2011, my best year of films ever!

It has been a bumper year of cinema, DVD and Blu Ray for me. Overall 234 films with 51 on one of the home formats and 183 visits to the cinema, which of course includes the Frightfest festival and 150 visits to a Cineworld complex with my unlimited card. My current unlimited year has 3 months left to go, but I have already passed last year’s total by 5 films!

So having set myself some serious numbers to try and beat this year, what about the quality of films I saw last year. Have to say for me they were extremely good, I hardly left a screening feeling disappointed. On the other hand I can’t really say I’ve wasted my money due to my card, so I tend to be more tolerant of the films I see, it has to be really bad for me to dislike it!

So while I am talking about bad films, which films for did disappoint me?

1) Shark night 3D, I really knew this was going to be bad, I was hoping it would have enough in it to make it a guilty pleasure film. It didn’t, they held back on the gore, the T&A and what could have been last year’s Piranha, ended up being my worst film of the year!
2) Dream House, another I could sense was going to be poor, and it was! From the bad script and acting to the setup and execution of the film, just plain horrible.
3) The Wicker Tree, a Frightfest feature, wasn’t very good, it wasn’t scary it was just dull. I never liked the first film either!
4) The Roommate, standard American obsession film this time with college roommates, good cast let down by an average script and a below average story!
5) Abduction, Taylor Lautner’s action flick, aimed at the Twilight market, poor acting, poor script, but it did have a couple of good action sequences. Again I didn’t really expect anything else!

Now for a film which is down at the bottom of my list, Tree of Life! I know it’s in most people’s top 10 and I have no problem with that, it’s a visually treat at times, but I just didn’t like it as a film. The story of the boys life is the best part of it, but even that gets bogged down in long meaningful shots. And the ending was just way over my head! But by that time I’d lost the film and just wanted to go home! (I had also watched the last part of Harry Potter just before this, no wonder I was flagging!!)

Now this is where I am in trouble, I do have a favourite film of the year, but then there are so many excellent films I just don’t know where to start after that!

So my film of the year is Super 8. I just loved it, the kids, the look of the film, the music. The plot (even though that’s the weakest point), the script and the direction, just brilliant! I don’t know where it stands in my overall top 10, I need to ponder that list!

Now, I can’t really name a 2nd or 3rd film because I have so many I thought were fantastic, True Grit, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Captain America, Tinker Tailor, Kings Speech, Ides of March, Warrior, Tyrannosaur, We need to talk about Kevin.

Then we have Fast Five, Tangled, Harry Potter, The Help, 50/50, Kill List, The Guard, Tintin, Hugo, Moneyball, My week with Marilyn. Also the Skin I live in, The Conspirator, The Innkeepers, Midnight Son, The Woman, The Divide, Take Shelter, 127 Hours, Immortals, Snowtown, Stake Land, Limitless, Source Code and Trollhunter!

And that’s not even half of it! The list of films is just too long!
As my daughter says it’s been Epic!

The cinema experience of the year was Mission Impossible 4 at the Imax with the Dark Knight intro. Just amazing, both of them and worth the money!

So what will 2012 bring, hopefully another feast of films, looking at the release schedule and reading Empires preview this could be a great year! The films I’m looking forward too are the Dark Knight, Spiderman, Avengers, the hunger games and Bond and so many more! Again another list which could go on and on and on!

I also want to watch more DVD’s and Blu Rays, I have a large number of “never” seen films in my collection which is growing and I’m not doing anything about it! This year I will!

A good year!

Wow I really have let my blog slip, but I plan to put that right now. Yeah right, no I do, I’ve used twitter to great effect over the last 6 months, so I need to get back to some blogging. You can’t really say that much on twitter.

My task of seeing at least 1 film a day the other week, calling it my #bigmovieweek on twitter, went very well. I saw 12 films in all, 8 of them at the cinema. A pretty varied range of films it was as well from the superb British thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, to the Korean revenge flick I saw the devil and ending the week with the worst film I’ve seen this year, Shark Night 3D. Also that week I saw a great film noir in Drive and then a great comedy Crazy Stupid Love which both star the very versatile Ryan Gosling. The end of the Bourne Trilogy which looks great on Blu Ray, plus the remastered version of Jurassic Park at the cinema.

All in all a great week of films.

As bad as Shark Night was and it was pretty bad, it’s not has bad as Giallo, which is the worst film I’ve ever seen, I’ve had a brilliant year at the cinema. I’ve missed the bad films or what looked like they could be bad films and aside the likes of Abduction, the Roommate and Pirates 4 which were all average nothing compares to Shark Night . Just a pity my 100th film of the year was my worst film!

With just under 3 months left of the year, Super 8 is still my favourite film. It will take something pretty special to top it. But you never know, the more I see of Immortals the more I like it. Also there is Hugo, The Girl with the dragon Tattoo, Sherlock Holmes and the Thing which could all make their mark.
I’ve still got to see Warrior, Real Steel, Tintin, Tyrannosaur, Footloose and we need to talk about Kevin yet, and that’s just in the next 2 weeks.

So still a lot of good films to look forward too. Plus I have my huge collection of “Never-Seen” DVD’s and Blu Rays to watch as well.

7 Days of Movies

Why not, there is a lot on the cinema to see this week, plus a lot in my collection to watch as well.

My big week of films started yesterday, with the Redux Jurassic Park, which was pretty amazing to see back on the big screen. The digital transfer looked pretty good, I was a little disappointed in the sound though. I thought the T-Rex was a little subdued but it didn't spoil it.

