My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 10

Dammit, I suck at posting reviews lately, sorry everyone. I shouldn’t have watched Pulp Fiction, that’s the problem, I’m having real difficulty in getting my thoughts down on that one. Everyone has already discussed it, so I’ve got very little to add, and I also can’t quite fully put into words why I don’t seem to love it as much as everyone else. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good movie and will most certainly be awarded a “Choose Film” badge, but I’m not at all compelled to re-watch it again any time soon, unless I leave the review so long that I’d feel bad doing a write-up based on my notes alone. The fact that I’d be willing to re-watch it for the sake of a review should be proof that it’s not terrible, unlike such films as Silver Linings Playbook, which I still keep meaning to review despite having watched it about 10 months ago. Why everyone loves that movie, I really do not know. Anyway, here’s what I watched this week:
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 9

Another week where I didn’t get a whole lot of watching done, but I got some writing done instead, so there’s that. But this week marks something of a milestone for me. I am, and have been for a few years now, a member of the Large Association of Movie Blogs, otherwise known as the LAMB. The LAMB is ordinarily run by a Shepherd. The first was the founder, Dylan Fields, who stepped down after a few years and Rachel Thuro replaced him. However, After a few months Rachel lost the drive for it and Joel Burman stepped in, but sadly in late 2014 Joel became increasingly busy with his home life and the LAMB took a back seat. Well, as of this past week I became too tired of seeing the LAMB dwindle. It’s a community that has served me well in terms of finding friends, blogging and, most recently, podcasting, as it is for the LAMB that I host the Lambcast. I’ve been keen to keep the show going, and the best way of doing that, in my opinion, is to keep the LAMB thriving too, so I am now the fourth official Shepherd of the LAMB.
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So what does that entail? Well, I’m kind of running things, and my aim is to get the site up and running again, which to begin with involves letting all the pending members in, which is around 500. This has already begun, and will continue for a while. I’m also planning on bringing back some old features, but for now it’s a case of tuning the site up and getting everything into working order. If you want to be an active member of the LAMB staff, maybe writing or hosting some features, then please let me know! Or if you have any thoughts on directions the site could take, I’m always eager for suggestions. I’m happy for any help I can get!
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 8

So this whole “Posting My Week in Movies posts on a Friday” thing isn’t really working out so well, is it? Turns out in the past I could always use the weekend as prep time for the post, and fine tune it on a Monday, but now my weeks are so jammed with all the other nonsense in my life (y’know, superfluous stuff like the dog, cooking dinner, going to work, all that garbage) I don’t seem to find the time during the week. Then Friday night rolls around and all I want to do is collapse face down into a pile of the nearest thing that won’t impale me when I fall on it, until Sunday rolls around and I’ve still not written this damn thing. And I still want to write it! I love writing these posts, I’d just love to have one hour a week where the only thing I can possible do is write about the films I’ve seen and the random bullshit I’ve done with my time.
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Also, it’s the end of the month tomorrow, which means the end of a set of targets. As it stands I’ve watched everything necessary to tick off everything in February, I just don’t have the reviews to back that statement up. I’ve got seven films still to review, and 28 hours in which to review them to meet the deadline. If that happens, and that’s a very unlikely “if”, then it’d be almost unfair on the films I’m reviewing to have them all squashed up and sharing a day, so instead I’ll face up to not meeting this month’s writing challenges on time, and will instead dole out the reviews daily until I’m caught up that way. Hey, it’s my blog, they’re my deadlines, I can change them as I choose.
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Oh, and the Oscars? You know, the ones that are starting in a few hours? Yeah, I’m not watching them. I’ve got a meeting in the morning and am choosing to sleep rather than watch a bunch of films I haven’t seen winning awards I don’t ultimately care about. I’ve got very few horses in this race, and the ones I truly want to win (The Martian, Matt Damon, Mark Rylance, Jennifer Jason Leigh, George Miller) probably wont, so I’ll catch up on Chris Rock’s best bits online tomorrow and move on with my life. Speaking of my life, here’s what I’ve watched in this past week-and-a-bit:
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 7

It’s been another spectacularly lacklustre week in terms of movies for me, in that I only watched one and wrote a grand total of zero reviews. I barely even got a podcast out, though I have guested on some others. So what have I been doing instead? Well, most of this week has been spent making origami lampshades whilst singing along to the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack because, y’know, I’m just like all the other 28-year-old men I know.
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I did finish both the book I was reading (The Maltese Falcon, excellent) and all four seasons of The IT Crowd. I’ve yet to see the final double-length special from a couple of years ago, but I plan to see it soon. Season 4 is definitely my favourite, and the one I remembered most clearly. In particular episode 2, The Final Countdown, is a particular highlight. Anyway, here’s the only movie I watched this week:
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 6

