2015 Film List
2012 Film List - total 72
2013 Film List - total 44
2014 Film List - total 55
1) The Raid - dir: Gareth Evans
I really enjoyed this a lot more this time than when we saw it at the cinema. At the cinema it felt really long, but I blame the stupid uncomfy seats at Odeon. It's a solid film, with good pacing and amazing martial arts choreography. No fast cuts! I had fast cuts with a passion in a martial arts film because that prevents you from properly seeing the fight and thus means that they have something to hide (sloppy execution, bad choreography etc. etc.) I love nothing more than seeing well-choreographed fights between pros, and no wirework either! Joy of joys!
2) Lilo and Stitch - dir: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
This is such a delightful film, and I love it a lot. It was perfect for chilling and cuddling, and sitting peacefully whilst not trying to scare Ripley, because the soundtrack etc were all pretty mellow.
3) True Grit - dir: Joel and Ethan Coen
This film is so perfectly cast and shot and finished, the Coen brothers never really fail to deliver something marvellously polished.
4) Pitch Perfect - dir: Jason Moore
I'd never had much interest in this film, but had seen a few clips for the second one, and had seen some interviews with Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson which made me think maybe it was worth checking out, and also it was now free on Amazon. It was quite good fun. I wasn't that invested in the plot, however I have a real thing for acapella harmonising, and frankly I could have just watched a whole film with just those bits instead of the plot.
5) The Raid 2 - dir: Gareth Evans
Now don't get me wrong, this a good film. But I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one. It's too... ambitious and I think it overstretched itself. The strength of the first film was the simplicity of concept that allowed a clean story to be told well, and concisely. This one lost that - it's over an hour longer and bears little to no connection to the first film. It could easily have had totally different characters from the first film and not suffered at all, given as there is only a one-man overlap. It tried to be too clever with flashback cuts, and gangland politics - like an Indonesian Godfather? And it got a little excessively gory in places. Like the first one had some cringy bits in, but this was like full-on anime-level violence with a chick wielding clawhammers like dang son. It was a good film if you looked at it as a standalone, but it wasn't a good sequel to The Raid.
6) Sharknado 2 - dir: Anthony C. Ferrante
This wasn't as good as the first one. It was trying waaay too hard to be a bad movie, whilst the first one was just bad, this was pushing too far and filled with too many celebrity cameos to try and get their name involved with it. Left me cold.
7) Tekken - dir: Dwight H. Little
This was a thoroughly, thoroughly ridiculous film and I'm pretty sure I slept through most of it. I think I was too sleepy to properly enjoy its terrible nature.
8) No Country for Old Men - dir: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
I always enjoy this film more than I expect to when I watch it. I am rapidly becoming more invested in the Coen Brothers, and I think I probably should give The Big Lebowski another try.
9) Alien: Resurrection - dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
This... really wasn't as good at the other Alien movies. I don't think it quite deserved the vitriol it seems to have attracted, but it really was pretty weak. And knowing Joss Whedon wrote it, it's easy to see the seeds for his future work planted in there, mainly Firefly. But now I've seen all the Alien films.
10) Persepolis - dir: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
This was a film I've been meaning to watch for years and years. I got a copy for Christmas and finally watched it a few weeks back, and it was worth it. It is a wonderful film, and absolutely fascinating. I know very little about the history of Iran, so seeing this very personal account of a changing country was amazing. I was impressed with the animation quality as well, it was lovely and smooth, and the voice acting was great.
These below are all retyped from memory out of order - I copied them from a list I'd been keeping on my phone but then the browser crashed and I lost EVERYTHING including all the reviews I'd written so far, and I'd deleted the note from my phone so can't retrieve it. I am SO MAD. I definitely watched 74 films, if there are gaps it's because of that.
11) Cool World - dir:Ralph Bakshi
Right the easiest way to describe this is as an animated sexual nightmare. The director is known for animated horror porn, and this was originally supposed to be an animated comedy sex-horror. However, then they hired Kim Basinger and she decided she wanted to show it to sick kids in hospitals. The studio agreed, and re-wrote it. The director did not agree, but the studio threatened to sue him if he didn't make the movie. He made the movie, but in revenge didn't give the animators the script, just told them to do what they wanted. Animators he'd hired when it was a comedy-porn-horror. Do you see where I'm going with this? The result is a terrifying mix of live action and dark terrifying animation that doesn't match what's being said. Plus young Brad Pitt. It's... awful and terrifying, and frustrating because the original pitched plot sounded actually really good.
