How many of us pledge to change, exercise more, eat less, see family, forgive, give to charity, travel more, read more, love more whilst we are in an inebriated state on new year’s eve, can actually sit down 365 days later and say “i did it!” Last year, my goal was to watch 100 films To many of you, 100 films in a a year certainly won’t seem like much. For someone who used to be the marketing manager for a cinema, i didn’t think it was a very high target. Especially as I could watch 20 films for free a week. This challenge (to watch a hundred films in a year) is the third year I have attempted it both previous times having reached 63 and 77.
This year 2011, no longer a marketing manager for the fabulous Picturehouses, I seriously had to go for it or forever remove the thought from my head that i was “into films”. By May I watched over 50 so I knew I was on target. As I write it’s 29th December and I’m sitting pretty on 98. With the Christmas holidays I’ve clocked up at lot of Christmas movies together with a few decent films released at the cinema – Arthur Christmas, Sherlock and Mission Impossible 4 (Ghost Protocol) I’m hoping to hit the 100.
image courtesy of Dale Mastin
So here are my top 10 of all the films I’ve watched this year:
- Black Swan
- The King’s Speech
- Blindside
- Date Night
- Submarine
- Hanna
- Pirates of the Caribbean 4
- Potiche
- Bridesmaids
- Midnight in Paris
- The Help
Humour from dvd winner Date Night predictable, but brilliant hollywood mainstream in Pirates & Bridesmaids, surprise French comedy in Potiche, a nod to the independant british scene in Submarine and of course oscar winning big guns The King’s Speech and Black Swan together with golden globe nominated The Help it is a good cross section I think.
I like to think when I watch a movie my life has changed. A message, a line, a theme from the movie has challenged, enlightened or connected with me so I change for the better. Sometimes it’s pure escapism (Bridesmaids) through laugher and i can forget about how my life is right now. Or sometimes it’s profound. Sandra Bullock’s 2009 oscar winning performance in Blindside hit home to me how one person can be so passionate, loyal, determined and loving, true to themselves and their beliefs in spite of what everyone else is saying. Inspirational to us all.
Relieved I am so close to actually managing to fulfill a New Year’s Resolution I am determined to set more challenging resolutions on 31st December 2011. How about you?
Here’s the full list:
Love and Other Drugs, Letters to Juliet, Music & Lyrics, The Ugly Truth, What Happened in Vegas, Shopgirl, Grown Ups, Black Swan, Nowhere Boy, Where the heart is, A Good Year, Salt, The Tourist, Where the Wild Things Are, The Infidel, Junebug, The King’s Speech, The Painted Veil, The Kite Runner, The Adjustment Bureau, Seven Pounds, Blindside, The Ghost (writer), Date Night, Iron Man 2, SourceCode, The Joneses, 50 First Dates, Brokeback Mountain, Micmacs, Submarine, The Family Stone, Star Wars – Attack of the Clones, Hanna, Margot at the Wedding, Knight & Day, Pirates 4, Jane Austen Bookclub, The Breakup, The Town, Away we go, Run Fat Boy Run, Home Alone, Pirates 2, The Social Network, Unstoppable, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Blue Valentine, I am Love, Potiche, Heartbreaker, Bridesmaids, Bright Star, Wall St – Money never sleeps, Burlesque, Tree of Life, How to train your dragon, Kungfu Panda, Food Inc. Inception, Tangled,, Valentine’s Day, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Megamind, Catfish, Horrible Bosses, Cars2, Four Lions, Star Wars I, One Day, Gulliver’s Travels, Deja Vu, Midnight in Paris, You will meet a tall dark stranger, Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter – The Philosopher’s Stone, The Help, Rango, The Rum Diary, Limitless, The Polar Express, Water for Elephants, Ever After, Unknown, Closer, Killing Bono, Christmas with the Kranks, Elf, New Year’s Eve, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Fred Claus, Larry Crowne, The Simpsons movie, Arthur Christmas, Ghost Protocol(Mission Impossible) Tamara Drew, Dorian Gray, Little White Lies, +2 more to go !