Films I watched In: April & May

I watched fourteen movies over April and May (unless I’ve forgotten any which is quite possible as I was rather slack at making my intricate notes – i.e. a list of film names – and tried to remember all of them about three days ago).

And in case anyone cares, my total amount of movies watched, up until the end of May, now stands at – drumroll pleeeeeeease – forty seven.

Films I Watched In: April

Stargate (1994) – re-watch but haven’t seen it in YEARS. I probably hated it when I was young but just caught it on TV one Sunday about 10 minutes in and sat very still, absorbed and loving it for the entire duration (including advert breaks). Not because it’s some ‘great’ movie, but rather because it’s some FUN movie. And Kurt Russell is in it, with an Action Man haircut.

The Blues Brothers (1980) – another re-watch but I’d only seen it once before, a long time ago. The sunglasses and “mission from god” quote were about the only things I remembered properly – and for the record, I think Belushi wears the best ones. We watched it on my boyfriend’s birthday – because it’s his all time favourite film, which I think is as lovely and marvellous as he is (I will excuse you now whilst you’re sick).

Jigsaw (1962) – first time watch and as you can ascertain from the year of release, not THAT Jigsaw. Obviously. I don’t think my grandad would like the 2017 horror effort quite so much and it wasn’t even that gory. But my grandad is so squeamish an episode of Casualty would be like Cannibal Holocaust for him.

Anyway, THIS Jigsaw was a pretty cool murder mystery starring Jack Warner and set in Brighton (not too far from me). Recommend to anyone who appreciates a good story and doesn’t mind the old black and white stuff. You listening Movie Rob?

Imperium (2016) – , I’ve had this on DVD for like, everrrrrrrr and finally watched it a few weeks ago. Okay, entertaining enough, Daniel Radcliffe good as ever – but the actual film is nothing super special (like a mashed potato sandwich for example) and absolutely riddled with clichés – like Toni Collette playing someone mega annoying – when are the filmmakers gonna stop with that one?

Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007) – re-watch (OF COURSE!) and weirdly, but honestly, I have always really rated this film. I know, I know – but I can’t help it. I think because it’s set around a reality TV show (survival in the woods type crap) it just appeals more. It’s more cartoonish than the original (though less depraved and full of inbred sex as the later ones – just a happy medium), a lot of fun and with bloody awesome special effects. Best of all is when the victims, led by Henry Rollins (genius casting), fight back against the family of degenerate murderers – which is pleasant because you know you’re allowed to enjoy the violence then. Guilt free!

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000) – both over the same weekend, both enjoyable, both of them I’ve seen perhaps thirty thousand times. I prefer Lock, Stock but Snatch has the better one liners.

Films I Watched In: May

May was an interesting month anyway, mainly because I was in America for a fortnight doing a road trip from San Francisco to Las Vegas (more on that another time) and despite taking in amazing views and lots of food and wine, I still found the time to watch some movies too.

So on the plane journeys outward and return, I watched:

Flatliners (2017) – pretty darn poor and pointless and even slightly abysmal but I WAS tipsy for most of the eleven hour flight. I was surprised Ellen Page was even in it to be honest, isn’t she ‘too good’ for that kind of thing, has her career gone bust or what? And didn’t she go out with Alexander Skarsgård?

Detroit (2017) – on the return journey I wasn’t tipsy – just tired and moany as my boyfriend will cheerfully confirm, so I needed something with more substance than ‘being drunk and watching Flatliners’. Detroit delivered in every way and you can read my glowing review here.

In hotels / apartments I managed to squeeze in:

Saw (2004) – which bizarrely was playing on the Sci-Fi channel at 10 in the morning with absolutely no cuts to the gory scenes (though they did remove the swearing which shows a pretty weird moral value). I got into it immediately, thinking ‘well this beats BBC Breakfast news’. And it must be said that watching a film like Saw in the morning certainly sets you up right for the day.

Zombies (2018) – which is a DISNEY CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE so fate was definitely on my side when I flicked over to this little gem. I hadn’t seen a Disney Channel Original Movie since my last trip to America in 2009. Almost ten years ago and some of my fondest memories of Florida still involve Even Stevens and The Jonas Brothers.

Zombies was about, well, zombies, but nice zombies, cute zombies with funky hair and amazing singing voices. Some of them can break dance too! But they’re struggling to fit in to their new school, a scary world of bitchy cheerleaders and where to sit in the lunch hall. What’s going to happen? Will everyone make friends and learn the error of their ways? Perhaps during a musical number? Fun with a capital ‘F’!

And in a DOME SHAPED CINEMA in Los Angeles, I watched a MIDNIGHT VIEWING of:

Avengers: Infinity War (2018) – which was really fun and different. Plus they sell ice cream cookie sandwiches in American cinemas. OMG. For anyone not familiar with these it’s basically vanilla ice cream wedged between two giant cookies. Swoooooooon. You had me at ice cream. Or was it cookie? Anyway, as for the film, I really enjoyed it. Far more than I thought I would. I think I came up with more ideas towards the plot than my boyfriend did (who is ‘apparently’ a MCU nerd….).

For the record, I don’t think Doctor Strange saved Iron Man’s life out of chivalry. But we’ll see…..

And then when we were home and depressed we tried cheering ourselves up with:

Final Destination 2 (2003) and The Inbetweeners Movie (2011).

Which only marginally worked if I’m honest.

Though I still love that car pile-up scene in Final Destination 2.