12) Mad Max - dir:George Miller
13) Mad Max 2 - dir:George Miller
We watched these in prep for the release of the new one. The first one I don't think even got released over here originally and is like a totally different movie. It's so quiet and long and boring. The second one is more like I remember - faux-bondage gear and all. It's very hard to take a bad guy seriously when he's wearing chaps with a little butt flap.
14) Mad Max Fury Road - dir:George Miller
This film THIS FILM. It was so good. So good. Although Tom Hardy's accent went a bit 'Bane' towards the end. But the costume budget had clearly been upped to look less like they'd been bought at a sex shop. Definitely want to get this to add to the rest of the collection.
15) Terminator - dir: James Cameron
Obviously watched in prep for the new one.
16) Terminator Genisys - dir: Alan Taylor
Before this came out I felt like Emelia Clarke was a bad choice for the role, since Sarah Connor is supposed to be T2 Sarah Connor in this, and she is way too dainty and delicate for me to believe that. It didn't detract as much as I thought it would from the film though, and she was very good. I really liked the relationship they set up with the Terminator, but the paradox they created really stresses me out. I hate paradoxes.
17) A New Leaf - dir: Elaine May
This was a weird film, but pretty cute, about a rich playboy who runs out of money so marries a wealthy nerd to kill her off and inherit but discovers he's actually quite fond of her. Apparently the writer/director had some weird other plot planned where she turned out to be a gangster, but the studio nixed that, and I'm glad they did.
18) We're Not Married! - dir: Edmund Goulding
Loads of couples find out they're not actually legally married after discovering that the judge who married them did it before his license started. Strangely progressive, if not always happy, and an oddly piecemeal film because it was lots of short stories.
19) Blind Date - dir: Blake Edwards
Bruce Willis gets set up on a date with Kim Basinger who is allergic to alcohol, gets drunk and trashes his work dinner and gets him fired, his car trashed and him assaulted by her stalker ex boyfriend. He then gets drunk as she's sobering up in revenge and makes a state of himself at her friends' house. He gets sued for criminal damage, her psycho ex is a lawyer and she agrees to marry him if he'll get Bruce off. Turns out Bruce loves her and goes to rescue her from this marriage. It's a fun film, and it... really doesn't end where you think it will. unexpectedly long.
20) Spy - dir: Paul Feig
I enjoyed this better than Feig's other films I've seen (what is it with all his toilet humour?). Miranda Hart is great to see on screen, Jason Statham is way more watchable than any of the films he has been cast in would say, and I loved seeing someone other than the usual people be the kickass character. Unexpected bigger ladies rocking the place what what.
21) Mighty Aphrodite - dir: Woody Allen
UGH. This film makes me so angry still. It's gross. It's so gross. Woody Allen buying into his own hype and doing this self-indulgent film about his own genius whilst taking advantage of a vulnerable woman, making it seem like in doing so he's absolutely a good guy, and then after getting her hit - by a trainee boxer no less - doesn't apologise, glosses over it, and instead has sex with her at her most vulnerable, and then the film manages to literally gloss over her involvement in having a baby. THE WORST.
22) Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome - dir: George Miller, George Ogilvie
This was bananas. It sort of followed on from the second film? But was also a different level of Totally Batshit Crazy, and didn't have a coherent plot that followed? It was just a bit all over the place.
23) Rubber - dir: Mr. Oizo
We expected this to be a terrible B movie about a killer tyre. Turns out it's a French arthouse comedy providing commentary on the nature of the audience and critic.
24) Everybody Says I Love You - dir: Woody Allen
This was better than Mighty Aphrodite, and had a great cast, but basically would have been better if Woody Allen's entire role had been cut from the film. It added nothing to the plot, except a side story that once again basically suggested that the exploitation of vulnerable women to manipulate them to sleep with you was totally okay as long as the guy doing it was otherwise apparently incompetent.
25) Ant Man - dir: Peyton Reid
The best bit of this film was Ant Man's surprisingly cultured gangster friend who goes to art openings and wine tastings. I want him to basically just narrate the whole next film.
26) Avengers: Age of Ultron - dir: Joss Whedon
A lot of people got really angry about this film, and yeah it wasn't as good as Winter Soldier but it never was going to be as an ensemble film, and I quite enjoyed it.
27) Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - dir: Brad Bird
28) Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - dir: Christopher McQuarrie
These are good fun films, but it just makes me so sad that the women in them are basically interchangeable. God forbid we have to look at the same woman two films in a row, even if she's LITERALLY THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE 6-PERSON TEAM. WHATEVER.
