Letterboxd — Your life in film

'Mummy was very bad.'

My hopes were high for this movie, and I wasn't disappointed. It's one of the most handsome movies I've ever seen, and consistently so. On top of which, each setting is gorgeous, atmospheric and quintessentially Bond.

The story focused on Judi Dench's M here, she's the catalyst for craziness that goes down, and it's good to have drama linked so strongly to someone that Bond has a close relationship with. It's why Casino Royale resonated, why…

'The movies that you're dressing like are just copying other movies.'

Okay, so: Joe is a Looper, Loopers kill folks sent back through time for crime syndicates in the future, they get a big payday when the person they kill is themselves - referred to as 'closing your loop' - at which point they have 30 years to live in luxury before being sent back to be killed. Oh, and certain members of the human population have started developing low-level…

Disappointing and deeply unsatisfying but above all a missed opportunity. There was no tension, the threats often lacked clarity, the film seemed to make a virtue of the protagonist's faith whilst portraying it as inane...

I liked the sequence early on with David alone on the ship (this is where the movie should have started, we didn't need to see the origin of man or the discovery of the map at all) and the initial encounter with the space-cobra-thing, as…

'That was the GIRL that did that!'

I'm a huge Wes Anderson fan, and this was garnering a lot of praise, so I went in with fairly high expectations, which is rarely a good idea. I expected to like this more than I did, but having said that, I did really enjoy it and I think my love for it will only grow.

All the hallmarks of an Anderson picture are present and correct, but it's great to see him…

'Don't be afraid...'

Such a good film. All the stuff up to and including Batman's first appearance is stellar and really holds up, the photography is great and the scene where the audience gets a criminal's POV of Batman is genius (emulated fairly well by The Incredible Hulk, where it makes less sense). I'm less keen on some of the stylistic choices in the latter half of the film, especially when compared with followup The Dark Knight, but it hardly…

'You look ready.'

This film is easily compared with The Raid, which has essentially the same setup, without the bells and whistles of futuristic drugs and sexy psychic Olivia Thirlby. The Raid, being a relatively low budget martial arts flick, impressed me more. The Raid overcame a neat but slim premise by being extremely creative with its action, not just in its fight choreography, but with the basic setups of each individual conflict. Dredd was brutal, and entertaining, but ultimately…

'No crying, y'hear?'

This film is majestic, engaging, fantastical, dreamlike and socially relevant. If that doesn't appeal, then damn. It's no wonder it took the festival circuit by storm, especially coming from nowhere - Benh Zeitlin is definitely going to be feeling the pressure when it comes to his follow-up feature, but I'm really excited to see what he does next.

The central father-daughter relationship really absolutely makes the film. Usually it would bother me that such a young child…

'I'm an apex predator...'

As a comic book reader, superhero movies not based on comics have to do quite a bit to impress me. It's a challenge to compete with adaptations, which have a rich history of source material to draw from, the central concept and themes of which have been refined over decades, and needless to say even the vast majority of adaptations don't turn out so great. So I'm pleased Chronicle can join Unbreakable and The Incredibles in…

'We're not bad people, we just come from a bad place...'

That line is as close as this movie comes to providing context for Michael Fassbender's sex addict Brandon and his depressed sister, which is nothing you wouldn't have guessed. The film depicts Brandon's depravity graphically and effectively, and is utterly focussed on its theme, but despite the great performances and excellent storytelling, the lack of context or sense of character development prevents it from being as satisfying a watch…

'It is not the violence that sets a man apart, alright, it is the distance that he's prepared to go.'

Some people cannot stand Shia LaBeouf. I am not one of those people. Those who intensely dislike the guy may find some enjoyment in his being beaten to a pulp in this movie. More than once. The rest of us can enjoy what is a pretty strong central performance; LaBeouf's character, Jack, is a sniveling punk from the start that…