{"id":6763,"date":"2015-01-02T17:13:28","date_gmt":"2015-01-03T00:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/?p=6763"},"modified":"2015-01-02T17:13:28","modified_gmt":"2015-01-03T00:13:28","slug":"2014-media-wrap-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/02\/2014-media-wrap-up\/","title":{"rendered":"2014 Media Wrap-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Time for our annual tradition here on Simple Tricks of recounting all the films, recorded TV content, books, and live performances I’ve experienced in the last year. As I’ve noted before, I have no idea if anybody else cares in the least about this, or if it’s just an exercise in tedious self-indulgence, but I like to remind myself where I’ve been over the past twelve months. I missed doing it last year due to this blog being out of commission, and the 2012 version was unfortunately one of the entries that evaporated when the blog failed, so I can’t really do much comparison with the previous couple years as I’ve done in the past, but I can at least list the titles and get the numbers.<\/p>\n

FYI before we begin: An asterisk [*] before the title indicates something I\u2019ve seen or read before. Bolded items in the home video sections are titles I own on either DVD or BluRay, or in a few cases, VHS tape.<\/p>\n

Movies Seen in a Theater<\/span><\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> Much of my cinema-going this year was to special engagements of classics. What can I say, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see these films on the big screen, either again or, in many cases, for the first time. And besides, there just weren’t that many new releases that grabbed my attention. I’ll indicate where these screenings took place in brackets [ ] following the titles.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Saving Mr. Banks<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. American Hustle<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. * Lawrence of Arabia<\/em> [Salt Lake Film Society’s “This Is Digital” celebration]<\/li>\n
  4. * Chicago<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  5. * The Shawshank Redemption<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  6. Divergent<\/em><\/li>\n
  7. Muppets Most Wanted<\/em><\/li>\n
  8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier<\/em><\/li>\n
  9. * The Ten Commandments<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  10. * Ben-Hur<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  11. * Spartacus<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  12. Godzilla<\/em><\/a> (2014)<\/li>\n
  13. B.B. King: The Life of Riley<\/em><\/li>\n
  14. Maleficent<\/em><\/li>\n
  15. * Saturday Night Fever<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  16. X-Men: Days of Future Past<\/em><\/li>\n
  17. * The Godfather, Part II<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  18. Chef<\/em><\/li>\n
  19. * Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  20. * Pretty Woman<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  21. * The Breakfast Club<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  22. * Monty Python and the Holy Grail<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  23. Guardians of the Galaxy<\/em><\/li>\n
  24. * The Big Lebowski<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  25. * Beverly Hills Cop<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  26. * Big Trouble in Little China<\/em> [Salt Lake Film Society’s “Summer Late Nights at the Tower”]<\/li>\n
  27. Elvis: That’s the Way It Is <\/em>[Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  28. Scarface<\/em> (1983) [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  29. Emulsion<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
  30. Boyhood<\/em><\/li>\n
  31. Gone Girl<\/em><\/li>\n
  32. The Judge<\/em><\/li>\n
  33. * The Nightmare Before Christmas<\/em> [Cinemark Classic Series]<\/li>\n
  34. Interstellar<\/em><\/li>\n
  35. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Movies Seen on Home Video<\/span><\/p>\n

