Below is a list of the feature films I watched for the first time in 2011, roughly in order from January to December. I may have excluded some foreign titles, because I was keeping track on Flixster and couldn’t find everything in the database. Please note that this does not include re-watches, short films, and titles I may have forgotten to take note of.

• Cyrus (2010, The Duplass Brothers, 2010)
• Life Is Sweet (Mike Leigh, 1990)
• Man On Wire (James Warsh, 2008)
• My Dinner with Andre (Louis Malle, 1981)
• Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki, 2002)
• Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (Kurt Kuenne, 2008)
• Miracle Mile (Steve De Jarnatt, 1989)
• Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance, 2010)
• Mean Creek (Jacob Aaron Estes, 2003)
• Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Alex Gibney, 2004)
• Standard Operating Procedure (Errol Morris, 2008)
• Welcome to the Dollhouse (Todd Solondz, 1995)
• Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (Kenneth Anger, 1986)
• Chasing Amy (Kevin Smith, 1997)
• The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, 1976)
• The Brown Bunny (Vincent Gallo, 2003)
• South of the Border (Oliver Stone, 2010)
• A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes, 1974)
• This Film Is Not Yet Rated (Kirby Dick, 2005)
• Medicine for Melancholy (Barry Jenkins, 2007)
• Mister Lonely (Harmony Korine, 2007)
• Away We Go (Sam Mendes, 2009)
• My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (Werner Herzog, 2009)
• Husbands (John Cassavetes, 1970)
• Wavelength (Michael Snow, 1967)
• No End in Sight (Charles Ferguson, 2007)
• La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (Carl Dreyer, 1928)
• They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (Sydney Pollack, 1969)
• Hard Core Logo (Bruce McDonald, 2000)
• Kids (Larry Clark, 1995)
• Somewhere (Sofia Coppola, 2010)
• Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972)
• Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, 2010)
• The King’s Speech (Tom Hooper, 2010)
• A Single Man (Tom Ford, 2010)
• Citizen Ruth (Alexander Payne, 1996)
• The American (Anton Corbjin, 2010)
• The Adjustment Bureau (George Nolfi, 2011)
• The Human Centipede: First Sequence (Tom Six, 2009)
• Jungle Fever (Spike Lee, 1991)
• She’s Gotta Have It (Spike Lee, 1986)
• Broadway Danny Rose (Woody Allen, 1984)
• High Hopes (Mike Leigh, 1989)
• He Got Game (Spike Lee, 1998)
• Barney’s Version (Richard Lewis, 2010)
• Catfish (Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost, 2010)
• Ratcatcher (Lynne Ramsay, 1998)
• Summer of Sam (Spike Lee, 1999)
• Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (Marina Zenovich, 2008)
• Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen, 2011)
• Vivre sa Vie (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962)
• Source Code (Duncan Jones, 2011)
• Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959)
• Jack Goes Boating (Philip Seymour Hoffman, 2010)
• Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman, 1962)
• L.A. Without a Map (Mika Kaurismäki, 1998)
• Scenes From a Marriage (Ingmar Bergman, 1973)
• HappyThankYouMorePlease (Josh Radnor, 2011)
• Shadows and Fog (Woody Allen, 1991)
• Defendor (Peter Stebbings, 2009)
• The Cove (Louie Psihoyos, 2008)
• True Grit (The Coen Brothers, 2010)
• The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
• Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1983)
• Chloe (Atom Egoyan, 2009)
• Beginners (Mike Mills, 2011)
• The Last Days of Disco (Whilt Stillman, 1998)
• American Madness (Frank Capra, 1932)
• Mutual Appreciation (Andrew Bujalaski, 2005)
• You Can’t Take It with You (Frank Capra, 1938)
• Little White Lies (Guillaume Canet, 2010)
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Frank Capra, 1936)
