In the spotlight: January

I said I wanted January to be a Joel Edgerton-month, but I think that'll be a project that I'll work on as I feel like it again (I blame Open window - I couldn't watch anymore intense movies after that). Here are the ones I liked the best this month, IN order:

Warrior
I can't BELIEVE I haven't watched this before! My sister kept nagging me about it, but it was only after I watched Exodus that I felt like seeing more of Joel Edgerton. And I'll never regret it. This was so good. SO GOOD!

Open window
I felt myself getting really tense while watching it, but I just couldn't press pause. Kept me up all night (I couldn't fall asleep until 11 am the next day)!

Prisoners
Kept me guessing the entire time! Such great acting too.

A big fat check mark

One of the things I wanted to work on this year was downsizing my movie collection.
I'm usually really fond of - and good at, minimizing the stuff I own. My family knows this and jokes about me one day just owning the clothes on my back.. nothing more!

But movies? Oh boy, they've been my weak spot for as long as I can remember. I've felt like I've had to own/remember ALL the movies I've ever watched. Which in turn has made me really focused on watching EVERYTHING! All the new releases and all the movies I've ever read about. Like I'm one of those basking sharks that feed by sucking in lots and lots of water through its gigant mouth.. 

Today I'm down from 111 to 45 movies. I'd say that deserves a big fat check mark on the list!

The process involved equal parts pile-making, stomach ache and euforia

Every road leads back to Gerard Butler

1. Reign of fire: Gerard Butler and Christian Bale.
2. Exodus: Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton.
3. Warrior: Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy.
4. This means war: Tom Hardy and Chris Pine.
5. The princess diaries 2: Chris Pine and Anne Hathaway.
6. Valentine's day: Anne Hathaway and Jessica Biel.
7. Playing for keeps: Jessica Biel and Gerard Butler.

Now, if I had watched these without watching anything in between - surely that would have been some kind of record? 

Movie night: JuRaSsIc PaRk

Back home after watching Jurassic Park one and two (a first for me) tonight. My brother-in-law made dinner and then we just powered through them. I don't know if I like watching the old movies before watching the newer ones anymore, though. Because now I'm not as excited (if I'm even excited at all) for the one coming this June. 

That's the only reason I liked Die Hard 4.0 as much as I did - because I didn't know anything about what had been before.. I just enjoyed it for what it was.

Even if I've ruined the upcoming movie for myself, I still had fun hanging out with two of my sisters, their feet and what I presume is a T-Rex.. frozen on the screen.

Slow but steady

I think I've just about halved my movie collection. 

My brain hurts.

Trying to do better

I've never kept any written statistic on how many movies I watch every day/month/year, so I have no idea. The number could be modest of course, but I doubt it; in fact - I'm sure there are (too) many! I live alone so it's nice to have the sound of people talking in the background. But it's more than that for me.. it's a way to calm myself, a way to escape and a way to forget that I feel unsatisfied.

And if I'm really honest: movies even take the place of actual experiences for me! I've been at parties, thinking: "Soon I'll be home with my real friends (i.e fictional characters)". And that freaks me out. I don't want to envy fictional characters anymore!

Here's what I'll work on:

* Watch less movies but better ones ☑
Be more selective by getting rid of the "gotta watch them all"-mentality

* Buy less and clean out my movie collection ☑
I'm a big fan of buying second hand movies..

* Only watch movies at night, try to watch just one or for a certain amount of time ☐
I work from home, which means I procrastinate and watch movies all the time

* Find other ways to relax ☐
I want to read more in bed instead of binge-watching Youtube 

I still want to go to the cinema a lot with my sister Sara though..

Ambition for: January (updated version)

January will be a Joel Edgerton-month! I'll start with the three movies I am most excited about (that I haven't watched yet):

* Open window (2006)
* Acolytes
* Wish you were here

and then I might re-watch King Arthur again (he was in The Thing too, but I couldn't finish it since my sister insisted on turning off all the lights in the living room while we watched it).

Feels eggciting! 

Two hours into Warrior

Got so nerve-racking, I had to pause it for a bit.
CAN. NOT. STOP. SWEATING!
Or stress-eating sour candies.
I want Brendan to win! Tommy doesn't deserve to! He's just angry all the time.
Great! Even my hands are perspiring.. 
Why is this apartment so hot?

Warrior

Ambition for: January

I have no idea of what I want to watch in January! There are no exciting movie premieres this month and I'm still in a sort of "Christmas is over, against my will, so I'll stubbornly eat leftover candy from Christmas and watch Youtube"-phase. Besides something with Christian Bale in it (he's been one of my favorite actors for a long time and I spent several years trying to watch all his movies), I'd also like to try:

Things that my family have begged me to watch for years:

* Jurassic Park 
* Warrior

Things that are finally out:

* The Equalizer

And, like last month, I want to continue to try to continue with:

* Revenge, season 2 (I'm taking a break from continuing to try to contiune with Vampire Diaries, for a while)

Good luck, to me!

In the spotlight: December

I watched some Christmas-y things in December (How the Grinch Stole Christmas) and some non-Christmas-y things (the last Hobbit movie). I liked them well enough, but not as much as I loved these three:

1. Exodus: Gods and Kings
The acting! Without Christian Bale, the Jewish people's fight for survival wouldn't have felt as desperate and without Joel Edgerton, Ramses could have been an ordinary portrayal of an ordinary villain. I was most impressed with Joel Edgerton actually, because I already knew that Christian Bale is a fantastic actor (I'd only seen Joel Edgerton as Gawain in King Arthur before).

2. Sound of music
This was the first year I really appreciated the story rather than the music.

3. Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast

Sticking to our tradition, my sister Sara and I ate some food and then watched the latest one in the cinema.