I didn't get to see
Twilight : Breaking Dawn, Fast Five, Rio, The Adjustment Bureau and quite a few others
My Top 10
10. The Inbetweeners Movie
British humour at it’s best, with the influx of British comedy getting the americanised treatment (the office amongst others) it’s surpising they haven’t picked up inbetweeners yet, surely after this film they will. It is an unfortunately familiar situation to find young british youths abroad flaunting their britishness in the most unflattering of ways and this film captures that to a T, brutally funny!
9. Arthur
Russel Brand is very much love him or hate him, but even the latter people won’t be able to deny that he is very watchable in this film, mainly because he is clearly having a ball with a role he enjoyed playing. The film is good fun and has a lot of genuine laugh out loud moments, such as the very first scene involving a car chase between police cars…and the batmobile with a drunken Arthur behind the wheel.
8. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
Another one of the “is this a prequel or a reboot or a bit of both” films, but one that is very welcome, the motion capture affects are fantastically rendered and a well conceived storyline that fits in with the whole planet of the apes universe nicely. No doubt this will be another cash cow to milk with potential for sequels…prequel-sequels… I don’t even know what to call them
7. Drive
If ever there was a film that looked like it had been sent to the future from about 25-30 years ago this is it. A very subdued and delicate style of filming with a VERY retro 80’s soundtrack (even though the songs are quite recent), it’s almost like the film is embarrassed to stand up and be counted amongst more modernistic films, but maybe that’s the genius behind it. Not quite as many big stunts as I expected from a film called Drive, a few moments of quite surprising brutal violence thrown in, definitely the sleeper hit of the year.
6. Thor
Whereas some of the other marvel films have been looking like extended trailers for next years Avengers movie, Thor kept it’s avengers references to a minimum which helped me enjoy the movie for what it was a lot more. Some of the scenes when he’s getting used to earth are among some of the funniest I’ve seen this year. A superhero film that doesn’t just rely on the good guy kicking the shit out the bad guy, a lot of character development and CG used to good effect rather than just for the hell of it.
5. Insidious
It’s been a LONG time since I’ve seen a decent horror film that wasn’t done suing hand held camera (ala paranormal activity) but out of nowhere came Insidious which did exactly what it was meant to do… I shat my pants! I watched this film with 3 other grown men and we were all shriveling wrecks by the end! THIS is what horror films should be! A well thought-out (even if the last 3rd is just a touch wonky) idea that immerses you and is just out to scare you! Yes a few loud bangs are used in some places but it a sufficiently creepy tone and slow effective build ups make this the best horror I’ve seen in a while
4. Kung Fu Panda 2
It’s rare that I find a sequel superior to an original (Terminator 2 springs to mind but not many more) but this sequel is everything a sequel should be, it retains all the features of the first that made it appeal and makes them even better. And I’m so glad they finally addressed the issue of his dad being a goose! It’s good to see Dreamworks providing some competiton to Pixar who also brought out a sequel this year (Cars 2) which wasn’t that great.
3. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2
A film that sends of Harry Potter the way he should be, with a bang! A film that matches the dark and gritty nature of the book, originally I didn’t see the point in splitting the last book into two films but now I see why. A great end to the series and maybe even the best Potter film of the lot.
2. Rango
The first feature film created by Industrial Light and Magic (who did special effects for Star Wars amongst other films). With Pixar and Dreamworks leading the feature film animation race, they may have to look over their shoulder because Rango for me is the best animation of the year! With a great story and memorable characters to match. It is a film that will appeal to both kids and adults in different ways, reminiscent of some of Pixar’s classics such as Finding Nemo and Toy Story.
1. X-Men : First Class
In these days of reboots and sequels/prequels to just about anything that’s made money, you’d be forgiven for thinking this might just be an unnecessary milking of a franchise already with 3 main movies and a spin off already under it’s belt. But this as a standalone film carries everything you’d want from a superhero origin movie. It’s fun, well-cast and well-written. It’s a little bit grittier than the previous films, not afraid to be blunt and brutal in places, which suits the tone down to the ground. In these days of TV series such as Heroes and Misfits cashing in on the idea of groups of people with powers coming together, this is a reminder that the X-Men did it first.
My Top 10 worst
10. Sucker Punch
A nice idea and an from an original screenplay which is rare these days, but ultimately a mess. Some stylish visuals and a nice effort on the soundtrack (remixing classic songs sung by the cast) can’t cover up a plot that is confusing and in some bits just downright bizarre. Emily Browning might be easy on the eyes but the look on the other characters faces implies they have about as much idea of what’s going on as we do.
9. Pirates Of The Carribean : On Stranger Tides
This one will undo the general clumsiness and the we-forgot-what-made-the-pirates-films-entertaing-in-the-first-place menatility of the last two pirates films they said…. Like hell they did, this one makes all the same mistakes, and crucially Jack Sparrow doesn’t get to be fun! Johnny Depp almost looks bored on the screen, they should of just kept it simple like the first one!
8. The Green Hornet
I swear Seth Rogen used to be funny? On this evidence he could of fooled me. An action comedy that just forgets to have fun and the action is a bit lame too. The guy playing Kato is ok and maybe should of had this film to himself, might have been more watchable
7. Scream 4
Of all the films that the Scary Movie series mimicks it is the scream films that most took a bashing from it, and this film serves as nothing more than a reminder of exactly why the scream films were so easy to rip the piss out of. This fourth entry coming 10 years after the last one (lack of ideas and not much work going for the cast… perhaps?) is a farce in itself, no need for a new scary movie film to mimick it, it’s done it itself!
6. Transformers : Dark Of The Moon
If the first Transformers was ok, the second one was a bit crap, this one continues the downward spiral of these films, the robots look amazing… but a run time of 2 hours 20 minutes is too long to stretch out a plot that’s as thin as a knitting needle. Please stop now Michael Bay, you’ve done enough!
5. Beastly
A modern retelling of Beauty and The Beast with a plot that moves so slowly it's almost at snail’s pace, even Neil Patrick Harris (totally wasted) in a small role can’t save this film from being a total washout, 10 minutes after I’d forgotten everything that happens.
4. The Hangover Part 2
The Hangover was one of the funniest films to come out in ages, this sequel unashamedly is not so much sequel as it is almost shot for shot remake with all the same actors just in a different location! All the jokes have been done before (in the first Hangover film no less) rendering this a total waste of time.
3. Priest
Legion was for me the worst film of 2009, this film takes the same director, the same lead star and also contains biblical themes in it’s narrative…. When all the ingredients make a shit pie then you go out and make another one with the same ingredients what did you think was gonna happen?
2. Red Riding Hood
A modern-ish retelling of the classic story…that completely ventures off into some very weird territory in places, not sure what kind of audience this film is trying to appeal to, an utter mess.
1. Battle : Los Angeles
Search me for what exactly they were trying to achieve with this film, I saw this at the cinema and genuinely felt like I’d been robbed of £7. I can’t think of any film from this year that had less going for it than this one, avoid like the plague!
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