Saturday 3 January 2015

Films of 2014

It's that time of the year again, when I go through all the films I saw during 2014 and give each one of them my star rating. This list below includes most of the films I saw last year, including films that came out before 2014. The rating doesn't just show how good I thought a film was, it also takes into account how much effort I think someone should make to watch it and where it is best suited to be watched.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

5 * - One to watch at the cinema (or would be if it was still in cinemas)

The Wolf of Wall Street
Lego Movie
22 Jump Street
The Inbetweeners 2
Gone Girl
Interstellar

4 * - One to buy on DVD

Dallas Buyers Club
Non-stop
The Grand Budapest hotel
Bad Neighbours
X-Men days of Future Past
Boyhood
Guardians of the Galaxy
Seven Psychopaths
The Imitation Game

3* - One to stream or borrow from a friend

About Time
Locke
A Million Ways To Die In The West
Filth
The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part 1
The Theory of Everything

2* - One to watch on TV

Movie 43

1* - Don't bother

I didn't see as many films in 2014 as in 2013, but most of the ones I did see were very good. Out of the films I was looking forward to, The Wolf of Wall Street and 22 Jump Street didn't disappoint but I still haven't got round to seeing The Amazing Spiderman 2.

For 2015, I can't wait to see Kingsman: The Secret Service, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Minions, Inherent Vice and Spectre.

Thursday 9 January 2014

Films of 2013

The other day I was chatting with a friend about the good films we had seen last year. We were struggling to remember what our highlights were, so this gave me an idea. I found a list of every film released in the UK last year and have given each one I saw my star rating.

5 * - One to watch at the cinema (or would be if it was still in cinemas)
Django Unchained
Trance
This is the end
Now you see me
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
Rush
Prisoners
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
American Hustle

4 * - One to buy on DVD
The Impossible
Side Effects
Despicable Me 2
Kick Ass 2
We're the Millers
Captain Phillips

3* - One to stream or borrow from a friend
I give it a year
Wreck-it Ralph
Star Trek Into Darkness
The Hangover Part III
Monster's University
The World's End
The Heat
2 Guns
The Way, Way Back
Turbo
One Chance
Thor: The Dark World
Gravity
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

2* - One to watch on tv
Cloud Atlas
Man of Steel
The Internship

1* - Don't bother
Oblivion

So, not a bad year at all.

And looking ahead to films coming out this year, I'm particularly looking forward to The Wolf of Wall Street, The Amazing Spider-man 2 and 22 Jump Street.

Friday 13 December 2013

Thailand Part 4 - Bangkok again

I'm now (on 13/12) on the long flight home from Thailand after having an amazing two weeks. We got up at 4am this morning to get to the airport, which is now 11 hours ago. We've just taken off from Hong Kong airport so I'll hopefully be home in about 15 hours.

11/12

Today involved a lot of travelling. The day began on Ko Phangan getting a taxi from our hostel to Thong Sala pier. After walking around for about 30 minutes getting directed from person to person we finally found the right place to get our ferry tickets. We'd booked a 'ferry, bus & plane' all in one ticket so it made it a bit more complicated to start off with, but made the rest of the trip a lot smoother than it might have been.

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Thailand Part 3 - The Islands

Today (11/12) is another day of travelling, this time by taxi, boat, coach, plane, bus and sky train back to Bangkok. Since my last post we have been relaxing on the beaches on Ko Samui and Ko Phangan.
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06/12

After a flight to from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and then from Bangkok to Ko Samui, we arrived in the evening to cloudy but very humid conditions. We had heard that the weather down in the south had been quite changeable recently and a quick check of the weather forecast showed there was a chance of rain over the next couple of days.

Friday 6 December 2013

Thailand Part 2 - Chiang Mai

Today we are travelling from Chiang Mai to Ko Samui, which involves two flights and plenty of waiting in airports, so it gives me a great opportunity to write my next blog post. My last post ended when we arrived into Chiang Mai by train on Monday afternoon and since then we've had three amazing days in the jungle.

02/12

We got picked up from the train station and were taken to our first guesthouse, MD House. This was in the old town within the surrounds of the moat, so after having some English style lunch in an Irish Bar (you've got to do it at least once while on holiday!) we went for a walk around to see what the old town had to offer. We seemed to have poorly timed this with the end of the school day as the streets were filled with children in school uniform clogging up the pavements and driving around on scooters. Everyone seems to drive a scooter here and every corner you turn there is a 'scooter park' full of them. We didn't really see much within the old town apart from a couple of small temples, lots of small random shops and a few schools.

Monday 2 December 2013

Thailand Part 1 - Bangkok

To keep myself occupied during the long journey from Bangkok to Chiang Mai I've decided to write a blog post. I'm on holiday in Thailand with my mate Jack and we are currently on the 'express' sleeper train that was supposed to have taken 14.5 hours, but in keeping with the Thai's way of relaxed living we've been going for 16.5 hours so far with extended stops at most of the stations on the way.

30/11

We arrived in Bangkok at 17.15 local time, 24 hours after I left my flat. We had a change of flights in Hong  Kong meaning the flying time was longer than if we had flown direct. With watching a few films and having a sleep, the flight didn't actually seem very long though.

Monday 31 December 2012

My year according to Twitter - November and December

I've reached the final two months of the year, which were just as busy as the rest, but my tweeting appeared to tail off a bit. There were still enough tweets though to make up my highlights of November and December: