As is a custom at this point, after the giant unwieldy project of that list-making retro on the past 10 years of movies, I needed a bit of a respite from posting on here for a minute. I think I’m almost ready to get back into the saddle of things. I do have an imminent out-of-state move to plan for the next month but other than that, I think I’ll be ok with the getting slowly back on the bike of writing. And in that case, I wanted to make a list of the things below that I’m hoping to get to posting within the next few months in whatever order I find flows the easiest. Most of these are just an excuse to write about wide releases from 2020 but with an addition of other connected cool stuff that I’ve been in love with. So here’s some of the things that we might be able to look forward too in the near-future:
- Tenet
A Christopher Nolan retrospective is absolutely in the cards one of these days but I simply don’t think I will have the energy to do it right now and particularly w/r/t to Tenet, a movie I will only see the one time and want my thoughts down while the movie is fresh in my mind… I think it’s best to get it out of the way so that this blog finally has at least one 2020 premiere before the year is over. - Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Technically a 2019 film – it qualified for Oscars in that year and had an NYC release date – but since most of the country people only got a chance to see it this year, I figure it’s a good enough edge case to excuse what is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long while. Almost made this an excuse to make a Céline Sciamma retrospective, but I think that would be actively exhausting. - The Grand Bizarre
Jodie Mack’s second feature (I’m saving the first for the chance at a retrospective in the future) which thankfully saw its wide accessibility stateside by Mubi’s grace and has been a blast to see after binging her shorts over several weeks. - An Emma based double feature! of Clueless and Emma.
I mean, it’s just obvious, isn’t it? Almost as obvious as making it a triple feature that includes Douglas McGrath’s Emma and you know what? If I catch it soon, maybe I’ll make it that triple feature. Way too sane right now to try to make it an outright Jane Austen retrospective. - A Jonathan Glazer retrospective
Mainly for the same purpose as when I rewatched his features earlier this year before getting to his 2019 short The Fall (which also got a US release via Mubi), just to watch his tonal consistency in spite of the long span of time between the films. Except given that we now have Strasbourg 1518 to add to the bunch… that’s not going to have a pretty ending. - A Shinkai Makoto retrospective
Similar to Portrait of a Lady on Fire, technically Weathering with You is a 2019 movie that just happened to get much more accessible in early 2020 (the same practice as Oscar contenders to open in NY and LA to qualify for Oscars at the end of the year and then expand in January – I happened to be able to see both Portrait and Weathering in 2019 myself) but it is such a good time and I’ve become such a fiend for Shinkai’s work that I just had to give a shot to most of his stuff (especially easy since most of his movies are less than an hour, many less than 30 minutes). The only work that I can’t locate is his presumed initial short The World Be Enclosed, so we’ll be starting with Other Worlds. - An Aardman Animations retrospective
Originally was gonna just be a Shaun the Sheep double feature for Farmageddon‘s release on Netflix, but this has practically been a long time coming and all of the Aardman features and shorts I have seen have a deep affinity from me so I’m hoping this doesn’t feel as much like labor. - A Yuasa Masaaki retrospective
This one is the least likely to actually happen, in which case I would only be doing my release of 2020 thus far Ride Your Wave. I have greatly underestimated the amount of tv work the man has done and since they all appear to be limited series under the length of 20 episodes, I feel mildly obliged to pile them onto what originally looked at a glance like just 4 features (one of which I already reviewed) and 1 short. Still given that I have seen many of these series and adored them as much as his features, if I have the energy when all is said and done with the rest… I’ll dive right into it. At the very least, I hope to have Ride Your Wave reviewed by the end of the year.
Let’s get it started.
Movie Motorbreath 