Thoughts

       Hello my lovelies. I haven't blogged in a while and that is because I have been really uninspired and the cold makes me super lazy. This is the first weekly thoughts post of 2013 actually, and here are my thoughts-

1) Sundance Film Festival is go! I have actually been avoiding any and all reviews. Stoker isn't being received very well, which is a shame because it looks pretty awesome. Daniel Radcliffe is apparently really good in Kill Your Darlings, so yaay! And then there is Before Midnight, whose every mention makes my heart race. Apparently, it's the best in the series so far. I don't know if that is even remotely possible, and I am going to continue to be skeptical and totally blind about this movie, because I don't want hype or spoilers ruining it for me.

2) J.J. Abrams is making Star Wars Episode VII. I like Abrams, and I'm neutral towards Star Wars (except when it comes to Han Solo of course- so hot!) so we will see how it goes. 

3) Leo DiCaprio, who is the star of my new banner, is taking a long break from films. Honestly, I don't blame him. The man tries and he tries and he tries and nothing. Boo you whore (all of the awards).

4) I saw Gangster Squad. What a waste! The only thing worth watching in that film is Ryan Gosling, in his impeccable suits. And the cinema hall I went to did something to his voice which made him sound like a whiny, little girl so they ruined that as well.

5) Emma Stone will be starring in Guillermo Del Toro's horror flick Crimson Peak. I think most actresses do a horror movie at some point, but if you have to do it, Del Toro is definitely the way to go. And with Stone's ginormous eyes, it will be even more believable. Charlie Hunnam will also be starring.

6)  Trance has a super trippy poster out. And of course trippy and Danny Boyle makes me think of Trainspotting, so this film is going to be gooooooood.

7) Trailers- Mud, which looks very good actually. Take Shelter was an amazing film, even if too slow at parts and this looks more thrilling. The trailer says that it has Matthew McConaughey's best performance, which after 2012, is something to get excited about. I am not a big Coen brothers fan, but I am actually looking forward to Inside Llewyn Davis. The cat and Carey Mulligan have made me excited. Spring Breakers looks crazy but it might be a good kind of crazy, we'll see. Also, how fucked up do those Disney tween stars turn out at the end? Trance looks great. Love the cast, love Boyle, love McAvoy's pretty blues. I think this film is going to be epic. Finally, the 20 second teaser of Only God Forgives came out and holy hell, does it look freaking brilliant! Ryan Gosling in suits, beating up people with his bare fists- yes, please.

8) This-

I always liked her. Always.

9) Finally, since we are on the subject of the Gos-

When I was a kid my Dad came upon a truckload of cellophane and he wanted me to help him sell it. So I was taking it to the kids at school, trying to sell it to my teachers. I went and stood in front of the supermarket. I had a fantasy that one day someone would buy all of it. That some guy would just come along and be like ‘I’ll take em all’ It never happened. So I was walking out of Ralph’s one day and I saw these kids trying to sell these cookies and I was like yeah, I’ll take them all. So I bought hundreds and hundreds of boxes. I didn’t realize how many boxes I was going to have. I had a car full of them. I didn’t know what to do so I started just like throwing them out the window to people on the street.

Ryan Gosling- part superhero, part Santa, Total God.

Toodles.

“Quentin Tarantino is here, the star of all my sexual nightmares." GOLDEN GLOBES HAPPENED, BICHES!

           I bloody love the Golden Globes. They are always so much fun and incredibly unpredictable, which just adds to the fun. Though I respect the Oscars more (don't ask why, it's an inherent thing, like it is for everybody else), Globes is my favourite awards show and the 70th Golden Globes Awards just reaffirmed that.

1) I went to bed at around 2:30 a.m. and then woke up at 5:30 a.m. panicking because I thought I had missed them. Turns out they start an hour later and for the first time in a very long time I had to listen to modern pop music on VH1 (which was airing the show) to stay awake. It was trauma (I HATE YOU MAROON 5!).
2) And yes, I have slept for only 3 hours so I apologise for any craziness that may or may not occur in this post.
3) Though they didn't air the red carpet, my absolute favourite gown was what Lucy Liu wore. It was like something out of Marie Antoinette-

I also really loved what Kate Hudson, Amy Adams and Naomi Watts wore. They were all so dramatic.

4) Rachel Weisz's outfit was a classic example of how a good dress can go bad. She's so beautiful though.

