I’ve never done one of these follower celebrations before, so in light of reaching 700 followers (thank you so much, every single one of you), I’m following in the footsteps of StormofCuteness and Albie Hay by picking your brains with a reverse Q&A, and spotlighting 250 films that don’t quite break into my Top 250 favourite films list.
Next 250: This list is populated by the first 250 films that came into my head (so the order is spontaneous) that have the right to be on my favourites list. Many have recently dropped off and been replaced by new discoveries. Some have never been on there, and some never will be, but all have a special place in my head and heart nonetheless.
I will not change this list if any of them do eventually make an appearance on my actual favourites list.
Q&A: Below are 7 questions I’m interested in you answering for me, along with answers of my own. Go as deep as you like, or just a sentence is fine.
Feel free to ask me any questions too, film-related or otherwise.
Questions:
1. How do you view your own consumption of cinema? Is your cinediet balanced, or could it do with more of one thing or another? Do you think you don’t watch enough or do you watch too many?
It’s a difficult question for me to answer, because my feelings on this seem to change every day. I have quite an addictive personality, so I do often question if my passion for cinema has developed into an obsession, and worse yet, an addiction.
Instead of savouring a film I’m watching at the time, I often find myself looking ahead, anticipating the next one, and at times it feels like I’m valuing quantity over quality; chasing the green tick at the end, rather than the thrill of watching the film itself. One day I’ll tell myself “mate, you really need to cut down” and feel guilty about watching films instead of doing something more meaningful in actual real life, then the next I’ll be ecstatic about how many films I’ve seen for this director or that actor or whatnot – it’s a set of scales that tips drastically either way with each week for me. Be interesting if anyone else feels bad or negative in any way about how much film they consume…?
As for a balanced diet, I think I’ve got a good thing going on with my viewing pattern. A handsome blend of recent mainstream releases, classics, foreign language films, a few shorts thrown in there for good measure. However, big areas for improvement are animation, documentaries and revisiting old favourites. There’s a whole wealth of animated films I still need to see, and I’ve only just scratched the surface with the medium. I’ve seen a criminally low amount of documentaries, especially when it comes to the most acclaimed and ‘significant’ ones. As for old favourites, there are countless films I’d like to revisit, even if it’s just to see if I still regard them as highly as I once did, and if they should make way other for films I’d love to give a spot to.
2. Music time. Who are your big 10 artists in music? (If that’s too much of an impossible task, which it is, that’s fine, just name a few you love or have had a big impact on you)
Most of my top 10 favourite artists have stayed the same for many years, though there is room at the rear end for frequent swap outs.
Music speaks to me much louder than words or images, so I’d probably consider it the most significant artform to me personally. I don’t think I’d want to live if music wasn’t a thing/accessible. I’d say I was at my very happiest when I am recording music of my own, something I get chance to do increasingly less since adulthood arrived.
While I love most genres of music, I tend mostly to gravitate towards alternative rock genres and music for film/video games (something that the 10 artists below might suggest otherwise).
Top 10: Placebo, Genesis/Phil Collins solo, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Rise Against, Michael Jackson (sorry), Nirvana, Muse, James Blunt, Slipknot, and Cat Stevens.
Honourable mentions that may get a spot on another day: Elton John, Johnny Cash, Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer, Guns N Roses, and Green Day.
3. Which films haunt you the most? As in ones whose images seem to present themselves spontaneously before your eyes, often without cue.
On a daily basis, I am confronted by images or scenes from films flashing before my eyes, or lines of dialogue and film scores ringing in my ears. While this happens for all sorts of films, I’d say there’s a small handful I’ve found impossible to shake since first viewing them.
These include: Red Desert (1964); The Sacrifice (1986, mostly the ending); Dunkirk (2017); Silence (2016); Bambi (1942, mostly ‘April Showers’); Pinocchio (1940, mostly the music and songs), The Piano (1993, mostly the music), Jurassic Park (1993, just the main theme); LOTR (2001-2003, obviously); Under the Skin (2013, the imagery); Only God Forgives (2013); Face to Face (1976); Home Alone (1990, quotes); The Aviator (2004, quotes); and dozens more, but I don’t want to get carried away.
4. Which actors fill you with joy when you see them onscreen, even if the film is terrible?
The big ones for me are Leo DiCaprio (he makes me explode in every way possible), Willem Dafoe, Liv Ullmann, Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee and Cate Blanchett.
5. What’s your favourite place you’ve ever visited?
Iceland, hands down, for me. Had an incredible time there, and really felt in my element. Went the day after New Year’s Day a few years ago with Lorna, and it was just the best. There were 5 hours of daylight per day (bit of a night owl), it was like -10 °C. We had the best food we’d ever tasted. Went to a Viking museum and pissed around with swords and axes and wore chainmail and shit. We rode in a minibus along the west coast stopping off at various points of interest, including a number of filming locations from a few favourites of mine like Batman Begins, Interstellar and the incredible waterfall from the beginning of Prometheus, and also walked along the boundaries of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, which are pulling apart at a rate of roughly one inch per year. Learnt a lot about Icelandic culture because a tour guide was constantly telling anecdotes and intriguing facts while on the bus. We even visited a penis museum, because why the fuck not. There was even an ‘American bar’ there called The Lebowski Bar, which was pretty sick. So yeah, can’t wait to go back there at some point.
6. Are there any films you’ve ‘inherited’ from your parents/guardians? (I don’t mean physically, like DVDs etc., I mean ones that they love and have managed to get you stuck on too)
I have dozens, but to make it a more exclusive answer I’ll just say 10 big ones. Scarface, Big, Home Alone, Halloween, Titanic, Love Actually, Watership Down, Jaws, Rocky and Trading Places.
7. What song will play at your funeral, and why?
A nice morbid one for you. I don’t know why, but I often have visions of watching my own funeral. Maybe it’s because I’m a self-absorbed dick, or maybe it’s because of the epic song choice opportunities. All I know, is that I want ‘The Breaking of the Fellowship’ by Howard Shore, because it’s the most meaningful piece of music to me ever recorded, and almost makes me cry every time I hear it (either on its own or at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring when Frodo chooses to abandon his companions and go at it alone). I would also possibly have ‘Another Day in Paradise’ (Phil Collins, my fave song of all time after ‘Kings of Medicine’ by Placebo), or ‘I Hung My Head’ (Johnny Cash’s brilliant cover of the Sting song).
I look forward to hearing your answers :)
