A-Z #75: Enemy of the State

You can pick up hundreds of DVDs for a round-pound each - it doesn't matter. It's never about quantity, it's about quality. A-Z is my way of going through my collection, from A-Z, and understanding why I own the films ... or you can tell me why I should sell 'em

#75 - Enemy of the State 

Why did I buy it?

Early in the days, before I even owned a DVD-player, we had a DVD player on the PC. My first DVD I owned - the first ever? Goldeneye. The one-disc, trailer-and-commentary-only package. But my sister had a friend who had two DVD's. More importantly, she let us borrow them and, alongside The Craft was Enemy of the State. Suffice to say, I liked Enemy of the State enough to buy it myself in due course.

Why do I still own it?

The film has Will Smith in a thriller role. Almost akin to North by Northwest, as Smith plays the man-who-has-done-nothing-wrong-but-gets-caught-up-in-some-big-scandal situation. Combine that with 1998 technology and Gene Hackman reprising his role from The Conversation and, voila, Enemy of the State. There are some oof-beat actors littered throughout - Jason Lee, Jamie Kennedy, Seth Green, Jack Black - all playing very serious roles. No jokes. No Mallrats-comedy or Nacho-Libre-puns and Austin-Powers-jokes. [semi-] Serious acting. This alongside Jon Voight, Gabriel Byrne, Barry Pepper and Tom Sizemore. Did I mention Gene Hackman and Will Smith?

I love the pace of Tony Scott and the use of the satellite cameras as we scan rooftops and busy roads, really giving a sense of constant-surveillance. It drags a little bit towards the end but, all in all, its a great film. Though, having watched it multiple times, I still don't get the bit at the end when Will Smith is looking at Gene Hackmans old-man legs and grinning ...  almost aroused by those legs on a beach ... and waving like a loon at the camera a-top his TV ... still a very strange ending ...

Top 5 Worst 'James Bond' Title Songs

I was all prepared and ready to complete a Top 5 Title Songs blog post, but alas, there are many good songs. I had to clarify, in the first instance, the good and the bad. From doing this, inevitably, I made an entire list of all the title songs and thought, why not prepare you for the Top 5 by revealing the worst 5 first!

The near-misses are The Man with the Golden Gun (though, ultimately a bad song, there is something funky and, dare I say it, "spunky" about Lulu), Die Another Day by Madonna - I have to concede that it is a bad song, but I respect that Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and David Arnold on signing off such a weird and electronic track.  If you are thinking of a song I haven't mentioned and it does not turn up on the list, then I deem that song to be ultimately good, but have yet to arrange where it would be placed - and whether it would even get a look-in regarding a Top 5 songs.

Lets move on though! First off, the worst James Bond Title songs...

5. For Your Eyes Only/Sheena Easton - too romantic and too longing ... not much Bond-like charisma. I think it is more a song for the girl in the film, not for 007...

4. Licence to Kill/Gladys Knight - I can see how Michael Kamen wanted to move back to the Bassey style of vocal, with an 80's edge, but alas, it did not work.

3. All Time High (from Octopussy)/Rita Coolidge - so dreary. It sounds like she's high on drugs singing this boring song. No no no.

2. The World Is Not Enough/Garbage - How sad that the band is called Garbage. I can't even remember the song that did make them famous. 'Ready to Go' was Republica ... 'Neighbourhood' was Space ... from a band like A-ha and Duran Duran to crap-brit-rock-band Garbage. Upsetting.

1. Another Way To Die (from Quantum of Solace)/Alicia Keys and Jack White - What on earth happened here. I think Alicia Keys is great - i have three of her albums and I have no problems in getting another. I think The White Stripes are cool, but this just doesn't work. Especially when you have the whole is-it-a-guitar-solo section ... only to find out that the juttery, incompetant guitar player was actually the solo. In its entierety.

'Screen Insight' Statistics (April)

I wrote a Statistics post for last month. My new URL began on 5th March 2011 and, I am sharing with you what these statistics have revealed as I try and re-establish a readership and build a blog that is primarily informative and, for me, reflective on my interest in film. Having said that I wanted to 'share' with you my statistics, there were some glaring omissions from last months statistics. This I shall attempt to rectify this month by comparing this month to last months.

In March - noting the first 5 days amounted to nothing - garnered me 310 visits (182 Absolute Unique Visitors). During April, it has more than doubled with 726 visits (568 Absolute Unique Visitors) - 73% of which are new to the site. So this, I believe shows how, very slowly, the blog is becoming re-established successfully and that Google is beginning to pick-up on all the old posts as it used to.

The bounce rate in March was 62% Bounce Rate, which I believe is a good. As I understand, a 'bounce' is a click to your site which is clearly unintentional or unwanted - and this is clear by the milli-second, or single-second the connection to your site. Clearly, if someone 'browsed' your site for one-second, it hardly counts as a fan or your website. Unfortunately, in April, my bounce rate has risen to 75% so I need to be wary about my content and ensure that everything remains relevant.

