The Official List of 2013 New Year’s Movie Resolutions

I know I’m jumping the gun since Christmas is still a few days away and New Year’s isn’t for almost two weeks, but it’s been on my mind so much lately that it just seemed right to put it all down. I had so much fun last year going after my 2012 resolutions that I’ve decided to double down and create a list of resolutions for 2013. 

Infographic: The Criterion Collection By The Numbers

The Criterion Collection has been providing film aficionados with top-flight content since 1984. Their mission is a noble one–a “commitment to publishing the defining moments of cinema for a wider and wider audience”. Along the way, they’ve restored and made hundreds of films available; adopted Janus Films; and created the Essential Art House and Eclipse Series divisions. They currently list 820 selections on their website (70 are out of print). The list comprises many of the most important films ever made. Here’s an infographic that breaks down the Criterion Collection:

The Black Sheep of Director Filmographies

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The majority of film directors have a unique style, an imprint that they place on all of their films. It can be something as significant as David Lynch’s surrealism or something as minor as Quentin Tarantino’s car trunk POV shots. A large part of the fun that I have in watching movies is seeing a director’s style develop, recognizing what they’re doing, and seeing the patterns when they do these things again and again. However, there are occasions where directors have films that break from their own conventions. They create something entirely different. They create a black sheep, as it were. These are films that stand out (sometimes for better, sometimes for worse) in their catalogue. Here are several examples:

Director: Robert Altman
Film: Secret Honor (1984)
First and foremost, Robert Altman is known for drowning his viewers in overlapping dialogue. His characters all speak all at once. It’s quite an immersive feature for the viewer. Some may find it distracting. Personally, I find that it makes me feel like I’m in the room with his characters. You find it all over the place in Altman’s movies. Imagine my surprise when I watched Secret Honor, a movie that featured only one character (a fictionalized Richard Nixon) and his endless monologue. It’s a credit to Altman that the film works so well. It’s also a testament to the film’s sole actor, Philip Baker Hall.