5) Anywho, the show starts and the hosts, part-time comedy goddesses, Tina Fey and Amy Poeher kill it! So funny. Some classics- 

"When it comes to torture, I trust the lady spending three years married to James Cameron." (Jessica Chastain's face here was priceless).

"Anne Hathaway, you gave a stunning performance in Les Miserables. I have not someone so totally alone and abandoned since you were on stage with James Franco at the Oscars." 

“Meryl Streep isn’t here tonight. She has the flu, and I hear she’s amazing in it.”

 Daniel Day Lewis being E.T. He looks like such a silver fox. I love it.

6) The first award is Best Supporting Actor and lo and behold, who should win it but Christoph Waltz! Ugh, category fraud. And Leo looked so pretty. I miss pretty Leo. Isn't Golden Globes supposed to be partial to like gorgeous royalty, wtf?

7) Miss and Mr. Golden Globe were children of Clint Eastwood and Michael J. Fox respectively. "You know what, Taylor Swift? Stay away from Michael J. Fox‘s son." Fey threatens later. Lulz.

8) Oh then the president of HFPA comes and hits on Bradley Cooper. Poor Cooper.

9) I know it's trivial to speculate but I think Cooper and J-Law are totes going out. It's all that awesome dancing and staring into the eyes.

10) They got the real Tony Mendez to announce Argo's Best Picture nomination. So cool. Oscar's never do this.

11) Ang Lee looks like such a nice, happy person. And I hate Suraj Sharma. I want to be there!!

12) One of my favourite awards of the evening- Adele won Best Original Song for "Skyfall" and hi-fived James Bond and gave an adorable speech and Taylor Swift was left seething. It's okay though. She will probably write a song about it.

And real talent wins!

13) Benedict Cumberbatch did not get an award AGAIN! And he lost to Kevin Costner who sounded really sad and stuff.

LOOK AT HIM! JUST LOOK! GIVE HIM A BLOODY AWARD!!!

14) Oh then Bill Clinton comes to announce Lincoln's nomination, which was so not fair. He got a standing ovation. I once went to some function where he was the chief guest. He wore a very nice suit. "That was Hillary Clinton's husband!" Leslie Knope speaking through Amy Poehler.

15) At some point Homeland won a ton of awards and Claire Danes's make-up was really sexy. Also Maggie Smith won so yaay!!
16) Man, the commercial breaks were torture. The ads alternated between some Michael Jackson memorial thing with people crying, bloody Taylor Swift promoting her new album and Aishwarya Rai's Loreal commercials, in which she says "Now I am a mother with gorgeous hair." OH MY GOD SHUT UP BICH!
17) Btw, "bich" is my new thing now. Yes, I decide what stupid fads I want to follow.
18) Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrel presented Best Actress Comedy/Musical and were hilarious to everyone except Tommy Lee Jones, who wins the Best Expression of the Golden Globes Award.

He is the Grumpy Cat in human form.

19) Jennifer Lawrence won and she was really funny and sweet. Her "Oh, what does it say? I beat Meryl" was taken from The First Wives Club, so no, it was not a failed joke. She is smarter than us all.

20) Then Anne Hathaway won and she desperately has to work on her surprised face, because you can see through it very easily. Almost makes me wish that when she got up, someone else's name got called out instead. Her thanking Sally Field was really lovely though.
21) Quentin Tarantino won Best Screenplay, making it another favourite win of mine. He was so, in the words of Adele, "pissed" that it was very entertaining to watch.

22) Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger presented the Best Foreign Film award (duh?) and all I wanted was a fight. Of course Amour won and Michael Haneke accepted the award from fellow Austrian, Schwarzy (are he and Schwarzy  gonna become bezzies now? Methinks 'twas meant to be).
23) Oh I really wanted Anne Hathaway and Claire Danes to have a jazz freakout together. That would have been fun.
24) Sacha Baron Cohen came with a drink in his hand and wittily insulted most of his Les Mis co-stars and also made a joke about Anne Hathaway's unfortunate wardrobe malfunction, and then continued to present the Best Animated Film award. Again, duh? Still, Brave won, so GO PIXAR! Maybe I should get a Pixar tattoo...
25) Lena Dunham won the Best Actress Comedy in television and was really sweet and thanked all the other nominees, but Tina and Amy were not amused. Also, this-

Amy Poehler's nomination being announced.

