We never go out of style.

One of my goals this year is to watch more classics. These are my plans.. sort of:

1910-1919
I haven't watched a single film from this period, nor do I feel any need to immediately do so. I'm not a big fan of silent films/black and white and ultimately I watch movies for my own enjoyment..

I want to watch: Daddy-Long-Legs and Jane Eyre. Reasons behind these choices are: 1) I love the book (Daddy Long-Legs) and 2) I've watched three Jane Eyre adaptations so far: 1996, 2006 and 2011.


1920-1929
When I took film history at the university, we watched a few surreal things but other than that I'm as new to the movies of this decade as I am to the previous one.

Favorite: Pandora's Box (I remember liking it, though not why).
I want to watch: Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens and The Phantom of the Opera (So far I've watched the version from 2004, seen the musical performed live and read the book #livingthehighlifeyo!).

1930-1939
I've only watched about three movies from this period and I'd really like to rectify that! Who knows - I might even like more movies from the 30s than I'd originally thought?

Favorite: -
I want to watch: It Happened One Night, My Man Godfrey, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Four Feathers (the Heath Ledger remake was the first movie I owned on DVD) and Heidi.


1940-1949
It's a shame that I haven't watched more than maybe five movies in total from the 40s. Am a bit apprehensive though, because film noir became popular during this decade and I don't really know how I feel about that genre to be honest.. (although I've only seen The Maltese Falcon, so maybe I shouldn't judge?)

Favorite: Ladri di biciclette
I want to watch: It's a Wonderful Life (a book told me to), Christmas in Connecticut, The Big Sleep and Double Indemnity (watched in april)

My dad was born in 1952. This is the house where he grew up.

 

1950-1959
Ooh! I'm approaching the more familiar decades! Have seen quite a lot from the 50s but want to watch more - especially musicals.

Favorite: Singin' in the Rain (one of my all-time favorite films)
I want to watch: An American in Paris, Funny Face, Daddy Long-Legs (in case the 1910 one is bad), Det sjunde inseglet (a rewatch) and High Noon (also a rewatch)


1960-1969
This must be my favorite decade yet. I love The Sound of Music, Charade and 101 dalmatians. It also feels like I've watched plenty from this era, so I'm not that bothered with expanding my horizons here.

Favorite: Breakfast at Tiffany's
I want to watch: My Fair Lady.

12 movies left, yo.

One of my goals this year is to reorganize my movies. I started 2015 with 111 movies and ended the year with 23. This meant that I could give away my storage wallets/binders (good, because I never put any movies back inside) and buy individual cases instead (since I never actually got around to buying the cases, I just sneaked some away from my dad's office).

While I was at it, I also reduced the collection even further and am now down to 12. 12!
This is huge for me. I've always wanted to own every movie I watch but this process is making me more willing to watch things and then let them go. It's awesome!

From the left: Training DVD:s (I'm not counting them), Blood Diamond, The Other Sister, Wild Child, The Host, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Bambi, Singin' in the Rain, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. 

Something to aim for

1. Watch the remaining 13 movies I didn't get to in 2015:

A movie that takes place in your region: Glada hälsningar från Missångerträsk
A movie by a female director: You've Got Mail (Nora Ephron)
A documentary 
A movie based on a true story: The Revenant
A movie that's more than 70 years old: My Man Godfrey
A movie based entirely on its cover: Jane Got a Gun
A movie you watched in school: Psycho
A movie based on a memoir: Everest
A movie with antonyms in the title: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
A movie set somewhere you've always wanted to visit: Kingsman: The Secret Service (England)
A movie you own but have never watched: The Big Sleep
A movie based on a play: The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall
A movie that is directed by + stars that actor/actress: The Gift

2. Reorganize my movies
Since I've reduced my collection to less than 30 movies, I can finally stop using storage wallets/binders. Even though they save space, I never put any movies back inside and consequently end up with dusty, scratched up discs scattered all over my apartment. It doesn't work for me and I'm buying individual cases soon.

3. Make a list, check it twice.. and then buy the movies I know I'll watch v. often

4. Write more reviews

5. Oldies
I don't know what started it (it might have been watching White Christmas?) but I really want to watch lots of old movies this year. Here's what I've got so far:

Christmas in Connecticut
It Happened One Night
The Big Sleep
Double Indemnity
An American in Paris
Funny Face
It's a Wonderful Life

Recommendations in the comments would be very appreciated!

 Also, when the light returns again, I'm going to stay outside.. 24/7!

