Monday 1 October 2012

October 2012 Update

Farewell September, we hardly knew ye, and hello to the frankly awful weather of October. September was a bumper month blog-wise, as I set myself the challenge of posting every god damn day, and I'm pleased to say I achieved this goal, even if four of the posts were written during August, which I'm allowing because I had two busy weekends away this month. As you may be aware, the four aforementioned pre-written posts were for the LAMB's So You Think You Can Review tournament, in which I came second, and I promise that's the last time I mention it until I post my North By Northwest review, when I get to that stage in my Alfred Hitchcock run through.

Speaking of which, September's Film-Makers films were Hitchcock's surprisingly funny The Farmer's Wife and sadly annoying Champagne. George Clooney remains in some awful stuff like Combat Academy and Return of the Killer Tomatoes, whilst Steve McQueen is staying in consistently average fare; The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery and Never So Few. Kate Winslet's films are ones I wouldn't recommend for very different reasons: Jude is so very depressing, whilst A Kid in King Arthur's Court is just terrible. I'm slowing down my advancing through the Coens' films, just seeing Raising Arizona this month, as I'm aware there's a few Clooney films coming up and I want to hit them coming from two directions simultaneously.

List-wise, 1001 sees the loss of Clueless, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (before it was officially included), Vagabond, Broken Blossoms, Winchester '73, Silver Lode, Mother and Son and Amelie. The Empire 5 Star 500 lost Battle Royale, Departures, Yojimbo, Raising Arizona and Amelie, whilst the Empire Top 500 is missing #262 The Virgin Suicides, #222 Mother and Son, #196 Amelie, #101 Raising Arizona and #95 Yojimbo. Nothing got crossed off the Total Film Top 100, but then that's their fault for not including Amelie or Raising Arizona.

Off-list I also reviewed Brave, Napoleon Dynamite and Man on Wire (those last two for the tournament), and had a look ahead at Looper, which would have been reviewed and posted yesterday, but sadly when I went to the cinema I passed out 30 minutes in (I didn't fall asleep, I literally fainted and apparently had some kind of fit). I'm pretty sure it was sugar-induced, but don't worry I've seen a doctor and I'll be fine. As for Looper, it was going pretty well in my opinion, though was far more graphic than I was expecting. Joseph Gordon-Levitt seems to have nailed his young Bruce Willis impression, but how it matches up onscreen I don't yet know, as the point at which I woke up from fainting and decided I should probably leave the cinema was before Willis appeared in the film.

This month sees some new films being added to the List with the release of the latest edition of the book (I don't know what they are yet, but they'll be added to the 1001 page once I do). I had a guess on my Top 5 Movies That Should Be In 1001 (2012 Edition), and prepared for a cruise trip by looking at the best boating disaster films. I mourned the sad passing of Michael Clarke Duncan with his best five roles, and celebrated the birthday of one of my favourite funnymen Bill Murray.


This month I intend to go back to the cinema to watch all of Looper this time. Film-Maker-wise next up I've got Clooney in Red Surf, the Coen's brilliant Barton Fink, Hitchcock's The Manxman, Winslet's 4-hour epic version of Hamlet as Steve McQueen in this month's most-anticipated watch, The Magnificent Seven.

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