Movies Watched 2007

I managed to watch a lot of movies this year, 91 on the list below, and succeeded in avoiding the vast amount of mediocrity coming out of Hollywood.  The vast majority of those listed are available on DVD in the UK, my usual means of watching movies.

As with the book list, if anybody wants recommendations I’m happy to oblige.

(Title, Director, Country of Origin, Year of Original Release – as per IMDB for the majority)

Sante Sangre – Alejandro Jodorowsky (Mexico/Italy, 1989)
I Spit On Your Grave – Meir Zarchi (USA, 1978)
Lake of Dracula – Michio Yamamoto (Japan, 1971)
GI Samurai – Mitsumaito Saito (Japan, 1979)
Hostel – Eli Roth (USA, 2005)
The Duellists – Ridley Scott (UK, 1977)
Killing Zoe – Roger Avary (USA/France, 1993)
Mabarosi – Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan, 1995)
Branded to Kill – Seijun Suzuki (Japan, 1967)
District 13 – Pierre Morel (France, 2004)
Lower City – Sergio Machado (Brazil, 2005)
The Bad Sleep Well – Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1960)
Heroic Duo – Benny Chan (Hong Kong, 2003
Inner Senses – Lo Chi Leung (Hong Kong, 2002)
Godzilla – Ishiro Honda (Japan, 1954)
Intacto – Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Spain, 2001)
Circus of Horrors – Sidney Hayers (UK, 1960)
Drunken Angel – Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1948)
Café Lumiere – Hsaio-hsien Hou (Japan/Taiwan, 2003)
Red Beard – Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1965)
Ikiru – Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1952)
Japan Organised Crime Boss – Kinji Fukasaku (Japan, 1969)
V for Vendetta – James McTeigue (USA/UK/Germany, 2005)
Fearless – Ronny Yu (Hong Kong/USA, 2006)
I Live In Fear – Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1967)
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – Tommy Lee Jones (USA/France, 2006)
Slither – James Gunn (USA/Canada, 2006)
Ghost of Mae Nak – Mark Duffield (Thailand, 2005)
Tristan and Isolde – Kevin Reynolds (Germany/Czech/UK/USA, 2006)
Mirrormask – Dave McKean (UK/USA, 2005)
Warrior King – Prachya Pinkaew (Thailand, 2005)
The Crimson Rivers – Mathieu Kassovitz (France, 2000)
Angel-A – Luc Besson (France, 2006)
Lord of War – Andrew Niccol (USA, 2005)
Cello – Lee Woo-Cheol (South Korea, 2005)
Sure Death Revenge – Kinji Fukasaku (Japan, 1987)
Graveyard of Honour – Kinji Fukasaku (Japan, 1975)
Cops vs Thugs – Kinji Fukasaku (Japan, 1975)
Triple Cross – Kinji Fukasaku (Japan, 1992)
