2024: A Viewing List

Here is the list of movies I watched this year. And I mean movies. I don’t want TV. By and large, I find the modern TV revolution tremendously frustrating. Why do I want to spend 14 hours with half-baked characters that would in fact be better framed in a 2 hour movie? I dislike binge watching as well, I want to think about what I just saw. Maybe that’s why I don’t like a lot of TV–the more I think about what I just watched, the more irritated I get about it. So the entirety of my TV watching this year was the first two seasons of The Bear, which I enjoyed though I heard the third season is problematic. I also rewatched Deadwood. That’s it. So here’s my list. Quite a few of the films I’ve seen before–if they have a bunch of asterisks beside them, it means I actually own the movie. If they have ampersands, it means I’ve seen it before, but I don’t own it. The rest were first time viewings for me.

Anyway, there are some new movies in here, plenty of old movies, my usual run of favorites I watch after my birthday in late January, quite a few musical and other documentaries from Folkstreams that I’ve been talking about here at the end of the list.

1. The Limey, Stephen Soderbergh, 1999 *****
2. Stranded, Julien Compton, 1965
3. The Killers, Don Siegel, 1964 &&&&&
4. Panic in Year Zero! Ray Milland, 1962
5. My Two Voices, Lina Rodriguez, 2022
6. The Night of the Iguana, John Huston, 1964
7. 499, Rodrigo Reyes, 2020
8. Safe Conduct, Bertrand Tavernier, 2002
9. The Lady Eve, Preston Sturges, 1941 *****
10. Captain Conan, Bertrand Tavernier, 1996
11. Plan 75, Chie Hayakawa, 2022
12. Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!, Seijun Suzuki, 1963
13. Songs for Drella, Ed Lachman, 1990
14. The Unknown, Tod Browning, 1927 **********
15. The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Ivan Dixon, 1973 ********
16. The Third Man, Carol Reed, 1949 *********
17. Once Upon a Time in the West, Sergio Leone, 1968 *******
18. Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean, 1962 ***********
19. The Wild Bunch, Sam Peckinpah, 1969 ********
20. Rififi, Jules Dassin, 1955 **********
21. Cold Comfort Farm, John Schlesinger, 1995 ******
22. Vengeance, Johnnie To, 2009 **********
23. Bad Day at Black Rock, John Sturges, 1955 ******
24. Stop Making Sense, Jonathan Demme, 1984 *******
25. Get Shorty, Barry Sonnenfeld, 1995******
26. The Marriage Circle, Ernst Lubitsch, 1924 ********
27. Drugstore Cowboy, Gus Van Sant, 1989 ******
28. The End of Summer, Yasujiro Ozu, 1961 **********
29. Decalogue, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1988 (Episodes 6, 9) *******
30. Tar, Todd Field, 2022
31. Tokyo Chorus, Yasujiro Ozu, 1931
32. After the Curfew, Usmar Ismail, 1954
33. Behind Locked Doors, Budd Boetticher, 1948 *******
34. Wood and Water, Jonas Bak, 2021
35. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michael Gondry, 2004 ********
36. Lenny Cooke, Benny & Josh Safdie, 2013
37. Remember the Night, Mitchell Leisen, 1940
38. Jabberwocky, Terry Gilliam, 1977
39. Orlando: My Political Biography, Paul Preciado, 2023
40. Girls of the Night, Kinuyo Tanaka, 1961
41. Green Porno shorts, Isabella Rosselini, 2008
42. The Long Goodbye, Robert Altman, 1973 *********
43. The Peasant Women of Ryazan, Olga Preobrazhenskaya, 1927
44. The Moon Has Risen, Kinujo Tanaka, 1955
45. The Reverend, Nick Canfield, 2022
46. The Revolt of Mamie Stover, Raoul Walsh, 1956
47. The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Henry King, 1952
48. The Killers, Robert Siodmak, 1946 &&&&
49. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2021
50. Mad Max, George Miller, 1979 &&&&
51. Falling Leaves, Alice Guy Blaché, 1912
52. The Girl in the Armchair, Alice Guy Blaché, 1912
53. Parabola, Mary Ellen Bute and Ted Nemeth, 1937
54. Day of Freedom, Leni Riefenstahl, 1935
55. Discontent, Lois Weber, 1916
56. Papageno, Lotte Reiniger, 1935
57. Romance of the Fruit Peddler (also known as Laborer’s Love), Zhang Shichuan, 1922
58. Romance of the Western Chamber (also known as Way Down West), Hou Yao, 1927
59. Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You, Ryan Daly and Will Oldham, 2023
60. A Thousand and One, A.V. Rockwell, 2023
61. Raging Bull, Martin Scorsese, 1980 ********
62. This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, 2019
63. The Great Sinner, Robert Siodmark, 1949
64. Reds, Warren Beatty, 1981 ****************
65. The Green, Green Grass of Home, Hou Hsaio-Hisen, 1982
66. The Big Lebowski, Joel and Ethan Coen, 1998 ***********
67. Anselm, Wim Wenders, 2023
68. The Ladykillers, Alexander Mackendrick, 1955
69. Your Friends and Neighbors, Neil LaBute, 1998 *******
70. Ran, Akira Kurosawa, 1985 ****************
71. Food Inc. 2, Robert Kenner and Melissa Robeldo, 2024
