2020 Movies - By the Numbers

Look, obviously a few things were different this year per my availability to sit on my ass and watch movies.  

And watch movies I did.  There wasn't much on in the way of baseball until July or so.  I had time to do podcasts almost once per week (we'll get to that).  And, we instituted twice-per-week movie parties (Tuesdays and Fridays.  Jenifer runs Tuesdays, I manage Fridays).  Plus, I don't really follow that many TV shows, so I had some time to watch whatever.  And I think when you review the list, you will say "whatever did he watch these movies for?"

Anyway

For comparisons:

 in 2019, I watched 204 movies

in 2018, I watched 179 movies

In 2020, I watched 269 movies that I am aware of.  I have blog posts entries for each of these movies, and some metadata on each movie to help me track.  

This number includes only movies I watched in their entirety.  If I watched part of a movie, it's not included.  

It is possible I've missed some movies, one way or another.  Whether I forgot to mark it, or write it up, or whatever.  So I'll say - at a *minimum* I watched 269 movies in 2020.  I'll adjust the post if I figure out I missed anything.  

For the complete numbers in a spreadsheet, you can click here.

2021 Watch: Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

Watched:  01/01/2021

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  Second

Decade:  1990's

Director:  Robert Longo

I saw this movie in 1995, and it was pretty terrible then.  It's really hard to put your finger on, but the closest comparison I can make is what happened/ happens with superhero movies when someone comes along and decides to use pieces of what's there, but doesn't really get it is about the thing that makes it work.  

Looking back at 1995, explaining what was going on in science-fiction, the rapid development of the internet, and how those two things intermingled - as well as who from the world of music, film and art and basically "got it" is mostly long since forgotten.  But, yeah, there was a time when we honestly thought people would basically use the internet like a great big VR simulation with avatars, "physical" items to look at using our headsets and manipulate haptic gloves.

And by "we" I mean * everyone* was excited about the internet and the cool toys until you actually tried to use the internet and it all fell apart upon first contact,  and you realized a mouse, keyboard and a decent monitor were terrific and cheap and got you where you needed to go.

Christmas Noir Watch: Cover-Up (1949)

Watched:  12/23/2020

Format:  Noir Alley on TCM

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1940's

Director:  Alfred E. Green

An insurance detective comes to a small town to look into the apparent suicide of a wealthy man with a considerable settlement coming to the benficiaries.  Arriving in town, he finds everyone hated the guy, it sure looks like murder, and everyone - including the foxy young lady he met on the bus on the way in, are in on a cover-up.  Thus, the name of the movie.

Stars William Bendix and Dennis O'Keefe.

The ending is weird and super chipper.  

NEW YEAR WATCH PARTY - "Johnny Mnemonic" - because it takes place in 2021

 

Day:  01/01/2021

Time:  8:30 Central - Texas time, yo

Link here for the shoooooowwww

So, I last saw this in the theater opening day, 11:30 AM show.  And it was very bad.  So bad, I had forgotten it co-stars Dina Meyer's terrific jawline.

she has great hair, too

Anyway - let's see what the citizens of the early 90's thought this year would look like!  

I've watched the first five minutes, and... uh, maybe they weren't so far off, is what I'm saying.

Only, far less Dina Meyer than we could have hoped for.

Watch Party Watch: Guest in the House (1944)

Watched:  12/29/2020

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1940's

Director:  this one is confusing, but it's listed as follows on IMDB -  John Brahm, John Cromwell...(uncredited) André De Toth...(uncredited) Lewis Milestone...(uncredited)

A dopey young doctor has fallen for his patient - a mental patient with a phobia of birds and a love of stirring shit (Anne Baxter).  Reasonably, he takes her to meet his idiotic family (minus one key player).  Unreasonably, he just f'ing leaves her with his idiotic family who just met her.  She gaslights the living shit out of everyone, including an 8 year old girl.

This movie features:

• 3 great 1940's hairstyles on lovely women
• 1 coocoo bananas psycho
• Multiple dum-dums who clearly never met a Mean Girl
• 1 Margaret Hamilton reminding you why it was hard for her to find work after Wizard of Oz seared her into your mind as a broom-riding funster
• 1 wife who is wildly tolerant of 1 husband who is clearly banging his model no matter what the script tries to tell us
• 1 man who has all the appeal of a soaked Ralph Bellamy that is, because filmed during wartime, the only man around sold to us as a real dream boat
• 1 bird pining for the fjords

It is not a BAD movie, but it is also not hard to imagine how this movie could be better.  Also - how this sort of movie became a Lifetime movie, which would be called "Psycho Sister-In-Law".

However, this movie ALSO was released under the name "Satan in Skirts", which...  *chef's kiss*.

