movie retro + planning

I don't use Letterboxd. When it initially took off, I got stressed out at the prospect of having to retroactively go back and add every movie I had ever seen, which isn't something the app requires one to do but which I tried to do anyways, for whatever reason. Meanwhile, my friends did not place that burden upon themselves and instead used it as intended. It's been three years since then, and everyone I know has managed to build up a reliable history of all their movie watching habits, while I'm still stuck in the gutter of misremembrance. Who knows— maybe I'll start next year?

At the start of 2025, however, I bought myself a Moleskine pocket planner, and ended up using it as a sort of accounting journal where I jotted down everything I did each day, as well as the money I spent on said activities. I made sure to write down the movies I watched, too, so let's see what we have.

1. January 1st: Cocktail (2012)
   
2. January 9th: The Firm (1993)
3. January 17th: One of Them Days (2025)
4. January 18th: Babygirl (2024)
5. January 20th: Brazil (1985)
6. January 25th: Poison Ivy (1992)
7. January 28th: Presence (2024)
8. January 31st: The Brutalist (2024)
9. February 7th: Nickel Boys (2024)
10. February 9th: The Great Indian Kitchen (2021)
11. February 10th: An American Werewolf in London (1981) - rewatch
12. February 15th: Pom Poko (1994)
13. February 22nd: The World Unseen (2007)
14. March 12th: Border (2018)
    
15. March 13th: Mickey 17 (2025)
16. March 15th: A Star Is Born (2018)
17. March 16th: Conclave (2025)
18. March 25th: Black Bag (2025)
19. April 3rd: Ghost Dog (1999)
20. April 4th: A Good Indian Boy (2024)
21. April 12th: Sankranthiki Vasthunam (2025)
22. April 14th: Dus (2005) - rewatch
23. April 17th: Sinners (2025)
24. April 20th: Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004) - rewatch
25. April 20th: Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)
26. April 22nd: The Wedding Banquet (2025)
27. April 24th: The Wedding Banquet (1993)
28. April 24th: Incendies (2011)
29. April 24th: They Came Together (2014)
30. April 30th: Companion (2025)
31. May 13th: Gaami (2024)
32. May 24th: Mission Impossible the Final Reckoning (2025)
33. May 27th: Sister Midnight (2025)
34. May 30th: Bring Her Back (2025)
35. May 31st: Friendship (2025)
36. June 13th: Still Free TC (2025) 
37. June 16th: Secretary (2002)
38. June 18th: 28 Days Later (2002)
39. June 19th: 28 Weeks Later (2007)
40. June 20th: 28 Years Later (2025)
41. June 23rd: The Old Guard (2020)
42. July 1st: 28 Years Later - rewatch
43. July 10th: Straight Up (2019)
44. July 14th: Superman (2025)
45. July 15th: Sorry, Baby (2025)
46. July 22nd: Materialists (2025)
47. July 23rd: Eddington (2025)
48. August 1st: Night of the Juggler (1980)
49. August 2nd: Virata Parvam (2022)
50. August 7th: Poetic Justice (1993)
51. August 9th: Bhoot (2003)
52. August 13th: Weapons (2025)
53. August 15th: The Mehta Boys (2025)
54. August 20th: Showgirls (1995)
55. August 23rd: Summer Wars (2009)
56. September 9th: Caught Stealing (2025)
57. September 15th: Before Sunrise (1993) - rewatch
58. September 19th: The Roses (2025)
59. October 19th: Child's Play (1988)
60. October 21st: One Battle After Another (2025)
61. October 31st: Frankenstein (2025)
62. October 31st: Stoker (2013)
63. November 4th: Baahubali: The Epic (2025)
64. November 6th: Kal Ho Na Ho (2003) - rewatch
65. November 18th: Sentimental Value (2025)
66. November 26th: The Pacifier (2005) - rewatch
67. November 26th: Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus (2005)
68. December 1st: Wicked: For Good (2025)
69. December 7th: Tribhanga (2021)
70. December 7th: Twilight Q (1987)
71. December 10th: Zootopia 2 (2025)
72. December 12th: Wake Up Dead Man (2025)
73. Decemver 14th: Before Trilogy
74. December 15th: Hamnet (2025)
75. December 21st: Heavenly Creatures (1994)
76. December 22nd: Before Sunrise (again lol)
77. December 25th: Prep & Landing 1,2,3
78. December 29th: Avatar The Way Of Water (2025)
79. December 31st: The Grinch (2018)

There are probably ones I missed but it's okay! I bolded my favorites (the ones I would rewatch). 

I have an AMC subscription, which saves me a lot of money on these, but I do want to be a little more selective. I'm tired of watching movies just to stay in touch with pop culture. I've been thinking about getting a BAM or Metrograph membership instead, which wouldn't be as "high value" as AMC but would definitely selectivity. It would also make me feel better supporting local cinema instead of a mega corporation; I am rapidly tiring of Nicole Kidman's shitty monologue and the Coke dance battle couple.

I maintain two huge lists of movies I want to watch: one on my Notes app, one on my Wikipedia app. I don't know if I have the energy to organize or consolidate those lists right now, and also, I think picking movies tends to be more vibes-based than picking books, so I don't know if it would help me to plan things out. Sometimes I do want to be one of those people who dedicates a whole month to watching a single director's entire filmography, but again, I don't want to give myself more "homework" this year than is necessary. 

In general, I do want to watch more horror, more foreign films, more Indian films, and more films from before the year 2000.