26) Robert Downey Jr. came to introduce Jodie Foster and give her the Cecil B. Demille award. Someone needs to give him an Oscar just for being himself, because he is unparalleled in his awesomosity.

27) I love Clarice Starling to death. One of my absolute favourite characters and performances of all time. But oh my god, I don't know if it was the lack of sleep or what, but I could not follow anything Jodie Foster said in her acceptance speech. She was burning through a lot of topics really fast. There was something about coming out but then it wasn't, and Honey Boo Boo and reality TV and her mother and some dog whistle and by the end of it, it sounded like she was going to shoot herself on the spot. People in the audience were crying. I was very lost.
28) Mel Gibson- BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
29) Ben Affleck won Best Director, which was brilliant. Argo Fuck Yourselves, Oscars.
30) Hey, hey! Ryan Gosling wasn't there :( And they never showed Cumberbatch again. Eddie Redmayne makes me want to howl though.
31) Girls also won Best Comedy show. Yaays! Season 2 starts today!! Eeeeep!!!
32) My absolute favourite win of the show was Hugh Jackman winning Best Actor Comedy/Musical, beating the frontrunner, Cooper. I was watching his Oscar's opening number just yesterday and I love him so. He was fantastic in Les Mis.
33) Les Mis also, very shockingly, won Best Film Comedy/Musical instead of the favoured and far more superior Silver Linings Playbook. Anne Hathaway is getting slightly annoying.
34) “Our next presenter is so handsome, he makes young George Clooney look like garbage.”
“Welcome to the stage, middle-age George Clooney.” - best intro ever.
35) Unfortunately, Clooney did not make any jokes about golf clubs or anything. He did poke fun at Ben Affleck though (who had forgotten to thank him in his speech :O). Jessica Chastain won Best Actress Drama and was wonderful, although I would have much preferred to see Rachel Weisz take home the Globe. And Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor Drama, hence making the Best Actor race the most boring category of the year.
36) Oh Joaquin Phoenix was totally there. Maybe he likes the Globes more than the Oscars. Maybe it was all the alcohol.

See.

37) Argo won Best Picture Drama! Woo hoo! I wish Drama and Comedy were kept on the same pedestal though. The preference of one to the other is depressing, literally. Anyways, I hope this happens at the Oscars as well.

38) "Good night! We’re going home with Jodie Foster!”

Your move, Oscars.

Oscar Nominations are Out!

     Poor Leo. Some day, it will be his time to shine. Not today though, soz.

      So we got nine Best Picture nominees again, though I had a feeling it will be less this time. The big winners of the 85th Academy Award nominations are Beasts of the Southern Wild, Amour and Silver Linings Playbook. Yes, Lincoln and Life of Pi got loads of nominations, but that was expected.

      Emmanuel Riva became the oldest best actress nominee at 85 and my favourite, Quvenzhané Wallis   became the youngest at 9 (what am I doing with my life?). "Skyfall" was nominated for Best Song. The Avengers got one nomination for Best Visual Effects. Hugh Jackman is an Oscar nominee now! Yaay!


        My Expectations vs Reality.

Best Film: 9 out of 9 - Not much from my wishlist, but then again I knew that.

Best Director: 3 out of 5- Who saw Benh Zeitlin being nominated? Who saw Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow not being nominated?! I somehow forgot to mention David O. Russel in my list. Anyways, cool to see Ang Lee and Michael Haneke make it in.

Best Actress: 5 out of 5- Eeep! Oldest and youngest nominees ever, competing against each other.

Best Actor: 5 out of 5- Psyched about the Jackman nomination, even though I haven't watched Les Mis yet.

Best Supporting Actress: 4 out of 5- Jackie Weaver was unexpected. Silver Linings Playbook is the first movie to have nominations in all four acting categories since Reds, and that was 31 years. Woah!

Best Supporting Actor: 5 out of 5- Ugh Arkin. And as much I loved Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained, I was really hoping for Leonardo DiCaprio to be nominated instead :(

Best Original Screenplay: 4 out of 5- I'm sort of proud of this category. Yaay for the Moonrise Kingdom nomination!

Best Adapted Screenplay: 5 out of 5- Perks :( 


       Other stuff-
1) Love the visual and costume nominations for Anna Karenina
2) Love all the nominations for Skyfall.
3) No love for Cloud Atlas or The Dark Knight Rises :(
4) No love for Matthew McConaughey :'(
5) I adore Emma Stone.
6) Seth MacFarlane is an Oscar nominee. He already made a Nazi joke :X
7) Poor Leo.

