***Completed***
My attempt at the Second Annual Criterion Challenge!
I loved doing the First One and it was the first challenge I ever started, so I'm excited to participate in the second and make it an annual tradition.
Helpful links:
The Complete Criterion Collection
Criterion Collection by Spine Number
Every Film Available on The Criterion Channel
Categories:
1. Watch a movie from the year you were born.
2. 1920s
3. 1930s
4. 1940s
5. 1950s
6. 1960s
7. 1970s
8. 1980s
9. 1990s
10. 2000s
11. 2010s
12. Genre: War
13. Genre: Science Fiction
14. Genre: Musical/Music Themed
15. Watch a film by a director who's work you haven't seen before
16. Directed by Chantal Akerman (Directed by Chantal Akerman)…
***Completed***
My attempt at the Second Annual Criterion Challenge!
I loved doing the First One and it was the first challenge I ever started, so I'm excited to participate in the second and make it an annual tradition.
Helpful links:
The Complete Criterion Collection
Criterion Collection by Spine Number
Every Film Available on The Criterion Channel
Categories:
1. Watch a movie from the year you were born.
2. 1920s
3. 1930s
4. 1940s
5. 1950s
6. 1960s
7. 1970s
8. 1980s
9. 1990s
10. 2000s
11. 2010s
12. Genre: War
13. Genre: Science Fiction
14. Genre: Musical/Music Themed
15. Watch a film by a director who's work you haven't seen before
16. Directed by Chantal Akerman (Directed by Chantal Akerman)
17. Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
18. Directed by Wong Kar-wai (Directed by Wong Kar-wai)
19. Directed by Claire Denis (Directed by Claire Denis)
20. Isabel Sandoval's Top 10 (Isabel Sandoval’s Top 10)
21. Bill Hader's Top 10 (Bill Hader’s Top 10)
22. Ana Lily Amirpour's Top 10 (Ana Lily Amirpour’s Top 10)
23. Richard Linklater's Top 10 (Richard Linklater’s Top 10)
24. Made in the United States
25. Made in Poland
26. Made in Iran
27. Made in Mexico
28. Made in Senegal
29. Watch a film that has an out of print physical release (Out of Print Criterion Releases)
30. Watch a film from the "America Lost and Found: The BBS Story" collection (America Lost and Found: The BBS Story)
31. Watch a film with a spine #1-100 (Criterion Collection by Spine Number)
32. Watch a film with a spine #500-600 (Criterion Collection by Spine Number)
33. Cannes Film Festival Winners (Cannes’s Big Winners)
34. Midnight Madness: Watch a cult classic (Midnight Madness)
35. Growing Pains: Watch a coming of age film (Growing Pains)
36. Stage to Screen: Watch a stage adaptation (Stage to Screen)
37. Out at Criterion: Watch an LGBTQ film (Out at Criterion)
38. Watch a film on the Summer Travels list (Summer Travels)
39. Watch a film on the Hollywood Classics list (Hollywood Classics)
40. Watch a film from the Animation Before the 2000s list (Animation Before the 2000s)
41. Starring Catherine Deneuve (Starring Catherine Deneuve)
42. Starring Anna Karina (Starring Anna Karina)
43. Starring Jeanne Moreau (Starring Jeanne Moreau)
44. Paul Dano's Closet Picks (Paul Dano’s Closet Picks)
45. Ethan Hawke and Jonathan Marc Sherman's Closet Picks ( Ethan Hawke and Jonathan Marc Sherman’s Closet Picks)
46. Michael K. Williams’ Closet Picks (Michael K. Williams’ Closet Picks)
47. Sean Baker's Closet Picks (Sean Baker’s Closet Picks)
48. Amy Heckerling's Closet Picks (Amy Heckerling’s Closet Picks)
49. Agnes Varda's Closet Picks (Agnès Varda’s Closet Picks)
50. Random number generator (Google random number generator, set values from 1 to 1131, this number will change as more releases are announced, watch whatever movie corresponds to the spine number)
51. Watch a film featured in any of the Essential Art House box sets (Essential Art House Films)
52. Any Criterion film on your watchlist
Progress: 52/52
This challenge took from January 5, 2022 to December 10, 2022. The average score I gave for this challenge was a 3.4.
The biggest surprise was After Life. I expected it to be good. I didn’t expect it to be one of the ten best films ever made. It blew me away in a way that almost nothing else has ever done before. Rarely has a film entered my Top 10 with an immediate first watch the way that did. Absolutely mindblowing in how amazing it is. The biggest disappointment was Insignificance. It’s not one of the worst films of the lot but I was really hoping for something extraordinary. The premise of it is amazing on paper. The actual execution is just gross and lazy. Sure. Another film sexualizing Marilyn Monroe. Great.
Top Three:
1. After Life
2. Yi Yi
3. Chimes at Midnight
Bottom Three:
1. Fish Tank
2. Death in Venice
3. Tiny Furniture
Other Superlatives:
Best Performances: Erika Oda in After Life/Orson Welles in Chimes at Midnight
Worst Performances: Lena Dunham in Tiny Furniture/Dirk Bogarde in Death in Venice
Most Beautiful: Yi Yi
Most Thought-Provoking: After Life
Made Me Cry: After Life
Most Fun: Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