Not much to report this week. I’ve been pretty busy so haven’t watched a lot and have written even less, but I’m working on it. I’ve started reading Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon though, and that’s pretty damn amazing. I’m watching the film later this year, and am now significantly anticipating it. Here’s what I’ve watched this week:
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 5

Normally around this time of year I’d be desperately attempting to hoover up as many unseen Oscar nominees as possible in anticipation of the forthcoming Academy Awards ceremony that, more likely than not, I won’t actually watch given it finishes here at roughly 5am on a Monday morning (would it kill them to move it to Saturday night, really?). However this year I find myself somewhat unmotivated to do so, given how little interest I have in many of the films in contention. Of the 8 nominees for Best Picture I’ve so far seen just three (The Martian, Mad Max: Fury Road and Bridge of Spies). I’d quite happily see the likes of The Big Short, Room and Spotlight, but none of them strike me as films that are only suited to the big screen, so I feel almost obliged to simply wait them out until I can see them much more inexpensively within the comfort of my own home, especially given my recent reading of the novel Room upon which the film is based, which is very good and comes highly recommended from me, but with the story so fresh in my mind I just don’t think the film would have the required effect. The only film nominated for much that I’ve any real interest in seeing is The Revenant, as I’m certain that won’t be quite as effective back home, but thus far my attempts to seek it out have resulted in a faulty projector, a refunded ticket and a wasted half day’s holiday taken from work.
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So as late February approaches I find myself caring increasingly less about what films and film-makers will be awarded much of anything come the big night. Amongst the other major categories the likes of Carol, Brooklyn, Trumbo and The Danish Girl all look very worthy but ultimately dull, and with the over-rated Inside Out seeming to lead the chase for Best Animated Feature (the only other contender being Anomalisa, which isn’t released here for another month) I can’t even get excited about that. But hey, in spite of all that I (just about) caught up on all my goals for January, but predictably that last minute dash burned me out a little so I’m now behind again just a few days later. When will I learn?
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Also this week I finally got around to seeing the 12 Angry Men episode of Inside Amy Schumer. I’m pretty sure this show never made it to the UK which, having seen a few of the sketches on YouTube, I wasn’t all that upset about, but when I saw an online trailer for this particular episode I knew I had to watch it, because a) 12 Angry Men is one of my favourite films, and b) it features the likes of Paul Giamatti, John Hawkes, Vincent Kartheiser (Pete from Mad Men), Kumail Nanjiani, a bunch of other know-the-face guys and the almighty Jeff Freakin’ Goldblum. Having watched it I was not disappointed. For fans of the film there are a lot of references that pretty much all work, but the bit that had me dying was Juror #2 (Chris Gethard) saying “Oh bother” during an intense situation, because Juror #2 from the original movie (John Fiedler) voiced Piglet.

Here’s what I watched this week:
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 4

You may have noticed I haven’t posted my 2015 in Review or Most Anticipated for 2016 posts. This is correct, well done on being so observant. I’ve got both saved in draft and am about halfway through the 2015 in Review (I’ve hit a stumbling block in that I can’t remember anything that happened in American Sniper so lost my momentum) so that’ll come out eventually. What probably won’t is my Anticipated list for 2016. The reason being is that there’s not all that many incoming films I’m terribly excited about.
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We did a recent Lambcast episode on this very subject, and I found myself at a loss. There’s one film I’m really, really looking forward to in 2016, and that’s Shane Black’s The Nice Guys. Other than that I’d honestly be fine if everything else coming out this year just… sort of… didn’t. Granted there’s films I’ll see because they look fun – Captain America: Civil War, Deadpool, Finding Dory – and others I’ll be obliged to for podcasting reasons – Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice springs unfortunately to mind – and of course there’s the batch of late 2015 films that are only just getting released in the UK – The Revenant, The Big Short, Spotlight, Room – which I’m sure will be more than worth a watch, as long as I get to them before the Oscars. It’s just that nothing is getting me excited. It’s probably a comparison to last year, when I was all stoked for the new Star Wars, Avengers, Spectre, Jurassic World and, most regrettably, The Good Dinosaur. After a few disappointments in 2015, maybe I’ve lowered my expectations for 2016 so low that I’d honestly be OK if the cinemas all took a break for a year. Heck, it’d give me a chance to save some cash and make some more headway watching the films I need to see. Speaking of which, here’s what I watched this week:
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 2 and 3, plus China trip