Gate of Flesh – Seijun Suzuki (Japan, 1964)
Family – Takashi Miike (Japan, 2001)
The Host – Bong Joon-Ho (South Korea, 2006)
Virus – Kinji Fukasaku (Japan, 1980)
Woman of the Dunes – Hiroshi Teshigahara (Japan, 1964)
36 – Olivier Marchal (France, 2004)
Welcome to Dongmakgol – Park Kwang-Hyun (South Korea, 2007)
Babel – Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu (France/USA/Mexico, 2007)
Hot Fuzz – Edgar Wright (UK, 2007)
A Man Apart – F Gary Grey (USA, 2003)
Red Road – Andrea Arnold (UK/Denmark, 2006)
Satan – Kim Chapiron (France, 2006)
Apocalypto – Mel Gibson (USA, 2006)
Howl’s Moving Castle – Hayao Miyazaki (Japan, 2004)
Children of Men – Alfonso Cuaron (UK/USA, 2006)
Man On Fire – Tony Scott (USA/UK/Mexico, 2004)
Pan’s Labyrinth – Guillermo del Toro (Mexico/Spain/USA, 2006)
Saw III – Darren Lynn Bousman (USA, 2006)
The Prestige – Christopher Nolan (USA/UK, 2006)
Tokyo Drifter – Seijun Suzuki (Japan, 1966)
Twin Warriors – Yuen Woo-Ping (Hong Kong, 1993)
Hanzo the Razor : Sword of Justice – Kenji Misumi (Japan, 1972)
Akira – Katsuhiro Otomi (Japan, 1988)
Death Duel – Yuen Chor (Hong Kong, 1977)
Deadful Melody – Min Kun Ng (Hong Kong, 1993)
A Better Tomorrow – John Woo (Hong Kong, 1986)
Princess Raccoon – Seijun Suzuki (Japan, 2005)
Hanzo the Razor: The Snare – Yasuzo Masumura (Japan, 1973)
Wishing Stairs – Yun Jae-Yeon (South Korea, 2003)
Dragon Tiger Gate – Yip Wai-Sun (Hong Kong, 2006)
Hanzo the Razor: Who’s Got the Gold – Yoshio Inoue (Japan, 1974)
The Heroic Ones – Chang Cheh (Hong Kong, 1970)
Human Lanterns – Sun Chung (Hong Kong, 1982)
Curse of the Golden Flower – Zhang Yimou (Hong Kong, 2007)
Happy Times – Zhang Yimou (China, 2000)
Street Mobster – Kinji Fukasaku (Japan, 1972)
The Damned – Joseph Losey (UK, 1961)
The Road Home – Zhang Yimou (China, 1999)
Haze – Shinya Tsukamoto (Japan, 2005)
Full Metal Yakuza – Takashi Miike (Japan, 1997)
The Bow – Kim Ki-Duk (South Korea, 2005)
Election 2 – Johnny To (Hong Kong, 2006)
The City of Violence – Ryoo Seung-Wan (South Korea, 2006)
Antibodies – Christian Alvert (Germany, 2005)
The Silent Duel – Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1949)
Unborn But Forgotten – Lim Chang-Jae (South Korea, 2002)
Fighting Elegy – Seijun Suzuki (Japan, 1966)
300 – Zack Snyder (USA, 2006)
PTU – Johnny To (Hong Kong, 2003)
The King – James Marsh (USA, 2006)
Typhoon – Kwak Kyung-Taek (South Korea, 2005)
Laura – Otto Preminger (USA, 1944)

