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50 Books. 50 Movies. 1 Year (2014).

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Jintor

Member
Updated my Journal.

I went on holidays and had two seven hour flights and intermittent internet access, so I read a lot of kindle books (and two hard copies!) while I was over there. So: Sherlock Holmes books are enjoyable even though I don't know if they're great mysteries (since Sherlock basically has deductive magic powers, but whatever). A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is out and out magical, but it takes a long while to get to the feel-good pay-off bits of the book - it makes you earn that happy ending. A Blink of the Screen proves PTerry can do short fiction, even if he doesn't do a lot of it; I particularly liked The Sea and Little Fishes. The Best American Crime Reporting 2010 is exactly what it says on the cover and I'm probably going to get the rest of them when they go cheap. The Warrior's Path was an excellent little fantasy novel that was so low-scale and character focused that it was a huge, refreshing change from the norm.

Groundhog Day was great, but I shouldn't have read the fucking tvtropes article first.
 

Movies
8. Rescue Dawn

I haven't seen Little Dieter Needs to Fly, but films about American soldiers held in captivity during the Vietnam conflict seem plentiful. So I had hoped that Werner Herzog would give Rescue Dawn that little extra sparkle to what seems like a tired genre. Instead, the film seems like the straightforward film Herzog's made.

It's undeniably a Herzog film. Its central figure is a man consumed by an obsession; Dieter Dengler needed to fly after he saw an Allied bomber destroy his town. When he is captured, he has a new obsession; maintaining his sanity and escaping. Filming took place in Thailand, and Christian Bale's and Steve Zahn's troubles in moving through the dense foliage gets to the realness of filming on location that Herzog desires. As you would expect, Bale goes through a physical transformation for the part, from muscular to gaunt over the course of the film as starvation and deprivation take their toll.

It all just felt too clean. I want to know more about whether Dengler continued to see the ghost of Zahn's Duane Martin after he was rescued. I want to know how the CIA agents reacted to Dengler's disappearance from the military hospital. Those are the details that actually interested me; I felt like I had seen everything else before. I probably should just watch Little Dieter Needs to Fly.
 
Updated mine: EverythingShiny - 8/50 books | 10/50 movies. I'm no longer balanced with the force!

I have to say, this is probably the most movies I've watched in a long time. I usually watch a lot of tv shows. I've been on a bit of a McConaughey kick since being totally impressed by him in True Detective, as most of the movies I'd ever seen him in were dumb rom coms. Dallas Buyers Club was excellent, as was Mud. Next up are Lone Star and The Lincoln Lawyer.

The Hunt was difficult to watch but incredible. I'd only seen Mads Mikkelson in Casino Royal and Hannibal, and he absolutely shines as Lucas. I highly recommend this movie.

I need to read some more books! Doesn't help I've been picking 900 page behemoths to read.
 

sestrugen

Member
Post updated

sestrugen - 0/50 Books | 11/50 Movies

Books

None

Currently reading: A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson

Movies

  1. Don Jon (2013)★★★
  2. Shame (2011) ★★★★
  3. Frozen (2013) ★★★
  4. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2013) ★★
  5. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) ★★★
  6. The Family AKA Malavita (2013) ★
  7. The girl with the dragon tattoo (2009) ★★★
  8. The girl who played with fire (2009) ★★★
  9. Philomena (2013) ★★★
  10. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) ★★
  11. The Kid (1921) ★★★
 

Ashes

Banned
Smh @ The Kid being 3 stars. And Don Jon being 3 stars is also kinda surprising. :p

My opinion would be:
The Kid - 95%
Don Jon - 65%

I agree with your other suggestions though. Shame - 85% for me.
 

Mumei

Member
Update~


Mumei - 19/50 Books | 5/50 Movies

I finished reading Hy Bender's The Sandman Companion, which is (duh) a companion piece to Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic series. It's certainly not a necessity to appreciate the comic, but it does point out a lot of interesting elements in the text that are easy to overlook when reading through a 2000+ page comic. The interviews with Gaiman are also wonderful.

