I started this crazy Film Watch experiment way back in April 2009 - watching, noting and blogging each film that I watched in an attempt to remember what was good, and not so good. Along the way, it turned into a Life List thing, to watch 500 films. At first the goal seemed a million miles away, but gradually it has seemed more doable, and now I am halfway through! Also along the way, it has become less of a personal thing, and more of a thing that Mr C and I can enjoy together.

Our fierce rate of consuming movies has abated somewhat, as we face a hectic start to 2012. It’s all good but it does mean we haven’t been keeping up with Film Watch as much as we had been towards the end of last year. The slower pace has given me pause for thought, however, and it occurred to me recently how much the process of completing a Film Watch post has changed.

Last weekend, I wrote up my reaction to the second episode of the latest series of Sherlock (got another post coming on the final episode just finding the time/gathering my thoughts), and prompted this reaction. Thank you for the wonderful SPOILER. GOOD JOB. Ever heard of a spoiler warning? Thankfully, I have a pretty prominent spoiler alert at the very top of the post, so I feel like I did my part in trying to avoid this exact situation.

As briefly mentioned in my Film Watch post of Red, John Malkovich’s character Marvin is a bit paranoid about the world around him and he has a bunker. Rather than having a hatch like in LOST, or a big door highlighting where his bunker is, he is so paranoid that he’s hidden the entrance as well. It’s marvellous. Here’s a clip of Malkovich’s first scenes in the movie, and more importantly, how he gets into his bunker (ignore the bit about LSD).

Since I watched Rain Man, and learnt about this Abbott and Costello phenomenon, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. I keep bugging Mr C by saying “Who’s on First?” and then getting annoyed when he doesn’t know what to say. Not that either of us know any of the sketch to carry on with, but it’s fun catching him off guard. It is amazing to me that a sketch can continue to be timeless and supremely popular after 70 years.

I do not watch enough films. I used to watch loads of films, usually when they came out in the cinema. But that was when I lived with my friend who loved movies, when I had more free time, and I had enough money to spend on seeing the same thing many times over. I was put off going to the cinema because the nearest establishment to where I live is happy to spy on you with night vision goggles so you don’t pirate the film.