       Anyways, congrats to all the nominees. I imagine all of them are like this at present-

Movie Jail Relay Race

       A new relay race has been started by Nostra of My Film Views and Terrence of The Focused Filmmaker.

      The idea:

"It’s time to put some movie people in jail. The object is to give a prosecutor’s argument as to why these movie people belong in “Movie Jail” whether it be for violating the integrity of the content source of one their films, or being a sell-out, just making bad movies overall, getting worse as time goes on or not being in a good movie for many years.

The baton will be passed to another blogger who will have to do the following:

In order to free someone from Movie Jail they have to do 2 things

1 – Give a defense attorney argument defending the plaintiff

2 – Pay bail: the cost of which is another case for the court and a prosecutor’s argument against the actor/director of their choice that will replace the one set free.

There must always be 10 people in Movie Jail."

      I was passed on the baton by the awesome Josh of The Cinematic Spectacle. 

      I apologise for taking so long to do this. I had had my eyes on the person who I am taking out of the movie prison for a while now, but it took some time to find the person to replace them with. But once I knew who to put in, it seemed like the most obvious choice there was.

      The current inmates-

George Lucas

Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer

Jennifer Aniston

Sam Worthington

Tom Cruise

Adam Sandler

Al Pacino

Eddie Murphy

Raja Gosnell

       The entries so far-

Nostra of My Film Views

Sati of Cinematic Corner

Alex of And So It Begins...

Steven of Surrender to the Void

Stevee of Cinematic Paradox

Josh of The Cinematic Spectacle

      Who I am setting free- 

Michael Cera

      If you look at the list of my top 100 films, you will notice that Mr. Cera here stars in two of them. That's more than the likes of Ryan Gosling, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro and Shah Rukh Khan. While I do love these actors more, I have to say that the reason why Cera's films are there is because they make me happy. Michael Cera comes in awesome, happy films. I will always watch a film of his because I am guaranteed joy and entertainment. There are worse crimes. So his roles are similar, but they are still very different from each other. Paulie Bleeker is no Scott Pilgrim. I have loved him in Nick and Norah's Playlist, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Juno and Superbad and really liked him in Youth in Revolt and whatever I have seen of Arrested Development. Also he is brilliant in interviews, always witty and quick. Plus, his characters have the best names EVER- Paulie Bleeker, Scott Pilgrim, Nick Twisp, Francois Dillinger. With names like that, come on!

      Who I am putting behind bars- 

Katherine Heigl

         The woman who dealt the final and perhaps the most fatal blow to the genre of romantic comedies. This used to be one of the best and most intelligent genres there was, and while it was on a decline, we still had some wonderful films in the 80s and 90s. Then Katherine Heigl suddenly became the queen of romcoms and they became painful, sappy and well, shit. Mila Kunis's character in Friends with Benefits says it best, "Shut up, Katherine Heigl, you stupid, little liar!" She is a liar because this genre is so much better than her and her brand of spineless humour and romance. I rest my case.

       I pick the excellent Anna of Defiant Success to pass on the baton to. Can't wait to see who she picks!

HELLO OSCAR NOMS!

      The Academy for Motion Pictures and Arts are going to announce the nominees for the 85th Academy Awards soon. There are still a number of "Oscar" films that I still haven't watched yet like Silver Linings Playbook, Les Miserables, The Sessions, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and The Master, among others. So basically the following are my wishlist/predictions for the Big 5 and Supporting categories.

Best Film: Once again we do not know how many there will be. My gut says it will be less than last time (9 nominees).

Mine- 1) Cloud Atlas

2) Django Unchained

3) Argo

4) Beasts of the Southern Wild

5) Holy Motors

6) Skyfall

7) Moonrise Kingdom

8) The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Special wish that has no chance- The Avengers. Eat slugs, Avatar!

Theirs- From my list, I reckon only Argo will make it in for certain. Django Unchained, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Cloud Atlas, Moonrise Kingdom are maybes and Holy Motors, Skyfall and The Perks of Being a Wallflower will take a lot of effort and genuine love on the part of the Academy voters. Lincoln is probably the only definite nominee there is, which is a shame because I fell asleep in it. Zero Dark Thirty is a frontrunner too, though I was not all *that* impressed. I haven't seen other possibilities like Les Miserables and Silver Linings Playbook. Life of Pi is another strong contender. Amour seemed like a frontrunner some months back but I guess it will only prevail in the Best Foreign Film category.

