My Movie Biography: Extreme Obsessions and My "Favourite Directors" in 2007

So after telling (some of you) all about 2006, I'll move onto 2007 as we edge closer to my third blog birthday. Hopefully you enjoy this entry...

2007 was definitely a blossoming year for movies and I. Here are the most exciting things that happened:

• After going through that rough patch with Jake and Heath, I fell in love with Daniel Craig, all because that poster of Casino Royale was pretty hot. Once I was helping out at a horse show, and when I got bored I would get cinema showing times texted to me because they had Casino Royale in them. I mean, that was true love. I didn't see Casino Royale until three months after, but I did love it. I even bought the book, just because it had Daniel Craig on the front. 
• I bought my first Empire magazine issue. It had Lord of the Rings on the front. I read that issue five hundred times. It is just about in tatters. Now I have over five years worth of issues of the magazine.
• I saw my first R16. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. I used to be the biggest advocate for not watching movies underage. People would tell me about how they watched R16s and then I'd give them a huge lecture about how they shouldn't have watched those movies because they were too young and that is against the law. Had my mother not insisted that we watch Psycho, then I probably wouldn't have seen any R16s until I was 16.
• I really loved that film, though. She showed me The Birds, and I loved that one just the same. Alfred Hitchcock became my first favourite director. 

• Even though I am dipping my toes in horror this month, when I was 11, I used to be a huge horror fan. I saw Carrie, and it became my favourite film. Okay, it was more of an obsession. I saw it one Wednesday night, and after that, I would not stop talking about it. I had to know every piece of trivia, I had to read the book, I watched some of the scenes over and over again on YouTube when my parents weren't home. I even did an entire speech on Sissy Spacek, even though I had only seen Carrie and Coal Miner's Daughter. It was a pretty exciting speech. I got into my first school speech final. Ever since then, I've been in every school speech final. It took me until 2010 to win one, and then I managed to get the speech prize again last year (but there wasn't a final...just a prize for whoever had the best speech). In a way, Sissy Spacek harboured my need to be awesome at speeches every single year.
• Another horror that I loved in 2007 was The Ring (the remake). I had it on videotape (oh the irony), and I watched parts of the movie every morning before school for weeks.
• In this year, I became convinced that I needed to make a DVD collection. I would save up my pocket money, and I'd be all ready to buy some ex-rentals from the shop, but Dad said that I could just "get them out when I wanted for free". So I didn't get any. For my birthday, however, Dad bought me The Devil Wears Prada on ex-rental, and I watched it over and over and over again. Words cannot explain how much I love that film. But I used to hate it when Andy started prioritising her career over her boyfriend, so I would always skip that part. Basically, I would watch it mainly for the clothes, and then I'd try and buy the same clothes from the Warehouse. That didn't go according to plan.
• I saw Mean Girls at some point through this year. I videotaped it off the TV (my main method of watching movies back in the day). That tape had the first few minutes cut out, so while I watched the film billions of times, it wasn't until when I bought the DVD that I saw those first few minutes. Even now they still seem really foreign. 
• I started my job at Blockbuster in 2007. I felt so cool. I didn't get paid though. CHILD LABOUR!
• Another obsession I had in 2007 (jeez, there were so many) was with Grace Kelly. Which of course introduced me to more Hitchcock films, which legitimately meant that I could call him my favourite director. But yes, Grace Kelly lived an interesting life...which I know because I read three different biographies on her.

