Yeah, I watched a good amount of movies in 2024. 200 films on the dot. The crazy thing is, in film circles online, people are putting up numbers in the 500s and 600s. Unfortunately for me, I have a job and friends, too. Another factor is that I basically didn’t watch any TV shows (except for all of Sex and the City. Great show btw). Plus, I only read 3 books this year! One of them was War and Peace, if that makes it better. 

So, 200 movies. I have mixed feelings about this effort. For one, it actually wasn’t too hard to achieve. It’s a little more than one movie every other day, which was never overwhelming when planned out, and I found it quite doable. There are so many movies out there, you can basically find one for every mood. I saw like 80 of them in theaters, which is almost always a better viewing experience. I realized in about August that I was solidly on track and that I hadn’t been too stressed by it and that if I kept up the same sort of routine, I’d make it.

My biggest takeaway in my pursuit of 200 movies was that it probably made other areas of my life suffer. I certainly didn’t write as much, I maybe didn’t read as much, and I didn’t check off some of the more grandiose New Year’s resolutions I made. Is my life more or less enriched? We have such limited time here and an abundance of art. Art that could change your life, your worldview, or your heart can be easily missed in the barrage. Does anyone else get worked up about that fact? Watching 200 movies helps the anxiety, but if all I care to do is ease my anxiety, why stop at 200? Why not 365? Or twice that? There’s so much to be gained.

And also so much to lose. An essential part of connecting to art is connecting to people and life itself. You can become a culture monk and hide away, trying to listen to every album, read every book, and watch every movie, but so much value is lost when you are divorced from the world and other people. Artists are not misanthropic, and art is an explicit request to connect. You’d miss a lot if you didn’t honor your half and contribute your own life. 

At least, that’s what I tell myself!

Historically, film was a lower-brow, popular art form made to entertain the unwashed masses. The unwashed masses used to turn out for the likes of Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, and now they seem to be only interested in Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and even his name won’t get them into theaters if they can sit on their couch and stream within a few weeks. I don’t really know where I’m going with this, other than saying it really grinds my gears when people turn their nose up at older or foreign movies like they’re something difficult. Watching a movie is really easy actually, you just have to sit there and look! You don’t even have to think about it too much if you don’t want to. If it’s cerebral and you can’t figure it out, that’s fine! I’ve not understood a film before and just moved on with my life. I usually don’t and try not to, but I admit I have.

What I think I’m trying to get at is: I don’t think I’m gonna do 200 movies this year. I think by habit I’ll be decently up there, but I have to strike a better balance in my life. Again, it’s not that watching movies is hard, it’s just that there is a bit of a time commitment involved. Keeping up with this blog is a goal of mine, as is finishing my screenplay (I’m like halfway done and I started like 5 years ago!!!), and making a short film. Never mind the rest of my personal life!

Therefore, I have a few art-related resolutions that seem doable that are not 200 viewings. They are:

Books

• A Confederacy of Dunces

• Lolita

• Wuthering Heights

• Meditations

Movies

• 10 Bergman films

• Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret 

• Doctor Zhivago

Museums

• Worcester Art Museum

• Uffizi Gallery

• Vatican 

Stage

• Broadway show

• 3 local productions