My year in movies

Late in 2017 I remembered I'd always had an account at Letterboxd, but I barely used it in the past and didn't know what I'd ever use the site for. But in early January, I decided that I'd log every film I watched during 2018 and I would leave a quick rating along with a simple review.

Now that it's 2019, I am really happy with the results. I watched 93 films in 2018, and about half of those were new films in movie theaters, as I made it a nearly weekly habit to check out new movies.

Going through my list of films and my reviews, it reminds me of the first time I started keeping a journal in highschool or started blogging in 1999. I can glance back at my list of ratings and reviews and remember where I was when I saw each one, and recall what was going on in my life. Looking at the lists, it made the year feel longer as I can't believe how many things I got to watch and enjoy.

The only film I gave a perfect 5 stars to was Free Solo, but to be honest I think it was 5 stars for a documentary. It's one of the best documentaries I've ever seen but it wasn't 100% perfect. I saw lots of 4.5 and 4 star films.

I watched three entertaining, almost perfect films a lot. About once a month I watched either Logan Lucky, Magic Mike XXL, or Baby Driver. They're all three punchy, fun, good looking films with well-written stories and when I'm bored and want to enjoy something light, I watch them. I've seen Thor: Ragnarok several times as well and it'll likely end up on that list too.

In the process I found out I really like Letterboxd for tracking my own films, and seeing reviews from my twitter social graph as well. One of my favorite things is to see ratings and reviews from someone I follow on twitter and have great respect for their work, but their taste in films baffles me. Stuff I love, they hate, and stuff they love I don't get at all. It's a fun game to see what their take is on new films because I can never predict it.

Lastly, I found a true gem on Letterboxd is everyone's favorite comedian on Twitter, Demi Adejuyigbe. His reviews are honest, punchy, fun to read, and hilariously funny. He has an infectious love of movies that comes through in his reviews. They're not deep, they're visceral, but they're always great.

For 2019, I'm going to keep it up. I paid for Letterboxd pro and I intend to use it. Also I like round numbers so I'm going to try and hit 100 films in 2019, and like last year, see as many as possible in the theater.