{"id":89048,"date":"2022-12-25T12:26:29","date_gmt":"2022-12-25T19:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=89048"},"modified":"2023-12-23T21:41:16","modified_gmt":"2023-12-24T04:41:16","slug":"film-fanatic-end-of-2022-greetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=89048","title":{"rendered":"Film Fanatic End of 2022 Greetings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hello, fellow Film Fanatics!<\/p>\n<p>I hope this has been an enjoyable year of movie watching for all of you. My family and I (kids now ages 10, 12, and 14) watched <em>Home Alone<\/em> (1990) yesterday, and it was a fun harbinger of what&#8217;s to come: once I&#8217;m done with this project, I&#8217;ll be moving on to covering more modern classics. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Home-Alone-Praying.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Home-Alone-Praying-1024x555.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"347\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-89049\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Home-Alone-Praying-1024x555.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Home-Alone-Praying-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Home-Alone-Praying-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Home-Alone-Praying-768x416.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Home-Alone-Praying-1536x832.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Home-Alone-Praying-498x270.png 498w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Home-Alone-Praying.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, 2022 has been a rough year for our family, with loss on numerous levels; with that said, I&#8217;m always grateful to movies for providing a safe haven in the midst of personal challenges. <\/p>\n<p>Midway through the year <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=83540\">I wrote a reflection on my milestone of having watched all the films in <em>GFTFF<\/em> up through the 1950s<\/a> &#8212; so, all titles I&#8217;ve been reviewing since then were made between 1960-1987. There have been some definite gems, though I&#8217;ll admit to missing flicks from earlier decades. <\/p>\n<p>Here are a few of my highlights from this past year of (re)viewing movies:  <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For the number geeks among you, I&#8217;ve reviewed an additional <strong>287<\/strong> films in 2022 (so far!). That brings me up to <strong>3,483 or 81%<\/strong> of the titles in Peary\u2019s <em>Guide for the Film Fanatic<\/em> \u2014 just <strong>817<\/strong> more to go!<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;ve continued to work my way through titles from Peary&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?page_id=5986\">three Cult Movies books<\/a> (just seven left). I can&#8217;t say many are personal favorites, but I was pleasantly surprised by at least a few: <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=87572\"><em>The Terminator<\/em> (1984)<\/a> has held up remarkably well as a dystopian sci-fi time travel flick (Schwarzenegger&#8217;s performance is fun!); <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=87193\"><em>Liquid Sky<\/em> (1982)<\/a> remains a darkly acerbic cultural commentary with truly far-out visuals; and of course <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=87417\"><em>Blade Runner<\/em> (1982)<\/a> maintains its status as a haunting masterpiece on so many levels. <\/li>\n<li>My favorite <em>auteur<\/em> viewing this year was catching up with more of Sam Fuller&#8217;s unique output. While his <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=81170\"><em>Steel Helmet<\/em> (1950)<\/a> is a justifiable indie classic, lesser-known but equally worthy Fuller titles to check out include <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=81848\"><em>Fixed Bayonets<\/em> (1951)<\/a> (also taking place during the Korean War), the colorful <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=82273\"><em>House of Bamboo<\/em> (1955)<\/a>, and the flawed but boldly unique <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=82946\"><em>Crimson Kimono<\/em> (1959)<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>I was pleasantly surprised by how compelling Sidney Lumet&#8217;s screen adaptation of Eugene O&#8217;Neill&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=88180\"><em>Long Day&#8217;s Journey Into Night<\/em> (1962)<\/a> remains: it&#8217;s powerfully acted, masterfully filmed, and never drags despite the undeniably challenging subject matter. <\/li>\n<li>Francis Ford Coppola&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=85561\"><em>Apocalypse Now<\/em> (1979)<\/a> continues to merit multiple viewings as a &#8220;surreal immersion piece.&#8221; As I noted in my review, &#8220;Coppola and his team set out to tell a tale of the Vietnam War that would highlight its deep absurdity and lasting impact on everyone involved &#8212; and in this, he succeeds.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Finally, John Carpenter&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=85242\"><em>The Thing<\/em> (1982)<\/a> is a seriously creepy &#8220;remake&#8221; that offers an entirely different viewing experience from <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19485\">the 1951 classic<\/a>; indeed, &#8220;Carpenter\u2019s film succeeds on its own terms, presenting a wintery hellscape of justifiable paranoia in which these men&#8230; can no longer rely on one another for support and survival.&#8221; And the special effects are truly impressive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Thing-Spider.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Thing-Spider-1024x435.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"272\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-89065\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Thing-Spider-1024x435.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Thing-Spider-300x128.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Thing-Spider-128x54.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Thing-Spider-768x326.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Thing-Spider-1536x653.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Thing-Spider-604x257.png 604w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Thing-Spider.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s to another year of watching and reviewing classic films!<br \/>\n&#8212; Film Fanatic.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello, fellow Film Fanatics! I hope this has been an enjoyable year of movie watching for all of you. My family and I (kids now ages 10, 12, and 14) watched Home Alone (1990) yesterday, and it was a fun harbinger of what&#8217;s to come: once I&#8217;m done with this project, I&#8217;ll be moving on to covering more modern classics. Unfortunately, 2022 has been a rough year for our family, with loss on numerous levels; with that said, I&#8217;m always&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=89048\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogroll"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89048"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94359,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89048\/revisions\/94359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}