Movies Watched 2008

Another year over, and another wide selection of movies from around the world watched, most of them on DVD thanks to the wonder that is the LoveFilm subscription. I had planned to post comments on them as I went along but that kind of fell by the wayside, and then the backlog became so long I didn’t see any point in starting. Anyway, to find out more info on any of the titles listed below, just click on the title and you’ll be taken to the relevant page on IMDB.

1. Sanshu Dayu – Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan, 1954)
2. Exiled – Johnny To (Hong Kong, 2006)
3. Pistol Opera – Seijun Suzuki (Japan, 2001)
4. The Magnificent Trio – Chang Cheh (Hong Kong, 1966)
5. Gion Bayashi – Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan, 1953)
6. The Flowers and the Angry Waves – Seijun Suzuki (Japan, 1964)
7. Say Yes – Kim Song-Hong (South Korea, 2001)
8. Fighting Delinquents – Seijun Suzuki (Japan, 1960)
9. Invisible Waves – Pen-ek Ratanaruang (Thailand, 2006)
10. Bright Future – Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Japan, 2003)
11. Thirst – Rod Hardy (Australia, 1979)
12. Stardust – Matthew Vaughn (UK/USA, 2007)
13. The Zombie Diaries – Michael Bartlett & Kevin Gates (UK, 2006)
14. Hostel Part 2 – Eli Roth (USA, 2007)
15. The Spiritual Boxer – Liu Chia-Liang (Hong Kong, 1975)
16. Captivity – Roland Joffé (USA, 2007)
17. The Fountain – Darren Aronofsky (USA, 2007)
18. KM 31 – Rigoberto Castañeda (Mexico, 2006)
19. Planet Terror – Robert Rodriguez (USA, 2007)
20. One Missed Call – Takashi Miike (Japan, 2003)
21. Black Snake Moan – Craig Brewer (USA, 2006)
22. Shutter – Banjong Pisanthanakun & Parkpoom Wongpoom (Thailand, 2004)
23. Saw IV – Darren Lynn Bousman (USA, 2007)
24. Death Proof – Quentin Tarantino (USA, 2007)
25. Resident Evil: Extinction – Russell Mulcahy (USA, 2007)
26. Yakuza Graveyard – Kinji Fukasaku (Japan, 1976)
27. Chikamatsu Monogatari – Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan, 1954)
28. Day Watch -Timur Bekmambetov (Russia, 2006)
29. Tell No-One – Guillaume Canet (France, 2006)
30. No Blood, No Tears – Ryoo Seung-wan (South Korea, 2002)
31. Hidden – Michael Haneke (France, 2005)
32. Lust, Caution – Ang Lee (USA/China, 2007)
33. Uwasa No Onna – Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan, 1954)
34. Repast – Mikio Naruse (Japan, 1951)
35. The Lives Of Others – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (Germany, 2006)
36. Shinobi – Ten Shimoyama (Japan, 2005)
37. 30 Days Of Night – David Slade (USA, 2007)
38. The Dark Hour – Elio Quiroga (Spain, 2006)
39. Clerks 2 – Kevin Smith (USA, 2006)
40. I Am Legend – Francis Lawrence (USA, 2007)
41. Yokihi – Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan, 1955)
42. Akasen Chitai – Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan, 1955)
43. Immortel – Enki Bilal (France, 2004)
44. Duelist – Lee Myung-Se (South Korea, 2005)
45. Ugetsu Monogataru – Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan, 1953)
46. Ninja In Ancient China – Chang Cheh (Hong Kong, 1989)
47. Oyu-sama – Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan, 1951)
48. Jade Warrior – Antti-Jussi Annila (Finland, 2006)
49. Next – Lee Tamahori (USA, 2007)
50. The Banquet – Feng Xiaogang (China, 2006)
51. Sound Of The Mountain – Mikio Naruse (Japan, 1954)
52. The Hills Have Eyes – Alexandre Aja (USA, 2006)
