I know I should be giving you my written reviews for Last Jedi and Coco and I apologize for being woefully behind. (I do have reviews of those and Ferdinand on my youtube channel and will be a writing machine over the Christmas holiday because my family is all abandoning me LOL). However, I am not in the mood to write a review tonight but will instead give you my next 12 picks for the Blind Spot series!

The Blind Spot series is something I have been doing for the last 2 years where each month I watch a movie I’ve never seen before that is highly regarded and give you my thoughts. Nobody has seen every movie and I certainly have my fair share of big gaps. Participating in this series allows me to fill in some of those gaps and have a little fun while I’m at it. I encourage all of you to participate if you have a blog or youtube channel! It’s a ton of fun.

So here are my next round of picks:

January

The New World- Director and Writer Terrence Malick

It’s a new year so why not start with A New World? I have long been a Malick defender as he makes art pieces over traditional narratives but here is a narrative about Pocahontas that I have long wanted to see. I love Collin Farrell and am not a big fan of the Disney version so this will be nice to see.

February

The Palm Beach Story- Director and Writer Preston Sturges

February seems like the perfect time to catch up on my Preston Sturges viewing. If you don’t know Preston Sturges was the king of romantic comedies in the 40s, so that is of course right up my ally. In The Palm Beach Story he directs Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea in a comedy where a couple decides to divorce so she can marry a millionaire to help support his big inventions.

March

The Seventh Seal-  Director and Writer Ingmar Bergman

I have a confession. I have never seen an Ingmar Bergman film. As a film fan of course I know the name but have never seen any of his films. Well, that changes this year with The Seventh Seal.  I don’t know much about the film except it is about a knight playing chess with Death personified and that Roger Ebert declared it ‘one of the masterpieces of cinema’. That’s good enough for me to give it a watch!

April

The Green Mile- Director and Writer Frank Darabont from Stephen King novel

Based on the Stephen King novel, The Green Mile is one of the few Tom Hanks films I haven’t seen. It tells the story of a death row corrections officer during The Great Depression. It was nominated for best picture and best supporting actor for Michael Clarke Duncan, so I look forward to watching it.

May

Gallipoli- Director Peter Weir

Gallipoli is my friend Phaedra’s favorite movie. Enough said. I will watch it! It’s directed by Peter Weir and stars a young Mel Gibson about 2 Australian sprinters who are sent to fight in Turkey during World War 1.

June

The Cat Returns- Director Hiroyuki Morita

In 2018 I will finish watching all the Studio Ghibli films. One that remains on my list is The Cat Returns. It is about a young girl that gets engaged to a cat prince in a magical world where she must rely on a dapper cat statuette come to life to save her. It looks like a ton of fun!

July

The Last Emperor- Director and Writer Bernardo Bertolucci

I had long heard about The Last Emperor but hadn’t seen it probably because it is nearly 3 hours long. However, it won 9 Academy Awards including best picture and it is time to check it off my list! This epic film tells the story of the last emperor of China Pu Yi.

August

The Young Girls of Rochefort- Director and Writer Jacques Demy

I love the Umbrellas of Cherbourg so I want to check off more of Jacques Demy off my list and so in August I will watch The Young Girls of Rochefort. This stars Catherine Deneuve who is also in Cherbourg along with Francoise Dorleac and Gene Kelly. It is about two sisters who head to the city in search of romance and are hired at a carnival. Kelly plays an American musician one of the girls falls for

September

Ikiru- Director and Writer Akira Kurosawa

In September I will move over to Japan and acclaimed director Akira Kurosawa’s film Ikiru. I have seen Throne of Blood and Seven Samurai and enjoyed both of those. Ikiru is another long movie from Kurosawa but it sounds like a very good film. It is about a bureaucrat wasting away at a terrible job (a theme I love) that finds out he has cancer and must come to terms with his life.

October

Scream- Director Wes Craven

Yes, believe it or not I have never seen Scream. I just have never been that into horror movies so it didn’t appeal to me. Over the last few years I have been trying to expand out of my comfort zone so, I think October will be a good time to check this horror classic off of my list. This is a horror comedy I am told so hopefully it will be fun.

November

Whisper of the Heart- Directed by Yoshifumi Kondo Screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki

Whisper of the Heart is the final Studio Ghibli film for me and I will have seen the entire canon. It is one of the only films not directed by Miyazaki or Takahata but it definitely has their influence. It’s a love story between a girl who loves reading books, and the boy who checks out all the library books she chooses. That sounds adorable and I can’t wait to watch it.

December

Desk Set- Director Walter Lang

I must admit I didn’t love another pairing of Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy called Adam’s Rib, but hopefully I will like Desk Set better. It is set during the holidays and it is about 2 strong personalities who must work together to modernize Hepburn’s computer machine and her entire studio. This seems a surprising plot for 1957 so I am intrigued to watch it. I’m running out of Christmas movies I haven’t seen so hopefully this will be a good one!

So what do you think of my list? Have you seen any of these films? Let me know your thoughts and I look forward to a fun 2018!