Happy Birthday: One Year On...

One year ago from today I put my first blog post online. I started doing it as a bit of fun, not expecting for my blog to grow as much as it has! 63 posts later and I have an audience that I never thought was possible. The amount of different people in different countries that have read my posts is incredible! I have even had the organisers of the Sundance Film Festival read some of my posts! I would not have a got here without the help of my readers! Thank you guys so much! I also want to thank The Large Association Of Movie Blogs (The LAMB) for letting me into their community and bringing a larger audience of fellow movie bloggers to my site.

I was a bit unsure as to what to write about today for the 1st birthday of my blog, but I have decided to look back at my 10 most popular posts of the last year. So please enjoy!

10. The Avengers Review
I remember this day very well! I was so excited for this film and I am so glad that it met all my expectations. My review is a very happy one indeed and although I am biased as a massive fan boy! There is no doubt in my mind that this will most likely be my favourite film of the year.

9. Chronicle
Many of my popular posts I did not expect to do as well as they did and this post is one of them. I saw it on DVD, really liked it and wrote a review. It sure is a film to check out if your fan of superheroes and found footage films.

8. Ted
Ted is one of those films that I had mixed feelings on. I would definitely watch it again with a group of friends but it definitely wasn't the funniest things I have ever seen. Check out this review to see if you agree with me.

7. God Bless America & 21 Jump Street
Even though I was on holiday when this was posted this still got a great amount of hits. This is mainly due to the fact that this was the first post people saw when I had been allowed as member of The LAMB. Both films I believe are great and I recommend them both as good comedies.

6. Reinventing Romance
This is one of my more recent posts and it actually contains my case study for the end of Media Studies course. I really enjoyed writing about the subject and I am glad you guys took a liking to it too!

5. Shame
Shame is one of those film that I loved but don't really want to watch again. It contains one of my favourite actors, the Fassbender, in one of his best roles. But the subject matter of sex addiction is an uncomfortable one and is most likely why it was denied an Oscar nomination.

4. Would You Like The Good News or The Bad News First?
Another post I am surprised has done well.One of my first posts and it just contains a summary of movie news that had happened that week.

3. Alex's Essential Spider-Man
I am so glad this post did well as I worked very hard on it. I loved the fact that I was able to get fan made pictures from my readers to work on this post and celebrate our love of Spider-Man. Even if the most recent film was a bit of a disappointment.

2. Sundance London 2012
One of the best weekends ever in blog form! With help from organisers of the festival I was able to move this post up to second on the list. Whether I'll be there next year, I do not know. Being a student can be difficult in this day and age! If I can, I will!

1. What Would Travis Bickle Do?
The biggest surprise of them all! My quick angry rant turned into my biggest hit. I don't really know what else to say as i wasn't expecting this to that well. I think when I first put it on it did terribly but as the months have passed, more people have read and enjoyed it. Thank you so much!

Although things have slowed down here recently on the blog I would like to thank everybody who keeps reading it. Here's to another year!

Thank you for reading!

Sightseers Review

Over the weekend I had the chance to go to the Cornwall Film Festival, due to other commitments over the the three days, I was only able to watch one film. Thankfully though, it was a film I had been looking forward to seeing. That film was Sightseers.

From Ben Wheatly, director of Kill List comes his second film about a couple of misfits on a rather bizarre camping trip. The outline goes like this; 'Chris wants to show girlfriend Tina his world, but events soon conspire against the couple and their dream caravan holiday takes a very wrong turn.'

The film goes a certain way that makes this seem like the British version of God Bless America. Again this plot type can be very controversial and is not for everyones taste. Three people actually walked out of the cinema during my screening, which to my guess is because of the amount gore and violence involved in the film. The violence is matching to that of what we saw in Kill List. The film gives a whole new meaning on the perspective of sex and violence.

