Wow. Ten years?! When I started this blog I didn’t think I’d still (sort of) be doing this a decade later.
Well, it’s been the very worst year of my life since the start of January. As watching movies is one of the few things that helps keep me sane, I’ve continued to do that but find it difficult to put much time into the blog at the moment.
I’ve now (finally!) set up a CinemaParrot Letterbxd account (here) so that I can more easily & much more quickly log the films I’ve seen & write very short reviews. I then do a monthly roundup on this blog with my Letterbxd reviews & I’ll try to keep doing that until I maybe have time to do the occasional longer posts here again as well. I miss reading all the blogs but will mainly be on other social media sites for now, especially after I go into the hospital this week & then will be recuperating. I like that word… Recuperating! Even comes up with an emoji: ❤️🩹 (Not sure if that’ll show up on the blog)
You can still find me on Twitter for now here: @tableninemutant (I’d make that a direct link but I’m too dumb to figure out how)
I’ve also joined Mastodon with a bunch of other Film Twitter people & so far there’s a lot of good interaction there. And I know how to do a link to that, I think! You can find me here: https://mastodon.world/@CinemaParrotDisco
I’m going to do what I did for my blogiversary last year & just list my Top Ten Lists For 2022 So Far as it’s nearly the end of the year anyway. I have to avoid cinemas (I’ve only gone to see Maverick), so this is mainly movies “released in the U.K. for the first time in whatever format in 2022 that I actually managed to watch”. So, yes, most big cinema releases are sadly missing if they aren’t streaming yet.
So here are My Top Ten Movies Released To U.K. Cinemas Or Streaming Services In 2022 So Far (very disappointing):
(I just watched Drifting Home yesterday, knocking Everything Everywhere All At Once out of my top ten to 11th place. Know that’s at the top of many lists but I found it disappointing)
I’ve seen much better older films this year than 2022 releases. Seen so many decent ones that I need to make this one a Top 20. So here are My Top Twenty Older Release Movies Seen In 2022 So Far:
The full list of absolutely everything I’ve watched & read this year is here if you’re super bored or want to see what terrible movies I ranked the lowest (Blonde & Spencer). 🙂
Thanks to those who are still around these parts. I’m glad you’re still here! Hope that everything is going well for all my past & present blog buddies.
I know I say this every year but I can’t believe I’m still here (somewhat) blogging. 9 years now!
I almost completely forgot to put a post together for it this year. Work has been crazy busy and I was badly wanting to catch up on actually reading other blogs this month. I’ll try to visit my favorites soon, I promise! 🙂
So as I’m preparing this post at the last minute, I’ll keep it short again & just list my Top Ten Movie Lists For 2021 So Far as it’s nearly the end of the year anyway. I’m still not really braving the cinemas yet, so this is mainly movies “released in the U.K. for the first time in whatever format in 2021 that I actually managed to watch”. So, yes, most big cinema releases are sadly missing.
So here are My Top Ten Movies Released To U.K. Cinemas Or Streaming Services In 2021 So Far:
I thought it might be fun to start another project I’ll never finish! Just like my IMDb Top 250 Challenge I’ve been working on since 2013 (to be fair, I’ve managed to watch 73 films for that). I also finally started a Best Picture Project this year but have yet to watch Nomadland even though it’s available so I’m off to a good start there! Now, I’m going to ramble on a lot so, if you just want to see the list of un-reviewed movies I’m wondering if I should review, it’s at the end of this post. 🙂
I’m someone who is obsessed with making lists. Especially ranked lists (I have to put things in order from favorite to least favorite). I often have to give them all a rating out of 10 as well, at least with movies. There was a Twitter image the other day of 64 bands & you were asked to pick your Top Five. I did do that but I had to then also rank them all as well. (My thread is HERE if you desperately want to see it). Here’s a sneak peek at my Top Ten starting with number 1:
And now I’m annoyed to see that I did a Top Ten Songs list or a Music Video Friday post for every band above other than Pink Floyd. Do I need to do a Pink Floyd Top Ten now?! Someone help me with this obsession!!!
Anyway. I started this blog at the end of 2012 so I just did one page (HERE) with a roundup of the movies I’d seen in the cinema that year. I wrote a tiny bit about each film on that page so that’s good enough for 2012.
I now keep a page each year of every single movie I’ve watched that year (with a section for new releases that year, a section for movies I watched that were released prior to that year, and a section for movies I’d already seen in the past but rewatched again). These are all ranked & rated, of course!
It’s really bothering me that I’ve not reviewed some of the movies I’ve watched since starting this blog. Some of my pages have movies that don’t have the blue links to my reviews. SO annoying! Well, mildly annoying – I’m not that obsessive. But maybe I can write at least a sentence or two for each of those over time? Could be fun, as I know I barely remember some of them now! So some will be “Man, I don’t remember this at all now but am pretty sure it sucked“. So, my usual sort of in-depth analysis.
I was clearly committed to this blog at first as I reviewed everything in 2013. I then only missed a few in 2014 & 2015 (mostly ones where I was planning to review them as a part of projects that never happened). Then I went completely off the rails in 2016 & 2017 and didn’t review loads of movies (I know why, as life was sucking at that point and I wasn’t in the mood). Then life got even worse for the first half of 2018 so I think I threw myself back into the blog as an escape so, yay, everything got reviewed that year (not yay that life sucked, lol). I also moved to the “monthly roundup posts” with short reviews of everything and that has helped as it meant I reviewed everything in 2019 & 2020 as well. And I’m managing to do that for 2021 so far, too. Plus, of course, a dreadful pandemic forcing us to not leave home has meant more free time to write. Not saying that’s a good thing!! I’d obviously rather have a load of missing reviews. I did always make a point of reviewing new releases every year, though, so I’m happy that I always managed that.
But this blog is meant to be a fun hobby without any stressful commitments. So I’m not saying I’ll definitely complete this but it can’t hurt to write a very brief review of a movie I watched between 2014 & 2017 every once in a while, right? 🙂
Well, here’s what you’ve been waiting for: LISTS! I didn’t review 74 new-to-me movies & 11 rewatches. I probably won’t review the rewatches as I didn’t do that at all at first until my short monthly roundups and they’re also sometimes favorites of mine & I find it very hard to review movies I really love. Also, 18 movies were never reviewed as I was saving them for projects that I just don’t have the time or energy to do now. I’ll list those first:
Un-Reviewed Movies Meant For Projects (unlikely to ever be reviewed):
Akira Kurosawa Project (this won’t happen – his films are too amazing & my writing too shitty to do them justice):
Ikiru
Rashomon Yojimbo(I’ve counted this as “reviewed” as I wrote a VERY tiny bit about it at the link but obviously wanted to do full reviews of all his work)
John Carpenter Project:
Escape From New York (great film!)
Prince Of Darkness
Dark Star
Escape From L.A.
Studio Ghibli Project(I DID do a month-long Studio Ghibli Project with all my reviews listed HERE. But these are ones I saw after that. There’s a slight possibility I’d do another Ghibli Month once I’ve watched enough again & I did review When Marnie Was There this year):
The Wind Rises
The Cat Returns
Arrietty
From Up On Poppy Hill
Whisper Of The Heart
Nicholas Sparks Project (Ha! Maybe I can manage to do this at some point as it was more of a joke project since these movies are ridiculous yet I seem to like watching them. Was going to give them categories such as “Good Sex Scene?” and “Is There A Kissing In The Rain Scene?”):
The Choice
The Best Of Me
The Longest Ride
Safe Haven
Dear John
The Lucky One
Nights In Rodanthe
The Rewatches (probably also won’t be reviewed – how can I do something like The Princess Bride, one of the all-time best movies, justice?!)
