As always, you’re not obligated to be interested in this. This is mostly for me. It’s just a rundown of what I consumed in 2014, media-wise. Future generations may find it useful in reconstructing the collapse of civilization.
MOVIES
I watched 369 movies in 2014, so basically one a day. My doctor was concerned I wasn’t getting enough movies in my diet, but this seems like a good amount. They were divided as follows:
– 141 theatrical releases, plus 15 that I watched twice.
– 59 festival entries that will open in theaters in 2015, or 2016, or never.
– 84 re-watches of movies from previous years.
– 70 new-to-me movies from previous years.
In the new year I hope to also watch movies.
2014 theatrical releases that I saw:
(Links are to my reviews. If there’s no link, that means I didn’t write a review. I probably talked about it on Movie B.S. with Bayer and Snider, though.)
13 Sins
22 Jump Street
300: Rise of an Empire
ABCs of Death 2
Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
And So It Goes
Annabelle
Annie
The Babadook
Bad Words
Begin Again
Big Eyes
Big Hero Six
Birdman
Blue Ruin
Borgman
The Boxtrolls
Boyhood
Brick Mansions
Calvary
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Cheap Thrills
Chef
Cold in July
The Congress
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Deliver Us from Evil
The Discoverers
Divergent
Dracula Untold
Draft Day
The Drop
Dumb and Dumber To
Edge of Tomorrow
Enemy
Exodus: Gods and Kings
The Expendables 3
The Fault in Our Stars
Force Majeure
Foxcatcher
Fury
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
The Giver
God’s Pocket
Godzilla
Gone Girl
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Grand Piano
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Guest
Hellion
Hercules
Hide Your Smiling Faces
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
The Homesman
Honeymoon
Horns
Horrible Bosses 2
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1
I, Frankenstein
If I Stay
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
In Your Eyes
Interstellar
The Interview
Into the Storm
Into the Woods
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Joe
John Wick
Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
Kill the Messenger
Land Ho!
The Legend of Hercules
The LEGO Movie
Listen Up Philip
Locke
Lucy
Magic in the Moonlight
Maleficent
Men, Women & Children
Million Dollar Arm
A Million Ways to Die in the West
Missionary
Mommy
The Monuments Men
A Most Violent Year
A Most Wanted Man
Need for Speed
Neighbors
Nightcrawler
Noah
Non-Stop
Obvious Child
Oculus
The One I Love
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
Penguins of Madagascar
Pompeii
The Purge: Anarchy
The Raid 2
Ride Along
Rio 2
RoboCop
Rosewater
The Rover
Sabotage
Sex Tape
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
The Skeleton Twins
Snowpiercer
Starry Eyes
Starred Up
St. Vincent
Stranger by the Lake
Tammy
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
That Awkward Moment
The Theory of Everything
They Came Together
This Is Where I Leave You
Top Five
Transcendence
Tusk
Two Days, One Night
Unbroken
Under the Skin
Veronica Mars
A Walk Among the Tombstones
We Are the Best!
What If
Whiplash
Whitewash
Wild
Winter’s Tale
Wish I Was Here
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Zero Motivation
Movies not yet released:
99 Homes
Cooties
Intramural
Madame Bovary
The Voices
What We Do in the Shadows
Film festival entries I saw:
Sundance
The Better Angels
The Double
Jamie Marks Is Dead
Portland International Film Festival
The Good Road
Manakamana
What Is Cinema?
Oxford (Miss.) Film Festival
Father-Like Son
Teddy Bears
Web
South by Southwest
Among the Living
Arlo & Julie
Creep
Faults
The Infinite Man
The Mend
The Mule
Open Windows
Other Months
Premature
Space Station 76
Stage Fright
The Wilderness of James
Tribeca
Every Secret Thing
Goodbye to All That
Night Moves
Loitering with Intent
Preservation
Fantastic Fest
The Absent One
Blind
Closer to God
Cub (Welp)
Darkness by Day
Duke of Burgundy
The Editor
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
Everly
Felt
From the Dark
Goodnight Mommy
Hardkor Disco
High Five
Housebond
The Incident
In Order of Disappearance
It Follows
Kung Fu Elliot
No Man’s Land
Purgatory
Redeemer
Spring
The Stranger
Tokyo Tribe
Tombville
Pre-2014 films that I’d seen before, and reviewed, that I re-watched this year:
21 Jump Street (2012)
The Avengers (2012)
Bad Santa (2003)
Bring It On (2000)
Django Unchained (2012)
Elf (2003)
Fight Club (1999)
Garden State (2004)
Gravity (2013)
The History of Future Folk (2013)
Horrible Bosses (2011)
The Ice Harvest (2005)
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Old School (2003)
The Prestige (2006)
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
Sin City (2005)
Speed Racer (2008)
Tropic Thunder (2008)
Wall-E (2008)
Wonder Boys (2000)
Zodiac (2007)
Pre-2014 films that I’d seen before but did not review that I re-watched this year:
12 Angry Men (1957)
Annie Hall (1977)
Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
Babes in Toyland (1961)
Batman (1989)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)
Catalina Caper (1967)
Cave Dwellers (1984)
Coneheads (1993)
