We’re huge fans of the wonderful Neil White, though we’ve never met and never spoken. Well, by phone at least. The wonder of Twitter brought us together as it has so many millions of film buffs the world over. Neil is a special guy — in 2011, his goal was to watch EVERY FILM released in the UK that year. And not just watch them, but throw in his two cents on the flicks as well via his movie review blog. Now renamed everyfilmin2012 to reflect the new year, Neil’s site is up and running with the first 20+ films already there and reviewed. Below is Neil’s introduction to the 2012 project, taken straight off his blog:
“So, here it is, boys and girls, the 2012 challenge to see every film released in the UK. Last year, I wasn’t really prepared for the quest so pretty much winged it for the first month. This resulted in me being to far behind when I got a game plan together. I intend this year to be different. Fortunately, I am now known to quite a lot of movie folk and they are helpful in sending me more and more screeners (preview DVDs). Without these, everyfilm would fail. Anyway, last year I wasn’t quite clear on my parameters, so here’s my rules and regs this time:
– Any film which is released in the UK and appears at any cinema for more than three days must be seen.
– I will continue to review one-off screenings, if I see them but one-offs will not count on the must-see list.
– I will also attempt to get DVD recordings of movies which have appeared without sub-titles so I can give reviews later in the year. They will, however, not appear on the not-seen list.
All clear? Well, maybe not, but I can assure you of a blog with more reviews of new releases than any other in the UK. However, do not fret if you want to read a release of a 2011 film…they are still available on everyfilmin2011.com
So away we go…enjoy the ride.”
We know you’re probably quite curious about who in their right mind would attempt such a thing. Luckily, the UK press have given Neil a lot of coverage, thus we’re all able to learn more about the man behind the challenge — for starters, he’s from Chilwell in Nottingham and is a journalist with the Derby Telegraph. Be sure to read the stories we’re sharing below to get more info on Neil, and if you’re up on Twitter, you can keep up with him there @everyfilmin2012. And for all you fellow Lowellians who might be reading this, Neil’s favorite film of 2011 was The Fighter. BooYah!
Steady on, film friend, and much luck to you from this side of the pond!
Learn more about Neil’s challenge and a bit about Neil himself:
“Film buff attempts to watch every UK release in 2011” — (BBC Nottingham, Feb. 25, 2011)
“Film critic vows to watch every 2012 UK cinema release” — (BBC News, England, Dec. 23, 2011)
“The midlife crisis that turned into a 600-film odyssey” — (The UK Independent, Dec. 28, 2011)
lowellfilmcollaborativema.org 