Two Years Later...

When considering my schedule for tomorrow (the actual two year anniversary of this blog) I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it on to write an anniversary post, which is what brings me in a day early. I'll keep it short and sweet and I really don't have anything special that I want to say.

The most important thing I want to say is "Thank You" - thank you to all of the forty-six followers who have been kind enough and apparently intrigued and interested enough to click the "Follow" button and take an interest in my ongoing journey through the pages of the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" 5th Edition book. Whether you agree or disagree with my taste in movies, it still means a lot to me that total strangers would take time out of their days and take a few minutes to peruse my posts. So thank you to all of you and a special thanks to those of you who make an extra effort to leave a comment or two - you know who you are.

I also want to thank Barron's Educational Series, yet again, for being generous enough to ship me out a review copy of their newest edition of the "1001" book. A special thanks to Eric, who upon reading my review of said book, complimented me on it.

Thank you to any and all fellow bloggers who have been generous enough to include me on their BlogRoll. I have returned the favor with the recent addition of a BlogRoll of my own. A very special thank you to Karen Burroughs Hannsberry, who was ready and set to collaborate on a special blog project with me. I also thank her for her understanding when I just needed a little break and hopefully when I'm up to it, we can bring that collaboration to you.

It's hard to believe that it's been two years since I wrote my initial post for this blog. 400 posts later and here I am, talking about my two year anniversary and proud of the fact that I've watched and written reviews for 328 of the 1001 films. Prior to this blog, I was always the guy who would get a brilliant idea, go at it full speed and then quit before it was finished. I always considered myself someone who never saw projects through to the end. I am very proud of this blog and also proud of the fact that I KNOW for a fact that someday this project will be finished. I know for a fact that I would never give up after coming this far and am excited to someday soon jump back in, head first, into the pages of the "1001" book and get crackin' once again.

I really don't know what else to write, so I guess we'll wrap it up on that note. Thanks again to everyone who has given me motivation, shown an interest and taken a minute or two out to read something that I've written. A thousand "thank you's" would never be enough to stress my appreciation. I'll be back soon and to the new followers of this blog, I hope you can find some interesting things to read, to hold you over until my eventual return. As always, keep commenting, as I check the blog on a daily basis and read all comments.

By the way, you can still catch me on a few of the social media outlets. Here's my info.

Twitter: @adduvall84
Check me out and add me as a friend on FaceBook, by clicking here, where I always post my most recent blog post and a few other thoughts about film and television, from time to time.

September 10, 2011 7:42pm

August 2011 Recap

I suppose you savages still want an August Recap, even though I'm on a break? Well...I guess. Before I begin, let me say that I'm kind of digging the new Blogger interface. I know it looks no different to you, but it does to me when I'm doing blog maintenance and new posts and such. Also, this is my 400th post!! I had kind of hoped that my 400th post would be my anniversary post in a couple weeks, but it turns out I forgot about the Recap until just a few minutes ago, so this is now my 400th post. YAY!!! It's RECAP time...

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die - As seen in August 2011
1) Schindler's List (1993 - Steven Spielberg) 9/10 - Still not getting that "full monty", '10/10' vibe from this one, but do we really have to quibble over numbers...It's a good movie, end of story.
2) The Servant (1963 - Joseph Losey) 6.5/10
3) Jurassic Park (1993 - Steven Spielberg) 6/10
4) Saving Private Ryan (1998 - Steven Spielberg) 10/10
5) Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960 - Karel Reisz) 5/10
6) The Snake Pit (1948 - Anatole Litvak) 6/10 - I went overboard on some of my ratings last month, it would seem. This was good, but that's it - good. Certainly not '7/10', which I originally rated it.
7) Gertrud (1964 - Carl Theodor Dreyer) 4/10
8) The Producers (1968 - Mel Brooks) 5.5/10 - WOW! Did somebody slip me some firewater? '7.5/10'??? For this? Nah' In retrospect it was a '5.5/10' at best. My trusty commenter Ray had a great point too about throwing in the dumb, blonde with big breasts. You should really read his comments for additional insights into the films I'm watching. He's a clever cat when it comes to cinema.
9) Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961 - Blake Edwards) 8.5/10
10) Bob le Flambeur (1955 - Jean-Pierre Melville) 7.5/10
11) The Color of Pomegranates (1969 - Sergei Parajanov) 1/10 - Just didn't get it, in the slightest. It wasn't artistic or brilliant or any of the colorful words that many have used to describe it. It was simply garbage, if you ask me. But, you know what they say - one man's trash, is another man's treasure.
12) Le Samourai (1967 - Jean-Pierre Melville) 10/10
13) Roman Holiday (1953 - William Wyler) 6/10
14) Mondo cane (1962 - Gualtiero Jacopetti) 4/10
15) Le Boucher (1969 - Claude Chabrol) 7.5/10 - Still not entirely sure if I full understood what was trying to be said with this film. However, it has stuck with me all month long and I've thought about it frequently and as I always say - that's never a bad thing.
16) The Hustler (1961 - Robert Rossen) 6/10 - Still really surprised at how much this one disappointed me. My hopes for it, were so high.
17) Hud (1963 - Martin Ritt) 6/10
18) Hombre (1967 - Martin Ritt) 7.5/10 - Great western. One of many that I hope to find while taking this journey.
19) Cool Hand Luke (1967 - Stuart Rosenberg) 8.5/10

...and I watched no other films this month kiddies. So I'll catch you back here in 30 to discuss the films I watch in September, unless of course, I don't watch any. Take care!

September 1, 2011 11:08pm