Winner- I really don't know right now, and I kind of like it.

Best Director: The year of the returning winners and new hope.

Mine- 1) Wachowski Siblings & Tom Tykwer, Cloud Atlas

2) Ben Affleck, Argo

3) Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingom

4) Ang Lee, Life of Pi

5) Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained/ Michael Haneke, Amour

Special wish that has no chance- For the fanboys out there, Joss Whedon, The Avengers and Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises

Theirs- Past winners such as Steven Spielberg for Lincoln, Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty and Tom Hooper Les Miserables are almost locks. From my list, I think Affleck and Lee might be locked. Michael Haneke's nomination for Amour is long-awaited, so it would be nice. 

Winner- I would choose either the Cloud Atlas team or Affleck. I think one of the past winners might get the big prize though, with a possible blindside from Affleck.

Best Actress: Old and new and everything in between. Haven't seen enough from this category.

Mine- 1) Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

2) Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea

3) Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone

4) Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

5) Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games

Special wish that has no chance- Princess Merida, Brave (no, I do not accept the fact that she isn't real).

Theirs- Lawrence is getting nominated for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, for sure. The other decided nominee and frontrunner is Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty, who I liked but did not like enough. My favourite Wallis has very little chance unfortunately, and Weisz's powerful performance is also doubtful to make it through. Naomi Watts might get in for The Impossible. Helen Mirren and Judy Dench are possibilities too, for their work in Hitchcock and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel respectively. Keira Knightley is standing on shaky grounds for her role in Anna Karenina.

Winner- Wallis has blown me away and I doubt I will see a better female performance this year. For the Oscars, it is a fight between Chastain and Lawrence, with Riva being a dark horse.

Best Actor: I'm on the same boat with this as I am with the Best Actress category. Depressing.

Mine- 1) Denis Lavant, Holy Motors

2) Denzel Washington, Flight

3) Jean-Louis Trintignant, Amour

4) Mads Mikkelsen, The Hunt

5) Jack Black (I know, right?!), Bernie

Special wish that has no chance- Logan Lerman, The Perks of Being a Wallflower/ Daniel Craig, Skyfall

Theirs- Daniel Day-Lewis is our god etc. I liked him in and as Lincoln, but meh (please do not come to my house with pitchforks, please!). Only Denzel will make it through for my list, sadly. Even though I have not watched the film, I am really dying for Hugh Jackman to be nominated for Les Miserables. Other possibilities are John Hawkes for The Sessions, Bradley Cooper (I knowww, right?!) for Silver Linings Playbook, Richard Gere (eep!) for Armitage and Joaquin Phoenix for The Master, if he hasn't antagonised all the voters yet.

Winner- Lavant's performance is mindblowing, and too out there for Oscars. DDL's fandom knows no bounds, so yeah, he's probably going to pick up Oscar #3.

Best Supporting Actress: Uhhhhhhhhhh.

Mine- 1) Rosemary DeWitt, Your Sister's Sister

2) Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises

3) Rebel Wilson, Pitch Perfect

4) Judy Dench, Skyfall

5) Jennifer Ehle, Zero Dark Thirty

Special wish that will never happen- The three women of Bachelorette.

Theirs- Let's just say, none of mine. Hathaway will be nominated for Les Miserables. Sally Field for all that in Lincoln, Helen Hunt for The Sessions and my favourite unseen performance by Nicole Kidman in The Paperboy. Maggie Smith for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Amy Adams for The Master are big possibilities.

Winner- This award is Hathaway's to lose. I am already impressed with her, so I guess she is my pick too.

Best Supporting Actor: Once again, my favourite category.

Mine- 1) Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained

2) Ezra Miller, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

3) Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike

4) Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
5) Michael Fassbender, Prometheus/ Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Special wish that will never happen- Alan Arkin doesn't get nominated for Argo, because I do not understand this much love.

Theirs- Arkin. Ugh. Robert De Niro is apparently back in full form in Silver Linings Playbook, so good for him. Philip Seymour Hoffman is another film geek god, so he will probably be nominated for The Master. Leo might get ousted by or be competing against co-stars Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson. In the most unexpected turn of events, people are really rooting for Javier Bardem in Skyfall (love it).

