Neil White - the boy done good
ONE man who has excelled himself in the past year is my old friend, Neil White, a former fellow trainee at the Birmingham Post & Mail turned deputy editor of the Derby Telegraph.
How did his achievements with '606' knock Robbie Savage into a cocked hat?
Find out by clicking on the link below.
FORGET Robbie Savage on Radio Five Live's sports phone-in show, 606.
The many you need to follow re that number is Neil White.
At the beginning of 2011 exactly 12 months ago, he decided to see how many movies he could see in a year and he ended up with... 606.
True, many of his reviews at www.everyfilmin2011.com were appearing days, weeks and even months behind mine in Birmingham (eg Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol was seven days later, Mademoiselle Chambon a whole two months).
But, by any stretch of the imagination, when you are deputy editor of a leading regional newspaper and you've had a bad back (those Showcase rocking seats don't exactly give you any lumbar support, me old fruit), it's no mean achievement to get to 606 movies in your spare time.
Even if you are relying on old films and DVD versions to boost your numbers.
Given that at the same time that he's mostly likely been crying in his sleep because his beloved Coventry City have been bottom of the Championship, I'd go so far as to say that Neil White's ultimate form of distraction therapy has turned into one of the great achievements in British cinema history.
And one which should be dedicated to snow, hail, rain or shine filmgoers everywhere.
It's the public's devotion far more than ours which keeps the industry alive despite the sometimes poor product (please pack it in, Messrs Sandler & Black), the screening cock-ups (I had to ask for films to be shown in the correct ratio half a dozen times in 2011), the noisy-bag rustlers, the phone-checkers and the inflated prices of concessions etc.
On top of that, there's the sometimes infuriating way that distributors can make our jobs much harder than it needs to be by either not showing us stuff in advance or by making it doubly-difficult to get to some screenings (e.g. London on a Saturday afternoon for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2011).
But, by and large, there's still nothing to beat seeing the BBFC certificate of a new film popping up on a giant screen... and then wondering if what you are about to see will stay with you for the rest of your life.
Enjoy every film in 2012.
And see if you can keep up with Whitey at www.everyfilmin2012.com
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Graham Young