72. Farewell China, Clara Law, 1990
73. The Mother and the Whore, Jean Eustache, 1973
74. Born in Flames, Lizzie Borden, 1983 &&&&
75. No Country for Old Men, Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007 ***********
76. Personal Shopper, Olivier Assayas, 2017
77. The Pig, Jean Eustache and Jean-Michel Barjol, 1970
78. The Kid, Charlie Chaplin, 1921***********
79. After Hours, Martin Scorsese, 1985 &&&&
80. Decision to Leave, Park Chan-Wook, 2022
81. 3:10 to Yuma, Delmer Daves, 1957 &&&&
82. The Chase, Arthur Penn, 1966
83. Godland, Hlynur Palmason, 2022
84. Utama, Alejandro Loayza Grisi, 2022
85. My America….Or Honk if You Love Buddha, Renee Tajima-Pena, 1997
86. Uptight, Jules Dassin, 1968
87. Looney Tunes, Volume 1, disc 4 *********
88. Can-Can, Walter Lang, 1960
89. Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan, 2023
90. The Last Temptation of Christ, Martin Scorsese, 1988 ****
91. Once Upon a Time in America, Sergio Leone, 1984 *******
92. Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos, 2023
93. Throw Down, Johnnie To, 2004
94. Nothing But a Man, Michael Roemer, 1964 &&&&
95. The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl-Thedor Dreyer, 1928 *********
96. Hiroshima, Hideo Sekigawa, 1953 &&&&
97. If From Every Tongue It Drips, Charlene Bamboat, 2021
98. Drive My Car, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2021
99. I Went to the Dance, Les Blank and Chris Strachwitz, 1989
100. I Was a Teenaged Serial Killer, Sarah Jacobson, 1993
101. Last Stop in Yuma County, Francis Galluppi, 2024
102. Out of Sight, Stephen Soderbergh, 1998 ******
103. Shaft, Gordon Parks, 1971 &&&&
104. Gasoline Rainbow, Bill and Turner Ross, 2024
105. Chulas Fronteras, Les Blank, 1976
106. Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet, 2023
107. About Dry Grasses, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2023
108. Point Blank, John Boorman, 1967
109. Appaloosa, Ed Harris, 2008
110. Three Colors: White, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994 ****
111. Lizard, Akinola Davies, 2020
112. The Last Seduction, John Dahl, 1994 &&&
113. Victims of Sin, Emilio Fernandez, 1951
114. The Old Dark House, James Whale, 1932
115. The Women, George Cukor, 1939
116. Lumumba: Death of a Prophet, Raoul Peck, 1991
117. Saladin the Victorious, Youssef Chahine, 1963
118. Lady Snowblood, Toshiya Fujita, 1973 ****
119. Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song, Melvin Van Peebles, 1971 ***
120. High Noon, Fred Zinnemann, 1952 ****
121. Blow-Up, Michaelangelo Antonioni, 1966
122. The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012 &&&&
123. EO, Jerzy Skolimowski, 2022
124. The Beast, Bertrand Bonello, 2024
125. Licorice Pizza, Paul Thomas Anderson, 2021 &&&&
126. Cairo Station, Youssef Chahine, 1958
127. Empire Records, Allan Moyle, 1995
128. The Verdict, Sidney Lumet, 1982
129. MASH, Robert Altman, 1970 &&&&
130. The Graduate, Mike Nichols, 1967 &&&&
131. There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007 *****
132. Green Border, Agnieszka Holland, 2024
133. Night of the Hunter, Charles Laughton, 1955 &&&&
134. Past Lives, Celine Song, 2023
135. Mantrap, Victor Fleming, 1926 ****
136. House, Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1977 *****
137. Klute, Alan Pakula, 1971
138. Evil Does Not Exist, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2024
139. The Student Nurses, Stephanie Rothman, 1970
140. Hit Man, Richard Linklater, 2024
141. The Big Clock, John Farrow, 1948
142. For a Few Dollars More, Sergio Leone, 1965 ****
143. The Maltese Falcon, John Huston, 1941 *****
144. Human Desire, Fritz Lang, 1954
145. Zydeco, Nick Spitzer, 1984
146. Miller’s Crossing, Joel Coen, 1990 ********    
147. High Lonesome: The Story of Bluegrass, Rachel Liebling, 1992         
148. What Price Hollywood, George Cukor, 1932
149. Bed of Roses, Gregory La Cava, 1933
150. I Am Cuba, Mikhail Kalatozov, 1964 ******
151. The Fall Guy, David Leitch, 2024
152. Songs of Earth, Margreth Olin, 2024
153. North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock, 1959 ****
154. To Be or Not to Be, Ernst Lubitsch, 1942 *****
155. Uncle Dave Macon, Blaine Dunlap and Sol Korine, 1980
156. The Shadowless Tower, Lu Zhang, 2024
157. Company Town, James Rutenbeck, 1983
158. Fiddlers’ Grove: A Celebration of Old Time, Susan Campbell and Donna Campbell, 1994
159. Rope, Alfred Hitchcock, 1948
160. Barton Fink, Joel Coen, 1991 &&&
161. Bellota—A Story of Round Up, Philip Spalding, 1969
162. Showing Up, Kelly Reichardt, 2023
163. Lingua Franca, Isabel Sandoval, 2019
164. Charlie’s Place, Betsy Newman, 2018
165. Til the Butcher Cuts Him Down, Philip Spalding, 1971

I had never actually kept track of the films I watched in a year before, so I enjoyed that. Gives me a goal for next year.