I’m back with the rest of my life in film, starting off with my first year of college on through this very year that we’ve just started. If you missed my last post, I’m going through every year that I’ve been alive and sharing with you my favorite film from that year as well as my favorite superhero or comic book film at least when they’re not one and the same. And these are all based on what I’ve logged in at Letterboxd and what they have listed as the movie’s release date, so if a year is wrong, blame them and not me. Anyways on to the list!

1999

Films watched from this year: 51
There was a lot of great movies that came out this year, but my pick is the one that really kickstarted my love affair with film in general. Fight Club was the first DVD I ever purchased, because I had just gotten a computer that had a DVD drive and the Fight Club VHS wouldn’t come out for six months to a year. It was also a big two disc special edition so I watched the hell out of it – four commentaries and tons of behind the scenes stuff. Plenty of other great films that could have taken this spot – The Matrix, Payback, Sixth Sense which the ending was spoiled before I saw it but still enjoyed it the same, Blair Witch Project which gave me motion sickness but the ending creeped me out, and Iron Giant which I came to a few years later but absolutely love and while it might be a stretch to call it a superhero movie, there’s not much else to choose from for this year.

2000

Films watched from this year: 49
This was the year where the superhero movie really started to become a thing with X-Men, but film in general was still going strong. A new filmmaker would hit the scene by the name of Christopher Nolan who took a gimmick and crafted a fascinating story that was told in such a unique way that it would stay with me for a long time. Memento is another movie where I would spring for the deluxe edition DVD despite having confusing psych test style menus, a branching commentary which gives different versions of the connection between Sammy Jenkis and Lenny but also the easter egg where you can watch the film in chronological order where it still holds up. Cast Away which I just re-watched last night still holds up (aside from the tooth thing which bugs me), Gladiator, Snatch, and O Brother Where Art Thou were all close to making the cut. And for the superhero side of things, while I love Unbreakable I have to give it to X-Men which I also re-watched recently and still works.

2001

Movies watched from this year: 51
This was the year that the fantasy fan in me became overjoyed and for the next three years was sated. Fellowship of the Ring may not have the best battles, but the start of the journey is still the favorite of mine and while I haven’t made time to re-watch the entire extended trilogy in a long time, I’ll put just this one in now and again. This was also the year that started the Harry Potter film franchise and (spoiler alert) while no one specific film quite makes the cut, the franchise as a whole will always be a favorite in this house. This year also brought the beautiful Spirited Away, the comedy Heartbreakers that introduced me to a John Lennon song that I used for my wedding, Amelie the first movie I bought with subtitles, The Mexican, and probably my favorite romance of all time Moulin Rouge. Surprisingly the year after X-Men didn’t actually bring out any more superhero movies, but out of the comic book movies from this year Ghost World is the sure favorite of mine.

2002

Movies watched from this year: 55
This is the first year where a comic book movie makes my favorite of the year even though it took me a while to get around to it. But Road to Perdition is such a gorgeous movie from start to finish that embraces its comic book roots through its visuals, but the casual observer would never make the connection if they weren’t told beforehand. This was also the year where I watched what would be the only James Bond movie I had seen for over a decade with Die Another Day (though it’s not anywhere near in the running for favorite). This was also the year that in a way started Kevin Smith down a road to podcasting with his An Evening With Kevin Smith. It was also the year where I started expanding my horror movie watching past the Scream era with 28 Days Later.

2003

Movies watched from this year: 52
Once I started down the road of being a fan of film I couldn’t help but know of the name Quentin Tarantino, but it wasn’t until this year that I actually got around to watching one of his films, and still have yet to see much of his filmography. Even so, Kill Bill vol. 1 was an absolute treat for me despite my only real exposure to martial arts films and TV coming from the Matrix and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. While I wouldn’t actually start watching Asian horror until the next year, I came back around for A Tale of Two Sisters, this is also the year for my favorite Pixar film Finding Nemo, and the best Pirates of the Caribbean film. Plus Big Fish and The Last Samurai. On the superhero front, I can’t give it to anything else except X2: X-Men United.

2004

Movies watched from this year: 68
My family as a whole became enamored by Miyazaki’s films from the moment we watched Spirited Away, but for whatever reason it was always Howl’s Moving Castle that stuck with me the most. Probably because of the fantasy elements with magic more than spirits and steampunk designs, it’s just a gorgeous movie through and through. This is also the year that introduced me and my wife to Asian horror with The Grudge, has the best Harry Potter movie with Prisoner of Azkaban, and a great low budget time travel film Primer. Not only that, but it has two superhero movies that could easily have made it into my overall top spot with The Incredibles just barely edging it out over Spider-Man 2.

2005

Movies watched from this year: 59
Aside from regular movies, this is one of the best year for comic book movies. From History of Violence to Batman Begins to Sin City and even Constantine even if it barely resembles the actual comics its based on. But the movie that seems to get better the more often I watch it is V for Vendetta. There’s a handful of other movies that I enjoy from this year, but nothing really comes very close to any of the comic book movies.

2006

Movies watched from this year: 63
Looking through the movies from this year it almost seems like a black hole of mediocrity with only a few highlights of great films. Even though I recently watched the stellar Children of Men, the one film that sticks with me the most for its unusual concept is the Will Farrell movie Stranger than Fiction. Though I could almost give the title to Clerks 2 a film that I enjoy just as much if not more than the original. Besides those, I’m also quite fond of the imaginative Asian film ReCycle and another Christopher Nolan movie The Prestige. For the comic book side of things, I still think that 300 still holds up, but I’ve got to give it to the quirky indie superhero flick Special.

