Thread by @thathagengrrl

Last year, I watched more movies than I ever had in a year (275) + set my goal for 2k21 at 365, which I surpassed! Here's the requisite thread of my favorite new-to-me watches of the year...

THE OPENING OF MISTY BEETHOVEN: Certainly the cutest porno I've ever watched; makes the argument for adult films as essential artifacts worth preserving in a climax that would still make most straight male moviegoers blush.

CITY OF HOPE: No filmmaker understands class in America better than John Sayles - I certainly thank him for putting Vincent Spano + David Strathairn in a CINCINNATI movie together.

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: END OF EVANGELION: My face was just the *that's cinema* GIF for the whole runtime; inspired thoughts of everyone Stan Brakhage to David Lynch. And what a perfect "fuck you, fanboys" ending too, we need more of that energy in beloved franchises.

LA STORY: A perfect LA love story, seen at the perfect moment in my almost 10 years in LA. Remember when magic realism in rom-coms felt FRESH + not cloyingly sweet?? Bonus points for the score by Enya, which has been in my head ever since.

BEACHES: Sometimes, you haven't seen a movie you should've seen because you weren't ready for its message yet - that was me + BEACHES this year, which absolutely lacerated me days after I ended the most pivotal friendship of my life so far.

MEMORIES "Magnetic Rose": Yeah this was the most conceptually terrifying thing I watched all year, I'm still haunted by the idea of a baroque setting on a spaceship - Satoshi Kon was operating on a level so far beyond any of our blockbuster filmmakers, it's unreal.

CASTLE FREAK: All hail the holy trinity of Combs, Crampton + Gordon in their final film together! Combs is especially memorable here as a father who cannot forgive himself - also HIGHLY recommend his devastating performance as Poe in "The Black Cat" on MASTERS OF HORROR.

I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND: Perfect post-GET BACK viewing, kinda shocked Disney didn't try to stream this lil gem alongside it. Wendie Jo Sperber should've been a goddamn superstar.

MERIDIAN + THE BOYS NEXT DOOR: Trashy Tubi double features are my lifeblood + this was the best of the year. Who can resist a little Charlie Band (scored by Pino Donaggio!) And Penelope Spheeris anticipated the terrors of unchecked white masculinity 2 decades before it was cool.

POLICE STORY: I'm sorry, but nothing I've ever seen in a Marvel movie holds a candle to Jackie Chan Vs. a 1985 Mall.

DEATH AND THE MAIDEN: As close to a cinematic confession as I've ever seen from anyone, with absolute god-tier work from Weaver + Kingsley. Should be the centerpiece of any Polanski retrospective in the future, should we ever see one again.

DANGEROUSLY CLOSE: A deliciously aberrant 80s teen dream, with a few spectacular needle drops I haven't stopped thinking about since.

THE DEVILS: SATAN'S GAL I COULD NEVER BE! This not only lived up to, but surpassed, my considerable expectations for it. Incredible to still be shocked by a fifty-year old film, what a thrill. Release the full cut, WB!!!

THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM: Ken Russell, you magnificent pervert you. Remember when we used to do kinky adaptations of beloved works of literature? Let's get back to that, tysm.

PRIVATE BENJAMIN: I miss straight up the middle studio comedies with big premises + perfectly cast character actor ensembles SO fucking much, man.

FINAL ANALYSIS: An absolutely delicious + batty Hitchcockian erotic thriller that goes to 10000 from minute one, would be perfectly paired with COLOR OF NIGHT.

INTRUDER: Now *that's* how to make a horror movie that becomes greater than the sum of its parts. A truly chilling ending that I will never forget!!

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST: *Me to my date when the last temptation of christ happens* "That's last temptation of Christ."

Easter Sunday cinema forever now maybe; good thing Scorsese only makes gangster movies though...

HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT II: The pinnacle of "eh, this only tangentially relates to the series" horror sequels, filled with memorable gags + a couple true WTF scares (the horse!) only Canada could create.

SHIN GODZILLA: No thoughts about the banality + bureaucracy of evil, just this extremely good guy.

DAICON IV: I wish you could take bong rips of this, holy fucking shit.

COOKIE: Y'all ever just think about how Susan Seidelman's perfect run of 80s comedies? Bonus points for putting "I Should Be So Lucky" over the credits + into my head for MONTHS.

THE SHELTERING SKY: Sex, death, + travel, American expat style. Few do erotic doom like Bertolucci, this movie needs a major critical reappraisal.

BODIES, REST + MOTION: Few things bring me more joy than movies about two couples talking to + about each other in living rooms - the neon desert sheen on this one is really special.

HAUNTED SUMMER: Can you believe the 1980s gave us TWO extremely horny versions of what happened at Villa Diodati?? Think I ultimately prefer this to GOTHIC - the sex scene between Stoltz + Krige in this is an absolute all-timer.

SLEEP WITH ME: Twas a very Stoltzy summer indeed! So much more than the TOP GUN scene, a perfect 90s indie scrapbook.

Meg Tilly, y'all. Meg. Tilly.

8 MILLION WAYS TO DIE: Sunny cocaine noir through the lens of Hal Ashby's pervasive humanism, where's the double with TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA??

THE RACHEL PAPERS: Every year, I fall in love with at least one song from a movie + this year it was Willy DeVille's (unstreamable!) "Assassin of Love" from this.

ARIA: Like all anthologies, some deep hits + deep misses, but worth it solely for the "Liebestod" segment with Bridget Fonda in her first film role!

THE THING CALLED LOVE: Thought the River of this all would bum me out, but I was so dearly charmed by the high-low stakes of it all. Samantha Mathis is still so underrated, I just love her.

THE RAPTURE: A case study in how much a perfect ending can elevate an otherwise okay picture - those final minutes are absolutely HAUNTING.

ROMEO IS BLEEDING: Imagine the galaxy brain Hilary Henkin has to have written this, ROAD HOUSE + so much more - Lena Olin remains absolutely welcome to ruin my life anytime she'd like.

FRANKENHOOKER: Who could've thought a motion picture entitled FRANKENHOOKER could have so much heart! Can't wait to be her for Halloween + make myself crazy trying to find this talking VHS.

WANNA DATE?????

THE NINTH CONFIGURATION: Sincerely need to know what William Peter Blatty was smoking here when he read his own draft + said "hmmmm absolutely zero notes, let's roll" - thank god that he did!! And even a TOM ATKINS sighting!

ANGEL: The sweetest New World Picture about an underage sex worker + her ragtag, queer surrogate family you'll ever see!

TENEBRAE: *Luigi in LUIGI'S MANSION voice* "That's-a-one-a-sexy-murder-mansion!"

A DANGEROUS METHOD: A weirdo love story about the rigor necessary to achieve your goals in therapy, BDSM + cinema as only Cronenberg could tell it. Knightley is otherworldly here, why wasn't she nominated?? (we know why)

SEMI-TOUGH: Total platonic ideal of a Saturday matinee movie. The chemistry between Kristofferson, Clayburgh + Reynolds is absolutely atomic - Michael Ritchie truly was an actor's director.

SWING SHIFT: Okay, okay - now that I've watched this as of just last night (thanku TCM!) am I finally allowed to watch #TheDemmeCut???

And finally, my favorite new-to-me watch of the year: Keith Gordon's criminally underseen WAKING THE DEAD. Every great love story is a ghost story + this one - especially in its devastating denouement - will haunt me forever.

I'm still missing far too many 2k21 releases to make that list yet, but my favorite new release so far is (unsurprisingly) THE POWER OF THE DOG.

And here's everything I watched this year! letterboxd.com/thathagengrrl/…