The average-time-on-site in March was 2-minute 40-seconds. In the previous blog, as I recall, it was always a struggle to maintain an average of over a minute, so this seems exceptionally good. Not to mention how the A-Z series probably takes barely a minute to read. Again, unfortunately, as I gain more visitors to the site, it appears that they don't read as much as my April average-time-on-site has dropped tremendously to 1-minute 12-seconds. Now, on 7th April and 24th April, the average time on the site was 4-min 42 and 3-min 27 respectively so I think I will have a gander of these dates and what blog-posts were released at that time because, it appears, this is what people are more interested in

So, the April Top 10 Blog Post are as follows:

10. Across the Blogosphere... 24/04/2011 (NE)

9. Incredible Soundtracks #8: Tron:Legacy (NE)

8. Incredible Soundtracks #7: The Dark Knight (NE)

7. Incredible Soundtracks #5: E.T. (NE)

6. Top 5 James Bond Actors (NE)

5. Incredible Soundtracks #6: Edward Scissorhands (NE)

4. Redline (Takeshi Koike, 2010) (-1)

3. Boardroom Meeting with Zack Snyder (-1)

2. Favourite Film Faces #16: Gerard Butler in Tomorrow Never Dies (NE)

1. Top 5 Leonardo DiCaprio Films (NE)

I think that's a good round-up. Everything, bar two posts which released at the very start of April - or the end of March - all appear. Again, the Incredible Soundtracks come up the top, with a suprise in the Gerard Butler post - I think I shall ensure that the Favourite Film Faces posts are exclusively shots of film stars in roles before they were famous because that is a great way to establish an ongoing theme - opposed to a show of Jon Hamm in Mad Men looking good.

The Leonardo DiCaprio post, I have a feeling, will remain high for a while. Namely because it appears that the most poular key words that bring people to my site at the moment are "leonardo dicaprio films" and "best leonardo dicaprio movies" (followed in third place by "gerard butler"). These words will be around for a long time to come ...

To finish, I direct people to the search-bars on the left to see the wealth of material accessible still...

Across the Blogosphere ...

As usual, a link to Mad Hatter to start off. He has noted in previous years how his HotDocs coverage seems attract little attention so he has made sure he has put out all the stops this year to make sure it gets the attention it deserves. He has multiple podcasts associated with the festival and has already - pretty much daily - released reviews. So go there now!

Secondly, I have been privelidged to take part in two podcasts in the last couple of weeks. The distance the UK has from America constantly stops me from being able to take part in many instances. Additionally, most Saturday nights at 8pm I am rarely at my desk typing away - instead, out on the town drinking or crying myself to sleep as I realise I have no friends. But, for the LAMBcast about Scream 4, I managed to be back at 00.30 to take part and Nick Jobe woke him self up early to record a Demented Podcast titled The Simon and Jobe Show. Clever. Be warned, the Demented Podcast features an awful Jimmy Stewart impression (having listened to it, I am now aware that it needs work...) and has my attempt at The Tower... something I should have prepared much better for. Mental Note: Don't Choose 'Dream Films' as a subject speciality.

Thirdly, Fandango Groovers revied Luc Besson's latest film The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec. Now, I watched Leon for the first time last night and, I have a funny feeling it is better than this. Having said that, Fandango Groovers gave the film a great review... so if you are interested, have a gander!

A-Z #74: Empire of the Sun

You can pick up hundreds of DVDs for a round-pound each - it doesn't matter. It's never about quantity, it's about quality. A-Z is my way of going through my collection, from A-Z, and understanding why I own the films ... or you can tell me why I should sell 'em

#74 - Empire of the Sun 

Why did I buy it?

Spielberg marathon. I vividly remember Empire of the Sun having a hearty recommendation from Dawson Leery on Dawsons Creek. If I recall correcltly, I think he may have stated that the film was "underrated". Suffice to say, the double-disc package was a must. The fact that Christian Bale as a young whipper-snapper and Ben Stiller was playing a non-comedic role was worth watching at any rate.

Why do I still own it?

So, I watched it once. I won't lie, I wasn't blown away. Now I know that Mad Hatter is a big fan and good friend Rhys has always praised the film rating it higher than some of the acknowledged 'Spielberg' classics. Therefore, I hold onto the film waiting to rewatch and re-judge. The thing is -  Spielberg has so many good films! Unlike 1941, which was sold on as soon as took the disc out of the player, Empire of the Sun has so many iconic shots that are unforgettable. The one I captured above is one of many, many shots. I think the child's perspective is an interesting route to watch the war through - but I question whether Christian Bale carried the film effectively. I think my gut feeling is that he did not...

Should I stick to that gut-feeling and sell it ASAP? Or should I trust the film-friends and wait for the rewatch?