I'm very nearly done with Natsume Soseki's The Gate, as well, and I've recently started For Discrimination: Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law by Randall Kennedy.
 

Jintor

Member
Oh man, I love the Sandman Companion.

All around me darkness gathers
fading is the sun that shone
we must speak of other matters
you can be me when I am gone
 

Necrovex

Member
The Social Network

Justin Timberlake can act? When the hell did this happen?

I was always hesitant about watching this film due to my lack of caring of Facebook's history. But I was a damn fool for taking so long to watch this masterpiece. Never doubt Fincher. He is fucking magic.

★★★★★
 
The Social Network

Justin Timberlake can act? When the hell did this happen?

He's had the ability to act for a long time. Back in 2006 I wanted to make a thread at 1up predicting that Timberlake would be nominated for at least one Oscar before his career was done. I saw the potential
 

Books:

John Green - The Fault In Our Stars ★★★★
Truman Capote - Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories ★★★

The Fault in Our Stars was a lovely, engaging read. Completely unrealistic depiction of teenagers but whatever.

The story at the end of Breakfast at Tiffany's, 'A Christmas Memory' was the highlight. Great short story.

I'm currently trying to read Infinite Jest so my progress on books might slow down a bit!

Films:

Stuck in Love ★★
Smashed ★★½
Primer ★★★★
Only God Forgives ★★★½
Dallas Buyers Club ★★★★
Celeste and Jesse Forever ★★★

Primer was much better than I expected. (don't know why I wasn't expecting it to be great)
 
Updated Master List

Mini Update: WeaponJohnnyX: 16/50 Movies 0/50 Books

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 - ★★★
It wasn't as good as the first but still pretty decent; It seemed more like it was a "Direct to Home Video" kind of movie.

The Lone Ranger - ★★★★
I had extremely low hopes for this movie but it turned out a lot better than I expected. This movie reminded me how much I enjoy a good western movie.

This Is The End - ★★★½
The latest Franco and Rogen comedy. It was alright for a comedy set during the apocalypse. The ending was kinda lame, seemed like they didn't know how to end the movie.

Mitt - ★★★
I was looking forward to this documentary since I watched the trailer. It was informative to see the behind the scenes of the campaigning process, and even though I don't agree with Romney politically he seemed like a pretty decent guy.

The Worlds End - ★★★★
The latest movie by the Sean of the Dead guys didn't disappoint. I wouldn't say its as good as Sean of the Dead but it is definitely on par with Hot Fuzz.

Empire State - ★½
Meh. I watched it because the rock was in it.
 

Holiday

Banned
update

Poems of Paul Celan, trans. Michael Hamburger - Celan is top notch, rich and moving, and this is a sweet dual-language edition, so it's nice to read the German as well.

Elysium - garbage movie, bored me thoroughly.
 

daffy

Banned
The Fault in Our Stars is a movie now apparently.


edit: a page back I thought we were talking about the other Monster with Charlize Theron lol
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Just finished Clash of Kings last night. 3.5/5 for me. It's a well written series and the political intrigue is well done, but it becomes sort of dull when the "everything is shit and everybody is shit and raperaperaperaperaperaperaperape" becomes rote. Still a solid read that was slow to pick up, couldn't put down in the middle and sort of a slog to get through at the end.

At least now I can watch the second series. :)
 

cashman

Banned
Cashman - 5/50 Books | 3/50 Movies

Books:
Brothers Karamazov
The Master and Margarita
R.U.R
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde


Movies:
Akira ★★★★★
Gravity ★★★★
The Wolf of Wall Street ★★★★

Currently reading: The Master and Margarita
 

Westlo

Member
Signing up for this, was actually going to sign up a month ago but when I hit submit I was banned, oh well. I haven't actually read a book or seen a movie so far this year, not because of that but because of being totally addicted too Football Manager 2014 lol.

