But … having left Love Film (for no good reason), I have been picking up most of my films from local charity shops in the video section – between 25p to £1 a shot. And after a year I’m still finding films I haven’t seen that are worth watching. There are a lot of films (bad ones) that come up again and again, but nearly always there’s one or two that are worth watching. Maybe if I’d had a TV for more of my life I wouldn’t think this … but for now …

I did hear one argument … I asked what advantages DVD had over video … the only response ‘you dont have to rewind them’ … for me the quality isn’t so important, the quantity and diversity of film produced on video that now nobody wants and just offloads in bulk – films from the mid 90′s back to the 50′s – thats a lot of film in video format …

… so for now Love Film I’m not coming back … British Heart Foundation wins the day …

La Mepris (Jan) – a English film with Brigitte Bardot in about the breakdown of a relationship. Ok but not great I would say.

Kung fu hustle (Jan) – very entertaining, with great special effects.

Idioterne (Jan) – peculier Danish film about people ‘finding their inner idiot’ – very odd film

Red Road (Jan) – set in the Glasgow underworld and estates, about the obsessive relationship between a CCTV operator and a man who has commintted a crime against her.

The night of the sunflowers (Jan) – gripping Spanish thriller that doesn’t go where you expect. Good one.

Ping Pong (Jan) – great little Japanese film – comparisons to Rocky nonsense

Betty Page (Feb) – somehow have my doubts about how innocent all the protaganists portrayed in this film – they can’t really have been that naive.

Foreign Land (Feb) – Set in Brazil/Portugal, this films starts off slow and builds to a climax. By the same director as Motorcycle Diaries, this has a much grittier black and white feel, is far less feel good, and generally for me a much better film.

The Big Blue (Feb) – Luc Besson ‘love story’ about two free divers. Beautiful visuals and diving footage, but really spoilt by the continual pathos in the role of Rosanna Arquette who came across as a total sap. Jean Reno didn’t manage to rescue the film, and Jean-Marc Barr’s role as the obsessive non communicative diver was a bit hard to stay with for the duration of the film.

La Spagnola (Feb) – great film about Spanish immigrants to Australia in the 60′s. Beautiful and innovative photography, some excellent comedy moments, in a film that was entertaining throughout.

The Soft Skin (Feb) – B&W French 60′s film – love affair between a married man and a air hostess. He can’t help himself, but makes a series of mistakes in both his relationships with dire consequences.

The Lives of Saints (Feb) – slightly unpleasant but very good film set in a somewhat underworld London community. A peculiar boy is found who transforms all their lives.

> Film 2008

Australia – Land Beyond Time (Feb) – good documentary discussing landscape and wildlife – was an IMAX film

Globe Trekker – Indian Ocean Islands (Feb) – Lonely planet guide to these islands – good.

Hidden Hawaii (Feb) – not now it aint, but good photography

India – North and East (March), India – South and West (March) – more Lonely Planet guides – describes diverseness of India in interesting way

India With Sanjeev Bhasker (March) – entertaining documentary from BBC. Very good.

Sigur Ros – Heima (March) – beautful photography of Iceland, and the bands unanounced tour

Pingu – Pingu Forever (April) – Pingu, you rock!! Pingu is jealous is a classic

The Simpsons movie (April) – funny for about 20 minutes – mm isn’t that the length of the normal episode

Shakira – Oral Fixation (April) – Yeah Shakira!

Globe Trekker – Tuscany (May). A few places not the usual suspects worth watching for.

Bjork – Volumen II (May) – nice companion to the live gig

Splash (May) – I should be ashamed of myself, and Tom Hanks as well – nooo!

Valentin (June) -Excellent little film

Cat Balou (June) – very entertaining spoof western – Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin amongst others

Judge Dredd (June) – Silvester Stallone was truly terrible in this role … but who else? Arnie better?

Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (June) – I actually almost fell asleep in this amidst the mayhem – says more about me than the film though. Quite liked it on the whole.

Ghost Dog (June) – Good one Jonny.

Fantastic Four and the Rise of the Silver Surfer (Jun) – I remember thinking the Silver Surfer was so cool when I was 11 – he still is in this film, but the rest of the cast weren’t so.

Grom Surf (June) – Amazing seeing an 11 year surf the Hawaii breaks like a pro

Blood Surf (June) – Thought this was gonna be a documentary about surfers in with sharks. Turned out to be about a 31 foot killer croc called Mad Mick or something like that. Really bad, but a bit of a laugh.

Thailand – A Trip Through The Northern Area (June) – Truly terrible quality, you had to laugh at the incredibly patronising and dull filming.