Winner- It's time for Leo. Please! He bled his own blood for the role! And he plays a happy person (somewhat)! Called Calvin J. Candie! When will the stars align to give us something like this again?!

Best Original Screenplay: Interesting year.

Mine- 1) Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom

2) Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

3) Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks

4) Rian Johnson, Looper

5) Michael Haneke, Amour

Theirs- They love Zero Dark Thirty loads. I think everyone in my list except Ruby Sparks can make it through. Also The Master is a good bet.

Winner- It's between some of my favourite filmmakers this year- Tarantino, PTA, Wes Anderson

Best Adapted Screenplay: Can comic books prevail?

Mine- 1) Steven Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

2) Joss Whedon, The Avengers

3) Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer and Andy Wachowski, Cloud Atlas

4) Chris Terrio, Argo

5) Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Theirs- Silver Linings Playbook and Lincoln are sure bets. Adaptations of super famous books like Les Miserables, Life of Pi and Anna Karenina are possibilities too.

Winner- Chbosky wrote the script based on his own bestselling novel. He's already a winner in my eyes. Silver Linings Playbook and Argo are frontrunners for the Oscars.

These winners are preliminary. We'll see if and how my decisions change.

The Month that was December and the Year that was 2012

        The year is over and what a year it has been. I had made a resolution to watch 300 new-to-me feature films in 2012 and I think this is the first time I have achieved a resolution. My total number of films watched this year are 439. I don't know if this is my all-time highest since I have never kept track before, but I'm pretty happy with the result :) 

December firsts:

1) Killer Joe- Haha, what an batshit crazy film! I kind of loved it. Matthew McConaughey!

2) Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon- I would have probably loved it if it weren't for all that flying. Wtf happened to gravity, people?

3) A Serious Man- Hey, a Coen brothers movie I actually liked! Michael Stuhlbarg probably had something to do with it.

4) This Must Be the Place- I liked it a lot, but it got very slow for me.

5) Cafe de flore- Absolute love. And so addicted to the soundtrack.

6) Premium Rush- This was fun. Michael Shannon is the best!

7) The Rules of the Game- I can see why this film is so widely regarded. Totally timeless and entertaining and relevant.

8) The Science of Sleep- It got too quirky and eccentric. If they had controlled that, I would have loved it.

9) Talaash- The best Bollywood film I have seen all year. Look out for Kareena Kapoor in my favourite performances of the year.

10) Amour- Never-ending tears, literally. I might write a post about it, but god this film hit home in the weirdest way. I wish I could have watched it objectively.

11) Traffic- I liked it, especially how it looked.

12) Modern Times- Beautiful and hilarious and kind of ballsy.

13) Liberal Arts- It just made so much sense. Really enjoyed it.

14) Metropolis- I highly doubt if such a film can even be made today. The vision, oh the vision!

15) Monster- Charlize Theron was fantastic. Still, Mavis Gary > Aileen Wuornos.

16) The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Lovely and releatable. Logan Lerman is my dream husband and Ezra Miller is my dream bff and Emma Watson is well, dream me.

17) Dogville- Woah! That was brutal but brilliant. Nicole Kidman was excellent and oh so beautiful.

18) Life of Brian- Biggus Dickus :')

19) Winter Light- Very profound and absolutely stunning to look at.

20) Broadway Danny Rose- Oh Woody! Maybe the second-best Woody Allen performance ever. Also, he should really make a film in monochrome again.

21) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey- Really wish I hadn't watched it in 48 fps. Completely reduced the magic for me. Still, loved Martin "Bilbo" Freeman and Richard Armitage and the Bilbo-Gollum-riddle scene.

22) Frankenweenie- Oh glorious old-school Tim Burton! How I've missed you. Also, I am Weird Girl.

23) The Bridge on River Kwai- I had really expected to fall asleep in this. Pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was.

24) 2012- "The Mayans saw this coming thousands of years ago." NO THEY DIDN'T! It had to be watched on 22nd December, 2012. Just had to.

25) The Wrestler- As much as I love Milk, Mickey Rourke deserved that Oscar.

26) Amadeus- I don't know why but I was convinced I would hate it. Ended up loving it. Gotta learn Mozart's laugh!

27) Flight- Denzel was great and the over-all film was nice enough.

28) Pitch Perfect- Fat Amy is my spirit animal.

29) Gremlins- Yeah so my future kids, if any, are not going to watch this before they turn 12. Terrifying, tbh.

