The Year of Seeing Movies

But how much popcorn did I eat?

Just as 1971 was Haruki Murakami’s year of spaghetti, 2024 was my year of going to the movies. I saw 117 movies in a theater this past year. Here’s a breakdown of what I watched in a cinema in 2024.

92 were older films
25 were new

13 were foreign films

9 were directed by Wes Anderson
8 were animated
7 were directed by Alfred Hitchcock
I can’t think of anything for 6
5 featured Peter Lorre
4 were silent films
3 were documentaries
2 each were directed by Akira Kurosawa, Frank Capra, Billy Wilder, and the Coen Bros.

and only 1 was a Bogart movie.

I watched North By Northwest twice on a big screen. Once in May, and again in August. The second viewing was fun, because it was a part of a Hitchcock double feature, and I brought my 8-year-old son Giacomo with me. He surprised me just the other day when he pointed to a t-shirt I was wearing and said “hey, that’s Cary Grant running from the plane in North By Northwest!” I swelled with paternal pride.

Did I hear someone ask what films did I watch? Here’s the list. You’ll see that it’s not terribly extreme. Just a movie here and there adds up. You can do it, too!

January

1 Migration
4 The Apartment
6 Mystery Men
12 Bottle Rocket
14 Deluge (1933)
15 American Fiction
16 42nd Street
16 Gold Diggers of 1933
22 Galaxy Quest
26 Rushmore

February

2 10 Things I Hate About You
5 Argylle
15 Madame Web
24 The Royal Tenenbaums
28 Amélie

March

5 Speed
13 My Cousin Vinny
22 Metropolis
24 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
27 Late Night with the Devil
29 Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

April

1 Ed Wood
2 Lousy Carter
3 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
8 Immaculate
10 Escape from New York
15 Kim’s Video
16 Spider-Man
29 Dawn of the Dead (1978)
24 Spider-Man 2
25 Alice in Wonderland
25 Civil War
29 Spider-Man 3
30 Hotel Chevalier
30 The Darjeeling Limited

May

2 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
6 Rocket Club: Across the Cosmos
8 Abigail
9 The French Connection
12 The Fall Guy
22 North by Northwest

June

5 Superman II
10 Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
11 The Sting
12 Bride of Frankenstein
12 Dracula’s Daughter
13 Grand Budapest Hotel
14 Inside Out 2
16 Hollywood 90028
17 A Goofy Movie
19 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Madness
19 Gamera Super Monster
23 Moonrise Kingdom

July

1 Chinatown
2 The Last of the Mohicans
3 Out of the Past
9 The Fantastic Mr. Fox
12 Double Indemnity
12 Fargo
14 Hiroshima Mon Amour
19 Seven Samurai
20 The Third Man
21 The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
22 The Neverending Story
25 High and Low
26 Deadpool & Wolverine
29 Blood Simple

August

5 The Wizard of Oz
10 Harold and the Purple Crayon
12 Lawrence of Arabia
14 The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
15 Notorious
16 Dial M for Murder
16 Rope
17 Ms. 45
17 She Killed in Ecstasy
18 North by Northwest
18 The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
23 The Conversation
24 It Happened One Night
24 Chungking Express
27 The Searchers
29 2001: A Space Odyssey
31 Kiki’s Delivery Service

September

2 Repo Man
4 The Baby
12 Tampopo
15 Am I Racist?
16 Hero at Large
16 Stay Tuned
20 Once In a Lifetime
20 The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood
20 The Exorcist
22 The Muppet Movie
27 Megalopolis
29 Clash of the Wolves
30 The Jerk

October

1 The Birthday
3 Haxan
7 Hardcore
8 Nosferatu (1922)
9 Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande
12 Transformers One
15 Curse of Frankenstein
23 Cat People (1942)

November

5 M
12 Mad Love
18 In a Lonely Place
21 Island of Doomed Men
26 The Beast With Five Fingers

December

8 The Return
9 Get Away
14 It's a Wonderful Life
16 Black Christmas
17 Home Alone
23 The Thin Man
25 Nosferatu (2024)