#32 Memento

(2000, Christopher Nolan)

“Now, where was I?”

#31 Titanic

(1997, James Cameron)

“Not even God himself could sink this ship”

Sven Speaks: Some Changes

There will some changes to the point of this blog. It's Xmas Day, and I actually received the latest edition of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die as a gift. What this means is that now I can add all the newer films post-2007 that feature in the latest edition, which is fantastic.

Problem is, due to the fact that obviously some films got taken out to make room for the likes of Inception and Slumdog Millionaire, this means that a few films I've already reviewed are no longer on the 1001 list (specifically, Princess Mononoke, There's Something About Mary & Amelie - Mary I can understand, the other two...not so much). This means that in order to shift from the old edition to the current, I need to disregard those reviews and essentially start again and/or re-number all my reviews and double check everything to see if it's all in the book. Naturally, I'm not doing that.

Instead, I'm merely factoring in the new additions alongside those films that featured in the earlier edition I started from, ie. I'm working from both books. Obviously, this means I am no longer working from the 1001 Movies, it's more like 1024 now. So the challenge has been increased, but this isn't stopping me, largely because the new additions include a ton of new films that I have yet to see but really want to (Inception, Black Swan, The Social Network, District 9, Let The Right One In). All this means is that this blog will keep going even longer than originally anticipated. Which is fine by me.

So a heads-up so that in a few years' time people don't start questioning why the numbers start going past 1001! Who knows, maybe by then I'll have ended up with an even newer edition with even more films!

#30 It's A Wonderful Life

(1946, Frank Capra)

“You’ve really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?”

#29 Back To The Future

(1985, Robert Zemeckis)

“Woah, Doc, this is heavy”

#28 The Pianist

(2002, Roman Polanski)

“Spielman? That’s a good name for a pianist”

#27 Videodrome

(1983, David Cronenberg)

“It’s just torture and murder. No plot, no characters.”

#26 Breaking Away

(1979, Peter Yates)

“I thought that was the whole plan. I thought that we were going to waste the rest of our lives together”

#25 Pan's Labyrinth

(El Laberinto del Fauno)
(2006, Guillermo del Toro)

“Life isn’t like your fairy tales. The world is a cruel place”

#24 The Elephant Man

(1980, David Lynch)

 “I am not an animal! I am a human being!”

#23 Deep End

(1970, Jerzy Skolimowski)

“I love her”

“You perverted little monster”

Sven Speaks: An Update

I'm still around, folks, just been a bit busy. Reviews are still being written, but at the moment I'm just waiting for some feedback on them. When I have that, I'll post them up. And yes, there is a Xmas movie coming, for those who are curious ;)

#22 Trainspotting

(1996, Danny Boyle)

“It’s shite being Scottish!”

#21 The Lives Of Others

(Das Leben Der Anderen)
(2006, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)

“They’re bad people who put people in prison, says my dad”

#20 Jaws

(1975, Steven Spielberg)

“You yell shark, we got a panic on our hands”

#19 The Fly

(1986, David Cronenberg)

“I’m working on something that will change the world, and human life as we know it”

#18 Batman

(1989, Tim Burton)

“Where does he get all those wonderful toys?”

#17 Requiem For A Dream

(2000, Darren Aronofsky)

“But I’m going to be on television!”

#14, #15 & #16 The Star Wars Original Trilogy

(1977-1983, George Lucas)

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”

#13 Ring

(リング)

(1998, Hideo Nakata)

“There’s this video curse that’s everyone’s talking about…”

#12 Amélie

(Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain)

(2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunet) 

 “I like to look for things no one else catches”

#11 There's Something About Mary

(1998, Farrelly Brothers)

“We’re all in love with Mary”

#10 Who Framed Roger Rabbit

(1988, Robert Zemeckis)

“A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it’s the only weapon we have”

#9 American Beauty

(1999, Sam Mendes)

“There’s nothing worse than being ordinary”

#8 Monty Python & The Holy Grail

(1975, Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones)

“This is supposed to be a happy occasion! Let’s not bicker and argue over who killed who!”

#7 Princess Mononoke

(もののけ姫, Mononoke-Hime)

(1997, Hayao Miyazaki)

“She is neither human nor wolf”

#5 & #6 Alien & Aliens

(1979, Ridley Scott/1986, James Cameron)

“It’s game time!”

#4 The Matrix

(1999, Andy & Larry Wachowski)

“No one has ever done anything like this before”
“That’s why it’s going to work”

#3 Little Miss Sunshine

(2006, Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris)

“I’d like to dedicate this to my grandfather, who showed me these moves”

#2 Raiders Of The Lost Ark

(1981, Steven Spielberg)

“A review? We have top men working on it right now!”
“Who?”
“Top. Men.”

#1 Airplane!

(1980, Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker)

“Airplane? Surely you can’t be serious?”
“I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley”

What is Sven vs. The Movies?

Hello, weary Internet traveller! You appear to have stumbled upon Sven vs. The Movies! My name is Sven, and I'll be your host for this little adventure.

This blog is a document of a personal challenge. You may be wondering what the "vs. The Movies" part of the blog name is all about. Well, there is a series of books, the 1001 [things] You Must [experience] Before You Die. You may have seen them. Very thick books, usually found in reference sections of book shops. I've seen books for the 1001 books you must read, the 1001 albums you must hear, the 1001 places you must go and the 1001 games you must play. But the one that's important here is 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

Why? Because this blog has a mission to watch and review all 1001 movies in that book. It's a tough challenge, but it's one I aim to succeed at. The reason is simple. I recently flicked through that book and realised how few of those films I've actually seen, and I'd love to expand my film knowledge. Why not share this quest with the rest of the world?

Some important notes about how this is all going to work:
- The reviews on this blog aim to be entirely objective. In a way, I want to question the status of these films as Movies You Must See Before You Die. I want to see if, in my personal opinion, they deserve this status. After all, critics are infallible, so why not add the perspective of a non-professional critic to balance things out?

- I will be working from the 2007 edition of the book, meaning the most recent movie that will get reviewed is 2007's Atonement. The reason for this is because I bought the book a couple of years back and don't see the point in getting the newer edition for the sake of this blog. Plus I realise that if I bought the latest edition, they seem to bring out a new one each year, and considering this challenge will inevitably take a LONG time, it'd be a pointless task to keep upgrading the film list every time a new edition comes out. So just bear in mind there are no films from 2008 onwards.

- I am not affliliated with the publisher in any way. This is entirely unofficial, entirely independent and entirely unbiased. I'm merely using the book as a catalyst. I could have used any film list for this task, such as IMDb's top 250, but I felt that this book was the best bet, especially since it has longevity, and I have a permanent list of all the movies in the form of the book itself, whereas working from a list such as IMDb's, it changes constantly, so it'd be easy to lose track of everything.

- The reviews are in a semi-random order. I say semi-random, because I'm actually working off my own system where I start from the movies I own then fan out throughout the book in a series of ways that I'm not about to bore you with. I chose to do it this way, since I wanted a bit of variety. Didn't want to work chronologically, since I imagine some of the earlier films in the book are harder to track down. So instead I'm making it hard for anyone to predict what the next film will be. Only I will know.

So that's the blog. First reviews will be posted very soon. I look forward to you joining me on this quest!