Thursday, February 22, 2024

January 2024 Reading List


I’ve always been a reader, although my reading has tended to be done in spurts. Read a bunch in a condensed period of time and then read nothing for awhile. The last couple of years I’ve been more consistent, reaching the point where now I always seem to have a book, if not multiple, in progress.

After a race to hit an arbitrary target number by the end of 2023, a pursuit bolstered by getting COVID over the holidays, my reading muscles are in peak condition. Still, the number of books I finished in January 2024 surprises me. Colder weather and the tail end of COVID recovery helped me reach fifteen books read during the month, and only one of them, a small book of poetry, might look like number-padding. 


Unlike my moviegoing, which is influenced a lot by the commercial and repertory release calendars, there’s not much intentionality involved with determining what I read when. But that ‘s what can be fun. I wander and end up somewhere I couldn’t have anticipated. A comment in one book may inspire one of my next choices. Last year a mention of a Jack London novel in a Whit Stillman monograph led me to Martin Eden. I read Agatha Christie’s By the Pricking of My Thumbs and Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes back-to-back because having the titles in that order on my list amused me. A topic or a title in a podcast, news article, or social media post might spark my interest. I may just randomly find something at the library or decide that it’s time I give my attention to a book that’s been on my shelf for years. 


Of January’s reads, only the first two were “planned,” by which I mean they were novels I hadn’t found time for in 2023 and decided it was their turn. I didn’t intend for all the books I read last month to be written by women, but after the first few, I thought why not? I also didn’t plan to go on such an Agatha Christie kick, but I did and don’t see that pattern abating. (It doesn’t hurt that I can read her mysteries exceptionally quickly.) I don’t expect that I’ll continue reading at a pace of a book about every two days, in part because there are some long and more complicated books I want to tackle.


Anyway, this is all a preamble to me jotting down brief thoughts about what I’ve read. I’m not interested in writing down extensive impressions about everything, but I figured I might be motivated to crank out a sentence or two for each book. If you think these insights lack depth, I agree! (It would help if I had tweeted something after finishing each. I’ll try to do better next time.) I’ve also posted my 2022 reading list and 2023 reading list if they are of interest. If not, at least I know I have them in another place for my own reference.


January 2004 Reading List



Birnam Wood (Eleanor Catton, 2023)


An American tech billionaire building a doomsday bunker in New Zealand and a leftist ecological collective become unlikely partners in a highly entertaining thriller and satire. Internal group politics are sharply observed, especially in examining what happens when pure ideology rubs against personal needs, desires, and practicalities. Catton’s facility with language elevates this above nuts-and-bolts genre fiction while remaining a gripping page-turner.



Enter Ghost (Isabella Hammad, 2023)


Hammad’s The Parisian or Al-Barisi was one of the best books I read in 2023, and her follow-up may be even better. I was deeply moved by the crescendo to the novel’s final words. An actress visits her sister in Haifa and becomes involved in a production of Hamlet to be staged in the West Bank, leading her to reexamine what it has meant for those who remained after 1948 and those who left. The defiance and hope that arise in the book might seem naive, particularly while reading this as the news of human atrocities in Gaza surface every day, but without them, how could one continue to press on?



The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie, 1926) - includes “A Letter to My Publisher” (1936) and “Creating Poirot” (1938)


I enjoyed reading Agatha Christie books as a kid–very fashionable, right?–and had this interest rekindled at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival upon seeing Rian Johnson’s Knives Out and the Johnson-introduced screening of The Last of Sheila. This is widely considered one of her best, a sentiment I agree with.



Period: The Real Story of Menstruation (Kate Clancy, 2023)


I was expecting more anthropology and less science than what this turns out to contain, which is not a criticism of the book that was written but rather a note of my expectations. The history and anthropology about women’s health made for more compelling reading, especially in light of today’s political environment.. Of course the science matters and is not a separate thing from how the subject is treated in the public arena. Some of it just seemed a bit over my head.



The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Agatha Christie, 1920)


Christie’s first published novel, which also introduces the detective Hercule Poirot, displays an Arthur Conan Doyle influence, particularly Poirot’s Hastings as a Watson-like narrator. This is a solid start to what became an unbelievably successful career for the author. I’m not reading the Poirot books in order, which doesn’t seem necessary and is too much trouble when borrowing from the library, but even as I bounce around, it’s interesting to note how her style adapts and how she references earlier books in later ones but not at the expense of spoiling the outcomes.



