I started doing this in 2004, mostly for myself. Now I feel like I can never stop, even if I wanted to. It’s the same way with watching new episodes of The Simpsons. I’ve been doing it for so long, it’s just what I do, you know?
MOVIES
I watched 353 movies in 2019. It would have been more, but in the last quarter of the year I was busy applying for, worrying about, and then getting a full-time job (not movie-related), so my priorities shifted. Still, 353 is a lot. (If you’re wondering, my total for all of the 2010s was 3,456, which means 353 in one year was above average.)
2019 releases (216):
1917
21 Bridges
47 Meters Down: Uncaged
Abducted in Plain Sight
Ad Astra
Addams Family, The
Aeronauts, The
Airplane Mode
Aladdin
Alita: Battle Angel
Always in Season
Amazing Grace
Angel Has Fallen
The Angry Birds Movie 2
Anna
Annabelle Comes Home
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Art of Self-Defense
Avengers: Endgame
Beach Bum, The
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Before You Know It
The Best of Enemies
Black and Blue
Bombshell
Booksmart
Brightburn
Captain Marvel
Captive State
Cats
Charlie’s Angels
Child’s Play
Cold Pursuit
Corporate Animals
Countdown
Crawl
The Current War
The Curse of La Llorona
Dark Phoenix
Dark Waters
The Dead Don’t Die
Deadwood: The Movie
The Death of Dick Long
Doctor Sleep
A Dog’s Journey
A Dog’s Way Home
Dolemite Is My Name
Dora and the Lost City of Gold
Downton Abbey
Dumbo
El Camino
Escape Room
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Family
The Farewell
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
Fighting with My Family
Five Feet Apart
Ford v Ferrari
Fractured
Frozen II
Gemini Man
Ghost Light
Giant Little Ones
Glass
Gloria Bell
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
The Golden Glove
Good Boys
The Good Liar
Greener Grass
Greta
Happy Death Day 2U
Harpoon
The Head Hunter
Hellboy
Her Smell
High Flying Bird
High Life
The Highwaymen
The Hole in the Ground
Honey Boy
Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror
Hotel Mumbai
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
The Hustle
Hustlers
I Am Mother
I Lost My Body
I Trapped the Devil
In the Shadow of the Moon
In the Tall Grass
The Intruder
The Irishman
Isn’t It Romantic
It: Chapter Two
John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Judy
Just Mercy
The Kid Who Would Be King
The Kitchen
Knives and Skin
Knives Out
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Late Night
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
The Lighthouse
The Lion King
Little
Little Monsters
Little Women
Long Shot
Love, Fall & Order
Ma
A Madea Family Funeral
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Marriage Story
Men in Black: International
Midsommar
Midway
Missing Link
Motherless Brooklyn
Native Son
Nightingale, The
Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood
Ophelia
Out of Liberty
Parasite
The Perfection
Pet Sematary
Pokemon: Detective Pikachu
Poms
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
The Prodigy
Purge of Kingdoms
Queen & Slim
Rambo: Last Blood
Ready or Not
Relive (aka Don’t Let Go)
Replicas
The Report
Rocketman
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
The Secret Life of Pets 2
Serenity
Shaft
Share
Shazam!
Sister Aimee
Socrates
Spider-Man: Far from Home
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Starfish
Stuber
The Sun Is Also a Star
Sweetheart
Synchronic
Tell Me Who I Am
Terminator: Dark Fate
Them That Follow
Tigers Are Not Afraid
Toy Story 4
Triple Frontier
The Two Popes
UglyDolls
Uncut Gems
Under the Silver Lake
Unplanned
The Upside
Us
Velvet Buzzsaw
Waves
What Men Want
Where’d You Go, Bernadette
Wild Nights with Emily
Wine Country
Wonder Park
Yesterday
Zombieland: Double Tap
Festival films to be released in 2020 (or possibly never) (26):
Sundance:
Animals
Dirty God
The Lodge
Troop Zero
Damn These Heels LGBTQ Festival:
Bit
A Night at Switch n’ Play
Telluride:
The Assistant
The Climb
Fantastic Fest:
4×4
Amigo
Butt Boy
Color Out of Space
Come to Daddy
Deerskin
Dogs Don’t Wear Pants
Guns Akimbo
Jallikattu
Patrick
The Platform
The Pool
Random Acts of Violence
Saint Maud
Swallow
VHYes
Why Don’t You Just Die
Wyrm
Pre-2019 films that I re-watched (71):
28 Days Later… (2003)
About a Boy (2002)
About Time (2013)
Across the Universe (2007)
Army of Darkness (1992)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Bambi (1942)
Batman Returns (1992)
Bridesmaids (2011)
Death Proof (2017)
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
Duck Soup (1933)
Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Enemy (2013)
The Firm (1993)
Game Night (2018)
Ghostbusters (1984)
Grandma’s Boy (2006)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
Hairspray (2007)
Hellraiser (1987)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990)
Hot Rod (2007)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Idiocracy (2006)
The Insider (1999)
Jesus’ Son (2000)
The King of Comedy (1983)
A League of Their Own (1992)
The Lion King (1994)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
The Master (2012)
Men in Black (1997)
Minority Report (2002)
mother! (2017)
Mulan (1998)