The Princess Bride
Night Of The Living Dead
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Labyrinth
School Of Rock
Singin’ In The Rain
Short Circuit
The Last Starfighter
Desperately Seeking Susan
Bicentennial Man
Hop (ew!)
Finally! Which Of These (If Any) Un-Reviewed Movies Should I Review? (I can see why I didn’t bother with most of these, though. Several good ones but many were bland or downright bad! Hint: Each year is ranked best to worst as always…):
2014:
Red Rock West
2015:
Midnight Madness
Clue
2016:
Wizards
Kelly & Cal
Blended
North Shore
Carol
Song Of The Sea
The Good Dinosaur
Brooklyn
Manhattan
Ted 2
Baby Boom
Paul
Trainwreck
Eleanor’s Secret
Fall Into Darkness
Pan
Sisters (2015)
Soul Surfer
Love
2017:
Hell Or High Water
The Beguiled (1971)
The Age Of Adaline
The Wave (2015)
Miss You Already
Chef
Doctor Strange
The Nice Guys
Daft Punk Unchained
Hunt For The Wilderpeople
Bokeh
The Night Of The Hunter
Nerve
Music And Lyrics
Bugsy Malone
Monster Trucks
Lucky Number Slevin
The Danish Girl
Ender’s Game
A Bigger Splash
TiMER
Babel
Passengers
Ballerina (US Title: Leap)
Sully
Blue Thunder
The Odd Life Of Timothy Green
The Little Prince
The Lobster
Suicide Squad
Star Trek Beyond
Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice
The Jane Austen Book Club
The 5th Wave
Hello Everyone! Another year of blogging. Why am I still here?!? No one else is. Oh well – I have to keep this movie diary going. If I didn’t spend time making lists, I don’t know what the hell I’d do with myself. Work, eat, sleep, repeat. Avoid people. (And that was before lockdown…)
What can I say? 2020 has been a terrible year for the whole world. So I just keep watching movies & reading books as usual. And that’s all I write about on this blog so I’ll shut up now & just stick to that. 🙂
As the year is almost over, here are my current Top Ten Movie Lists For 2020 So Far. Very awkward doing a “2020 Releases” list this year as I always go by U.K. cinema release date. But as so many went straight to streaming services, it was harder to determine which movies “became available to watch in the U.K. in the year 2020”. I ignored festival release dates. I may be wrong on some of these. Oh, who the hell cares what list they end up on?!
My Top Ten Movies Released To U.K. Cinemas Or Streaming Services In 2020 So Far:
Happy 2020! Here’s the first of my 2019 Top Ten Lists that I’ll be posting every day through Friday. I’ve hidden this one on Sunday since no one gives a shit about books on my movie blog. One of my resolutions this year is to read more books (and more quality ones) and to watch fewer movies (at home). Dune is the main thing I plan on reading in 2020.
I only read ten books in 2019 anyway. Here are My Top Ten Books Read In 2019 (from my least favorite to my favorite):
Should a short story be number one? Fuck it – It’s my blog so I do what I want. FYI – my number one is the story that the fantastic movie Predestination is based on. I recommend the film to sci-fi fans.
These are the Top Ten lists I’ll be posting this week:
My Top Ten Books Read In 2019
My Top Anime Movies Watched In 2019
My IMDb Top 250 Movies Watched In 2019
My 2019 Blind Spot Movies: Ranked
My Top Ten Movies Watched At Home In 2019
My Top Ten 2019 Movie Releases
My Top Ten Movies Of The Decade (2010-2019)
I’m not posting as regularly these days & plan to cut down even more in the New Year. I’m not sure if I’ll continue to post anything other than maybe my Monthly Roundups with mini-reviews of what I’ve watched each month. Because the one thing I’ll never stop doing is keeping lists of what I’ve watched. I’m a List NERD.
So, as the year is almost over, here are my current Top Ten Movie Lists For 2019 So Far. Will be interesting to see if they change much over the next month. Please please please let Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker be good enough to make the list…
These lists are from numbers 1 to 10 (just to be awkward as I usually count down to number one).
1. A Matter Of Life And Death – 8/10
2. Yojimbo – 8/10
3. Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) – 8/10
4. Ip Man – 8/10
5. Infernal Affairs (Mou gaan dou) – 7.5/10
6. In The Heat Of The Night – 7.5/10
7. Wind River – 7.5/10
8. The Hunt (Jagten) – 7.5/10
9. Miss Hokusai – 7.5/10
10. The Great Adventure Of Horus, Prince Of The Sun (aka The Little Norse Prince) – 7.5/10
I seriously thought I’d quit this blogging thing once I hit my five year anniversary. Well, shit – I’m still lingering a year later. Sorry – I think you’re stuck with me! I enjoy this online movie diary. I may not post as many full-length reviews anymore but I’m obsessed with keeping lists so I’ll continue my monthly roundup posts.
As it’s so close to the end of the year, I’ll do what I always do for my anniversary posts & just do a short roundup of my favorite things I’ve watched & read so far this year. That means lists! So here are My Top Tens for 2018 so far (and likely to change order by the end of the year as I’m totally indecisive).
My Top Ten Books (& Short Stories) Read This Year:
A quick comment on the ones I’ve just finished & not yet reviewed: I really enjoyed Bird Box by Josh Malerman. It has been made into a Netflix movie starring Sandra Bullock but the trailer looks rubbish (it looks like too much has been changed). I recommend the book to horror fans, especially if you liked A Quiet Place. And I got a nice surprise as the UK version of the book has a bonus story called Ghastle And Yule. I loved this!! If you’re a lover of films, and especially if you’re a lover of classic horror films & filmmaking, I highly recommend finding a copy of this story about two rival horror filmmakers. I loved it so much that I tweeted the author & got a nice reply. It’s great having these kind of exchanges with authors, filmmakers & actors whose work you appreciate.
A quick comment on these: I’m clearly enjoying exploring more anime as so many are in my top ten (I’ve watched loads of movies this year – the full list is HERE). And I certainly didn’t expect a martial arts film to easily be my number one so far (Bruce Lee kicks ass!). I’ll say that the Blind Spot project is worth doing each year as most of them end up being in my top ten. So far, my top three are all Blind Spot choices of mine.
A quick comment on these: I always go by UK release date so I, Tonya makes this list. It’s still my favorite, although I wouldn’t say it’s the “best” film on the list. I’ve just always been fascinated by the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan story and the movie was entertaining as hell. Plus I love dark comedy/drama. “Best” film is probably A Star Is Born. Cooper & Gaga are brilliant. Not sure if it’ll stay in second place, though. Straight drama isn’t really my thing and I probably enjoyed some others on this list a bit more. I do have the urge to move Mandy way up the list but I’m not sure why. I’m not sure if I even liked it all that much! But it’s weird and trippy and crazy as shit and looks good and sounds good and is maybe a little bit pretentious. It’s so my type of thing.
Thanks to everyone who still reads my occasional posts and my annoying lists. I do appreciate it!
I usually end these posts with a music clip so I’ll go with Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger from the thoroughly entertaining anime Interstella 5555: The 5tory Of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem:
Yikes. Five years?! I honestly didn’t think I’d be doing this movie blogging thing for five years.
