100 days, 100 movies: january check-in.

did you know i'm an amc stubs a-list member???

remember when i said this would be out wednesday??? lies. i was busy.

a couple years ago, i did a personal challenge where i watched 100 movies in 100 days, starting on january 1. on a whim, i decided to do it again this year. i love film and foolishly wanted to be a director or screenwriter when i was a teenager. now i’m just a film appreciator. leo and i have amc stubs a-list, so we went to the theater a lot last year, and i figured the challenge would be easier to accomplish than ever because of this. i have a list of the 100 movies i watched in my first go-around on my letterboxd right here.

i really liked this challenge the first time around because i watched so many movies for the first time that became forever-favorites with me: kajillionaire, chungking express (!!!), airplane!, eve’s bayou, moonstruck, the exorcist, the birdcage, picnic at hanging rock. when harry met sally! what’s up doc!! near dark!!! i love movies!!!!

my rules are pretty simple. rewatches don’t count, they all have to be “new to me” movies. a “day” is from when i wake up to when i go to bed. as long as i watch a move in that timeframe, it counts. i cannot skip days. i can start a film and finish it the next day, if i HAVE TO.

1. dicks: the musical (2024), dir. larry charles.
   the very first film that i watched in 2024. the first day of 2024 fell on a wednesday, and i traditionally spend wednesday evenings in the virtual company of my friend megan. she would self-describe as a cinephile (actually, she prefers “film bro”), so she was down to watch a movie with me to begin my challenge. all i can really say about dicks: the musical is that it definitely isn’t for everybody and that it made me laugh way more than i expected it to. don’t watch it, you’ll hate it.

2. a ghost story (2017), dir. david lowery. ⭐
   this had been on mine and leo’s list since it came out, but we’d never gotten around to watching it. it only took two movies before i cried during this challenge. i’m not sorry it took us so long to watch it, because i think i watched this at just the right time. this got a heart on letterboxd.

3. heat (1995), dir. michael mann.
   leo had wanted to watch heat for a while. he’s a ferrari (2023) stan, so. really blows you away in the beginning, then it crawls for hours before the climax. somewhat tedious for that reason, but ultimately fantastic.

4. night is short, walk on girl (2017), dir. masaaki yuasa. ⭐
   i’d heard of night is short, walk on girl before, but it never registered on my radar. this was bliss. this was cinema. this was animation at its finest. i loved it! as someone who hasn’t seen any altman films yet, it reminds me of what i’ve heard about his style of meandering from character to character. absolutely joyous. this got a heart on letterboxd.

5. the bling ring (2013), dir. sofia coppola.
   i’m slowly completing sofia coppola’s filmography. after this, i just have the beguiled (2017) and on the rocks (2020 (can’t lie, looks boring as hell)) left. awkward and shallow and cheap-looking, but purposefully? certainly reflective of its subjects.

6. thirteen (2003), dir. catherine hardwicke.
   the most elegant after-school special ever produced. i had my doubts, but the further i get from it the more fond i am. it really breaks your heart. sure, their behavior seems over-the-top bad, but you can sense there’s truth to it. some kids really are that bad. and i love the way that the color is drained from the film over its runtime. pretty solid.

7. step up (2006), dir. anne fletcher.
   like, just fine. not even the best channing tatum dancing movie.

8. one hour photo (2002), dir. mark romanek.
   mark romanek, director of music videos including the one for “closer” by NINE INCH NAILS!!! it goes all the way to the top. i love a thriller but this didn’t particularly thrill me. worth it for robin williams having to say “neon genesis evangelion” out loud.

9. fall (2022), dir. scott mann.
   i saw “buzzfeed studios” and hard-blinked. excuse me? that being said, as someone who is deathly afraid of heights, it was shockingly effective. but not effective enough to carry the film.

10. samantha: an american girl holiday (2004), dir. nadia tass. ⭐
    probably my most joyous viewing of the project thus far. i watched this with my dear friends on our late christmas trip. surprisingly serviceable for a live action doll brand movie. samantha is kinda a marxist legend. the ending is so sweet and satisfying. wow, the power of women!!!

11. la confidential (1997), dir. curtis hanson.
    my dear jody’s favorite movie. sadly the spate of films that exist about los angeles land politics (??? or whatever???) like this, chinatown (1974), and who framed roger rabbit? (1988) don’t do much for me.

12. femme (2023), dir. sam h. freeman, ng choon ping.
    i don’t know how to feel about this??? i don’t love that the gay black protagonist who endures a hate crime at the beginning of the film just kind of falls in love with the white guy that beat the shit out of him and robbed him of his joy??? the white guy who has an emotional character arc about how he’s in the closet??? who becomes the emotional center of the story??? i liked the concept of it as a revenge story, but. i’m. conflicted???

13. notes on a scandal (2006), dir. richard eyre. ⭐
    i loved this so bad. cate blanchett is firing on all cylinders. i’ve never really seen dame judi dench in anything that i can recall, but wow. evil cunt!!! this was one of my biggest surprises of the challenge so far. superbly written—no surprise it was adapted from a novel. the dialogue is delivered beautifully. the director richard eyre did a lot of work in theater, which you can feel in this (in a positive way). loved this. need everyone to watch it immediately.

14. the last showgirl (2024), dir. gia coppola. ⭐
    mine and leo’s first theater experience of 2025. i don’t remember why it was so difficult to get our asses in seats at the beginning of the month! i really liked this. i love a story that focuses on a niche career. pamela anderson was as delightful and heartbreaking as everyone said she was. i love the mother-daughter relationship here, too, as someone with a very complicated relationship with their mother.