30) Moonstruck- "Sexy" Nicolas Cage :')

31) Rise of the Guardians- Adored it. Jack Frost is the prettiest animated character of the year, after Merida and her hair. So much joy.

32) Hesher- Was kind of creeped out while watching it, but the more I look back on it, the more I appreciate it.

33) The Heartbeats- Officially joining my favourite-looking films list. Also, a wake-up call as Xavier Dolan is 23 and I will be 21 this year (OMG!) and what the hell am I doing with my life?

34) Lincoln- *snore* (But I did love Tommy Lee Jones and the voting scene).

35) The Lives of Others- Love a well-made film, and especially the kind that makes one think. This was it.

36) Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans- Just beautiful.

37) The Kid with a Bike- It was interesting and beautifully shot.

38) Cloud Atlas- The most entertaining film of the year by a mile. Have to rewatch it!

39) Munich- Now this I loved. Tense and thought-provoking. Daniel Craig's accent though :/

40) Bernie- This was sweet. Jack Black was great.

41) Killing them Softly- Uhhhh, I did not get what this film was trying to tell me. Brad Pitt was v. cool though, and Scoot McNairy is one actor to look out for.

 Rewatches:

1) The Avengers- This film :) Perfect sleepover watch.
2) The Bicycle Thieves- So tragic and lovely. Saw it for film studies.
3) How the Grinch Stole the Christmas- Jim Carrey is the only one who could have played this role. 
4) Jingle All the Way- Christmas tradition.
5) Up- The married life scene = perfection.


Books:

1) The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand- One can see why this book is so well-loved. Kind of mind-blowing and good lord, Howard Roark!

2) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green- So funny and poignant at the same time. I can see why many consider it Green's best, even though I still believe Looking for Alaska is absolutely extraordinary.

        And now looking back at the whole year, I will say that it was a good and interesting one. I spent most of the first-half of 2012 being a college dropout. I'm back in a different college now, and am kind of liking it. It's an all-girls college though, so yeah... Still, I have made some good friends, who I like. I directed a play, which did suck but one has gotta start somewhere. And I turned 20, which was a weird birthday. 
       Finally, the blog turned 3, which I celebrated with lists- Favourite Looking Films, Favourite Male Performances, Favourite Female Performances, Favourite Directors and a revamped Favourite 100-ish Films.

Total 2012 Film Statistics:
First watches- 300
Shorts- 17
Rewatches- 122
Total- 439

Most watched film of the year- The Avengers, obviously.


        And finally, my top 10 new watches of the year, not including the 2012 releases.

Interiors

Gosford Park

My Dinner with Andre

The Piano Teacher

In the Mood for Love

Margaret

Persona

Fantasia

Brokeback Mountain

Festen

        In 2013, I have decided to not make any film-related resolutions. I will watch films when I want to watch them, and the same will go for blogging. I really need to learn and do stuff this year. This does not mean that films have diminished in their importance for me (something that will NEVER happen), but I have to do other things too.
      
        Alight, let's do this.  

Hellooo 2013!

       Happy New Year folkses. And with this new year, we have a whole slew of films that need to be seen. 2013 seems pretty awesome all in all. I am going to dub it "The Year of the Cumberbatch".

These are some of the films I really want to see in 2013- Prisoners, The Place Beyond the Pines, Gangster Squad, Pain and Gain, Man of Steel, The Double, To the Wonder, The F Word, Horns, The Butler, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola, The Dallas Buyer's Club, Diana, Nightingale, The Railway Man, Lovelace, This is the End, White Bird in a Blizzard, Oz: The Great and Powerful, Warm Bodies, I'm So Excited, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Elysium, Pacific Rim, Now You See Me, Oldboy, Jack Ryan, Blood Ties, Monsters University, Admission, 42, Movie 43, Kick Ass 2, 300: Rise of an Empire, Thor: The Dark World, The Wolverine, The Lone Ranger, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, World War Z, Nymphomaniac, The Zero Theorem, The Young and Prodigious Spivet, Venus in Fur, Frances Ha, Frank, Trance.

And my 25 most-anticipated films of 2013 are-

25) Iron Man 3

The Avengers is still my favourite film of last year, and RDJesus as Iron Man was a big reason for that. In spite of the slightly disastrous Iron Man 2, I am really looking forward to this movie. Yes, it looks like it is going down the "dark, tortured superhero" path (thanks Batman), but I am sure it will be very funny too.

