Excited, like a mad woman

Love, Rosie
DVD release: 2nd of March in Sweden
Knowing myself, I'll rent it and then never watch it. Until like 2016.. BOOM! I'm gonna be all over it and wonder how I could ever rent-but-not-watch it.. 

The Judge 
DVD release: 16th of March in Sweden
I'm a very actor-oriented viewer - if I like someone and it looks like my cup of tea (i.e not sci-fi/horror/black comedy/American Pie).. I'll want to watch it! And I like Robert Downey Jr.  

Dumb and Dumber To 
DVD release: 16th of March in Sweden
I have a thing for sequels (if they feel like a good idea) and I'll watch them religiously. I'm so excited to see what happened to Harry and Lloyd!   

Exodus: Gods and Kings 
DVD release: 4th of May in Sweden
I just wanna re-watch the heck out of this! (Meaning I want to watch all the action scenes and interactions between Christan Bale and Joel Edgerton over and over, like a mad woman)

Kingsman: The Secret Service 
DVD release: 15th of June in Sweden
I'm gonna trust my sister Sara again, because she's been raving about this! And I'm very intrigued to see Colin Firth involved in some action, for once.

Fyi, this is what that looks like..

Happy face/sad face

My thoughts from the 2015 Oscars (with the aid of my most used emoticons):

:D "Yaay, J.K Simmons!"

:/ "I know What's eating Gilbert Grape came out in 1993, but I don't care! I'm good with giving Leonardo Di Caprio one for Arnie Grape this year.."

:( "It's all subjective really. And it definitely depends on how you look at things! There's no need to issue threats to Swedish presenters, just because they aren't 'experts enough'!"

:S "Geez, John Travolta.."

<3 "Iiiih! Whiplash! And The Grand Budapest Hotel!"

 Can't they make a "throwback Oscar" happen?

Movie night: Fifty shades of Grey

I did better than I thought I was gonna do! My sister Sara was peeking through her fingers for the majority of the film, but I only closed my eyes twice. It wasn't great - but it wasn't awful either. The dialog was really horrible ("I don't make love, I fuck. Hard!") but the actors took it seriously and that helped. I'd say that it was very much like watching a movie made from a Harlequin book.. and that's essentially what it was! 

When I drove home (without feeling tired at all), we had a long discussion about obsession and being able to focus on other things in life, besides your partner. Anastasia wasn't and I think that that really was why Sara closed her eyes as much as she did..

My niece-to-be was in the car with us too, which helped me stay awake!

Reminding myself, before The Oscars..

Elin, this is what YOU need for a movie to be great (lack of awards shouldn't matter):

1. It speaks to you on an emotional level - You empathize with a character/have been through the same thing/You feel strongly for the main character (You're fond of underdogs)/You learn to see things in a new way etc.

2. It has believable and committed acting (kissing and crying are real tell-tale signs for you..).

3. You've been thoroughly entertained! 

4. It sets a good pace and keeps it, with no gaps in the story and no clues left unanswered.

5. It has a dept if you want to look for it, but it can also be watched solely for entertainment purposes (Take Lord of the rings: Fellowship of the ring, for instance - it's a really entertaining story but when you want to, you ponder the fact that humans are week and vulnerable and not capable of saving the world. They need to be better; evolve. Into sort-of humans (Hobbits).

6. It's esthetically pleasing (slow motion shots are a plus for you).

Ambition for: February

Since I've cleaned out my movie collection, I feel like re-watching them this month. I won't get through all 45 of them, though, but I'll start (I've organized them in alphabetical order, so I'll just watch "300" first and see how far I get).

Other than that, I really want to watch:

* Dracula untold 
* Australia (my sister Sara's been begging me)
* The usual suspects (a re-watch, but I've forgotten almost everything)

And I really look forward to watching 50 shades of Grey with my sisters on the 13th. I just know we'll bond over how uncomfortable it'll be to watch that movie in the cinema - it looks like it's gonna be crowded too!

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.