For the TENTH year in a row, I’m keeping track of all the movies I’ve watched for the first time.
In past years, I set reasonably impressive goals, exceeding the movie-watching that most people reach. But we’re headed towards the year 2020, so I want to raise the bar on what I’m hoping to achieve. The details on what I’m attempting to see are below the viewing list. It will be evolving over time, updated as necessary. The highlights? I’ll still be attempting to ensure that at least 20% of the movies I see are 20+ years old, but I intend to do that through extending my progress through the list of Academy Awards Best Picture winners as well as some of the “All Time Top Movies” lists (such as the various AFI lists and the top rated films on my review aggregation site, Half Popped). As always, recommendations are appreciated!
Note: In the header for each month, I indicate how many movies I saw during that month the prior year, indicating how many of the total films were in-theater views. For example, i saw 10 films in January 2018, 3 of them in the theater.
My 2019 Viewing List
January (last year: 3 of 10 in theaters)
1. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (1/1)
2. On The Basis Of Sex (1/3)
3. A Bad Mom’s Christmas (1/5)
4. The Sword of Doom (1/13)
5. Ninotchka (1/20)
6. VICE (1/24)
February
7. The Favourite (2/12)
8. Life of the Party (2/12)
9. Lego Movie 2 (2/17)
10. First Man (2/17)
11. Anna Karenina (2/21)
12. Green Book (2/22)
13. Roma (2/24)
March
14. Captain Marvel (3/7)
* The Umbrella Academy Season 1
15. Paddleton
16. At Eternity’s Gate (3/24)
17. How To Train Your Dragon 3 (3/24)
18. The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (3/29)
19. A Simple Favor (3/31)
April
20. Free Solo (4/1)
{Winter Soldier, Age of Ultron, and Civil War w/ Benjamin}
21. A Futile and Stupid Gesture (4/13)
22. The Unicorn Store (4/14)
23. Christopher Robin (4/16)
24. Shazam! (4/17)
25. Captain Phillips (4/24)
25. The Meg (4/24)
26. Avengers: Endgame (4/29)
May
27. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (5/6)
28. Detective Pikachu (5/12)
29. Always At The Carlyle (5/17)
30. Bumblebee (5/26)
31. Always Be My Maybe (3/31)
June
32. The Kid Who Would Be King (6/2)
33. Welcome to Marwen (6/15)
Catastrophe (Entire Series)
34. Mary Poppins Returns (6/16)
35. Annihilation (6/18)
36. Book Smart (6/19)
37. X-Men: Dark Phoenix (6/21)
38. Sound City (6/27)
39. Hotel Transylvania (6/30)
July
40. Murder Mystery (7/1)
Good Omens Season 1
41. SPIDER-MAN: Far From Home (7/4)
42. Dumplin’ (7/17)
43. Tom Jones (1963) (7/20)
44. Bad Times at the El Royale (7/2x)
August
45. The Great Hack
46. Hanna
September
47. Ad Astra (9/20)
October
48. JOKER (10/3)
49. Late Night (10/4)
50. Hotel Transylvania 2
51. Mystic Pizza
52. El Camino (10/19)
53. League of Legends: Origins (10/20)
November
54. The Deer Hunter (1978) (11/2)
55. Lion King (2019) (11/3)
56. American Gigolo (1980) (11/5)
57. Yesterday (11/10)
58. Jojo Rabbit (11/11)
59. Midnight Cowboy (1969) (11/18)
60. Chris Claremont’s X-Men (11/18)
61. Knives Out (11/27)
62. Stuber (11/28)
December
63. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (12/1)
64. Brittany Runs A Marathon (12/1)
65. Patton (1970) (12/2)
66. Ford v Ferrari (12/2)
67. In the Heat of the Night (1967) (12/10)
68. Dora and the Lost City of Gold (12/14)
69. Glass (12/15)
70. Dolemite is My Name (12/17)
71. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (12/21)
72. Hotel Transylvania 3
73. A Man For All Seasons
Beefing Up The Resume
Movies from 1999 or Prior: – (currently 12 %)
1. The Sword of Doom (1966)
2. Ninotchka (1939)
3. Tom Jones (1963)
4. Mystic Pizza
5. The Deer Hunter (1978)
6. American Gigolo (1980)
7. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
8. Patton (1970)
9. In The Heat of the Night (1967)
Next Up….
The French Connection
The Three Musketeers (from the 90s)
Oliver!
The Sound of Music
Officer And A Gentleman
Vincent & Theo
Death Wish
A Star Is Born (1954)
A Star Is Born (1976)
Bird Box
“Challenge” List:
The Best Picture Ladder List
*** The Deer Hunter
The French Connection
*** Patton
** Midnight Cowboy
Oliver!
**** In The Heat Of The Night
* A Man For All Seasons
The Sound of Music
My Fair Lady
** Tom Jones
Ben-Hur
Gigi
The Bridge On The River Kwai
Around The World in Eighty Days
Marty
That gets me to 1954, having already seen the four not listed.
The Other List
Blow Out (1981) & Coppola’s THE CONVERSATION and BLOW-UP by Antonioni
Brazil
Breathless
Capote
Cinema Paradiso
Foxtrot
Gone with the Wind
% JFK
The Lives Of Others
Magnificent Seven, The
Metropolis
**** Ninotchka
% Paths of Glory
(AK) Ran
(AK) Rashomon
(AK) Sanjuro
% Searching
% Signin’ In The Rain
% Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Take Shelter
(AK) Throne of Blood
Tokyo Story
The Tree of Life
% United 93
% Volver
(AK) Yojimbo
% = Part of The Half Popped 100
Guys Film Quest 