• Probably the biggest obsession I had in 2007 was with Hairspray. When I say I was obsessed, I was OBSESSED. I mean, I know that 2007 was considered a great year in cinema because we had films like No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood and Gone Baby Gone, but come on, Hairspray was actually the best. It is just so funny, lively, colourful, inspirational...the full package, really. Wanna know how obsessed I was? At work we had some thieves around the place, so we had to change over the cases to more secure cases on the new release wall. This was one of the most boring, systematic jobs ever. There were over 1000 cases to change. It took an entire week, working from early in the morning to late in the afternoon. Honestly, if I was on the payroll, I could have got at least $500 for this. But what did I ask for? A Hairspray soundtrack. Which was like, $23. Maybe I should just remind Dad about that time and get what I truly deserved...
• The last "obsession" I had in 2007 was actually fairly embarrassing. Pulp Fiction was on TV late one night, so I taped it. I then watched it. I then became obsessed with it. The catch is that I DID NOT UNDERSTAND PULP FICTION. I watched it again in 2010, and it was like seeing a whole new film. No jokes. In fact, all I think I took from the experience was Mia's overdose, Mia and Vincent dancing and Quentin Tarantino's appearance in the film. Alas, those three scenes made QT my "new favourite director". Which is really embarrassing. I did try to watch Reservoir Dogs on Christmas Eve but my mother told me to turn it off because it had too much swearing in it. So I didn't see it until 2010.
• Alas, I did get a portable DVD player in this year. Which meant that I could watch movies filled with swearing and stuff without my parents ever finding out. But for some reason, I never finished watching Reservoir Dogs. Obviously, Quentin Tarantino was my "favourite director".

Check back tomorrow for 2008 in review. How about you, who was your first favourite director? Did you ever have extreme obsessions with movies?

Personality Soup, or the Movie Characters I'm Like

I've seen this been done at a few blogs, like Andy Buckle's Film Emporium, Defiant Success and Being Norma Jeane. So like the sheep that I am, I've decided to follow suit. Mainly because I have tried to start some reviews, but I'm so tired at the moment I literally can't write anything that makes sense. So here we go, easy cure for a mild case of writer's block.

Olive Penderghast in Easy A - Okay, now this is minus the whole pretending to be a slut for money thing. I really only chose her because I want to be just like Emma Stone. No, that's only partially true. Like Olive, I use lots of big words in every day conversations (though I don't have the wit that she has). And I wish that John Hughes directed my life. We're actually really alike, I'm sure we could be best friends in a better life...

Jenny in An Education - Like Jenny, I'm pretty smart (apparently) and I'm constantly pushed to do my best in things I really can't see helping me in the future. But really, all I want to do is have a little bit of fun (though I probably won't go as far as being swept off my feet by an older man) - which is probably why I watch movies. And then I fail at school because I'd rather watch movies. Oh well, just gotta keep pushing on...

Nina Sayers in Black Swan - Maybe I just wanted to have Natalie Portman on this list. Haha. No, the thing I have in common with good old Nina is my constant drive for perfection. I want perfection everywhere, whether it's schoolwork (apart from the subjects I suck at), this blog (I don't know how that is working out so far) or just life in general. I have such an unnecessary drive for perfection that I'll probably harm myself trying to get to it.

Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind - I have a bit of Scarlett O'Hara in me, but I'd like to think I'm a bit more like Melanie. I've been told that I am pretty considerate, unselfish and kind. Which is something that I work hard to be. I'd probably give away my wedding ring if it meant helping a certain cause. In fact, I'd be right up the front helping a good cause. My motto in life is 'always think of the other person', so pretty much everything I say or do has the other person in mind. Just like our dear Melanie.

 Rebecca in Please Give - Another character whose pretty unselfish is Rebecca in Please Give. She gives all of the kindness in her heart to everyone else and doesn't leave any for herself. She's really just too busy caring for everyone else to even worry about what may be going on in her life. I'd love to think that I am generous too. But as far away from being selfish as I can get, the better off I'll be.


Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada - Along with my kindness comes a complete inability to stand up for myself. Now, there's no Miranda Priestly type figure in my life, but I work too hard and sometimes that means that I am forced into decisions that I don't want to make. Any person would fight for their right, but not me. I just back out and run for the hills or go with it. Usually the latter. Oh, and I like to write, so I guess we have that in common.


So there's my personality, what's yours like?

Week #5 in summary...! JGL, devilishly gorgeous clothes and Playboy bunnies?

