At the beginning of last year I joined the 250 in 2011 challenge. My task; to watch 250 movies I had not previously seen before the end of the year. On December 22nd 2011 at roughly 10pm I completed my challenge. I'm not entirely sure I can say I'm proud to have completed it, but I'm not exactly ashamed either. It's a geeky achievement that I've only really been able to achieve with flexibility of my work, a fitting farewell to the reality of a career in music before I move onwards and upwards in 2012.
The Bad
The hardest part of the challenge wasn't the sheer volume of films as I expected, but rather the amount of absolute crap I've had to wade through. Really, I've seen some terrible movies this year in an attempt to finish what I'd started. The worst film from my list of 250 has to be Gentlemen Broncos. It was so bad I believe I should be given some kind of award for making it through to the end of the film.
Notice I said worst film from my list, though? There's one film I started this year that was so bad I couldn't even make it to the halfway point. Sucker Punch is quite possibly the worst film I've ever even tried to watch, and I own a copy of Freddy got Fingered. It couldn't be more obvious that Sucker Punch, a film set in the imagination of a teenage girl, actually comes from the imagination of of a 40 something male. If this is the direction Zack Snyder's movies are headed, we can expect the upcoming Man of Steel to contain scenes where Superman uses his X-Ray vision a little too much while rescuing a school bus.
Director Uwe Boll also gets a special mention in the absolute shit section. Everything this man touches seems to be dreadful. Why would anybody finance a project to which this man is attached? He seems intent on ruining video game franchises too! If he ever teams up with Zack Snyder it could bring about the end of days.
The Good
The Kings Speech is my highest rated film of 2011, but I think my favourite has to be Chaplin. I realise I'm now raving about this film an entire decade too late, but I urge anyone who hasn't yet seen it to hunt down a copy and just enjoy. This is perhaps Robert Downey Jr's performance of a lifetime and that alone makes it worth watching.
Although not on the list, being film number 255, I really enjoyed Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. In my humble opinion, I've found this series of films to actually improve with each sequel. Another post-challenge film I hugely enjoyed was The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which aside from a really pretentious and somewhat wanky Bondesque title sequence, was one of the best movies I've seen full stop, let alone this year.
The Cinema
Over the course of my challenge I've seen a few films in 3D, and whilst some of them are really pretty, I have to say I'm not really that fussed about it all. Is having stuff pop out of the screen really the future? I'm not convinced. That and I don't like having to put 3D glasses on over my normal specs.
I have made good use of Orange Wednesdays and my Odeon points card has especially proved its worth. It's not cheap going to the cinema, and I don't really mind paying to see a decent film on the big screen, but bugger me the food's expensive! I'd like to see lower prices and healthy options in cinemas or at least be given the opportunity to take in my own snacks.
Home Viewing
Undoubtedly my preferred viewing method has to be from the comfort of my own home. Much of my challenge has been completed with the movie on the TV while I write lesson plans, tidy up, cook dinner or just stare blankly at the screen from under my duvet.
My Lovefilm subscription has been invaluable this year, and I'd say a large majority of the films on my list came from the online service via Playstation 3 and in the last few months the iPad. The films available for online viewing can be a little hit and miss at times, but as with most areas of the service I've noticed big improvements over the past 12 months.
For ten pounds a month you get two DVD or BluRay discs at a time and unlimited viewing of the online service online, on PS3, X-Box or iPad. The discs are always sent out quickly and any queries or problems seem to be dealt with swiftly. I was a little dubious about subscribing to such a service initially, but I'm seriously impressed by Lovefilm and would thoroughly recommend them.
In Summary
I must admit, there have been a few moments where I've stopped and thought 'Fuuuuuuck, I'm wasting my life watching crap movies'. This is especially true when you consider that with the movies I've watched since I finished the challenge and all the films I'd already seen that I ended up watching again over the last year, I actually watched closer to 350 films in 2011. I suppose the upside of this is, I'd make a pretty good teammate in a pub quiz with a movie round. I definitely have no plans to do another challenge such as this one, and I'm very much looking forward to only watching decent films in 2012 and having more time to just sit and read.
I started this film challenge for two reasons really, the first of which was to give me something to write about on my blog and just get me writing more in general, which I've done and as you know now write for the Digital Fix where I talk about TV. The second, and most important was to give me something to focus on whilst I quit smoking. Here we are a whole year later and I'm still cigarette free and blooming proud. That's got be worth wasting a few days watching films.
Now, if only I could find something to help with this bloody movie addiction...
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