Early in 2019, I set out my movie-related resolutions for the year. Some were quite ambitious; others, not so much. But let's see how I'm doing so far at the halfway point:
For the very first time, I attended the entire Noir City film noir festival in San Francisco, all 10 days of it. You can read more about my adventures in Noir City elsewhere on this blog, but needless to say, I loved every minute of it. But for next year, I'd love it even more if I could split the cost of a hotel room with someone!
For the first time, I attended Ebert Interruptus at the University of Colorado Boulder, a wonderful (and free) event that I highly recommend.
Last year I saw over 400 movies and I anticipated that this year would be less, and I'm certainly on target to come in at significantly less than 400. I'm actually okay with that, since (1) I'm finding that I have more time to reflect on what I watch rather than simply consume, consume, consume. Although I do go through periods of binge-consumption (which you can see from the above graph detailing the early months of 2019), I'm generally watching fewer films. That decision is also giving me time to watch more of the TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray that have been piling up over the years. (More on that in a moment.)
(2) I wanted to read more in 2019, which I'm now doing. I'm on target to read 100 books in 2019, several of which are movie-related. Some of those will be included in Raquel Stecher's 2019 Summer Reading Challenge, which you can (and should) still sign up for.
As mentioned earlier, I finally decided to tackle many of the unwatched box sets and seasons of TV shows I've had sitting on the shelves for years. I determined to watch at least one box set and one television season per month. Here's how I did:
Box sets:
January - The Dekalog (UK, Region B)
February - Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood
March - Samuel Fuller at Columbia 1937-1961 (UK, region-free)
April - Warner Gangsters Collection Vol. 3 DVDs
May - nothing. But there's two in June:
June - Alec Guinness Collection (Kind Hearts and Coronets / The Lavender Hill Mob / The Man With the White Suit / The Captain's Paradise / The Ladykillers) DVDs
June - The Paul Newman Collection (Harper / The Drowning Pool / The Left-Handed Gun / The Mackintosh Man / Pocket Money / Somebody Up There Likes Me / The Young Philadelphians) DVDs
TV:
January - Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Season Two (1956-57) DVDs
February - Columbo, Season Two (1972-73) DVDs
March - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984-85)
April - Quatermass and the Pit (1958) (UK, Region B)
May - Hit & Miss (2012) (UK, Region B)
June - Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season One (1987-88)
There's more to report, such as how many of my watched films came from which decade, rewatches vs. new-to-me, discoveries, etc., but I'll leave those for another time. What I'm really interested in is how your 2019 is shaping up so far. Let me know...