100,000 PAGE VIEWS!!!

I Love That Film has finally made it to 100,000 page views! Since starting to write regularly on this blog back in March 2010, it has been a long and eventful journey to get here! It took nine months just to start getting over 1000 page views a month. Now for the last few months I've been getting over 10,000 views a month.

Search keywords that are bringing people here are an interesting bunch showing that either lots of people study or love films about racism with American History X and This is England being the most common keywords. Most interestingly Top Gun has also brought many people here despite the fact that I've only done one post that shared the news that there would be a sequel.

Since getting back from honeymoon, the blog has grown exponentially due to my renewed determination to write more and linking to my frequent posts at Filmoria and Static Mass Emprorium. I'm hoping that this exponential growth will continue and hope that I might be able to get I Love That Film to 20,000 views a month soon.

Thanks to all the kind people checking out the adverts around the page, I'm also getting paid for the first time; £68 this month! It's taken 20 months to get there but it feels like a huge reward to me and helps me to justify all the cash I spend getting up to London screenings these days!

I bet most bloggers start out similar to me. You decide that you just have to start writing about film and you hope someone somewhere might come across it and read something you wrote. You amble along for awhile getting a couple of hundred views a month. You start reading others blogs and becoming more inspired. You start commenting and contributing to the blogging community. Then you realise you are a part of an amazing community of people who love films as much, if not sometimes MORE than you do. You suddenly spend as much time reading other blogs as you do writing your own. I used to get my movie news from the Empire magazine website now I get it from loads of sources round the blogosphere. You start getting more and more hits on your blog, regular readers, lovely comments, twitter buddies and Facebook friends. You start doing a couple of guest posts at other blogs. If you've got no technical skills you can't make your blog look better so you start looking for other places to publish. Some of you expand your own empires but unfortunately setting up this most basic of blogs is the extent of my technical ability!

Anyway that's where I'm at! And thanks to Filmoria and Static Mass Emporium for giving me a chance to grow beyond this blog! It is such a great honour to write for both of these sites! I love the stuff I get to do for them and I hope to continue for a long, long time!

But most of all this post is about thanking all of you who read this! I felt so supported once I became a part of this community with many regular readers who would drop by and leave comments after reading. There is no way I would have kept going if I hadn't had the support of so many fellow bloggers who have given me so much more confidence in writing and shared so many tips and hints so graciously. It took me the best part of 30 years to realise that I didn't want to make films or write films and that I actually love writing ABOUT films more than anything else and now I'm settled with that thought, I'm going to do everything I can to turn this into a career.

THANK YOU SO MUCH to all who drop by the blog, read my stuff, leave comments, RT my posts on Twitter, share them on Facebook and check out those wonderful ads. Thanks to everyone who has helped me out with this blog or helped me to get more free screenings (especially you Scott Lawlor of Front Room Cinema). And thanks to anyone who has let me write for their site. I hope I will be writing about hitting 200,000 in less than 20 months time!

Thanks again everybody reading this!

I Love That Blog Post #15 HALLOWEEN SPECIAL!

Check out how film bloggers have been celebrating Halloween with these awesome posts!

 

The 10 Most F**ked Up Movies courtesy of On Page and Screen http://eclecticbooksandmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-10-most-fked-up-movies-weve-seen.html 

 

Ok this isn’t horror related but Chris at Movies and Songs 365 has posted his top 100 movies of all time http://moviesandsongs365.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/my-100-favorite-films-list-is-finally.html

 

A great list of horror recommendations from On Page and Screen http://eclecticbooksandmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/our-halloween-cinematic-line-up.html

 

Cinematic Corner has visual parallels between Alien and Prometheus http://cinematiccorner.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/visual-parallels-alien-prometheus.html

 

Cinematic Paradox has been dipping toes in horror all month, culminating in an awesome top 10 and a look at one of my faves Texas Chain Saw http://www.cinematicparadox.com/2012/10/dipping-my-toes-in-horror-texas.html

 

The Droid You’re Looking For ranks the classic slasher icons http://tdylf.com/2012/10/25/ranking-the-classic-slasher-icons/

 

Keith has 5 Phenomenal horror movies http://keithandthemovies.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/5-phenomenal-horror-movies/

 

Front Room Cinema has a poll on what movie monster you would most want to be turned into.  GO VOTE! http://www.frontroomcinema.com/frc-halloween-poll-which-movie-monster-would-you-prefer-to-be-turned-into/

 

And So It Begins has a fantastic top 10 horror films with a great choice at number one http://www.andsoitbeginsfilms.com/2012/10/halloween-horror-marathon-top-10-horror.html

 

And I Love That Film has just broken the 12,000 hits in one month mark so thanks to everyone for dropping by!  And thanks to Halloween for making more people watch horror movies!

