The week that was...

Week 1 of the challenge is over and, unusually for me, I have only watched 4 films.

Only 8 hours and 16 minutes of cinematic fun. Most surprisingly, 2 of them were Tom Hardy films.

More surprisingly, none of them were Star Trek. Or Avengers.

I'm off on holiday tomorrow. I very much doubt I'll watch any movies, unless we are very unfrutunate with the weather (fingers crossed we aren't).

I shall be back in the UK on Saturday and I'm getting straight off the plane and heading to my favourite place in London, The Prince Charles Cinema, for their third Pajama Party - The Halloween Edition. 6 movies in one evening. Splendid. Should make for an interesting blog post.

Plus, finally, on Sunday (should we be recovered from the PJ party madness) I shall be heading off to see Looper. Been waiting a while for this one (I really should take release dates into consideration when I'm booking my holidays).

See you in a week for a lot of film analysis.

This isn't moonlighting at Applebee's for Christ's sake.

Date: Sunday 30th September
Film: Warrior (2011)
Director: Gavin O'Connor
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte
Running Time : 2 hours 20 minutes
Rating: 8.5/10

Another new (ish) film that I didn't get a chance to see at the cinema and, after much badgering from people about how great it is, I finally got round to adding to my LoveFilm list and settling down to watch.

Before I get into my feelings on the film, I need to confess a couple of things;

1) I watched this whilst I was ironing, packing, organising for holiday so wasn't 100% focused on the screen (although I did nearly end up burning a patch in a good frock, so maybe I was a little bit more focused on the film than I planned to be!)

2) I don't really 'get' Tom Hardy, sometimes he is wonderful (Bronson) and other times I find myself watching him and thinking 'what's all this fuss about?'.

3) I have no clue what MMA (mixed martial arts) is. I thought this was a film about boxing.

I am generally a little fussy when it comes to sports films. I have little interest in sport, and even less understanding. If the sport is in the background to a great story I'm there, I'm committed. Luckily enough, Warrior is one of those films.

The MMA fighting (some sort of cage fighting, ultimate fighter, beat the crap out of each other, malarkey) takes a back seat to the story of two brothers, their complicated relationship with their alcoholic father and the ways they have dealt with the challenges life has thrown at them.

I can see why this gets a lot of comparison to The Fighter, they both embrace the same themes; family relations, addiction, salvation through sport, and so forth.

Nick Nolte was more than deserving of his Academy Award nomination - he steals the show with his portrayal of a father estranged from his children through mistakes in his past and dealing with his alcohol addiction.

Whilst parts of the film were a little predictable, the cast were strong enough to detract from this.

I left this film with a couple of big questions;

Why does Posh Spice get so much stick for her pouting, when Tom Hardy has created a whole career off the back of his?

What on earth has happened to Tom Hardy's neck?

Challenge day: 7
Challenge time : 00 days, 08 hours, 16 minutes.
Challenge film total: 4

The most non-sensical double bill in cinematic history (perhaps)

Date: Wednesday 26th September

This week saw the temporary (curse those holidays) move of Sunday Night Film Club to a Wednesday. Not necessarily the best of ideas - there's only so many films you can fit in after work and CW and I found ourselves creating a double bill that made absolutely no sense. The only thing these two films had in common was that they were both new to my collection.

First up we had...

Film: This Means War (2012)
Director: McG
Starring: Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Reese Witherspoon
Running Time: 1 hour, 37 minutes
Rating: 7/10

A film that was picked for two reasons;

1) CW's love for this man...

2) My belief that Captain Kirk is one of the top 5 most handsome men on cinema screens, ever.

(So, really, only one reason. We are two slightly shallow ladies who like to watch pretty boys act).

The premise of the film is simple enough  - two undercover CIA agents (and best friends) meet and fall for the same girl and it all gets a little competitive. In typical McG style, there's a lot of action going on as they use their professional skills to watch, and at times sabotage, each other.

This is light hearted, action, rom-com, fluff. It's harmless, it's watchable, it's enjoyable. It's never going to win any awards but it will keep you entertained for 97 minutes - which is all anyone really wants in a film, right? Plus, Chelsea Handler pops up more than once, and she's pretty awesome.

There is, however, one minor flaw with This Means War - Tom Hardy really struggles to pick an accent. He swings from frightfully British to Cockney geezer and back again in the course of one sentence. It can be a little distracting.

After enjoying the acting talents on display in This Means War, and the best parts of two bottles of wine, CW and I decide that we'd had enough of the light hearted action and we were in the perfect position to watch something that required all our attention, a little bit of thinking and, at times, a strong stomach for sexual abuse. The perfect follow up to This Means War had to be...

