For the 14th year in a row I kept track of what I watched and read and report it now to you, if you’re interested. If you’re not interested, you can skip this. I’ll never know!
MOVIES
I watched 339 movies in 2017, less than my target of one a day. On the other hand, there were 120 days on which I watched no movies, for an average of 1.3 movies per day on the days that I did watch a movie. (Also, I watched some of them twice, which is why the numbers don’t add up to 339.)
2017 releases (166):
Alien: Covenant
All I See Is You
All the Money in the World
American Made
Annabelle: Creation
Atomic Blonde
Baby Driver
A Bad Moms Christmas
The Bad Batch
Band Aid
Battle of the Sexes
Baywatch
Beach Rats
Beatriz at Dinner
Beauty and the Beast
Before I Fall
The Beguiled
The Belko Experiment
Better Watch Out
The Big Sick
Birth of the Dragon
Bitch
Blade Runner 2049
The Book of Henry
The Boss Baby
BPM
Brad’s Status
Brawl in Cell Block 99
Breathe
Brigsby Bear
Bushwick
Buster’s Mal Heart
The Bye Bye Man
Call Me By Your Name
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
Cars 3
CHIPS
Coco
Collide
Colossal
Crown Heights
A Cure for Wellness
Darkest Hour
The Dark Tower
Despicable Me 3
Detroit
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul
The Disaster Artist
Downsizing
Dunkirk
The Emoji Movie
Everything, Everything
The Fate of the Furious
Ferdinand
Fifty Shades Darker
Fist Fight
The Florida Project
The Foreigner
Free Fire
Fun Mom Dinner
Gerald’s Game
Get Out
Ghost in the Shell
A Ghost Story
Gifted
Gilbert
Girls Trip
God’s Own Country
Going in Style
Good Time
Goodbye Christopher Robin
Goon: Last of the Enforcers
The Great Wall
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Happy Death Day
The Hitman’s Bodyguard
Home Again
The House
I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore
I, Tonya
Ingrid Goes West
It
It Comes at Night
Jigsaw
It Happened in L.A. (formerly titled L.A. Times)
John Wick Chapter 2
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Justice League
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Kong: Skull Island
Lady Bird
Lady Macbeth
Landline
The Last Word
The LEGO Batman Movie
The LEGO Ninjago Movie
Lemon
Life
The Little Hours
Logan
Logan Lucky
The Lost City of Z
The Lovers
The Man Who Invented Christmas
Marshall
Maudie
Mayhem
Megan Leavey
Molly’s Game
Mother!
The Mummy
Murder on the Orient Express
My Cousin Rachel
Novitiate
Okja
Patti Cake$
Person to Person
Personal Shopper
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Pitch Perfect 3
The Post
Power Rangers
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
The Promise
Psychopaths
Raw
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Rings
Rough Night
The Sense of an Ending
The Shape of Water
Smurfs: The Lost Village
Snatched
The Snowman
The Space Between Us
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Split
The Square
The Star
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Step
Strange Weather
Stronger
Suburbicon
Super Dark Times
T2 Trainspotting
Table 19
Thelma
Thor: Ragnarok
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Transformers: The Last Knight
The Trip to Spain
Underworld: Blood Wars
Unforgettable
A United Kingdom
The Untamed
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
The Void
War on Everyone
War for the Planet of the Apes
We Love You, Sally Carmichael!
Wind River
Wish Upon
Wonder
Wonder Woman
Wonderstruck
XX
The Zookeeper’s Wife
Festival films to be released in 2018 (or possibly never) (27):
Sundance:
The Yellow Birds
(An interesting note: To reach the end of the year and only have ONE film I saw at Sundance not released yet is a first. It’s partly due to my seeing fewer movies at Sundance than usual and intentionally choosing ones that had a good chance of getting released. But it’s more due to streaming services — VOD, Netflix, Amazon — picking up movies that, a few years ago, would have never seen the light of day after their festival premieres.
Oxford (Miss.) Film Festival:
Don’t Come Around Here
Kudzu Zombies
Midnight Return
Overlook Film Festival:
M.F.A.
