2013 Book and Film List
Have to do this in one post this year, because we can't do future entries any more, and I'm only allowed one sticky. *sigh*
2011 Book List - total 19
2012 Book List - total 30
1)Fatherland - Robert Harris
The first book for friendsbookclub, and it was totally something I never would have picked up on my own - off to a good start with the book club widening my horizons! - and I really enjoyed it. It was easy to read, brilliantly paced, and utterly fascinating. I was also glad that we got a rundown of what actually happened to the many more senior characters in the book. I did spend a couple of nights dreaming the Gestapo were coming to get me though - I guess that's a sign of an involving narrative at least!
2)Death Masks - Jim Butcher
This took me way way way too long to read. I didn't feel like I got into this one as much as the others, but I suspect it's because it was a Plot Heavy one - setting up the overarching plot some more, for the long term, and I've never found those the most interesting. Also the sex scene in it was MUCH saucier than the sex scenes in the other books. And I was reading it on a train! Just as this guy sat next to me with his two kids! I felt positively lewd.
3)Emma - Jane Austen
This took me AGES. The first 60% of it I just DIDN'T CARE. The setting doesn't change, the characters don't change, it's so dull and static and I hated it. The last 40% actually got quite enjoyable when new characters arrived to spice things up and make things happen. I might enjoy it more on a re-read, but honestly I'm glad I don't HAVE to pick it up again.
4)Blood Rites - Jim Butcher
I treated myself to an easy read after Emma, and it was good. I enjoyed this much more than Death Masks, and ploughed through it in about a week. The higher-level revelations were good, the pace was great, and it was enjoyable. I'm not sure about the two-plot-split that has been introduced in the last couple of books, it seems to me that at least one of them then seems somewhat rushed, but there was an aside to that at the end, when I'd been thinking that the secondary plot was way to easily finished, which I had apparently been meant to think.
5)The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum
A fun little book, with the characteristically pragmatic narrative style of a children's book despite somewhat darker content than anticipated. It was great though, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of them!
6) American Gods - Neil Gaiman
I re-read this because I wanted it to be fresher in my mind should that rumoured TV adaptation ever happen, and also because I've been meaning to re-read my Gaiman for years. It was much harder work than I remember it being the first time around, but I think the first time around I was too busy having my tiny teenage mind TOTALLY BLOWN to care too much.
7) The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Another re-read because I've really struggled to settle into books this year, and felt a bit fidgety and unable to commit. I wasn't sure this would hold up to a second reading, but it did. I could absolutely see the criticisms that it was more style than substance, but the style was very well done and frankly there was plenty of substance to keep the plot ticking at a nice pace. I seemed to be more aware of the darker edge to it as well this time around.
9) Be Awesome - Hadley Freeman
This was a Christmas present, and not a book I would necessarily have chosen myself, but I really enjoyed it, and found it a refreshing break in a year when I've been fairly fractious with my reading. It looks at modern feminism and how women fit into today's society, with a media obsessed with weight and sex and relationships, and is handily filled with lots of references to films which I totally understand. Hadley Freeman and I seem to share a lot of the same opinions, which made me feel like I'm not a total alien.
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2012 Film List - total 72
1) The Outlaw Josey Wales - dir: Clint Eastwood
A film that moves much quicker than I anticipated! It clocks in at just over two hours, but didn't feel that long at all. It has quite a light sense of humour, and is handled quite gently so it doesn't feel all doom and gloom, as it could well do given the subject matter. Didn't really enjoy all the spitting here and there though. Ugh, spitting.
2) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - dir: Peter Jackson
Watching The Hobbit inspired J to get the LotR trilogy on Blu-ray, and we've been re-watching. I'm really enjoying them, and I think it's been long enough since I last watched them for them to feel fresh and interesting, which is great. And also we're spanning each one across a couple of nights, which makes it even easier! On rewatch though, we're noticing things that swept us away before. We're noticing the blue-screen and animation far more, and I'm also getting really bothered by the accents! (Mainly Frodo and Sam, but also a little bit Aragorn)
3) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - dir: Peter Jackson
This really is the most boring one of the three. We did Fellowship in two nights. It took us nearly a week to work up the will to watch the rest of this one. Best bits? The Ents. Boring bits? Nearly everything else, dear god. Now I know why my Dad skips through all the scenes with Sam and Frodo.