I want to say a huge thank you to the fellow bloggers who’ve dropped by in these last five years & had little chats with me on my silly movie & book reviews. I’m sorry I’ve been around a lot less this year and hate that it’s becoming almost impossible to spend any time on my blog or on the blogs that I follow. The whole reason for starting this blog was so that I could discuss movies with fellow film lovers since, in the real world, it’s hard to find obsessive movie nerds. You think I talk about movies all day long with people at work? Hell no! (That would be fun, though – where can I get a job like that?). So, thank you again to the special few who were here from the start and are still around and to all the lovely newer bloggers who’ve come along since. I feel like an “old blogger” now!
I always say I need to cut back on the time I spend here and I’ve done that this year but I’ll be doing it even more in 2018. I’d always kind of planned on quitting on my 5th anniversary but I’d miss the occasional movie chats as well as the one other reason I keep this thing going: to use it as a “movie diary” and keep a log of all I’ve seen & read. Because, as well as being a movie nerd, I’m also massive LIST NERD! I now have a record of every movie I’ve watched since 2012. Which is totally not important when the world is f*^%ing falling apart, right?! To psychoanalyze myself, I think it helps keeps me calm in the face of all the bullshit in the world. Or something. Nicely ordered lists! Nicely ordered lists could create world peace!!
So, I do have a plan to keep this blog going with a bare minimum of posts in 2018. I’ll focus only on reviewing 12 more Blind Spot movies (as I’ve thoroughly enjoyed that project) and the 2018 UK cinema releases I manage to see. The main other thing I’ll do is bring back an end-of-month post so I can at least very briefly discuss all I’ve watched in that month. At the moment, the movies I watch at home are getting no attention as I don’t have time for full-length reviews. I’ve watched a lot of really good movies this year and am annoyed to have not even mentioned some of them (For example, I really liked an obscure movie called The Frame.Here’s the IMDb link. I believe it’s still showing on Amazon Video.)
With these blogiversary posts, I tend to do a “Year In Review” post since it’s close to the end of the year anyway. This time, I’m going to do a “Five-Year Review“(!!). One thing I can really thank this blog for is that I’ve seen some TRULY brilliant movies since starting it because of things like my IMDB Top 250 Challenge and the Blind Spot project. Knowing you’ll be writing for a blog kind of helps “force” you to finally watch the more highly acclaimed classics you’d been avoiding for no good reason. Plus there’ve been some damn good new movies released since 2012. SO GET READY FOR SOME LISTS!!!! Let’s see if these can create universal harmony.
Here are some ranked lists of my favorite movies I’ve seen & the best books I’ve read for the very first time since starting this blog in November 2012….
My Top 20 Books Read Since 2012 (No one gives a shit about books so let’s get this list out of the way first.): 😉
Yep – I can’t NOT have a Star Wars film as my number one movie released since 2012. I can’t wait for The Last Jedi in a couple of weeks!
As you can see from these lists, I really do have this blog to thank for my newfound love of Studio Ghibli & Charlie Chaplin. I’d seen & loved My Neighbor Totoro & Spirited Away before blogging but decided to watch all the rest of the Miyazaki films for a month of Ghibli reviews. I’d seen no Chaplin at all before 2012. I highly recommend his stuff to all true film lovers, especially City Lights & Modern Times.
The other two directors I’ve been trying to further explore are John Carpenter (I’d already seen the majority of his best films, though) and Akira Kurosawa. That’s why they have the only two films in the lists above which I haven’t yet reviewed as I want to devote an entire week (or month) to their work someday in the future.
Okay – it’s time for me to shut up. You all probably stopped reading halfway through my lists anyway. Ha! I don’t know how many movies I’ve seen in these last five years (I’m too lazy to count, although I do have them all listed year by year on my blog pages). But I’d say I average about 100 per year. So… Narrowing it down to 60 favorites out of 500 isn’t too bad! Thank you again, everyone! Especially those who made it to the very end of this post… 😉
Now, as I feel really bad about putting The Warriors in second place after originally having it at number one, I’ll end this post with the ending of the movie. Seems appropriate. All our lives deserve appropriate songs that play over our end credits. Hmm. That sounded a little morbid. Sing it, Joe!
Actually, I want Morricone to score my real life end credits…
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you’re all having a good 2017 so far. (Okay – it’s the 10th of January. I’m done saying “Happy New Year”). 😉
Like most people, I’ve made my own personal resolutions for 2017. I won’t share those here but they’re my main priority. However, I don’t want to abandon my “online movie diary” completely so I’ve decided on some things I’ll focus on this year in order to keep this blog going. Here are my 2017 Blog Resolutions:
– Keep It Short
I ramble on too much (probably because I’m not a writer & I suck with words!). This has kept me from reviewing a lot of the (79!) movies I watched at home last year. This year, I’ll keep any reviews of non-current, meh movies very brief.
– One Or Two Posts A Week
Simple: I’ll do a minimum of one or two posts a week. Some weeks there will be more but I won’t stress if I only manage one. I’ll mainly post Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and/or Thursdays.
– Blind Spot Movie Reviews
The one blog commitment I didn’t come to regret in 2016 was watching & reviewing the 12 Blind Spot Movies that I chose last January. This is one of my main blog resolutions that I plan to stick to again this year. I’ll be posting my 2017 Blind Spot Choices tomorrow.
– Reviews Of New Releases
I’ll again do my best to at least review all the current movie releases that I go to see this year. I’m always pretty good about keeping on top of this so it’s my other main commitment along with doing Blind Spot reviews.
– IMDB Top 250 Project
This has been almost entirely on hold for the past couple of years. I no longer want any guest reviews as some became too much of a headache. But I do, from the bottom of my heart, thank those of you who fulfilled your guest review commitments at least once. Sincerely. *Hugssssss!* I got a lot of excellent classics reviewed on my blog thanks to you guys (and it gave me the opportunity to be very lazy for over a year with a guaranteed weekly post I didn’t have to write). 😉 I’m now going to go back to doing this on my own but I’m in no rush. By now, I’ve watched the majority of the Top 250 films that I actually WANT to watch. So I’ll make my goal, hmm… To watch & review four IMDB Top 250 Movies this year. Think I can manage that!
– Top Ten Lists
I’ll still do these but not on a regular basis. When I do, I’ll probably continue to post them on a Thursday.
– Books & Reviews
I tend to read about one book per month & I kept on top of reviewing them all in 2016. I’ll continue to try to do this but I’ll make my book reviews very brief as well.
– Themed Weeks/Months
I enjoy doing themed weeks and/or months on my blog but I won’t commit to definitely doing any this year. If I’m in the mood & if I have the time, these are the ones I keep toying with:
Studio Ghibli Week: I already devoted all of January 2015 to Studio Ghibli but have since been working my way through the non-Miyazaki films as well. I’ve watched five already so I’ll review them all one week. Probably. I already started 2017 by watching Arrietty. 🙂
Akira Kurosawa Week: I keep putting this off as I don’t know how to go about reviewing these fantastic films (I’ve only watched three so far). But I’ve just bought myself a lovely blu-ray set of five of his samurai films (it was cheap!) so, maybe one week by the year 2021, I’ll actually review all the Kurosawa films that I’ve watched.
John Carpenter Week: Another thing I’ve been putting off for two years! I have, however, watched plenty of his movies in preparation. One of these weeks…. BAM! I’ll suddenly review them all. Maybe. We’ll see.
New York City Week: I’ve watched so many movies based in NYC in the past year & have saved them up to devote a week to reviewing them.