Books Read 2007

I’m pleased I managed to read so many books this year. I discovered quite a few new authors, some at the beginning of their careers, others well established but not familiar to me until now. I fully intend to continue checking out works by new-to-me writers in 2008; I already have several on the shelves waiting. What I notice lacking is more factual stuff (only one military history title to be honest), something I hope to remedy next year.

I can do a Top 5 recommendations if you want, but everybody seems to do those.

Gardens of the Moon – Steven Erikson (Bantam 1999)
Now Wait for Last Year – Philip K Dick (Gollancz 1966)
Song of Kali – Dan Simmons (Gollancz 1985)
Warriors of Medieval Japan – Stephen Turnbull (Osprey 2005)
Paradox – John Meaney (Bantam 2000)
Prador Moon – Neal Asher (Night Shade 2005)
Black Juice – Margo Lanagan (Gollancz 2004)
Smoke and Mirrors – Neil Gaiman (Review 1999)
The Steep Approach to Garbadale – Iain Banks (Little Brown 2007)
Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham (Penguin 1951)
High Cotton – Joe R Lansdale (Golden Gryphon 2000)
The Intruders – Michael Marshall (Harper Collins 2007)
The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction – Various, ed. George Mann (Solaris 2007)
World’s End – Mark Chadbourn (Gollancz 1999)
Darkest Hour – Mark Chadbourn (Gollancz 2000)
So Far, So Near – Mat Coward (Elastic Press 2007)
Always Forever – Mark Chadbourn (Gollancz 2001)
Time Out of Joint – Philip K Dick (Gollancz 1959)
Against Gravity – Gary Gibson (Tor UK 2005)
The Sound of White Ants – Brian Howell (Elastic Press 2004)
The Blade Itself – Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz 2006)
The Servants – Michael Marshall Smith (Earthling 2007)
The Engineer Reconditioned – Neal Asher (Cosmos 2006)
Vicious Circle – Mike Carey (Orbit 2006)
The Best SF and Fantasy of the Year Vol 1 – Various, ed. Jonathan Strahan (Night Shade 2006)
Cosmonaut Keep – Ken MacLeod (Orbit 2000)
Dark Light – Ken MacLeod (Orbit 2001)
Engine City – Ken MacLeod (Orbit 2002)
Rough Cut – Gary McMahon (Pendragon Press 2006)
Floater – Lucius Shepard (PS Publishing 2003)
Bumper Crop – Joe R Lansdale (Golden Gryphon 2004)
Flavors Of My Genius – Robert Reed (PS Publishing 2006)
Michael Marshall Smith: An Annotated Bibliography – Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing 2004)
The Lies of Locke Lamora – Scott Lynch (Gollancz 2006)
Black Man – Richard Morgan (Gollancz 2007)
Naming of Parts – Tim Lebbon (PS Publishing 2000)
The Faculty of Terror – John Llewellyn Probert (Gray Friar Press 2006)

Blog idea

I’ve been thinking over the last couple of weeks about how to move this blog forward in the new year. One of my plans revolves around the film and book listings. Instead of just providing a list (although lists will be retained for easy reference) of what I’ve been watching and reading I’m giving serious consideration to passing comment on them as well; not reams of critique and plot description, just a paragraph or two of my thoughts, along with links to other source material such as IMDB, author and publisher sites, etc.

I’m trying to get a handle on the type of readership I have so let me know if this approach would be of interest, or if you have any other suggestions (preferably constructive) please feel free to comment.

Hellboy 2 trailer

Guillermo del Toro can always be relied upon to make a good looking film, although sometimes the visuals overshadow the actual content. Here’s a trailer for his Hellboy sequel, The Golden Army.

Guillermo has also produced the impressive looking debut feature film from director Juan Antonio Bayona, The Orphanage. 

(Links via Twitch)

Cloverfield

A giant monster is stalking the streets of New York, destroying all in it’s wake.

My Name is Bruce

No, not mine. His. Here’s a trailer for the new film directed by and starring the legend that is Bruce Campbell.

(Link via Twitch)

New Alien vs Predator film intro

The first 5 minutes of Alien vs Predator: Requiem have been posted over on You Tube (catch it now in case it gets taken down). It’s probably not fair to judge on such a short piece of footage but I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to watch the rest of it.

(Link via SF Crowsnest) 

The Warlords

Finally found a good quality sub-titled trailer for the new Jet Li action flick, set in Qing Dynasty China. Entitled The Warlords, it’s a remake of the 1973 Shaw Brothers movie The Blood Brothers, and Jet co-stars with Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, as well as picking up a healthy $13million pay check.

Watch the trailer and read more about the movie here.

(Original prompt from Kung Fu Cult Cinema, Link via Twitch)

Update: Twitch have posted a couple of reviews here and here.

Where do we put all these books?

The very problem the British Library is experiencing, due to copyright legislation from 1911 requiring them to keep a copy of every book, journal, newspaper, etc published in th UK. With an estimated 60 to 100,000 new titles published each year the library is having difficulties storing them all. To resolve this problem they’re building a new custom warehouse to store all the stuff that people are just not reading. Full article here.

Airships

Fantasy and SF fiction of late seems to have fallen in love with airships, the big hydrogen filled dirigibles of the ’30s which fell out of service after the Hindenberg disaster in 1937. Those who have a desire to experience this mode of transport can now do so once again. All you have to do is get yourself to Japan, where you can enjoy a 90 minute flight over Tokyo for a mere £550 daytime and about a third again for a night-time trip.

For more information visit zeppelintours.com