Time to kill off 2011 for real and other musings

So let's finally hammer the stake into the chest of this dead donkey of a year.  I ran down my list of 2011 movies a couple of days ago, but I watched an awful lot more, so here's a couple of lists and what not psoing as a blog post to mask the fact that I haven't written anything creative in a while.

Top ten films I saw for the first time in 2011 that weren't made in 2011

10) Chico & Rita (Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal)
9) To Kill A Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan)
8) Metropolitan (Whit Stillman)
7) Sherlock Jr (Buster Keaton)
6) The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman)
5) The General (Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton)
4) This Is England (Shane Meadows)
3) Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman)
2) His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks)
1) Crimes and Misdemeanours (Woody Allen)

A nice range on the film education front this year, a nice mix of catching up on films I missed recently and older, more pretentious affairs.  Big shouts have to go to Chico & Rita and Metropolitan.  I think the rest of that list are already recognised as classics.  Sherlock Jr (1924) was also the oldest film I watched this year.

Worst ten films I saw for the first time in 2011 that weren't made in 2011

10) Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton)
9) Pandorum (Christian Alvart)
8) The Shadow (Russell Mulcahy)
7) 50 First Dates (Peter Segal)
6) 3000 Miles to Graceland (Demian Lichtenstein)
5) Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki)
4) Johnny Mnemonic (Robert Longo)
3) Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (Betty Thomas)
2) The Black Dahlia (Brian De Palma)
1) Belle De Jour (Luis Buñuel)

I think the Evangelion film at five stings the most.  I was and remain a huge fan of that franchise.  After watching the first of the new rebooted films, I was impressed with how pretty the visuals were (amazing what a decent budget can do for an animated film), but overall I was confused as to why they were attempting this.  Condensing a 26 episode series into four films is a tough ask when the subject material was already confusing and intense.  Squeezing a new, completely unnecessary character into it as well just added to the problems.  The second film however, was a complete mess.  I actually felt embarrassed by watching it, not because of any graphic subject matter, but just from how awful it was narratively.  Belle De Jour was another film I disliked.  Not because of any issue with its subject matter, but merely how completely nonsensical and melodramatic it was.

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Other musings

So 2011 was a vast improvement on 2010.  In fact, looking back, there's a great number of things that I'm very glad happened.  I visited Japan (and in doing so sat on a plane for 12 hours, which is pretty good going by my standards), which was a wonderful experience.  If it weren't for my terrible ability at languages, I'd consider moving there.  Winning a pocket watch in an arcade hardly soured my time there either.

I went to theatre four times this year.  I drank wine on at least two of those occasions (Flare Path, Frankenstein, Richard III, the Lion in Winter).

My brother met Robson Green in a cafe in either Cumbria or Newcastle.  He thought that was pretty cool.

I finally passed my first actuarial exam.  Yippee.

I've taken part in a couple of adventures, enjoyed fine food and finer company.  I finally realised my life would be a lot better with certain people not included, that was nice.

What does 2012 hold in store?  Hopefully a lot more writing, focusing on my projects with Mr Jonathan Hatfull.  Lo-fi, no budget fun.