29) SPECTRE - dir: Sam Mendes
30) Crimson Peak - dir: Guillermo Del Toro
31) Inside Out - dir: Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
32) Big Hero 6 - dir: Don Hall, Chris Williams
33) Jackie Chan's First Strike - dir: Stanley Tong
34) Rumble in the Bronx - dir: Stanley Tong
35) Ip Man 2 - dir: Wilson Yip
36) Suffragette - dir: Sarah Gavron
37) Lovewrecked - dir: Randal Kleiser
38) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 - dir: Francis Lawrence
39) The Help - dir: Tate Taylor
40) The Decoy Bride - dir: Sheree Folkson
41) Jurassic World - dir: Colin Trevorrow
42) A Royal Christmas - dir: Alex Zamm
43) Die Hard - dir: John McTiernan
44) Sicario - dir: Denis Villeneuve
45) The Man from UNCLE - dir: Guy Ritchie
46) Cinderella - dir: Kenneth Branagh
47) Despicable Me 2 - dir: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud
48) Pitch Perfect - dir: Jason Moore
49) Walk of Shame - dir: Steven Brill
50) Anchorman 2 - dir: Adam McKay
51) Just My Luck - dir: Donald Petrie
52) Horns - dir: Alexandre Aja
53) They Came Together - dir: David Wain
54) Vampire Academy - dir: Mark Waters
55) Arena - dir: Peter Manoogian
56) Troll Hunter - dir: André Øvredal
57) What We Do in the Shadows - dir: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
58) Ginger Snaps - dir: John Fawcett
59) The Grass is Greener - dir: Stanley Donen
60) Return to Oz - dir: Walter Murch
61) Heathers - dir: Michael Lehmann
62) The Craft - dir: Andrew Fleming
63) Slap Shot - dir: George Roy Hill
64) Hudson Hawk - dir: Michael Lehmann
65) Starship Troopers - dir: Paul Verhoeven
66) Fargo - dir: Joel Coen
67) Bill - dir: Richard Bracewell
68) Brick - dir: Rian Johnson
69) Belle du Jour - dir: Luis Buñuel
70) That Thing You Do - dir: Tom Hanks
71) The Peanuts Movie - dir:Steve Martino
72) The Help - dir: Tate Taylor
73) Meet Me in St Louis - dir: Vincente Minnelli
74) High Society - dir: Charles Walters
2013 Film List - total 44
2014 Film List - total 55
1) The Raid - dir: Gareth Evans
I really enjoyed this a lot more this time than when we saw it at the cinema. At the cinema it felt really long, but I blame the stupid uncomfy seats at Odeon. It's a solid film, with good pacing and amazing martial arts choreography. No fast cuts! I had fast cuts with a passion in a martial arts film because that prevents you from properly seeing the fight and thus means that they have something to hide (sloppy execution, bad choreography etc. etc.) I love nothing more than seeing well-choreographed fights between pros, and no wirework either! Joy of joys!
2) Lilo and Stitch - dir: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
This is such a delightful film, and I love it a lot. It was perfect for chilling and cuddling, and sitting peacefully whilst not trying to scare Ripley, because the soundtrack etc were all pretty mellow.
3) True Grit - dir: Joel and Ethan Coen
This film is so perfectly cast and shot and finished, the Coen brothers never really fail to deliver something marvellously polished.
4) Pitch Perfect - dir: Jason Moore
I'd never had much interest in this film, but had seen a few clips for the second one, and had seen some interviews with Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson which made me think maybe it was worth checking out, and also it was now free on Amazon. It was quite good fun. I wasn't that invested in the plot, however I have a real thing for acapella harmonising, and frankly I could have just watched a whole film with just those bits instead of the plot.
5) The Raid 2 - dir: Gareth Evans
Now don't get me wrong, this a good film. But I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one. It's too... ambitious and I think it overstretched itself. The strength of the first film was the simplicity of concept that allowed a clean story to be told well, and concisely. This one lost that - it's over an hour longer and bears little to no connection to the first film. It could easily have had totally different characters from the first film and not suffered at all, given as there is only a one-man overlap. It tried to be too clever with flashback cuts, and gangland politics - like an Indonesian Godfather? And it got a little excessively gory in places. Like the first one had some cringy bits in, but this was like full-on anime-level violence with a chick wielding clawhammers like dang son. It was a good film if you looked at it as a standalone, but it wasn't a good sequel to The Raid.
6) Sharknado 2 - dir: Anthony C. Ferrante
This wasn't as good as the first one. It was trying waaay too hard to be a bad movie, whilst the first one was just bad, this was pushing too far and filled with too many celebrity cameos to try and get their name involved with it. Left me cold.