4) The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - dir: Peter Jackson
The one I have seen the least, and the most interesting of the three (although there may be some correlation there). We actually watched this one all in one go, because there was just no easy place to pick to pause it. So much happens in it, there's so much action, it's great and so pretty. The best of the three, I think.
5) Die Hard - dir: John McTiernan
Possibly the best Christmas film ever. Such a good film, it's amazing.
6) Die Harder - dir: Renny Harlin
As good a sequel as there could be, I think. It manages to keep all the charm of the first, with fresh sequences. Not my favourite, but still a goody.
7) A Good Day to Die Hard - dir: John Moore
If we weren't in the age of digital cinema, I'd call this a crime to celluloid. As it is, it's just a crime against my brain. Ugh ugh ugh.
8) Neverending Story - dir: Wolfgang Peterson
Man, I forgot how trippy this film was. But also I never realised quite how flimsy it was. It was interesting rewatching bits that I found traumatic as a child as an adult though, because they seemed so innocuous now. I really want to read the book though, I read up about it and it sounds fascinating, and much more in depth. Apparently the sequel films went a bit off-reservation and skipped the next bit of the book. Hmmm...
9) The Princess and the Frog - dir: Ron Clements, John Musker
When I first watched this, I remember thinking that it wasn't as strong plot-wise as I'd have liked it to be, but watching it again I take that back. I think it works really well. I LOVE the music, and the animation is so pretty. Love love love.
10) Fern Gully: the Last Rainforest - dir: Bill Kroyer
I LOVED this film as a kid, but I totally missed the extremely heavy-handed Conservationist slant. Haha, looking back it was really quite funny that it totally went over my head. Also, this film is basically Avatar, but less subtle. Robin Williams as Batty totally ruled the film, but sadly the animation was too poor and static to keep up with the pace of his voice acting.
11) Asterix Conquers America - dir: Gerhard Hahn
I love Asterix so much, and whilst this isn't the strongest member of the catalogue, it's still good fun. Asterix is bizarrely Scouse in this dub, voiced by Craig Charles (who I love so I was always going to have a soft spot for it). Add in some Roman Puns (Hannibal's Gooseberry!), and aside from the not-quite-sure-if-they're-racially-insensitive Native Americans, it's good cracky fun.
12) Iron Man 3 - dir: Shane Black
I think this was my favourite of the Iron Man films - I liked the way it linked closely with The Avengers, and I really enjoyed it. J didn't so much, but I think that's because the whole point of the film follows Tony, and if you don't like Tony, you're not going to like the film. I like Tony.
13) Star Trek - Into Darkness - dir: J.J. Abrams
I enjoyed this, Benedict Cumberbatch was great, as was Zachary Quinto... But I found it a little frustrating. Basically everyone in the cast is spot on for their classic-series counterparts, except for Kirk and Uhura. And it was frustrating, because I just wanted Kirk to be Kirk (I'm not bothered by Uhura's rewriting so much, but honestly she needs to know time-and-place for discussions). It bothers me that by the end of it they're sending the Enterprise out onto the tv series mission, and Kirk is still basically an arrogant, rule-breaking, loose-cannon douche. Kirk's not like that. The whole crew as the film have them seem too 'young' - as an ensemble - to put them in the same position as TOS. Also some of the references to TOS seemed too obvious and clunky, and not at all necessary given how well most of the cast just fit their roles. With a cast that well-formed you don't need to make heavy-handed references.
14) The Woman in Black - dir: James Watkins
This was a good film, and the creepy it did it did very well, but it felt too short. Too unfinished. It felt like they could have dragged the creepy out for longer - as it was there was only really that one night in the house. However Daniel Radcliffe's character had balls of steel. Honestly, who just keeps going into rooms when creepy shit like that keeps happening?
15) The Hunger Games - dir: Gary Ross
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, but it was still basically what I expected - Battle Royale: Light. It didn't go far enough in the actual Hunger Games to make it as horrific as it's supposed to be. They didn't show enough of the deaths to make the danger seem dangerous. It was all too sanitised, too detached, and didn't make the audience uncomfortable. As it was, we were enjoying these hunger games as much as the supposedly awful audience in the film, because there was nothing to make us not. You can see why the studio did it - it's a YA book, to make it so the largest audience could see it they sanitised. But it didn't really then work, the point was lost. Still, it killed an afternoon.