Looper Film Club Review

Thanks again to this post from Scott at Front Room Cinema, I got to take part in the From The Red Carpet film club again last weekend.  Everyone that took part got two free tickets to see Looper and then we all met up on Facebook on the Sunday evening to discuss the film.

From the Red Carpet have published their review of the film and there are lots of quotes from all us film clubbers in it so please have a look at the review and leave them a comment telling them to make sure they keep inviting me back.  The From the Red Carpet review is here.

I'm damn sad to tell you that I did not find the film as satisfying as my ridiculously high expectations had told me it would be.  Nevertheless it's still a pretty great film with loads to like but its not in the same league as some of my favourite time travel movies or my favourite Bruce Willis movies.  I leave you with some sample quotes from the film clubbers:

EVERTON ‘Pure class. A Top 3 time travel film, easily – I love the way they used it intelligently. The torture scene was an instant classic.’

PETER ‘Great, intelligent science fiction but not as good as the time travel films I grew up with despite a fantastic performance from JGL!

 CHRIS ‘Looper is a slick, stylish and very smart sci-fi movie! The whole concept and premise is executed perfectly and JGL is sublime in the leading role.’

MEGAN ‘JGL was great although I did think the prosthetics were a bit distracting. His performance was awesome though.’

What did you think of Looper?  Instant classic or disappointing?

I Love That Blog Post #12

Check out some of the stuff I've been reading and enjoying recently!

The Droid You’re Looking For asks are horror films actually scary and does it even matter?  http://tdylf.com/2012/08/27/are-horror-films-actually-scary-does-it-even-matter/

Ever wondered why superhero movies can be so unsatisfying.  The Movie Blog has some answers http://them0vieblog.com/2012/08/27/man-vs-superman-chronicles-climax-the-scale-of-superhuman-violence/

Cinematic Corner highly rates one of my favourites, Monster, starring Charlize Theron http://cinematiccorner.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/monster.html

The Kid in the Front Row talks about the lack of diversity of Hollywood’s output http://www.kidinthefrontrow.com/2012/09/cinema-is-about-hearing-from-all-voices.html

Front Room Cinema launches an attack on trailers for trailers http://www.frontroomcinema.com/midweek-mumble-does-our-marketing-need-more-marketing/

Be sure to check them out!  Happy reading!

I Love That Blog Post #11: The Dark Knight Rises Special

Well look what I forgot to post before I went on honeymoon!  My humble apologies as this is a little bit late now but still, these are some great posts for you to check out!  Happy reading!

If you’re having trouble coping with a negative review of The Dark Knight Rises, The Droid You’re Looking For can help you http://tdylf.com/2012/07/16/the-five-stages-of-coping-with-a-negative-dark-knight-rises-review/

If that doesn’t work, Man, I Love Films brings the news there are counsellors on standby to manage your depression at the end of the trilogy http://manilovefilms.com/everything-else/2012/07/crisis-counselors-standing-by-to-combat-dark-knight-depression/

The Focused Filmographer takes a look at some fan-made videos and posters for The Dark Knight Rises http://thefocusedfilmographer.com/2012/07/16/take-a-glance-fan-appreciation-for-the-dark-knight-rises/

This one is not bat-related but thinking about it, a certain Christian Bale might want to look over Rodney’s guide to surviving being a celebrity before he throws another hissy fit on a set!  http://www.frontroomcinema.com/midweek-mumble-how-to-survive-a-celebrity-scandal/

