wait to see it. And I keep meaning to read The Swimmer book. Must put that on my lock-down to do list! Sidney smashed it out the park. So much raw emotion. One of the greatest actors. Love watching him.
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