16) How Do You Know? - dir: James L. Brooks
Crappy romcom is crappy. Reese Witherspoon really does not make me empathise with her in any of her romcoms. I enjoy Legally Blonde, but really it's not for her, and it's only because it's such a campy OTT film. HOWEVER, Paul Rudd was amazeballs in this, so that was great.
17) Picture Perfect - dir: Glenn Gordon Caron
The last time I saw this was in the early 2000s. The 90s is apparently the era of tiny tiny skirts, and Jennifer Aniston seemed to wear most of them. It was silly good fun, but man has Kevin Bacon's style in that dated terribly. Then he was a sleek badboy, now he looks like a greasy man who needs a haircut.
18) Anchorman - dir: Adam McKay
I think I was basically the last person on the planet to see this film, but I'm glad I waited. I might not have enjoyed it so much in high school, but I really really enjoyed it now. It was the perfect sit-down-switch-off-and-chill movie. And I LOVED the supporting cast - Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell...
And I love you too, Steve.
And cameos from Jack Black and Danny Trejo! <3 Danny Trejo makes just about any film 80% cooler.
19)Wreck-It Ralph - dir: Rich Moore
Jack McBrayer should be in SO MUCH more stuff, but also it's just additional proof that John C Reilly is too good an actor for some of the films he's in. I loved it, the cast was all flawless, the throwaways to the games of my childhood were delightful and the animation was amazing. Clearly a film made with a lot of love, if not a huge budget!
20) Confetti - dir: Debbie Isitt
I think I like this better now than I did when I first got it. The more I watch it, the more I appreciate it. And also Martin Freeman is adorable.
21) Sliding Doors - dir: Peter Howitt
Always a classic, always great.
22) Ink - dir: Jamin Winans
This was... a really odd film. There was something really special and lovely about it once it got going and it had moments of brilliance, but it did take a while to really start, and the opening was a little too... 'Power Rangers' for my tastes. But for a first film on clearly what was a small budget it was great.
23) Wall-E - dir: Andrew Stanton
It came one TV and was just what we needed for the night, something nice and lovely and fluffy to watch.
24) The Adventures of Robin Hood - dir: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley
J had a jonesing for Errol Flynn, and this was on LoveFilm. It was so much fun! Lots of hands on hips and heads thrown back with hearty laughter. Such a good romp, I really enjoyed it!
25) The Five-Year Engagement - dir: Nicholas Stoller
Flawless cast, flawless script, and painfully amazing to watch.
26) Clue: The Movie - dir: Jonathan Lynn
This is such a great, silly film, loads of fun. Tim Curry and Christopher Lloyd are brilliant as always.
27) The Room - dir: Tommy Wiseau
Goodness, there were bits of this that I had just blocked from my memory. Still hilarious, still amazing, still utterly batshit bananas.
28) Sharknado - dir: Anthony C. Ferrante
Everything I wanted it to be and more.
29) Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters - dir: Tommy Wirkola
This film would have been immensely better if it hadn't been a 15 rating, because the gore and swearing they threw in to try and justify the rating felt unnecessary and gratuitous. And also really really gross.
30) Muppets Take Manhattan - dir: Frank Oz
31) Sky High - dir: Mike Mitchell
Always a great film.
32) Snow White and the Huntsman - dir: Rupert Sanders
This FILM. UGH. The styling was perfect, the costumes were amazing, you can see why it got recognition at the Oscars for its cinematography. But it was SO BAD. SO BAD. And I really was quite offended that basically all the dwarves were played by non-dwarf actors. And Kristen Stewart seemed to NEVER wash her hair. Even for her own coronation it looked ridiculous. And her colouring was all wrong - they kept going on about her raven hair and her red red lips, but her hair was brown and her lips were really just pink. I can understand adaptations going for more realism, but if that's the case don't keep describing someone who looks TOTALLY DIFFERENT from the lead actress. It got awkward.
33) Drive Angry - dir: Patrick Lussier
An utterly ridiculous film, but despite it being what it was, left me with a surprisingly wholesome feeling at the end of it. The whole film was made by the fantastic William Fichtner though, who was easily the best thing in it.
34) Piranha 3DD - dir: John Gulager
Whilst the first film had limited redeeming features, this had barely any at all. And was also extremely EXTREMELY distressing because of the VAGINA PIRANHA. And actually also had the girl from Sky High in it, which was a surprise.
