Childhood Films Blogathon

The lovely Caz at Let’s Go To The Movies is hosting her second Blogathon this summer, all to do with our favourite Childhood Films. There are rules of course, and here they are in Caz’s own words:

The Rules

Ok so instead of saying a film can only be wrote about once, I have decided to leave that open. You can indeed write about just one film if you want. But let’s make it more interesting and pick a few films. At least 3 and at the most 25, you can do it in list format and rank them. Or just simply write your blog post around them, try to explain why they were your favourites and if you still enjoy them to this day – as I am sure some of this would have changed!

Dates

Look to have your entry submitted over the weekend of Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July 2015 – this gives you a month to get involved!

I’m quite a nostalgic person so I’ve rambled on a fair amount about some of my earliest childhood films, but I thought that for this blogathon I could tell you about some of my most watched films as a child.

My Mum claims that I made her watch Beauty and the Beast (1991) with me once a day every day for about a whole year, but considering the fact that it’s her favourite Disney movie, I question the truth in that. I remember finding some parts quite scary, but I loved the music and the songs, and I still do to this day. In fact, I wonder if my fiance will let us play Tale as Old as Time at the wedding…

One film I remember watching a lot is Homeward Bound (1993) although I remember barely anything about it now. Was there a sad part at the end? I’m feeling a little emotional and I’m not sure why. Talking animals must have captivated my imagination, but I am sorely tempted to rewatch this now to see if I enjoy it just as much now.

At the top of the ‘watched too many times’ list is A Bug’s Life (1998). I had the sticker book for this film, and I’m pretty sure I completed it too. That must have cost my parents a fortune. at a time when I had started collecting Pokemon cards too. Anyway, I loved the moment where all the ants slowly stand up against Hopper, and OH MY GOODNESS I just realised that Kevin Spacey voiced him. Holy moly, I need to rewatch this!

This is weird, Labyrinth (1986) was released before I was born and yet I remember watching it a lot. This must be my Mum’s influence once again! It starts with a young girl being made to look after her baby brother, doesn’t it? I think I remember having dreams about summoning a goblin to take away my baby brother, ha! #sorrynotsorry

Blind Spot: Schindler's List (1993)

Just in the nick of time, again, is our Blind Spot post for February. I really need to not make a habit out of this, but Oscars season has just messed up my entire blogging schedule as well as film-viewing schedule! This month I watched Schindler’s List, over two viewings thanks to it’s eye watering 195 min runtime.

Schindler’s List is the kind of film I shy away from instantly, which is the main reason I made sure it was on the Blind Spot list. The second reason is that people keep telling me Liam Neeson never used to just play Liam Neeson! So anyway, the film itself largely focuses on Oskar Schindler (Neeson), who sets up a factory in Poland during World War II, creating hundreds of jobs and hope for the Jews that are seeking refuge there.

This is only the second black and white film I’ve ever seen, and just like before, it seemed odd at first but once the story kicked in I completely forgot about the lack of colour. Until a scene involving a huge table full of food - I couldn’t work out what was there and that felt a little weird*. Oh, and the little girl in the red coat of course, how can I forget her? Okay, so maybe this is my first black, white and red film.

Schindler's List was a real rollercoaster of emotions for me. I won't try and pretend that I understood everything that was going on, because similar to my last Blind Spot, there was just so much going on. I also know very little about World War II thanks to my absolute ignorance to History class back in school. Thankfully though I watched this with my fiance who let me pause every now and again so I could double check what was happening/

The ending was ruined a little for me by everyone telling me to be ready with a box of tissues. My mind had already geared myself up for the worst and as heartbreaking as the end was, I think it would have affected me more if I was clueless.

It was also really interesting to see a very young Ralph Fiennes, having recently seen him in the Oscar-winning Grand Budapest Hotel. He was chilling, and I look forward to seeing more of him.

All in all, despite it's length, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Several scenes were extremely uncomfortable to watch, but they added to the story perfectly. It's one of those films I will never forget, but will probably never watch again either, if that makes any sense.

* I’m writing this whole post after two and a half hours sleep thanks to the Oscars, so you’ll have to forgive me for going completely off track.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 11 The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Nearly at the end of the 12 Days of Christmas and honestly it was a great experience to watch Christmas films that I always meant to watch, however it was supposed to mean that we could post all the reviews and then not have to worry about the blog over Christmas.  The fact that i'm sitting here on Christmas Eve morning in my pajamas writing out this post the theory didn't pan out!!

The Nightmare Before Christmas is the first ever stop-motion feature film that follows Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon and Danny Elfman - Voices) who although has had a very success Halloween decides its not enough and visits Christmastown.  He realises Christmas looks more fun that Halloween so decides to bring some Christmas joy to Halloweentown.

I genuinely can't tell you if I like this, it has actually messed with my head a little bit.  I love the concept of the story but i'm not 100% it comes across as well as the synopsis would suggest.  The music and the score however are fantastic, really catchy and I found myself tapping my foot and humming along on numerous occasions.  The animation, although a little dated now is still incredible and the detail that has gone into every scene, there is always something happening in the background that just shows how much detail and effort has gone into this production.

Unfortunately for me, for me the story didn't resonate, I know a lot of people who LOVE this film and won't go through Christmas without it but I just couldn't fall in love with it and honestly I don't understand why.  The first 40 minutes or so I found really boring and it only seemed to become entertaining once Jack started delivering 'shrunken heads' to children on Christmas morning.

None of the characters really stood out to me (even Jack) and for me the story was somewhat lost in the mass of characters, songs and scene setting.

I managed the whole film by listening to the music and watching all the detail in the production but I don't think I would ever watch it again.

Review: Groundhog Day (1993)

I had an awesome opportunity to go to Portugal for a couple of days with work, and so I leapt at the chance! I love visiting new places, but I was also looking forward to being able to catch up on a few films while I was gone too. Isn't it just typical that when you think you have a load of time, you just don't? I managed to watch Groundhog Day though, a film I've been meaning to watch for months.

Now I feel like I should go back to our Zombieland review and delete the part about not seeing a Bill Murray film before...

Phil (Bill Murray) is a weatherman and a bit of a douchebag if you don't mind me saying. He gets sent to cover a story for Groundhog Day which he does reluctantly, only to find that when he wakes up the next day, it's Groundhog Day again, and again, and again.

I really struggled through the first half of this film. It's partly down to Bill Murray's style of comedy I think, but I just didn't like his character at all and so I couldn't feel sorry for him. There were still some laughs but Phil just irritated me more than anything. I guess I can't help but compare this to Liar Liar which I absolutely love, and so I set my bar high.

However after his breaking point, I warmed to him and just allowed myself to enjoy the film rather than trying to over analyse everything. I don't want to into too much detail but I really loved the romance tale within Groundhog Day. It reminded me a little of 50 First Dates in a way, although it's been years since I've seen it.

This film has ruined the song 'I've Got You Babe' for me though; I get a little freaked out whenever I hear it! Maybe I should set it as my other half's alarm song as a prank...

I'd like to watch this film again sometime when I think I'll appreciate it more. I need to watch another Bill Murray film too as I haven't warmed to him yet as much as I probably should have.