52 Movies Challenge (2019)
An article that got lost in the shuffle — from an uptaking that officially feels like it took place 52 years ago — our 52 movies from 52 years project.
Co-Written by Isaac O’Neill and Chris Howson-Jan
- Isaac’s Full List (Letterboxd)
- Chris’ Full List (Letterboxd)
Chris: As those of you who have kept up with what a friend of mine called my “impressive content consumption” know, 2018 was a formative year for me in my interest in film. I watched, discussed, and read about movies far more than I had in any year previously, and ignited a passion for watching and writing about movies that had been previously dormant. At the start of 2019, I decided to undertake a project that would seek to broaden my cinematic horizons. Since I came to film relatively late, I felt I had some major movie blindspots, particularly before the year 2000. To that end, I came up with the 52 Movies Project. The rules are fairly straightforward:
- One movie per week, every week for a year.
- Each week corresponds with a year; Week 1 is 1968, Week 52 is 2019.
- Each movie must be one I have not previously seen.
I attempted to pick a variety of movies during this project, jumping across genres and countries to watch things I probably wouldn’t sit down and throw on myself. Joining me in this project was my good friend and fellow cinephile Isaac O’Neill, who took his own approach to the project.
Since Isaac and I have the same compulsion to categorize, rank, and list everything in our lives, we have decided to hand out awards and discuss some of our favourite and least favourite experiences throughout this year-long journey.
Isaac’s Top 10
- After Hours (1985)
- Magnolia (1999)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- Stand by Me (1986)
- Oldboy (2003)
- Do the Right Thing (1989)
- Manhattan (1979)
- Five Easy Pieces (1970)
- Hunger (2009)
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Chris’ Top 10
- The Godfather Part II (1974)
- Ponyo (2008)
- Carol (2015)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- The Tree of Life (2011)
- Dazed and Confused (1993)
- Taxi Driver (1976)
- Trainspotting (1996)
- Blue Velvet (1986)
- Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
#10 (Chris): Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985) (dir. Tim Burton)
The debut feature from Tim Burton, this movie transplanted Paul Reuben’s popular character from the stage and television into an epic quest to recover his stolen bicycle. Pee-wee is totally absurd but constantly hilarious, with Reubens turning a character that should be incredibly unlikeable into someone you consistently root for. Much like Airplane!, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure trades cohesiveness and believability for sheer volume and inventiveness of jokes — you never know what’s coming around the corner, and are always gleefully excited to find out.
(Isaac) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) (dir. David Fincher)
Looking back on these 52 movies I’ve realized that many of the ones I chose seemed to be exercises in personal torture. Hunger, Requiem for a Dream, Oldboy, A Woman Under the Influence, to name a few. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is unfortunately no exception to this list. Going in I did not know much about this movie other than one brutally infamous scene. I was expecting it to be more similar to other Fincher films in the sense that they are defined very much by their mood, but it landed closer to Zodiac in it being defined by an enthralling murder mystery, with a more rewarding ending than Zodiac to boot. Upon reflection, I also enjoyed subconsciously assuming a Bond-like perfection from Craig’s character Mikael Blomkvist, and his blemishes made the movie all that more exciting.
#9 (Chris): Blue Velvet (1986) (dir. David Lynch)
I have often found David Lynch an intimidating and confusing figure in the canon of film, and while I don’t pretend to understand much of this movie I certainly now understand his appeal. A curious blend of melodrama, noir, and outright insanity, Blue Velvet showcases the kind of surreal imagery, ambiguous plotting, and distinctive style and performances that make Lynch such a fascinating figure.
(Isaac) Hunger (2009) (dir. Steve McQueen)
Similar to Requiem for a Dream, Hunger is just an absolutely grueling watch. Based on the 1981 hunger strikes in Northern Ireland by Republican prisoners, this movie is viscerally felt as much as any I’ve seen. You can feel the cold walls. You can feel every punch delivered. Being one of my favourite actors, I had high expectations for Fassbender coming in, and he delivered in every way. The 17 minute long cut of a priest trying to talk Fassbender’s character Bobby Sands out of his protest is impressive in its own right. It becomes doubly impressive as you buy into the belief of Sands’ struggle through Fassbender’s muted passion.
#8 (Chris): Trainspotting (1993) (dir. Danny Boyle)
Danny Boyle is one of my favourite working directors, and along with Sunshine I used this project to fill in some of my gaps in his filmography. Trainspotting is stylistically mind-blowing, very funny, and imbued with the humanistic optimism in difficult circumstances that pervades much of Boyle’s work. Ewan McGregor gives a star-making performance, but the entire ensemble of addicts, psychopaths, and criminals are well worth watching.
