August
1. Hot Dog... The Movie (Markle, 1984)
2. G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Chu, 2013)
3. WWE for All Mankind: Life & Career of Mick Foley (Dunn, 2013)
4. Spring Breakers (Korine, 2012)
5. Hellraiser: Revelations (García, 2011)
6. Bullet to the Head (Hill, 2012)
September
1. The Central Park Five (Burns, Burns, McMahon, 2012)
2. Aftershock (López, 2012)
3. Scary MoVie (Lee, 2013)
4. Mud (Nichols, 2012)
5. Howling V: The Rebirth (Sundstrom, 1989)
6. Star Trek Into Darkness (Abrams, 2013)
7. One Man's Loss (Sansom, 2012)
8. Get In the Trunk 3: All Trunks Go to Heaven (Hammons, 2013)
Total films watched in 2013: 183
I'm back! Had to recharge my batteries quite a bit. In two months (May-June) I watched nearly 60 movies. By the time Aug. rolled around my motivation dropped off. I had to reassess. I usually try to see the bulk of new releases, I was also really focused on narrowing down the 75 or so films I hadn't seen from TSPDT's 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films list, etc. I found myself in the beginning of Aug. with stacks of DVDs but little desire to spend hours in-front of the TV. So I detoxed. During Aug. I only caught four films on my own time and then another two as part of an event with my movie club the Night Owl Society (we're meeting 1-2 times monthly nowadays). Sept. the inspiration began to return but it was more an issue of finding time. Work, family, my website Review the World, other hobbies (inc. the usual copious amounts of wrestling/MMA, TV fare, and animated series'), etc. plus my traditional night time routine has suffered as I may not get to start anything until after 11PM and my babies are usually up by 7AM if not earlier. I took a new position at work too. My old job had me in an area with lots of downtime and I'd secretly e-mail myself tons of movie reviews, essays, etc. it really helped my love of it thrive. My new role is much more demanding and challenging and leaves me zero time to indulge in that so I'm finding myself a bit disconnected from that community sadly.
I have narrowed my focus a bit. I'm trying to be a little more selective with what titles I choose given how little free time I do have. For example, not every new release is finding itself instantly slotted in my queue, unless it's something that interests me or peaks my curiosity, I'm putting it in a separate list of stuff I'll (probably) get to one day down the road. The TSPDT list bowled me over and I got into the rut of watching stuff because of a compulsion to "need to" and less out of enjoyment of it and that's skewed. Now that I've taken some time off from "serious" cinema and been watching more genre fare, etc. I'm feeling better prepared to adjust that ratio and find a better balance.
I've been contemplating doing some "more" in regards to film criticism or reaction or whatever. One idea is to go back through these monthly lists and do a series of vlog (video blog) entries where I'd give thoughts on a lot of the stuff I've watched these last few years, make recommendations, etc. Inspired by many of the film writers and blogs I've enjoyed over time I also contemplated trying my hand at writing about film seriously again which I haven't done since this blog initially launched in its earlier incarnation. We'll see! Right now I just want to focus on whatever film is in-front of me and worry less of the peripheral stuff. I've coined a new phrase I'll leave you with, here at IWMMTY we say keep your "Eyes Wide Open"!
