Running Tally

I don't want to jinx it but January was a good month in terms of movies and in terms of a certain long dreamed but never realized goal of 100 films in one year. Thanks to a lucrative week in Chicago when I saw five films in as many days, I have caped out January with twelve movies (fourteen counting the two I watched twice). So let us recap quickly January

January 1 - Starting Out In The Evening: Incredibly good, incredibly smart film based around three well developed relationships. Frank Langella is fantastic in every scene.

January 1 - Control: Emotionally exhausted from Starting Out In The Evening I had little left to give for this one (which I watched immediately after the aforementioned film). Still it was a very well done biopic that I am eager to watch again.

January 2 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: I was perhaps a bit unfair to how good this film was after my first viewing. But I've thought about it the most of all the films I saw this month and on my second viewing fully feel convinced that it is expert genius film making.

January 2 - Juno: Funny, pleasant and generally feel good. Very happy I saw it.

January 5 - There Will Be Blood: Despite extraordinary pain from sitting in the second row with my knees crushed against the seat in front of me and my neck at such an angle that I'm still feeling sore this movie had me captivated for about an hour and a half. The problem? Its two and half hours long. It starts to unravel as it comes to the end. Still in fairness to it and not so aglow with anticipation I gave it a second viewing and found it still had problems but was less problematic than I initially concluded.

January 12 - In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale: well just plain awful in all honesty but proudly I can say this is the only movie I went to see in January that was merely because I wanted to see something. Even the bad stuff I saw like Cloverfield, I actually wanted to see.

January 19 -The Savages: Great story with well acted, well written characters although its ending seems a bit too neatly wrapped up and Hollywoodized.

January 20 - Cloverfield: Gimmicky and kind of annoying and the camera work gave me a headache.

January 23 - The Orphanage: Decent horror film. Lots of good tension and almost know cheap shock scare moments. Disappointed with the ending but overall very satisfying.

January 24 - Away From Her: Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent are amazing as a couple dealing with alzheimer's. Very well done.

January 26 - Michael Clayton: Well acted, technically well done, tight interesting story and yet I still came out of it kind of thinking 'so what?' Still a good film that didn't move me is still better than a crappy film any day of the week.

January 28 - Rambo: Just a fun action film with an admitted dopey inevitable ending that still managed to charm me.

Bring it on February and let the countdown continue. Bring on meaningless statistics.

Films remaining: 88
Days remaining: 334
Average films per day to succeed: .26
Average films per week to succeed: 1.87