Film Favorites, observations, and things that will save your life

Posting this early cuz I have a crazy work schedule this week and I've basically hit my limit. I'm all filmed out until January so... And I'm Giving films their own post cuz I watched so many this year. 

The Final Tally: 230
English: 121
International: 91
Rewatches: 19

I've decided since I've watched more I get to rec more.

Film Recs, English.

• Wild Target (2010)
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
• City Lights (1931)
• Things to Come (1936)
• Carnival of Souls (1962)
• Swingers (1996)
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
• Down by Law (1986)
• The Soloist (2009)
• Midnight in Paris (2011)
• What's Your Number (2007)

Film Recs, International

• The Phantom Carriage (1921)
• The Passion of Joan of Arc  (1928)
• Playtime (1967)
• Ugetsu (1953)
• Summer with Monika (1953)
• Daisies (1966)
• La Haine (1995)
• The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
• Babette's Feast (1987)
• High and Low (1963)

stuff I learned about cinema or myself this year observations:

• ~I like films better if they have good cinematography and blocking. I will find shitty films more tolerable if they are beautifully shot and will hate on films more if they have not only a bad storyline but bad scenery porn as well.(YES I AM SHALLOW LIKE THAT!
• ~I have eccentric films tastes, neither highbrow nor lowbrow, but this is probably due to discovering that
• ~....both international and English, mainsteam and indie, are full of racist sexist classist shit. The films I liked the most this year I liked because they had well rounded characters story etc
• ~my introduction to Japanese cinema was the strangest ever (House, Princess on the Moon) and I was quite sure it would never grow on me. I stuck with it and now I'm a fan. But I had to poke around before finding stuff I liked.
• ~I'm a French film whore. I'm also an Ingmar Bergman whore. I'll also watch anything Akira Kurosawa
• ~I like strange films within reason but I don't like if the film is quirky for the sake of being quirky. The strange plotline should be integral to the movie itself
• ~neo-realism is the most heartwrenching cinema EVER! and also rather soapy (everything is not just depressing, but really really really depressing)
• ~My year was (not accidentally) HP cast and Avengers cast heavy. The first was planned but got derailed by the second. (I did manage to get through all of Rupert Grint's and Emma Watson's filmographies though!) I had NO idea though when I watched 'Restoration' I would be crushing on RDJ by the summer though
• ~Too much of cinema relies on the Male Gaze. It's SO SO SO annoying seeing so many female characters reduced to objects. AND CURSES ON EMMA WATSON AND SOFIA COPPOLA for taking part in the Ode to the Male Gaze with their filmographies (Emma's non HP stuff).. But the films that got the female POV often got it right or at least had the decency to portray the female character as her own person. Surprisingly, mainstream films did a better job at presenting positive non-male gaze females than indie films
• ~The films with the most off-putting 'why the fuck would I want to watch THAT???' descriptions ended up being favorites, or near favorites, or at least memorably in a good way. ex: Down by Law, The Warped Ones, House
• ~Hollywood hates Asians. What Middle Eastern people were to the 1990s is what Asian people are now: always the villians whether they show up in whitewashed form or not.
• ~Yes, I watched a shit ton of international films, but I realized that Africa, Latin America, and most of Asia was missing. Fortunately, a  little digging on google and tumblr means I can retify that oversight next year. (And damn you hulu for only having 'westernized' worldwide cinema).

On the film recs:

They are there because they have the a perfect blend of storytelling, character, cinematography, and opened my mind to the art of cinema. I also tried to pick films that represented my year as a whole (which leaned heavily towards film noir, biographies especially of musicians, food, Paris). It was VERY tough narrowing it down. Now, people tend to ignore my film recs , BUT IF BY CHANCE YOU GET BRAVE AND WATCH THEM...I WANT TO KNOW! Even if you hated it, and think I'm freaking nuts to like soandso film, I want to know. 

Important Film Life Lessons You Need to Know:

• ~Never have an axe lying around house, because some shit-crazy guy will use it to get into your locked room and murder you and everybody else in the vicinity.
• ~Your ears are NOT safe! Someone will cut, shot, or pull them off in an attempt to get you to talk...or not talk.
• ~Woody Allan's France might be the most enchanting, but it's the the real France according to French cinema, let alone Paris. (I now side-eye basically all of tumblr now when I see which parts of Paris are always reblogged in photographs.)
• ~Just because an arrow isn't a bullet doesnt mean it can't kill you. It will, just in a more ...memorable...way than a gun will. SEE: Throne of Blood. (You thought I was going to oodle over Katniss, Clint, and Merrida, didn't you? Although I have learned from them, don't trust anybody with a bow and arrow. Cuz you'll be dead before you blinked.)
• ~Your secret sibling that you never knew about (or were too young to remember) wants to kill you because you basically exist.
• ~Never assume a cat is a cat especially if you haven't been home in awhile (Japanese cinema OWNS this. OWNS, I tell you.)