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Brave 2012
Delightful, witty, utterly charming and assuredly Scottish; thank God we didn't have to put up with an American voice cast adopting iffy Scottish accents or a Rod Stewart soundtrack! Speaking of which the original songs by the Gaelic folk legend that is Julie Fowlis are wonderful.
It was nice to hear Emma Thompson give her Suzie Kettles from Tutti Frutti voice an airing once more, as well as be reunited with her co-star from that, Robbie Coltrane.
Kelly Macdonald is superb and cutely charismatic as Merida, hopefully giving a whole new generation of little girls a princess heroine to aspire to be.
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21 Jump Street 2012
Meta humoured, self referential laugh out loud funny buddy cop movie based on a shit and largely forgotten 80s TV show that just happened to be Johnny Depp's big break.
Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum make for a likeable duo and, though it gets a little too mawkish once in a while and occasionally has patches were it feels like it's running out of steam or is overstaying its welcome, you're never too far away from a good one liner…
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Midnight in Paris 2011
I wanted to love this. I'm a Woody fan but I can't say he's made something amazing for some time. This was lauded as a return to form and whilst it has a lightness of touch that has been lacking in recent efforts it still doesn't add up to a classic or anywhere near Annie Hall, Manhattan or Hannah and Her Sisters. Overall, I can't help but wonder if Woody has been watching BBC1's 'Goodnight Sweetheart' from the 1990s
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Thor 2011
Apart from some good bits (the fish out of water Earth scenes, shades of the Superman films in places) this could easily have been called Snore! Good to see Stringer Bell still running a corner even in a God like Kingdom in space! Viking mythology is cool, the cast is rather good, but the actual film-like pretty much all Marvel comic book adaptations-feels a bit flat on the whole.
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Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol 2011
Firstly, I'm actually bemused that this is now the third sequel to De Palma's original remake of the TV series. I'd never have guessed this would have such legs and, all told, I'm not entirely sure it has given that the other two sequels were hit and miss affairs. Even this, which is all well and good and definitely superior to the two before it, is still just a bit well...empty.
I always find myself wondering just who is the…
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The Artist 2011
Turns out the adage 'they don't make 'em like that anymore' was wrong.
Or was it? Let's not get ahead of ourselves or wrapped up in the hype, finally settling almost a year after it swept the board at The Oscars, because The Artist seldom truly recreates the look or feel of a silent movie. Not for The Artist the faithful recreation of the films of that time, like Tarantino would employ in his own homage to yesteryear movie making…
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Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981
The ultimate blockbuster.
The booby traps, Alfred Molina double crossing, Paul Freeman's suave arch rival/nemesis, the stunning locations, the John Williams score, Karen Allen being hot, the Nazi monkey, just shooting the sword wielding bad guy, Ronald Lacey's Peter Lorre homage and THAT coat hanger gag, snakes - why did it have to be snakes?, Pat Roach's burly bald headed mechanic, Wolf Kahler's Nazi, the opening of The Ark and that spooky perfect ending.
Oh and Denholm Elliott's Marcus Brody here is brilliant, serious and not at all like the comic relief (which was excellent as well) in The Last Crusade.
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Captain America: The First Avenger 2011
Overall dull, with a sterling supporting cast of British actors terribly wasted - JJ Field, Hayley Attwell, new Who girl Jenna Louise Coleman, Richard Armitage, Natalie Dormer and Dominic Cooper to name but a few. But there is the excellent British character actor Toby Jones who seems to be channelling Ronald Lacey of Raiders Of The Lost Ark (as opposed to his dad Freddie) and indeed there's even a small tip of the hat to that far superior film in…
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X-Men: First Class 2011
Superhero fantasy James Bond meets sci fi Embarrassing Bodies!
And the moral of the story? Don't trust a stripper...especially of the flying variety. They'll ditch you and the Big Brother style house you're holed up in as soon as look at you.
Flippancy aside, this a thoroughly good watch and the only film from Matthew Vaughn and Jane 'Mrs Wossy' Goldman that I've actually completely enjoyed.
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The Grey 2012
Not the life story of Philip Schofield then, instead The Grey is another in the Liam Neeson: Middle Aged Action Man series (a sort of ageing Jason Statham if you will) from the director of an earlier entry in the series, The A Team's Joe Carnahan.
At least in this one Neeson isn't attempting an American accent. Though let's be honest, there's never much of an attempt really. His voice just gets more gravelly.
The Grey is little more than…
