Another milestone to celebrate on the site, last month another one of my posts reached over 1,000 views.
From my series of posts Minor Roles That Had A Major Impact published in 2017, this one centred around the Learner Driver named Stephanie caught up in a movie car chase in the comedy The Naked Gun who rises to the occasion.
A classic example of a minor character having a huge effect on the plot and just making an impact in terms of the quality of the performance.
And now some stats for the sake of those who love stats. The post was originally published 17MAR2017 and closed out 2017 as the 8th most popular post on my blog from 2017 with 89 views. It currently sits at 1,051 views having reached 1,000 views on the 22nd of January this year. The most popular month so far was September 2018 where it accumulated 101 views, the only time thus far it has reached triple digits in a month. That month had a daily average of 3 views. Most days there is at least one view on average. It currently has 16 likes from my fellow bloggers.
I don’t know if these posts appear silly, self-congratulatory or just embarrassing. But I never thought so many people might read any of my post when I started blogging five years ago let alone 1,000 so whenever it happens it feels like something worth noting. I hope you enjoy.
-Lloyd Marken
The second most viewed post this year was about 
Rounding out the Top 15 are the last two film reviews with 10 Likes equally. On paper one is a old school masculine driven film and the other a revived franchise that re-casts women as the central heroes. Both have similarities though, in The Nice Guys a young daughter is usually the most sensible and smartest person in the room despite the guys loudly throwing punches and shooting guns, she maybe the one who makes the biggest difference. Both are also about people having to face overwhelming challenges to find out who they really are and take up that mantle. In one two damaged but good men discover they can do the right thing and in the other women surrounded by naysayers prove they maybe the only ones who can save us from Ghosts. Sadly I found The Nice Guys a delight despite a third act finale that didn’t quite take off for me but Ghostbusters was another example of a tired old regular reboot blockbuster. Not bad by any stretch but lacking the laughs and confident subversion of Paul Feig’s previous films.
As a film buff, Hail, Caesar! may speak to me more than the average cinema goer. There’s the usual clever Coen dialogue to be found here and even a lot of depth underneath the surface. I doubt it will go down as one of their classics, it feels very much like an inbetweener (yes I know this isn’t a real word) for them but I liked it quite a bit and you can’t deny what the heart wants – the heart wants.
Those who may say women can’t serve in combat may want to look up Cpl Norris. A 19 year old medic when deployed to Iraq she became the first female soldier ever to be awarded the Military Cross. Subsequently 3 other female soldiers have earned the Gallantry Award.
Part of an ongoing series of blogs about hikes I’ve been on, I gained confidence from the excellent 
It may surprise some to find out that the South Vietnamese military had one particularly good leader who was respected by all sides and would eventually turn back a North Vietnamese invasion in 1962 when mass American ground troops had left South East Asia. He lost the war he fought and his country but he never stopped rising to every occasion including re-settling in America with his family and making a new life.
Well this is awkward, this was a similarly themed post from April and includes shouts outs to reviews from previous years like my love for 
Not a particularly good film or good review but it’s nice to have fans.
What I like to call a clean review. Fairly concise, not too boring to read hopefully and sums up what is good about a pretty decent movie. The number of likes probably reflects an interest in the film itself which has been getting good notices.
I felt inspired writing this review to touch upon this guy I knew in high school who became a bit of a success story. The film itself didn’t bowl me over but there were funny moments to be had and The Rock and Kevin Hart are two very likeable star personalities who played well off each other.
Star Trek: Beyond has been well received by most critics and fans so pay to attention to my opinion but here it is for those that are interested and it seems to have intrigued some.
Karen and I went hiking one day up at the Sunshine Coast Hinterland Great Walks and came across an echidna in the wild which was a real treat. I also touch upon a trip we took with her grandfather to the same area not long before he passed away.
Blame ![article-1216591-025CB87C000004B0-562_470x423[1]](https://backtothedrawingboardproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/article-1216591-025cb87c000004b0-562_470x4231.jpg?w=354&h=318)
The closing paragraph I’m particularly proud of but at the end of the day this soldier’s story tells of extraordinary courage and sacrifice and should never be forgotten.
Brooklyn maybe my favourite film of last year, maybe not the best I’m quite happy 
I went for broke trying to be funny here and I’m quite happy with the results. It’s the first time I got to write about Jennifer Garner and I hold no shame in that. People have gone cold on the film already saying it’s not that original and the marketing sold it. Fuck them. Any idiot could say the filmmakers edited around a standard origin story but there’s wit here that you just don’t get in many blockbusters anymore and it punches above its weight in terms of budget and action sequences. In a summer of disappointments Deadpool stands tall against all odds as the little blockbuster that could AND DID.
Back to the Drawing Board Productions 