1-Year Anniversary: My Favorite Posts

I’ve written almost 300 posts in the past year, which means a lot of movies and a lot of writing. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading. Below is a collection of my ten favorite posts from the first year of John Likes Movies. Enjoy!

10. The Man Who Knew Too Much – This one was fun because I stepped outside my comfort zone a little. Instead of individually reviewing Hitchcock’s film and his own remake of it, I figured I—and you—would be best served by skipping that and jumping right into a comparison of the two.

9. Magnolia – One of my longest reviews for one of my favorite movies. I remember just having a ton to say about P.T. Anderson’s masterpiece, and I think it showed in the quality of the review.

8. Inception – In July, traffic to my blog exploded. I think Inception has something to do with that as it was one of the biggest movies of the year. I also remember wanting to nail this one, and I think, while not perfect, I did a pretty good job and I was definitely proud of this one.

7. Greenberg – This one was cool because I got to participate in a conference call with Ben Stiller, Noah Baumbach, and some other young film writers. I was invited to a screening, but couldn’t make it because of an exam (damn you, school), yet I still was given the chance to participate in the conference call. I put off writing it as long as I could until but I agreed to publish it by a certain date, which was rapidly approaching. I was pissed. I really wanted to see the movie to get a better idea of their answers. The day before my deadline, the fates smiled upon me and the film opened in Allentown.

6. The Square – This one was cooler because it was just me and director Nash Edgerton on the phone. He was a cool dude, and his film was terrific. And I’ll never forget Spider, the short film that opened before it. Folks were squirming in their chairs like I had never seen before.

5. 2001: A Space Odyssey – Why? Simple—it’s my favorite film.

4. Top 20 of the Decade – It was just a blast going back and watching my favorite films. I knew there wouldn’t be a dud in the bunch, but it was the sense of accomplishment I felt afterward that makes this project so memorable.

3. Crazy Heart – It was the first review I ever had published outside the confines of John Likes Movies. The student newspaper at Lehigh University, The Brown and White, has done a lot of things for me in the past few years, but giving me an outlet to publish my reviews was wonderful. I agonized for a while over what I wanted to be my first one, but I thought Crazy Heart was a perfect choice. Jeff Bridges had just picked up a nomination for his work (he eventually won), and it was enough outside the mainstream that it accomplished what I wanted it to—it made my fellow students aware that there movies other than The Hangover out there worth seeing.

2. A Serious Man – I was the first review I published in this forum, which in hindsight was probably a stupid choice. The Coens are often so obtuse that analysis is difficult. But I was so excited about blogging that I just jumped right in the deep end, I guess. Looking back, I actually don’t think it was that bad (though I’ve grown to love the film a lot more in the year since I reviewed, to the point that I bumped it up from 3.5 to 4 stars). But I’ll always remember this one. They say everyone remembers their first time.

1. SXSW Day 1 and Day 2 – Going to SXSW was one of the coolest things I’ve done. The atmosphere was so exciting. Everyone there shared a passion with me. Plus, I had never been to Texas before.

I saw only four films there, but all four are experiences I’ll remember for some time, and since my time in Austin, I haven’t stopped thinking about what festival I’ll visit next. When I decided to write this post, there was no doubt what would be my number one. SXSW was just fantastic, and if you’re ever thinking about going, I highly recommend it. I’d recommend it more than I’d recommend any of the nearly 300 films I’ve reviewed in the last year.