The pandemic really elevated my movie-watching numbers. We weren’t going anywhere so I’d stay at home and watch movies. It started on the weekends where I’d watch three, four, or five movies on Saturday and then again on Sunday. Then I got to where I’d start early on Friday and get in a few films before falling asleep on the couch. Then I realized I could sneak at least part of a movie in after work and before family time. It doubled and then tripled the number of movies I was watching per year. Before I was catching maybe 150-200 films in a year. As of today, I’ve seen 440 movies this year.
The pandemic is over (more or less) but I’ve continued to watch films at a rapid pace. We actually do go out sometimes, but I still squeeze in as many films as I can. The thing about watching a lot of movies every week is that it has enabled me to fill in some of my cinematic gaps. I’ve watched tons of movies over the last few years that I’d been putting off watching. I’ve seen movies from genres or time periods I’d never really bothered with before. I’ve seen all kinds of films I’d never heard of before. This has been a rich and rewarding experience.
And yet, there are still loads of gaps in my cinematic knowledge. One of the biggest has to do with silent film. I’ve watched more silent films in the last three years than I did in the previous forty, but I’m still way behind.
Buster Keaton was one of the biggest stars of the silent screen. His films are still lauded as some of the greatest comedies ever made. I’ve only ever watched a few of them so I know I need to watch some more. Cohen Media Group has been steadily releasing his films in nice little sets. Volume 5 is coming this week and I’m happy to make it my Pick of the Week.
The two films included in this set are Three Ages (1923), Keaton’s first foray into feature-length films (cleverly it is made up of three different segments that could be broken up into separate short films if the long version bombed), and Our Hospitality (1923) which has Keaton falling in love with a woman whose family wants to kill him.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
The Perfume of the Lady in Black: A slow-burn giallo about a woman’s descent into madness. Features a terrific performance from Mimsy Farmer.
Star Trek: The Picard Legacy Collection: A big boxed set full of everything Jean Luc Picard ever appeared in including seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, all of the movies, and all three seasons of Picard. It looks like it is simply packaging up all the previous releases so I don’t think there is anything new here, but it is a nice way to get everything at once (or give as a gift) if you don’t already have them.
A Bullet for Sandoval: Spaghetti Western featuring Ernest Borgnine and George Hilton about a man who goes to Mexico looking for revenge. Features two cuts of the film.
It Lives Inside: An Indian-American teenager unleashes a demon that feeds on her feelings of loneliness