53. The Red Shoes – Kim Yong-Gyun (South Korea, 2005)
54. Flightplan – Robert Schwentke (USA, 2005)
55. Chrysalis – Julien Leclercq (France, 2007)
56. Terror – Norman J Warren (UK, 1978)
57. Chungking Express – Wong Kar-Wai (Hong Kong, 1994)
58. Flowing – Mikio Naruse (Japan, 1956)
59. Somersault – Cate Shortland (Australia, 2004)
60. The Legend of the Shadowless Sword – Kim Young-Jun (South Korea, 2005)
61. Havoc – Barbara Kopple (USA, 2005)
62. Broken – Simon Boyes & Adam Mason (UK, 2006)
63. Cloverfield – Matt Reeves (USA, 2008)
64. Death Note – Shusuke Kaneko (Japan, 2006)
65. Peace Hotel – Wai Ka-Fai (Hong Kong, 1995)
66. Naked Youth – Nagisa Oshima (Japan, 1960)
67. The Time Machine – Simon Wells (USA, 2002)
68. Eden Log – Franck Vestial (France, 2007)
69. Princess Aurora – Bang Eun-Jin (South Korea, 2005)
70. 28 Weeks Later – Juan Carlos Fresndillo (UK, 2007)
71. Heaven’s Soldiers – Min Joon-Ki (South Korea, 2005)
72. Guns and Talks – Jang Jin (South Korea, 2001)
73. [REC] – Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza (Spain, 2007)
74. Perth – Djinn (Singapore, 2004)
75. Paradise Lost – John Stockwell (USA, 2006)
76. Alive – Ryuhei Kitamura (Japan, 2002)
77. Diary Of The Dead – George A Romero (USA, 2007)
78. Untold Scandal – Lee Je-Yong (South Korea, 2003)
79. Silence – Masahiro Shinoda (Japan, 1971)
80. Dante 01 – Marc Caro (France, 2008)
81. The Hamiltons – Mitchell Altieri & Phil Flores (USA, 2006)
82. Aragami – Ryuhei Kitamura (Japan, 2003)
83. Breaking News – Johnny To (Hong Kong, 2004)
84. Black Sheep – Johnathan King (New Zealand, 2006)
85. 2LDK – Yukihiko Tsutsumi (Japan, 2003)
86. P2 – Franck Khalfoun (USA, 2007)
87. Death Tunnel – Philip Adrian Booth (USA, 2005)
88. Romanzo Criminale – Michele Placido (Italy, 2005)
89. Madadayo – Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1993)
90. Spider Forest – Song Il-Gon (South Korea, 2004)
91. Doomsday – Neal Marshall (UK, 2008)
92. The Three Swordsmen – Taylor Wong (Hong Kong, 1994)
93. One Last Dance – Max Makowski (Singapore, 2005)
94. I’m A Cyborg – Park Chan-Wook (South Korea, 2006)
95. Irezumi – Yasuzo Masumura (Japan, 1966)
96. The Orphanage – Juan Antonio Bayona (2007, Mexico)
97. Day Of The Dead – Steve Miner (2008, USA)
98. The Golden Compass – Chris Weitz (USA, 2007)
99. Death Note: The Last Name – Shusuke Kaneko (Japan, 2006)
100. The Swordsman 2 – Ching Siu-Tung (Hong Kong, 1992)
101. Tokyo Zombie – Sakichi Sato (Japan, 2005)
102. The Cottage – Paul Andrew Williams (UK, 2008)
103. The Consequences Of Love – Paolo Sorrintino (Italy, 2004)
104. Ballad Of Narayama – Keisuke Kinoshita (Japan, 1958)
105. Chocolate – Prachya Pinkaew (Thailand, 2008)
106. Cop On A Mission – Marco Mak (Hong Kong, 2001)
107. The Serpent – Eric Barbier (France, 2006)
108. Mongol – Sergei Bodrov (Russia, 2007)
109. Postal – Uwe Boll (USA, 2007)
110. Hitman – Xavier Gens (USA, 2007)
111. The Guard Post – Kong Su-Chang (South Korea, 2008)
112. Evil – Yorgos Noussias (Greece, 2005)
113. The Ordeal – Fabrice Du Welz (Belgium, 2004)
114. Assembly – Feng Xioa-Gang (Hong Kong, 2007)
115. Mad Detective – Wai Ka-Fai & Johnny To (Hong Kong, 2007)
116. Hellevator – Hiroki Yamaguchi (Japan, 2004)
117. The Life Of Oharu – Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan, 1952)
118. Police Story – Jackie Chan (Hong Kong, 1985)

