Rev Stan's film blog

Film 2014: a best of and not so best of list

Vowed to keep on top of my reviews last year and I did...to a point. There are  handful I didn't get around to writing but all of those I missed would be mid-table films so wouldn't be jostling for a position in the following lists. And, I did see more than 80 films and even more plays which I also review so I've not been lazy.

As I cover films released in the UK from Jan 1 to Dec 31, it messes up the 2014 Oscar nominees as their release dates are split between 2013 and 2014. And, putting Oscar films in the list now just seems a bit old news so of the five shortlisted films I saw in 2014, Nebraska was my absolute favourite and would have been the only one to make it into my top 10.

So here is my 'best of' plus a handful of highly 'recommendeds' - what can I say, it was a good year, my average score was just under 70%*.

1. Pride

2. Mockingjay Part 1 (I loved it, what can I say?)

3. Imitation Game

4. Under The Skin

5. X-Men: Days of Future Past

My best and worst films of 2013

Clocked up 87 films last year and pleased to say all bar one got a little write up here on this blog. The one I missed was Gloria which I saw at a special preview and slipped through the net and while very good it didn't make it into my top 10.

In viewing order, all these film I gave scores of more than 80% to:

1. The Sessions - A surprisingly perfect marriage of tears and laughter.

2. Star Trek: Into the Darkness - Cumberbatch kicked it for me in this one and as a result I ended up buying the DVD which, considering the scars I still carry from a teenage trauma involving a video recording of my favourite Mel Gibson film and my dad recording Star Trek over it it, is testament to how good it was in itself.

3. Breathe In - This subtle film was deeply and quietly affecting and it haunted me for days.

4. Wadja - Brilliant in too many ways to write just a couple of sentences

What is the ultimate film weepie double bill?

Call me a weirdo (weirdo) but I love a weepie. Have quite a few in my DVD collection that I dig out when I want to cry, all rated from silent tears to full out sobs.

Watching Brokeback Mountain which is in my collection, got me thinking about what the ultimate tear-jerker double bill would be.

This is what I have to choose from the 'full out sobs' category:

• Brokeback Mountain
• Single Man
• Bright Star
• Third Star
• Never Let Me Go
• Atonement
• Jane Eyre

So here's my list of the best pairings:

Brokeback Mountain & Single Man - Gay heart break

Bright Star/Atonement/Jane Eyre - Costume drama heart break

Never Let Me Go & Third Star - Terminal heart break

What would be your ultimate weepie double bill?

 

New year, new approach to my film blog but first a look back at 2012

Been rather neglectful of my film blog in 2012 to the point of virtually giving it up. The problem is time. Last year I saw over 100 plays and nearly 90 films and I have a demanding day job. The long and short of it is I get better readership and interaction with my theatre blog and it brings its own rewards in the form of the occasional free theatre ticket. It's a big incentive and hence why it has had the lion share of my writing time.

My film blog has alway been more of my own personal record of what I see and I enjoy writing about what I see but it still takes time. The further behind I fell with my reviews the more difficult it was to catch up and so eventually I gave up (the spammers who 'love reading' my blog didn't).

But the blog and lack of attention and lack of record of my film watching has been nagging at me. So what to do? I need something that is quick and easy, a method of reviewing in a way that takes 10-15 minutes.  So I'm going to attempt to do very short and succinct reviews topped by a one line synopsis and taled by the equivalent IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes ratings.

Primarily it will be for my own record and if anyone else finds it of interest then fabulous. I'll attempt to cover other stuff as and when it takes my fancy. Let's see how we go.

Before I crack on with my first review of 2013 here's a quick list of my favourite and least favourite films of 2012.

Favourites (order of screening)

• Shame
• Chronicle
• Hunger Games
• Kid With A Bike
• The Imposter
• Shadow Dancer
• Untouchable
• Perks of Being A Wallflower
• Skyfall
• End of Watch
• Argo
• Amour
• Great Expectations

Least favourites (order of screening)

• J Edgar
• W.E.
• The Raid
• Berberian Sound Studio
• Killing Them Softly
• The Master

 

Stan's June film round up

Another bumper crop of films last month (three out of eight I gave five stars) but which were juicy and sweet and which a little sour? Well just to prove I do have an eclectic taste in films the top slots were taken by two very different films, one a blockbuster and one a foreign language film:

1. Incendies: Stark, shocking unravelling of family truths 87%

2. X-Men: First Class: Great performances from the leads adds depth to this action adventure 85%

3. Life Above All: African aids drama that is at turns bleak, unflinching, touching and heartwarming 81%

So those were the three five stars and June certainly continued the upward trend in the stats with an average Stan rating of 61.13%. There was one bitter fruit in the crop though and that was Kaboom which I gave 40% because of it's 'ineffectual absurdity'.

But did the critics agree with my ratings this month? Very nearly:

1. Incendies 87%

2. Life Above All 86.5%

3. X-Men: First Class  84%

And they also agreed on the worse film being Kaboom although it averaged a perplexing 59%.

July is a big month for cinema if only for the final Harry Potter which I'm seeing on Friday (of course). Lot of anticipation about that one, tinged with nerves and sadness.

 

Stan's film round up for May

Timing is getting a little better on these now. May was a bumper month with nine films getting the Stanley cash, well eight because Pirates 4 was a private screening.

Overall it was a better month than April for me with an average Stan rating of 60.22% and hopefully a sign that the post-Oscar malaise is over or I am choosing better films or that there just wasn't a Beastly film to drag things down.

Anyway, here is my top three:

1. Third Star 89% (surely a contender for the top 10 of the year?)

2. Farewell 71%

3. Win Win 63%

As I said at the beginning, there wasn't a Beastly but there was  Pirates 4 which got 38% and claims the ignoble honour of being the worst film in May.

