Monthly Round Up - The Best Films I Saw in November

I surpassed a milestone this month – 700 posts. If I knew I would surpass 700 posts when I started working on this blog nearly two years ago, I never would have believed it. Just finding the time, energy and motivation to review one film a week back then was a challenge. Now I look to keep up the 10 posts a week pace – and about 4-5 reviews. There is plenty to write about; depending on the direction I want to go with my blog. I have been posting more promo material than usual lately. It is sent to me and I figure it is footage and information that will be of interest to my readers.  Most recently, I have been focusing on film interest articles and lists etc. I haven’t seen all that much at the cinema this month – but with the release of Moneyball, We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Ides of March, I can’t say it was a bad month overall. It was also the month I saw The Debt, In Time and Immortals – pretty average films.

I am on pace to surpass 365 film views this year, and 500 posts. If December is as busy as November was, and it is looking like it is – then I will blow those milestones away. I have almost completed my Godard-a-thon. I have watched Made in U.S.A and have decided I have nothing remotely interesting or intelligent to say about the bizarre film. I am yet to see Week End, the final Godard in my series. It has been hard to select a favourite film from this group. I liked Breathless, Vivre Sa Vie and Bande A Part a lot, while having seen Pierrot Le Fou and Masculine Feminine before, I was just as impressed on a repeat viewing. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy the others – Contempt is incredible – just that I didn’t shine to them as much. The only Godard film I struggled with was Alphaville. I doubt I am alone there.

I’m glad I got my Top 100 Films updated. Now I can start thinking about the Oscar season and from December 26^th through to the end of February there are a plethora of anticipated releases that I will try and cover as succinctly as possible. Throw in more cinema work because of the busy season, and I may have to sacrifice some of my usual posts (and a DOTM) in favor of consistent new release coverage. I have also been blessed to become a part of an inspiring and supportive film blogging community. I would like to take this opportunity to give a huge thanks to all of the readers who regularly stop by my site, leave comments and link to my page.

The Large Association of Movie Blogs (LAMB) has also been great. I am a proud member of the LAMB and love contributing to their monthly segments. Joel, who runs the LAMB Twitter page, constantly #RT my posts, which I greatly appreciate. I would also like to thank the Aussie film critics and bloggers I have got to know through screenings, or through Twitter. I hope you all know who you are. You are an inspiration to me, and I feel so privileged to share a passion for film with such a great group of people, and such skilled writers. I hope I have the opportunity to meet you all in future, and perhaps even work with you one day.

In November I watched a total of 42 Films.

New Releases/Screenings (Cinema) - We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011), The First Grader (Justin Chadwick, 2011), Anonymous (Roland Emmerich, 2011), Moneyball (Bennett Miller, 2011), The Debt (John Madden, 2011), The Ides of March (George Clooney, 2011 - Twice), Burning Man (Jonathan Teplitzky, 2011), The Tall Man (Tony Krawitz, 2011), In Time (Andrew Niccol, 2011), War Horse (Steven Spielberg, 2011), Immortals (Tarsem Singh, 2011), The Descendants (Alexander Payne, 2011), The Inbetweeners (Ben Palmer, 2011), Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (Bill Condon, 2011)

First Viewing (DVD/Torrent) - Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932), Ivan the Terrible Part 1 (Sergei Eisenstein, 1944), Vivre Sa Vie [My Life to Live] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962), Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963), Bande A Part (Jean-Luc Godard, (1964) Alphaville (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965), Made in U.S.A (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967), El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970), American Graffiti (George Lucas, 1973), Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979), Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982), Sleepaway Camp (Robert Hiltzik, 1983), The Seventh Continent (Michael Haneke, 1989), Benny's Video (Michael Haneke, 1992), Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008), Broken Embraces (Pedro Almodovar, 2009)

Re-Watched (DVD/Torrent) - Pierrot Le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965), Scarface (Brian De Palma, 1983), Platoon (Oliver Stone, 1986), Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992), Carlito's Way (Brian De Palma, 1993), Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997), Office Space (Mike Judge, 1999), Punch Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002), Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007), Gone Baby Gone (Ben Affleck, 2007) and The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)

Essential Viewing

Vampyr

Ivan the Terrible Part 1

Vivre Sa Vie

Contempt

Bande A Part

Pierrot Le Fou

American Graffiti

Manhattan

Platoon

Reservoir Dogs

Boogie Nights

Punch Drunk Love

Ratatouille

Gone Baby Gone

The Social Network

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Moneyball


Current Tally (303) + 42 = 345 Films