(Isaac) Five Easy Pieces (1970) (Isaac) (dir. Bob Rafelson)
A movie about a troubled man struggling to fit into the world, Nicholson’s performance as Bobby Dupea put him on the map as a big star. Bizarrely shrouded in mystery, it is not obvious at any point in the film where the story is headed. We are simply along for the ride, and watch Bobby clash in his work life, romantic life, family life, and in other simple day to day interactions. He is sympathetic, but not in the way we typically sympathize with a self-sabotager (such as De Niro in Mean Streets). He is a product of his environment, and the push / pull dilemma he feels with his family dictates his decisions whether he likes it or not. It is a funny, sad, and complex movie, with no definitive answer to what it presented us.
#7 (Chris): Taxi Driver (1976) (dir. Martin Scorsese)
While I often shied away from canonically ‘great’ films during this project, some were impossible to resist. I’m sure it comes as a surprise to no one that Taxi Driver truly is a great film, and elements like its disturbed anti-hero, graphic violence, and sociopolitical commentary became hallmarks for Scorsese’s later work.
(Isaac) Manhattan (1979) (dir. Woody Allen)
Woody’s quippy, philosophical rants never fail to enrapture me and Manhattan is no exception. After recently rewatching Annie Hall, it’s easy to get caught up in Allen’s idiosyncrasies and simply see this as a copycat movie, but his character Isaac’s story is more than different enough to be worth telling. He’s probably less likeable than Allen’s Arvie in Annie Hall, but we become enamoured with him all the same. Manhattan’s use of lighting and cinematography is more developed overall, and the secondary characters are more fleshed out, making Manhattan a fantastic follow up after Annie Hall.
#6 (Chris): Dazed and Confused (1993) (dir. Richard Linklater)
I’m always a sucker for a good high school movie, and this is one of the great ones. This movie feels like an homage to the many teen comedies of previous decades, but also presents more intelligently drawn characters, avoiding stereotypes in favour of depicting the unifying liberation of being a teenager with a car and a bunch of friends as stupid as you are.
(Isaac) Do the Right Thing (1989) (dir. Spike Lee)
Many of my friends who I typically discuss movies with saw this in 2019, and I feel as though it resonated less so for me than most of them. That being said it is somehow fun while political, but without being too on the nose, in a perfect way. It presents issues that still resonate as much as ever today in an extremely poignant, very Spike Lee way.
#5 (Chris): The Tree of Life (2011) (dir. Terrence Malick)
Another legendary movie that fully lived up to its reputation, The Tree of Life is a very abstract movie about the meaning of life, yet somehow pulls that off without being anywhere near as pretentious as you might expect. A very real and affecting story of childhood is bookended by sequences depicting the majesty of creation and the beauty of compassion. This movie is nothing less than a deeply spiritual experience, and definitely one that I’ll come back to in the future.
(Isaac) Oldboy (2003) (dir. Park Chan-Wook)
A fast paced story, Oldboy is both one of the hardest and easiest watches on this list. It contains high quality fight scenes, mystery, and numerous twists and turns. It also contains a story of a tortured soul in a dream-like journey for vengeance. After the popularity of Parasite, hopefully subtitles won’t dissuade people from going out of their way to watch another great Korean film such as this.
#4 (Chris): 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (dir. Stanley Kubrick)
The first film I watched as part of this project, and one of the best. 2001 is the kind of movie that, whether you like it or not, you certainly have to respect. To me this is Kubrick’s opus, vaulting the incredibly high bar the rest of his filmography sets. The unity of style and theme is immaculate, and even when you’re not sure what you’re watching, it’s arresting. I came away feeling that I didn’t ‘click’ with this movie, yet it rates in my top 5 all the same; I’m sure a revisit will send it even higher.
(Isaac) Stand by Me (1986) (dir. Rob Reiner)
I figured this would be a classically fun coming of age story but it really is so much more than that. You can feel the depths of the friendships among the boys; their 12 year old masculinities working against one another, and the collective ignorance they share in the belief that they’ll never grow up. You feel all their emotions of fear, love, frustration, and wonder. Their honest determination in finding this missing body causes the viewer to become as invested as they are, and it allows for so much more than a generic story of boys being boys.