35) Much Ado About Nothing - dir: Joss Whedon
I really really really wanted to love this. It wasn't bad, but it just felt a bit... flat. Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker were both great, and I loved seeing Riki Lindholme and Sean Maher on my screen again, but... I don't know, it felt like it lacked some of the pizzaz that Shakespeare really needs to be watchable, and like they were just reading lines they knew a bit too well, so it lost the spark that this play in particular really needs.
36) Seven Psychopaths - dir: Martin McDonagh
This was such a great film. The cast was flawless, always love seeing Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken doing their thing, and Woody Harrelson was amazing as always. And actually, though my instinctive reaction is always to dislike Colin Farrell, simply because of things like Alexander, he is a great actor really, and I think now he's doing films like this and In Bruges, we're actually seeing that.
37) Johnny English: Reborn - dir: Oliver Parker
I feel like I enjoyed this more than I remember enjoying the first one, and it very enjoyable. However, the issues with the Johnny English films are that they really are just a sub-par Get Smart. I think I prefer Get Smart as well because whilst Smart is unfortunate, he's capable and intelligent, whilst watching someone incompetent can just get quite painful.
38) Django Unchained - dir: Quentin Tarantino
I almost didn't want to enjoy this film, because I really dislike all of Tarantino's other work. But, man, this was a great film. It was nearly three hours long, but the pace worked so well that it didn't feel like hard work, and he reigned in a lot of the gratuitous violence that has characterized his other films. Like, okay, there was a lot of death and blood and gore, but actually it felt like it worked in this context, and was justified, whilst in others it felt OTT. It was a really interesting film, with a fantastic cast, and which raised a lot of questions, whilst still delivering a satisfying ending.
39) From Dusk Till Dawn - dir: Robert Rodriguez
In the second part of my double bill of films that makes me think better of Quentin Tarantino even though I don't really want to, he was actually really good in this film. I really enjoyed the bizarre contrast between the first and second acts of the film, the thriller and the horror, and I would like to be Salma Hayek when I grow up kthnxbye.
40) Young Victoria - dir: Jean-Marc Vallée
This is a really nice film. I really enjoyed Emily Blunt's role, but really I think it's Rupert Friend's wonderful turn as Albert that steals the show. I think my favourite part is how well they portray Victoria and Albert's relationship, and the warm fuzzies I get knowing that they have probably only done the minimum of romanticising it, since they did adore each other.
41) Alien - dir: Ridley Scott
I'm ashamed to say I think I slept through more of this than I should have, but it was really interesting to see such an iconic film. It's so different from Aliens (of which I've only seen the Director's Cut), and links in far far better with Prometheus. It really cleared some things up for me, because until that point I had like next to no idea how Prometheus fit in with the rest of the films.
42) Frozen - dir: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Whilst I enjoyed Tangled and Brave at the time, I will allow that they are comparatively weak stories - I think Frozen is definitely the best release since they moved to this newer style of animation. I enjoyed how knowing they were about traditional fairy tale movie tropes (or more specifically older Disney movie tropes), and enjoyed the subversion of it. I also enjoyed that whilst it wasn't explicitly set in Norway, it was wonderfully anchored in all the styles of the buildings and countryside, and the mythology.
43) The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug - dir: Peter Jackson
I did enjoy this film, although I have to say I did feel like they were a bit more heavy-handed when trying to make parallels with the Lord of the Rings films - the Kili/Tauriel healing scene in particular felt very forced. I enjoyed Tauriel, and the presence of Legolas, but I did feel that the romance was super clunky. I would rather have had the Kili/Tauriel thing be more of a friendship, not because I disagree with it but more because it felt badly done. A bit like a rubbish version of Gimli falling in love with Galadriel. Smaug was a wonderfully animated dragon, I do love me some well-done dragons.
44) Batman - dir: Tim Burton
J got ALL THE BATMANS on bluray for Christmas. So we started at the very beginning. I appreciated the acting in it more than I remember doing when I was younger. I really enjoyed Bruce Wayne being played as a shy, awkward sort of non-entity of a person rather than the playboy he's usually played as, it was a really interesting take. I also gained a new appreciation for Jack Nicholson's Joker - he seems to be more of a bridge between the original TV series and the newer animated adaptations. I really enjoyed how close he was to the Arkham games Joker, and the Joker from the cartoons. Such a good villain.
