The "To See" List

As I previously mentioned, I write for a video games magazine. Not only does the magazine in question consistently sell 50,000+ copies a month, it also has a popular forum which (thankfully) is graced with some of the friendliest, most entertaining members you'll ever find.

I decided to stick a thread on that forum to let them know about this task, and they've been really supportive. Some of them have also suggested films that I should watch, no doubt for one of three reasons:

1) Because they love the films and want me to enjoy them too
2) Because they'd love to know what my opinion is on those particular films
3) Because they're the worst films they've ever seen and they want me to suffer and (hopefully) write an abusive review

Whatever their reason, I've taken some of their suggestions into account and have added them to my big "to see" list.

Basically, here's a list of the films that I'd like to see at some point during the year. I'm subscribed to an account with LoveFilm so I've got a good DVD list going with them at the moment, so this list will comprise mainly of the better films I have queued on my LoveFilm list along with the suggestions made from the members of my magazine's forum.

THE LIST (AKA "TEH LISTZORZ")
300
Akira
Amelie
American History X
American Pie: Band Camp
Belleville Rendezvous
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure / Bogus Journey
Bio-Dome
Blazing Saddles
Bruce Almighty
Children Of Men
Children Of The Corn series
Cool Runnings
Cruel Intentions
Dead Man's Shoes
Die Hard 1-4
District 13
Enter The Dragon
The Fountain
Flags Of Our Fathers
Hard Boiled
Head Cheerleader, Dead Cheerleader
The Host
Inland Empire
Johnny Tsunami
The Killer Shrews
Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events
Life Is Beautiful
Little Miss Sunshine
Midnight Cowboy
Mortal Kombat
Old Boy
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates Of The Caribbean 2 and 3
Schindler's List
Short Circuit 1 and 2
Sideways
Street Fighter
Super Mario Bros
Tarantula
Taxi Driver
The Thing
The Usual Suspects
The Virgin Suicides
World Trade Center

Some of those films I've seen before and fancy watching again for the purposes of reviewing them, some I've always wanted to see and some were forum members' recommendations that I have never heard of (I'm particularly scared of Johnny Tsunami, which I believe qualifies as point 3 in the reasons at the top of this entry). I mean, take a look at this:

Seriously, what the hell is that.

Anyway, that "to see list" might look big, but the reality is that (including the series and multiple sequels) that's only 56 films.

Of course, that doesn't mean it won't be difficult. Especially if there are more Johnny Tsunamis waiting in the wings.

A New Beginning

Last year, I tried to watch 366 films in 366 days. I ended up doing about 12 and giving up. Where I come from, that's generally regarded as a failure.

This year I'm not going to set myself such a ridiculous task, but I still want to watch and review films in my spare time, because they're my other major love (along with video games and Celtic). So this new blog will consist of reviews: mostly of movies, but maybe with the odd retro game review thrown in for good measure. Basically, it just depends on how I'm feeling.

Yes, the first seven reviews are the ones taken from my "366 in 366" blog. That's because I've shut that one down now and I didn't want those reviews to disappear.

The films that will be reviewed in this blog will be wide-ranging. For the most part I won't be reviewing modern films: this is because I don't usually get the chance to go to the cinema, and I prefer older, more off-the-wall films. As a result, you can expect many of the films I review to be either 70s or 80s classics, or weird and wonderful B-movies that you may never have heard of.

Anyway, hopefully this site is more successful than the other one (!) and I hope you enjoy.

Chris