2011… a year in movies

Not surprising that I rang in 2012 by watching a movie! In 2011, I recorded every movie I saw in theatres. I think I’ll keep it up for 2012, though it got a bit competitive which ran up my numbers slightly. In the end, I watched 77 movies in theatres. That works out to be 1.5 movies a week!

Fortunately, I saw many of these for free between scene points, free advanced screenings, gift cards (the perfect gift!) and film festivals.

To add to the incredible nerdiness I’m feeling, I even made graphs to chart my movie watching habits.

 

All in the name of science…

I also discovered that Cineplex takes the majority of my money, but no real surprise there as they have the majority of the theatres in Canada.

2011 had both good and bad movies – as all years, but below are my favorites of the year – in no particular order. Note: I categorize these as my “favorites” as in, those I enjoyed watching – I’m not anticipating them to all be award winners!

I hope 2012 is full of equally nerdy movie watching habits – Happy New Year to everyone!

And, for those of you who want to see the full list…

1. January 1 – Tron Legacy
2. January 3 – Due Date
3. January 9 – Blue Valentine
4. January 11 – The Way Back
5. January 16 – The Green Hornet
6. January 17 – The Mechanic
7. February 2 – The Company Men
8. February 11 – Gnomeo and Juliet
9. February 13 – Biutiful
10. February 19 – Incendies
11. February 28 – Of God and Men
12. March 7 – Adjustment Bureau
13. March 8 – Rango
14. March 12 – Battle LA
15. March 20 – Lincoln Lawyer
16. March 22 – Paul
17. March 27 – I Saw the Devil
18. April 2 – Source Code
19. April 5 – Insidious
20. April 7 – Good Neighbours
21. April 9 – Hanna
22. April 21 – Rio
23. April 30 – Limitless
24. May 2 – Superheroes
25. May 3 – Fast Five
26. May 6 – Thor
27. May 10 – Beginners
28. May 15 – Bridesmaids
29. May 19 – Even the Rain
30. May 22 – Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides
31. May 28 – Hangover 2
32. June 3 – X-Men First Class
33. June 6 – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
34. June 14 – Super 8
35. June 20 –  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
36. June 21 – Midnight in Paris
37. June 23 – Green Lantern
38. June 28 – Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon
39. July 13 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt 2
40. August 4 – Crazy Stupid Love
41. August 4 – Captain America
42. August 9 – Cowboys and Aliens
43. August 10 – Rise of the Planet of the Apes
44. August 14 – Horrible Bosses
45. August 15 – The Help
46. August 20 – Bad Teacher
47. August 28 – Terri
48. August 30 – Don’t be Afraid of the Dark
49. September 1 – Our Idiot Brother
50. September11 – Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale
51. September 13 – Our Mother’s Arms
52. September 15 – The Day
53. September 16 – The Awakening
54. September 16 – Wurthering Heights
55. September 17 – Snowtown
56. September 18 – Where Do We Go Now
57. September 20 – Contagion
58. September 25 – Money Ball
59. October 1 – 50/50
60. October 8 – Ides of March
61. October 10 – Real Steel
62. October 20 – Paranormal Activity 3
63. October 25 – Three Musketeers
64. October 31 – Puss in Boots
65. November 7 – Anonymous
66. November 13 – In Time
67. November 15 – Tower Heist
68. November 26 – The Descendants
69. November 27 – Hugo
70. December 5 – The Muppets
71. December 9 – Shame
72. December 21 – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
73. December 24 – The Adventures of Tintin
74. December 27 – Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows
75. December 28 – Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
76. December 29 – MI4 Ghost Protocol
77. December 31 – War Horse

birthday celebrations

Is it lame to do a post on my birthday? Well… I’m going to do it anyway.

My 23rd birthday was yesterday, so I had a long weekend of celebrations to plan. That’s right – four days of birthday, including three fancy dinners, two nights of drinking, and one movie (yes, only one).

I’ll start by talking about the FABULOUS weekend of dining I had! Friday night at Luma, Saturday night at Frank, and Monday night at Guu Izakaya. Any of this restaurants would be amazing for a special night out like a birthday, but having all three just made it that much better! (I think this birthday has inspired me to write a “date night” list of restaurants in a future post). First off, if you haven’t been to Luma it’s an O&B gem. Not only is it associated with cinema by its location, it also has lovely cinematic-themed cocktails, and popcorn on their dessert menu!

“Opera Cake” dessert at Luma, featuring caramel corn!

This was followed by a Saturday dinner at Frank in the AGO – another place you need to check out if you haven’t. I had the heirloom tomato and mozzarella appetizer – and I think it was the best salad I’ve ever had!

Monday night we decided to face the (potential) lines at Guu on Church – and even if we had waited (fortunately, there was a table) it would have been worth it! Not only do I love a good tapas place, but I also LOVE Japanese. This restaurant is the best of both worlds – and it has such amazing energy! I felt like I couldn’t stop smiling for the entire visit (which was prompt – all that delicious food in 1.5 hours!) AND they had the best restaurant birthday song I’ve ever heard! (For a full review: http://tinyurl.com/3oawpkl).

 

Ah, now for the drinking. Friday night brought me to the Gladstone, where they had a band followed by karaoke (no, I did not participate!) and Saturday brought me to the Duke of York in the Annex. Why the Duke of York? While it is not the most fabulous venue in the city, the bartenders know how to make a dirty martini, and my alternate option, Oasis on the roof of Wayne Gretzky’s, randomly closed at 10pm that night (note: the weather was beautiful and they promised me they’d be open until 2am!!) Also, Duke is a great place because they have such a big venue, they can take reservations for parties late at night. Bonus: they had a big Muskoka chair.

 

Who can resist a giant chair photo op??

As for the movie, I saw Moneyball on Sunday, and wasn’t so impressed by it. You can see my movie review for more details!

Overall I’d say I had a pretty successful 23rd birthday weekend – and thank you to everyone who helped put it together!

tiff 2011

**note, this has been moved over from my tumblr, as I am making the switch over to wordpress.**

Tiff is usually my favorite time of year in Toronto, but (until last night) I wasn’t feeling the love as much as usual.

Really, what’s not to like about tiff? I love movies, I love events, and tiff is like the ultimate movie/event combination. This year though, work has been so busy that I haven’t got to take advantage of it like I usually do!

Last night however, I went to see “The Day” with a few friends, which is a post-apocalyptic movie that was playing for Midnight Madness. Really, the movie was only ok – nothing special and a little slow to start, but afterwards, I got to meet Dominic Monaghan!! THAT is what the festival is all about. Celebrities, parties, people, and cinema – and it reminded me why I love the festival so much!

The best thing about tiff, is that 99% of the time, celebrities are friendly to Torontonians too – (that 1% is you, Madonna)

So basically last night was the kick off to me taking full advantage of the festival for the rest of the week (yeah, three days I know!) I’m going to rush some galas this weekend, see about getting in to the Cadillac People’s Choice screening, AND of course, hit up the end of festival party on Sunday. If you also volunteered this year – maybe I’ll see you there!