Westlo - 1/50 Books | 1/50 Movies

Books
  • Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb ★★★★
Movies

  • Tangled ★★★★
 

SamVimes

Member
Update: Samvimes - 10/50 Books | 4/50 Movies

I read Best Served Cold by Abercrombie and while it was pretty good i should've probably waited a bit before diving into the universe again so i didn't enjoy it as much as i could have. Obviously i don't listen to my own advice and i'm reading The Heroes right now which is proceeding very slowly.

I also watched:
Wreck it Ralph which was mildly entertaining but overall not as good as i hoped. I thought Sarah Silverman in particular sounded awful, doesn't help that her character looked like a mouse.
Dazed And Confused disappointed me a bit as well, i was only familiar with Linklater through the Before trilogy and even though i knew it was gonna be very different i expected a movie with more heart.
Capote: One of the few big PSH movies i hadn't seen yet. Great movie and even though i expected nothing less from PSH Clifton Collins really surprised me with a great performance, i'm baffled we don't see more of him in big productions.
 
I will be using the original title instead of translations that I read for convenience.

Books - 16/ 50

Er ist wieder da - Timur Vermes
Digitale Demenz - Manfred Spitzer
De jacht op planeet X - Govert Schilling
Born Liars - Ian Leslie
the honest truth about dishonesty - Dan Ariely
The Psychopath Test - Jon Ronson
een tijd voor empathie - Frans de Waal
Micro
A world without time - Yourgrau
Less than human - david livingstone smith
the power of habit
a world without ice - Henry Pollack
mistakes were made, but not by me
how to write science fiction and fantasy - Card
de vergankelijkheid - midas dekkers
The user illusion

Movies - 51/ 50

The hobbit: desolation of Smaug
The wolf of wall street
The Hunger Games: catching fire
Olympus has fallen
5- White House down
Layercake
Gravity
Real Steel
Thor: the dark world
10 - The Colony
Cypher
After Earth
2 guns
this is the end -people really think this movie is funny?
15 - the lincoln lawyer
Ender's Game
End of Watch - fucking kids, man. :(
American Hustle - cool.
wallstreet: money never sleeps - hey Shia is okay in this. also wtf Bud
20 - Source code
W. - neat.
John Carter ...yeah
the league of extraordinary gentlemen
Terms and conditions may apply
25 - Pandora's promise
the fantastic mr fox
chasing madoff
Tron: Legacy - will somebody please kill that guy with the horn?
Nothing Personal
30- Spiderman 2 (2014)
Godzilla
Xmen:dofp
cap'n 'murica 2
Robocop remake
35 - the lego movie
the social network
cop out
snowpiercer
Flight
40- Goodfellas - why hadn't I seen this movie yet?
Catch me if you can
tinker tailer soldier spy
Grand Budapest Hotel (marvelous movie. An absolute masterpiece)
Her
45 the cabin in the woods
Interstellar
God bless america
glengarry glenn ross
silence of the lambs (might have seen it as a whole before, but I don't remember having seen it fully before)
50- teenage mutant ninja turtles
batman: mask of the phantasm
 

Weapxn

Mikkelsexual
I spent the past couple of days getting through Marvel's "Annihilation" event. The entire thing. The Thanos prequel, the main six-issue mini, and all of its crossover books. 36 issues total. I wasn't going to count comics/graphic novels in this, but I won't hit 50 books regardless. And I figure I spent as much time reading and looking at the art of this story as I would getting through some of the shorter books others are counting.

Also in progress book-wise:

"Red Dragon" -- I'd blow through this if I actually sat down and read it. Maybe I'll make it a goal to try and finish it this weekend. Or by the end of next week. Or at all. :x

"A Feast for Crows" -- God help me, this is so f-ing boring.
 

