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The Avengers 2012
Fourth, and probably last, viewing in the cinema. Still my favourite film of the year.
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The Avengers 2012
Forty years ago, when I was seven, I picked up my first Marvel comic and not long after that I discovered the Avengers. Since then I've dreamed of seeing these larger than life heroes up on the big screen but until the last few years it seemed like it was destined to remain just that, a dream.
Then Marvel began producing their own films, films that remained faithful to their comic book origins. But more than just producing films they…
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The Dark Knight Rises 2012
Christopher Nolan brings his Batman trilogy to a close with a suitably epic (though doubtless some will say bloated) finale. Bale gives his best performance of the series as does Gary Oldman while Morgan Freeman is on hand mainly for exposition. Michael Caine gives an emotional performance, one that worked for me, although he’s still an odd fit as Alfred. Of the newcomers Joseph Gordon-Levitt acquits himself well, although he’s not really essential to the plot and excising him could…
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Drive 2011
Despite my recent discovery, via The Ides of March, that Gosling's understated performance in Drive is less an acting choice and more his general state of being I still love this film. It's a case of a director picking an actor of limited range but one who perfectly embodies the part. It also has so much else going for it - great cinematography, a terrific retro score, Albert Brooks - that even if you remove Gosling from the equation it's still a magnificent piece of work.
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Skyfall 2012
Much as I enjoyed Skyfall (and I did enjoy it very much) I think the adulation heaped on it has gone a tad overboard. I think in years to come it will be looked at as a superior entry in the series but not as the Second Coming of Bond as it seems to be hailed as currently. But maybe that's just because I'm not a huge fan of Daniel Craig's Bond. One thing's for sure, it's a huge step in the right direction after Quantum of Solace!
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Looper 2012
I have to admit to dozing during the start of this. It just seemed to be going down the predictable route you'd expect from the trailer. Then it throws a curve ball that Isn't even hinted at in the trailer which really got my attention. To say more would spoil things but it's well worth your time.
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The Dark Knight 2008
Nolan’s second Batman film is bigger and bolder than its predecessor but not necessarily better. Bale overdoes the shouty Batman voice a bit this time out but is otherwise as good as he was in Batman Begins. Gary Oldman gets to flesh out Jim Gordon with the character more central to the plot this time, while Morgan Freeman’s Lucius Fox is little more than Batman’s answer to James Bond’s Q. I can’t say I cared much for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Rachel,…
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Prometheus 2012
It can't decide if it wants to be a serious science fiction epic or a prequel to Alien and ends up satisfying no one. It does however look spectacular and contain at least one excellent performance.
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The Cabin in the Woods 2012
Still holds up on second viewing remarkably well.
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The Cabin in the Woods 2012
It's rare to find a horror movie that's intelligent and inventive in this age of sequels/remakes/reboots. Cabin in the Woods is both of those things. It's also bloody good fun. It'll remind you why you fell in love with horror movies in the first place and it will give you hope for the future of the genre. What more could you ask for?
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Fight Club 1999
An anarchistic, angry film that's so blackly comic and un-PC that you have to wonder how it ever came through a Hollywood studio. This is the last Fincher film I really loved and probably the best film of almost everyone involved.
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The Hunger Games 2012
A well made action movie that suffers due to the constraints of its target audience, it's an inherently violent tale that can't show much violence. Lawrence is outstanding but the rest of the young cast make little impression, particularly the other contestants who get no character development at all. The future world reminded me a lot of the SF movies of the '70s, far more so than the more obvious Battle Royale or The Running Man comparisons that have been bandied about and with which it shares only basic plot similarities.