#3 (Chris): Carol (2015) (dir. Todd Haynes)
For me, the beauty of Carol lies in its simplicity. Despite telling a small, character-focused story, it draws you in so thoroughly that it feels deeply vital. Much like Moonlight, which came the following year, Carol is not an ‘important’ movie about LGBTQ+ characters — it’s a story about people. It trades in subtlety, letting you sit in moments and allowing the incredible work of Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara to leave many words unspoken. Its 16mm cinematography and impeccable production design evokes its era beautifully, as does the quiet restraint each woman exudes.
(Isaac) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (dir. Stanley Kubrick)
If you are not into “old”, or “slow” movies, I implore you to give this a try. As captivating as the visuals itself, is imagining in real time how Kubrick could have possibly pulled this off in 1968. Though I didn’t fully get this movie, its obvious themes are executed to perfection. From scary to beautiful to existential, I didn’t think a movie this long and weird could be as rewatchable as it is.
#2 (Chris): Ponyo (2008) (dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
For 40 years, Hayao Miyazaki has been one of the undisputed masters of animation, blending fantastical settings and characters with stories that celebrate the majesty of nature, and the need to respect it. Ponyo is perhaps his finest work, a magical film in every sense of the word. It captures the beauty of the sea and the unbridled love and optimism of children, without ever feeling too complex for children or too overbearing for adults. Ponyo is a visual masterpiece that effortlessly evoked delight for me.
(Isaac) Magnolia (1999) (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
A dragged out, weirdly paced story about a medley of overlapping characters, Magnolia leaves you on the edge of your seat with no idea where things are headed. I was glad I watched Nashville earlier in the year because there were certainly many similarities among the two in their wide breadth of characters. Fantastic performances from almost every big name actor, and an ending that can truly be described as unbelievable when you see it, Magnolia to me is certainly one of Paul Thomas Anderson’s more underrated films.
#1 (Chris): The Godfather Part II (1974) (dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
Unsurprisingly, a movie many consider the greatest of all time made the top of my list. The Godfather was a game changer in the world of crime cinema, but what is so amazing to me is how effortlessly its successor transcends it. The use of dual parallel stories of the Corleones gives the family’s saga an appropriate epic scope, while the themes of honour, duty, family, and power continue to be explored and expanded on from the first film. Some may criticize it for being overstuffed, but to me the added political dimension to the film and the sprawling, less focused narrative gave a strong sense of Michael Corleone’s empire collapsing in on itself. Al Pacino is giving one of the all-time great performances here, beautifully understated as a man losing himself to the machine he helped to create. The supporting cast is also truly incredible, with Robert De Niro, Michael Gazzo, Lee Strasberg, Robert Duvall, and John Cazale all doing amazing work; the movie received three Best Supporting Actor nominations, yet it wouldn’t be unthinkable for it to have received more. This isn’t my favourite movie of all time, but its combination of ambition, technical craft, incredible performances, and thematic resonance cement it as no less than a masterpiece.
(Isaac) After Hours (1985) (dir. Martin Scorsese)
For a while now I’ve had a recurring nightmare that I try to leave my house to go somewhere and I never get there because I continually get sidetracked or have to go back inside because I forgot something. After Hours feels like that nightmare flipped on its head. It has a nightmare-ish quality to it in setting, mood, and literal characters that Paul (played by Griffin Dunne) stumbles across on his way home from work. There are few Scorsese movies I don’t love, but After Hours still managed to catch me by surprise in its humour and overwhelming dread you feel the whole way through.
Favourite by decade (excluding top 10)
Chris:
60s/70s: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
80s: The Evil Dead (1981)
90s: Titanic (1997)
00s: AI: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
10s: The Master (2012)
Isaac:
60s/70s: Midnight Cowboy (1969)
80s: Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
90s: Secrets and Lies (1996)
00s: Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
10s: The Edge of Seventeen (2016)
Least favourite by decade
This is not a list of the inherently worst movies from each decade I watched. It would be too easy to pick Hannibal or Magic Mike. But these are the movies I had decent expectations going in based on their genre, critical reviews, or whatever else, and they fell short.
Chris:
60s/70s: Fist of Fury (1972)
80s: Stardust Memories (1980)
90s: Alien 3 (1992)
00s: Saw (2004)
10s:The Guest (2014)
Isaac:
60s/70s: McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
A tonally weird Western that is apparently actually the defining anti-Western, this went beyond “not understanding but still appreciating.” The relationship between McCabe and Mrs. Miller was bizarre, and the camera work includes what felt like a lot of highly unnecessary movement. It is extremely slow, and the minimal dialogue didn’t capture me in any way.
80s: The Right Stuff (1983)
Perhaps my expectations for a space movie were way too high. This was not bad. It was still fantastic visually, and contained a solid story, but to me its beats didn’t do anything overly special with the story it was given.