3 Guys 1 Movie want to know who should direct and star in the next Batman movie http://3guys1movie.com/?p=5442

The Movie Blog calls for some sanity from the rabid fanboys that have lost their minds over negative reviews of TDKR on Rotten Tomatoes http://them0vieblog.com/2012/07/19/the-knight-is-darkest-appeals-to-fanboy-sanity/

Ruth takes a look at two of the best scenes from The Dark Knight http://flixchatter.net/2012/07/19/scene-spotlight-the-dark-knights-interrogation-and-harvey-dent-dinner-scene/

I Love That Blog Post #8

Bloggers just kept on blogging this week.  Lots about Prometheus!  Here's my highlights:

Hell of a lot of Prometheus reviews out there.  Enjoyed this one a lot.  Fogs’ Movie Reviews had this to say: http://fogsmoviereviews.com/2012/06/09/prometheus/

I think this is the second in a new series from Sati.  Cinematic Corner continues comparing films visually; this time Amelie and The Artist http://cinematiccorner.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/visual-parallels-amelie-artist.html

Fantastic piece from Top 10 Films on Prometheus theories that certainly answered a few of my questions http://www.top10films.co.uk/archives/12343

Rodney at Front Room Cinema discusses film marketing and audience anticipation http://www.frontroomcinema.com/midweek-mumble-the-prometheus-effect-does-expectation-kill-the-film-experience/

Ruth at Flixchatter has a link to 500 free online movies!  http://flixchatter.net/2012/06/14/500-free-movies-of-various-genres-to-watch-online/

Kristin at All Eyes on Screen casts the movie of her life, you should all definitely give this a try! http://alleyesonscreen.com/2012/06/14/if-my-life-were-a-movie/

Another great one from Sati (now I know this is short for Satine).  Cinematic Corner has a very interesting list of film facts about her http://cinematiccorner.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/100-film-facts-about-me.html

If you haven't come across any of these on your blogging travels, please give them a look!

My First 10 Years of Movies: The 80s

As I turned 30 last year year, here is the first of a three-part post.  Partly inspired by Cinematic Paradox’s 100 Film Facts About Me post and partly inspired by Front Room Cinema’s Born into Film series, I thought I’d try and give you a breakdown of my film loving life year by year.  As I was born in 1981, my first 10 years of the movies were mostly the glorious 1980s.  If you want to see my top 10 films of the 80s click here.  But for now, here's how the movies shaped, influenced and warped my impressionable young mind.

1981: I was born.  The top 5 rated films of the year according to IMDb are Raiders of the Lost Ark, Das Boot, The Evil Dead, Chariots of Fire and Escape from New York.  I do not recall going to the cinema or seeing any films yet (funnily enough!).  I still haven't seen the last two on that list.

1982: Rambo and E.T. first appeared on screens.  It would be a long time till I would see either.  My oldest sister was eight at the time and had a hard time at school with everyone calling her ET because they were her initials.

1983: The Star Wars saga should have ended this year with Return of the Jedi.  Unfortunately it didn’t.  The first Star Wars film I saw in the cinema was The Phantom Menace in 1999 at age 18.

1984: The Terminator, Ghostbusters and A Nightmare on Elm Street were released.  Fortunately at the age of three, I was not going anywhere near these films yet.  But soon, all three would scare the crap out of me and become three of my all-time favourites.

 1985: The Goonies was released.  I wasn’t old enough to catch this in the cinema but when I finally saw the film, it affected my imagination so much that whenever I was alone, I would pretend I was in the movie being chased by villains in an underground cave system.  I’ve always wanted to write a script as perfectly pitched at kids as this.  Back to the Future and Teen Wolf both also came out, resulting in my eventual Michael J Fox poster on my wall that I got from the magazine Smash Hits.

1986: Thanks to Chris in the comments below, I remember seeing An American Tail in the cinema.  Must have been age 5 so that's my excuse for crying a lot at the ending!   Aliens, Top Gun, Platoon and Labyrinth all released.  Didn’t see any in the cinema.  But the first CD I ever owned was the Top Gun soundtrack.  Still love that shit.  I remember thinking CD's were incredibly cool compared to crusty old cassette tapes.