Empty

Member
Empty - 9/50 books | 13/50 movies

books

8. the book of sand by jorge luis borges - there isn't a writer i've read that captures my imagination quite like borges, his stories in here about infinite books, meeting your younger self in dreams, weird cults that deify judas on the same level as jesus, poetry consisting of a single word, secret organizations trying to house all knowledge, someone who inherits shakespeare's memory next to his own. they all provoke such a sense of wonder in me and while other writers will use these kind of concepts to write lore laden long narratives, borges mastery of the short form allows him to keep them mysterious and beguiling. this collection was written near his death and while there's lots of stuff about death and memory i think that there's quite a humanist impulse in this collection too, in the face of the infinite and unknowable how we life our lives is the only thing we can control.

9. blindness by jose saramago - harrowing and gripping book about what happens when society goes physically blind. saramago thoroughly explores this concept to great and brutal detail to deliver a very powerful meditation on human frailty. the sparse prose is really superb, avoiding cliche and sentimentality while drawing you straight into the books world and complimenting the themes of the book, and the voice is littered with these little compassionate observations that draw a little light in among the near relentless dark.

films -

13. the rescuers - pretty entertaining disney film about two mice who set out to rescue an orphan adopted and set to work as achild labourer. i guess the villain is basically a lesser imitation of cruella but she's still pretty captivating to watch and the two mouse leads are likable and bounce off eachother well. i thought the setting of much of the film on a steamboat in a murky swamp was quite moody and the use of orange sky is pretty visually evocative.
 

mfiuza

Member
Added
Revenge of the Witch (The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles, #1) ★★★ (02/06)

I liked the beginning a lot, some good ghost scenes, but I didn't like the rest of the story, thought the ending was a little anticlimatic. Never thought Tom was really in danger either.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Update

A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut. Needless to say, I loved it! Holy shit. It's easily one of the best books I've ever read - I blew through it in two sittings (I would have read it all at once but I got started late the first day and was sleepy) - though I think that it leaned slightly too much on the whole "Bush sucks we're ruining the environment with fossil fuels" stuff. I mean, I agree with him, but I felt like he already covered those subjects in earlier chapters and didn't need to repeat them over and over again - I would have loved a longer book that covered more varied topics. I also would love to read what he thought about the current state of the US, but alas.

Anyway, thanks to Necrovex and Tragicomedy for bringing it to my attention! :D
 
Tragicomedy - 10/50 Books | 13/50 Movies

Just finished Blindness by José Saramago - ★★★★ - Excellent book. I'll save most of my discussion for the book club thread, but suffice it to say this book was very moving and emotionally draining. I was docked it one star because it slows down significantly and becomes repetitive in the last third, though that's likely by design due to the subject matter.

Highly recommended.

Update

A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut. Needless to say, I loved it! Holy shit. It's easily one of the best books I've ever read - I blew through it in two sittings (I would have read it all at once but I got started late the first day and was sleepy) - though I think that it leaned slightly too much on the whole "Bush sucks we're ruining the environment with fossil fuels" stuff. I mean, I agree with him, but I felt like he already covered those subjects in earlier chapters and didn't need to repeat them over and over again - I would have loved a longer book that covered more varied topics. I also would love to read what he thought about the current state of the US, but alas.

Anyway, thanks to Necrovex and Tragicomedy for bringing it to my attention! :D

Glad you liked it. Vonnegut is the best.
 

Movies
9. State and Main

This was a more playful movie than I had even anticipated. William H. Macy plays the embattled director, Walt H. Price, who tries to balance his movie's stars, his budget restraints, his shooting schedule, the town's demands, and his writer, played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. However, I couldn't help myself but compare this to The Simpsons' "Radioactive Man" episode. At least the town doesn't take Price and his crew for a ride; for the most part, they want to help out, gain a small measure of glory for the town, and get on with their lives. Hoffman plays his best soft, smart, and kind performance as the writer, Joseph Turner White. The subplot around Baldwin's Bob Barrenger plays in the dark end of the pool since he is a child molester on the scale of R. Kelly. As a whole, the film was crisply written, as you would expect from a film written and directed by David Mamet.