Stephanie
Fantastic Fest:
3 Ft Ball and Souls
Anna and the Apocalypse
Applecart
Bodied
Cold Hell
Dan Dream
The Death of Stalin
Gemini
Hagazussa
Juvenile
Maus
Mom and Dad
Pin Cushion
Rabbit
Revenge
Rokkur/Rift
Ron Goossens, Low Budget Stuntman
Tigers Are Not Afraid
Top Knot Detective
Under the Tree
Vidar the Vampire
Pre-2017 films that I re-watched (53):
Air Force One (1997)
An American Tail (1986)
The Aristocats (1970)
Back to the Future (1985)
Bottle Rocket (1996)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Dangerous Men (2015)
Deadpool (2016)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Eddie Murphy: Raw (1987)
Elf (2003)
Ernest & Celestine (English dub) (2012)
Felicia’s Journey (1999)
Halloween (1978)
H (1981)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Halloween 5 (1989)
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)
Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Ichi the Killer (2001)
The Iron Giant (1999)
It Conquered the World* (1956)
Jackie Brown (1997)
John Wick (2014)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
The Man with Two Brains (1983)
Matchstick Men (2003)
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
North by Northwest (1959)
Office Space (1998)
Porky’s (1981)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Prometheus (2012)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Robocop (1987)
Rushmore (1998)
Sing Street (2016)
Son of Rambow (2008)
Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Stagecoach (1939)
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Trainspotting (1996)
The Truman Show (1998)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Unbreakable 2000
What’s Up Doc? (1972)
When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
White Men Can’t Jump (1992)
Pre-2017 films that I watched for the first time (74):
Addams Family Values (1993)
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
Alone in the Dark (1982)
Altered States (1980)
Avalanche* (1978)
The Beast of Hollow Mountain* (1956)
Bedazzled (1967)
The Beguiled (1971)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Carry On Nurse (1958)
Cathy’s Curse (1976)
Chasing Amy (1997)
The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t* (1966)
Cry Wilderness* (1987)
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
The Devils (1971)
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
Extreme Prejudice (1987)
FernGully: The Last Rain Forest (1992)
The Fury (1978)
Ghost in the Shell (1996)
Gidget (1959)
Going in Style (1979)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (2016)
The Hidden (1987)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
In Like Flint (1967)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
House of Games (1987)
Insomnia (1997)
La Jetee 1962
Johnny Guitar (1954)
The Killing (1956)
Krisha (2016)
The Land That Time Forgot* (1975)
The Loves of Hercules* (1960)
Malcolm X (1992)
Masterminds (2016)
Muppets Most Wanted (2014)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
My Blue Heaven (1990)
Paper Moon (1973)
The Party (1968)
Paterson (2016)
Patriots Day (2016)
Pitfall (1948)
The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
Putney Swope (1969)
The Red Shoes (1948)
Reptilicus* (1961)
Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion (1997)
The Room (2003)
sex, lies & videotape (1989)
Shall We Dance (1937)
Silence (2016)
Silver Streak (1976)
Stakeout (1987)
Starcrash* (1978)
Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
Suspiria (1977)
Targets (1967)
They Live (1988)
They Live By Night (1949)
The Time Travelers* (1964)
The Trip to Italy (2014)
True Stories (1986)
Weekend (2011)
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom* (1985)
The Woman in Green (1945)
Yongary* (1967)
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
*Via Mystery Science Theater 3000.
TV
I’m hardly the first person to notice this, but there are too many shows. I bet I could list 50 shows that I’ve been told are “really good” by people whose opinions I trust, who are probably correct that I would enjoy those shows if I watched them. It’s overwhelming, so I mostly don’t watch any of them. Here’s what I did watch this year, though.
Angie Tribeca S2 (TBS) Zany spoof humor — think Police Squad and Airplane! — done quite well.
Better Call Saul S3 (AMC)
Bob’s Burgers S7/S8 (Fox)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine S4/S5 (Fox)
The Exorcist S2 (Fox)
Fargo S3 (FX)
The Good Place S1/S2 (NBC) This sitcom set in the afterlife is something special. It’s great.
Great News S1/S2 (NBC) 30 Rock creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock are behind this show, about a young woman working on a TV news show where her mother (Andrea Martin) is an intern. It’s not at 30 Rock levels yet, but it has potential. John Michael Higgins is great as a Ron Burgundy-esque news anchor.
Legion S1 (FX) I don’t remember anything about this now.
Saturday Night Live S42/S43 (NBC) The current Weekend Update team of Michael Che and Colin Jost is the weakest in years. They have no chemistry together, and Che is bad at reading jokes from cue cards (the one skill the gig requires). The rest of the show has been solid, though.
Schitt’s Creek S1 (Netflix) Watched a season of this Canadian show while visiting a friend. Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara play rich idiots who lose their money and move to a tiny town they once bought because the name was funny. Attempted to continue when I got home, but found the video and audio were out of sync on Netflix; didn’t follow up; forgot about it.
Silicon Valley S4 (HBO)
The Simpsons S28/S29 (Fox)
Supergirl S2 (The CW) I was writing something about the Supergirl movie from the ’80s, figured I should check out the new TV show for comparison’s sake, ended up getting hooked. Love the upbeat, optimistic superhero attitude.
Trial & Error S1 (NBC) I don’t think it did very well, but this 13-episode sitcom about a young lawyer sent to a small town to defend a man (John Lithgow) accused of killing his wife had a fun Parks & Recreation vibe to it, with the colorful local characters and whatnot.
Twin Peaks S3 (Showtime) I liked it.
Veep S6 (HBO)
Vice Principals S2 (HBO)
And these that I watched a few episodes of but didn’t finish but still might:
BoJack Horseman S3 (Netflix)
The Deuce S1 (HBO)
South Park (S21) (Comedy Central)
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt S3 (Netflix)
Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (S1) (Netflix)
BOOKS
I don’t finish books I’m not enjoying, so I enjoyed all of these to some degree. The ones I especially recommend are starred.
**Instructions for a Heat Wave – Magie O’Farrell
Bittersweet – Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
**The Humans – Matt Haig
Slade House – David Mitchell
**The Fireman – Joe Hill
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
**Big Little Lies – Liane Moriarty
**The Nix – Nathan Hill
**Here I Am – Jonathan Safron Foer
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul – Douglas Adams
Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury
**Moonglow – Michael Chabon
Based on a True Story – Norm Macdonald