You win some, you lose some

I decided to challenge myself last year, using this list (an alteration of the Popsugar Reading Challenge). I hoped it would push me to watch stuff I wouldn't normally, but since I made no set plans (turns out I hate deciding in advance what I'm gonna watch) I mostly just went through the movies I'd watched in a month to make them fit the specific categories instead. In other words - it didn't really serve it's purpose. I only ended up choosing to watch Taken, Djano Unchained and the short film Spider, as a direct result of this list. 

These are the 37, out of 50, I managed to complete:

1. A movie that my sister Sara recommended: Kingsman: The Secret Service
2. A season of a TV-show that's based on a book or a movie: Elementary, season 2
3. A movie with bad reviews: Left Behind
4. A banned movie: Fifty Shades of Grey
5. A movie directed by someone under 30: The Usual Suspects
6. A movie released in 2015: Pitch Perfect 2
7. A movie with nonhuman characters: The Wolverine
8. A funny movie: The Heat
9. An Oscar-winning movie: Whiplash
10. A movie in a foreign language (other than English): Astérix: Le domaine des dieux (French)
11. A movie with magic: Seventh Son
12. A movie with your initials (EL): Endless Love
13. A movie set in high school: The DUFF
14. A movie that came out the year you were born (1984): The Terminator
15. A movie that scares you: Event Horizon
16. A movie that made you cry hard: The Green Mile
17. A movie set in a foreign country: Roman Holiday
18. A movie with a number in the title: Third Star
19. A movie longer than 3 hours: Schindler's List
20. A book-to-movie adaptation: Luftslottet som sprängdes
21. A movie set in the future: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
22. A mystery or a thriller: Skyfall
23. A movie with a one-word title: Avatar 
24. Four movies in a day: Glada hälsningar från Missångerträsk, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Home on the Range and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
25. A movie from you childhood: Anastasia
26. A popular director's first movie: Strictly Ballroom (Baz Luhrmann)
27. A movie at the bottom of your "to be watched"-list: Taken
28. A movie you've started but never finished: Django Unchained  
29. A short film: Spider
30. A classic you've never watched: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
31. Finishing a season of a TV-show that you've started but never finished: Castle, season 3 & 4
32. A movie with a love triangle: New Moon
33. A movie with a color in the title: Red Eye
34. A movie set during Christmas: White Christmas
35. A movie someone in your family loves: Breakfast at Tiffany's (my sister Julia)
36. An animation: ParaNorman
37. A trilogy: The Terminator Saga (2-5)

My 2015 goals: How I did

Buy less + clean out my movie collection 
I don't know the last time I bought a movie, to be honest. In total, I've only bought one this year. I've also gotten my movie collection down from 111 to 23.

Watch less movies but better ones 
I've been better/worse at this this year, depending on life in general. Since starting school, I've watched less but not always better. By this I mean I've found that I've tried to force myself through movies I don't really like.. just to have watched them.   
 
Find other ways to relax 
I've been reading more, for sure. And playing a lot of Township on my mobile.

Limit the time and quantity
Ugh. I'm ashamed to admit I've had little to no self control when it has come to restricting my time..

2015 - a challenging list
I don't know if I'll finish this yet since I'm giving myself until December 31th to do it. I've got 14 movies to go..   

Insurance

To make sure I complete one of my goals before the end of 2015, I've actually made a plan:

A movie that takes place in your region: Jag saknar dig 
A movie by a female director: Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow) 
A documentary: Bowling for Columbine  
A movie based on a true story: Empire State/Black Mass
A movie someone in your family loves: Australia
A movie that's more than 70 years old: My Man Godfrey (1936)
A movie based entirely on its cover: 9
A movie you watched in school: Romeo + Juliet/Psycho
A movie based on a memoir: 127 Hours
A movie with antonyms in the title: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
A movie set somewhere you've always wanted to visit: The Piano (set in New Zealand)
A movie you own but have never watched: Hours (with Paul Walker, not Nicole Kidman)
A movie in a foreign language (other than English): Intouchables (2011)/La belle et la bête (2014)
A movie based on a play: My Fair Lady

Good luck, to me..

Updated movie collection

After I wrote the previous post regarding my goals, I decided to go through my collection again. I ended up cutting it down from 43 to 22 movies, just like that (it wasn't even hard). This is my updated movie collection:

Singin' in the Rain, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Other Sister, Sherlock Holmes, Lord of the Rings, Wild Child, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Forrest Gump.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, The Hunger Games, The Host, National Treasure, Blood diamond, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Die Hard 4.0, Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.
Bambi, Avatar, Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, Chocolat, Titanic, Romeo + Juliet. 