The A.B.C. Murders (Agatha Christie, 1936)


If all of the serial killer films, TV shows, and books don’t owe a debt to this, I would be shocked. This mystery features good dramatic momentum and, as usual, a resolution that I didn’t see coming. For what it’s worth, I don’t read Christie’s mysteries to try to crack the cases, although maybe after I’ve read enough of them I’ll detect a pattern. Or not.



Cat Among the Pigeons (Agatha Christie, 1959)


Rex Reed griped about being forty-five minutes into The Tree of Life with no sign of Brad Pitt, so I want to joke about no Poirot on the scene until relatively late into Cat Among the Pigeons. Murder and intrigue at a boarding school for girls make for a solid mystery.

 


Catch the Rabbit (Uhvati zeca) (Lana Bastašić, 2018) - (Translated from Serbian-Croatian by the author)


I’m sure some of the shadings here are lost on me. Sorry, I’m not up to speed on all the intricacies involved with the break-up of Yugoslavia and the post-war fallout. Knowing that may make for a richer read, but without that footing I was impressed with how Bastašić examines a friendship that fell out, the narratives that both women constructed about their relationship, and how these carried stories clash during a reunion road trip many years later. 



Peril at End House (Agatha Christie, 1932)


If you approach these mysteries solely as tests to be solved, this one will likely disappoint because I don’t think it’s likely you can figure it out before the reveal. The setting and cast of characters feels a bit small, but Christie includes enough twists and turns to keep things moving along nicely.



I Was Told There’d Be Cake (Sloane Crosley, 2008)


As a lifelong Midwesterner, I suppose it is inevitable that I felt a certain amount of animus building toward a collection of comedic essays about life as a privileged (or seemingly privileged) twentysomething in New York City. To Crosley’s credit, I think she uses self-deprecation in these stories (and the title) to signal awareness, and not in an overcompensating way, of whatever advantages she’s had. (Bonus observation: I’ve also read Crosley’s two novels and would put The Clasp at the top.)



The Future (Naomi Alderman, 2023)


This zeitgeist-y book shares some overlapping elements with Birnam Wood–namely tech billionaire schemes–but its near-future setting veers more into the science fiction realm with thinly veiled riffs on contemporary figures and companies. Elizabeth Hand called it “immensely readable if frustrating” in a Washington Post review that tidily sums up my experience with The Future. To me there seems to be a big thematic contradiction in what the book calls for and how it is achieved. I’ll also note that this is the first time I recall seeing the book equivalent of a film putting a scene in the middle of the end credits. On top of that there’s also a page with an e-mail address that you can write to and get a small piece of information that fills in an important unaddressed gap in the book.



Death on the Nile (Agatha Christie, 1937)


I thought the Kenneth Branagh film adaptation was dull when seeing it in the theater, but maybe I need to give it another chance because the book is quite good. Then again, Branagh changes and cuts some characters while still retaining the resolution of the whodunit component. Notably, the book does not feature any backstory about Poirot’s mustaches, something I assume was invented for the screen.



Goldenrod (Maggie Smith, 2021)


I don’t have much experience reading poetry, but I enjoyed the Columbus-based poet’s collection, which often touches on political frustrations, the challenges of parenthood, and a failing marriage.



The Murder on the Links (Agatha Christie, 1923) - includes “Agatha Christie on Poirot’s Favorite Cases” (1938)


Less to do with golf than the title might lead you to expect. (The victim’s body is found on a golf course.)  It’s probably worth reading this one early on, if simply to better understand a detail about Hastings’ life that is mentioned in other books.



Three Act Tragedy (Agatha Christie, 1934)


Two unexpected deaths at dinner parties lead to a third get-together being thrown in an attempt to catch the killer. I’ve been impressed with how Christie plays with form. She’s not rewriting virtually the same thing every time. The plot and/or economy of characters may be on the thin side for this concept, though, even as I enjoyed seeing the author do something different.


In-progress


The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights: Volume 1 - translation by Malcolm C. Lyons (2008)


I was looking through the Penguin Classics list to spur ideas of what to read and decided this looked interesting. Which it better be because at 982 pages, it is a commitment. Not to mention that there are two additional volumes of approximately equal length if one is to polish off all of these tales. So far, so good. I have been surprised by how risqué some of these tales are. 