Destination Thailand, Malaysia And Laos (July) – Both parts excellent – now I want to go, especially Malasia. Ian Wright and Justine Shapiro both do an good job.

Trop Belle Pour Toi (July) – strange discontinous timeline through this, I have to admit I lost interest by half way and didn’t finish watching.

Les Valseuses (July) – probably the best Depardieu film – back when he was wild and angry.

Historias Minimas (July) (S) – Nice little film about an old man and his lost dog in Patagonia.

Photography Masterclass with Jon Gray (July) – this guy was one of the top ‘glamour’ photographers of the eighties and he did have a lot of knowledge about lighting shots with sitters. Overall though the video was very dated, and you can see why he probably fell out of favour. The production quality of the video is poor and use of the smoke machines pretty much summed up the era that the DVD came from. Poor overall – I’d love to find something that tried do what this video claimed but in a contemporary way.

Helvetica (August) – ecky thump, a whole film about a font. WOW.

Underground Shorts – Vol. 3 (August) – some great little films – see blog for details.

Visions Of Light – The Art of Cinematography (August) – an interesting film about the unsung heroes of film making. Of interest to both those with a liking for film and for photography.

Road Trip (August) – some funny moments, for those of teenage boy mentality

Man’s favourite sport (August) (S) – Rock, you are a seriously grumpy git in this film.

The Chumscrubber (Aug) – subject matter similar to Brick, treatment more like American Beauty. Pretty good.

Rock and Roll Swindle (Aug) – Still a crazy well strange film. Worth watching.

Metronomic & Co: French Animated Shorts – Vol.1 (Aug) – 2 shorts were good from this: Geraldine – about a man who wakes up a woman, and Who wants some pate – about a small boy surrounded by glutinous adults.

Vertigo (Aug) – James Stewart not quite so irritating in this Hitchcock classic.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Sep) – Daniel Day-Lewis plays the sleazy doctor brilliantly ‘Take your clothes off, I’m a doctor’…

Golden Balls (Sep) – An entertaining reference to the 80′s building boom in coastal Spain.

Lilya 4 Ever (Sep) – Harrowing, immensely powerful study of a Russian girl lured into sexual slavery.

Harper (Sep) – Newman as cool as ever. Good story set in Los Angeles with many oddball characters.

Fat Slags (Oct) – Terrible, not funny, and the fat slags in question in no way resembling the magazine.

Cruise Hawaii And Tahiti (Oct) – Truly awful American sales pitch for these islands.

Discovering Hawaii (Oct) – In contrast, a pretty good overview of the islands, the extras pretty good too.

Design (Oct) – found some of this interesting. Not all the products were to my taste though

Species (Nov) – I got some derision over this one, but I kind of enjoyed it

Hud (Nov) – Still not seen a bad Paul Newman film

Iron Man (Nov) – RDJ made this a watchable film, using a ‘proper’ actor make these comic book blockbusters much more attractive

The Lemon Tree (Dec) – Made it to the cinema for this one. Good little film … see the blog for more details.

> Film 2007
Tout va Bien (Oct 07) – Jane Fonda in Jean Luc Godard sixties film about relationship between American journalist and French film maker.

2001 – a space oddessey – classic sci fi, not quite how I remembered it.

The Snowman (Nov 07) – Raymond Briggs animation … love film should have known and sent this at Christmas

Ramones – End of the Century (Nov 07) – documentary describing the rather sad story of the Ramones

The Swimmer (S) (Nov 07) – Burt Lancaster film about the re-emergence into his social scene of a man recovering from a breakdown

Wild Caribbean (Dec 07) – documentary of Caribbean with focus on ‘wildlife’, though has some stuff about the locations

Destination Australia – South East, South West (Dec 07) – Ian Wright (Lonely Planet) travelogue – very brief mention of locations

Destination Hawaii (Dec 07) – travellogue with fairly irritating American female presenter. Nice to see the locations again tho

X – Force Extreme Adventures (Dec 07) – Surfing real life story of New Zealand surfer wanting to surf Hawaiian big waves and his preparations

Jules and Jim (Dec 07) – Sixties french ‘classic’ – ok but not great

At the Media Museum – new exhibitions : first on animals – liked the ape pics, great to look at a wall full of different ape characters … was good to see the hyena men photos for real too – just wished they’d shown the whole set, the Don McCullon exhibition was one to go back to … was quite full too … wasn’t too unhappy that it didn’t feature his war photography, a lot of good photos from the UK, and some nice bits of text explaining backgrounds to some images. Was very good.