Numero 50, and SANJURO (53)

I am almost incredulous that I've actually managed, through snow blizzards, staycations, general malady and slight fogginess to post 50 times in a row. Yup, this post, no matter it's quality, is big number 5-0. That's nearly two months straight of blogging consistently, a fairly incredible number when you're talking about a daily endeavor that rewards you with nothing but an occasional snarky comment from a less than happy reader. I'm pretty proud of myself, and proud of you folk for sticking along. Here's a list of numerically related items based on the last 50 days of Criterion Questing:

In the last 50 days, or so, I've,

- Watched 12 and 3/4 films from the Criterion Collection. This includes 3 films from the UK, 2 from Italy, 2 from Japan, 1 from the US of A, 1 from Iran, 1 from Brazil, and 1 wee little thriller from Norway. Strangely enough France, the Criterion's bestest friend in film, is no where to be found.

- Reached spine number 53, this means I have, as of now, 411 more films to watch. This will take me roughly 900 years.

- Accrued 12 loyal followers over the last 50 years, and though you're not always the most vocal of readers, I'm happy to have you. Well everyone except for Big Secord and Anne-toxicated, as they've both exposed some of my more exaggerated stories as such and for that my hatred burns deep.

- Spent almost 30 hours watching a selection of some of the great films from the last hundred or so years of cinema. Some of these hours were not entirely pleasant (Henry V (41)), some were challenging but rewarding (And The Ship Sails On (50)) and some where just pure enjoyment (thank you Nights of Cabiria (49)).

Again, thanks for all who've stuck with me so far. I, at least, am having a blast and in the end, that's all that really matters.

I haven't had a chance to read anything about Kurosawa's sequel to Yojimbo (52), Sanjuro (53), but as of watching almost all of it, I'm pretty sure I enjoy it more. This film once again follows Toshiro Mifune's scraggly but resourceful samurai Sanjuro as he batters his way through another series of obstacles in an attempt to help the disenfranchised. This time it's a group of truly namby-pamby samurai as their put upon by a rival gang of absolute bad-asses. I'm enjoying this film more because it's more tightly put together, sure there's still the sort of loose feeling to many of the scenes, but this film is set at a bit more of a blistering pace. There's less Sanjuro just hanging out or getting beaten up or wandering about amongst a complicated plot. Sanjuro arrives, Sanjuro senses problems, Sanjuro steps up and starts taking heads. This could have something to do with my short attention span, and my recently discovered narcolepsy, but I'm pretty sure I'm just infatuated with Kurosawa's samurai flicks.

Tomorrow: Top 5 Criterion Films I've watched so far this year, Sanjuro (53)