    Note:<\/strong> I used to grit my teeth and suffer through any movie I started, especially if I’d heard a lot of positive word of mouth or critical praise, on the logic that if everyone else thought it was good, then I needed<\/em> to see it. But I’m getting much less shy in my grumpy middle age about shutting off the things that don’t engage me — life is too damn short, you know? I still don’t do it often, but there were a couple of titles this year I just couldn’t hack; I’ve indicated those with [ABANDONED].<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Total Recall<\/em> (2012)<\/li>\n
    2. Halloween III: Season of the Witch<\/em><\/li>\n
    3. *<\/em> Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    4. Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson<\/em><\/li>\n
    5. Where the Buffalo Roam<\/em> [ABANDONED]<\/li>\n
    6. The Wolverine<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    7. The Hindenburg<\/em><\/li>\n
    8. Mary Poppins<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    9. After Porn Ends<\/em><\/li>\n
    10. The Keep <\/em><\/li>\n
    11. The World’s End<\/em><\/li>\n
    12. My Favorite Year<\/em><\/li>\n
    13. * Next of Kin<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n
    14. Appaloosa<\/em><\/li>\n
    15. Twilight<\/em> (1998 Paul Newman film, NOT the sparkly vampire thing)<\/li>\n
    16. Slap Shot<\/em><\/li>\n
    17. Brubaker<\/em><\/li>\n
    18. *<\/em> Dune
      \n<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    19. Nobody’s Fool<\/em><\/li>\n
    20. * Close<\/em> Encounters of the Third Kind<\/em> <\/strong>(1977 theatrical cut)<\/li>\n
    21. Citizens Band<\/em><\/li>\n
    22. Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry<\/em><\/li>\n
    23. Joyride<\/em> (1977)<\/li>\n
    24. Man of Steel<\/em><\/li>\n
    25. *<\/em> Captain America: The First Avenger<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    26. The Way, Way Back<\/em><\/li>\n
    27. *<\/em> The Godfather<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    28. *<\/em> The Godfather, Part III<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    29. 42<\/em><\/li>\n
    30. *<\/em> Caddyshack<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    31. *<\/em> The Big Chill<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    32. Downhill Racer<\/em><\/li>\n
    33. Mr. Moto’s Gamble<\/em><\/li>\n
    34. Mr. Moto Takes a Chance<\/em><\/li>\n
    35. Sound City<\/em><\/li>\n
    36. Behind the Candelabra<\/em><\/li>\n
    37. We Bought a Zoo<\/em><\/li>\n
    38. Silver Linings Playbook<\/em> [ABANDONED]<\/li>\n
    39. Assault on Precinct 13<\/em> (1976)<\/li>\n
    40. The Legend of Hell House<\/em><\/li>\n
    41. *<\/em> Duel<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    42. The Town that Dreaded Sundown<\/em><\/li>\n
    43. Dracula<\/em> (1979)<\/li>\n
    44. Gog<\/em><\/li>\n
    45. Single White Female<\/em><\/li>\n
    46. The Dunwich Horror<\/em><\/li>\n
    47. Re-Animator<\/em><\/li>\n
    48. *<\/em> The Sugarland Express<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    49. American Hot Wax<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    50. Europa Report<\/em><\/li>\n
    51. *<\/em> Jaws<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    52. Charlie Chan in the Secret Service<\/em><\/li>\n
    53. Meatballs<\/em><\/li>\n
    54. Cat People<\/em> (1982)<\/li>\n
    55. Cinerama’s Seven Wonders of the World<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    56. *<\/em> A Christmas Story<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    57. *<\/em> Bad Santa<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    58. *<\/em> The Ref <\/em><\/strong>[VHS]<\/li>\n
    59. *<\/em> Guardians of the Galaxy<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
    60. Bettie Page Reveals All<\/em><\/li>\n
    61. Space Station 76<\/em><\/li>\n
    62. *<\/em> Godzilla<\/em><\/strong> (2014)<\/li>\n
    63. * Battle Beyond the Stars<\/em><\/li>\n
    64. *<\/em> Amadeus<\/em><\/strong> (Director’s Cut)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \u00a0TV Content Seen on Home Video<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Pole to Pole with Michael Palin<\/em><\/strong> (complete series)<\/li>\n
      2. Babylon 5<\/em><\/strong> (seasons 1 through 4) [VHS]<\/li>\n
      3. Babylon 5<\/em> (season 5, completing the series)<\/li>\n
      4. The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Sixth Season<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
      5. Trilogy of Terror<\/em> (TV movie)<\/li>\n