The two leads, Steve Oram and Alice Lowe actually wrote the script for the film. They are also incredibly funny actors and strangely brilliant at playing two oddballs in love. The two of them really have created some cracking one liners for the film that are guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. They are a great pair and the film would not work without them. I really hope that they are picked up as screen writers and comedy actors in the near future! The supporting cast in this is great as well with some great stereotypical characters. If you want to see more of Alice Lowe she actually plays a lot of supporting characters in the new Harry and Paul series which is on BBC 2 at the moment. 

The film is very vibrant and the cinematography reflects this with some great lighting and colour grading. For a film with little budget, it sure did look good. One of the best thing about this film was it's incredible soundtrack. Mainly filled with classic 80's tunes, it really did help create emotion and some great comedy sequences.

The social commentary in this film is not as apparent as it is in God Bless America but I do think that this film was funnier. The lack of this commentary did let the film down in places and made some of the plot points seem a bit stupid in places. But overall it was a great and very funny film. Personally I preferred this to Kill List.

I had a great time at the festival even though I was only there for it's opening evening but I hope to spend the whole weekend there next year. Thankfully the film I saw was of great quality and an example of great British comedy films. That is why I am rating Sightseers a 4/5.

If you live in America then you may not have heard a great deal about this film, but I assure you that you should check it out for sure! 

If you have seen it, let me know by leaving a comment below. Thanks for reading!

Skyfall

After a number of sold out screenings I have finally been able to catch the latest film in the James Bond franchise. A franchise which I am a fan of and could not wait to see where they went next with Agent 007. I am also a big fan Daniel Craig as the leading man, Casino Royale was my favourite Bond film, though unfortunately it was let down by Quantum of Solace. Though after going to the cinema today I believe my favourite Bond film may have just changed to Skyfall.

With Sam Mendes in the directer chair it was guaranteed Skyfall was going to have some class, and he did not disappoint. In Bond's latest outing his 'loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.' Skyfall is the return to form for Bond that's tone is a mix of Casino Royale and the earlier, more cheesier Bond films. So for me this was the perfect mix of old and new, which really suited it as this is the 50th year of Bond, we are reminded of this throughout the film with some really brilliant fan moments.

Bond as usual starts with a great action scene and Skyfall grips us well by giving us some of the best we have seen of Bond. The opening credits scene is also a return to form as Adele's song sounds like a classic theme tune and the visuals to go with it are also incredible. 

The whole film's visuals are beautiful, this is mainly because of the various exotic locations but the cinematography also works a treat to make this an amazing experience. The CGI is also good apart from a few dodgy looking lizards but because of the film's dominant use of practical effects this problem is not a common one.

The acting is also first class, with Craig reminding us why he is the best Bond yet and Ben Whishaw letting us know he could be the best Q yet. Other new great casting editions include Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem as one of Bond's most interesting villains yet. Judi Dench also has more screen time as M this time round and she also gets say 'bloody hell' a lot, because that is of course how us British speak.

I was however confused as to who was the Bond girl in this film. We had two women who had some kind of relationship with James but not enough to call either one of them a Bond girl. Either way they were both great actress's and both added something new and interesting to the film.

I really admire the action and set pieces in this film, they were done really well and this was one of the main reasons I loved the film so much! Some of the set pieces felt very much like they had been heavily influenced by The Dark Knight. But that is no bad thing! I also enjoyed the new angle on Bond and looking back into his past and finding out a little bit more about the man underneath the suit.

My only flaws with the film are the dodgy lizards and some strange cast additions in the last act. One cast addition that I very much think was intended for Sean Connery as a cameo. But apart from that I very much loved this film!

Skyfall is the perfect combination of old and new style Bond, and this made the film for me. 2012 has been full of great films and this is just another one to add to the list. Definitely one of the best Bond films I have seen and hopefully the next one will be just as good, if not better! If not, well at least we got Skyfall which I am rating a 5/5.

What did you think of Skyfall? Do you like the latest take on Bond or do you prefer the classics? Please comment below.

Thanks for reading!