90s: Shakespeare in Love (1998)
What might be considered the worst Best Picture of the past 30 years, save for Crash, culture rightfully bashed this pick at the time. I cannot fathom how it won over Saving Private Ryan, a movie that could probably win Best Picture in most years. Shakespeare in Love is pretentious, boring, and quite forgettable.
00s: Infernal Affairs (2002)
Generally speaking, far more movies suffer from being too long rather than too short. Infernal Affairs feels like Rise of Skywalker in terms of speed, with little to no character development of the protagonist. I don’t think I would have been able to keep up with the plot if I wasn’t so familiar with The Departed.
10s: Boyhood (2014)
I am impressed with what Richard Linklater did here, I’m just not overly entertained. A meandering, flat movie, I found each stage to play out fairly predictably. Some would call Ellar Coltrane’s performance as Mason muted, or relatable, but it seems to me he’s written as a quiet type simply due to his lack of acting skills. Ethan Hawke is always fun, and plays his role well, but his archetype as cynical Gen-Xer was nothing we haven’t seen from him on numerous other occasions.
Superlatives
What’s aged the best?
(Chris) : 2001: A Space Odyssey
With some older movies, you can see how certain elements, ideas, and effects were groundbreaking for the time, and how they influenced movies that came after them. With others, they exist so far outside of the realm of conventional filmmaking that they could be released today and still be acclaimed. 2001 does both, an artistic and technical achievement that has gone unmatched to this day. Almost every major space movie draws some level of influence from 2001 and its realistic effects, deep themes, and plotting on a cosmic scale. Previously, Star Wars had been my gold standard for visual effects from years past, but 2001 exceeds this standard despite being nearly a decade older.
(Isaac) Network (1976)
Most surprising:
(Chris) The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) (dir. Anthony Minghella)
(Isaac) Deliverance (1972) (dir. John Boorman)
Most disappointing
(Chris) Raising Arizona (1987) (dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)
(Isaac) McCabe and Mrs. Miller (dir. Robert Altman)
One I want to revisit the most
(Chris) Apocalypse Now (1979) (dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
(Isaac) Nashville (dir. Robert Altman)
Fav scene / sequence
(Chris) Close Encounters: UFO landing scene
Tree of Life: Creation of the universe sequence
(Isaac) Five Easy Pieces: diner scene
Magnolia: bedside scene
Best performance
(Chris) Winner: Adam Sandler — Punch-Drunk Love
Al Pacino — Godfather Part 2
Cate Blanchett — Carol
Faye Wong — Chungking Express
(Isaac) Honourable Mentions:
Gena Rowlands — A Woman Under the Influence
Peter Finch — Network
Jack Nicholson — Five Easy Pieces
Winner: Tom Cruise — Magnolia
Cruise has three Oscar nominations to his name, Two for Best Actor; Born on the Fourth of July (1990) and Jerry Maguire (1997), and one for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Magnolia as Frank Mackie, a motivational speaker/advice giver for men trying to pick up women. Unfortunately he was beat out by an extremely Oscar baity role by Michael Caine in Cider House Rules. It’s a fine performance, but for me third place out of the nominees. I think Jude Law’s ridiculously charismatic role as Dickie Greenleaf in The Talented Mr. Ripley is also better (The other two nominees are Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense and Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile).
All that aside, I’ve made as much fun of Tom Cruise as anybody, but this performance absolutely blew me away and I feel very confident in picking it as the best I saw. Though I am a big fan, I am very aware his flaws, where he is prone to complete weirdness (i.e. most of Top Gun), a complete lack of social normalcy (i.e. drunk scene in A Few Good Men), and a complete lack of self-awareness (i.e. all of Eyes Wide Shut).
Cruise’s Frank Mackie is a gross misogynist capitalizing on men we would today call ‘incels.’ It is impossible to tell whether or not he believes what he says, and as the movie unfolds, we begin to learn of his troubled relationship with his estranged, wealthy, TV producer father. It culminates in a harrowing scene of raw emotion, bringing out something I didn’t know Cruise was capable of. Mackie is a man who spends his whole life preaching and imploring men to get in touch with their inner selves and be confident in wooing women. But seeing him unravel, as he stops denying the hurt his father has caused him, as he stops the façade of machismo he’s gotten rich off of, It should feel over the top, but Cruise brings a level of anguish that feels warranted. It is elevated by the emotion Phillip Seymour-Hoffman adds in the background. It is a scene I will not soon forget.