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Observe and Report (2009)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
Peter Pan (1953)
The Ring (2002)
Shaft (1971)
Shaft (2000)
The Slammin’ Salmon (2009)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Song of the South (1946)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Star Wars (1977)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
The Sword in the Stone (1963)
Tangled (2010)
Terminator, The (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Top Gun (1986)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005)
Twin Falls Idaho (1999)
Unbreakable (2000)
Waitress (2007)
Winnie the Pooh (2011)
Zombieland (2009)
Pre-2019 films that I watched for the first time (63)
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)
Atlantic Rim* (2013)
Babylon (1980)
Bears (2014)
The Beast Must Die (1974)
Bird Box (2018)
The Black Cauldron (1985)
Blood Feast (1963)
Bloody Birthday (1981)
A Boy and His Dog (1975)
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981)
Catch-22 (1970)
The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Cold Turkey (1971)
Cube (1997)
The Day Time Ended* (1980)
Dead of Night (1977)
Detour (1945)
Dolemite (1975)
Final Exam (1981)
Freebie and the Bean (1974)
Glory (1989)
He Ran All the Way (1951)
Horror Express (1972)
How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1988)
Jezebel (1938)
Klute (1971)
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971)
Lifeboat (1944)
Limbo (1999)
Lolita (1962)
Lords of the Deep* (1989)
The Lost Weekend (1945)
Mary, Queen of Scots (2018)
Murder by Contract (1958)
My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
Night School (1981)
Not Wanted (1949)
The Old Dark House (1932)
The Paper (1994)
Parents (1989)
Pat & Mike (1952)
Pather Panchali (1955)
The Private Eyes (1980)
The Professionals (1966)
The Reluctant Dragon (1941)
Saludos Amigos (1942)
Sergeant York (1941)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
The Shooting (1966)
A Slight Case of Murder (1938)
Staircase (1969)
Stalker (1979)
The Stranger (1946)
Them! (1954)
Thunder Road (2018)
Village of the Damned (1960)
Watchmen (director’s cut) (2009)
Way Out West (1937)
The Woman Chaser (1999)
Woman on the Run (1950)
*via Mystery Science Theater 3000
TV
Barry S2
Bob’s Burgers S9/S10
BoJack Horseman S5
Broad City S5
Brooklyn Nine-Nine S6
Fleabag S1/S2
The Good Place S3/S4
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia S13
Letterkenny S1/S2
Mandalorian S1: I lost interest after four episodes.
Mindhunter S1
Rick and Morty S2
Russian Doll S1
Saturday Night Live S44/S45
Schitt’s Creek S2
Simpsons, The S30/S31
True Detective S3
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt S4
Veep S7
Veronica Mars S4
Watchmen S1
What We Do in the Shadows S1
BOOKS
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller): One of those “I’ve always wanted to read this and now I finally did” kind of books. I liked it a lot.
Deadeye Dick (Kurt Vonnegut): I’d only read a few Vonneguts and wanted to rectify that.
The Final Solution (Michael Chabon): I’d read this before, but I found it cheap at a used bookstore (it’s short; a novella) and read it again.
The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood): I didn’t watch the Hulu series, but I liked the one or two other Atwood novels I’d read, and I love dystopias and the oppression of women, so I figured I’d enjoy this too.
It Can’t Happen Here (Sinclair Lewis): One of my favorite old-timey authors, with an eerily relevant book from 1936 set in an alternate America where a totalitarian leader came to power.
Less (Andrew Sean Greer): This was randomly recommended to me by a friend. It’s about a failed novelist who takes several random speaking engagements around the world to avoid going to his ex-boyfriend’s wedding. Very funny and affectionate.
Rabbit, Run (John Updike): Another old, white author I’d heard a lot about and hadn’t read much of. This kind of story — about a man who has everything a person could want yet is dissatisfied anyway — doesn’t appeal much to me.
Ragtime (E.L. Doctorow): I’d read this before and wanted to read it again after seeing a production of the musical based on it (which is one of my favorites).
Suddenly, A Knock on the Door (Etgar Keret): A collection of short stories, mostly horror or horror-adjacent. Hit or miss. The most enjoyable thing was that for the audiobook, each story is read by a different person, including Willem Dafoe, Ira Glass, Stanley Tucci, John Sayles, Michael Chabon, Miranda July, Shea Wigham, Mark Duplass, Dave Eggers, George Saunders, and Josh Radnor.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Alan Bradley): First novel in a delightful series about a sassy 11-year-old English girl solving mysteries in 1951. These books make me wish I were an 11-year-old English girl in 1951.
Telegraph Avenue (Michael Chabon): Chabon is probably my favorite writer, and his latest was another terrific read.
The Testaments (Margaret Atwood): Her new sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale is considerably less grim.
The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag (Alan Bradley): Second in the aforementioned series. The girl’s name is Flavia de Luce and I love her.
