Mike’s Movie Goals For the Year 2014

Last year when I made my resolutions for 2013 I pretty much made a list of films that were films I wanted to watch in priority and some blindspot directors. Just look at my original post here.

During the year, I modified those goals and I got circling around the list because I thought it was already too planned for me. I still like to follow my moods when I choose a movie to watch. This is why as you’ll see I’ve kept a certain freedom in my goals for 2014 and instead of listing a definite list of films I wanted to watch, I  will challenge myself to mix things up with a wider range of goals.

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Québécois films
About two years ago I started a feature about films from my part of the world : the province of Québec. However, I never kept a regular pace and didn’t really rally to watch more of those titles. In this category there’ll be a mix of classics like Les Ordres (Michel Brault) and Pour la suite du monde (Pierre Perreault), contemporary films like Starbuck or Monsieur Lazar. My goal is 12 for the year or one per month.

So far : 0/ 12

The Globetrotter Section
Since five years or so, I’m trying to watch more and more films from around the world to travel cheaply with movies. My wife and I are avid travelers and I love foreign films even if I hate the term foreign films. Films from  Canada, USA, and UK won’t be counted because I tend to already have watched films from those countries and they populate my common viewings easily. For 2014, my goal is to watch at least a film per continent (America (South), Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania) and from thirty different countries.

So far : 0/5 continents 0/30 countries

The Academy Awards
Easy one to describe, to watch all the movies nominated for the category Best Picture. 12 Years' A Slave, American Hustle, Captain Philips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, The Wolf of Wall Street.
So far: 1/9 (American Hustle)

The 1000 Greatest Films of All Time
When I finished 2013 I saw 600 of the 1000 films listed on this list that I want to one day complete. My goal for 2014 is to reach the number 700. Since there will be an update in January my total will definitely change and I may adjust my goal depending on how many movies I’ll have to watch. So this is 100 titles.

So far : 1/100 (Point Blank)

Marty!

The Martin Scorsese Completist
Since my first encounter with Marty he has been one of my favourite directors of all time. With his masterpieces like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas he will live forever as a one of the greatest directors. There are also many minor films in his filmography that are essential. Having almost seen each one of them I still have a few movies to watch from his career. Here’s a list of the ones I still haven’t seen : The Wolf of Wall Street, Hugo, Living in the Material World, A Letter to Elia, No Direction Home, The Blues, Kundun, A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies.

So far : 0/8

2012 Sight and Sound Poll – Top 250 by Critics
Since 1952, the Sight and Sound magazine have a poll amongst critics and directors and they compile it to make a list of the best films of all time. In 2012 they listed the Top 250 films cited by critics. Of those, I’ve seen 192 and most of them are essential films from around the world.

So far : 192/250

John Ford

Great Directors Section
Like any interest or academic knowledge a solid background helps the student or the learner to appreciate and observe the contemporary works with a deeper and wider approach. I feel that it is the same for a self taught movie critic. Of the many masters of Cinema I’ve pointed John Ford, Fritz Lang, Jean Renoir, and Billy Wilder are the ones I want to dig a little bit deeper this year. Not wanting to exaggerate too much this is why I choose four directors that I admire and that I want to discover more from their filmography.

So far : 0/10 Ford 0/10 Lang 0/5 Renoir 2/5 Wilder (The Fortune Cookie, The Last Weekend)

Different Voices
This section is pretty similar to one I had last year that pointed to a list of filmmakers that were blindspots in my cinematic knowledge. With this one I want to get out of my comfort zone of . Instead of constantly following certain directors I want to go to some I’ve never seen a film from. The number is 25 but I hope the result will be greater.

So far : 4/25 (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Greg Mottola, Jacques Russo, Steve James)

So what do you think of those goals? Did you planned some movie related resolutions this year?