{"id":889,"date":"2004-01-02T17:43:02","date_gmt":"2004-01-02T17:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sunpig.com\/mt-entry-889.html"},"modified":"2006-09-23T19:30:11","modified_gmt":"2006-09-23T19:30:11","slug":"2003-in-review-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/2004\/01\/02\/2003-in-review-films\/","title":{"rendered":"2003 in review: Films"},"content":{"rendered":"

I saw 38 new films in 2003. (New to me, that is–not necessarily films that were released in 2003.) Although 38 is only one more than the 37 books I read<\/a>, it feels like a more substantial number. Maybe it’s the way that movies are leased into the cinema in a relatively small trickle–a couple of new films every week–as opposed to the sheer volume of books you are confronted with when you enter a typical bookshop.<\/p>\n

Maybe it’s just that I don’t hunger<\/em> for films the way I do for books. I do love<\/em> the whole movie experience: from seeing a trailer for the first time, through reading advance press on the film, to actually showing up at the cinema, buying a bag of sweets, and sinking into a deep comfy chair for a couple of hours. I think DVDs are great, but there really isn’t anything like the experience of seeing a film on the big screen. The darkness of the theatre, the sound all around you, the way the film fills your whole field of vision…it’s just magical.<\/p>\n

That’s one of the reasons I’ve started bringing Alex along to the cinema with me. He’s all about the magic. The two films we saw together were Finding Nemo<\/a><\/i> and Brother Bear<\/a><\/i>. In both cases he came away utterly entranced, and chattered about the films non-stop for weeks<\/em>. Much of his play acting right now consists of him telling Abi and me to take on the roles of his favourite characters: “You’s-a Marlin, anda you’s-a Dory, anda I’m-a Nemo!” Whenever he climbs up on my back for a ride, he’s a tiny bear and I’m a big bear. Hello tiny bear. Hello big bear.<\/p>\n

There are a bunch of movies I’m looking forward to in 2004, but most of all I’m looking forward to Saturday or Sunday matinées, and seeing all of the silly kids’ films I would otherwise avoid.<\/p>\n

Looking back on 2003, though, how did the year pan out? The average review score I gave for those 38 films was 3.2 stars out of five, which is okay. There were two really appallingly bad films that merited not even a single star, and I saw four that were worth a full five stars. Curiously, I saw both of the zombie turkeys at the start of the year, and all of the five star films in November or December. Here are the ones I rated highest and lowest at the time:<\/p>\n

Highest<\/p>\n