The One Year Bible: New Living Translation (2004)


I’ve tried this project before and come up far short, but as I’m reading more right now, the time seems right to try again. This book breaks up the Bible into daily readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. Ideally I’d read a little every day, per the text’s organization, but in reality I will read a few (or more) days at a time depending on if I get behind. This month delivered a neat bit of synchronicity in reading the story of Lot, which also plays a thematic role in The Future.

2023 Reading List

For my own reference, and to add context as I hopefully keep up with blogging about what I'm reading in 2024, I'm documenting what I read in 2023. (I've also posted my 2022 list.) The list is arranged in the order the books were read.

1. Ayoade on Ayoade: A Cinematic Odyssey (Richard Ayoade, 2014)

2. In Other Words (Jhumpa Lahiri, 2015)

3. Cinema Speculation (Quentin Tarantino, 2022)

4. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro, 1988)

5. The Autograph Man (Zadie Smith, 2002)

6. Age of Cage: Four Decades of Hollywood Through One Singular Career (Keith Phipps, 2022)

7. Sitti’s Olive Trees (Ndaa Hassan, 2021)

8. Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety (Eric Schlosser, 2013)

9. A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole, 1980)

10. American Eclipse: A Nation’s Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World (David Baron, 2017)

11. The Man Who Died Twice (Richard Osman, 2021)

12. The Bullet That Missed (Richard Osman, 2022)

13. The Physics of Everyday Things (James Kakalios, 2017)

14. The Switch (Elmore Leonard, 1978)

15. Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius (Nick Hornby, 2022)

16. The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine (Ben Ehrenreich, 2016)

17. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 (Rashid Khalidi, 2020)

18. Trust (Hernan Diaz, 2022)

19. Player One: What is to Become of Us (Douglas Coupland, 2010)

20. Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun (Erik Larson, 1994) 

21. Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic (Simon Winchester, 2023)

22. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, 2005)

23. Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 (Simon Winchester, 2003)

24. I Have Some Questions for You (Rebecca Makkai, 2023)

25. The Man in the Brown Suit (Agatha Christie, 1924)

26. Cleopatra: A Life (Stacy Schiff, 2010)

27. The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Thornton Wilder, 1927)

28. By the Pricking of My Thumbs (Agatha Christie, 1968)

29. Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury, 1962)

30. Hold Fast Your Crown (Tiens ferme ta couronne) (Yannick Haenel, 2017) (Translation by Teresa Lavender Fagan, 2019)

31. Summerland (Michael Chabon, 2002)

32. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (Mary Shelley, 1818) (1831 revised third edition) [Includes the short stories “A Fragment” (Lord Byron, 1819) and “The Vampyre: A Tale” (Dr. John William Polidori, 1819)]

33. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (Michael Chabon, 2007)

34. Closer You Are: The Story of Robert Pollard and Guided By Voices (Matthew Cutter, 2018)

35. Richard Ayoade Presents The Grip of Film by Gordy LaSure (Richard Ayoade, 2017)

36. The Parisian or Al-Barisi (Isabella Hammad, 2019)

37. Fletch (Gregory Mcdonald, 1974)

38. Whit Stillman: Not So Long Ago (Various, 2023)

39. Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century (Dana Stevens, 2022)

40. The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy, 1997)

41. Confess, Fletch (Gregory Mcdonald, 1976)

42. Fletch’s Fortune (Gregory Mcdonald, 1978)

43. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton, 1967)

44. The Last Devil to Die (Richard Osman, 2023)

45. Martin Eden (Jack London, 1909)

46. Fletch and the Widow Bradley (Gregory Mcdonald, 1981)

47. Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever (Matt Singer, 2023)

48. The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession (David Grann, 2010)

49. The Roaring Game: A Sweeping Saga of Curling (Doug Clark, 2007)

50. The Luminaries (Eleanor Catton, 2013)

51. Fletch’s Moxie (Gregory Mcdonald, 1982)

52. Fletch and the Man Who (Gregory Mcdonald, 1983)

53. Perfect Circle: The Story of R.E.M. (Tony Fletcher, 2018)

54. Carioca Fletch (Gregory Mcdonald, 1984)

55. Fletch Won (Gregory Mcdonald, 1985)

56. Fletch, Too (Gregory Mcdonald, 1986)

57. Son of Fletch (Gregory Mcdonald, 1993)

58. Fletch Reflected (Gregory Mcdonald, 1994)

59. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) (Jules Verne, 1870) (Translation by David Coward, 2017)

60. Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall (Zeke Faux, 2023)

61. Worn: A People’s History of Clothing (Sofi Thanhauser, 2022)

62. Flynn (Gregory Mcdonald, 1977)

63. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (David Grann, 2023)

64. A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster (Rebecca Solnit, 2009)

65. The Buck Passes Flynn (Gregory Mcdonald, 1981)

66. Flynn’s In (Gregory Mcdonald, 1984)

67. Flynn’s World (Gregory Mcdonald, 1999)

68. The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man (David W. Maurer, 1940) (Read 1999 edition with introduction by Luc Sante)

69. The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew (Alan Lightman, 2013)

70. Two Weeks in the Midday Sun: A Cannes Notebook (Roger Ebert, 1987)

2022 Reading List


For my own reference, and to add context as I hopefully keep up with blogging about what I'm reading in 2024, I'm documenting what I read in 2022. The list is arranged in the order the books were read.

1. Magpie Murders (Anthony Horowitz, 2016)

2. Whereabouts (Jhumpa Lahiri, 2018)

3. Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro, 2021)

4. Moonflower Murders (Anthony Horowitz, 2020)

5. Cult Classic (Sloane Crosley, 2022)

6. The Monster's Bones: The Discovery of T.Rex and How It Shook Our World (David K. Randall, 2022)

7. A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable (John Steele Gordon, 2002)

8. Artemis (Andy Weir, 2017)

9. The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman, 2020)

10. Call for the Dead (John le Carré, 1961)

11. The Cabin at the End of the World (Paul Tremblay, 2018)

12. The Clasp (Sloane Crosley, 2015)

13. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary (Simon Winchester, 1998)

14. Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History (Erik Larson, 1999)

15. King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa (Adam Hochschild, 1998)

16. Lucky Jim (Kingsley Amis, 1953)

17. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty (Patrick Radden Keefe, 2021)

18. A Murder of Quality (John le Carré, 1962)

19. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (John le Carré, 1963)

20. The Cloudspotter's Guide: The Science, History and Culture of Clouds (Gavin Pretor-Pinney, 2006)

21. The Looking Glass War (John le Carré, 1965)

22. Funny Girl (Nick Hornby, 2014)

23. State of the Union: A Marriage in Ten Parts (Nick Hornby, 2019)

24. Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad, 1899)

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

2021 Film Log

After not seeing a movie in theaters in 2020 after March 8, last year found me tentatively returning in June and then typically seeing two or three films per week. After getting back into a consistent moviegoing routine and finding theaters mostly empty, which I admit made me more comfortable, I was up to see pretty much whatever would help me maximize my AMC A-List membership. My decisions of what to watch weren’t made completely indiscriminately. In the Now Playing days I still might have convinced myself to see PAW Patrol: The Movie to be on top of all new wide releases but not now. Nevertheless, I was still willing to take chances on some stuff that I didn’t have high hopes for, like the Escape Room sequel and programmer fare like The Protege, or which had been bludgeoned critically, like the awards-striving dud Being the Ricardos and the misguided adaptation of stage musical Dear Evan Hansen. The only time I balked at going was when Spider-Man: No Way Home was packing theaters amid the omicron variant’s rise. Usually I was seeing films with a handful of people around me, so that blockbuster could wait until crowds shrank after the holidays. 

My limited availability to go to the movies and inconvenient showtimes meant I only made it to arthouse and repertory film venues twice in 2021. For instance, would I have liked to have caught Bergman Island and The Velvet Underground? Yes. At 10 p.m. on a weeknight? No. Still, I am kind of surprised that there are a decent number of smaller or more idiosyncratic films I managed to watch amid the big studios’ releases. There’s a lot of chaff on the theatrical portion of my viewing list, but then again, there always was when I was seeing more than this when the TV show was in production or when I last posted something like this in 2018.

