My latest blog (and first of 2014) is not related directly to my studies. It concerns films, and more specifically the films I watched during 2013. It is, however, related to studying Politics at Newcastle. I’ll return to why later on.
I decided to keep a list of films that I watched throughout 2013 due to a pub conversation with a friend at the end of 2012. We were discussing the films we had seen that year. It would have been a fine conversation, except for the fact that I couldn’t remember what films I’d seen, thus a list for 2013 was born. The full list is below (with clickable links to each film’s IMDB page).
Les Miserables (2013); Paper Clips (2004); Django Unchained (2012); Twelve Angry Men (1957); Lincoln (2012); We Feed the World (2005); R: Hit First, Hit Hardest (2010); The Iron Lady (2011); Once (2006); Paris is Burning (1990); The Artist (2011); Gentlemen of Fortune (1971); Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975); Monty Python & The Holy Grail (1975); Amazing Grace (2007); Good Vibrations (2012); Simon (2004); Red Angel (1966); Blackfish (2013); Gojira (1954); Game Change (2012); Only God Forgives (2013); Habemus Papam (2011); Wadjda (2012); Jagten (The Hunt) (2012); Festen (The Celebration) (1998); Get Carter (1971); Payroll (1961); T Dan Smith: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Utopia (1987); I Am Nasrine (2012); Exam (2009); The Stuart Hall Project (2013); Le Weekend (2013); The Spirit of ’45 (2013); The White Ribbon (2009); When Hainan Meets Teochew (2010); What’s Cooking? (2000); Submarine (2010); The Servant (1963); Philomena (2013); The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (2012); Computer Chess (2013); Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010); Die Hard (1988); Home Alone (1990); Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992); Home Alone 3 (1997); Love Actually (2007).
In total, I watched 46 films in 2013, so just less than one a week. I’d certainly like to try and watch more films during 2014. A lot of the films, I watched at Newcastle University’s Politics department Film Night, run by postgraduates from the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology (click here for more information). I’ve been attending this for 18 months now, jointly running it for 6, and it’s a great way to see films that you otherwise wouldn’t see. So far for early 2014, films from Troll Hunter to Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe are on the film night list, so I’m sure I’ll reap the benefits of that for some time yet.
As a matter of personal interest, I gave each film a ranking out of 10. Given that I marked each film using a different list of criteria (for instance, my mark of 9 for 12 Angry Men was a completely different mark of 9 that I gave for Monty Python and the Holy Grail), the ratings in themselves have no real value. However, for what it’s worth, the film that got the highest rating that I saw for the first time in 2013 was Django Unchained, again with 9. Two films held the lowest rating for films I saw for the first time in 2013: We Have a Pope and The Stuart Hall Project.
Many of the films were seen at the excellent Tyneside Cinema, on Pilgrim Street in Newcastle City Centre. It remains one of the finest places to watch films in the country. Annual membership is good value, and it really is an experience to see a film there. Go along if you can.
I don’t really do new year’s resolutions (bar the resolution that I don’t do new year’s resolutions), but I hope to watch more films in 2014, and to see some more films that I really should have seen before. Growing up, I was never as interested in films as I am now, so I’ve missed out on some ‘classics’. Tonight, I’ll be watching Leon, so hopefully that will provide a good start. I also want to watch films that then spur me on to watch related films, such as those with the same director/leading actor/leading actress. I’ll also be keeping a list again, with a view to blogging about it on January 1st, 2015. Until then, all the best for the year ahead.