7) Tekken - dir: Dwight H. Little
This was a thoroughly, thoroughly ridiculous film and I'm pretty sure I slept through most of it. I think I was too sleepy to properly enjoy its terrible nature.
8) No Country for Old Men - dir: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
I always enjoy this film more than I expect to when I watch it. I am rapidly becoming more invested in the Coen Brothers, and I think I probably should give The Big Lebowski another try.
9) Alien: Resurrection - dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
This... really wasn't as good at the other Alien movies. I don't think it quite deserved the vitriol it seems to have attracted, but it really was pretty weak. And knowing Joss Whedon wrote it, it's easy to see the seeds for his future work planted in there, mainly Firefly. But now I've seen all the Alien films.
10) Persepolis - dir: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
This was a film I've been meaning to watch for years and years. I got a copy for Christmas and finally watched it a few weeks back, and it was worth it. It is a wonderful film, and absolutely fascinating. I know very little about the history of Iran, so seeing this very personal account of a changing country was amazing. I was impressed with the animation quality as well, it was lovely and smooth, and the voice acting was great.
These below are all retyped from memory out of order - I copied them from a list I'd been keeping on my phone but then the browser crashed and I lost EVERYTHING including all the reviews I'd written so far, and I'd deleted the note from my phone so can't retrieve it. I am SO MAD. I definitely watched 74 films, if there are gaps it's because of that.
11) Cool World - dir:Ralph Bakshi
Right the easiest way to describe this is as an animated sexual nightmare. The director is known for animated horror porn, and this was originally supposed to be an animated comedy sex-horror. However, then they hired Kim Basinger and she decided she wanted to show it to sick kids in hospitals. The studio agreed, and re-wrote it. The director did not agree, but the studio threatened to sue him if he didn't make the movie. He made the movie, but in revenge didn't give the animators the script, just told them to do what they wanted. Animators he'd hired when it was a comedy-porn-horror. Do you see where I'm going with this? The result is a terrifying mix of live action and dark terrifying animation that doesn't match what's being said. Plus young Brad Pitt. It's... awful and terrifying, and frustrating because the original pitched plot sounded actually really good.
12) Mad Max - dir:George Miller
13) Mad Max 2 - dir:George Miller
We watched these in prep for the release of the new one. The first one I don't think even got released over here originally and is like a totally different movie. It's so quiet and long and boring. The second one is more like I remember - faux-bondage gear and all. It's very hard to take a bad guy seriously when he's wearing chaps with a little butt flap.
14) Mad Max Fury Road - dir:George Miller
This film THIS FILM. It was so good. So good. Although Tom Hardy's accent went a bit 'Bane' towards the end. But the costume budget had clearly been upped to look less like they'd been bought at a sex shop. Definitely want to get this to add to the rest of the collection.
15) Terminator - dir: James Cameron
Obviously watched in prep for the new one.
16) Terminator Genisys - dir: Alan Taylor
Before this came out I felt like Emelia Clarke was a bad choice for the role, since Sarah Connor is supposed to be T2 Sarah Connor in this, and she is way too dainty and delicate for me to believe that. It didn't detract as much as I thought it would from the film though, and she was very good. I really liked the relationship they set up with the Terminator, but the paradox they created really stresses me out. I hate paradoxes.
17) A New Leaf - dir: Elaine May
This was a weird film, but pretty cute, about a rich playboy who runs out of money so marries a wealthy nerd to kill her off and inherit but discovers he's actually quite fond of her. Apparently the writer/director had some weird other plot planned where she turned out to be a gangster, but the studio nixed that, and I'm glad they did.
18) We're Not Married! - dir: Edmund Goulding
Loads of couples find out they're not actually legally married after discovering that the judge who married them did it before his license started. Strangely progressive, if not always happy, and an oddly piecemeal film because it was lots of short stories.
19) Blind Date - dir: Blake Edwards
Bruce Willis gets set up on a date with Kim Basinger who is allergic to alcohol, gets drunk and trashes his work dinner and gets him fired, his car trashed and him assaulted by her stalker ex boyfriend. He then gets drunk as she's sobering up in revenge and makes a state of himself at her friends' house. He gets sued for criminal damage, her psycho ex is a lawyer and she agrees to marry him if he'll get Bruce off. Turns out Bruce loves her and goes to rescue her from this marriage. It's a fun film, and it... really doesn't end where you think it will. unexpectedly long.