After listening to The Dark Knight soundtrack on the way home, I decided I need to watch the film, so that's what I did Sunday night.

Monday - I have two films planned for the Cinema, Killer Elite in the afternoon and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy for the evening.

Tuesday - Another two films at the cinema, The Change up and then Drive later. Now Drive is a film I'm eager to see.

Wednesday and Thursday night, not made my mind up yet, but I think it should be something I've never seen in the collection, which gives me a massive choice. I have a massive collection of unseen Asian films, maybe a couple of these then.

Friday is the final part of Bourne on Blu ray with my eldest daughter.

Saturday is back to the cinema to see Crazy Stupid Love with my wife.

Sunday and another 2 at the cinema with Abduction with my daughter and the Shark Night 3D with a couple of mates in the evening.

Day two - Frightfest

Film 4 - Rogue river
Not a bad start to the day, but not the best film. Eased me into the day, not too much gore and relied on the twist for more shock value. Except you could see it a mile off.(6/10)

Film 5 - The holding
Shot in near Buxton, this was a very good thriller, well acted and well written. The direction was pretty good as well. It rained a lot, but you are near Manchester so what do you expect.(8/10)

Film 6 - Midnight Son (discovery screen)
Wow this film was brilliant, fantastic acting from the lead role, and a great take on the vampire theme. Really enjoyed this.(9/10)

Film 7 - Urban explorers
Creep in Germany, and a lot of German speaking scenes with no subs, which put you in a position of the non-speaking German members of the cast, they didn't know what was going on either. Turned into a typical psycho on the loose feature in the end.(7/10)

Film 8 - The glass man
Brilliant, from the direction to the script and Andy nyman and James cosmos. But Nyman was just outstanding, the best performance at Frightfest this year. Loved the film as well. To easy to spoil writing about it, needs watching.(9/10)

Film 9 - Tucker and dale vs evil.
This was so funny, possibly the funniest movie I have seen at Frightfest ever. The hill billy theme is done to death, but this was just brilliant.(9/10)

Film 10 - Vile
Last film of the day and a good concept on the torture porn films, quite liked it in the end.(6/10)

Day 2 done.

Day five - Frightfest

Just too tired to write this last night.

Film 23 - A night in the woods
Missed this as it was shaky cam, and I hate them as they make me ill.

Film 24 - Deadheads
Great cast and crew who we met before the film, I dislike zombie movies but gave it a go. I liked this lot if film pop culture, great gore and very funny.  Enjoyed it.(8/10)

Film 26 - Curse of the alps
This was pretty good, good use of a swiss legend, well directed. Cast were good, but it got a little confusing at times.(7/10)

Film 27 - Inbred
Loved this, the humour was great, good cast, didn't hang around straight into the action, loads of gore.  Bloody good fun.(8/10)

Film 28 - A lonely place to die.
Top notch thriller, good story, great cast. Amazing cinematography ,Scotland looked stunning. Really enjoyed the film one of the best this weekend.(9/10)

And that is it, missed one film, enjoyed the majority, loved the atmosphere. Met some great people, the cast and crew of Deadheads were terrific. Adam and Jo, sneaked a picture with john simm.

Overall a fantastic weekend.

Day four - Frightfest

Film 17 - The divide
Thought this was brilliant, great cast, well written, wonderful to look at. And pretty scary all in all. One of my festival favourites.(9/10)

Film 18 - Rabies (discovery screen)
This didn't happen as I couldn't get up to q for tickets.

So we watched the short film showcase instead, which was excellent.

Film 19 - The innkeeper
Old fashioned ghost story with a great lead actress, very well written. West uses the camera beautifully, the sound was brilliant and the film built to a scary ending.(9/10)

Film 20 - Sint
Funny, creepy and a good Xmas horror movie. Action, gore and comedy, all well done, an enjoyable film.(7/10)

Film 21 - Kill list
The film everybody wanted to see, and while not a let down, it didn't blow me away. It's a well directed piece, very well acted, and looked great. But the payoffs and shocks were a little obvious and just took the edge of the film. Still one of best films this weekend.(9/10)

Film 22 - Detention
I loved this film, pop culture films do it for me, and this is one of the best. Heathers, donnie dark, Scott pilgrim, scream, all rolled into one, plus more culture references than you can mention. Funny, it had gore, it had aliens, time machines and it was brilliant.(9/10)

And that was day 4.

Day three - Frightfest

Film 11 - Troll hunter
Even though I struggle with these films due to the shaky cam, this was really well put together. The actors were all good and their characters likable. The setting was superb, and the trolls were great.(8/10)

Film 12 - The wicker tree
I don't like the original and this was only just better, but it lacked tension and scares. For me the worst film so far. (4/10)

Film 13 - Panic button
Good concept borrowed heavily from saw and the cube, but was well acted. Though the reason why was a little weak, but what was the panic button? (6/10)

Film 14 - Fright night 3D
Really liked this, enough to make it different from the original. Strong cast, not badly written. Not sure it needed the 3d, but will be going to see this in 2d. (8/10)

Film 15 - The woman
Brilliant film, well written, directed, and the sound was amazing. Strong performance from the lead actress and some good twists and shocks. Plus it never over played the abuse.(9/10)

Film 16 - Chillerama
WTF? this was mad from start too finish, each segment was just messed up, but who cares it was great fun and a good end to the day. (8/10)