Taking On 2016 - Top Films

Okay, it is finally that time. The year has, almost two months in, officially come to an end. At least in regards to cinema. Not counting, of course, a ton of foreign films that will have to be 2017 films for my list making purposes because distribution of them is kind of shitty or whatever, but at least I saw a lot of things. There's an entire list on Letterboxd of all the things I watched from 2016 (triple digits!), and of course I recently ran through my top performances. But now with the Oscars coming up in just a couple of days, well, it seems the best time to look back and get to thinking of what truly was the best of the best in the year that was.

Taking On 2016 - Performances

So, obviously I haven't been writing as much as I should have, but here we are with another year in cinema in the books. And I think, finally, I am close to as caught up as I am going to get with the year, even if I have a few things here and there I still need to add to the list before I fully put a bow on it, as the case was. No music this year, because I listened to a lot of things over and over again, but not enough of a selection to feel comfortable making a list. But I did watch a lot of films, and those films had actors. Normally I'd break things up, but how about one big list before The Big List(tm)?

Taking On 2016 - Top Films (Q2 Quaterly Review)

Ah, here we are again. Late to the party, but not too late. Though later than it should have been since my last post. In that time though I have watched a lot (but listened to a lot less, which would explain the halfway point of the year missing a music countdown), and this has been quite the year. After a few spotty years, finding a list that felt good to me was incredibly challenging. Regardless of genre 2016 has been simply superb for all types of films. And, as usual, there are plenty of busts as well. If you are interested, you can take a look at everything from 2016 I have watched over on Letterboxd. Either way, no reason to further delay, how about we get to it?

Taking On 2015 - Top Films

Well, here we are, right after the Oscars and the official end to the year that was in cinema. Though there is still plenty of catching up that I wish I was able to do, but when is life not full of regrets, right? After a kind of lost year at the blog (where I should do a 2015 blowout post, but not sure that I'll get around to it), I feel compelled to continue at least the yearly tradition of writing up some things about films outside of short reviews on Letterboxd. You can also find a list there of all the films I have seen there. It helps to solidify my thoughts on how things have changed since the last time this happened. And changed they have. Also, it would not be a year end Top 10 if I didn't cheat. So let's start with that initial slip up.

Taking On 2015 - Top Albums (Q2 Quarterly Review)

Hey, here we are again. Some of the stats options tell me that people are still reading these things, so I guess I'll keep going even if I didn't have a personal obligation to myself. Which means now that we are through with the best songs of the year so far, it's time to take a look at the albums. Look, I'm not here to mince words, I haven't been keeping track of albums as rigidly as I have in the past, and honestly I haven't listened to nearly as much in 2015, so this list is going to be a little lean. But there's still a Top 10 in here, all of which are really great because, well, there's been some high quality shit this year. So why delay it any longer?

Taking On 2015 - Top Tracks (Q2 Quarterly Review)

Alright, so once again we have returned with our Quarterly Review series, spotlighting (as usual to start) the top songs of the year so far. Or that's what I guess I would write had I not neglected to do a Q1 Quarterly Review back at the end of March, but alas the time for that has passed while I was just listening to a lot of Drake and being lazy. We aren't here to read about the goings-on in my life though (presumably there is only a minimal 'we' anyway, but let's ignore that for the time being as these words continue to be typed in to the void), it's music time. As usual here is a Spotify list of all the songs that are on Spotify which I considered for this list, and you can also click on the song titles for corresponding Youtube/SoundCloud links where applicable.

Taking On 2014 - Top Films

So, after a(nother) long break, we have once again found our way back here to fully wrap up the year that was 2014 hot on the heels of the Academy Awards. I sort of got bogged down trying to play catch up, especially with films like American Sniper and Selma, things I couldn't qualify as 2015 films because of their place in the Oscar race, releasing about halfway through January. But it's time to stop chasing and start moving on to the year ahead. But first, one last look back at the year that was, the movies that have changed, and the films that will continue to be.