80's Watch: Romancing the Stone (1984)

Watched: 12/30/2020

Format:  Amazon Streaming

Viewing:  Unknown

Decade:  1980's

Director:  Apparently, Robert Zemeckis

As a kid, I have two memories of this movie - 1) I think my parents thought itw as going to be risque, because the first time we watched Romacing the Stone (1984) it was with some family friends who had to tell them it was okay for 9 year old me, and 2) when I watched it again later - running on HBO or whatever, it just made me wish I'd rather be watching an Indiana Jones movie.  

I was, of course, not tuned in at all to what the movie was doing.  I had so clearly missed the point watching this as a kid, that five minutes into it this time (and I don't know if I'd seen this movie since I was 20), I turned to Jamie and said "I don't think I ever realized before that Kathleen Turner is supposed to be a nebbish.  I thought the idea was that she was a fancy lady from New York out of her element."  

So, yeah - TOTALLY missed the point as a kid.  

Dawn Wells Merges With The Infinite

 

Actor Dawn Wells has passed at the age of 82.  

In an era of very few channels and endless repeats of syndicated shows 20 years old, Wells' portrayal of Mary Ann loomed so large in the minds of multiple generations that any  reference to "Mary Ann" was immediately understood (and continues so today with people born before a certain year).  

Godspeed, Ms. Wells.  

PODCAST: "Wonder Woman 1984" - a Kryptonian Thought Beast Episode w/ Stuart, Jamie and Ryan

spoiler: the movie was not released in October

Watched:  12/25/2020

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  First

Decade: 2020's

Director:  Patty Jenkins

For more ways to listen

Our elite team of nerds comes together to discuss the hottest ticket on HBOmax and at the cinema. Is she a wonder? Has the world been waiting for her? We try to step inside the characters as we ponder what the film did and why, and, does it work? If you WISH someone could get to the bottom of this film - look no further! We're in our satin tights fighting for the right answers! 

The Signal Watch PodCast · 134: "Wonder Woman 1984" (2020) a Kryptonian Thought Beast episode w/ Stuart, Jamie and Ryan

Music: 

Themyscira - Hans Zimmer, Wonder Woman 1984 Soundtrack

Pixar Watch: Soul (2020)

Watched:  12/26/2020

Format:  Disney+

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Pete Docter, Kemp Powers

I believe we're going to try to do a podcast on this one, so everyone sit tight.  

But, yes, very good.  Recommended.

Watching the Detectives: The Nice Guys (2016)

Watched:  12/28/2020

Format: Amazon Streaming

Viewing: First

Decade:  2010's

Director:  Shane Black

This was exactly the movie I needed this evening.  

I dunno what to say about it.  Somehow Shane Black made a movie that managed to utterly surprise in every scene, was absolutely wrong, and absolutely hilarious.  Had a killer soundtrack, featured Keith David and gave Kim Basinger stuff to do.  

I am not sure liking this movie this much makes me a good person, but there we are.

That Was a Movie Watch: Salome's Last Dance (1988)

Watched:  12/26/2020

Format:  Amazon Streaming

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1980's

Director:  Ken Russell

So...  I'm always on the hunt for something new to watch with folks during Friday Night Watch Parties.  For some reason unknown to me, Salome's Last Dance (1988) popped up as a suggestion from Amazon, and after reading the description - roughly: Oscar Wilde attends a production of his banned play performed in a brothel - I was like "huh, no idea.  Let's look."  

I got maybe 45 seconds in and saw "Directed by Ken Russell", and know more about Russell's reputation than his actual work, which is always at least *interesting* if you've seen Altered States, Lair of the White Worm or even Tommy.  So - I gave it a whirl.

Holiday Watch Party Watch: We're No Angels (1955)

Watched: 12/22/2020

Format: Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1950's

Director:  Michael Curtiz

In general I think of Michael Curtiz as one of the most versatile and best directors of the Studio Era of Hollywood.  This is not the movie I'd use as Exhibit A for that argument.  

I don't really get it.  This movie is well liked and features a cast of solid, well-known actors (I *do* include Aldo Ray in that statement.  I like Nightfall).  But it has a very, very strange pacing - like, a snail's pace - is not immediately or obviously terribly *funny*.  And, yeah, it's a comedy.  It's listed by AFI as one of the 500 funniest movies ever made, so...  what the hell do I know?  

But, yeah, it's about three Devil's Island prisoners (Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray and Peter Ustinov) who hide out in a shop/ home owned by Joan Bennett and Leo G. Carroll - and, along the way - wind up helping out the shop and solving all of their problems.  

I do feel less crazy as I was not the only one watching the movie and I don't think any of us were fans of the thing.  

I dunno, maybe none of us were in the mood or something - but I think something about the stageyness of the production - that they seemed to pace it as a play they hadn't quite figured out the timing for - just really impacted the watchability.

All that said - it did have one of the darkest/ most leaning on gallows humor endings to a movie I can think of from this period, and maybe that has a great deal to do with how it's been received.  No idea.