That's a Wrap!

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...

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Reviewed Lost Penguin style

This week I got a boys' afternoon out with my brother, and what better way to spend a boys' afternoon out than watching a mindless action movie in 3D.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a huge improvement on Revenge of the Fallen, but let's face it that's hardly difficult considering Fallen was possibly one of the most half-arsed attempts at film making to ever call itself a blockbuster.

You have to know what to expect when you go and see a CG driven action film, especially from a director like Michael Bay. It's never going to deliver anything profound or win Best Screenplay Oscars, but it is going to be visually impressive if nothing else.

The plot is, of course, ridiculous. This isn't a bad point though. I mean, the film's about giant robots that turn into cars! An Autobot spaceship containing a technology that could have changed the outcome of the civil war with the Decepticons escapes from the Transformers home planet of Cybertron and crash lands on Earths moon. This turns out to be the reason behind the space race and a secret part of Apollo 11's mission. (I must say, this was the best bit of the movie for me as I love all the space race stuff and they did it pretty well. The real Buzz Aldrin was in the movie!)

The rest of the plot is pretty much a massive battle, with added padding because the actors need to flap their mouths occasionally.

We're introduced to the Autobots old leader Sentinel Prime (Leonard 'Spock' Nimoy) who we think is good but turns out is working with the Decepticons. We're also introduced to Sam Witwicky's (Shia LaBeouf) new girlfriend, thingy, whatsername, Miss Perkytits, Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whitley — more on her later)

Megatron rocks up too and there's lots of shooty, shouty big badabooms.

Unlike Fallen, Dark of the Moon seems to just about manages balance explosions with humour, and there were several occasions where the whole cinema audience was laughing away. This was mainly due to the amazing Alan Tudyk, who for some reason is one of the most likable actors of all time. Honestly, this guy could kick down my front door, punch me in the face and set fire to my cat but I'd still offer him a coffee and a chat. John Malkovich is in it too, playing LaBeoufs weirdo boss — the only problem is there's not enough Malkovich screen time.

The last thing to do is point out this films main weakness...It does action well, it does humour well, but it does love terribly and part of the reason for this is the frankly terrible acting from newcomer Rosie Huntington-Whitley. A woman clearly hired for her body and nothing else, not even her weird model face. I wouldn't normally be this scathing about someone but she really has to be seen to be believed, and even LaBeoufs natural talent/cockiness struggles whenever it shares screen time with her. My scrotum has more chance of winning a best actress Oscar than this woman does. If she somehow gets another job in a film that requires some real acting skill and you end up thinking about watching it, I'd advise you to stay home and stare at a door.

I realise that I haven't exactly painted a positive picture, but it's pretty much what I both wanted and expected from this movie. I do wish they'd continued as well as they'd started with all the Apollo 11 stuff, but to be honest even I suffer from writing a tiny amount of okay content followed by absolute bollocks.

In summary Transformers: Dark of the Moon is pretty much what seeing film in 3D on a big screen is all about. Don't go expecting the King's Speech with giant killer alien robots. Allow your brain to power down and you'll be fine. It earns an action movie 6/10.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it

People, I'm excited. Luckily for you it's not sexually so you can take off the goggles and shower cap and gather round.

I'm excited about the new trailer released today for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. At this point let me clarify that like every other vaguely normal person I find Tom Cruise to be a strange, midget-like mental case, but I do love the Mission: Impossible films.

Right now I'm watching MI-3 and it's a pretty good film, largely thanks to director J.J.Abrams (and in my own geeky mind composer Michael Giacchino). J.J won't be directing number four but he is still a producer (and Giacchino is still scoring!) This time around Brad Bird will be at the helm as director — that's right, the director of The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille will be taking on his first live action film.

If you can put up with a two hour toothy smirk from the lead weirdo this should be an interesting movie. Oh yeah, it also has Simon Pegg and Lost's Josh Holloway for the ladies.

Now I just need to sneak out of the house when it comes out on boxing day...... Check out the trailer below.

My 2011 Film Challenge

I'm taking part in the film challenge 2011 where I shall be attempting to watch 250 movies I haven't seen before over the next year.

There are a few thing's you should know about me to explain why I am doing this challenge:

1. On January 15th I gave up smoking, a 20 a day habit I've had on and off since the age of 13. I'm doing it with help from the NHS, nicotine patches and the support of my wonderful girlfriend but still, it's bloody hard and I'm only on day four. Hopefully watching lot's of films will help distract me from the cravings and the challenge will give me something to focus on.

2. My job title is professional musician and freelance tutor. In real terms this means I have lots of free time when 

either I'm between gigging jobs, working unsociable hours so I'm on my own when everyone else is out at work or I'm doing lesson plans and general teacher preparation stuff that can be done whilst watching a movie.

3. I'm a total TV, movie and games geek whose house looks like the inside of a Planet Hollywood restaurant crossed with Blockbuster Video due to the autographs lining the walls, props, replicas and somewhere around 700 DVDs (See exhibits A through D, and please try not to judge me) 

I will be using mainly LoveFilm.com thanks to @digitalshades for the recommendation and the voucher ,,and hopefully I'll rack up a few points on my Odeon card by the end of the year too. I'm also pretty sure that my girlfriend Amy will be sitting me in front of the many musicals and black & white chick flicks that I've managed to avoid for the past 26 years, which I'm sure will be fun.

So, to set my rules straight: 250 films I have not previously seen between 01/01/11 and 31/12/11. I will not count movies I have seen before, boxsets of TV shows or movies where I fall asleep whilst watching. I am allowed to skip the end credits