This week was probably a bit better than previous weeks have been to me. Or was that just three rewatches of some of my favourite movies??
Recap on what I watched and blogged:

• The House Bunny (2008) Anna Faris playing a dumb Playboy bunny who takes some nerds under her wing. Sound stupid? It is. 4/10


• Iron Man (2008) Robert Downey Jr. at his best in an awesome superhero movie that doesn't really have a 'superhero'. Haven't seen it? Please, for the love of God, go get it out! 10/10


• Clash of the Titans (2010) Proof that 2010 has failed in giving us lots of high quality blockbusters? Look no further than this. 4/10


• The Butterfly Effect (2004) Even though Ashton Kutcher isn't my favourite person in the world, I still enjoyed this confusing thriller. 7/10


• Waitress (2007) One of my favourite movies of all time...and also the movie that makes me the hungriest. 10/10


• The Devil Wears Prada (2006) Also one of my favourite movies of all time...and a movie which makes me get some major wardrobe envy. 10/10


• Back to the Future: Part III (1990) It was about time I watched the final installment to the trilogy, right? 6/10


• Brick (2005) Joseph Gordon-Levitt...need I say more? 8/10
  

Best movie of the week? Non-rewatch...definitely Brick.

Worst movie of the week? Clash of the Titans. Yawn.

Highlight of the week? Start to 'birthday season'!

Lowlight of the week? Being sick for the six zillionth time this year.

The Devil Wears Prada

I got a copy of The Devil Wears Prada for my birthday in 2007, and for months, I couldn't stop watching it. The novelty kinda wore off after a while for some reason, and instead of watching it several times a month I probably watch it maybe once or twice a year. Still, each time I watch it, I enjoy it lots. Mainly because of my undying love for Anne Hathaway.
In New York, there is a fashion magazine named Runway, which is where a million girls dream to work. Andy (Anne Hathaway) is an aspiring unfashionable journalist who gets the job of a lifetime: being the second assistant to the Editor-in-Chief Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep). She is introduced to a world of fashion and models, never being late for anything and moving mountains for her evil boss. All the while trying to keep her personal life intact.
While this isn't ever gonna go down as the best movie ever made, this is a fabulous scathing portrait of the fashion world. Instead of going into absolute detail into why this works so much like that, I'll just give you some of the quotes that most represent it:

Miranda: 'This... stuff'? Oh. Okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select... I don't know... that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent... wasn't it who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.

Miranda: Do you know why I hired you? I always hire the same girl- stylish, slender, of course... worships the magazine. But so often, they turn out to be- I don't know- disappointing and, um... stupid. So you, with that impressive résumé and the big speech about your so-called work ethic- I, um- I thought you would be different. I said to myself, go ahead. Take a chance. Hire the smart, fat girl. I had hope. My God. I live on it. Anyway, you ended up disappointing me more than, um- more than any of the other silly girls.

Andy: I don't think I'm like that. I couldn't do what you did to Nigel, Miranda. I couldn't do something like that.
Miranda: You already did. To Emily.
Andy: That's not what I... no, that was different. I didn't have a choice.
Miranda: No, no, you chose. You chose to get ahead. You want this life. Those choices are necessary.
Andy: But what if this isn't what I want? I mean what if I don't wanna live the way you live?
Miranda: Oh, don't be ridiculous. Andrea. Everybody wants this. Everybody wants to be us.

Emily: One time an assistant left the desk, because she, I don't know, sliced her hand open with a letter opener. Miranda missed Lagerfeld just before he boarded a seventeen hour flight to Australia. She now works at TV Guide.
Andy: Man the desk at all times. Got it.

Nigel: Andy, be serious. You are not trying. You are whining. What is it that you want me to say to you, huh? Do you want me to say, "Poor you. Miranda's picking on you. Poor you. Poor Andy"? Hmm? Wake up, six. She's just doing her job. Don't you know that you are working at the place that published some of the greatest artists of the century? Halston, Lagerfeld, de la Renta. And what they did, what they created was greater than art because you live your life in it. Well, not you, obviously, but some people. You think this is just a magazine, hmm? This is not just a magazine. This is a shining beacon of hope for... oh, I don't know... let's say a young boy growing up in Rhode Island with six brothers pretending to go to soccer practice when he was really going to sewing class and reading Runway under the covers at night with a flashlight. You have no idea how many legends have walked these halls. And what's worse, you don't care. Because this place, where so many people would die to work you only deign to work. And you want to know why she doesn't kiss you on the forehead and give you a gold star on your homework at the end of the day. Wake up, sweetheart.

Got the message? This movie is so wonderfully scripted and makes us believe in this superficial world. Oh, and the film itself has some amazing performances, especially from Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci. With outfits that literally make me die everytime I watch it.

10/10