2021's Film-Watching in Review

 

2020 - Love and Monsters
2020 - Save Yourselves!
2019 - Extra Ordinary
2019 - Happy Death Day 2U
2017 - Happy Death Day
2014 - Cooties
1993 - Tombstone
1992 - Sneakers
1987 - Moonstruck *
1984 - Top Secret!
1976 - Family Plot
1972 - The Hot Rock
1971 - A New Leaf *
1971 - Shaft
1970 - The Railway Children
1966 - Tokyo Drifter
1966 - Torn Curtain
1964 - Robinson Crusoe on Mars
1961 - The Hustler
1960 - Peeping Tom
1957 - An Affair to Remember *
1957 - Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison *
1956 - The Solid Gold Cadillac
1954 - It Should Happen To You *
1954 - Phffft!
1950 - Born Yesterday *
1950 - Gun Crazy
1950 - Where Danger Lives
1947 - Nightmare Alley *
1946 - Cluny Brown *
1944 - The Canterville Ghost
1944 - Lifeboat *
1943 - Cry 'Havoc'
1943 - The More The Merrier *
1941 - Topper Returns
1940 - Christmas in July
1939 - At The Circus
1939 - Blind Alley
1939 - Midnight *
1938 - Holiday
1937 - A Day at the Races *
1937 - Easy Living *
1937 - History Is Made At Night *
1937 - King Solomon's Mines
1936 - Libeled Lady *
1936 - My Man Godfrey *
1936 - The Moon's Our Home *
1936 - Wife vs. Secretary
1935 - Hands Across The Table
1935 - The Good Fairy *
1934 - Jimmy The Gent * (Jami's pick o' the year - she's a real Cagney fan)
1934 - Murder at the Vanities
1933 - The Mystery of the Wax Museum
1933 - She Done Him Wrong
1932 - Blessed Event
1932 - Grand Hotel
1932 - Love Me Tonight
1932 - Scarface *
1932 - Shanghai Express
1923 - Our Hospitality *

 Without bothering to count, I'd say we watched fewer films this year. We seemed to settle for comfort-food shorter TV shows (e.g., The Rockford Files, Deep Space Nine) and we've hardly watched any foreign films (notable exception, the wild Tokyo Drifter). What we have watched is a lot of 30s and 40s films, which is entirely as it should be. Were anyone to care enough to ask, I would say without hesitation that my favorite film decade is the 30s, probably because my favorite genre is screwball comedy (although that term seems to be contested, and some people have quite strict standards, so perhaps "fast-talking 30's romcoms" would be a safer catchall).  True standouts of the genre that we watched this year include The Good Fairy, and Easy Living.  The former stars Margaret Sullavan, whom we liked so much that we bought two other films of hers - The Moon's Our Home, another top-10er, and Cry 'Havoc', which is interesting (and, like Nightmare Alley (see below),  features later-period Joan Blondell, another reliable performer) and nicely parallels John Huston's Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison).  The latter stars the great Jean Arthur, who would probably be my star of the year (particularly as she's also in two other top ten films - fast-talking 40's romcom The More The Merrier, and the uncategorizable History Is Made At Night) were it not for the fact that (a) we already discovered her last year, and (b) we discovered the wonderful Judy Holliday this year.  It's tragic that she only got to work for such a comparatively short time, and all her films are worth watching (even The Bells are Ringing, where she is paired with Dean Martin of all people), but It Should Happen To You and in particular, the sublime Born Yesterday are top ten material.  Rounding out the ones that made a real impact on me, at least, are the dark and strange film noir that Tyrone Power liked more than any of his swashbucklers, Nightmare Alley and Elaine May's rambling dark comedy A New Leaf, which I think, is the only color film to make it.  In general, the more recent films we watch tend to be slick but shallow, which may be because we are old and frail and don't risk anything too nasty, which, sadly, the "deep" films seem to need to be.