Review of Films Watched, 2010

I watched 78 films this year...well actually I only watched 73, but watched one three times and three twice. I seem to have been quite generous with my film ratings, more generous than with books anyway. It might be that I often have more of an idea about what the films are about than I do with books, so I only watch ones on subjects I know I'll like, whereas with books I read anything!

I gave 8 films 10 / 10:

Hot Fuzz
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino's version)
This Is England
Toy Story 3
Pulp Fiction
Shaun of the Dead
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Mary Poppins

I'd recommend everyone watch all of those actually :D Shaun of the Dead is my favourite film, and Mary Poppins was my favourite childhood film, so maybe start with them and move onto the rest! This Is England is soul-destroying (in a Requiem for a Dream kind of way), so you will have to watch something happy after it, haha.

I gave three films 5 / 10:

Doomsday
The Village
The Other Boleyn Girl

I can't remember why I didn't like Doomsday. The Village just had a weak story (but Adrian Brody was excellent in it). The Other Boleyn Girl was just horribly miscast and just had something about it which wasn't quite right. Which is a shame, as I really liked the book.

I kind of failed at trying to go to the cinema more - I did see 11 films at the cinema, but thats not as many times as I thought I would go. But then again there haven't been that many films which I really wanted to see at the cinema, otherwise I would have gone more. Well, the problem probably is that the cinema near me is just rubbish, and only has the main blockbuster films on, if you want to go and see any more independent or "arty" films, they just don't have them on. But oh well! The main film I wanted to see last year and didn't see was Inception. I still don't really know what its about (and don't want to know, in case it ruins the story!) but it sounds intreiging! (..or however that word is spelt...)

In the three days of this year I've already watched four films and one comedy dvd, so I better get on with my reviews this year! :)

Book Questions :)

Sorry if I'm posting too much, but I keep finding things to post about...heres some book questions! :)

The first book you read this year: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

The last book you finished this year: The Liar by Stephen Fry

The first book you will finish in the new year: Elizabeth Costello by JM Coetzee. Not sure what I thought of it, but my opinion isn't particularly favourable...

Your favorite "classic" you read this year: Dracula by Bram Stoker. My favourite "modern" classic was The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

The book series you read the most volumes of this year: The Matthew Shardlake series by CJ Sansom, I read Dark Fire and Revelation (which I gave 10 / 10 to)

The genre you read the most this year: Probably historical fiction

The book that disappointed you: Double Fault by Lionel Schriver (it was boring and the characters were horrible, disappointing because We Need To Talk About Kevin was so good), Life of Pi, Catcher in the Rye, Middlesex, The Finkler Question and A Liar I thought were going to be good but weren't!

The book you liked better than you expected to: Gone with the Wind - after hating Scarlett O'Hara I didn't expect to like the rest of the book, but it was still really good despite her!

The hardest book you read this year (topic or writing style): Naked Lunch, as I found it really boring and just rubbish!

Funniest book you read this year: Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, by Andrew Collins (about his life at art school, and being a goth, haha, in the 80s), and Dear Fatty by Dawn French

The saddest book you read this year: The Forgotten Voices of the Great War - a record of soldier's memories of the First World War, and The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne.

The shortest book you read this year: Graves and Graveyards, which was short 1970s book about graveyards, written for school children I think, but it had some quite interesting bits! :)

The longest book you read this year: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, or World Without End by Ken Follett

A book that you discovered this year that you will definitely read again: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

A book that you never want to read again: Naked Lunch by William Burroughs, or The Average American Male by Chad Kultgen. Both horrible books!!

And finally, make a New Year's Resolution: Read more books from the 1001 books to read before you die - last year I only read 13, and in previous years I've read about 50 of them, so I'm determined to do better this time :)