10. This Is The End

I was surprised by this, but I'm still not sold on Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's adaptation of Preacher. There was a good amount of heart, and the film captures male friendship in a way that leaves me hopeful about how the show would handle Jesse Custer and Cassidy's relationship, but nothing about the film inspired faith about how the show would handle Tulip's character or Tulip, Jesse, and Cassidy's complicated relationship. You could point to how Emma Watson's handled in this film to show how they might handle Tulip, but I don't buy it.

As its own film, Rogen and Goldberg present the debauched version of Hollywood that we all suspect exists. And I like that they created a tight bond between Rogen and James Franco based on their time together on Freaks and Geeks; after all, that show was their breakout vehicle together at a time when they were both very young. Danny McBride was an exaggerated petty buffoon, but it feels right based on what we see of him in Eastbound and Down. Overall, the film needs the viewer to bring our preconceptions about these actors with us in order for the film to have any bite.

The horror sequences were handled well; they tried to balance humor and horror as well as any other recent horror comedy.
 

Shiv47

Member
Shiv47 - 8/50 books | 10/50 movies

Went with the family to see The LEGO Movie (*** 1/2) last night. It was fun, though not the world conquering experience GAF hype is billing it as.

Finished the first novel in Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series, The War Hound and the World's Pain (****), which I greatly enjoyed. Now starting the second, The City in the Autumn Stars. Prior to that, I finished the first book in the classic Maigret detective series, Pietr the Latvian (****), which is being re-issued from the start in new editions. I enjoyed it, the book having a conversational style that I felt complemented the rough and tumble qualities of the story.
 

Servbot24

Banned
Watched Wolf Children and Garden of Words thte other day. Loved Wolf Children, very charming and nailed a wide range of emotions. Garden of Words is possibly the best looking anime I've ever seen, but the story wasn't as gripping - you don't really get attached to any of the characters. But it was an appropriate 45 minutes and overall I enjoyed it a lot.
 

athevolunteer - 7/50 Books | 12/50 Movies


Watched three movies this month so far:

Captain Phillips (2013) - ★★★★
A bit better than I was expecting it to be but nothing that screams Best Picture or a must-see movie. I'm trying to watch as many of the nominees that I can though.

(A)sexual (2011) - ★★★★★
Really good documentary on Netflix about people who are asexual and how hard it is to fit into society. If you have an open mind, I would definitely recommend you check this movie out.

Mitt (2014) - ★★★½
I wasn't a supporter of Mitt Romney during the previous two presidential elections but this film really did a fantastic job of humanising him and his family, more than his presidential campaigns ever did. It's worth a watch.

I'm still working on reading a couple of books but watching Orange is the New Black has set me back on that, heh.
 
Kinda tempted to watch this for shits and giggles but I'm not sure I'd be able to stand the awkwardness.

This movie is filled with awkward moments. A lot of singing and uncomfortable interviews. The people in it seem nice...just...awkward. I believe there is a Gaffer in it--he's an artist and had the Gaf logo on one of his pieces.
 

Mumei

Member
Update:

Mumei - 21/50 Books | 6/50 Movies

Since my last update, I've read For Discrimination: Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law, by Randall Kennedy, and The Gate, by Natsume Soseki. I also saw The Lego Movie last night.
 
watched the colony (2013). Described as 'worst. movie. evah.' I was going in with lower than low expectations. It's ehm... a suprisingly decent B-movie? I mean, I wasn't banging my head on anything to make. it. stop. like you do with the common M. Bay movie, so that means it's pretty much okay in my book.

also watched Cypher (2002): Nice. very surreal. I have no idea why I didn't watch this movie earlier.

well, I gave After Earth another chance. hahahahaha. I'm so sorry Whitta.
 