20) Spy - dir: Paul Feig
I enjoyed this better than Feig's other films I've seen (what is it with all his toilet humour?). Miranda Hart is great to see on screen, Jason Statham is way more watchable than any of the films he has been cast in would say, and I loved seeing someone other than the usual people be the kickass character. Unexpected bigger ladies rocking the place what what.
21) Mighty Aphrodite - dir: Woody Allen
UGH. This film makes me so angry still. It's gross. It's so gross. Woody Allen buying into his own hype and doing this self-indulgent film about his own genius whilst taking advantage of a vulnerable woman, making it seem like in doing so he's absolutely a good guy, and then after getting her hit - by a trainee boxer no less - doesn't apologise, glosses over it, and instead has sex with her at her most vulnerable, and then the film manages to literally gloss over her involvement in having a baby. THE WORST.
22) Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome - dir: George Miller, George Ogilvie
This was bananas. It sort of followed on from the second film? But was also a different level of Totally Batshit Crazy, and didn't have a coherent plot that followed? It was just a bit all over the place.
23) Rubber - dir: Mr. Oizo
We expected this to be a terrible B movie about a killer tyre. Turns out it's a French arthouse comedy providing commentary on the nature of the audience and critic.
24) Everybody Says I Love You - dir: Woody Allen
This was better than Mighty Aphrodite, and had a great cast, but basically would have been better if Woody Allen's entire role had been cut from the film. It added nothing to the plot, except a side story that once again basically suggested that the exploitation of vulnerable women to manipulate them to sleep with you was totally okay as long as the guy doing it was otherwise apparently incompetent.
25) Ant Man - dir: Peyton Reid
The best bit of this film was Ant Man's surprisingly cultured gangster friend who goes to art openings and wine tastings. I want him to basically just narrate the whole next film.
26) Avengers: Age of Ultron - dir: Joss Whedon
A lot of people got really angry about this film, and yeah it wasn't as good as Winter Soldier but it never was going to be as an ensemble film, and I quite enjoyed it.
27) Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - dir: Brad Bird
28) Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - dir: Christopher McQuarrie
These are good fun films, but it just makes me so sad that the women in them are basically interchangeable. God forbid we have to look at the same woman two films in a row, even if she's LITERALLY THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE 6-PERSON TEAM. WHATEVER.
29) SPECTRE - dir: Sam Mendes
30) Crimson Peak - dir: Guillermo Del Toro
31) Inside Out - dir: Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
32) Big Hero 6 - dir: Don Hall, Chris Williams
33) Jackie Chan's First Strike - dir: Stanley Tong
34) Rumble in the Bronx - dir: Stanley Tong
35) Ip Man 2 - dir: Wilson Yip
36) Suffragette - dir: Sarah Gavron
37) Lovewrecked - dir: Randal Kleiser
38) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 - dir: Francis Lawrence
39) The Help - dir: Tate Taylor
40) The Decoy Bride - dir: Sheree Folkson
41) Jurassic World - dir: Colin Trevorrow
42) A Royal Christmas - dir: Alex Zamm
43) Die Hard - dir: John McTiernan
44) Sicario - dir: Denis Villeneuve
45) The Man from UNCLE - dir: Guy Ritchie
46) Cinderella - dir: Kenneth Branagh
47) Despicable Me 2 - dir: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud
48) Pitch Perfect - dir: Jason Moore
49) Walk of Shame - dir: Steven Brill
50) Anchorman 2 - dir: Adam McKay
51) Just My Luck - dir: Donald Petrie
52) Horns - dir: Alexandre Aja
53) They Came Together - dir: David Wain
54) Vampire Academy - dir: Mark Waters
55) Arena - dir: Peter Manoogian
56) Troll Hunter - dir: André Øvredal
57) What We Do in the Shadows - dir: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
58) Ginger Snaps - dir: John Fawcett
59) The Grass is Greener - dir: Stanley Donen
60) Return to Oz - dir: Walter Murch
61) Heathers - dir: Michael Lehmann
62) The Craft - dir: Andrew Fleming
63) Slap Shot - dir: George Roy Hill
64) Hudson Hawk - dir: Michael Lehmann
65) Starship Troopers - dir: Paul Verhoeven
66) Fargo - dir: Joel Coen
67) Bill - dir: Richard Bracewell
68) Brick - dir: Rian Johnson
69) Belle du Jour - dir: Luis Buñuel
70) That Thing You Do - dir: Tom Hanks
71) The Peanuts Movie - dir:Steve Martino
72) The Help - dir: Tate Taylor
73) Meet Me in St Louis - dir: Vincente Minnelli
74) High Society - dir: Charles Walters