Letterboxd — Your life in film

Up until now, I never truly understood all the fuss about Joss Whedon. I never related to Buffy, never got into Firefly or Dollhouse, and while I enjoyed Serenity I didn't worship it like some. But at long last, Whedon has delivered a piece of work that blew me away, one I truly believe will swiftly enter the pantheon of classic action-adventure movies. The Avengers is not only far and away the best of Marvel's (mostly impressive) movie staple, it's…

My preparation for the last in Christopher Nolan's Bat trilogy continues in rewatching The Dark Knight, the middle part of his Batman saga. People frequently compare this to Batman Begins, unfairly to my mind as this is a completely different texture of movie; if Begins was a gloomy origin story and character study of Bruce Wayne's fear, Dark Knight is a Gotham crime epic that, this time, explores what it means to be Batman and the consequences of his caped…

I must have seen Inception a dozen times now, and on every single viewing it feels like the first time around. That surely testifies to the genuine brilliance pouring from Christopher Nolan's epic, which I first reviewed on release back in July 2010; that review, for the most part, stands below as I feel the same way about this movie as I did the first time I experienced it. Simply, this is exactly what a modern blockbuster should truly be…

One of the first things that struck me about The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was just how familiar the whole thing felt, like revisiting some old friends you haven't seen in quite some time. It soon becomes clear Peter Jackson, in his second Tolkien trilogy, is looking to in fact create a six-film journey ultimately, from here to The Return of the King. On the one hand, it adds a texture that speaks to a bigger sense of mythology, yet…

We think we know the story, the tagline reads - immediately suggesting the truth is far from it, and in that respect The Cabin in the Woods does not disappoint. It takes a great many of the horror movie cliches - primarily a group of hot young things heading to an isolated retreat to go wild, only to be hunted by EVIL - and turns them upside down, spitting them out alongside a surfeit of utterly bizarre but ultimately quite…

This was one of those movies I'd heard amazing things about for years but simply never got around to watching, for some reason. Obviously then, expectations were high.

I'm a big fan of Fincher, plus I think both Pitt and Norton are bloody great actors when given the right material. So it obviously comes as no surprise to declare all three outstanding - Pitt magnetic as the self-confident, visionary 'Tyler Durden', Norton maintaining an impressive grounded nasal monotone narration and…

Star Trek aside, this has been the film of 2009 for me in terms of anticipation. I love WW2 films. I love Tarantino (mostly - don't mention Death Proof). I read the script of this a year ago online and loved it. So does it meet expectations? I can happily say yes. This really won't (and hasn't) been everyone's cup of earl grey. It'll even divide Tarantino fans. Despite a certain line in the film, this is NOT his masterpiece.…