1987: This was the year of getting to go on my first film set.  I was cast as Tom the Vicar’s son in a film called The Girl in a Swing and was on set for about three days.  I’ve still never seen the film the whole way through but my parents said I didn’t make it into the final cut and that the film is full of filthy sex scenes and nudity.  Bad start to my acting career but it opened my eyes to the wonder of filmmaking.  Predator and Robocop were released.  

1988: Die Hard released.  I vividly remember being with my Mum in a shopping centre and walking along behind a couple of guys and one guy was telling the other about the scene where John McClane wraps the fire hose around his waist and jumps off the top of the exploding building.  I was seven years old and I couldn’t wait to see it.

1989: My Dad took me to see Back to the Future Part 2 this year and I bloody loved it.  My Dad fell asleep and said he found it too confusing.  I also remember seeing Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Ghostbusters 2 in cinemas so my love of film was definitely kicking in.  I was too young for Batman apparently.  And on a cruise ship to Denmark, my older sisters got to see The War of the Roses (which I only wanted to see because it was rated 15) while I was stuck with seeing All Dogs Go to Heaven with my Mum.

1990: The year of Home Alone.  This film instantly became my new favourite.  I saw it at least twice in the cinema.  I desperately wanted to be Macaulay Culkin.  I also saw Edward Scissorhands and rfememver having to pull myself together before the lights came on at the end so my sister wouldn’t see I’d been crying.  At nine years old, I was also dribbling over everything Ninja Turtles (or Hero Turtles as they were called here in the UK) so the movie was a must-see in the cinema.  Still love it.  The Witches and Arachnophobia also warped my fragile little mind, giving me a fear of old women and spiders that, certainly in the latter case, has still not gone away.  This year I saw my first 18 rated films: Robocop (the scene where Murphy is tortured and repeatedly shot was too much for me to watch), The Terminator (loved every second) and somebody gave me a copy of A Nightmare on Elm Street that was taped off the TV.  My first proper horror scared me into having regular nightmares but again, I absolutely loved it.  Also Moonwalker was released on VHS this year and I think this is probably the first film my Mum ever bought for me.  She got sick of me wanting to rent it from the video store every week.

1991: I clearly remember people telling me about the film Silence of the Lambs that had a lampshade made out of skin in it.  I’m not sure there actually is but I remember being told that.  As my babysitter had rented Terminator for me, I was beyond desperate to see Terminator 2 in the cinema but it was a 15 so I couldn’t.  I had to wait for my older sister and her friend to buy the video because they were both besotted with Edward Furlong.  I was jealous of Macaulay Culkin for getting to be in My Girl where he had to do 17 takes of the kiss with Anna Chlumsky apparently.  Bryan Adams was dominating the UK music charts with Everything I Do (I Do it For You) from the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves sound track.  I contributed to both the film and the single’s success by seeing the film in cinemas twice and buying the single on cassette tape.  I also saw Rocketeer and TMNT2: The Secret of the Ooze in cinemas.

So that’s my movie life from birth to the age of ten.  Coming soon: 1992-2001 the next 10 years of my movie life.  If you like the idea, I hope you will all feel free to nick it and try it for yourself but please leave a link to little old I Love That Film!  

And while you're here, what were your first experiences of the cinema?

I Love That Blog Post #7

Some of these posts are getting a bit old now but they still smell just as fresh to me!  If you haven't come across these posts already, go check them out right now!  Some wonderful weekend reading for you!  Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Might seem like I’m starting a Front Room Cinema fan-club but have to mention this great piece on movie piracy!  http://www.frontroomcinema.com/midweek-mumble-film-piracy/#comment-15411

Go tell The Focused Filmographer your cinematic celebrity crushes and check out his list! http://thefocusedfilmographer.com/2012/05/23/cinematic-celebrity-crush-confessions/

Some interesting thoughts on review embargoes from The Movie Blog http://them0vieblog.com/2012/05/24/more-than-you-embargoed-for-thoughts-on-review-embargoes/

City Lights review a frankly bizarre sounding mock-doc from James Franco, can’t wait to see it!  http://lauragrandefilm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/documentary-feature-francophrenia-or.html

Top 10 Films has Top 10 Movie Cops http://www.top10films.co.uk/archives/12041

Asrap has found the holy grail of smack down videos: Gandalf VS Darth Vader http://whoathisisheavy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/epic-showdown-darth-vader-vs-gandalf.html

Stevee from Cinematic Paradox has a truly awesome list of 100 film facts about her http://filmjunkie25.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/100-film-facts-about-me.html

Kristin at All Eyes on Screen is back back back with a list of her Go-to Movies http://alleyesonscreen.com/2012/06/08/my-go-to-movies/

 

I Love That Blog Post #6

 Another week of enjoyable reading!  See if any of this lot take your fancy...

