Introduction

Hi all,

My name is Duncan and I'm currently working my way through a film history PhD at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

Early in 2009 I was listening to a podcast of a conversation about books between radio hosts Tony Martin and Tony Wilson. Martin mentioned how Stephen King had once said that the problem with authors today is that so much of their time is spent trying to write books that they don't make time to actually read any. As a result Martin had decided to undertake the challenge of reading 100 books in year. Now I'm not much of a reader but this conversation did get me thinking. As a film student I had become increasingly aware that I was spending so much of my time reading textbooks, commentaries, interviews and journal articles and writing essays, that I wasn't actually watching all that many films. People would assume that as a film student I was watching them all the time, but it just was not the case. I would go weeks on end without watching a film, which may not be much to your average man in the street, but for someone who is supposed to be studying the things it is not ideal. I was working on building an encyclopedic knowledge of film but had grown aware that this couldn't be achieved simply by reading about films, you have to be watching them. Besides, the joy of movies is in the watching! If I wasn't actually watching them, what's the point? So I set myself a challenge for 2009, to watch 200 movies in the year.

I watched all different kinds of films, from different genres, different eras and different countries. I saw a lot of films I had always been meaning to see but had never made time to do so, rewatched a couple of old favourites. In the end I reached my goal with relative ease (the complete list of 2009s viewing is below) and found it a very interesting, enjoyable and rewarding experience as a film student. So I've decided to do it again in 2010.

I've set up this blog to catalogue my thoughts on each movie as I watch my way through the year. Whether I end up writing formal reviews for the movies or just a few notes on things I found interesting or significant I don't know. If no one ever lays eyes on this blog I'm still hopeful that it will be a useful exercise for me, but if by chance someone is reading this I hope you find it interesting or entertaining and who knows it may even inspire you to watch a few movies, which can't be a bad thing.


