New year

During the Christmas period I've seen numerous top film lists being posted on Facebook, Twitter etc and have been asked what my favourites of the last year have been. Unfortunately I've struggled to give very comprehensive lists. Although I've been to the cinema loads over the last year roughly once a week I've forgotten most of them.

In the hopes of remedying this I am going to attempt to review each film I watch at the cinema, so I have a record of the films I've seen and to try to post blogs more regurly. I am also hoping to improve my ability to analyze and to articulate my thoughts on films more clearly. 

I think part of the reason I've struggled to be able to concisely list good and bad film from the last year is in part due to the shear number of similar films that have been released over the last year. I definitely felt like my interest was flagging due to the number of films that were filled with green screen animation. From talking too others they seemed less bothered by this than me. So maybe this is down to my interest in animation so am more aware of it. I mostly enjoy entertainment films but the number of movies I saw with explosions, robots, monsters, spaceships etc just became a bit of a blur. 

I'm tired of watching films where a couple of actors are stood in front of a green screen waving sticks at air only for the locations and extras to be put in later. This Christmas I saw the Hobbit and 47 Ronin. Although the Hobbit is the better film it could definitely learn something from 47 Ronin. Although the green screens of New Zealand are very beautiful it makes a big difference when the sets and locations are real. 47 Ronin did use CG but it also had a lots of fantastic practical sets and the colours were great. Unfortunately the fights were a total mess lots of close ups, poor lighting, choppy editing it would have been great if the camera had pulled back and just enjoyed the movement of the choreography. There were lots of other problems but the point I'm trying I make is the Hobbit coming at the end of a year of loads of "digital stuff" just being thrown unrelentingly at the screen was just to much.

At the moment the films I'm looking forward to the most are the Wolf of Wallstreet and Her. I'm sure I will see lots of Blockbusters again this year but will be approaching with caution. So hopefully this time next year I will have a big list of good and bad films I've seen and a blog with regular updates.