Andy Buckle reviews one of my all time favourite homoerotic action films: Point Break http://thefilmemporium.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/classic-throwback-point-break-kathryn.html

Alex at And So It Begins has a list of the best looking colour films http://www.andsoitbeginsfilms.com/2012/05/best-looking-films-of-all-time-color.html

Interesting article on the future of Blu-ray from Front Room Cinema http://www.frontroomcinema.com/midweek-mumble-the-future-of-blu-ray/

Impassioned Cinema dish the latest on the lovely Amy Adams http://www.impassionedcinema.com/amy-adams-venture-dark-places/

A great post about blogging and commenting from Movies and Songs 365 http://moviesandsongs365.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/being-scared-of-zero-comments.html

Keith shares some blogging buddies thoughts on World War 2 films.  I’m one of the sharers!  http://keithandthemovies.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/world-war-2-movies-blogger-buddies-speak/

What is Pseudo-Sequel?  Check out Big Thoughts from a Small Mind to find out!  http://bigthoughtsfromasmallmind.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/speed-2-and-formula-for-pseudo-sequel.html

I Love That Blog Post #5

 This week I have mostly been reading....

After weeks of chastising the modern cinema experience, Scott celebrates going to the movies http://www.frontroomcinema.com/midweek-mumble-20-things-i-love-about-going-to-the-cinema/

 Cinematic Corner keeps sharing the goodies on Prometheus… this time a very interesting short featurette http://cinematiccorner.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/god-does-not-build-in-straight-lines.html

Movies on my Mind has a fascinating piece on slavesploitation and where Django Unchained fits in with this forgotten sub-genre http://movies-on-my-mind.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/slavesploitation-genre-that-shocked.html

Another one from Cinematic Corner- a great comparison of the visuals in Black Swan and Shame http://cinematiccorner.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/visual-parallels-black-swan-shame.html

Counting down the best Bruce Wayne’s with Top 10 Films http://www.top10films.co.uk/archives/11916

A great rant from City Lights questioning if Jaws will still be considered a classic in 20 years 

http://lauragrandefilm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/movie-rant-20-years-from-now-will-jaws.html

The Ten Best Actors Relay race goes on and on and this latest addition from Flickers includes an excellent choice!  http://theflickersblog.com/2012/05/15/the-ten-best-actors-of-all-time-relay/

If you haven't already read these, check them out!

I Love That Blog Post #3

Happy weekend everybody!  I'm off to a wedding!  Love weddings!  Some further weekend reading for you visitors!

An interesting and different take on why cinema etiquette is a problem from Myfilmviews with some brave admissions of former guilt thrown in! http://myfilmviews.com/2012/04/24/disruptive-behaviour-at-the-cinema-understandable/#comment-7575

Scott returns with another mumble on mobile phone use in the cinema and introduces me to the terrifying prospect of tweet seats.

http://www.frontroomcinema.com/midweek-mumble-why-is-it-so-hard-to-have-good-cinema-etiquette-4-mobile-phones/

If you haven’t seen the new pictures from Django Unchained featuring the devilish DiCaprio, then check them out here at Anomalous Material

http://www.anomalousmaterial.com/movies/2012/04/first-official-look-at-quentin-tarantinos-django-unchained/

GO VOTE on your favourite Nolan film now at The Focused Filmographer! http://thefocusedfilmographer.com/2012/04/24/its-time-to-vote-tuesday-96/

Ruth’s got the trailer for ‘Lawless’.  This film looks awesome! http://flixchatter.net/2012/04/24/this-just-in-john-hillcoats-lawless-trailer/#comment-24499

Harry Potter fans can drool over Daniel’s write up of the new tour at Warner Bros studios http://www.top10films.co.uk/archives/11519/comment-page-1#comment-178573