Seeing as I’ve managed to hit the 200th blog mark I thought I’d have a look back through my blogging history and recommend some of the best films and books that I’ve seen or read since I began blogging in Feb last year.
Films
There have been some really amazing films and Tv series out lately and quite a few last year. Here’s a recap of some of my favs. I think I’ve blogged them all already.
Hugo – This was a great film about old film making and a very cute little boy who could make clockwork things and repairs an automaton. If you’re visually artistic in any way it’s a must see and with plenty of romance and humour thrown in too the not quite so artistic will probably enjoy it too.
Pirates of the Caribbean 4 – Although this wasn’t as good as the original pirates it was better than the 2nd or 3rd. It’s a good swashbuckler with a very good come back career wise for Ian McShane. Also there are rumours a fifth will follow at some point.
Fast and Furious Five – Again another film in a series which was better than many of it’s predecessors. There’s some great action sequences in this film and although not quite as much in the way of car chases it does have a slight Oceans Eleven feel to it which adds to the films greatness.
Sherlock season two – Not quite as good as the first BBC series but still very very good. Sherlock has really been captured well by Benedict Cumberbatch and the writers of this series and his modernisation works better than I’d have ever expected. On top of that I think Mark Gatis does a superb job at bringing Mycroft to life in a way the original stories often fail.
The Avengers – By far this ended up being my highlight of the last few years. This is a very well written action film with snappy dialogue and one liners which are delivered to perfection by the gorgeous cast. On top of the humour Loki has a great little monologue about what he thinks humans need and crave. Really makes you think if you let it and I really can’t wait to own this one on blu-ray. I also think my friends and I will be quoting this film for quite some time to come and I believe a sequel is in the works.
Books
I’ve increased my consumption of books this year, partially due to being ill and resting with a good book being required more often and partially due to signing up to a few review groups. Here’s the highlights for me – note: I’ve not actually blogged about all these.
Millennium’s Sanctuary – This book is a sort of Sci-fi sort of Fantasy sort of young adult book. It’s about some type of meteorological substance which activates something in people and gives them a sort of super power kind of ability and enables them to get into what’s called the ‘sanctuary’. It’s a nice easy going read and I really enjoyed the male characters journey to figure out what was going on around him.
Bactine – This is a Steampunk genre book and re-established my faith in the idea that books could have multiple planets that actually felt like planets as well as delivering up plenty of swashbuckle style fun, flying and general awesome clothing. The only downside of this book was the lack of description for the clothing but the writer was male and I doubt male readers would want that as much as I do anyway.
Reflection – In this book the main character is recapping the events of their live in a coma and they eventually wake up to find that not all of their dream is necessarily true and the person they were in love with in their comatose dream isn’t necessarily someone who even exists. The emotion in this book was amazing and I loved the general idea. Very very moving romance book.
The Complex – Another Sci-fi, this one’s set in the future after the outbreak of a virus. The ones inside the Complex are still awaiting their cures and are rehabilitated into the world outside when they are cured and this eventually happens to the main character. When she’s in her new house and being rehabilitated she soon finds things are not quite as they seems and I really didn’t see it all coming in this great read.
Game of Thrones – Although I don’t like all the gore in this book it’s still a very good plot of a medieval land full of the stuff of fantasy, and dragons, who can forget the dragons. While you probably don’t need to both watch the tv series and read the books of these I do think the books are better.
Imperfect Weapon – This was one of my real favourite books lately. It’s another futuristic sci-fi set on the giant spaceship of a race that are conquering the galaxy. Very early on it implies they’ve conquered earth and you there is little hope for most of the galaxy to not follow in the same direction. Somehow though the humans and other races manage to pull it out of the bag thanks to the enemies own secret weapon. I really really munched through this book and can’t wait for the sequel.
Of course there are many other films and books that were still worth peoples time to read and watch but the above is the ones I still easily remember now.