HAPPY NEW MONTH: Films of January 2013

The first year with four different numbers since 1987 has begun.

And with it, Award-o-mania, which took hold of me as soon as the Oscar nominations were announced. Having seen each film that's nominated for more than 1 of the precious statues, except for the ones that will be coming to our theaters in February, I'm kind of fed up with 2012 movies right now. It was a rewarding experience though, to watch all these films I had been anticipating, and most of them turned out quite all right. I'm also playing with the idea of hosting a little blogathon about award snubs, something I've been wanting to try for a long time now, except I'm a bit of a coward. If you all promise to consider joining I would take it up on Sunday though.

Otherwise I discovered an awesome tv series this month, with the side effect of me not wanting to watch movies anymore until I've finished the series. Furthermore, I just bought an HDMI cable today, so I'll be able to watch the rest of the series on my TV which is so cool! Not so cool for all the films that want to be watched, but whatever. 

At least I did manage to squeeze in a lot of them last month...

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

Happy New Month: Films of April 2012

There's no other way to say it - April was epic. Never since I started counting in January 2011, have I seen so many films in one month, and I'm sure I didn't see as many before I started counting.
So that's the first epic thing.
Second one is that I managed to top my blog stats once more, plus I almost reached 60,000 hits on the total count!
And I watched 12 films from the 1001 list, which is pretty cool too, I think.

Last but not least, most of the films that I saw were really good, and I even managed to re-watch a few darlings. But read for yourself...
(And in case you haven't already, check out my updated 100 Favourite Films list).


Watched for the very first time:


A Wednesday! (2008) Neeraj Pandey - India | review
A surprisingly realistic and not religiously motivated film about terrorism with a superb performance by Naseeruddin Shah.
Rating: 8.6


All About Eve (1950) Joseph L. Mankiewicz - USA
I was truly taken aback by the turning point... Otherwise, who wouldn't fall for some old school Hollywood glamour?
Rating: 8.4

Amores Perros (2000) Alejandro González Iñárritu - Mexico
Been waiting to watch this film ever since I first heard of it - this director is starting to become one of my favourites (despite his exotic name). Wanted to write a review, but somehow I couldn't. Anyhow, this could soon make its way into my favourite list.
Rating: 9.4

Happy New Month: Films of March 2012

I feel this has been an exceptionally good month, film-wise.
Even though I have "only" seen 24 films, most of them have been great, and there were many of them that I had been anticipating for a long time.

This month, I tried out two digital "offers" that I found to be quite helpful:
Renting films on iTunes, which is a great way to watch movies you don't get anywhere else, especially when there's no DVD rental store near you.
And the IMDB "Recommended for you" widget that inspired me to watch Mysterious Skin, An Education and Babel, all of which I loved. This is a helpful widget if you can't decide what to watch, because personally there are probably millions of films on my inner watchlist, and another million of films I should watch but have never heard of. So it's nice to have some (very effective) algorithm decide for me, at least once in a while.

Before I start talking about the films I've seen, there's one announcement I'd like to make: I have compiled a new 100 Favourite Films list, and as soon as I get together all the pictures and words, I'll let you now. There are many new films in it, that's all I want to say.

Here's what I have been watching last month...

Watched for the very first time:


An Education (2009) Lone Scherfig - UK/ USA | review
I don't know if you can say that, but I feel that this film set my mind on fire. I really thought about it for a long time, so I had to write a review on it, and it also served as an inspiration for another coming-up post.
Rating: 8.3 (by the way, you can see my new ratings' icon revealed in the full review)

Babel (2006) Alejandro González Iñárritu - France/ USA/ Mexico
At the time this film was released, it was seemingly everywhere - I remember seeing the ads all the time. But I was 11 then, little did I know about this film and its greatness... From the title to the actors, the cinematography, the screenplay and the settings - everything fit so perfectly, it almost hurt.
Also, this was the first time Mexico in the movies reminded me of the real Mexico. My favourite story was the one that took place in Japan, though - that performance was mind-blowing.
Rating: 8.8

Happy New Month: Films of October 2011

Before we start, here's a short notification: please vote for my submission for the 7th LAMB Photoshop event here. Or vote for any of the other ones, if you think they're better - just vote.


Seen on Silver Screen

Sommer in Orange (2011) Marcus H. Rosenmüller - Germany

I wrote about this one in another post already. To quote myself: "I saw a movie with great potential yesterday - SOMMER IN ORANGE - that had an awful end. It was quite realistic with a funny note all the time (it's about some German Bhagwan-followers who lived in the 1980's and the problems their children have to deal with, and how the outside world rejects them), until some time the producers must have thought "yeah, let's make an unrealistic happy-end now". Or something similar. Anyway, I was vastly disappointed.

Rating: 5.9

Midnight in Paris (2011) Woody Allen - USA

Just as good is I had expected, this latest Woody-product is a light, romantic comedy with a great love for details and intellectual amusement (even though it makes fun of snobbism). It is true that Owen Wilson has never been better, and maybe never will be better - it's a surprise he even got this chance to show off his decent skills in a film of this caliber. Even if I have been to Paris, and remember some of it's very dark sides, this film made me re-discover the beauty and magic about it. A wonderful end to the (more or less) warm season - they call it summer, I believe - so Bonjour cold, German winter.

Rating: 8.1

Seen for the first time

A night of celebrating international woman power

MIRCH - WO HU CANG LONG - VOLVER

Being all alone yesterday night, after one week of familial semi-claustrophobism ( we were testing out or new camper), was the perfect opportunity to go through my never ending stacks of yet unseen DVDs - many of them borrowed from various people - and eventually what started out as a not-at-all choosy night of light entertainment, turned into a legendary night of exotic power women. 

There are people saying one should start a film night with the "toughest", most demanding films, in order to not expect your sleepy brain to handle things it physically won't be able to handle at 2 AM. Other voices tell you not to commit the sinful act of a triple (or even more) film night. I didn't listen to anyone this time - and let me tell you, it was the best film experience I've had since being spellbound by THE TREE OF LIFE last month.