Rocky Week: To kill two birds with one stone, I’m putting the IMDB Top 250 film Rocky on my Blind Spot list. But, as the hubby keeps telling me how good Creed was, I figure I better watch all the Rocky movies first, right?? Ugh. Are there seven? Well, I’ll try! I do have them all available so I might as well. Considering how much I ended up enjoying Clint Eastwood Week last year, I’m bizarrely looking forward to watching all the Rocky “guy” movies. I’m a weird chick…
Non-Disney, Non-Pixar, Non-Ghibli Animation Month: One thing I really want to focus on is watching more animated films that aren’t necessarily “kids’ films” (although some will be). I’m talking about things such as Ralph Bakshi movies & non-Ghibli Japanese anime. There are also some movies that I’ve been meaning to watch for years, such as Watership Down. I have quite a long list, however, so it’s likely that I’ll watch what I can this year but not review anything until 2018. Hmm… 2018 resolution?! I’ve not even had a chance to break all my 2017 ones yet!
Well. That’s it. So much for my “Keep It Short” resolution!!! There – I’ve broken one already… See you tomorrow with my Blind Spot Choices. 🙂
I hope you’re all having a wonderful 2017 so far! 🙂 While I try to get back into the swing of things on this blog, I thought I’d do a quick recap post with links to my 2016 End-Of-Year Top Ten Lists which I posted during the week after Christmas. Here are the links:
I took a blog break through December & have only just caught up on replying to comments over the weekend. Thanks to those of you who have stuck around despite my absence – I really do appreciate the comments and do love to have a chat. I’ll be posting less & hopefully reading more over the next few weeks. I really want to see all your End-Of-Year Lists as well so feel free to add links to them in the comments as I know I’ve probably missed out on most of them by now!
I’ll be posting some “blog resolutions” tomorrow, in which I’ll discuss some of my blog plans for 2017. Then I’ll be posting my 2017 Blind Spot Choices on Wednesday, which I’m really looking forward to doing again (I’ve already watched my January Blind Spot film). So, once again, a final Happy New Year to you all! I’ll do my best to not take a month to reply to your comments in 2017… 😉
Happy February everyone! 🙂 Can you believe January is over?! Man, I hate January… Good Riddance!
I haven’t done one of these monthly “blog stats” posts in a while. I just always enjoy having a look at what posts got the most views and/or comments each month (usually not my favorite posts!). And, as always, I find the bizarre Search Terms amusing.
So first I’ll have a look at My Top Posts for January:
I’m happy that my top post by far was the one where I chose the 12 Blind Spot movies that I plan to (hopefully) watch & review throughout the year. I’m cutting back on blogging but that’s the one new project I’ve decided to attempt this year (and I’ve already watched two of them and reviewed one: An Education & Summer Wars).
I also got a scary number of hits on my very old Cast Of Labyrinth Then & Now post and my very short David Bowie tribute post. People do love a tribute post, I guess, as My Top Ten Alan Rickman Movies also got a lot of views. January was a sad month for celebrity losses. To be honest, I still can’t even really talk about Bowie without getting far more upset than I ever expected so let’s move on.
Since January is so depressing, I decided I’d go & watch that heartwarming Leonardo DiCaprio film with the big cuddly bear. I was surprised to see that my review for The Revenant got so many views. I apologize for not being able to take that review seriously! It was a very good movie and all that, but… You couldn’t drag me back for a second viewing.
There are two movies I really want to mention once more as I feel they deserve attention. I’ve already watched 14 movies in 2016 (is that excessive? well, it was January – it’s too cold to do anything else!). Anyway, of those 14 one is a new favorite while another is one of those very rare types of films that could, quite possibly, change someone’s life for the better (not mine, though – maybe if I’d seen it in any month other than cold & bleak January!!!).
The new favorite is a pretty obscure film called In Your Eyes, which did get quite a few views but not many comments as I suppose most people have never heard of it. I was therefore very happy when two bloggers gave it a watch because of my review and they both loved it too. It’s a surprisingly simple love story (rare for me – I’m not big on romance) about two people with a telepathic connection. It was written by Joss Whedon and it’s a good script with great characters and it just worked. For me, anyway… I’m now totally in love with the dude in it (Michael Stahl-David, in the above photo). *sigh*
The other movie, which isn’t high in my stats as I only just posted the review last Wednesday, is Room. I believe I told someone here that this is the type of movie that makes me wish I was a writer so I could put into words exactly how I felt about it. Well, I attempted to in my review but nothing I say could do it justice. Just…. Watch it. Please. If you’re a film lover, it’s one you need to see. I watched it last Tuesday and it’s still playing on my mind. It gives such a bizarre mixture of emotions – thinking about it now I don’t know whether to smile or burst into tears. It’s an extremely powerful film, probably more so than anything I’ve ever seen in my (many) years on this Earth.
Yikes. Let’s lighten the mood and look at My Top Search Terms for January:
Okay, pervy Googlers! Seriously – get over the girl in Odd Thomas in her panties and the girl in the short skirt in The Purge. And I’m sure all the boys DO love Mandy Lane nude scenes but you’ll find none on my blog (plus, I don’t actually remember a nude scene in that movie…).
I had no idea who the hell Ron Mlodzik was so I had to look him up. Looks like he was in David Cronenberg’s Shivers but I didn’t even mention his name in my review so I don’t know how that search led someone to my blog. Well, here you go – I think this is Ron Mlodzik?? That’s one way to clean glasses, I suppose:
I also had to look up Ken Duken to see who the heck he was. Oh – he was in the unexpectedly enjoyable Chalet Girl! I’m sorry to say I have no naked photos of him on this blog, though. It would certainly be better than nude photos of that Ron Mlodzik dude.
Finally, I’m happy that my post about the Steve Buscemi/Roger Daltrey episode of Tales From The Crypt (Forever Ambergris) got some hits as I had a lot of fun with that post.
I hope you all have a lovely February! It can’t be worse than January, right?! 🙂
Happy October, everyone! 🙂 I’ll be back to posting horror-related stuff again tomorrow & for the rest of this month but I realized it’s the first Sunday of the month so it’s time to review my September blog stats.
Here are My Top Viewed Posts For September:
I was happy to see that My Top Ten Toilet Scenes In Movies was number one (better than a number “two”, eh?). 😉 I did that partly due to my old, most-viewed-ever post of My Top Ten Shower & Bath Scenes In Movies. Looks like it’s paid off – Googlers are clearly fascinated by movie scenes involving bathrooms! I’m moving onto sinks for another top ten list soon (seriously).
It’s cool that My Top Ten Number Movies was also one of my top viewed posts (SPOILER: 28 Days Later tops that list). And I’m liking that my mini-review trios are getting a good amount of comments from people (I did three chick flicks HERE & trashed Blue RuinHERE to everyone’s annoyance (I seriously hated that movie).
Ha! That’s hilarious. Apparently mentioning my top search terms each month has meant that I keep getting hits on those same search terms over & over again. So, thank you to Lucy Deakins being cute in The Great Outdoors, Alice Eve for being hot, Addison Timlin for the camel toe in Odd Thomas, and those Minions for being so darn cute. 🙂
Finally, thank you as always to YOU GUYS. The best thing about blogging is the chats we have about movies in the Comments. I wouldn’t have kept doing this so long without our chats. 🙂
Ever since watching Birdman with its love it or hate it drum score (I thought it fit the film well but it got annoying) then of course Whiplash with all of its drumming, I’ve been thinking that I really need to do a list of My Top Ten Drummers In Movies. So here you go! 🙂
Well, I have to include Miles Teller since Whiplash was the inspiration for this post. I’m still not a big fan of his (he’s got a smarmy look) but Whiplash was good. Maybe I’ll change my mind about him – he’s in like a million movies coming out this year.
