This is such a hard subject to write about because going through my head at the moment is hundreds of great films that I would love to talk about, and funny enough a load that I aren't so great but really should be watched. For instance, I found an old copy of Toy Soldiers the other day, about a boarding school that gets taken over by a bunch of terrorists. Of course the kids fight back and win the day! It is now a very dated film but it's one that really does have you on the edge of your seat, well as long as you can ignore the bad acting of Louis Gossett Jr that is.

I've always enjoyed the older films, I think there is more of a story and less of the special effects that directors use to mask such awful screenplays. I know how difficult it is to write a decent script that will capture an audience, but I do dislike it when they just add in celebrities to hide a really bad bit of writing, it doesn't make up for it.

Having said all that there has been some fantastic films out, some highly special effected ones have also captured me. Being a man I do enjoy action films and quite often even the superhero ones have been great, including the latest Spiderman. Sad films do make me cry, as do scenes that appear to be of a tragic nature and have powerful music to add to the effect - like the ending to Hancock - brilliant!!!

What I might do later once I've finished this website, is update this with a list of the latest films I've seen with a review, but now I'm busy just trying to write all the pages so I will just give you a list of some of my favourites... you'll either already know them, in which it'll give you an idea of what captivates me, or you won't and maybe will be looking on youtube for trailers :)

1. Quigley Down Under - Tom Selleck at his absolute best. I'm not normally a western fan, but this one is positively brilliant.

2. Thoughtcrimes - Different, good fun movie with action and an idea that you wouldn't expect.

3. The Elephant Man - Just heartbreaking

4. All the Harry Potter series - These ones are just great for a leasurely weekend with a bowl of popcorn or some chocolate.

5. All Good Things - Yes I know, I shouldn't have a Star Trek one here, but it is great.

6. Taken - Real edge of your seat, testosterone filled smacking around.

Films

editI've always been an avid film watcher. I enjoy all types of filmage from chicklits to hard core horrors (not at the same time of course!) I used to spend thousands of pounds collecting all the new films as they came out on tape, and then when DVD's came out I spent the same again changing them to the new format but now with the digital revolution bringing us things like Netflix and iTunes, I've kind of stopped buying new ones. I think that it'll end up that all films will be available by streaming so really there's no point any more.

I my first attempt at writing was actually because of films. I had an ability of noticing the silly things, continuity errors and the likes on them... I know that sounds geeky now and everyone seems to be doing it, but I'm talking about back in the nineties when I was living up in Oxford. I think it started with noticing the music board behind Lisa at the start of The Simpsons, the first brief glimpse of the board shows an array of musical notes, the next pan around shows it to be empty.

I used to write down all the errors that I found, not the kind where the boom mic comes down but the proper ones like someone walking through a door and their jumper changes or they leave an electrical socket exposed when it's set in the 1700's. I was very friendly with the guy that owned the Blockbusters in Headington, Oxford where I hired most of my films in those days. We did a deal that I would hire the films for free and write him a list each week of the continuity errors so he could photocopy them and hand them out to whoever was interested - it was good fun.

I did have plans to write them all into a book, which I do still have, getting all dusty and the like, but I realised after a year or so that film producers take out errors when they are re-printed, and also it was a project that could never be finished. After I'd stopped looking, I lost the ability to see them so well and now enjoy a film for what it is without the constant searching for what is wrong with it.

“Pick up your feet... got to move to the trick of the beat”

Fred Deakin
Design Engineer / Author