Philhelm Scream
While I'm up to my eyes in my marketing diploma, I decided to let Phil write a little bit about himself and his blog, and show off his new clothes thanks to Jacamo! I'll be back to regular programming soon. Enjoy!
I’m not sure why Tom Hank’s fight against wrongful dismissal, HIV/AIDS, and homophobia in 1993’s Philadelphia would come up in conversation during a blind date, but it did at ours. However it happened, I was shocked that Charlotte had never seen it, and bought her a copy ahead of our second date as a surprise. I remember that same weekend Charlotte and her family watched (and loved) PHILadelphia, as well as Captain PHILlips, so I must have made quite an impression. Well that’s what I tell myself anyway. Our second date was also the first time we went to the cinema together. About Time was a pretty perfect ‘second date movie,’ but little did we know that would be the first cinema trip of many.
Seeing as I have since taken it upon myself to work through the list of films Charlotte has never seen, it’s odd that the first DVD we sat down together to watch was one we had both seen already. The night we watched The Departed will always be remembered as the last time Charlotte ever entrusted me to cook her salmon, and the first of many DVD nights. We often really struggle on a Sunday night to pick one out of the hundreds of films to watch on DVD, Blu Ray or Netflix, and recently introduced a new rule. I get to pick any film I like, but am not to tell Charlotte what it is. The film begins, and after 20 minutes of watching it she can then decide whether we’re to watch the rest. It’s a bit stressful, particularly when it’s a film you love, but it’s a great way of putting on something she may never pick from the pile of options you gather from the shelf. As of yet we have only done this once when we watched The Thing last weekend. The eerie soundtrack, isolated setting, and ambiguous character motivations sucked her in, and it passed the test. By the time it came to the gruesome practical effects of dogs splitting in half, and human heads sprouting legs, Charlotte was already hooked.
It didn’t take long after we started dating for Charlotte to jump aboard the Unlimited Card bandwagon at Cineworld. As I was already going 2 or 3 times a month it made sense for us to turn those trips into date nights. Watch this space as I know the subject of the card’s pros and cons is something Charlotte will explore in more detail herself. Since then we have managed to get our money’s worth and catch most new releases we have had our eye on, as well as the odd early preview thanks to the card. We’ve loved our cinema trips, but still enjoy going to those where our card isn’t valid. The Witch last year was even more terrifying in the beautifully characteristic Birmingham’s Electric theatre. As sad as we were to see The Cornerhouse cinema in Manchester close, we have both fallen in love with its replacement, Home cinema. Just down the road from our first flat together, we went for its opening day and caught an impromptu showing of another Tom Hanks classic (this is getting weird now…), Big. As I was rudely riddled with man flu last week during our anniversary, we’ve also just decided that Home is also going to play venue to our 3rd year anniversary date night tomorrow night.
Unless watching Fight Club and Snakes on a Plane on repeat counts (it doesn’t), Charlotte hadn’t seen a lot of films. She’s been spending a lot of her time travelling the USA, reading every book ever written, running this blog, smashing marathons, and cooking a different meal every day. All very impressive. But has she seen Kindergarten Cop? Does she know every line of The Sound of Music? Was she not entertained by Gladiator? This is where I come in, and I like to call it an education. Seeing as Charlotte is such a huge fan of compiling list, my phone has one of films we need to work through. These aren’t necessarily the best films ever made, but films that I grew up on and mean something to me… For every Indiana Jones, there is a Face Off. For every Mission Impossible, there is a Mission Impossible 2. Jurassic Park, Terminator 2 and Shallow Grave were massive hits. The less said about Marathon Man the better. As much as I poke fun at her for not having seen some of these before, it’s to Charlotte’s credit that she is so keen “to put it right.” She’s always enjoyed films, but just never had the same exposure to them as I did and it’s a lot of fun watching these through the eyes of someone seeing it for the first time. Maybe one day the tables will turn and I will be forced to read War & Peace, or sit through 17 Again. We’ll see.
Looking forward, the countdown to Christmas has already begun. Every year we now have a tradition of watching a DVD with Charlotte’s mum while her Dad is out for a few beers and eventually stumbles home with the gift of calzone. The first two years we watched Les Misérables, but as if it were not humanly possible to take that punishment for a third year, last Christmas was Airplane. I’m hoping for something similar this year, or at the very least Die Hard (Charlotte’s definitely coming round to my brave fight to convince the world that the greatest Christmas film is in fact Die Hard). After that, we both currently have our eyes fixed on Oscar season and are pretty much counting down the days already for the release of La La Land. What films are you all looking forward to at the moment, and which have a particularly special meaning to you and why?
Earlier this year, I jumped on the blogging bandwagon and started my own effort: Philhelm Scream. edit: Charlotte here. I want everyone to know that I get full credit for the name of Phil's blog. Don't get why I'm a pun genius? Read this. For more words about films, lists of films, and gifs of films, it’s a good place to go. Thank you very much for reading and putting up with me. Normal service will resume very soon I’m sure.
Love,
Phil
jacket - c/o Jacamo
tshirt - c/o Jacamo
trousers - Burton
shoes - c/o Jacamo
Unless watching Fight Club and Snakes on a Plane on repeat counts (it doesn’t), Charlotte hadn’t seen a lot of films. She’s been spending a lot of her time travelling the USA, reading every book ever written, running this blog, smashing marathons, and cooking a different meal every day. All very impressive. But has she seen Kindergarten Cop? Does she know every line of The Sound of Music? Was she not entertained by Gladiator? This is where I come in, and I like to call it an education. Seeing as Charlotte is such a huge fan of compiling list, my phone has one of films we need to work through. These aren’t necessarily the best films ever made, but films that I grew up on and mean something to me… For every Indiana Jones, there is a Face Off. For every Mission Impossible, there is a Mission Impossible 2. Jurassic Park, Terminator 2 and Shallow Grave were massive hits. The less said about Marathon Man the better. As much as I poke fun at her for not having seen some of these before, it’s to Charlotte’s credit that she is so keen “to put it right.” She’s always enjoyed films, but just never had the same exposure to them as I did and it’s a lot of fun watching these through the eyes of someone seeing it for the first time. Maybe one day the tables will turn and I will be forced to read War & Peace, or sit through 17 Again. We’ll see.
Looking forward, the countdown to Christmas has already begun. Every year we now have a tradition of watching a DVD with Charlotte’s mum while her Dad is out for a few beers and eventually stumbles home with the gift of calzone. The first two years we watched Les Misérables, but as if it were not humanly possible to take that punishment for a third year, last Christmas was Airplane. I’m hoping for something similar this year, or at the very least Die Hard (Charlotte’s definitely coming round to my brave fight to convince the world that the greatest Christmas film is in fact Die Hard). After that, we both currently have our eyes fixed on Oscar season and are pretty much counting down the days already for the release of La La Land. What films are you all looking forward to at the moment, and which have a particularly special meaning to you and why?
Love,
Phil
Comments
Post a Comment