9. Ringo Starr in Yellow Submarine
Come on – it’s The Beatles! I had to include Ringo. I love Yellow Submarine.
8. The Wyld Stallyns “historical babe” in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
The redhead! Not many great pictures online. I had to include Bill & Ted – I love these guys!
7. The kid (Kevin Clark as Freddy Jones) in School Of Rock
I know that not everyone likes Jack Black but I DO and School Of Rock is one of my favorite movies in recent years. It’s great!
6. Dave Grohl in The Muppets (as Animool in Muppets tribute band “The Moopets”) & in documentary Sound City
I also HAD to find a way to include Dave Grohl. Grohl rules! He was hilarious in The Muppets but I also had to mention & link to my Sound City review again – I really enjoyed that documentary. More than anything, I think I just love how much of a music fan Dave Grohl is himself.
5. The Ewok that plays drums on the Stormtrooper helmets
Does this count? Yes, it does. Because it’s MY list! 😉
4. Peter “James” Bond & Mick Shrimpton in This Is Spinal Tap (spontaneous combustion & explosion)
I couldn’t do a list of drummers without including at least some of the Spinal Tap drummers who died tragically.
3. Animal from The Muppet Movie (well, all Muppet movies)
Again – what list of drummers would be complete without Animal?!
Yep, I have no movie reviews ready to post today so it’s time for a super lazy Top Ten List! Look, Seth – SABBATH! 🙂
Counting down to my number one favorite, here are My Top Ten Black Sabbath Songs:
10. TIE: Planet Caravan & A National Acrobat
9. N.I.B.
8. Electric Funeral
7. Iron Man
6. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
5. Paranoid
4. Fairies Wear Boots
3. War Pigs
2. Spiral Architect
1. Black Sabbath
Number one & two are SO close… Think it depends on my mood. Yeah – I mainly just know the “Greatest Hits”. This was an easy post – I should do these more often!
Actually, I just realized that I can make this a movie-related post as well. One of the many movies I watched in 2014 but didn’t get around to reviewing was Drew: The Man Behind The Poster. I’ll still review that as I found it fascinating and I LOVE Drew Struzan’s movie posters. However, as he’s so well known for his famous movie posters, I had NO idea before watching the documentary that he’d also done one of my favorite album covers (and back cover) for one of my favorite bands! Black Sabbath’s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath:
How did I not know that?? Anyway – here’s the song Black Sabbath. I love that it sounds like what you’d hear on the way to Hell. It’s perfect for the walk to work. 🙂
Happy Birthday to John Carpenter, who turns 67 today! 🙂
I announced in my 2 Year Blogiversary post that I’d be working on a John Carpenter Project throughout this year where I’ll do my best to review all the films he’s directed (that’s back when I was all positive & full of great ideas before the Winter Blues kicked in). 😉 Well, I’ll get to reviewing his movies at some point but for now here’s a Top Ten (So Far) list.
These are My Top Ten Favorite John Carpenter Movies counting down from ten to my number one favorite, Ghosts Of Mars. (Ha! Just checking if anyone is reading this – I swear no one reads my intros).
10. Ghosts Of Mars
Before anyone freaks out at me over this, I should point out that I’ve only SEEN ten John Carpenter movies. Wait a second… is that horrible looking picture really from this movie?!?! I’m now wondering if I HAVE seen this. Screw it – I’ve already called this a top “ten”.
9. Village Of The Damned
I’ve definitely seen this & it was definitely shit. But Meredith Salenger was in it, so that’s cool…
This sucked but Amber Heard is hot. Maybe this would actually be below Christine. See comment on Christine…
6. Big Trouble In Little China
Man, I barely remember this either but I used to have a crush on Kurt Russell, so…
5. Dark Star
I remember this since I just watched it last Autumn. Woohoo!
4. The Fog
Hmm. I really need to refresh my memory on this one as well. Is it becoming obvious why I need to do a John Carpenter Project? 😉
3. Halloween
Here we are! The top three! The three John Carpenter movies I really know & love. How could he go from stuff like this to Ghosts Of Mars?! Anyway, this is an all-time slasher classic.
2. The Thing
CLASSIC! Who doesn’t like this movie? If you don’t like this, you’re weird. I accept differences of opinion here but, seriously – all normal people like this movie.
1. They Live
That’s right, I have this above The Thing. Is this a better film than The Thing or Halloween? Nope! But it’s my favorite.
So, anyway – the plan is to update this Top Ten once I’ve seen the rest of John Carpenter’s films. I’m pretty sure Ghosts Of Mars won’t make the final cut based on that picture…
And totally unrelated to this post but is The Lego Movie seriously not up for Best Animated Feature Oscar?!?!
First of all, Happy Birthday to Hayao Miyazaki! Co-founder of Studio Ghibli along with Isao Takahata, Miyazaki has directed the majority of the most well known & highly regarded Ghibli films.
As I said, I’ll be reviewing some Studio Ghibli films throughout January. I don’t have a definite schedule in mind plus I’ll probably post some non-Ghibli reviews as usual as well. So far, I’ve watched 10 of the 20 Ghibli movies I could possibly watch (2 aren’t yet available on DVD). I’ve mostly watched the ones directed by Miyazaki so I’ll first focus on reviewing these ten I’ve seen so far plus the two Miyazaki ones I have left to watch. I may then continue Studio Ghibli Month after January & do the remaining films as well. I’m halfway through writing my review for Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind so that will probably be the review you’ll see here tomorrow.
So, these are My Top Ten Favorite Studio Ghibli Movies (So Far) counting down from ten to one. I’ll update it once I’ve seen the rest of the Ghibli films but I’ll be surprised if the list changes much. 🙂
**List updated 5/1/17. You can see my ranking for all the Ghibli films I’ve now seen HERE**
I’ve been doing my end-of-the-year top ten lists (My Top Ten Movies Of 2014 & My Top Ten Movies Watched At Home In 2014). I can’t do a top ten here as I only managed seven so here are My Top (Seven) Books Read In 2014. I’ve never been great at writing book reviews and, of these, I only managed to review The Giver. As I probably won’t ever get around to doing full reviews of most of these, I’ll do a brief mini-review of each of them now.
7. The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year by Sue Townsend
I mainly read things like Stephen King, a tiny bit of sci-fi, and Young Adult fiction. This book isn’t very “me” but I thought it would be good to read the type of book that women my age are MEANT to read. Well, this is why I don’t fit in amongst women of my age, I guess… 😉 I’m sure most middle-aged women absolutely adored this book and I do think Townsend wrote some truly funny & witty bits. However, the characters are SO hateful, including the “heroine” at times. You’re meant to feel for her & you do at first but, by the end, you just think “Get out of bed & the HELL away from your horrible family full of assholes!” It’s well-written and I assume Townsend probably has better books with better characters? As always, it’s hard to enjoy a book if you don’t like at least ONE person in it but it does have its funny moments (although it’s a very British sense of humor).
My Rating: 2.5/5
6. Paper Towns by John Green
I know John Green is a very big YA author and I did really like The Fault In Our Stars book (which I reviewed HERE). I’m also kind of a sucker for a decent-looking book cover and Green’s books always look so good sitting on the shelves in book stores (shallow, I know). Unfortunately, I found Paper Towns quite disappointing. Like The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year, this was full of characters I didn’t really like. The main boy was fine, at least, but the object of his affection (and obsession) is extremely selfish and it’s very hard to understand why he would feel so strongly about her. I also didn’t like how it ended – it just sort of fizzled out. However, I’ll still give more Green books a shot as I know Zoe of The Sporadic Chronicles Of A Beginner Blogger is a fan but she also didn’t like this one so much. She’s done a good full review of the book, which you can read HERE. Yep, we agree on this one, Zoe!