Theatrical - 2021 U.S. Releases (61)

-Annette (Leos Carax, 2021, France/Belgium/Germany/United States/Japan/Mexico/Switzerland)


-Antlers (Scott Cooper, 2021, United States/Mexico)


-Becoming Cousteau (Liz Garbus, 2021, United States)


-Being the Ricardos (Aaron Sorkin, 2021, United States)


-Belfast (Kenneth Branagh, 2021, United Kingdom)


-Black Widow (Cate Shortland, 2021 United States)


-Candyman (Nia Da Costa, 2021 United States/Canada)


-The Card Counter (Paul Schrader, 2021, United States/United Kingdom/China/Sweden)


-C'mon C'mon (Mike Mills, 2021, United States)


-Copshop (Joe Carnahan, 2021, United States)


-Cruella (Craig Gillespie, 2021, United States)


-Cry Macho (Clint Eastwood, 2021, United States)


-Dear Evan Hansen (Stephen Chbosky, 2021, United States/Japan)


-Don't Breathe 2 (Rodo Sayagues, 2021, United States)


-Dune (Denis Villeneueve, 2021, United States/Canada) - IMAX


-Encanto (Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Charise Castro Smith, 2021, United States)


-Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (Adam Robitel, 2021, United States/South Africa)


-Eternals (Chloe Zhao, 2021, United States)


-The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Michael Showalter, 2021, United States)


-F9: The Fast Saga (Justin Lin, 2021, United States)


-The Forever Purge (Everardo Gout, 2021, United States)


-Free Guy (Shawn Levy, 2021, United States)


-The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (Wes Anderson, 2021, United States)


-Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Jason Reitman, 2021, United States/Germany)


-The Green Knight (David Lowery, 2021, Ireland/Canada/United States)


-Halloween Kills (David Gordon Green, 2021, United States)


-House of Gucci (Ridley Scott, 2021, United States/Canada)


-In the Heights (Jon M. Chu, 2021, United States)


-Jungle Cruise (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2021, United States)


-King Richard (Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2021, United States)


-Lamb (Valdimar Jóhannsson, 2021, Iceland/Poland/Sweden)


-The Last Duel (Ridley Scott, 2021, United States/United Kingdom)


-Last Night in Soho (Edgar Wright, 2021, United Kingdom)


-Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2021, Canada/United States)


-The Lost Leonardo (Andreas Koefoed, 2021, Denmark/France)


-Malignant (James Wan, 2021, United States/China)


-The Many Saints of Newark (Alan Taylor, 2021, United States)


-The Matrix Resurrections (Lana Wachowski, 2021, United States)


-The Night House (David Bruckner, 2020, United Kingdom/United States)


-Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2021, United States/Mexico/Canada)


-Nine Days (Edson Oda, 2020, United States)


-No Time to Die (Cary Joji Fukunaga, 2021, United Kingdom/United States)


-Old (M. Night Shyamalan, 2021, United States/Japan)


-Parallel Mothers (Madres paralelas) (Pedro Almodovar, 2021, Spain)


-Pig (Michael Sarnoski, 2021, United States/United Kingdom)


-The Protege (Martin Campbell, 2021, United States/United Kingdom)


-A Quiet Place Part II (John Krasinski, 2020, United States)


-Raya and the Last Dragon (Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, and John Ripa, 2021, United States)


-The Rescue (Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, 2021, United Kingdom/United States)


-Reminiscence (Lisa Joy, 2021, United States)


-Ron's Gone Wrong (Sarah Smith, Jean-Philippe Vine, and Octavio E. Rodriguez, 2021, United States/United Kingdom)


-Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Destin Daniel Cretton, 2021, United States)


-Space Jam: A New Legacy (Malcolm D. Lee, 2021, United States)


-The Sparks Brothers (Edgar Wright, 2021, United Kingdom/United States)


-Spencer (Pablo Larrain, 2021, United Kingdom/Germany/United States/Chile)


-The Suicide Squad (James Gunn, 2021, United States)


-Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Questlove, 2021, United States)


-Titane (Julia Ducournau, 2021, France/Belgium)


-Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Andy Serkis, 2021, United States)


-West Side Story (Steven Spielberg, 2021, United States)


-Zola (Janicza Bravo, 2020, United States)


Theatrical - Older Films (2)


-Cooley High (Michael Schultz, 1975, United States) - 35mm


-Ghost in the Shell (Kôkaku Kidôtai) (Mamoru Oshii, 1995, Japan) - IMAX


Perhaps the list becomes more interesting when turning to what I chose to watch at home. Here the choices are subject to my whims, like when I started an impromptu Hayao Miyazaki retrospective or recorded some murder mysteries from Turner Classic Movies.


