Things change quickly sometimes, and that was certainly the case this week for me. Instead of heading to London, I found myself stymied when it came to actually laying hands on my passport. Even now, two days later, I have no idea where it went, so I am in LA enjoying the rains and making my last big push to catch up on films before we lock our top ten lists for the year here at HitFix.
That happens Friday, so I am going to have to be done watching movies by, at the very latest, Thursday night. That gives me time to write my list before I shoot the video component of it on Friday afternoon. That seems incredibly soon to me, especially since I have 16 films I still want to try to screen for myself, plus three films that I want to screen again. I don't think it's possible I'll actually see all of them, but I'm trying.
Tonight, I went to a screening of “Top Five,” the new film by Chris Rock, and all I'll say about it for now is that Rosario Dawson, one of my favorite faces in all of film, has an exceptionally good role in the film, and totally crushes it.
Now that I'm home, I have at least a double-feature ahead before I sleep, starting with “Citizenfour,” the Edward Snowden documentary, and then I'll try to see both “Locke” and “Wild” before bed. Tomorrow, I'm going to try for no less than five movies, including “The Obvious Child,” “Leviathan,” and “Mr. Turner.” It's dizzying right now, but in a weird way, it's helping me get some clarity because the films that really stand out for me from the past year are getting more vivid as I pile the rest of them on at the last minute. It's strange, but this is part of the process for me every year, and I always try to do as much due dilligence as possible to give every possible film a shot.
Even in the midst of this, I've got a lot of stuff I'm preparing for you that's longer-form work that I've been chipping away at, and I'm really glad you guys have enjoyed the shorter form stuff that I've added to the mix. I'm paying attention to the e-mail and the comments, and I appreciate you trying to let us know when you like something. I'll have a new “Ask Drew” up for you tomorrow as well.
Busy just barely begins to describe it.