2011 Book List - total 19
2012 Book List - total 30
1)Fatherland - Robert Harris
The first book for friendsbookclub, and it was totally something I never would have picked up on my own - off to a good start with the book club widening my horizons! - and I really enjoyed it. It was easy to read, brilliantly paced, and utterly fascinating. I was also glad that we got a rundown of what actually happened to the many more senior characters in the book. I did spend a couple of nights dreaming the Gestapo were coming to get me though - I guess that's a sign of an involving narrative at least!
2)Death Masks - Jim Butcher
This took me way way way too long to read. I didn't feel like I got into this one as much as the others, but I suspect it's because it was a Plot Heavy one - setting up the overarching plot some more, for the long term, and I've never found those the most interesting. Also the sex scene in it was MUCH saucier than the sex scenes in the other books. And I was reading it on a train! Just as this guy sat next to me with his two kids! I felt positively lewd.
3)Emma - Jane Austen
This took me AGES. The first 60% of it I just DIDN'T CARE. The setting doesn't change, the characters don't change, it's so dull and static and I hated it. The last 40% actually got quite enjoyable when new characters arrived to spice things up and make things happen. I might enjoy it more on a re-read, but honestly I'm glad I don't HAVE to pick it up again.
4)Blood Rites - Jim Butcher
I treated myself to an easy read after Emma, and it was good. I enjoyed this much more than Death Masks, and ploughed through it in about a week. The higher-level revelations were good, the pace was great, and it was enjoyable. I'm not sure about the two-plot-split that has been introduced in the last couple of books, it seems to me that at least one of them then seems somewhat rushed, but there was an aside to that at the end, when I'd been thinking that the secondary plot was way to easily finished, which I had apparently been meant to think.
5)The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum
A fun little book, with the characteristically pragmatic narrative style of a children's book despite somewhat darker content than anticipated. It was great though, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of them!
6) American Gods - Neil Gaiman
I re-read this because I wanted it to be fresher in my mind should that rumoured TV adaptation ever happen, and also because I've been meaning to re-read my Gaiman for years. It was much harder work than I remember it being the first time around, but I think the first time around I was too busy having my tiny teenage mind TOTALLY BLOWN to care too much.
7) The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Another re-read because I've really struggled to settle into books this year, and felt a bit fidgety and unable to commit. I wasn't sure this would hold up to a second reading, but it did. I could absolutely see the criticisms that it was more style than substance, but the style was very well done and frankly there was plenty of substance to keep the plot ticking at a nice pace. I seemed to be more aware of the darker edge to it as well this time around.
9) Be Awesome - Hadley Freeman
This was a Christmas present, and not a book I would necessarily have chosen myself, but I really enjoyed it, and found it a refreshing break in a year when I've been fairly fractious with my reading. It looks at modern feminism and how women fit into today's society, with a media obsessed with weight and sex and relationships, and is handily filled with lots of references to films which I totally understand. Hadley Freeman and I seem to share a lot of the same opinions, which made me feel like I'm not a total alien.
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2012 Film List - total 72
1) The Outlaw Josey Wales - dir: Clint Eastwood
A film that moves much quicker than I anticipated! It clocks in at just over two hours, but didn't feel that long at all. It has quite a light sense of humour, and is handled quite gently so it doesn't feel all doom and gloom, as it could well do given the subject matter. Didn't really enjoy all the spitting here and there though. Ugh, spitting.
2) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - dir: Peter Jackson
Watching The Hobbit inspired J to get the LotR trilogy on Blu-ray, and we've been re-watching. I'm really enjoying them, and I think it's been long enough since I last watched them for them to feel fresh and interesting, which is great. And also we're spanning each one across a couple of nights, which makes it even easier! On rewatch though, we're noticing things that swept us away before. We're noticing the blue-screen and animation far more, and I'm also getting really bothered by the accents! (Mainly Frodo and Sam, but also a little bit Aragorn)
3) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - dir: Peter Jackson
This really is the most boring one of the three. We did Fellowship in two nights. It took us nearly a week to work up the will to watch the rest of this one. Best bits? The Ents. Boring bits? Nearly everything else, dear god. Now I know why my Dad skips through all the scenes with Sam and Frodo.