My Rating: 2.5/5
5. The Night Rainbow by Claire King
This is another one that’s not exactly “me” but I thought it was fairly good. However, it’s totally heartbreaking. I don’t really want a book that’s going to make me cry and leave me horribly depressed by the end of it. For some reason, I wasn’t expecting this to be as sad as it was after reading the description on the back and, when something quite obvious finally hit me toward the end of the book, I felt stupid for not realizing sooner and also incredibly sad about the situation as I think it’s probably a somewhat common thing. I know that was incredibly vague but I always try to stay spoiler-free. It’s very much another “middle-aged woman” book but, if you’re of that age and especially if you’re a mother and you like bittersweet dramas that may make you weep (a lot of women seem to like that sort of thing – I’m not sure why!), this book may be worth a read for you.
My Rating: 3/5
4. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Yeah… 2014 really was a year of me reading books that aren’t very “me”. This is another one. 😉 I just can’t get into these “older lady books”! I was also once again taken by the cover of the book plus I liked the sound of the “fairytale” aspect of the story. It’s inspired by a Russian fairytale of an old childless couple who build a daughter made of snow who comes to life. It’s no Stephen King so was never going to be my favorite book in the world but I thought it was actually very good and I can see a lot of people (okay, women) loving it. It would make a great movie. It’s also a little heartbreaking, although it didn’t leave me nearly as sad as The Night Rainbow did. If it sounds at all like the type of story you’d like, I do recommend this one.
My Rating: 3.5/5
3. The Giver by Lois Lowry
I won’t go into this one much as I’ve already done a full review HERE. “Young Adult dystopian future” book! Much more my type of thing. Plus this is one that came along years before the current trend of copycats. It’s aimed at a younger age than things like The Hunger Games (probably about age 11) and is a book I’d happily give to a kid of that age to read before they read the more current books in the genre. Anyway – I really liked The Giver and highly recommend it over the movie, which changes quite a lot of the story.
My Rating: 4/5
2. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
I’m actually not sure what to say about this one other than: Can you believe I’d never read it until now?! I know it’s such a HUGE teen classic for people of my age and the generation before mine. I’m not sure if it’s as popular with teens these days as well but it does deserve its status as a classic. I LOVE that Hinton was only 16 when she wrote this and I wish that teenagers still had this same sort of ambition and creativity these days. I don’t know… Maybe some of them do? Anyway, I’m not sure why I never explored Hinton’s stuff plus I’ve also never seen Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of this. This is shocking as, even though it’s not had the best reviews, it’s from 1983 and full of so many famous actors from my generation. Okay, I’ve actually managed to not say a thing about this book. I plan to watch the movie sometime this year so I’ll try to do a full review of the book at the same time too.
My Rating: 4/5
1. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
Of course this was going to be my favorite… No, it’s not as good as The Shining but I think it’s a decent enough sequel. I liked re-visiting characters from The Shining and liked the main girl, Abra, and her relationship with Danny plus I thought the “villains” (The True Knot) were very effective, especially their leader Rose the Hat. This was the first book I read in 2014 so I finished it quite a while ago. I of course thoroughly enjoyed it while reading it but it’s already fading from my memory a bit as it just didn’t grab me in the way other King books have. I’m not sure why… It’s good but I think King has written better books in recent years. I think 11/22/63 is a better book overall plus I possibly enjoyed Duma Key and even Cell slightly more than Doctor Sleep, although I’m sure I’m very much in the minority there. (I also had a lot of fun with Joyland, the only King book I’ve ever reviewed so I suppose I should mention it). Doctor Sleep is certainly one of King’s better books overall but it’s probably not QUITE up there with my very favorites although I was hoping it would be. By the way, Brian, I’ve given it some thought and The Dead Zone is possibly my favorite King book although I also love Salem’s Lot, The Long Walk, The Shining, The Green Mile, and I love his short story collections almost more than his full novels sometimes. It would be possibly be a big favorite except for ONE bit I really don’t like in it. Night Shift was the first thing of his that I read and that’s what got me hooked. I’m sure you all wanted to know my Stephen King history, right?? 🙂
My Rating: 4/5
I got a load of books for Christmas & they’re much more “me” than most the stuff I read in 2014. I can’t wait to read them and, so far, I have to say that I’m LOVING Ready Player One. Has anyone read any of these?
Has anyone done a list of their top ten carpets & rugs in movies yet?? I can’t find one! Anyway – this came about as the hubby & I were discussing my number one on this list (a movie I’m pretty obsessed with). He doesn’t love it the way I do & part of my argument as to why it’s so awesome is because of THE CARPET! So….
Hey look – it’s Christian Bale again! Except this time he’s fat & and he has an even more problematic rug…
7. The Money Pit
Who doesn’t love Tom Hanks?! (Other than Abbi…). Here’s poor Tom stuck in a rug after falling through a hole in the floor of his “money pit” house.
6. Trainspotting
Ewan McGregor sinks into this rug in a drug-fuelled haze while the excellent Lou Reed song Perfect Day plays. Great scene!
5. Aladdin
Come on! You know the magic carpet from Aladdin needs to be on this list… 🙂
4. The Big Lebowski
Again – you knew this one would be on the list!
The Dude: “That rug really tied the room together.”
3. A Nightmare On Elm Street
Don’t you hate it when you’re trying to get away from Freddy Krueger and your carpeted stairs suddenly turn into some sort of gooey quicksand? Poor Nancy! Still, it was probably better than getting licked by the Freddy-phone.
2. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
Chewbacca – the greatest walking-carpet-sidekick ever!
Princess Leia: “Will somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way?”
1. The Shining
There is no other possible number one for this list. The Shining is responsible for bringing us the creepiest carpet in the history of film.
Next Week: CURTAINS!
Not really… 😉
Honorable Mention: I couldn’t find a picture of it to use but I like Gru’s pandaskin rug in one of my favorite movies of recent years –Despicable Me
Now, I think the only proper way to end this post is with a song from Nick Rivers:
Here we are! My final list of the four started by the fabulous Abbi of Where The Wild Things Are. You can see her list of “The Top Ten Actors I Would Watch In Almost AnythingHERE. This is a great thing you started, Abbi! I believe others have made similar lists so let me know if you want me to add your link. I know Zoe of The Sporadic Chronicles Of A Beginner Blogger also did her list of actors HERE. 🙂
I did my most annoying actors & actresses last week but, surprisingly, it took THIS LIST of my favorite actresses to piss people off the most (yes – I grew up with Drew Barrymore & I love her. So sue me!). 😉 Thanks for all the wonderful comments on these – I’ll be replying to each & every one of you soon.
