PROJECT 365: 6 to 11

6. The Lookout - Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a jock who winds up in a car accident that kills some of his friends and gives him some brain damage. Afterwards his life is all about making inappropriate comments out loud that he just can't stop and also making notes about everything so that he can remember things that he is almost certain to forget. He gets a job cleaning a bank at nights and soon some crooks start manipulating him into helping them rob the bank. Although it sounds kinda familiar the film is done so well and with an ending I didn't quite expect it is very much worth seeing. Some great performances especially by Levitt, Jeff Daniels as his blind housemate and Isla Fischer as the love interest. A great film with a real sense of menace from the robbers and a powerfully portrayed young man seeking redemption and acceptance. 4.5/5

7. The Bank Job - good film, not brilliant. Would like to find out just how much of it actually really happened. 2.5/5

8. Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging - a great little UK film about a 14 year old girl coming of age and trying to nab the perfect guy as a boyfriend. It's all been done before (found it very similar to 32A) but it was a very very funny film - Angus the cat steals the show. 4/5

9. The Mummy 3 - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - trite bull crap. Some good effects with the Yetis but apart from that, pretty damn boringly crap. Brendan Fraser has a really weird voice. 0.5/5 for the Vomiting Yak.

10. Igor - why waste so much money and some pretty damn good animation on a script/story that has been done a million times before by Disney? I really don't understand Hollywood sometimes. Seriously, this is exactly the same as so many other films that I started planning dinner 30 minutes in. What a waste. 0.5/5 - gets half a point for decent animation and the amusing Annie angle.

11. Max Payne - hmmm, was ok despite the wooden acting and pretty shoddy script. I liked the hallucination aspect of it but the story was just so damn obvious. I picked out who were the bad guys the instant they made an appearance and knew how the end game would play out. Mila Kunis' character was a complete waste of space and the bit after the credits was not worth the time it took me to fast forward through. Did notice it was filmed in Toronto and Hamilton though - I've been there! 1/5.

FINAL READING LIST FOR 2008

Only got to 42 but a certain computer game and a lot of alcohol got in the way during December.

01 Mary Gentle - Grunts!
02 Robert A Heinlein - Stranger In A Strange Land
03 Karen Miller - The Innocent Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker 1)
04 Karen Miller - The Awakened Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker 2)
05 Joe Abercrombie - The Blade Itself (The First Law 1)
06 Joe Abercrombie - Before They Are Hanged (The First Law 2)
07 Ian McDonald - Brasyl
08 Richard Morgan - Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs 1)
09 Simon Hawke - The Outcast (Tribe of One 1)
10 Simon Hawke - The Seeker (Tribe of One 2)
11 Simon Hawke - The Nomad (Tribe of One 3)
12 Raymond E Feist - Wrath of a Mad God (Darkwar 3)
13 Chelsea Cain - Heartsick
14 Richard Morgan - Broken Angels (Takeshi Kovacs 2)
15 Richard Morgan - Woken Furies (Takeshi Kovacs 3)
16 Joe Abercrombie - Last Argument of Kings (The First Law 3)
17 Alastair Reynolds - Revelation Space
18 R. Scott Bakker - The Darkness That Comes Before (The Prince of Nothing 1)
19 R. Scott Bakker - The Warrior Prophet (The Prince of Nothing 2)
20 R. Scott Bakker - The Thousandfold Thought (The Prince of Nothing 3)
21 John Scalzi - Old Man's War
22 Ian Cameron Esslemont - Night of Knives (Malazan Companion 1)
23 Richard Morgan - Market Forces
24 Tobias Buckell - Crystal Rain (Nanagada 1)
25 Steven Erikson - Toll The Hounds (Malazan 8)
26 Various - Solaris Book of New Fantasy
27 Richard Morgan - The Steel Remains (People Who Say Fuck A Lot 1)
28 Joel Shepherd - Crossover (Cassandra Kressnov 1)
29 Joel Shepherd - Breakaway (Cassandra Kressnov 2)
30 Joel Shepherd - Killswitch (Cassandra Kressnov 3)
31 Kevin J Anderson - The Ashes of Worlds (Saga of Seven Suns 7)
32 John Scalzi - The Ghost Brigades
33 John Scalzi - The Last Colony
34 Ian Cameron Esslemont - Return Of The Crimson Guard (Malazan Companion 2)
35 Glen Cook - Shadows Linger (Black Company 2)
36 Glen Cook - The White Rose (Black Company 3)
37 Terry Pratchett - Nation
38 George RR Martin / Gardner Dozois / Daniel Abraham - Hunter's Run
39 Jeff Lindsay - Dexter In The Dark (Dexter 3)
40 Lynne Truss - Eats, Shoots & Leaves
41 David Gunn - Death's Head (Sven Tveskoeg 1)
42 Greg Keyes - The Briar King (Kingdom of Thorn & Bone 1)

PROJECT 365: 1 to 5

So my main New Year's Resolution for 2009 is to see 365 films within the calendar year with a ratio of at least 90% ones I have not seen before. Crazy? Maybe. Fun? Yup. Possible? Time will tell...

1. Bad Santa - very funny film. Laughed my arse off and loved the kid in it, he was perfect. 4/5

2. Mean Girls - pretty amusing and was funny to see half the cast of Saturday Night Live in there (man Tina Fey is HOT!). Also had the delectable Rachel McAdams although I prefer her with red hair and not being such a bitch. 2.5/5

3. Constantine - pretty cool flick although the DVD I watched had a very low volume for the voices which was bloody annoying. Loved Peter Stormare as Satan and anything with Tilda Swinton in it gets a thumbs up from me. 3.5/5

4. Suddenly 30 - Garner did really well with the body language and vocal patterns of a 13 year old in a 30 year old's (hot) body. Had some laughs and was good to see Gollum/King Kong in a non-cgi role. 2/5

5. The Strangers - kinda kept thinking about Charles Manson and those psychos during this. Was entertaining in its own way but very very predictable. 1.5/5

And so it begins, only 360 to go!

I'll be including "sessions" at the Melbourne International Film Festival in this list, eg 10 short films in a session is still just one "film". I'll be making use of the weekly deals at Blockbuster and might go through different sections each week picking up 6 or so films in each at a time - I plan on browsing the sci-fi section tonight.