4) The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - dir: Peter Jackson
The one I have seen the least, and the most interesting of the three (although there may be some correlation there). We actually watched this one all in one go, because there was just no easy place to pick to pause it. So much happens in it, there's so much action, it's great and so pretty. The best of the three, I think.
5) Die Hard - dir: John McTiernan
Possibly the best Christmas film ever. Such a good film, it's amazing.
6) Die Harder - dir: Renny Harlin
As good a sequel as there could be, I think. It manages to keep all the charm of the first, with fresh sequences. Not my favourite, but still a goody.
7) A Good Day to Die Hard - dir: John Moore
If we weren't in the age of digital cinema, I'd call this a crime to celluloid. As it is, it's just a crime against my brain. Ugh ugh ugh.
8) Neverending Story - dir: Wolfgang Peterson
Man, I forgot how trippy this film was. But also I never realised quite how flimsy it was. It was interesting rewatching bits that I found traumatic as a child as an adult though, because they seemed so innocuous now. I really want to read the book though, I read up about it and it sounds fascinating, and much more in depth. Apparently the sequel films went a bit off-reservation and skipped the next bit of the book. Hmmm...
9) The Princess and the Frog - dir: Ron Clements, John Musker
When I first watched this, I remember thinking that it wasn't as strong plot-wise as I'd have liked it to be, but watching it again I take that back. I think it works really well. I LOVE the music, and the animation is so pretty. Love love love.
10) Fern Gully: the Last Rainforest - dir: Bill Kroyer
I LOVED this film as a kid, but I totally missed the extremely heavy-handed Conservationist slant. Haha, looking back it was really quite funny that it totally went over my head. Also, this film is basically Avatar, but less subtle. Robin Williams as Batty totally ruled the film, but sadly the animation was too poor and static to keep up with the pace of his voice acting.
11) Asterix Conquers America - dir: Gerhard Hahn
I love Asterix so much, and whilst this isn't the strongest member of the catalogue, it's still good fun. Asterix is bizarrely Scouse in this dub, voiced by Craig Charles (who I love so I was always going to have a soft spot for it). Add in some Roman Puns (Hannibal's Gooseberry!), and aside from the not-quite-sure-if-they're-racially-insensitive Native Americans, it's good cracky fun.
12) Iron Man 3 - dir: Shane Black
I think this was my favourite of the Iron Man films - I liked the way it linked closely with The Avengers, and I really enjoyed it. J didn't so much, but I think that's because the whole point of the film follows Tony, and if you don't like Tony, you're not going to like the film. I like Tony.
13) Star Trek - Into Darkness - dir: J.J. Abrams
I enjoyed this, Benedict Cumberbatch was great, as was Zachary Quinto... But I found it a little frustrating. Basically everyone in the cast is spot on for their classic-series counterparts, except for Kirk and Uhura. And it was frustrating, because I just wanted Kirk to be Kirk (I'm not bothered by Uhura's rewriting so much, but honestly she needs to know time-and-place for discussions). It bothers me that by the end of it they're sending the Enterprise out onto the tv series mission, and Kirk is still basically an arrogant, rule-breaking, loose-cannon douche. Kirk's not like that. The whole crew as the film have them seem too 'young' - as an ensemble - to put them in the same position as TOS. Also some of the references to TOS seemed too obvious and clunky, and not at all necessary given how well most of the cast just fit their roles. With a cast that well-formed you don't need to make heavy-handed references.
14) The Woman in Black - dir: James Watkins
This was a good film, and the creepy it did it did very well, but it felt too short. Too unfinished. It felt like they could have dragged the creepy out for longer - as it was there was only really that one night in the house. However Daniel Radcliffe's character had balls of steel. Honestly, who just keeps going into rooms when creepy shit like that keeps happening?
15) The Hunger Games - dir: Gary Ross
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, but it was still basically what I expected - Battle Royale: Light. It didn't go far enough in the actual Hunger Games to make it as horrific as it's supposed to be. They didn't show enough of the deaths to make the danger seem dangerous. It was all too sanitised, too detached, and didn't make the audience uncomfortable. As it was, we were enjoying these hunger games as much as the supposedly awful audience in the film, because there was nothing to make us not. You can see why the studio did it - it's a YA book, to make it so the largest audience could see it they sanitised. But it didn't really then work, the point was lost. Still, it killed an afternoon.
