It’s been a rough half a year in my country – Peary’s country. I didn’t intend to drop off the face of the classic film blogging universe for so many months, but other issues and considerations have risen to the forefront.
With that said, I’ll never quit classic movies — and I remain grateful for the many ways in which cinema illuminates and explains our world. So many of the films Peary recommends and discusses in Guide for the Film Fanatic — from the origins of cinema through 1987 — have helped me, as a viewer, to experience multiple eras of history through full immersion. Specifically, I’ve been reflecting on the many classic movies I’ve watched over the decades showing political movements, corruption, cynicism, group-think, and outright evil, alongside resistance, criticality, and joy. This current moment, too, will continue to be explored through film — and as dreadful as it is to live through, I know that cinema will help us capture some of the trends and insights we’re just starting to grasp.
I love the steady trend towards democraticization of movies; I always have. Throughout my lengthy exploration of Peary’s book (back when I was 16 and found a copy in the library I worked at), it’s been fascinating learning how more and more directors over the years (no longer all or mostly White men anymore!) were able to get a camera in hand and tell interesting stories. I anticipate that will continue.
Back to this site, I had to rev myself up to post again today — to get back on the horse with my reviews. Really, there are only 563 titles left to review (out of a grand total of 4300) — so, why stop now? I can do it! While it’s not a personal favorite, I’ll imagine Chariots of Fire (1981) as I’m working my way there.
As I’ve said many times before, once this particular project is done I’ll finally be moving on to writing about more recent films, which I anticipate will be its own unique joy. Among the many changes in recent years has been the shift towards long-form series debuting on streaming platforms, which has opened up renewed discussions around the “television or film?” binary (which is nowhere close to simple). Off the top of my head, I can imagine reviewing Adolescence (2025) as a must-see series (film?) from this past year, alongside Mike White’s deliciously perverse The White Lotus Seasons 1, 2, and 3, and plenty of intriguing documentaries (many with multiple episodes).
In terms of more traditional films, from last year in particular I can share that Emilia Perez (2024) was a debacle (wtf?); Anora (2024) caught me up in waves of sadness comparable to the heyday of indie films; September 5 (2024) nicely supplemented Munich (2005); Conclave (2024) was a good old-fashioned drama with a kick of a surprise ending; and A Real Pain (2024) did a better job displaying vulnerable narcissism than any other recent title (thanks to Dr. Ramani for her take on this). I still need to catch up on a bunch of others.
But first — 563 titles from the 1970s and 1980s await me! I’m grateful I’ve taken the time over these past 19 years to make note of my impressions of all the other titles in Peary’s GFTFF, since I’m pretty sure I would otherwise have forgotten much of what I’ve written about. Thankfully, despite a literal onslaught of shows and movies and series available to watch these days, classic movies aren’t going anywhere; check out the many awesome blog sites which are part of the CMBA (Classic Movie Blog Association) for even more takes and approaches other than mine.
I’ll see you online soon.
I wanted to mix things up a bit by letting you know that Danny Peary has been interviewed on a couple of podcasts recently — check them out if you’re interested in hearing him discuss films live!
