Day 01 – First movie I remember watching
Aladdin
Yes, I started with Disney too. And Jasmine is still my favourite princess to this day.
Day 02 – A movie I basically know the whole script of
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
This movie holds a very special place in my heart. Prior to the movie I have never heard of the series, I watched it in the cinema with my brother and my cousins and we loved it so so much. We played the Playstation 2 game a couple of times from beginning to end, listened to the Original Soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams for years, I started reading the whole series and of course we rewatched this movie so many times, (including with the audio commentary) we actually knew every line by heart – and even with a British accent. I look back very fondly on this movie, because it’s been a constant companion during a lovely period in my early teens and since my cousins and I are scattered over three different continents and rarely meet, the memories brought back by this movie is precious.
Day 03 – Favourite Tagline
“Are you watching closely?”
I’m sure there are a lot of better taglines out there, but this one is as good as any with the side note that the movie is probably better than the others. What can I say – The Prestige is what you get when you cross a genius director, a stellar cast and a mind-blowing plot. If you haven’t seen it, get to it I M M E D I A T E L Y.
Day 04 – Biggest disappointment
Eragon
Ugh, where do I even start? I had high hopes for this movie, because for a long while Eragon by Christopher Paolini was my favourite book. It was the only contemporary novel in German language that I had in my possession at that time and I read it from cover to cover at least ten times and more often than not I would find myself just rereading my favourite chapters.
And then this piece of crap hit the theaters.
I tried to sugarcoat it in the beginning but the older I got, the more impossible it grew to deny what a failure of an adaptation this was. The cast seemed quite promising – just not enough to make up for the disastrous script that butchered every scene in the book and robbed the story of its original appeal, making it look like very cheap and lazy, not to mention forgettable, scribbles. Safe to say, Eragon deserves landing a prime mausoleum in the graveyard of cringey fantasy novel adaptations alongside Seventh Son, The Golden Compass and Percy Jackson, just to name a few. The only consolation this movie brought was the soundtrack by Patrick Doyle that was (for me personally) adequately original.
Day 05 – A movie where the soundtrack was better than the film
John Williams – Memoirs of a Geisha
Yesterday’s movie would be the obvious candidate for this category. Memoirs of a Geisha, on the other hand, needs some explaining as to why I chose it. Firstly, I haven’t read the novel, but I loved the movie itself. It was unlike anything I have seen at that time, both visually and story-wise. Albeit, I later found out, factually not very accurate, the movie aroused my interest to research on Geisha culture – and anything that entices me to broaden my knowledge is highly appreciated. Yet even better than the details to the costumes and set, was the auditory experience. John Williams deserved the Golden Globe win (although Harry Gregson-Williams would have been fine as well hehe ) and should have left with an Oscar as well. If you’re not familiar with the soundtrack, listen to it now! Thank me later. It’s no secret that I am no fan of John Williams’ most popular work like Star Wars or Indiana Jones. The upbeat fanfares and the full orchestral force clash with my personal musical taste. And not even Hedwig’s Theme, regardless of how iconic and how much of a Harry Potter fan I am, matches the beauty of some tracks in the Memoirs of a Geisha. In conclusion, the movie was good, but the soundtrack just sends it over the roof (of the Hanamachi).
Day 06 – A movie you hate that everyone else liked
Dirty Dancing
I am prepared to face the hordes of Generation X girls who will charge at me for putting Dirty Dancing here. I understand the appeal it brought when it first came out and who doesn’t sing along when Time of my Life blasts in the club but the overall movie just isn’t for me. At all. Perhaps I act so unappreciative towards it because I watched it thirty years after its release – and in that time there many similarly uninteresting dance slash musical romance movies that all had the same story have sprouted and they tainted me first. Who in the right mind identifies with a whiny privileged white girl who gets her first taste of a “bad boy”? Again, the socio-economic situation in the 80s may have bolstered the originality of the plot and its subsequent success but nothing is more tedious than people sobbing about their love life.
Day 07 – The first movie I saw in theaters
Men in Black II
During a visit to Jakarta in 2003 my (extended) family decided to go to the cinema. I didn’t even speak any English back then and I hadn’t seen Men in Black. All I remember are the huge hall with bright red seats and how it was such a new experience. Cinemas were such a treat back then and not a regular weekly activity like it is in Jakarta these days. Obviously I had no recollection of the movie itself and even after getting acquainted with he series at an older age, it never captivated me, but it will always be my first theater experience.
so nad amused 
OK you asked for it, so here it is!
1.) First movie I remember watching —
Probably…Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (unless Sing-a-long Song counts). I used to watch that all the time in my old house, but Snow is definitely NOT my favorite princess. Although I’ve grown very fond of the Evil Queen now ❤
2.) A movie I basically know the whole script of —
Oof! This is a tight competition between Narnia LWW and PotO. Of course, I shared the same experience with you with Narnia (we went through that phase together for fuck's sake) so it is the first contender until Phantom. But let's just say, Phantom doesn't count as much as Narnia since it's also a stage musical and I was obsessed with the stage version more than the film. (Btw, love what you wrote about our Narnia phase up there! :D).
3.) Favorite tagline —
I have to look up some taglines of my favorite movies for this! I can't remember any on top of my head (except the one for Alien cos it's really overused). You know what? I'll get back to you on this lol
4.) Biggest disappointment —
I should say….Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It's my favorite book in Narnia series and I was so hyped up when they're making the third film. But seriously, that movie turned out to be rubbish. They changed too much from the book and added some horribly cheesy elements like those green mist thing (I can't remember what they were). Anyway, that movie ruined the Narnia film trilogy so my disappointment is justified.
5.) A movie where the soundtrack was better than the film —
Hmmm, The Lone Ranger?? I quite enjoy the film as well, despite what critics said. But the soundtrack was another level amazing. I was obsessed with it for some time in 2016 and it reminded me again that Hans Zimmer is such a brilliant composer!
6.) A movie you hate that everyone else liked —
The Notebook. That's my first thought when I saw this category. I'm just very not into those lovey dovey romantic dramas. I tried watching it couple of times but usually after the first few minutes, I gave up.
7.) The first movie I saw in theaters —
Titanic! Hahaha I think I even watched it twice. My parents told me I used to sing along to My Heart Will Go On during the end credit. Oh, and Leonardo DiCaprio was the first actor that literally taught me what an actor is. I used to think that his name was really Jack, but then my parents told me that his name was Leo and I got so confused (sooo…he's Jack or Leo???). Luckily after I finally understood that actors play characters in a film, that confusion was sorted out.
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HAHHA THIS IS SO CUTE!!!
I feel like we always had our movies that we talked about, but never actually discussed stuff like which movies we first saw!
I agree with what you said about VDT! It was definitely the weakest among all three. I wish Hollywood would stop ruining fantasy stories ughhhh
Lone Ranger was pretty forgettable, but I do love a few tracks off of the score, especially the twist on William Tell 😀
The detail about Jack / Leo is so cute HAHAHA I also thought that people who got stabbed / shot in movies also got hurt in real life LOL I don’t know which movie my parents used to tell me that it wasn’t so, though
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LOL we had such cute childhood history with movies/actors!
About Narnia, I’m counting on whatever adaptation they make next to redeem the mistake that was VDT (I heard Netflix is planning to take on Narnia next, so fingers crossed), but I don’t think it can ever replace the Will, Anna, Skandar and Georgie’s Narnia cos that version was just personally special for me.
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