16) How Do You Know? - dir: James L. Brooks
Crappy romcom is crappy. Reese Witherspoon really does not make me empathise with her in any of her romcoms. I enjoy Legally Blonde, but really it's not for her, and it's only because it's such a campy OTT film. HOWEVER, Paul Rudd was amazeballs in this, so that was great.
17) Picture Perfect - dir: Glenn Gordon Caron
The last time I saw this was in the early 2000s. The 90s is apparently the era of tiny tiny skirts, and Jennifer Aniston seemed to wear most of them. It was silly good fun, but man has Kevin Bacon's style in that dated terribly. Then he was a sleek badboy, now he looks like a greasy man who needs a haircut.
18) Anchorman - dir: Adam McKay
I think I was basically the last person on the planet to see this film, but I'm glad I waited. I might not have enjoyed it so much in high school, but I really really enjoyed it now. It was the perfect sit-down-switch-off-and-chill movie. And I LOVED the supporting cast - Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell...
And I love you too, Steve.
And cameos from Jack Black and Danny Trejo! <3 Danny Trejo makes just about any film 80% cooler.
19)Wreck-It Ralph - dir: Rich Moore
Jack McBrayer should be in SO MUCH more stuff, but also it's just additional proof that John C Reilly is too good an actor for some of the films he's in. I loved it, the cast was all flawless, the throwaways to the games of my childhood were delightful and the animation was amazing. Clearly a film made with a lot of love, if not a huge budget!
20) Confetti - dir: Debbie Isitt
I think I like this better now than I did when I first got it. The more I watch it, the more I appreciate it. And also Martin Freeman is adorable.
21) Sliding Doors - dir: Peter Howitt
Always a classic, always great.
22) Ink - dir: Jamin Winans
This was... a really odd film. There was something really special and lovely about it once it got going and it had moments of brilliance, but it did take a while to really start, and the opening was a little too... 'Power Rangers' for my tastes. But for a first film on clearly what was a small budget it was great.
23) Wall-E - dir: Andrew Stanton
It came one TV and was just what we needed for the night, something nice and lovely and fluffy to watch.
24) The Adventures of Robin Hood - dir: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley
J had a jonesing for Errol Flynn, and this was on LoveFilm. It was so much fun! Lots of hands on hips and heads thrown back with hearty laughter. Such a good romp, I really enjoyed it!
25) The Five-Year Engagement - dir: Nicholas Stoller
Flawless cast, flawless script, and painfully amazing to watch.
26) Clue: The Movie - dir: Jonathan Lynn
This is such a great, silly film, loads of fun. Tim Curry and Christopher Lloyd are brilliant as always.
27) The Room - dir: Tommy Wiseau
Goodness, there were bits of this that I had just blocked from my memory. Still hilarious, still amazing, still utterly batshit bananas.
28) Sharknado - dir: Anthony C. Ferrante
Everything I wanted it to be and more.
29) Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters - dir: Tommy Wirkola
This film would have been immensely better if it hadn't been a 15 rating, because the gore and swearing they threw in to try and justify the rating felt unnecessary and gratuitous. And also really really gross.
30) Muppets Take Manhattan - dir: Frank Oz
31) Sky High - dir: Mike Mitchell
Always a great film.
32) Snow White and the Huntsman - dir: Rupert Sanders
This FILM. UGH. The styling was perfect, the costumes were amazing, you can see why it got recognition at the Oscars for its cinematography. But it was SO BAD. SO BAD. And I really was quite offended that basically all the dwarves were played by non-dwarf actors. And Kristen Stewart seemed to NEVER wash her hair. Even for her own coronation it looked ridiculous. And her colouring was all wrong - they kept going on about her raven hair and her red red lips, but her hair was brown and her lips were really just pink. I can understand adaptations going for more realism, but if that's the case don't keep describing someone who looks TOTALLY DIFFERENT from the lead actress. It got awkward.
33) Drive Angry - dir: Patrick Lussier
An utterly ridiculous film, but despite it being what it was, left me with a surprisingly wholesome feeling at the end of it. The whole film was made by the fantastic William Fichtner though, who was easily the best thing in it.
34) Piranha 3DD - dir: John Gulager
Whilst the first film had limited redeeming features, this had barely any at all. And was also extremely EXTREMELY distressing because of the VAGINA PIRANHA. And actually also had the girl from Sky High in it, which was a surprise.