6/12

Now that we're about halfway through the year, I felt it was time to revisit my goals for 2015:

* I wanted to watch "less but better" movies:
Since January 1th I've watched about 90 movies + five seasons of different TV shows (not that good - I wish I'd watched fewer and relaxed more). My sister Julia and I have started a movie club too (the chocolate bunny movie club), which has been great. It's meant more time with her + really fun movie nights (we've laughed a loooot!). I've also kept my focus and watched whatever I've felt like - continuously trying to let go of my urge to "remember everything I watch and watch every movie I hear anything about".

* I wanted to buy less and clean out my movie collection:
I cleaned it out several times and went from 111 to 43 movies. Since then I've bought one movie - You've got mail. This is an all-time record for me and I've realized that I don't need to hang on to nearly as many movies as I'd previously thought! My love for a movie doesn't make it an "auto buy" because I should really just keep movies that I want to watch over and over. Using sites like Viaplay has really helped me to realize that I can watch a movie and then let it go.

* I wanted to just watch movies at night/try to watch just one per day or for a certain amount of time:
I've made no conscious effort in this area, but I guess I've been better about this during certain months. Not enough to check it off the list though.

* I wanted to find other ways to relax (read more, etc):
Nope. I still sleep with The Big Bang Theory on in the background. I still watch something before I fall asleep. I always watch Youtube when I brush my teeth etc etc. This is proving to be the hardest goal on my list, by far!

Aaand.. a new addition:

* 2015 - a challenging list: I made this this month, just to have something fun to challenge myself with, when I don't know what to watch next. I'll keep working on it during the year and if I don't finish it in 2015, it's no big deal. The last thing I want to do is put pressure on myself (movies are one of my hobbies, not my job).

 Let's pretend like my fingers are a failed attempt at a peace sign (to celebrate my progress) and not proof of my inability to take a photo without covering up some part of the lens..

2015 - a challenging list

Rules: 1. Complete this challenge before the end of 2015. 2. A movie/show can only be used once - no repeats.

A movie released in 2015
A movie directed by someone under 30
A movie with nonhuman characters
A funny movie
A movie that you sister Sara recommended
An Oscar-winning movie
A movie at the bottom of your "to be watched" list
A trilogy 
A movie with magic
An animated movie
A movie set in high school
A season of a TV-show that's based on a book or a movie
A movie you've started but never finished
A movie that scares you
A movie set in the future
A movie that made you cry hard
A movie with a number in the title
A book-to-movie adaptation
A movie set in a foreign country
A movie with a one-word title
A movie longer than 3 hours
A mystery or a thriller
A popular director's first movie
Four movies in a day
A movie from you childhood
A movie that takes place in your region
A classic you've never watched
A movie by a female director
A short film
A documentary
Finishing a season of a TV-show that you've started but never finished
A movie based on a true story
A movie someone in your family loves
A movie that's more than 70 years old
A movie based entirely on its cover
A movie you watched in school
A movie based on a memoir
A movie with antonyms in the title
A movie set somewhere you've always wanted to visit
A movie that came out the year you were born (1984)
A movie with bad reviews
A movie with a love triangle
A movie with a color in the title
A movie that is directed by + stars that actor/actress
A movie you own but have never watched
A movie in a foreign language (other than English) 
A movie set during Christmas
A movie with your initials (EL)
A movie based on a play
A banned movie

(An alteration of this Reading Challange from Popsugar..)

Change comes slowly (if it comes at all)

Since I've been trying to do better this year, I thought I'd review my progress so far:

* I wanted to watch "less but better" which I've sort of been doing:
Since January 1th I've watched 64 movies - which is a lot. But I've gone with my mood for once, which has meant about 60% re-watching (instead of starting 10 movies at the same time 'so I can watch THEM ALL!') and I haven't gotten stuck watching one over and over again either. (I'm sadly not exaggerating if I say that there was a time when I watched Singin' in the rain for a week straight and hallucinated that Gene Kelly was my husband) Lastly, I've also made it a priority to watch movies with the people I love - instead of just watching stuff on my own. 

* I wanted to buy less and clean out my movie collection which I have:
I have cleaned it out - from 111 to 45 movies and I haven't bought a single one this year! (enormous progress) Instead I've borrowed movies from my family/watched stuff using Cmore and Viaplay. 

My two other goals involve doing more stuff like this. And so naturally I haven't made ANY progress yet.

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

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..