Greetings, my friends!
This marks the 11th year that
I have taken the time to not only reflect upon "the year in movies" gone by, but
attempted to give it context and shape by assessing the quality of the films in
question, and noting any particular patterns or interests that made the
year distinctive. In 2009, I began breaking the Horror Views and Civilian Views
into two separate sections, being that the blog I had just started was called,
after all,
HORROR 101.
Having already given 2017’s fright flicks their deserving measure of thought (click HERE to see), it’s time to dive into the less-scary
side of things, as well as looking at the Views overall.
This year, it should be mentioned, marks the lowest total of films (251) watched
since I started tracking such minutiae back in the early 1990s. (I know, I
know, it may still seem like a lot to some. Everything is relative, no?) I
attribute this to a variety of elements, not least of which being the amount of
time I simply sat staring at the computer screen in disbelief at the madness
occurring in the political arena. I was, quite literally, stunned by this world
that had been allowed to manifest itself and almost didn’t dare turn my back…
for fear things would slide past the point of no return during the period between
opening and closing credits. I also found myself looking for ways to combat the
various situations rather than escape from them, and often decided against a
movie if there was a worthier task at hand, be it the organizing of a
self-defense workshop or contributing time or money (or both) to a fundraiser
or protest, etc.
This is also probably a good time to point out that there also wasn’t much
coming to the cinema that I was interested in seeing. Outside of the two film
festivals (BIFFF and Cinepocalypse), there was only one day that I spent at the
multiplex seeing more than a single movie. One. (August 8, to be exact.) The
rest of the time I was single-viewing it, i.e. going to the theater, seeing ONE
MOVIE (“inconceivable!”) and then going home. I mean, seriously, who is this
and what have you done with AC?
Add to this the insanity of running on minimal sleep during the 25 weeks that I
was rehearsing and/or performing onstage while maintaining my personal training
practice of 25-30 sessions a week, and suddenly it becomes clearer why the
numbers are the way they are. To be honest, I’m genuinely surprised the tally
isn’t lower. Then again,
BIFFF,
Cinepocalypse, and October’s
SCARE-A-THON 2017
represent approx 35% of the total Views, even though they cover only 6 of the 52
weeks. (It seems we can still dive in deep when the occasion calls for it.)
This is why we record these things, to remember each year and what was different
and special. So… let’s look around a bit, shall we?
2017 Totals: 251 films, 179 first time
views, 111 horror, 52 cinema
(2016 Totals: 272, 183, 131, 31)
(2015 Totals: 352, 190, 224, 41)
(2014 Totals: 399, 203, 251, 48)
(2013 Totals: 306, 240, 185, 69)
(2012 Totals: 607, 520, 362, 166)
(2011 Totals: 640, 419, 355, 59)
(2010 Totals: 364, 253, 242, 45)
(2009 Totals: 472, 276, 289, 38)
(2008 Totals: 384, 278, 226, 39)
(2007 Totals: 409, 284, 260, 40)