• Kes (Ken Loach, 1969)
• Minnie and Moskowitz (John Cassavetes, 1971)
• Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman, 1972)
• Crazy, Stupid, Love (John Requa, Glen Ficarra, 2011)
• Opening Night (John Cassavetes, 1977)
• Victoria Day (David Bezmozgis, 2009)
• Easy A (Will Gluck, 2010)
• Love Streams (John Cassavetes, 1984)
• I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino, 2010)
• Year of the Carnivore (Sook-Yin Lee, 2009)
• Mysterious Skin (Gregg Araki, 2004)
• Kicking and Screaming (Noah Baumbach, 1995)
• Schizopolis (Steven Soderbergh, 1996)
• Hannah Takes the Stairs (Joe Swanberg, 2007)
• Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz, 2009)
• The Puffy Chair (The Duplass Brothers, 2004)
• How To Die in Oregon (Peter Richardson, 2011)
• Like Crazy (Drake Doremus, 2011)
• The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodovar, 2011)
• The Kid With A Bike (The Dardennes Brothers, 2011)
• The Day He Arrives (Sang-soo Hong, 2011)
• Invasion of the Alien Bikini (Oh Young-Doo, 2011)
• Family Portrait in Black and White (Julia Ivanova, 2011)
• The Student (Santiago Mitre, 2011)
• Cairo Exit (Hesham Issawi, 2011)
• Al-Ard (Youssef Chahine, 1969)
• Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin, 2011)
• Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up (Saul Landau, 2011)
• Kissing on the Mouth (Joe Swanberg, 2005)
• Nights and Weekends (Joe Swanberg, 2008)
• All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green, 2003)
• Baghead (The Duplass Brothers, 2008)
• Red Road (Andrea Arnold, 2006)
• Alexander the Last (Joe Swanberg, 2009)
• Waiting for Superman (Davis Guggenheim, 2010)
• Lake of Fire (Tony Kaye, 2006)
• You Can Count On Me (Lonergan, 2000)
• The Closed Doors (Atef Hetata, 1999)
• Cold Weather (Aaron Katz, 2010)
• Hunger (Steve McQueen, 2008)
• The Yacoubian Building (Marwan Hamed, 2006)
• Melancholia (Lars Von Trier, 2011)
• Red State (Kevin Smith, 2011)
• Beeswax (Andrew Bujalaski, 2009)
• Manderlay (Lars Von Trier, 2005)
• Whip It (Drew Barrymore, 2009)
• Definitely, Maybe (Adam Brooks, 2008)
• 50/50 (Jonathan Levine, 2011)
• In Search of a Midnight Kiss (Alex Holdridge, 2007)
• Heart of Now (Zak Forsman, 2010)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (David Yates, 2009)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (David Yates, 2010)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (David Yates, 2011)
• Moneyball (Bennett Miller, 2011)

Quick facts: 126 titles. One new film watched every 2.8 days. Most popular decade is the 2000s (42 titles). Most popular filmmakers are Spike Lee (4 titles), John Cassavetes (6 titles), and Joe Swanberg (4 titles).

Favourite discoveries of the year: Life Is Sweet; Capturing the Friedmans; Dear Zachary; Blue Valentine; everything John Cassavetes; The Passion of Joan of Arc; They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?; Kids; She’s Gotta Have It; High Hopes; Scenes From a Marriage; Beginners; Mutual Appreciation; American Madness; Kes; The Puffy Chair; Like Crazy; The Kid With A Bike; Nights and Weekends; Lake of Fire; The Closed Doors; In Search of a Midnight Kiss.

Shoulda’ skipped em’: Miracle Mile; Away We Go; Somewhere; The Adjustment Bureau; Human Centipede; L.A. Without a Map.

New Year’s resolutions: I need to start watching more foreign films, more films by women filmmakers, more truly independent work (less mini-studio stuff), and sprinkle in a few more older titles. Also, more movies in general. More writing about the films that I watch.

Now taking recommendations: I’m putting together a “to see list” for the new year. Please send me some of the films you consider absolutely essential viewing, or better yet, tailor your recommendations based upon the films that I seem to like.