The Moviesite Spotlight: Cinematic Delights

Welcome to this week’s Moviesite Spotlight. For those who wonder what this is:

Every week I read a lot of great movie related blogs and I thought it was time to give the ones I visit regularly a chance to shine in the spotlight, by interviewing its writers.

This week’s interview is with Claire, writer of Cinematic Delights.

What’s the history of your site, why did you start it?
I started writing my blog back in September 2009 as writing a blog was a requirement for the journalism diploma I was studying. After I graduated in July 2010 I decided to carry on writing – by then writing my blog had become my main hobby.

It wasn’t until February/March of last year that I really started connecting with other movie bloggers, though. I can’t remember exactly how I found him but Scott over at Front Room Cinema was one of the first bloggers I connected with. From there I met Ruth at Flix Chatter, Terrence over at The Focused Filmographer and, of course, this blog!

What makes your movie blog different from the other ones out there?
I guess you’d have to ask my readers! I used to feature more ‘newsy’ items like the latest trailers and posters but I wasn’t really keeping track of what was happening! Now I write more features – recent features have included Top 10 Movie Animals and Top 10 Movie Dads. I also have a few regulars. At the moment my regular features are Musical Monday and Favourites Friday, and I like to write posts celebrate the birthdays of my favourite actors, actresses and directors as well.

What do enjoy most about your site and what is the reason you keep doing it?
It has to be other people’s comments. In my day to day life there are only a couple of people I can really talk to about movies. My fellow movie bloggers are on the same wavelength as me and I always appreciate reading what they have to say. My blog allows me to interact with other movie
lovers around the world – I have regular conversations with people as far away as America and New Zealand!

In which ways has your blogging changed the way you watch movies?
Well, I watch a lot more movies than I used to. I go to the cinema more often and I have also signed up to LOVEFiLM, which is a movie rental service. When it comes to actually watching movies I’ve always been the ‘on the edge of your seat’ kind-of movie goer, so not much has changed in that respect.

What’s your favourite article you have written?

Now this is a toughie… There’s a few that spring to mind including my recent Top 10 Movie Dads post and my A Life in Movies post that was part of Fandango Groover’s blog-a-thon. I’m going to go for my Top 10: Fantasy movie locations post, though. I turned a rather lovely shade of green while I was writing it! It was the first Top 10 that I wrote and, as I’ll explain later, the fantasy genre is my absolute favourite.

Could you name five of your all time favourite movies?

My absolute favourite films are The Lord of the Rings trilogy. If I had to pick one then it’d be The Two Towers.
At the time of writing, my other choices would be

Jurassic Park

True Romance

The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Footloose (the original!) – quite an eclectic mix!

How many movies do you watch on average each week?
Not that many to be honest, probably two or three. Most of my movie viewing is at the weekends, when I can relax and really get lost in what I’m watching.

Do you own any movie related items that you are very proud of?
I have a few bits and pieces but my favourite items would be my The Lord of the Rings memorabilia: I have an Evenstar necklace, a pewter goblet adorned with images of Aragorn and, of course, a replica of the One Ring. Another favourite item is my Batman print, which is a limited edition of 75 by a UK artist. It has the rather excellent title, ‘Flawed Genius’.

Anything else you want to tell us about yourself?
A little while ago Max over at Impassioned Cinema called me ‘LOTR fangirl’, and it really made me smile. While I do enjoy watching all different types of movies, the fantasy genre is my absolute favourite – my least favourite is horror as I am a big baby and would watch most of the movie from behind my hands!

If I could walk around in a movie then it’d have to be something along the lines of The Lord of the Rings, Robin Hood or The Princess Bride – I’m a sucker for the medieval period and anything involving magic. In fact, I am quite a medieval geek… During my English degree I took a module called ‘Arthurian Adaptations’, which was all about Arthurian romances, and I used to work at a castle for two years during my university holidays! Yep, the nickname LOTR fangirl suits me pretty well!