24) August: Osage County

I have heard great things about the play and the cast is to die for. Plus, Ewan McGregor and Benedict Cumberbatch in one film- Hey!

23) Don Juan's Addiction

Seeing how good Argo was, I have a new-found respect for actors-turned-directors. And I adore JGL as it is. 

22) Untitled Woody Allen film

It is a normal thing to go gaga over the cast of a Woody Allen film. But I am especially psyched about Cate Blanchett headlining this. Also I think it will be a drama, which just increases my excitement.

21) The Wolf of Wall Street

Leo is back with Martin Scorsese in this. Though more than anything, I am excited about the Matthew McConaughey role, since that man has made me a fan post-2012.

20) The Counselor

The first of the Pitt-Fassy collaborations of the year. It is written by Cormac McCarthy and being directed by Ridley Scott, so good stuff all around.

19) The Monuments Men

This film has one helluva cast and I usually like George Clooney's directorial features a lot. Very intriguing plot too.

18) Her

I have really liked/loved everything that Spike Jonze has made, and this sounds very endearing. A man who falls in love with a computer reminds me of Jonze's lovely short, I'm Here. Can't wait.

17) The Great Gatsby 

Originally slated to come out in 2012, this adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic will at least be very interesting, and very stunning to look at. Still not sure about the 3D though.

16) Side Effects

Steven Soderbergh's last theatrical feature. 'Nuff said.

15) Fading Gigolo

John Turturro's directorial debut starring Woody Allen. It can go eitherway, but I have an inkling that it will be excellent.

14) Labor Day

Jason Reitman is one of my most favourite directors and I love all his films. This one stars Kate Winslet. WANT!

13) Untitled Terrence Malick film

It has Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender sharing the same screenspace (hopefully! Control your editing tendencies, Malick!) and this is MY list. Plus it will be pretty. (Only the shallow know themselves etc.)

12) Kill Your Darlings 

I love a cast of young actors and this film has some of the best around- Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Elizabeth Olsen, Jack Huston. Plus the Beat movement is always fascinating.

11) Anchorman : The Legend Continues

Because I love lamp.

10) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

This one will have Benedict Cumberbatch's voice and Lee Pace being a pretty elf. And of course, my fake husband (well, one of them) Martin Freeman. Yaay! And definitely going to watch this one in 24 FPS.

9) Much Ado About Nothing

No, I am not much of a Shakespeare fan. But after 2012, I am definitely a Joss Whedon fan. And he made this film randomly while on a holiday, in twelve days. And it's in black and white.

8) Twelve Years a Slave

This film has one of the best casts EVER. The second Pitt-Fassy collaboration of the year, with Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Quvenzhané Wallis, Adepero Oduye, Sarah Paulson and so on. Of course, the star of the show would be one of today's most daring and capable directors, Steve McQueen.

7) Gravity

Another film that was supposed to come out in 2012. Love Alfonso Cuarón and apparently the visuals of this film will blow our minds.

6) The Bling Ring

Sofia Coppola is one of my most favourite filmmakers, and in this film she will show a group of high-life loving robbers. Plus, Emma Watson was born to be in a Sofia Coppola film.

5) Only God Forgives

Drive ranks high in my top 100 films of all time and the Gos and the Refn are back again! All the beaten-up Gosling photos are so hot, it's killing me.

4) Stoker

Fucked-up family films are literally the best. And this looks batshit crazy. Gorgeous cast and please let this be Matthew Goode's big role.

3) Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek is still one of my best cinematic experiences. I had so much fun in that film that when the sequel was confirmed, I was going crazy with excitement. Then they announced that Benedict Cumberbatch will play the probable villain...

2) Before Midnight

The sequel everyone wants and doesn't want. How does one improve on perfection, except that that actually happened the last time around. If this is done well, this might be the last part of one of the greatest film trilogies ever made, and with my second-favourite onscreen couple.

1) The World's End

Speaking of greatest film trilogies and favourite onscreen pairs, THIS FILM IS IT! I have been waiting for this film ever since I heard that Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are a part of the Three Favours Cornetto trilogy. Every announcement of this film has had me screaming like a fangirl. Added to the dynamic duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (BEST ONSCREEN COUPLE EVER), my husband Martin Freeman is there too. I have no doubt that I will love this film. We just have to see how much.

Here's to an ab fab film year :)