Film Watched: Casablanca

Connection to Adaptation: twin screenwriters - both films were
credited to twins (even if there is no Donald Kaufman). This
connection is also mentioned in the film Adaptation.

Sent from my iPhone

Film Watched: Adaptation

Connection to The Deer Hunter: Meryl Streep starred in both films.

Sent from my iPhone

2009 Movies Blog: A Year of Connections, Tenuous and Otherwise

This year, instead of just tracking the films we see, Gina and I decided that every movie we watch must have some connection to the movie we watched before it (with one caveat, that is we don't have to link TO new movie releases in theatres because we wouldn't want to not see a new movie just because there was no connection). Still, we'll do our best to connect to those as well.

The connection can be pretty much anything, from simply having the same actor or director (or Key Grip!) to similar settings, shooting styles, props, etc. In fact, the more tenuous the connection the more fun it will be. Each time we see a movie, we'll post it along with an explanation to its connection to the previous film.

We started off 2009 by watching The Deer Hunter on New Year's Day. We figured it was okay to begin with something fairly easy (like a huge cast) but it also just happened to be one of the movies recently arrived from Zip.

Feel free to help us out. Each time we post a movie watched, comment on the film, how cheesy (or absolutely perfect) our connection is and give us some suggestions on what to watch next (making sure to tell us the connection, of course). If we choose your suggestion, we'll make sure to give you credit.

Since we receive several movies from Zip every month, I'll be sure to post what we've got to choose from. Also, you can check out our movie library. We'll be using that and the Calgary Public Library to fill in the gaps.

2008: A Year of Movies - That's a Wrap

It wasn't really a resolution but at the beginning of 2008 I started keeping track of all of the movies I watched. It came about in response to Gina's question at the end of 2007, "what was your favourite movie of the year?"

I don't think it's particularly amazing that I managed to actually do it for the entire year. For the most part it was easy, as each time I watched a movie I wrote it on a calendar (yes, the old fashioned way with a pen). Most weeks I would remember to transfer the data into this blog but sometimes I would add two or three weeks at a time.

So what was my favourite movie of 2008? Well, I should note that I had said I could only select either new movies that I saw in the theatre or new on DVD. Just going by the stats, there were five movies that held the top spot over the course of the year. Here's a breakdown of those:

Movie	Weeks at Number 1
American Gangster	2
Everything is Fine	14
Lars & the Real Girl	31
The Savages	2
Water	4

Those 31 weeks that Lars & the Real Girl were at #1 are more indicative of the movie season than of it's status. The best movies typically come out in December-January (to make the Oscar eligibility deadline) and the Spring Summer is typically the dead zone (unless of course Blockbusters are your thing). So Lars & the Real Girl just happened to be the last movie from the season. From these 5 films, I would likely say that Water was my favourite. However, since it was actually released on DVD in 2006 it shouldn't count, I guess. So, I will settle on Everything is Fine (Tout est parfait). It's a small, indie feature from Quebec that most people likely won't get to see; I was lucky enough to catch it at the Calgary International Film Festival.

Other notable films of the year were Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and not just because the first five minutes are filled with a hardcore full frontal Marissa Tomei sex scene. Born into Brothels was an excellent documentary, High Falls a great short with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard (they had a baby together in real life) and The Visitor was a beautiful, touching indie feature.

Statistics

Format	Movies Viewed
Movie Theatre	24
Free Premieres	3
DVD	90
Shorts	49
Blu-Ray (Hoo-ray!)	1
Television	15

Movies - Week of December 29

Gregoire Moulin contre l'Humanité! **** (D)
Stage Fright ***½ (D)
Bell, Book & Candle ** (D)
Isis in Darkness **½ (D)
Breathless **** (D)
Sunrise ** (S)

For legend, see Week 1

Best Movie of the Year so far (Cinema or new DVD releases only included)
Everything is Fine