      6. Full Circle with Michael Palin<\/em><\/strong> (complete series)<\/li>\n
      7. Sherlock<\/em> (season 3)<\/li>\n
      8. Himalaya with Michael Palin<\/em> (complete series)<\/li>\n
      9. Sahara with Michael Palin<\/em> (complete series)<\/li>\n
      10. China Beach<\/em><\/strong> (season 1)<\/li>\n
      11. The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Seventh Season<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
      12. Stephen Fry in America<\/em> (complete series)<\/li>\n
      13. Babylon 5: In the Beginning<\/em> (TV movie)<\/li>\n
      14. Babylon 5: Thirdspace<\/em> (TV movie)<\/li>\n
      15. Babylon 5: The River of Souls<\/em> (TV movie)<\/li>\n
      16. Babylon 5: A Call to Arms<\/em> (TV movie)<\/li>\n
      17. Crusade: The Complete Series<\/em><\/li>\n
      18. WKRP in Cincinnati<\/em> <\/strong>(season 1)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        \u00a0Books Completed (Fiction)<\/span><\/p>\n

        Note:<\/strong> You’ll notice that I read a whole mess of novels by Clive Cussler this year. I realized at some point that, despite my frequent mentions of his Dirk Pitt adventures, and strong opinions about that character, it had been years, decades even, since I’d read them, and I wondered how well they actually matched my memories of them. So I developed ambitions of doing a novel-by-novel survey of the series, much as Michael May has been doing with Ian Fleming’s Bond<\/a> series over on his Adventureblog<\/a>. Well, I read the books (half of them anyway), but didn’t get around to writing the entries. Typical of how the year went with regard to blogging…<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Nobody’s Fool<\/em> — Richard Russo<\/li>\n
        2. The Song of Forgotten Stars, Book Two: The Wisdomfold Path<\/em> (unpublished manuscript) — Kelly Sedinger<\/li>\n
        3. * Pacific Vortex!<\/em> — Clive Cussler<\/li>\n
        4. * The Mediterranean Caper<\/em> — Cussler<\/li>\n
        5. * Iceberg<\/em> — Cussler<\/li>\n
        6. * Raise the Titanic!<\/em> — Cussler<\/li>\n
        7. * Vixen 03<\/em> — Cussler<\/li>\n
        8. * Night Probe!<\/em> — Cussler<\/li>\n
        9. * Deep Six<\/em> — Cussler<\/li>\n
        10. The Master Mind of Mars<\/em> — Edgar Rice Burroughs<\/li>\n
        11. The Star Wars<\/em> (graphic novel) — J.W. Rinzler (writer) and Mike Mayhew (artist)<\/li>\n
        12. Me and Orson Welles<\/em> — Robert Kaplow<\/li>\n
        13. Prince Lestat<\/em> — Anne Rice<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Books Completed (Non-Fiction)<\/span><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV’s First Wave<\/em> — Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, and Martha Quinn, with Gavin Edwards<\/li>\n
          2. I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution<\/em> — Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks<\/li>\n
          3. What You Want is in the Limo: On the Road with Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, and The Who in 1973, the Year the Sixties Died and the Modern Rock Star Was Born<\/em> — Michael Walker<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Concerts and Live Theater Events<\/span><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. War Horse<\/em> [Capitol Theater, 4\/24\/14]<\/li>\n
            2. Def Leppard\/KISS<\/a> [USANA Amphitheater, 6\/23\/14]<\/li>\n
            3. Monty Python Live (Mostly)<\/em> [Cinemark\/Fathom Events live broadcast, 7\/20\/14]<\/li>\n
            4. Wicked<\/em> [Capitol Theater, 8\/24\/14]<\/li>\n
            5. X-96 Nightmare Before Xmas concert with Billy Idol, Bleachers, and Priory [The Complex, 12\/15\/14]<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              And there we are for another misspent year…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Time for our annual tradition here on Simple Tricks of recounting all the films, recorded TV content, books, and live performances I’ve experienced in the last year. As I’ve noted before, I have no idea if anybody else cares in the least about this, or if it’s just an exercise in tedious self-indulgence, but I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-studies","category-the-bookshelf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6763\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}