This month I’ve been taking some steps. Thousands of them. Every day. I could even tell you how many, because I’ve joined the Fitbit cult. But the metaphorical and marginally more relevant steps I’m actually referring to are ones in the right direction, blog-wise. Small ones, granted, but small steps of progress. What am I blathering on about? Well, for the month of June, and for the first time since January, I managed to meet all my targets, and even exceeded them on one account. I haven’t caught up to where I should be in the year overall, but I’m where I need to be on a monthly basis.

Also this past month I was nominated for a Liebster Award, which has happened before but not for a while, and in my reviewing and podcast editing frenzy (plus having a generally busy month overall, what with looking at wedding venues, meeting work deadlines and doing some crafting on the side) I completely failed to respond to it, so I shall do so now. I won’t be passing the chain along and nominating others, but I’ll do everything else. Here goes:

I was nominated by That Other Critic, whose site can be found here: https://thatothercritic.wordpress.com/. He asked me these eleven questions, to which my responses are below:

1. What’s the best filmmaking duo? Their best film?
Right off the bat with a cheating two-in-one question! I’m guessing this means actor-director partnerships, otherwise I’d pick the Coen brothers (best film: Fargo), so instead, and without putting hours of research into it, I’ll go with Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, with their best film being Shaun of the Dead.

2. What’s Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best movie?
Jeez. Well I get his best, from a critical stand point, would probably be The Terminator. My favourite though, and the one I’m more likely to watch on a random evening, is probably Last Action Hero.

3. What’s your favourite Tarantino movie?
Favourite as of the last time I watched it is Reservoir Dogs, but that was maybe a decade ago. Favourite that I’ve watched more recently is easily Inglourious Basterds.

4. What’s the worst comic book film?
I’ve managed to avoid most of the bad ones, but the one that gets shown all the time on Film4 and which I therefore see snippets of and am continually reminded of just how abysmal it is would be X-Men: Origins Wolverine.

5. What’s the best non-Disney kid’s movie?
Technically Disney didn’t buy Pixar until 2006, so any pre-’06 Pixar films aren’t Disney, which means I can pick Finding Nemo or Toy Story. If you rule them off the table then maybe Kung Fu Panda?

6. Have you ever walked out of a film in a movie theatre?
Yes, but not because of the film. I passed out about 30 minutes into Looper, for reasons still not clear, and as such my then-girlfriend-now-fiancee and I left the theatre. I since went back and watched it again, in its entirety.

7. Physical or digital media?
Physical. I’m one of those paranoid types who thinks the digital media will just evaporate one day. Plus moving from platform to platform is just a hassle.

8. Who’s the best movie villain?
Bloody hell, that’s a huge question, there’s so many! I quite enjoy No Country For Old Men‘s Anton Chigurh as being this totally unstoppable psychopath.

9. What’s the funniest film you’ve seen?
We’re back to Shaun of the Dead again, I think. I don’t tend to laugh at that many comedies, but that’s one I keep coming back to. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is up there too.

10. What’s the worst third film in a franchise?
The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Certainly the worst I paid to see in a cinema.

11. Best Nicolas Cage role?
Acting-wise it’s gotta be either Leaving Las Vegas or the dual roles of Adaptation. My personal favourite though? It’s a four-way tie between Cameron Poe in Con Air, Memphis Rains in Gone in Sixty Seconds, Castor Troy in Face/Off and Dr. Stanley Goodspeed in The Rock.

Thanks again to That Other Critic for nominating me. Now, let’s get back to the regular monthly post, shall we:

Aim: Review 8 or 9 1001 List movies each month
Reviewed: 8
A Clockwork Orange
The Godfather Part II
Hour of the Wolf
The Marriage of Maria Braun
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Gilda
Young Frankenstein
Chariots of Fire
Successful?: Yes!

Aim: Review 1 “Bad” movie each month
Reviewed: 1
Hour of the Wolf
Successful?: Yes!

Aim: Review 1 “Blind Spot” movie each month
Reviewed: 1
A Clockwork Orange
Successful?: Yes!

Aim: Review 2 “Film-Makers” movies each month
Reviewed: 3
The Dressmaker
A Clockwork Orange
Bridge of Spies
Successful?: Yes!

Other posts:
The Godfather Part III
Lambcast #324 Roll Your Own Top 5 – I was joined by Brendan Cassidy, Nick Rehak, Carly Booth and Richard Kirkham to each list a movie-related top 5 list of our choosing. Mine was about robots.
Lambcast #325 The Godfather Trilogy – Will Slater and Nick Rehak joined me to finally discuss these films after months of putting them off.
Lambcast #326 Purple Rain – I finally saw the infamous Prince movie, and I didn’t like it all that much. Other people has varying opinions, including Nicole Ayers, Jeanette Ward, Mario Brown and Nolahn.
Lambcast #327 Whatcha Been Watchin’ Lately – Sadly I had to skip this show, but Dylan Fields, Todd Liebenow, Bubbawheat, Nicole Ayers and Tony Cogan spent the time discussing films they’d each seen recently.
Lambcast #328 1950s Draft – Kristen Lopez, Will Slater, Dan Heaton and Mark Hofmeyer and I each competed to form the best “team” of movies from the 1950s.
The Interactivists #31: Game of Thrones S6 and Beyond – I made my Interactivists debut discussing Season 6 of Game of Thrones (nothin’ but spoilers, yo) and predictions for where we thought the show should go in the future.

Other films watched:
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)

Yet another zombie attack film, but this one sees a trio of scouts (Tye Sheridan, Logan Miller and Joey Morgan) attempting to save themselves and one of their number’s hot sister, with the aid of local legend “cocktail waitress” (Sarah Dumont). It’s often crass and frequently juvenile – there are numerous scenes involving naked zombie dangly bits – but overall I had quite a lot of fun. It’s hardly revolutionary, but there are far worse ways to spend 90 minutes. Plus David Koechner is always fun, and there’s a decent cameo from Cloris Leachman and her army of zombie cats.
Lists: 2015 Movies
Choose Film 6/10

Aim: Read A New-To-Me Book
Read: 1
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Successful?: Yes!
Being a fan of the Sherlock TV show I’ve been interested in reading some of the original stories. Turns out I like the show better, but that’s mainly because it allows for greater characterisation of the leads and gets to go in depth a bit more with the stories which, given the modern setting, often goes a great deal darker than in the book. I remember reading The Speckled Band back in school so I knew where that one was going, and sadly most of the others didn’t keep me guessing all that much either. Still none of them have been terrible, and I’ve already started working through The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes for next month.

Aim: Visit Somewhere New
Visited: lots of potential wedding venues
Various locations in Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire
Successful?: Yes!
We didn’t walk Murphy anywhere new this month, but we did visit a few potential walks without him whilst scoping out wedding venues. I wont bore you with the details, mainly because there’s at least a dozen, but suffice to say there are a lot of rather nice stately homes, hotels and occasion houses not too far from our home.

Normal weekly update:
Goals Update
Aim: Review 8 or 9 1001 List movies each month
Reviewed: 34
Should be on: 50
On Track: No!

Aim: Review 1 “Bad” movie each month
Reviewed: 6
Should be on: 6
On Track:Yes!

Aim: Review 1 “Blind Spot” movie each month
Reviewed: 6
Should be on: 6
On Track:Yes!

Aim: Review 2 “Film-Makers” movies each month
Reviewed: 9
Should be on: 12
On Track: No!

Check back next month to see if I’m any closer to my goals!