Hey there, pilgrim, and welcome back to The 300, a recurring feature on my savage yet ultimately transcendental attempt to watch 300 movies in theaters in the year 2018. I’ll be seeing new releases, repertory screenings, hidden gems, and festival films to experience the wide world of cinema in all its glory. By having an open mind as a filmgoer, I hope you see something here you’ll want to check out.
As always, there are three rules for The 300:
- The movie must be at least 40 minutes long, meeting the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ definition of a feature film.
- I must watch the movie at a movie theater, screening room, or outdoor screening venue.
- While I can watch movies I’ve seen before 2018, I cannot count repeated viewings of the same film in 2018 multiple times.
Another week brings me ever closer to 300 movies. I’m burned out (streaming is so convenient, guys, and I don’t need to get on the subway) but am determined to hit 300 and take a leisurely victory lap for the last few weeks of 2018.
My press credentials got approved to cover the 2018 New York Film Festival, so that should help with the tally. The lineup at NYFF is super-stacked, and includes Alfonso Cuarón’s ROMA, Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, the Coen brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, Paul Dano’s Wildlife, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters, and so much more. They also have Mariano Llinás’ 14-hour multi-genre mashup La Flor, which I may see. (Though as Gimi would remind me, it still only counts as one.) Look for a full festival preview and my first reviews from NYFF 56 in about a month.
On the note of film festivals, this might be the first week I haven’t used MoviePass since the Tribeca Film Festival. MoviePass is now like an evil version of Redbox. Only six movies are supported each day. Not all six movies are guaranteed to be playing in your area, and thus far no foreign films are supported. If you want to watch something else, you have to pay for it yourself. You can still see anything at e-ticket theaters with MoviePass, but you are limited to three movies a month. I wish MoviePass would revive the $40 plan from a few years ago to remain profitable, but no. Live stupidly by disruption, die stupidly by disruption. I miss Metrograph. Schedule permitting, I will be heading back there this weekend to catch something.
And so, onward.
Source: Destructoid The 300 Week 33: Let’s Support the Girls, Crazy Rich Asians, Andrei Rublev, and Free Outdoor Movies