Blu-ray (21)


-A Brief History of Time (Errol Morris, 1991, United Kingdom/Japan/United States)


-Bill & Ted Face the Music (Dean Parisot, 2020, United States)


-The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979, Canada)


-Castle in the Sky (Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta) (Hayao Miyazaki, 1986, Japan)


-Chungking Express (Chung Hing sam lam) (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994, Hong Kong)


-Devi (Satyajit Ray, 1960, India)


-Dune (David Lynch, 1984, United States/Mexico)


-Eyes without a Face (Les yeux sans visage) (Georges Franju, 1960, France/Italy)


-The Host (Gwoemul) (Bong Joon Ho, 2006, South Korea)


-Kiki’s Delivery Service (Majo no takkyûbin) (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989, Japan)


-My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro) (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988, Japan)


-Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Kaze no tani no Naushika) (Hayao Miyazaki, 1984, Japan)


-The Parallax View (Alan J. Pakula, 1974, United States)


-Porco Rosso (Kurenai no buta) (Hayao Miyazaki, 1992, Japan)


-Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime) Hayao Miyazaki, 1997, Japan)


-Le samouraï (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967, France/Italy)


-Seconds (John Frankenheimer, 1966, United States)


-Taste of Cherry (Ta'm e guilass) (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997, Iran/France)


-Tenet (Christopher Nolan, 2020, United States/United Kingdom)


-Throw Down (Yau dah lung fu bong) (Johnnie To, 2004, Hong Kong/China) (Blu-ray)


-The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, 1988, United States)


Streaming (6)


-Chronicle of a Disappearance (Elia Suleiman, 1996, Israel/United States/Germany/France/Occupied Palestinian Territory)


-Divine Intervention (Yadon ilaheyya) (Elia Suleiman, 2002, France/Morocco/Germany/Occupied Palestinian Territory)


-It Must Be Heaven (Elia Suleiman, 2019, France/Qatar/Germany/Canada/Turkey/Occupied Palestinian Territory)


-Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro) (Hayao Miyazaki, 1979, Japan)


-The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (John Lounsbery and Wolfgang Reitherman, 1977, United States)


-The Time That Remains (Elia Suleiman, 2009, France/Belgium/Italy/United Kingdom/United Arab Emirates/Occupied Palestinian Territory/Israel)


TV (3)


-Clue (Jonathan Lynn, 1985, United States)


-Murder by Death (Robert Moore, 1976, United States)


-Ten Little Indians (George Pollock, 1965, United Kingdom)


I’ve added the countries of origin as a data point I thought might be interesting to tabulate, although some of what’s listed above demonstrates how difficult it can be to determine where a film is “from.” I’ve made my best guess in breaking out the primary country of origin, so this is anything but exact in a number of instances. For example, Annette gets attributed to France, the latest James Bond film to the United Kingdom, and The Lost Leonardo to Denmark. It’s no surprise that U.S. titles lead the way, though.


Primary Country of Origin


-Canada: 1

-Denmark: 1

-France: 4

-Hong Kong: 2

-Iceland: 1

-India: 1

-Iran: 1

-Japan: 8

-Occupied Palestinian Territory: 4

-South Korea: 1

-Spain: 1

-United Kingdom: 9

-United States: 59


As my viewing was mostly in theaters, it’s also expected that most of what I saw were new releases. I’m a little surprised I didn’t watch anything before 1960.


Year/Decade of Release

-2021: 61

-2020: 2

-2010-2019: 1

-2000-2009: 4

-1990-1999: 7

-1980-1989: 7

-1970-1979: 6

-1960-1969: 5


One of my 2021 goals was to try to watch bodies of work. Like most New Year’s resolutions, that one flopped, although I didn’t get about halfway through Hayao Miyazaki’s filmography before getting distracted by sports of British panel shows available to stream. The Elia Suleiman online retrospective was the closest I came to achieving what I set out to do, although his oeuvre is also small. Ridley Scott and Edgar Wright just happened to put out two films in 2021. While I didn’t go through all of his films, the Errol Morris films I watched filled in some big gaps of what I haven’t seen.


Directors with Multiple Films


-Hayao Miyazaki: 7

-Errol Morris: 2

-Ridley Scott: 2

-Elia Suleiman: 4

-Edgar Wright: 2

Eventually I’ll post a best of 2021 list, although I feel in no real hurry to do so. If the Academy Awards can get pushed back to almost April, I think my list, which will incorporate 2021 films seen this year, can survive a delay.