Saya

Member
Saya - 5/50 books | 47/50 movies

The movies I've watched recently:


  • A Separation (Jodái-e Náder az Simin) - Asghar Farhadi - ★★★★★
  • You’re Next - Adam Wingard - ★
  • Silent Hill: Revelation - Michael J. Bassett - ★
  • Cabaret - Bob Fosse - ★★
  • Dallas Buyers Club - Jean-Marc Vallée - ★★★
  • The Vanishing - George Sluizer - ★★★★★
  • North by Northwest - Alfred Hitchcock - ★★★
  • Elite Squad: The Enemy Within - - ★★★★★
  • The Producers - Mel Brooks - ★★★½
 
Just finished Animal Farm. Yes this was required reading in 7th grade but I am ashamed to say I never read most of the books we were assigned in school. Part of what I am looking to do with this challenge is read some of the classics I never read but always wished I did. I didn't pick up reading until 3 years ago and have now read over 100 books in that time.

Checking out 1984 next and will probably look at Fahrenheit 451. I primarily read fantasy but I am looking for some quicker reads to balance out those 600 page doorstoppers. Words of Radiance is out soon and that is a good 2 week chunk of time.
 

Necrovex

Member
I finally read V for Vendetta. It is pretty overrated but I thought it was good overall.

★★★

Saw Labor Day yesterday, another film that was ambitious, but it didn't grab me. Still I enjoyed it.

★★★

Lego Movie, god damn, this could easily be my favorite animated film for this year. The visual were dashing, the writing was quite witty, the themes were intact and remained consistent, and the characters were all charming.

★★★★

Update

A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut. Needless to say, I loved it! Holy shit. It's easily one of the best books I've ever read - I blew through it in two sittings (I would have read it all at once but I got started late the first day and was sleepy) - though I think that it leaned slightly too much on the whole "Bush sucks we're ruining the environment with fossil fuels" stuff. I mean, I agree with him, but I felt like he already covered those subjects in earlier chapters and didn't need to repeat them over and over again - I would have loved a longer book that covered more varied topics. I also would love to read what he thought about the current state of the US, but alas.

Anyway, thanks to Necrovex and Tragicomedy for bringing it to my attention! :D

I'm glad you liked it. One could tell Vonnegut was truly concerned for our planet's health. Humanity is screwed if we ruin this planet. Unless we discover how to colonize planets, the human race could easily go extinct if the Earth becomes inhabitable. I also rather not live in an environment like Metro 2033.

I would have love to see his comments on today's current events.

Edit: Now I can finally start on Gaf's book club's book, Blindness.
 

kswiston

Member
I have finished reading Steelheart on a whim. It was a decent book, but definitely young adult.

I have now started on The Black Company by Glen Cook. I'm not sure what I think of it yet from the 20% or so I have read. I mainly picked it because it was around 300 pages, and therefore something I can finish by the end of the week.
 

Necrovex

Member

Movies

Watchmen ★★★★

Loved this. I'm not a huge Snyder fan but I appreciate how true to the book he kept this--it was practically shot-for-shot. Other than the ending changing slightly, pretty great adaptation.

I liked Watchmen, but Snyder ruin the ending. He omitted the most crucial moment from the film (he may have included it in the director's cut). (ENDING SPOILERS)
When Ozymandias is asking Dr. Manhattan if he made the right decision.
 
Master Post | 5 Books | 10 Movies

The Profession - Steven Pressfield | Long story short, it was an interesting and thought provoking book. It's set in 2032, where a failed U.S. General as good as Washington and as loved as JFK is forced to leave the military and heads up the largest mercenary army in the world, numbering ~100,000 strong. He then goes a little power-crazy. It was written in the first person and jumped around in time about six different times and was certainly pretty confusing in the first half. It settled down in the latter half and ended up becoming a 3/5 type book.

The Lone Ranger - A movie that was a lot better than I expected it was going to be. Johnny Depp gets on my nerves playing the exact same character in every movie lately, but he did alright. 3/5

The Lego Movie - Not as good as I was hoping/expecting after all the build up. It was fun, sure, but the best thing it got me to do, I suppose, was go home and play with my Lego sets. 3/5

Bad Grandpa - There were three parts that had me absolutely busting a gut and almost rolling on the floor laughing so hard but otherwise it was a pretty tame comedy. Not the biggest fan. 2/5
 
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