But how did the critics rates the films I saw? Well they didn't agree with my top choice but it was pretty close otherwise:

1. Win Win 86%

2 Farewell 80.5%

3. Hanna 68.5%

We agreed on worst film although the average critics rating for Pirates was marginally higher at 42%.

June is already shaping up to be an interesting month with two films already scoring over 80%. I've got the next week off and plan to have a bit of a film fest and I'm quietly confident it's going to be a good month.

Stan's 10 favourite things from the Harry Potter films

It is with a mixture of sadness, excitement and worry that the final film instalment of the Harry Potter story approaches. Sadness because it will be the end, excitement because it's a Harry Potter film and worry because I'm getting trailer-nerves. They have done a pretty good job of interpreting the books, adding excitement and layers of imagination to the books albeit with one or two dubious choices and one really bad one.

But putting that all to one side, I've spent the last few weeks re-watching all the films in order and it's reminded me of individual delights. The result is this list, my favourite scenes, and it has been extremely tough whittling it down. Have I missed a particularly good one?

1. Mirror of Erised, Philosopher's Stone

Harry discovers a mirror in which he can see himself with his parents, Dumbledore later discovers him and tells him that the mirror shows your deepest hearts desire. Despite the first book being the most child-like and fun this was such a moving and poignant moment, it never fails to bring a tear to my eye - a scene which is nicely mirrored, for want of a better word, by the grave yard scene in Deathly Hallows part 1

2. Whomping willow, Chamber of Secrets

Always makes me smile, the tree with attitude that terrorises birds and Hogwarts students alike. Especially like it when it decides to shed its leaves for winter and just shivers them off.

3. The Knight Bus, Prisoner of Azkaban

So much to like about the bus: the way it shrinks to fit between on-coming traffic, the talking shrunken heads hanging in the window, the way the beds on the bus are all on wheels and move around as the bus swerves and breaks and of course Harry having to peel his face of the window it comes to an abrupt stop outside the Leaky Cauldron - having of course nudged a park car setting off it's alarm.

4. The Yule Ball, Goblet of Fire

The teenage trio take their first tentative steps onto the road of romance and the sexual tension crackles from Harry awkwardly taking his first dance to Hermione's exasperated, high-pitched rant. It is one of the joyful scenes that reminds you of your own early teen romances and unrequited love and also a rare moment when the three can forget the trials and tribulations of magical life.

Rev Stan's film round up for April

(OK so it's now June but I got a bit behind...)

I think I peaked too soon in January. The average rating per film, like our economy, continues to slide and is now 58.5% although that is still equivalent to a high three stars so I'm not panicking about my choice of films/quality of offer just yet.

The usually showery month also picked up the lowest scoring film of the year so far: Beastly which I rated 35%. I don't want to predict that it won't have the dubious honour of being my worst film of the year but it is going to take some beating. Although I was a lot kinder than the critics as it got an aggregated review rating of 16% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ouch.

But enough of the bad, there were still some highlights in April namely the Colin Morgan-starring film Island, proving once again that you don't need a big budget to make an interesting and enjoyable film. Of course big budget films can be enjoyable too and Thor took second place. So here are my top three (or four as there is a tie for third place):

1. Island 79%

2. Thor 62%

=3.Essential Killing 59%

=3. Source Code 59%

Quite a few of the films I've seen haven't been rated on Metacritic yet so I'm going by Rotten Tomatoes only for the average critics rating of the films I've seen:

1. Thor 94%

2. Source Code 90%

3. Essential Killing 89%

The critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes gave Red Riding Hood the lowest rating which surprises me as it's a much more rounded film than Beastly. The average for the month was on a par with mine at 59.86%

I can already tell you that May was an interesting month with one film getting equivalent to a five star review but I still got one film to review so I won't say any more for now.

 

 

 

 

Rev Stan's Oscar post

Someone asked me recently if I'll be staying up to watch the Oscar's. Er, no. Awards ceremonies are generally dull and lack any surprise because they are invariably tied up with political voting. And, quite simply, I'm not a late night person.

The King's Speech will no doubt do well although there is bound to be one category which upsets the apple cart. It would be far more interesting if they chose the top three and revealed them in reverse order, particulary as the best film category now has 10 on the shortlist.

This is how it would look based on my choices:

3rd place: The Social Network

2nd place: Winter's Bone

1st place: King's Speech

 

Rev Stan's film list 2010

*Sound of Stan jumping on the bandwagon* Well it is fun to look back particularly when you've seen a lot of films, and I have - 80 this year (82 with repeat visits).  

This year was a first, in one sense, I opened the chocolate box that is the London Film Festival and had a sneaky taste, and as a result there are a few films I've seen that aren't released until 2011 and it doesn't feel right including them so they have their own category.

The top 10 (in viewing date order)

The Road

Harrowing, yet heartening, still remember it despite it being nearly a year ago since I saw it.

A Single Man

A reminder that Colin Firth's acting talent stretches to more than flimsy rom-com's. The rest of the cast was excellent too and with fashion designer Tom Ford at the helm it also has to get a special mention for probably being the best dressed film of 2010. I was moved to tears and had to sit through the entire credits just to compose myself.

Kick Ass

Just to prove I don't just like weepies and arties, loved this comic book film for being really good fun, it's sense of humour and having a young girl as it's heroine, indeed a young girl who 'kicks ass'. Jason Solomon of the Guardian/Observer has it on his turkey list because he doesn't like nerdy superheroes. Nerdy done this way is absolutely fine with me.

Skeletons

2010 has been a good year for indy, low budget movies and this one I particularly loved for its surreal comedy. It was quirky, funny and a refreshingly imaginative story all packaged up in a well-made, on a shoe-string budget film.