Tag Archives: 2007

2007 | Weeks 19-20

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In which I don’t see Spider-Man 3, because I don’t care enough to brave the huge opening weekend crowds (and it’s not meant to be very good anyway). Just one in a list of films I’ve missed at the cinema this year anyway (300, Sunshine, The Fountain, The Illusionist, Ghost Rider, Shooter, TMNT…), though I do intend to see it there soon. And Zodiac‘s out now too! And Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is surprisingly close! And…

Oh, summer. How you sequelise us. Now there’s a new word for you.

Also this month, I watch some stuff via free downloads — legal ones too! Check out LOVEFiLM for those, including proper features such as Super Size Me and The Cooler (as well as many more… if you pay). [2015 edit: LOVEFiLM streaming is, of course, now Amazon Instant Video.]

This time, I also came up with a way of listing Extended-Cuts-That-Aren’t-Much-Different without adversely affecting my numbering system. I’ll also use the same system to list short films that I watch.

As usual, before we embark on the reviews, I shall inform you that this period covers the middle of May, from the 7th to the 20th.

#49 March of the Penguins

#49a Spider-Man 2.1

#50 Ray

#51 Over the Hedge

#52 Hello, Dolly!

#52a-d Four short films

2007 | Weeks 15-18

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After a glut of movies during the middle of the holiday things have slowed down a tad again. I say “a tad” — you can see how much by the sheer volume of weeks included in this entry and the relatively sparse number of films! (To be technical, the average-films-per-week in this entry is 1.75, compared to 2.72 overall and 6 (yes, 6!) last time.)

Nonetheless, things are progressing, and overall I’m still on track to make it well past the 100 mark. That’s from the overall average mind, not from the one for this period. From that I’ll make it to about 90. Maybe I should worry… except that summer movie season is on the way! Plenty of new films there. Plus all the ones I’ve recently missed out on DVD.

Well, that sure is shiny.

This time, I break my self-imposed rule about the length of reviews to witter on about Hidden for double the time. I also didn’t watch a single new film in week sixteen (Three Colours Red fell right at the end of week fifteen, Hidden a little way into week seventeen). And I’ve nearly hit the halfway point, a third of the way through the year. Oh my!

For anyone who may be trying to keep track, this period covers nearly all of April — from the 9th to the 30th, in fact — plus pretty much the first week of May (up to the 6th). That’s basically a month. Well well well…

#42 Three Colours: Red

#43 Hidden (Caché)

#44 Casanova

#45 Garden State

#46 Breathless

#47 Bonnie and Clyde

#48 Stormbreaker

2007 | Week 14

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My quest to watch 100 films I’ve never seen before by the end of 2007 continues toward the halfway point. However, this week I’ve hit an exact average of three films per week — if that were to continue I’d easily pass 150 films by the end of the year! It’s really beginning to seem that 100 is a rather easy mark to cross, while 150 would be more realistic… though only if I kept this rate up, and if I slipped I would fail. That’s never fun.

So, my indecisiveness shall continue. Probably until I actually reach 100 and decide if there’s enough time to see another 50 films. Oh well, they say gambling’s bad anyway.

As noted last week (and above), week fourteen means we’re now over a quarter of the way through the year, and so on the path to the halfway point (which, by-the-way, would be about July 1st, which is the Sunday at the end of week twenty-six). I’m also still on holiday, so once again I’ve seen a fair few films this week, and six of them new to me. Here they are:

#36 Ladies in Lavender

#37 The New World

#38 The Devil Wears Prada

#39 Three Colours: Blue

#40 Happy Feet

#41 Three Colours: White

2007 | Weeks 12-13 (Statistics)

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I knew I should have posted the not-too-short-really week twelve by itself, as week thirteen has seen a veritable mass of films viewed toward the end. But it’s done now, so on with the show!

The end of the second week here marks the exact quarter-way point of my filmic quest (in time terms anyway) and so it seems an appropriate point to reflect a little on my quest so far. So here are some numbers, all totalled up to the end of week thirteen:

Statistics

I have seen a total of 36 films.

Of those, 1 was released in the 1910s, 2 in the 1920s, 1 in the 1940s, 2 in the 1950s, 4 in the 1980s, 3 in the 1990s, and 23 in the 2000s. That means there’s nothing from the 1930s, 1960s or 1970s.