The Conversation (1974)
The Crawling Hand (1963)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Dumb & Dumber (1994)
Fargo (1996)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Future War (1997)
Gamera (1965)
Ghostbusters II (1989)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Her (2013)
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
Jaws (1975)
Jungle Goddess (1948)
Lost Continent (1951)
Mad Max (1979)
The Naked Gun 2 1/2 (1991)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
The NeverEnding Story (1984)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Notting Hill (1999)
Pod People (1983)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Ravenous (1999)
Ring of Terror (1962)
Rocket Attack USA (1958)
Rocketship X-M (1950)
Saturday Night (2010)
The She-Creature (1956)
The Shining (1980)
The Sidehackers (1969)
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
Speed (1994)
Star Wars (1977)
Tootsie (1982)
UHF (1989)
Wayne’s World (1992)
West Side Story (1961)
What About Bob? (1991)
Pre-2014 movies that I saw for the first time this year:
Alphaville (1965)
Amityville 3D (1983)
Anchorman 2 (R-rated version) (2013)
The Astrologer (1975)
ATM (2012)
The Black Scorpion (1957)
Blancanieves (2013)
Boyz N the Hood (1991)
The ‘burbs (1989)
Calendar Girl Murders (1984)
Charade (1964)
Chatroom (2010)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
The Corpse Vanishes (1942)
The Crawling Eye (1958)
Death Wish (1974)
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Ernest & Celestine (2013)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* *But Were Afraid to Ask (1972)
Fatal Attraction (1987)
First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
Flashdance (1983)
The Fly (1958)
Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
The Godfather Part III (1990)
Half Baked (1998)
Hard Eight (1996)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Hellcats (1967)
Hellraiser (1987)
High Anxiety (1977)
I Don’t Want to Be a Man (1918)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
I Shot Jesse James (1949)
Kicking and Screaming (1995)
King Dinosaur (1955)
L’Age D’Or (1930)
Laura (1944)
Lone Survivor (2013)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Look Who’s Talking (1989)
Mad Monster (1942)
Moon Zero Two (1969)
The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
My Son (2013)
Nightmares, aka Stage Fright (1980)
Ninja: Shadow of a Tear (2013)
No Holds Barred (1989)
The Odd Couple (1968)
Red Scorpion (1989)
The Rescuers (1977)
Robot Holocaust (1986)
Robot Monster (1953)
Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy (1958)
Romancing the Stone (1984)
Scrooged (1988)
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Sleeper (1973)
The Slime People (1964)
Snake Eater (1989)
Stir Crazy (1980)
To Be Or Not to Be (1942)
Untamed Youth (1957)
Valley of the Dolls (1967)
Watership Down (1978)
White Christmas (1954)
Wild Rebels (1967)
Women of the Prehistoric Planet (1966)
TV
I don’t watch any shows I don’t like. That seems like an obvious thing to say, but there are apparently a lot of people who hate-watch things so they can tweet about how much they hate them. To each his own, I suppose, but aren’t there plenty of GOOD shows to watch?
(OK, I admit “American Horror Story” is getting on my last nerve. But it reboots every season! There’s always new hope! That’s how they get you.)
Here’s what I watched. Current season, unless otherwise stated.
“American Horror Story” (FX)
“Archer” (seasons 3-4) (FX)
“Bob’s Burgers” (Fox)
“Bojack Horseman” (Netflix)
“Broad City” (Comedy Central)
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (Fox)
“Fargo” (FX)
“Hannibal” (season 1) (Showtime)
“House of Cards” (seasons 1-2) (Netflix)
“Mad Men” (AMC)
“Parks & Recreation” (NBC)
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
“Silicon Valley” (HBO)
“The Simpsons” (Fox)
“South Park” (Comedy Central)
“True Detective” (HBO)
“Veep” (seasons 2-3) (HBO)
BOOKS
Except for “The Maze Runner,” which I finished because I wanted to see where the story was going even though the writing was awful (so awful), I tend to quit a book if I’m 25% of the way through and not feelin’ it. Life’s too short for mediocre books. So everything here is at least good-ish. Titles I’d particularly recommend are starred.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – Stephen King
** & Sons – David Gilbert
** Pictures at a Revolution – Mark Harris
Lexicon – Max Barry
The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
The Maze Runner – James Dashner
Brutal Youth – Anthony Breznican
** Under the Skin – Michael Faber
The Lowland – Jhumpa Lahiri
** Life After Life – Kate Atkinson
** Inherent Vice – Thomas Pynchon
** Bellweather Rhapsody – Kate Racculia
The Sense of an Ending – Julian Barnes
Breakfast of Champions – Kurt Vonnegut
Skios – Michael Frayn
** The Maid’s Version – Daniel Woodrell
The Divorce Papers – Susan Rieger
Visitation Street – Ivy Pochoda
Alex – Pierre Lemaitre
** The Interestings – Mex Wolitzer
Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell
** Murder As a Fine Art – David Morrell
** The Golem and The Jinni – Helene Wecker
Frog Music – Emma Donoghue