We are twenty two days into 2016. Three weeks and one day. And so far I haven’t watched a single film in my own home. Not only that, I haven’t reviewed a single film either. Needless to say, I’m getting more than a little behind. You see, whilst my TV and my blog have been gathering dust, my January has so far been rather eventful.
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Two weeks ago I went to China for a week on business. China is, in a word, terrifying. Specifically the roads, which alas we had to traverse multiple times a day, and during each journey I could be found clutching desperately to that pathetic little ceiling-mounted handle like I was 20,000 feet in the air and it was my only parachute. Driving in China is very different from in the UK, in that the drivers don’t actually turn their heads. Their eyes may flit to the mirrors from time to time, every half an hour or so, but manoeuvres, which are often made without the aid of a blinking indicator, are ploughed into with an amount of confidence I found more than unnerving. If, mid-lane-change, it turns out there’s another vehicle already in the way, horns are beeped and drivers return to their lanes until that car has passed, at which point the change is attempted again. The cyclists didn’t help matters either, heading in whichever direction they wished, oblivious to any kinds of traffic lights and bereft of head protection, with up to four people for every two wheels. The strange thing is, there weren’t all that many accidents. The occasional car had a scratch or a dent, but for the most part the automobiles were in pristine condition and we only saw maybe two or three cars sat at the side of a road awaiting assistance.
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Food-wise it wasn’t exactly the Chinese takeaway I’m used to (and which I’m enjoying tonight), with the suppliers we met with taking us out for all manner of local delicacy, including sea snails and chicken feet. I tried the former but not the latter, because well, they’re chicken feet. That’s not supposed to be eaten. The worst thing I ate was actually tofu, mainly because it’s even less like food than chicken feet. It’s like eating gelatinous clouds. It’s albino pond scum. Bland, soggy soap. Blurgh. Also, tea. Lots and lots of tea. You’d think being an Englishman I’d jump at the chance for a nice cuppa, but in reality I’d never actually tried tea before in any form, and having now tried some I won’t be rushing back to any.
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Since arriving home from China (we also spent a couple of days in Hong Kong, where it just pissed it down with rain) my sleep schedule has been rocked so much that I’ve had difficulty staying awake in the evenings, hence the lack of viewings and reviewings. I did, however, watch some films on the flights to and from the East, so let’s get into those shall we? Here’s what I’ve watched over the past couple of weeks:
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My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 1, plus 2016 Plans

2016 has not begun well. I never had a pet as a child. I remember asking my parents for a hamster for my birthday and Christmas every year until, when I was about fourteen, they gave me a battery-powered chipmunk in a plastic ball which, evidently, was not designed to roll down a flight of stairs. That ended my quest for domesticated creatures until six-and-a-bit years ago, when I began dating my lovely girlfriend Aisha. She’d always had pets, so it was inevitable that someday we would too. She always wanted a dog, but that seemed like a giant leap for a non-pet-owner such as myself, so we began small with my first pets, the relatively easy to care for mini lop rabbits, mother and son Goldie and Copper. Copper was my favourite, by virtue of Goldie occasionally being somewhat aggressive and escape-happy, whereas Copper just loved hopping round the garden sniffing and tasting everything. When we got Murphy, our labradoodle puppy, last year, he took priority over the rabbits purely because of how time-consuming taking care of him was, but feeding the rabbits twice a day and letting them hop around now and then was always something I looked forward to, because I’d get to interact with Copper who, I should point out, was the softest thing in the world, and remained my favourite pet in spite of Murphy’s uncontrollable fluffiness. Sadly last Sunday Copper passed away. He was my first pet, my first to die, and the first I’ve had to bury, and I miss him a great deal. If you’d told me years ago that there’d come a time where I’d spend much of a day – literally hours – crying over a dead rabbit, I’d meet your comments with bemused derision, yet here we are. Goldie remains unphased and Murphy is now top of the adorable list, but Copper will always hold that place as my first pet.
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My Week in Movies, 2015 Week 52

Happy New Year everybody! I’ve got a lot to get through in this post so I’ll keep the intro brief. This is the wrap-up for 2015’s goals, as well as a run-through of the films I’ve watched in the past week and a half. I’m going to post these weekly updated on Fridays from now on, for no real reason other than I think it’d suit me better. Also, I’ve got goals for 2016, but I’ll get to those in another post. As you’re about to read I’ve had an incredibly busy few days recently, so apologies for the brevity of some of these mini-reviews. Here’s what I watched recently:
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