15. spin me round (2022), dir. jeff baena.
    at the risk of sounding cruel given the circumstances, i kinda straight-up hated this. well, maybe not hated. i just didn’t enjoy it.

16. babygirl (2024), dir. halina reijn.
    perfectly fine. there were things i liked, things i didn’t like. i don’t think harris dickinson is sexy in the slightest. he looks like a little boy. not in this film specifically, just in general. could’ve been freakier. it felt very “down the middle.”

17. the brutalist (2024), dir. brady corbet.
    there’s nothing like locking in for a long ass movie at the theater. i’m a big advocate for 3+ hour movies. and i really feel like this film utilized every minute!!! i’ve soured on it because of the fucking AI thing, but i do think this was special. i love a movie about a fake person (think tár) and i’m a sucker for something set in pennsylvania, even if it wasn’t filmed there. hearing all these actors having to say doylestown is crazy. very beautiful, can be interpreted like ten different ways.

18. we’re all going to the world’s fair (2021), dir. jane schoenbrun.
    i find that jane schoenbrun’s work doesn’t really hit me in the moment, but then it sticks with me for a while after. i also feel like they’re one of very few people working in film who really “get” what it was like to be an adolescent on the internet. the scene where casey destroys her stuffed animal companion and then comes to regret it gets me misty-eyed just thinking about it. just more fantastic the more i think about it, actually.

19. wet hot american summer (2001), dir. david wain.
    if i had watched this when i was fourteen, i would’ve imprinted on it so hard. airplane-esque in its endless parade of gags and jokes. i didn’t love it, but it certainly kept me smiling. the costuming was divine.

20. the room next door (2024), dir. pedro almodovar.
    bro is really feeling 75 lately, huh? i haven’t seen pain and glory (2019) but from what i understand it’s somewhat similar in that it deals with a creative on a physical decline. just okay to me. not a waste of time but not my favorite thing. we saw this in the theater in the afternoon, which feels like the right time to watch this.

21. a different man (2024), dir. aaron schimberg. ⭐
    i absolutely loved this, which i did not expect. i didn’t know anything about it and had just seen it in david ehrlich’s top 25 countdown. i saw someone on letterboxd say it’s a good pairing with the substance (2024, dir. coralie fargeat), which i can see. it’s a less madcap exploration of similar themes. i enjoyed the substance, partly for the novelty of people going out in droves to watch such an explosive, vile film, but i can’t say that it grabbed me the same way a different man did. the ending is so bittersweet. this got a heart on letterboxd.

22. juror #2 (2024), dir. clint eastwood.
    just… okay. can’t lie and say i didn’t love the concept, but it ultimately bored me. i certainly watched it.

23. climax (2018), dir. gaspar noe. ⭐
    i actually really enjoyed this, even though i was under the impression that it would be more harrowing than it is (to me). i love a dancing movie because i love to watch people dance, and they sure did dance. it’s so frustrating when they all succumb to the drugs. i didn’t find it as disorienting as i’ve heard others have. honestly kind of pointless, but i like it. most films are pointless, to be fair.

24. mystic pizza (1988), dir. donald petrie.
    i watched this with a bowl of pasta, which is as close to the correct way (pizza in hand) as i’ll get. certainly someone’s favorite film, but not mine. very cute, though.

25. presence (2024), dir. steven soderbergh.
    saw this in the theater with leo. caught the trailer for it a couple times during different outings, and they really fumbled the marketing for this. i thought it was going to be creepy shit and not a meditation on grief. just fine. i liked the ending. there were a few loose threads that frustrated me? anyway.

26. the full monty (1997), dir. peter cattaneo.
    speaking of steven soderbergh, this would be a fantastic double feature with magic mike (2012). just as charming as its american cousin, but with more heart. looks at a town ravaged by layoffs and fleeing industry. contains several cures for the male loneliness epidemic (getting a new hobby outside the home, engaging with your community, hanging out with friends, etc). makes you feel warm and fuzzy.

27. bridget jones’s diary (2001), dir. sharon maguire.
    did nothing for me.

28. mrs. doubtfire (1993), dir. chris columbus.
    PSYCHOTIC. thank god the film acknowledges that. this robin williams character and the titular role in patch adams should’ve been arrested. i’m also realizing i don’t find robin williams particularly funny, at least not here doing his goofy shtick. i will acknowledge i am a birdcage stan and find him plenty funny there.

29. nickel boys (2024), dir. ramell ross.
    i had no idea what this was about. i only knew about the filming style and that it was “good.” wow!!! this was a debut??? it’s really lingered for me. it’s truly a journey and you feel every moment when you get to the end. i cried and cried.

30. watership down (1978), dir. martin rosen. ⭐
    i was obsessed with watership down, like, conceptually in seventh grade when i was really into donnie darko (2001). i wanted to read the book, but i never did and that was back when i actually read books because i didn’t have cable or internet at home. anyway, i finally watched the movie and i loved it. absolutely beautiful. i cried, because of course i did. i loved the opening animation illustrating the rabbits’ belief system, and i loved the rabbit language. unafraid to be violent and real. so fucking cool: “all the world will be your enemy, prince with a thousand enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. but first they must catch you.”

31. den of thieves (2018), dir. christian gudegast
    if i hadn’t seen heat during this project, maybe i’d like this more considering it shares the same structure and genre. gerard butler looks like a sun chip. i will also be honest and say that i fell asleep two separate times during this movie because i was tired as fuck. leo loved it!