Because I didn't already have enough irons in the fire...I present - the 2016 BLIND SPOT SERIES!
And yes, grabbing an image from a movie, opening it in PAINT and putting some text on it is the extent of my banner making abilities. And I realize it doesn't make sense that the banner features Rear Window - a movie I've seen a dozen times - but Jimmy Stewart is intently watching something there, just as I intend to intently watch all of my Blind Spot selections.
If you're a fan of movie blogs, then there's a good change you already know what the "Blind Spot Series" is, but for those of you who only read this movie blog (I both pity and thank you), here's how it works.
First things first, twelve films are chosen. Twelve films that I've NEVER seen (a.k.a. my blind spots). Once the twelve film list is created, I pick one each month to watch and subsequently review here on the blog. That's about it...To my understanding, the trick is to pick twelve films that are relevant/popular/famous/infamous/classic. You're trying to fill in the gaps in the gaps of your cinematic viewing holes. The whole idea is that by keeping the number to twelve and only committing to one review per month, it's quite the easily attainable goal and something I won't likely peter out on.
I would feel like a plagiarist if I went any further and didn't mention the mastermind behind this whole idea (because, believe me folks - yours truly isn't smart enough to come up with such a brilliant idea). The man's name is Ryan McNeil and he operates a website called The Matinee. 2016 will be his fifth year partaking in the blind spot series and countless other bloggers have followed suit. You can check out The Matinee by clicking here and please do.
Despite the fact that Ryan was the mastermind, I have two other bloggers to mention for inspiring me to take the Blind Spot Series challenge. First, there's Brittani over at Rambling Film, who's Blind Spot reviews I've been reading for the past couple years. It's always been a premise that has intrigued me and since this blog needs more front page feature reviews, I've finally been intrigued enough to take part myself. Thank you to Brittani for the inspiration. I also need to thank Donald over at Cue Marks, who is making 2016 his inaugural year for the Blind Spot Series as well. If you haven't yet checked out Donald's blog, please do yourself a favor and do so. He has a lot of really exciting things going on over there - not only the Blind Spot Series, but two other features: The Great Directors and Three Great Movies. You can check out Brittani's latest Blind Spot review here and Donald's here.
Now then...for my list.
Keep in mind that for the past six years I've been working on finishing the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, to ultimate success last October. Therefore, finding twelve essential, classic, popular films that I've yet to see was a bit tricky. However, once I got one idea, I got a second and before I knew it, a list of twelve was put together. I'm not sure how CLASSIC these are, but they're all films that I've heard SOMETHING famous about at one time or another and all ones that I should have probably seen by now. Without further ado...
1. Superman: The Movie (1978 - Richard Donner)
2. Mrs. Miniver (1942 - William Wyler)
3. True Grit (1969 - Henry Hathaway)
4. Wall Street (1987 - Oliver Stone)
5. Frozen (2013 - Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee)
6. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961 - Stanley Kramer)
7. The Goonies (1985 - Richard Donner)
8. The Karate Kid (1984 - John G. Avildsen)
9. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984 - Steven Spielberg)
10. Escape from New York (1981 - John Carpenter)
11. The Blues Brothers (1980 - John Landis)
12. Harvey (1950 - Henry Koster)
I should note that I have NEVER, EVER seen any of the previous twelve films from beginning to end. Yes, I have seen bits & pieces of Wall Street, Superman, The Karate Kid and Harvey, but I've NEVER seen them all the way through. I'll let the rest of my list speak for itself. I really felt like I should have seen all twelve of these by now, as I've heard things about a lot of them and i really feel like all twelve of them would illicit gaped mouths if I were to say I'd never seen them.
Now remember, I'm to pick one film each calendar month and review it for the blog. So if you're keeping track at home, you'll note that I'm already two months behind. Therefore, in the month of March you'll get three Blind Spot reviews while I play a bit of catch up. After that, I'll stick to the one per month schedule strictly, so as not to burn out.
Thank you once again to Ryan, Brittani and Donald for their continued inspiration. I look forward to this project.
March 2, 2016 4:08pm
Hi Andrew..
ReplyDeleteAnd, just s a starter, it was good to see you over at Amanda's 'spot' the other day.
I'm afraid I do get confused over the varying formats, configurations of your blog .. and I've no idea about the technology behind 'grabbing and painting' is .. but i suspect I don't need to. I think all it means to me is I see a still with something superimposed on it. OK, fine, I can live with that.
We have another title to deal with .. OK, again, I don't mind.. I've no idea which is which of your blog titles, but as long as now and then a review pops up, in recognisable to me form, talking about a specific film, again, that's a good thing.
We even have a 'coming attractions' list .. and I reckon I've seen 8 of them, with a good variety of reactions to. (Great film, perhaps a bit worthy, but powerful; Not normally my thing, but I found it surprisingly good; Just plain good fun, a highly enjoyable romp; Should be my sort of thing, but overly sentimentalised and cliche ridden; Boring; Very funny and sweet, in the good way; In my opinion, the worst one of the series;
I leave you puzzled as to which is which! The way to find out is to get on and publish them..
Hmmm I like the mystery that surrounds your reply. I'll be anxious to hear your thoughts. And good news - they will be published. I actually have the first one written and post dated to publish on Monday afternoon, so check back then.
DeleteAh good you're doing this too, we're sharing Judgment at Nuremburg on our lists and that is one I'm looking forward to. The blind spots thing is such a good idea and as you say sticking to 12 keeps it achievable. Good list too, a few very surprising films you've not seen. Will be interested about your thoughts on The Goonies, I loved it as a kid but think it will be very different watching for the first time as an adult.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm definitely looking forward to Judgment too. I'm actually also really looking forward to Superman for some reason, despite not being a big superhero movie fan.
DeleteThanks for the shout out!
ReplyDeleteYou have some serious nostalgia on that list! Indiana Jones, Goonies, Karate Kid. I really need to watch Judgement at Nuremberg in one sitting. I always manage to catch the end of it the few times it's actually on TV.
Your welcome, dear. Thanks for the idea!
DeleteWelcome to the grand experiment sir! Hopefully you enjoy digging into these titles and discovering how much more there os to these movies besides the beats we all already know!
ReplyDeleteI'm personally jealous that you get to watch HARVEY and THE BLUES BROTHERS for the first time
Thank you, sir and thank you for thinking up such a brilliant idea. Heavy words for Blues Bros. and Harvey - I look forward to both based on your comments.
DeleteAhh I love Harvey :) James Stewart is just consistently awesome.
ReplyDeleteMe too! I can't believe I've never seen this one!
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