January 2012 was packed with posts that looked back on 2011 and ahead to a very promising 2012. I wanted to take a moment to recap all the content that was posted over the last few weeks.
You’ll find ‘best of’ posts, 2012 previews, announcements and much more!
The Athletic Nerd has truly become a big part of my life. Waking up each morning and posting something new from the world of movies was merely a dream a few years ago. I never thought I would make the time to keep up with the enormous amount of work a daily blog demands. Overall, 2011 was a fantastic year that saw the biggest jump in traffic, a brand new look and tons of original content.
When I thought about my goals for 2012 I couldn’t help but feel excited. But goals still need to be set, met and exceeded.
The Athletic Nerd, at it’s core, is a blog about the movies that inspire the aspiring filmmaker. It’s about the passion that fills the pages of a screenplay, the dedication that fuels a director on set and the commitment of an editor pouring over footage in the cutting room. Over the last 2.5 years, I’ve written about virtually everything in some capacity including marketing films, producing and how social media influences a new generation of artists.
I love to write about film. I’m excited to continue writing about my own filmmaking adventures but more than ever, I’m excited to write about the adventures of others. From featuring films in the latest edition of The Post to interviewing filmmakers about their work, I’ve covered tons of projects over the last year.
2012 will come with an increased focus on interviews and features. I’ve spent over 2 years developing a work flow for this blog and now I’m ready to refine it. 2012 will be the year I take the content to the next level. When I start a new screenplay, I challenge myself to be better. This blog is no different.
This post happens to be number 800 overall. 800 posts about movies, screenwriting & independent film. 2012 will see the arrival of my 1000th post. I recently received page hit number 500,000. Half a million! I can’t wait to find out which milestones I’ll be chasing next year.
I’m excited to share the projects that resulted from the fire sparked by the movies I love.
As always, send any suggestions, comments or links to your films to jason@17west.ca
It’s hard to believe this is the third annual edition of The Bottom 3. So far I’ve crowned two ‘champions’. 2009′s X-Men Origins: Wolverine and 2010′s Dinner For Schmucks. This year was more about disappointments then crappy movies. I was pretty excited to see each of the three listed below before they crashed and/or burned.
3. Sucker Punch
Sucker Punch was frustrating. It looked cool, it sounded cool and it was full of things I had never seen before. However, it was also confusing. Having said that, I’ve created a couple posts that generated a ton of discussion on what the story means and I appreciate the film a lot more now. That saved Sucker Punch from the number 1 spot this year but it was still pretty bad.
The Green Lantern made me angry. It had so much promise. But the film spent too much time building up The Green Lantern’s back story and forgot it was supposed to be a fun summer ACTION movie. By the time he reached his full potential I was bored. Too bad.
The Green Hornet was really bad. I figured it would be fun and the action looked cool but ultimately it was the biggest disappointment of the year. It also happened to be the first movie I saw in 2011. That’s how bad it was. It stayed number 1 for a year!
I will say this… The final action sequence was pretty sweet.
I started preparing my Top 5 movies of 2010 a few weeks back and quickly realized that I could only make a case for 4…
Today I found the 5th.
The Fighter
Except I almost didn’t make it in time…
The movie was showing at 12:20.
It should have been easy to make it in time but a series of events including the dog needing a quick bath complicated things a bit.
I’m really started to get annoyed with the TTC these days. I’m considering filming some of these adventures with my phone just to show people how many times I get to the subway and JUST MISS a train. I suppose I can’t fault the TTC but it would be nice to arrive just as a train comes IN to the station.
Today I missed all three of my connections by 15 seconds or less. It’s aggravating.
If I would have made 1 of them, things would have been a lot better.
Regardless, once I reached the theater, I was sure that being 12-15 minutes late would mean missing the first 5 minutes of the movie.
I was wrong.
Apparently, you can be up to 20 minutes late for a movie and not miss a thing. I had time to buy my ticket, check out the theater, leave the theater to buy 2 hot dogs, a quick washroom break and back to find a seat.
I even ate one of the hot dogs before the movie started.
Still, I would have loved to see ALL the trailers but I’m not complaining. I got to see every frame of a pretty fantastic movie.
How good was The Fighter?
The true story of Mickey Ward and his brother Dicky Eklund is one I’ve never heard of before. I’ve never really been a boxing fan let alone a boxing historian so I went in not knowing anything about these two boxers.
I absolutely loved The Fighter.
Christian Bale’s Dicky is a triumph. It’s a performance that should earn Bale the Academy Award.
I went in expecting an underdog story but was surprised to find a movie about a family and the struggle to find success. The Fighter takes you from the rock bottom life of drugs, poverty and despair all the way to championship glory and redemption.
It’s an inspiring story and well worth the trip to the theater no matter how late I was.
Thankfully, I’m happy I was there for the first scene where you truly get a sense of how Christian Bale transformed himself into Dicky. It’s remarkable.
The rest of the cast including Mark Walberg and Amy Adams are also at the top of their game.
Find out next week where this film ranks on my top 5 of 2010. I would have been happy to write a Top 4 post but it’s still a relief that I found time to see The Fighter.
Now that I’ve officially entered YEAR TWO, it’s time to stop looking back and start looking ahead at a busy sophomore year.
I’ve definitely learned a lot over the last 12 months but it means nothing if I don’t continue to develop and evolve this site.
Next year, I’m hoping to really ramp up the content. You’ll see more focused posts and features than ever before. There will still be all the regular features like 10 Flicks and All Time Best but I’ll be working as hard as possible to make them better.
I’d also like to bring in content from outside sources. So let this be an open call:
If you’ve got an interest in independent film, movies or screenwriting and a few posts you’d like to see on The Athletic Nerd. Send them my way!
On a personal note, I’ve challenged myself to become a better writer. It’s time to really find out what I’m made of in both the blogging and screenwriting worlds. As a result, expect some personal posts about this important journey. I couldn’t be happier about the year that lies ahead.
Bring it on!
As always, I want to hear from you! If you have any suggestions about this site feel free to comment or email me.
