{"id":1504,"date":"2005-01-01T23:18:15","date_gmt":"2005-01-01T23:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sunpig.com\/mt-entry-1504.html"},"modified":"2006-09-23T19:30:11","modified_gmt":"2006-09-23T19:30:11","slug":"2004-in-review-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/2005\/01\/01\/2004-in-review-films\/","title":{"rendered":"2004 in review: Films"},"content":{"rendered":"

2004 was a good year for me and films. A subscription to the ScreenSelect<\/a> DVD rental service helped me see 100 new films. (New to me, that is–not just films released in 2004.) Spread out over a whole year, 100 films isn’t all that much, but I didn’t set myself that target until the middle of September. I had watched about 60 films by that point, and I figured that with a good push, I could easily get in the last 40.<\/p>\n

Well, I made it, but there were weeks where it felt like a real slog. I have to watch another film tonight? Gah. Can’t I just play some Halo 2 instead? For me, setting targets is a great way of turning activities that are normally a great pleasure into boring chores. I think it’s entirely possible that I’ll make it up to 100 films again in 2005, but this time, I’m not going to make it a goal.<\/p>\n

Having said that, I do feel a great sense of achievement at having reached 100. It’s nothing compared to what your average film critic will watch in a year, and I’m still not even close<\/em> to having seen all the recent important new releases. However, it’s a big deal to me because I feel like I’m not losing ground<\/em> on the films I want to see. (Or, at least not losing ground quite so quickly.) I’ve watched a large proportion of the new releases that have interested me in 2004, and I’ve caught up on a bunch of films I missed in previous years.<\/p>\n

Another good thing is that I now have a respectable chunk of data to play with and turn into charts and graphs:<\/p>\n

\"Chart<\/p>\n

With the exception of the anomaly at 2 stars, the chart runs pretty well the way you’d expect: a roughly bell-shaped curve, with its peak skewed to the favourable end. The skew comes from observational bias: I tend to watch films that I think I’ll like, so it’s hardly surprising that my average rating comes out to 3.23 stars, half-way between “solid and enjoyable” and “pretty good”.<\/p>\n

For the purposes of rating films, I find it helpful to keep my text labels for each star value in mind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Star rating<\/th>\nExplanation<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
5 stars<\/td>\nAll-time great<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4.5 stars<\/td>\nHighly recommended\/award-level film<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4 stars<\/td>\nRecommended<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3.5 stars<\/td>\nPretty good<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3 stars<\/td>\nSolid and enjoyable<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2.5 stars<\/td>\nAlmost okay, but too flawed to make the grade<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2 stars<\/td>\nDisappointing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1.5 stars<\/td>\nMore than just disappointing: actively bad<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1 stars<\/td>\nDon’t waste your time<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
0.5 stars<\/td>\nDrivel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
0 stars<\/td>\nGive me those hours of my life back, you fucker!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

“Recommended” only kicks in at 4 stars and above. 36 out of the hundred films I saw made that grade. Last year, 15 out of the 38 films (39%) I watched hit that mark, so it looks like I’m maintaining a certain level of consistency. However, both last year and this year I felt that only four films rated a full five stars, which may mean that I’ve been rating more critically this year. I’m a bit concerned about the blip at two stars. That tells me that I’m having some difficulty judging films I don’t like. I guess I just need to watch more rubbish, so I can fine-tune my distinctions.<\/p>\n

So what were my favourite films of the year? Well, including films that IMDB<\/a> says were released in 2003, but that only made it over to this side of the pond in 2004, here’s my top 10:<\/p>\n

    \n

  1. \nThe Incredibles<\/i><\/a> (5 stars)<\/li>\n
  2. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind<\/i><\/a> (5 stars)<\/li>\n

  3. \nDodgeball<\/i><\/a> (4.5 stars)<\/li>\n

  4. \nCollateral<\/i><\/a> (4.5 stars)<\/li>\n
  5. Shaun Of The Dead<\/i><\/a> (4.5 stars)<\/li>\n
  6. Kill Bill, Vol 2<\/i><\/a> (4.5 stars)<\/li>\n
  7. Lost In Translation<\/i><\/a> (4.5 stars)<\/li>\n
  8. Kinsey<\/i><\/a> (4 stars)<\/li>\n
  9. Danny Deckchair<\/i><\/a> (4 stars)<\/li>\n

  10. \nZatoichi<\/i><\/a> (4 stars)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Extraordinary films from previous years that I saw for the first time in 2004 include
    \nWilbur (Wants To Kill Himself)<\/i><\/a>,
    \nTouching The Void<\/i><\/a>,
    \nPeter Pan (2003)<\/i><\/a>,
    \nThe Pledge<\/i><\/a>,
    \nHoles<\/i><\/a>, and
    \nChinatown<\/i><\/a>. Upon reflection (and seeing it a second time),     Spider-Man 2<\/i><\/a>, which I had previously rated 4.5 stars, I don’t think quite so highly of any more. Still 4 stars, but not a top 10 film.<\/p>\n

    And the worst ones? Here are the bottom feeders:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. National Treasure<\/i><\/a> (0.5 stars)<\/li>\n
    2. Johnny English<\/i><\/a> (1 stars)<\/li>\n
    3. Spy Kids 3D<\/i><\/a> (1.5 stars)<\/li>\n
    4. Good Boy<\/i><\/a> (1.5 stars)<\/li>\n
    5. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider<\/i><\/a> (1.5 stars)<\/li>\n
    6. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen<\/i><\/a> (1.5 stars)<\/li>\n
    7. Once Upon A Time In Mexico<\/i><\/a> (1.5 stars)<\/li>\n
    8. Bad Boys II<\/i><\/a> (1.5 stars)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The two performances that will stick with me most from 2004 are Simon Pegg in Shaun of the Dead<\/i>, and Ben Stiller in Dodgeball<\/i>. Both are displays of sheer comic genius. David Carradine’s portrayal of Bill in Kill Bill, Vol 2<\/i>, was also very well done, especially in the way he underplayed Bill’s depths, and his fundamental tragedy.<\/p>\n

      Curiously, there isn’t much in 2005 that I’m explicitly looking forward to. I definitely want to catch Ocean’s 12<\/i>, Ray<\/i>, and Million Dollar Baby<\/i> when they open over here, and I suppose I’ll end up seeing the new Star Wars thing, too, but there’s nothing big<\/em> that’s really got me by the balls right now. With 155 films still backed up in my ScreenSelect<\/a> queue, though, I don’t think I’ll be running out of viewing material any time soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      2004 was a good year for me and films. A subscription to the ScreenSelect DVD rental service helped me see 100 new films. (New to me, that is–not just films released in 2004.) Spread out over a whole year, 100 films isn’t all that much, but I didn’t set myself that target until the middle … <\/p>\n

      Continue reading “2004 in review: Films”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}