2007

Movies watched from this year: 55
Despite the fact that I’m a die hard Simpsons fan, I thought The Simpsons Movie was good but nothing special and I haven’t re-watched it since I first bought it on DVD. I could also give this year to Stardust as it scratched that Princess Bride itch in me with a Neil Gaiman twist to it, but my favorite film from this year would have to be the other fantasy movie, and a Disney Princess movie on top with Enchanted. The comic book and superhero films from this year are generally a mix of mediocrity and guilty pleasures. But I would give the edge to the visually stunning horror film 30 Days of Night just barely over the fascinatingly animated Persepolis.

2008

Movies watched from this year: 56
Once again, I’m looking through a year that had me watching a ton of terrible movies with only a handful of great ones to balance it out and most of those are superhero and comic book movies. But I’ve got to give it to Pixar this year with one of their greatest films Wall*E. On the comic book side of things it would be easy for me to say The Dark Knight but this year also gave us Hellboy II, Iron Man, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. But my favorite from this year has to go to the stylish and super fun Wanted.

2009

Movies watched from this year: 62
This year starts to get a little better with some of the films, though apparently I do still watch a lot of bad movies that aren’t even specifically for this site. This year also brought the great reboot of Star Trek, one of my daughter’s favorite movies for a long time The Secret of Kells, one of my favorite romantic comedies (500) Days of Summer, and a couple movies watched for my podcast District 9 and the one that completely blew me away and I consider my favorite from this year Moon. On the superhero side of things, I have a soft spot for another indie superhero flick Defendor but I think I enjoyed Push just a little bit more.

2010

Movies watched from this year: 58
This year starts to bring back a larger number of films that I might eventually call my favorites despite the fact that I don’t think I’ve seen hardly any of them more than once. From the mindblowing Inception to the mindblowing in a slightly different way Black Swan to the penultimate Harry Potter film and the first How to Train Your Dragon. But I’ve got to give this year to a dark-but-riveting Asian film I Saw the Devil. This is also a great year for comic book films as I really loved both the action films The Losers, Kick-Ass, and RED, as well as the animated superhero/supervillain movie Megamind. But the one film that I’ve actually watched multiple times and even though I thought it was merely ok on first watch, I’ve loved it more and more each time I’ve watched it, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

2011

Movies watched from this year: 57
Looking through the movies that I’ve watched from this year, I realize that a large number of them (12 to be exact) are actually short films which means that the number of full length films is actually quite a bit smaller. And outside the comic book films that I’ve watched from this year, the only films that I truly enjoyed were Red State and a few of the kids movies. But there were some great comic book films from this year, with X-Men First Class and The Adventures of Tintin, but my favorite from this year in total was the surprising Spanish animated tale of an old folks home Wrinkles.

2012

Movies watched from this year: 52
This was the year that I started this site and so it was the year where I really dug into the superhero and comic book movie with a passion, so it’s no suprise that my favorite movie from this year is my favorite superhero movie of all time (at this point) with The Avengers. It was just the culmination of the Marvel machine that is still going strong today. Though I also have a soft spot for some lower key films like Robot and Frank, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and the lesser known Space Milkshake.

2013

Movies watched from this year: 66
This was the year where I really started to dig into the movie blogging culture and community and had one of my most memorable movie watching experiences. I had a free screening and meet-and-greet with the director of a movie I had never heard of. Despite the fact that I have some major social anxiety and was extremely uncomfortable for most of the meet-and-greet, I did get the chance to talk with Jeremy Saulnier and he was a really great guy. On top of that, I absolutely adored his film Blue Ruin which I have watched a couple times since and have loved it just as much if not more each time. This was also a great year for non-superhero comic book movies like Blue is the Warmest Color, We are the Best, but my absolute favorite is Snowpiercer.

2014

Movies watched from this year: 44
And this is when I’ve started to become intensely focused on this site to where almost every new movie that I watch would have to be either a superhero or comic book movie. Only ten movies from this year weren’t watched for the purposes of writing something for this site, and none of those were specifically chosen by me. So it’s no surprise that my favorite has a connection to this site despite the fact that there’s only one side-character who’s an actual superhero. But I grew up with not only LEGOs but also specifically that 80’s era Spaceman, though I took better care of my LEGOs and don’t think I ever had one get cracked. Of course, I’m talking about The LEGO Movie. Though both Edge of Tomorrow and X-Men: Days of Future Past come a close second.

2015

Movies watched from this year: 43
There’s not much to be said about this year that I didn’t already say about 2014, and while it took me several months before finally getting around to it (and still have yet to watch Rogue One, I really enjoyed the latest in the Star Wars franchise The Force Awakens enough to consider it my favorite of the year. For comic book movies, there were a few good indies, especially a surprise from Australia The Subjects but my favorite would have to be Kingsman.

2016

Movies watched from this year: 42
Somehow last year I actually was able to get a good mix of superhero movies and non-superhero movies and overall I had a lot of fun with movies that others might consider mediocre. I would almost give it to a documentary I just recently watched Tickled, but I’ve got to go with a theater experience that I really enjoyed despite being only one person out of an entire three people in the theater. I never even watched the original show that it was based on, just the movie, but Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders was just so much fun that I have to consider it my favorite film from this year.

2017

Movies watched from this year (so far): 6
We’re only three months into this year, but I’ve actually been to the theaters a fair amount, at least compared to my previous years. And so far I’ve really enjoyed all four movies that I’ve seen in theaters this year. From Beauty and the Beast to The LEGO Batman Movie and even Power Rangers. But the film that I’ve enjoyed the most out of these half dozen films (including two watched at home) has got to be Logan. It was just such a great film and such a great capper to Hugh Jackman’s X-Men career. Though there’s still plenty of time for it to be knocked out by some other movie before the year’s out.

So that’s my life as it pertains to the films I’ve seen. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.