Books Read 2008

At the start of 2008 I set myself the challenge of reading enough books to average one a week, in the hope of making a noticable hole in my “to read” shelves. I passed the first part, getting through 54 books in all this year, but even though I curtailed my book buying later in the year I still bought too many and so filled the empty spaces up again. Not all the books I read were full size novels, quite a number were novellas that only take a day or two to complete, but they are still separate books and so I’m counting them. I’m quite happy with what I read, most of them I enjoyed at some level, with only a few I didn’t connect with, not bad considering nearly half of them were by authors I hadn’t previously read very much, if any, of their work. My comments on all of them, bar the last half dozen (what can I say, got distracted, lacked motivation, too late now so don’t intend to do anything about them now, it’s not like there’s very many people reading this anyway) can be found in my reading update posts over the year. 

1. Helix – Eric Brown – 2007 – Solaris
2. Matter – Iain M Banks – 2008 – Orbit 
3. Changing of Faces – Tim Lebbon – 2004 – PS Publishing
4. Nearly People – Conrad Williams – 2001 -PS Publishing
5. Leningrad Nights – Graham Joyce – 1999 – PS Publishing
6. Deadstock – Jeffrey Thomas – 2007 – Solaris
7. R Is For Rocket – Ray Bradbury – 1962 – PS Publishing
8. Old Man’s War – John Scalzi – 2005 - Tor
9. The First Humdrumming Book of Horror Stories – Various, ed. Ian Alexander Martin – 2007 – Humdrumming
10. The Bamboo Sword – Shuhei Fujiwara – 2005 - Kodansha
11. Dead Men’s Boots – Mike Carey – 2007 – Orbit
12. VAO – Geoff Ryman – 2002 – PS Publishing
13. War In Japan 1467-1615 – Stephen Turnbull – 2002 – Osprey
14. The Line of Polity – Neal Asher – 2003 - Tor
15. How The Other Half Lives – James Lovegrove – 1999 – PS Publishing
16. Sanity and Other Delusions – Gary Fry – 2007 – PS Publishing
17. The Golden – Lucius Shepard -1993 – Golden Gryphon
18. Starship Summer – Eric Brown – 2007 – PS Publishing
19. The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction Volume Two – Various, ed. George Mann – 2008 – Solaris
20. All Your Gods Are Dead – Gary McMahon – 2005 – Humdrumming
21. Coyote – Allen Steele – 2002 – Orbit
22. Hardwired – Walter Jon Williams – 1986 – Night Shade
23. Deadbeat: Makes You Stronger – Guy Adams – 2005 – Humdrumming
24. The Electric Church – Jeff Somers – 2007 – Orbit
25. Going Back – Tony Richards – 2007 – Elastic Press
26. Moby Jack and Other Tall Tales – Garry Kilworth – 2006 – PS Publishing
27. In Search Of A Distant Voice – Taichi Yamada – 1986 – Faber & Faber
28. Deadhouse Gates – Steven Erikson – 2000 – Bantam
29. Conscientious Inconsistencies – Nancy Jane Moore – 2008 – PS Publishing
30. A Writer’s Life – Eric Brown – 2001 – PS Publishing
31. Our Friends From Frolix 8 – Philip K Dick – 1970 – Gollancz
32. The Execution Channel – Ken MacLeod – 2007 – Orbit
33. Wastelands – Various, ed. John Joseph Adams – 2008 – Night Shade
34. Pirate King: Coxinga And The Fall Of The Ming Dynasty – Jonathan Clements – 2004 – Sutton
35. The Situation – Jeff VanderMeer – 2008 – PS Publishing
36. Another Santana Morning – Mike Dolan – 2008 – Elastic Press
37. Stealing Light – Gary Gibson – 2007 – Tor
38. Dead Earth: The Green Dawn – Mark Justice & David T Wilbanks – 2007 – PS Publishing
39. The Scalding Rooms – Conrad Williams – 2007 – PS Publishing
40. Snake Agent – Liz Williams – 2005 – Night Shade
41. 9Tail Fox – Jon Courtenay Grimwood – 2005 – Gollancz
42. The Solaris Book of New Fantasy – Various, ed. George Mann – 2007 – Solaris
43. Trading In Danger – Elizabeth Moon – 2003 – Orbit
44. S Is For Space – Ray Bradbury – 1965 – PS Publishing
45. Brass Man – Neal Asher – 2005 – Tor
46. Mister B. Gone – Clive Barker – 2007 – Harper Voyager
47. Mad Scientist Meets Cannibal – Robert T Jeschonek – 2008 – PS Publishing
48. Dirty Prayers – Gary McMahon – 2007 – Gray Friar Press
49. The Devil In Amber – Mark Gatiss – 2006 – Pocket Books
50. Crystal Rain – Tobias S Buckell – 2006 – Tor
51. Living With The Dead – Darrell Schweitzer – 2008 – PS Publishing
52. The Steel Remains – Richard Morgan – 2008 – Gollancz
53. The Extraordinary Voyage Of Jules Verne – Eric Brown – 2005 – PS Publishing
54. Deadbeat: Dogs Of Waugh – Guy Adams – 2007- Humdrumming

New Iain Banks Forum

Yay. It’s been a long timing coming, but today the new Iain Banks Fan Forum was eventually launched, and very nice it looks too. All very neat and tidy at the moment but give it a few days while the old board regulars move across, spill beer on the new carpet and put their feet up on the furniture and it’ll start to look a bit more lived in. And of course, it now means that all those people who haven’t been able join the old board over the last year or so can now join the new one (although please note that all new memberships must be admin approved so there might be a short delay).