Now here are my Top Ten Actors I’d Watch In Pretty Much Anything (in no particular order plus I’ve narrowed it down by only including living actors):
Okay – it was fun bitching about my most hated actors & actresses last week but now it’s time to do another list that Abbi of Where The Wild Things Are has done. You can see her list of “The Top Ten Actresses That I’d See In Pretty Much Anything” HERE. So here’s my own list of actresses I love. (Yes – I do love Drew Barrymore!). 🙂
With my favorite actors list, I’ve had to narrow it down by only including living actors so I’ve done the same here. Otherwise, Grace Kelly would be on this list. Now here are The Ten Actresses I’d Watch In Pretty Much Anything (in no particular order…):
Amy Adams
Best Movie: Her or Catch Me If You Can but she was lovely in Junebug
Emily Blunt
Best Movie: Edge Of Tomorrow but I also love The Adjustment Bureau
Drew Barrymore
Best Movie: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial but I also love The Wedding Singer & Whip It
Chloe Grace Moretz
Best Movie: Hugo
Sandra Bullock
Best Movie: Gravity but I do love Speed. (Gravity helped to put Bullock back on this list. But I still wouldn’t watch that thing she did with Melissa McCarthy. Damn! I missed her on my “Most Annoying” list…
Carey Mulligan
Best Movie: Shame but she was better in Never Let Me Go. (If I’ve forgotten someone, Carey Mulligan would be the first one replaced. I found her disappointing in Shame and beyond bland in The Great Gatsby. Hopefully she’ll have another good role soon…)
Here we are with another list first started by the amazing Abbi of Where The Wild Things Are. You can see her list, “The Top Ten Actors Who Irrationally Annoy The Shit Out Of Me” HERE. 🙂 I did the list of my most annoying actresses HERE so now it’s time for the boys. Then next week I’ll be all nice with lists of my favorite actors & actresses (but hate is so much more fun…). 😉 And I’ll actually get around to replying to all your great comments on these soon! Sorry – it’s been a very hectic week!
So here are my Top Ten Actors Who Annoy Me:
Tom Cruise
Best Movie: Top Gun (but Edge Of Tomorrow was surprisingly good!)
John Travolta
Best Movie: Carrie or Pulp Fiction
Christian Bale
Best Movie: The Prestige
Robert Pattinson
Best Movie: Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire
Shia LaBeouf
Best Movie: Disturbia
Sacha Baron Cohen
Best Movie: Hugo
Nicolas Cage
Best Movie: Fast Times At Ridgemont High
Steven Seagal
Best Movie: No idea – I don’t have a penis
**List likely to change as I’ll have forgotten a bunch of annoying people like I did with the actresses. Would love to hear from all of you on who you hate the most. I seriously will reply when I get a spare second! 🙂
Abbi over at Where The Wild Things Are started something with her excellent list of “The Top Ten Actresses Who Irrationally Annoy The Shit Out Of Me”. She followed it up with a list of annoying actors and then lists of actors & actresses she’d watch in pretty much anything. I believe some others have made their own lists since then – let me know if you’ve done one too & I’ll add a link to it. 🙂
It was a great idea so I’ve done all four lists as well. Thanks, Abbi! I’ll start with The Top Ten Actresses Who Annoy Me (and I don’t think I’m being irrational at ALL. Lol). These are in no particular order (but Gwyneth certainly takes the crown). I won’t elaborate – I’m hoping we can all have a good bitchfest in the comments! But I’ll try to be a little positive & name the best movie I think each has been in…
Julia Roberts
Best Movie: Pretty Woman
Kristen Stewart
Best Movie: Panic Room or The Runaways
**I don’t have another list scheduled yet. May post another Friday. Would you rather see the ten actresses I like or the ten actors who annoy me? 🙂
***EDIT to say: OMG! I’ve been reminded of Kate Hudson! How could I forget her?? If it will make people happier, I’d replace Emma Stone with Kate Hudson. To be fair, I hate the real-life persona of a lot of these but with Emma Stone, she seems decent in real life. Her voice just annoys me. Same as Johansson’s. Irrational, I know… 😉
So the wonderful Cara over at Silver Screen Serenadehas been celebrating her one year blogiversary with loads of great posts in which she & guest bloggers have been talking about some of their all-time favorite films.
I just HAD to do something about my beloved Star Wars. When I did this list a while back, I realized I could easily do one with the Star Wars films alone. You can check out my post for Cara, a list of My Top Ten Star Wars Dismemberments, HERE. 🙂
Happy Birthday to the wonderful & stunning Michelle Pfeiffer, who is 56 today! She’s one of my favorite actresses & she’s been in so many different types of movies that I thought doing a top ten would be interesting. This list may be as unpopular as my Nicolas Cage one… I make no apologies for my top two! 😉
Counting down from ten, these are My Top Ten Favorite Michelle Pfeiffer Movies:
10. Tequila Sunrise
9. Dangerous Minds
8. The Fabulous Baker Boys
7. Batman Returns
6. What Lies Beneath
5. Stardust
4. Scarface
3. Dangerous Liaisons
2. White Oleander
1. Ladyhawke
**2018 update to say that today is now Pfeiffer’s 60th Birthday. I may update this post someday & rank ALL her movies that I’ve seen. I’ve finally reviewed two recent movies of hers on my blog (Mother! and People Like Us). Neither would make the top ten but I did like both of them. Although Mother! certainly isn’t for everyone…**
It’s finally here! My All-Time Top Ten Favorite TV Shows! Thanks for all your comments on my first list (30-21 HERE) and my second list (20-11 HERE). Sorry – I’ve had a hectic week but I’ll catch up on replying to all of you this weekend. 🙂
I’ll shut up as you’ve all probably lost interest by now anyway. 😉 Here, counting down, are the Top Ten of My All-Time Top Thirty TV Shows:
10. Lost
**Warning: a tiny bit spoiler-y** Maybe a controversial choice for my top ten seeing as this show jumped the shark in the last few seasons. Or should I say a wheel was turned and that damn shark MOVED… But I’ll never forget the excitement I felt when this came on each week – it was the first TV show in YEARS that I truly looked forward to. I thought it was the greatest thing ever and spent waaaaaay too much time at Lostpedia trying to figure out what the hell it all meant. Too bad that, in the end, all that time felt wasted… But it still deserves a place in the top ten as there’s really been no other show like it and, to begin with, it was amazing.
Favorite episode: I have no idea any more… So I’ll say the “getting it on with Sawyer” episode. What a hottie. Actually – the first use of flashforward in an episode was brilliant. As was the pilot episode.
9. Amazing Stories
This Steven Spielberg series should have been amazing EVERY week considering the talent involved (loads of famous guest stars & guest directors such as Clint Eastwood & Martin Scorsese) but there were some less-than-brilliant episodes. However, the good episodes more than made up for the bad ones and the show was a very worthwhile watch. I so wish there’d been more than two seasons! It was a new story every week & they were mostly sci-fi, supernatural & fantasy types of stories so this show was VERY much my cup of tea. Loved it.
Favorite episode: Either “The Mission” (directed by Spielberg) or “Go To The Head Of The Class” (directed by Robert Zemeckis).
8. Seinfeld
At one point this will have been much higher on my list – I was pretty obsessed with this show when it was first on then watched reruns of it for years every weeknight at 10:30 (I think!). But I’ve not seen one episode since moving to the UK & it’s faded a bit from my memory. Main thing was that it was SO brilliantly written! Remember when it used to be Seinfeld vs Friends because they were on at the same time?? I went with Seinfeld & caught reruns of Friends if I’d not recorded it.
Favorite episode: Wow – SO many to choose from. I’m going to go with “The Contest” and the very obvious choice of “The Soup Nazi“.
7. The Cosby Show
Who didn’t want Cliff Huxtable as their dad?? He was the definition of “perfect father”: loving and loads of fun but also strict when needed and always making sure his kids did the right thing. And he had the most awesome sweaters in the history of TV. I wanted to be a Huxtable. I still do! A lovely family and a lovely show that managed to be genuinely funny with no vulgarity. Then Lisa Bonet had to go & break Bill Cosby’s heart by starring in that nasty Angel Heart movie. Way to go, Denise!
