I might not have told you about all the things that have kept me busy, since many of them are not germane to a movie blog, but you certainly would have noticed, if you are a regular reader. The post I wrote yesterday broke a week-long drought in publishing -- a week where I went away for one night for a work conference, also did the single-night trip to Castlemaine that I wrote about yesterday, and had my anniversary and a visit from my mother-in-law as well.
Yes it worked out to be fairly funny that my 20th film from 2025 was G20, the latest in the tradition of films where U.S. presidents are turned into action heroes. Air Force One is of course a classic of that genre, if not in terms of quality (I think most people like it more than I do) then at least in terms of being a consummate example of the form. This one has a very credible presidential action hero in the form of Viola Davis, though it plays a bit more like yet another reboot of Die Hard than Air Force One. There are some scenes that are effectively homages to that Christmas action classic.
But the reason I'm really looking at the topic today is that 20 films makes a good milestone, a good chance to compare when it was last year that I saw my 20th film. And I have a good way of doing this, since I note the order I watch the films I'm ranking as I rank them.
As I write this, I don't actually know what the answer to this question is. I may be way off the pace or I may just be a few days behind, but I suspect it's closer to the former than the later.
Okay hold on for a second as I go check. For you, this check will be instantaneous. So, when I said hold on for a second, you can scratch that.
My 20th movie of 2024 was Ricky Stanicky, which I liked quite a bit (48th overall in my rankings) and which I watched on March 23rd. Given that I watched G20 on April 12th, that means I am currently 20 days -- or nearly three weeks -- behind last year's record-setting pace, when I ranked 177 films before all was said and done.
Well how about that. G20 is my #20, and it is 20 days off last year's pace.
In a way, this is something of a relief. My perspective on setting ranking records is that I would rather not. My perspective, stated several times over the years, is that each time I set a ranking record, it's cause for me to wonder if this is the best way to spend my one wild and precious life.
The slow start virtually guarantees that I will not set a new record this year, but that was already fairly likely. My family is spending six weeks in Europe from late August to early October. And while I'm sure I will keep up all my viewing commitments in that time, such as the series I'm running on my blog, and then will also sprinkle in a new release maybe once every five days, the overall impact on my viewing totals figures to be decisive. If I see more than about five movies in the month of September, I'll really be misusing my one wild and precious life, as well as my one wild and precious trip to Europe every 20 years (I last went in 2005).
And there's that number 20 again.
A year where I rank a total of movies in the 140s rather in the 170s will be quite refreshing. And what will I really miss when I do this? Chances are, little more than a bunch of streaming slop. The movies I really want to see, I will still see.
So what's my 20? In police shorthand?
My 20 is that I'm glad to be on only #20 with G20 while 20 days behind last year's pace and contemplating my first trip to Europe in 20 years.
And that's enough numerology for today.
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