Hitchcock's World: Announcements

Showing posts with label Announcements. Show all posts

Tuesday, 29 December 2015

Introducing War Movie Week

So I'm trying to get back into things at the moment. To do this, I was thinking that some sort of little project that could keep me occupied would be a good start, so I've decided on a theme. Right now, we're coming out of the Christmas break, and that is often a time associated with joy, happiness, and peace. So naturally what better choice than to focus on the exact opposite, which would be war? Over the course of the week, I will be randomly picking out a selection of war films from my collection. Each day I'll be discussing a different film related to a different conflict.

In order to better add a level of simultaneous suspense and uncertainty. I am incorporating a system in how I choose which movies I'll be covering. For each day, I'll be covering a different time period. I have a definite schedule for which days correspond to each era, but the actual war film will be selected at random each day. This means that even I have no idea what films we'll be hearing about. All I can do is provide a list of the theme for each day. Here is the full schedule for the week:

Tuesday: World War I

Wednesday: World War II

Thursday: Vietnam

Friday: Modern Warfare

For each day, the films will be randomly selected from my collection. In that sense, even I don't know for sure what each one is going to be other than the basic timeframe it will cover. I've already picked out my World War I film, but I don't know what will be covered for World War II, Vietnam, or Modern Warfare just yet. Feel free to let me know what you think of my choices in the comments, or to recommend any war films based on the above categories. I can't promise I'll be able to take your recommendations for this challenge, but it might give me some things to keep an eye out for.

Saturday, 22 November 2014

2015 Blindspot Challenge Final List

Last summer I decided to take part in Ryan McNeil's Blindspot Challenge. Basically the way it works is simple, you compile a list of those films you haven't seen but really should and narrow it down to twelve. Different people may have different methods of precisely how to narrow down their selection, most of the films I picked for last year's list were one I already owned that had put off watching, other people may have other ways of choosing their films. Once you have your list, the idea is that you watch one movie each month and then simply write your thoughts about it.

However, while it was a great oppurtunity to finally see some movies I'd been putting off, my choices were a bit limited. Since I started late in June I only had seven movies instead of the usual twelve. All of them were American (though Blue is the Warmest Color was considered as an option, but ultimately dropped due to issues of availability) and only stretched as far back as 1960 with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. This time round, I am able to do the full twelve movies which allows for more variety.

I hoped to increase the range of choices to cover a longer period of time, since I go from the past decade to as far back as 1925. I also hoped to add a bit more national diversity as well. I started with a list of 29 that went up to somewhere closer to forty (and a few of them are still included as backup choices in case something goes wrong) but I've successfully cut it down to twelve. This certainly was not easy and there were several that were a bit painful to cut but I did it.

I want to thank everyone who commented on my preliminary list with their recommendations. Your feedback was very helpful and I apologize if one of your suggestions didn't make it onto the final list. However, even if your favorite didn't make the cut, keep in mind that does not in any way mean you'll never see me writing about it. It just means that if I do it will probably be a separate article.

Now, after the excitement I build up with my preliminary list, you are all probably very excited to find out which films made the final cut. Well, here is my final list, or at least what I hope to be my final list (because of what happened with The Birds this year, I've selected a handful of "backup films" in case something goes wrong with one of these movies). I have a separate page in which I'll put the links so that they will be easier to find, but I wanted to make this post to ensure that everybody sees it. Let me know of what you think of my choices in the comments below.

Strike (1925)

Modern Times (1936)

Ninotchka (1939)

Back to Bataan (1945)

The Killing (1956)

One, Two, Three (1961)

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Life is Beautiful (1997)

Fight Club (1999)

Gangs of New York (2002)

Kill Bill (2003)

Atonement (2007)

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

2015 Blindspot Challenge Preliminary List

Last summer I decided to take part in Ryan McNeil's Blindspot Challenge. Because I started late I was working with a much smaller list of movies (seven instead of the usual twelve) and I managed to see all but one (The Birds, which I had to replace at the last minute with Re-Animator). However, while it was a great oppurtunity to finally see some movies I'd been putting off, my choices were a bit limited. All of them were American (though Blue is the Warmest Color was considered as an option, but ultimately dropped due to issues of availability) and only stretched as far back as 1960.

This time round, I've decided to try and look at a wider range of films. I've incorporated some foreign movies as well as some much older ones going back as far as I can. To assemble this list I have used a variety of criteria including personal recommendations, subject matter that interests me, availability, and sometimes the reputation certain movies hold and an interest in seeing what all the fuss is about. Unfortunately I had a few too many candidates. My solution is to create a preliminary list and gradually reduce it to twelve films for next year. Somewhere around the end of December or start of January I should have my final list.

There is no specific criteria by which I plan to eliminate some of my possible choices. The biggest thing will probably be availability. Films that prove harder to find (at least the hard to find ones I don't already own) will be less likely to make the final cut. Other factors may include costs, timing (whether it fits into any specific month) or even just my own personal confidence about the movie in question.

I'm posting this early so that I can receive feedback from readers. Right now I can't guarantee any one of these movies making it onto the final list. For all I know, perhaps the list I ultimately publish somewhere around New Years will have none of these options and an entirely unrelated list of twelve movies instead (though even then, it doesn't mean I won't ever write about any of these films separately). Still, feel free to let me know what you think of my potential candidates and if there are any you would like to see me review. It might just help me make some decisions when the time comes.