35) Much Ado About Nothing - dir: Joss Whedon
I really really really wanted to love this. It wasn't bad, but it just felt a bit... flat. Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker were both great, and I loved seeing Riki Lindholme and Sean Maher on my screen again, but... I don't know, it felt like it lacked some of the pizzaz that Shakespeare really needs to be watchable, and like they were just reading lines they knew a bit too well, so it lost the spark that this play in particular really needs.
36) Seven Psychopaths - dir: Martin McDonagh
This was such a great film. The cast was flawless, always love seeing Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken doing their thing, and Woody Harrelson was amazing as always. And actually, though my instinctive reaction is always to dislike Colin Farrell, simply because of things like Alexander, he is a great actor really, and I think now he's doing films like this and In Bruges, we're actually seeing that.
37) Johnny English: Reborn - dir: Oliver Parker
I feel like I enjoyed this more than I remember enjoying the first one, and it very enjoyable. However, the issues with the Johnny English films are that they really are just a sub-par Get Smart. I think I prefer Get Smart as well because whilst Smart is unfortunate, he's capable and intelligent, whilst watching someone incompetent can just get quite painful.
38) Django Unchained - dir: Quentin Tarantino
I almost didn't want to enjoy this film, because I really dislike all of Tarantino's other work. But, man, this was a great film. It was nearly three hours long, but the pace worked so well that it didn't feel like hard work, and he reigned in a lot of the gratuitous violence that has characterized his other films. Like, okay, there was a lot of death and blood and gore, but actually it felt like it worked in this context, and was justified, whilst in others it felt OTT. It was a really interesting film, with a fantastic cast, and which raised a lot of questions, whilst still delivering a satisfying ending.
39) From Dusk Till Dawn - dir: Robert Rodriguez
In the second part of my double bill of films that makes me think better of Quentin Tarantino even though I don't really want to, he was actually really good in this film. I really enjoyed the bizarre contrast between the first and second acts of the film, the thriller and the horror, and I would like to be Salma Hayek when I grow up kthnxbye.
40) Young Victoria - dir: Jean-Marc Vallée
This is a really nice film. I really enjoyed Emily Blunt's role, but really I think it's Rupert Friend's wonderful turn as Albert that steals the show. I think my favourite part is how well they portray Victoria and Albert's relationship, and the warm fuzzies I get knowing that they have probably only done the minimum of romanticising it, since they did adore each other.
41) Alien - dir: Ridley Scott
I'm ashamed to say I think I slept through more of this than I should have, but it was really interesting to see such an iconic film. It's so different from Aliens (of which I've only seen the Director's Cut), and links in far far better with Prometheus. It really cleared some things up for me, because until that point I had like next to no idea how Prometheus fit in with the rest of the films.
42) Frozen - dir: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Whilst I enjoyed Tangled and Brave at the time, I will allow that they are comparatively weak stories - I think Frozen is definitely the best release since they moved to this newer style of animation. I enjoyed how knowing they were about traditional fairy tale movie tropes (or more specifically older Disney movie tropes), and enjoyed the subversion of it. I also enjoyed that whilst it wasn't explicitly set in Norway, it was wonderfully anchored in all the styles of the buildings and countryside, and the mythology.
43) The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug - dir: Peter Jackson
I did enjoy this film, although I have to say I did feel like they were a bit more heavy-handed when trying to make parallels with the Lord of the Rings films - the Kili/Tauriel healing scene in particular felt very forced. I enjoyed Tauriel, and the presence of Legolas, but I did feel that the romance was super clunky. I would rather have had the Kili/Tauriel thing be more of a friendship, not because I disagree with it but more because it felt badly done. A bit like a rubbish version of Gimli falling in love with Galadriel. Smaug was a wonderfully animated dragon, I do love me some well-done dragons.
44) Batman - dir: Tim Burton
J got ALL THE BATMANS on bluray for Christmas. So we started at the very beginning. I appreciated the acting in it more than I remember doing when I was younger. I really enjoyed Bruce Wayne being played as a shy, awkward sort of non-entity of a person rather than the playboy he's usually played as, it was a really interesting take. I also gained a new appreciation for Jack Nicholson's Joker - he seems to be more of a bridge between the original TV series and the newer animated adaptations. I really enjoyed how close he was to the Arkham games Joker, and the Joker from the cartoons. Such a good villain.