Movies Watched in 2009

* denotes films seen for the first time
^ denotes films seen at the cinema

1. Charlie Wilson’s War*
2. Frost/Nixon*^
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*^
4. Zack and Miri Make a Porno*
5. Gran Torino*^
6. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
7. Mean Streets*
8. Baby Mamma*
9. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
10. The Gleaners and I*
11. The Hustler*
12. Double Indemnity*
13. Dirty Harry*
14. Watchmen*^
15. Se7en*
16. For Your Consideration*
17. Wall-E*
18. Johnny Guitar*
19. The Last Temptation of Christ
20. Gun Crazy*
21. Planet Terror*
22. 300*
23. Slumdog Millionaire*^
24. Mystic River*
25. Cool Hand Luke*
26. The Silence of the Lambs*
27. Rushmore*
28. Breathless*
29. Hannibal
30. Red Dragon*
31. Badlands*
32. Manhattan*
33. Good Will Hunting*
34. A History of Violence*
35. Blow-Up*
36. A Fistful of Dollars*
37. Always*
38. For a Few Dollars More*
39. Sabrina*
40. Dick Tracy
41. Patriot Games*
42. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
43. Mulholland Drive*
44. The Boat that Rocked*^
45. Juno*
46. Stripes*
47. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
48. The Devil’s Advocate*
49. Interview With the Vampire*
50. Kill Bill Volume 1*
51. Wolverine*^
52. Kill Bill Volume 2*
53. The Manchurian Candidate*
54. Ten Canoes
55. Mamma Mia!*
56. Death Proof*
57. Ronin*
58. Jackie Brown*
59. Dead Man*
60. Mean Girls
61. Carlito’s Way*
62. The Game*
63. Knocked Up
64. Walk the Line*
65. 2001: A Space Odyssey*
66. Touch of Evil*
67. 3:10 to Yuma*
68. Fallen*
69. Citizen Kane
70. The Battle Over Citizen Kane*
71. Superbad*
72. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*
73. Hero*
74. Infernal Affairs*
75. Kings of the Road*
76. Blood Diamond*
77. The Bourne Supremacy*
78. Star Trek*^
79. The Bourne Ultimatum*
80. Born on the 4th of July*
81. Pineapple Express
82. RocknRolla*
83. I Love You, Man*^
84. Iron Man
85. Walkabout*
86. Mad Max 2
87. Wag the Dog
88. Thank You For Smoking*
89. Phonebooth*
90. The Last King of Scotland*
91. State of Play*^
92. Blue Velvet*
93. Rebel Without a Cause*
94. Donnie Darko*
95. In Bruges*
96. City of Ember*
97. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang*
98. Full Metal Jacket*
99. The Shining*
100. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead*
101. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
102. The Rules of the Game*
103. Year One*^
104. The Accused*
105. Not Quite Hollywood*
106. The Hangover*^
107. 12 Monkeys*
108. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford*
109. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
110. The Merchant of Venice*^
111. To Catch a Thief*
112. The Age of Innocence*
113. Transformers
114. Blood Simple*
115. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen*^
116. High Fidelity*
117. Death to Smoochy*
118. Pretty Woman*
119. True Romance*
120. Scent of a Woman*
121. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
122. 8½*
123. The Addams Family
124. Matchstick Men*
125. Brokeback Mountain*
126. Finding Neverland*
127. Bridget Jones’s Diary
128. Addams Family Values
129. The Devil Wears Prada*
130. Coraline*^
131. Apocalypse Now
132. The Godfather Part II
133. Dracula*
134. One From the Heart*
135. Witness*
136. Training Day*
137. Rumble Fish*
138. The Two Jakes*
139. The Godfather Part III
140. The Third Man*
141. Inglourious Basterds*^
142. Amelie
143. Doubt*
144. A Few Good Men*
145. Revolutionary Road*
146. Bad Eggs
147. JCVD*
148. Public Enemies*^
149. The Other Boleyn Girl*
150. Mission Impossible*
151. High Society*
152. The Cotton Club*
153. District 9*^
154. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse*
155. Funny People*^
156. The Color of Money*
157. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore*
158. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof*
159. Insomnia*
160. Michael Clayton*
161. Coda: Thirty Years Later*
162. Tucker: The Man and His Dream*
163. The Taking of Pelham 123*^
164. The Breakfast Club*
165. Ponyo*^
166. Gardens of Stone*
167. Peggy Sue Got Married*
168. A Decade Under the Influence*
169. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
170. Pan’s Labyrinth*
171. The Outsiders*
172. Children of Men*
173. Surrogates*^
174. Inside Deep Throat*
175. Vicky Christina Barcelona*
176. Network*
177. Trainspotting*
178. Blazing Saddles*
179. The Lost World: Jurassic Park*
180. Changeling*
181. Rear Window*
182. Couples Retreat*^
183. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner*
184. Pretty in Pink*
185. Dirty Dancing*
186. Up*^
187. North by Northwest*
188. Watchmen
189. Evita*
190. Sicko*
191. Stand By Me*
192. El Mariachi*
193. Desperado*
194. Once Upon a Time in Mexico*
195. The Man Who Wasn’t There*
196. Midnight Cowboy*
197. 1941*
198. Nashville*
199. Field of Dreams*
200. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus*^
201. Driving Miss Daisy*
202. Clear and Present Danger*
203. Birth of the Blues*
204. Monsters, Inc.*
205. Catch Me If You Can*
206. This is Spinal Tap
207. Zombieland*
208. Moon*
209. The Castle
210. End of the Spear*
211. Beauty and the Beast
212. All the President’s Men*
213. Marathon Man*
214. A Christmas Carol*^
215. Big
216. Love Actually
217. Beauty and the Beast
218. Point Break*
219. Bullitt*
220. Where the Wild Things Are*^
221. The Birds*
222. Avatar*^
223. X-Men 2
224. X-Men
225. Horton Hears a Who*
226. Sherlock Holmes*^
227. Australia*
228. Frost/Nixon
229. The Wrestler*
230. Rocky