What May has been May 31, 2008
Posted by badblokebob in : Editorials, 2008, progress reports, statistics , add a commentAh May! The start of summer! Not that I like summer, personally, as I’m rather adverse to all that heat. But it’s been miserable weather for the most part so far, so I’m all the happier.
As is my film viewing, it must be said. Happier, that is, not miserable. The second year of 100 Films got off to an entirely ignominious start, but May has seen something of a turnaround — 41% of all the new films I’ve seen this year have been in the last 31 days. I’m actually behind with reviews, having seen up to #37 (but only posted to #34). As I catch up you can look forward to my thoughts on The Fountain, Hulk and I Am Legend. Along with Transformers, they make for an appropriately blockbustery selection just as 2008’s season kicks off.
Nonetheless, I still have 63 new films to see til I reach my target. Such a feat may only require just over 2 films per week, but as I’ve barely topped 1.5 on average so far it’s all to play for. At this point last year I only had 45 films to go, but I still managed to see 74 more before the end of December — that bodes well at least…
100 Days April 9, 2008
Posted by badblokebob in : Editorials, 2008, progress reports, statistics , add a commentApril 9th: the 100th day of 2008! As it’s just over a quarter of the way through the year (that would’ve been March 31st, more or less), and also a nice round number in its own right, and as I did a similar thing at roughly this point last year, it seems an appropriate time for a statisticstastic look at how things are going so far.
I’ve seen a total of just 15 films so far. That makes my weekly average a lowly 1.07, meaning I’ll manage a paltry 56 films this year should that continue. Oh dear. (At this point last year, I was on course to see 145!)
Of those few films, eight were released in the 2000s, two each in the 1990s, ’80s and ’40s, and one in the ’30s. That means I’ve seen nothing from the ’70s, ’60s or ’50s, or before 1939.
I saw nine of them on DVD, four via download, and two on TV. Nothing on VHS, and I haven’t been to the cinema yet this year.
Ratings wise, I’ve so far handed out three full marks. Those were to Atonement, Dark City and Rebecca. Of the remaining twelve, five garnered 4 out of 5, four managed a 3, and three were awarded just 2. Nothing has been poor enough to merit a 1… yet. The average rating is therefore 3.5, exactly the same as at this point last year and a pretty averagey average.
With 38 weeks of the year to go, I have 85 films left to reach my target — that’s an average of 2.2 new films every week (or 9.5 every month) from here out. Quite low, one might think, but I’ve clearly not been living up to it.
A dismal January February 2, 2008
Posted by badblokebob in : Editorials, 2008, progress reports , add a commentThis new year of film watching has hardly got off to an auspicious start, with only five new films seen in January. For those who haven’t already done the maths, that rate sees me just reaching 60 by the end of the year — a tad short of 100!
But I have new resolve… sort of… and a list. Lists always help. That is, in this case, a list of things in my DVD collection I would especially like to get round to watching. Some of those may well pop up soon. Plus I’ve just started a new film module, which should mean a slew of unseen films… well, one a week at any rate… except the first is David Lean’s Great Expectations, which I saw last year!
Here we go again… January 1, 2008
Posted by badblokebob in : Editorials, Directors, Genre, 2008, Star Ratings, Decades, Misc. Attributes, progress reports, "100 Films..." , add a commentWith 2007 finally finished, it’s time to begin all over again for 2008. I outlined some of the changes to the format previously, though not necessarily very well… or very interestingly…
Anyway, you’ll see those in effect very shortly: as with last year, I’ve actually seen a film on New Year’s Day! Hurrah! Though this year it wasn’t a new release. And it was at 2AM, almost leading to it being included in last year’s list — it would’ve made for a nice round 130. But no, honesty prevails. And a desire to get going on the new quest.
So here we go again: one down, 99 to go…
Week 31 August 6, 2007
Posted by badblokebob in : Editorials, Genre, Star Ratings, progress reports, 2007 , add a commentMy quest to see 100 films I’ve never seen by the end of 2007 passes the three-quarters point this week, and we’re not even two-thirds of the way through the year!
This is the first single-week entry since week 14. As well as a concerted effort (such as three films on the Friday!), it’s helped by a lessening in the amount of TV I’ve been watching — last entry’s list of 19 on-going programmes has shrunk to 13 by the end of this week. Some might say I watch too much TV… Nonetheless, I’ve moved from about two films per week average over the last 16 weeks, to a total of eight films this week.
As well as a Week Of More it’s a bit of a Week Of Quality. Three of this week’s films are ones I’ve been dying to see for ages, and the rest follow not too far behind (OK, maybe I wouldn’t've put the likes of Kinky Boots or Confetti on a list of films I was dying to see, but I did want to). There’s also a fair few awards and nominations, and no small amount of critical acclaim, across them.
One could also argue that it’s a Week Of Variety. To be honest, I suspect there’s always a fair bit of variety in my film choices, but this week it’s especially pronounced — straightforward British comedies stand by low-budget intellectual sci-fi; complex teenage faux-film noir sits next to epic trilogy-starting Russian fantasy/horror; American gangster thriller lies beside classic British romance… And, while most were made in the new millennium, there’s a spread of over 60 years between the oldest and the most recent. All within the space of seven days, too!
Perhaps because of all these reasons I’ve found choosing the final rating for every film here quite tricky; all of them have some malleability, either up or down.
Weeks 27-28 July 16, 2007
Posted by badblokebob in : Editorials, progress reports, 2007, statistics , add a commentMy quest to see 100 films that I’ve never seen before by the end of 2007 rolls on into its second half. I’ve done really pathetically in the last couple of months — my average number of films per week has dropped from 2.7 for weeks 1 to 18 to just 1.5 for weeks 19 to 26! I ain’t gonna get to the end that way… actually, I’d hit exactly 100 by the end of the year if I carried on that way! But still, reaching ‘only’ 100 when I was more on track to hit 150 does seem like a slight disappointment.
Anyway, things do continue, and I think I’ve seen a pretty respectable number of films for these two weeks. Will the giddy heights of six films each in weeks 8, 12, 13 and 14 ever be reproduced? (And, by-the-by, that’s six films on average across 12 and 13 — the exact number from 13 was higher, but I can’t remember what it was. Though I’m sure no one else cares for such boring information…)
A couple of Oscar-winners crop up this time round, as we move through the first few weeks of July (the 2nd to the 15th, to be precise).
Weeks 24-26 July 4, 2007
Posted by badblokebob in : Editorials, progress reports, 2007 , add a commentIn case you’ve forgotten, and can’t work it out from the title, I’m trying to see at least 100 films that I’ve never seen before by the end of 2007. That’s an average of eight per month, donchaknow; or two per week. I’m well on target.
And, I’m halfway through! For anyone who can’t remember how many weeks there are in a year… well, there’s 52; and half of 52 is 26; and the week of June 25th is week 26 of 2007, meaning that July 1st is just about halfway through the year (though, to be precise, there’s actually 52 weeks and one day in a year… well, actually, 52 weeks, one day and a quarter day… anyway…)
I passed the numerical halfway point (i.e. 50 films) way back in week 19 — clearly I’ve not been doing as well in the past 7 weeks! At all. Oh dear oh dear… Exams may be long over and holidays may be on, but combine the odd bits of good TV filling days and evenings with a commitment to completing Script Frenzy and you wind up seeing less films than you might expect. A lot less, as it turns out — just three in three whole weeks! Still, I’m currently well on track to pass 100 by the end of the year anyway. Shiny.
And as has become standard practice, I’ll handily remind you that this entry is covering films seen between 11th June and 1st July.