Favorite episode: Hmm… Everyone remembers the one with the goldfish funeral. Oh – I loved that one where they’re in the recording studio with Stevie Wonder! “Roooobert!” “Jammin on the one!” Lol. Oh! And when Cliff was bouncing that fat kid on his knee! Hehe! I loved this show…
6. The Brady Bunch
I need to explain why this is so high on the list. Was it a really “good” show? No. But I grew up with it. I was an only child & a bit of a latchkey kid – I admit I watched WAY too much TV during all that time alone. The Brady Bunch (and numbers 5, 2 & 1 below) kept me company. I think I also loved the thought of having that many brothers and sisters. Now I sound like a pathetic, friendless loser… Lol!
Favorite Episode: Let’s see – Marcia’s nose being broken was pretty funny because she was annoying. I loved when they built the house of cards as a contest (Girls win! A sewing machine? WHAT?!). The one with Davy Jones. The one where Kitty Karry-All was in Tiger’s doghouse all along. Peter & his “Porkchops & applesauce! That’s swell!” (I had a crush on Peter. You’ve tainted him, Eric!). Oh, and his voice changing!!! When it’s time to change, you’ve got to rearrange! The one where Alice snaps & kills them all. I’m just seeing if anyone is reading this. The one where Jan wears that stupid wig. It’s late & I’m exhausted so feel free to correct any mistakes I’ve made on these. To be honest, I’m hoping I have because I haven’t watched these in well over 25 years and it’s pretty sad to remember so much…
5. Little House On The Prairie
What can I say? Like The Brady Bunch, I grew up with this. I loved Laura and I hated that bitch from hell Mrs Oleson and her evil offspring! This show was so damn wholesome and soooo damn depressing at times! Oh – Why did they always sing that same song in church all the time?? Bringing in the sheaves? WTF does that mean? Damn – it’s stuck in my head now.
Favorite episode: Probably the Ernest Borgnine one: “The Lord Is My Shepherd“. Also loved the episode where Laura pushed that bitch Nellie down the hill in the wheelchair because she knew she was faking not being able to walk. And Johnny Cash was in one! I preferred episodes with a bit of “fun” in them to the ones where everyone was dying of anthrax or going blind from scarlet fever…
4. Star Trek: The Next Generation
So I put Star Trek in at number 14 as, without it, we wouldn’t have had The Next Generation, which is the one I REALLY loved. This show was absolutely brilliant. I don’t even know where to start. As I get closer to number one, I’m struggling with explaining my choices. I loved this show. I loved the characters. I loved the stories. I LOVE PATRICK STEWART! The number of times I watched this show late into the night instead of doing homework…
Favorite Episode: The Borg ones, of course. And the one that was, basically, the movie Enemy Mine (but that’s okay – that’s a great underrated movie). The one where Beverly Crusher kind of had weird, kinky ghost & Mrs Muir/alien being type of invisible sex. Raunchy! And I always loved any episodes that focused on Geordi or Data as they were my favorite characters.
3. Sesame Street
I ADORE Sesame Street with all my heart. A couple things in life will never fail to cheer me up when I’m really down. One is Snoopy. The other is Sesame Street. I know I’m an old woman now but I’ll never stop loving this show and everything it represents. I think it’s always been a great influence on kids and has all the right values without ever being preachy. It makes learning FUN and no other kid’s show has ever come close to topping it. And it’s NO LONGER SHOWN IN THE UK. I think that’s a crime. Honestly – I’ve written letters! (Well, e-mails). Seriously – I’ve tried to get this shown here again. What a shame that kids here can’t experience this show.
I almost put Sesame Street at number one as it’s my “first” TV show and it taught me SO much from a very young age. However, numbers 2 & 1 really shaped me & are probably responsible for my taste when it comes to all forms of entertainment today. I kind of see the top three as a three-way tie. They helped make me who I am. Don’t go thinking I’m sweet because of Sesame Street – the next two took care of that…
Favorite episode: It’s more about individual “skits” than episodes and there are loads I still love to this day. I’ve rambled enough, though, so I’ll just name a couple. First are the Yip Yip Martians. HILARIOUS. And I’m going to be obvious and mention the The Pointer Sisters’ “Pinball Song” (Clips of both at the end of this post). The most memorable episode (that I only got to finally see in recent years) was the one where they had to explain Mr Hooper’s (real life) death to Big Bird in a way that little kids would understand. Absolutely HEARTBREAKING!
2. Alfred Hitchcock Presents/The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
When I first started this blog, one of the first things I posted was about my favorite Hitchcock episodes listed below. You can read that HERE (Warning: my old posts are shockingly bad). Where The Woodbine Twineth haunts me to this day. I still hate dolls… (You can watch the whole episode on YouTube HERE. I refuse to!) 😉 The stories were terrifyingly brilliant. Hitchcock was a genius. If you love his movies but haven’t watched his TV shows, I highly recommend them.
Favorite episode: “Where The Woodbine Twineth” followed by “The Jar” & “The Magic Shop“. All three gave me nightmares and, quite frankly, probably helped make me the slight basket case I am today.
1. The Twilight Zone
This show was so ahead of its time. It’s amazing that you can watch it now and the stories are just as relevant. I loved how most episodes tried to “teach humanity a lesson”. I watched this from a very young age and it’s probably why I now love all things sci-fi and anything weird & wonderful.
Favorite episode: Impossible to pick just one! I could easily do a top ten of these. The first ones that spring to mind are: The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street, Eye Of The Beholder, Time Enough At Last, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, To Serve Man, It’s A Good Life…. Okay -Yep, I’m going to do a top ten of these someday. 🙂
That’s it! My Top Ten! Thanks for reading these, everybody. I’d love to get some more feedback on these choices – I’ll be replying to comments this weekend. Were my top two a surprise after quite a few sitcoms in the top 30? Does anyone else love my Top Five as much as I do? I’d especially love to hear from other fans of The Twilight Zone and I’d love to know people’s thoughts on Sesame Street. And if the end of Lost just pissed you off too much… 🙂
Finally, I have to add (way too many) Honorable Mentions. I should have done a top 50 but I really can’t NOT mention these:
Yo Gabba Gabba
Beavis & Butthead
Only Fools And Horses
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Family Ties
My So-Called Life
Roseanne
One Day At A Time
It’s Your Move
Silver Spoons
Diff’rent Strokes
Punky Brewster
Never Mind The Buzzcocks
Alice
Home Improvement
Supernatural
You Can’t Do That On Television
ER
And here’s my Full Top Thirty all together:
30. Highlander
29. Fawlty Towers
28. The Wonder Years
27. The X Files
26. My Name Is Earl
25. Quantum Leap
24. Growing Pains
23. The Facts Of Life
22. Monty Python’s Flying Circus
21. Saturday Night Live
20. Frasier
19. M*A*S*H
18. The Golden Girls
17. The Simpsons
16. South Park
15. Doctor Who
14. Star Trek
13. Friends
12. The Muppet Show
11. 21 Jump Street
10. Lost
9. Amazing Stories
8. Seinfeld
7. The Cosby Show
6. The Brady Bunch
5. Little House On The Prairie
4. Star Trek: The Next Generation
3. Sesame Street
2. Alfred Hitchcock Presents/The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1. The Twilight Zone
**FYI: I MET Gordon from Sesame Street! Got his autograph and have a picture of us together. One of the best days EVER! 🙂
Cinema Parrot Disco 