Film: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Director: David Fincher
Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård and Robin Wright
Running Time: 2 hours 38 minutes
Rating: 8/10

I went into this as blind as possible. I haven't read the book, I haven't seen the original Swedish film, I didn't know all that much about the plot. I think this might have been a slight advantage, as I had no other reference points to compare the film to (although this still doesn't mean I understand people that enjoyed The Time Traveller's Wife)

The basic premise of the film is a journalist (Daniel Craig) is investigating the 40 year old disappearance of a young lady on behalf of her Uncle (Christopher Plummer). He's assisted along the way by a computer hacker (Rooney Mara) who is also dealing with some emotional issues from her past.

The film deals with some pretty heavy subject matter - including a couple of rape scenes that aren't the easiest things to watch. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo isn't a film that you can dip in and out of, as with most thrillers (and David Fincher films) all your attention is required and some of the less relevant plot points and mentions might come in handy as the film progresses.

I don't know if enjoyed is the right word to use here, but I didn't dislike watching this film. The acting was solid, the plot made sense and all in all this is a really great thriller.

I think I know what books I'll be picking up for next week's holiday.

Challenge day: 3
Challenge time: 5 hours 56 minutes
Film count: 3

It must be some kind of hot tub time machine...

Date: Monday 24th September
Film: Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
Director: Steve Pink
Starring: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Clark Duke, Craig Robinson
Running Time : 1 hour 41 minutes
Rating: 7.5/10

Not what I was planning to watch for the first film of my year of movies, but last night the flatmates and I came to the agreement that there was nothing on the telly and only a DVD would entertain us. After a lot of debate, we narrowed it down to two choices - Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or Hot Tub Time Machine. This gave me the chance to utter the sentence 'I'm not sure rape scenes and lamb chops really go' and Hot Tub Time Machine was in the player.

This is a film I've seen a few times, and I think it qualifies as a guilty pleasure. I guess any film that has the combined talents of Lloyd Dobler, George McFly, and Janis Ian is bound to be a winner. Plus, it has a solid 80s soundtrack (Poison, Mötley Crüe, and Rick Springfield's amazing Jessie's Girl), Clark Duke and a hot tub that can be used to travel through time. What's not to love.

I don't know if this is a film I would recommend to others - I guess it depends on your sense of humour. It's juvenile in places and some jokes fall a little flat. I get the feeling, from talking to others that have seen it, that it's a bit of a Marmite movie.

I like it, and so did Empire.

Challenge day: 1
Challenge time : 00 days, 01 hours, 41 minutes.
Challenge film total: 1

the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules...

So, today is the day the challenge begins. In order to prepare myself I have spent the weekend watching movies. It was a difficult job but I just about managed it.

I've had a few questions as to what the challenge entails, so below are the guidelines I'm planning to stick to;

1) Anything that qualifies as a movie must be noted and written about - Made for TV movies, documentaries (not TV docus), films at the cinema, DVDs at home, the 50th repeat of Love Actually on ITV2, etc.

2) I am not planning on writing a detailed review one very film, some may get that treatment whilst others may just get a short commentary.

3) With all films I will note the following: title, year of release, director, lead actors, running time and IMDB link. I will also give them ratings out of ten.

4) I will keep a record of how many films I have watched over a year and how many minutes/hours/days I have dedicated to the great art of cinema.

Handily, I was given one of these for my birthday so I can organise my film watching plans for the year ahead. I was also treated to a few DVDs, some films I've seen before, some I haven't seen in ages and some which are completely new to me.

I think I will start on one of these tonight...

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Not seen before, not read the books either.

Babel - Again, not one I've seen but Gael Garcia Bernal is in it, so that's a plus point in my book.

Rampart - I didn't get a chance to catch this when it was at the cinema and I feel like it's been on my LOVEFiLM list for ages. I think this might be tonight's movie. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Team America: World Police - Who doesn't love these puppets. Glad I finally have my own copy.

Ratatouille - Haven't seen this since it left cinemas. Remember it as being very enjoyable.

The Sword in the Stone - A Disney classic that I only half remember watching as a child, it will be good to watch this again now I have a slightly longer attention span.

The Rescuers - Another old Disney animation. I don't remember having seen this one before, although I do remember watching its follow up, The Rescuers Down Under, a LOT as a child.

Mulan - Again, a great Disney film, one I haven't seen since I retired my VHS player. Can't wait to catch up on what my Mum believes to be one of the best Disney movies.

Super - This is a film that has been on my 'to watch' list for a long time.

So, the challenge begins. The 'Time Well Spent' timer is at zero. Let's see what happens in the year ahead...

My Mission, should I choose to accept it...

So, I turn the ripe old age of 28 this weekend and I'm at that stage where I feel the need to set myself little life tasks for the year ahead.

One thing I've always wanted to do was combine two things I love - writing and movies.

So here's the deal, from Monday 24th September I will blog a commentary on every single film I watch, for at least one year. Be it some crap on TV at 1am on a Wednesday night, the latest blockbuster, some terrible foreign language animated disaster or, knowing me, my 67th viewing of Star Trek.

This could be interesting.

Keep your eyes peeled for the first comment. I'm predicting it will probably be Avengers related. I make no apologies.

Here we go...