Because I watched a fair amount of new TV (on bootlegged DVDs--catching up with the world can only be done in micro-steps with me) this year, I thought for sure I had seen fewer new films than normal. It felt like I’d sometimes go weeks without getting out to the movies. Evidently not--saw the same 40 or so I see every year.
I counted anything as new that a) had an official release date of no earlier than October 2017 on IMDB, and b) where I was pretty sure that it didn’t show up in Toronto until 2018 (TIFF screenings aside, because who cares?).
My Top 10:
Not a great year. Past the top two or three, I’m not sure if anything there would make my list in a good year--I liked them all to one degree or another, but often it’s a film that either falls into the fine-but-somewhat-overrated category (First Reformed) or gets a low-expectations/not-bad-at-all bump (the tie at #10 especially). The only thing that actually caught me by surprise--although the title certainly caught my attention--was Jonah Hill’s Mid90s. I quite liked it; many wouldn’t. I still haven’t seen Roma. Finding out that it’s set in the early ‘70s (which I much preferred to the mid-‘90s, even though I was pretty happy then, too) guarantees that I will. And yes, I realize Badfinger and Todd Rundgren won’t be on the soundtrack.
Some rough groupings for the rest (based on memory, because it’s too much work to check my ILX ratings):
Okay documentaries: The Fourth Estate, Mr. Fish: Cartooning from Deep End, Here to Be Heard: The Story of the Slits, The Beatles, Hippies and Hells Angels: Inside the Crazy World Of Apple, RBG, Filmworker, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, My Generation, Matangi/Maya/M.I.A., Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes, Maria by Callas*
Okay Not-Documentaries: Unsane, Paterno, A Quiet Place, Eighth Grade (didn’t like it nearly as much as everyone else), Shock and Awe, A Simple Favor, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Not-Okay Documentary: Fahrenheit 11/9 (embarrassing in a couple of places, even for Moore)
A Documentary Would Have Been Better: Borg Vs. McEnroe, Nico, 1988
Fashion (I Want to Understand...): The Gospel According to Andre, McQueen, Always at the Carlyle (sort of counts--rich people dressed in expensive clothes)
What the Fuck Did I Just See?: You Were Never Really Here, Sorry to Bother You (both worth puzzling over)
Rogue Politicians: Chappaquiddick, The Front Runner (the better of the two)
Diverting Junk: Red Sparrow
Waste of Time: Ocean’s Eight, White Boy Rick, The Girl in the Spider’s Web
Drawing a Blank: Flower
I just found out today (after googling the title + Toronto) that the film I most wanted to see this year, Frederick Wiseman’s Monrovia, Indiana, screened for three nights at the Bloor just before Halloween. I can’t believe I missed that--I keep close tabs on the Bloor schedule. The only explanation I can come up with is that I didn’t know about the film yet and the nondescript title slipped by me. I’m a little heartsick about this, knowing how iffy a second chance will be.
*Saw this very late in the
year; I didn't post about it in ILX's "last (x) movies" thread, so I missed
it here, too. Could probably have included it my Top 10.
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