I have seen 27 on DVD, 6 at the cinema, 2 on VHS, and just 1 on TV.

The only directors to turn up multiple times are John Glen (twice) and F.W. Murnau (twice). As it turns out, a fair few actors turn up at least twice, mainly thanks to films like Hot Fuzz, Boogie Nights and Crash. It was only Roger Moore who managed several appearances when I first started putting these stats together!

I have awarded 4 films 5/5, 17 films 4/5, 10 films 3/5, 4 films 2/5, and 1 film 1/5. This makes the average score 3.5/5. Either I see lots of pretty good films or I need to adjust my scoring downward slightly. For anyone interested, the five-star films were Hot Fuzz, United 93, Crash and Trainspotting, whilst the one-star was Flight 93.

My weekly average is now 2.8 per week, which means I’m on course to see about 145 films this year. Maybe I should adjust that aim…

Weeks Twelve and Thirteen

Anyway, it’s time to get on. Here are the films I watched between March 19th and April 1st…

#25 Doom

#26 Flight 93

#27 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

#27a Crash: Director’s Cut

#28 The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

#29 Trainspotting

#30 Little Miss Sunshine

#31 Mrs Henderson Presents

#32 Chocolat

#33 American Dreamz

#34 Secretary

#35 The King and I

2007 | Weeks 9-11

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My aim is to see 100 films I’ve never seen before by the end of 2007. Simple concept, innit.

Week 8 seems to have been a high point so far, in terms of film viewing. I mean, I saw six films that week! Compared to an average of just over two films per week at the start and barely two per week now. So much for weekly entries, eh. But I’m not doing too badly — not yet a quarter of the way through the year and I’ve passed the quarter point in my total. There is hope yet!

For anyone keeping track, this period covers February 26th to March 18th. I didn’t see many films in week nine (the first, and only, was on Friday), or week ten (the first, and only new one, was on Wednesday), so I decided to put these three together. And here is what I saw…

#22 United 93

#23 Fargo

#24 The Reckless Moment

2007 | Week 8

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My quest: to watch 100 films that I have never seen before, by 31st December 2007!

Number of films per week required to achieve this: 1.93

Current average number of films seen per week: 2.63

More than on target. Excellent.

With that information relayed, on to the films that I watched between February 19th and February 25th 2007. They’re now firmly in chronological order.

#16 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

#17 Notes on a Scandal

#18 Nosferatu

#19 Blood Diamond

#20 Hot Fuzz

#21 Johnny English

2007 | Weeks 1-7

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The aim of the original idea from which this blog is adapted is to read 50 books this year and list them here. There’s no way I’d manage that, to be honest. Yes, I’m an English Lit student — that doesn’t mean I read! So my version is to try to watch 100 films this year and, of course, list them here. This is 100 films I’ve never seen before, mind, so constantly re-watching old favourites won’t get me anywhere. Neither will the Bond-in-order thing I have planned for some point, what with me now having seen them all. Oh dear.

Anyway, I shall also be giving the films a rating out of 5 and a review. No doubt these will be of varying lengths — knowing me they’ll start as a single short sentence and progress to 10,000 word essays on each. But we’ll see. [2015 edit: I wasn’t far wrong! Though I haven’t quite reached 10,000 words — I believe my Skyfall review is my longest at around 5,000.] Also included are various virtually-useless accompanying notes, like where I saw them (e.g. cinema, DVD, TV), the year they were made, and who directed them.

So we begin here, covering weeks one to seven of this year. The week beginning 26th February is week nine, for those who don’t know — I’ll get to covering week eight soon, and indeed week nine in time also. For these first seven weeks I can’t remember the precise order I watched the films in, so they’re grouped in a bit of alphabetical order and a bit in what I can remember of their relation to each other. To be honest, I think they’re just a bit of a mess now.

#1 Eragon

#2 Thumbsucker

#3 Basil the Great Mouse Detective

#4 Boogie Nights

#5 A Cock and Bull Story

#6 Octopussy

#7 For Your Eyes Only

#8 Ong-Bak

#9 The Last Days of Pompeii

#10 It

#11 The Pursuit of Happyness

#12 South Pacific

#13 Romance & Cigarettes

#14 The Prestige

#15 This is Spinal Tap