Top 25 Films of 2011: The Top Ten

For those of you who missed my first blog I will just reiterate that if a film was released in 2011 but nominated for this year's Best Picture Oscar . So without further ado here are the Top Ten which again will be in alphabetical order.

Animal Kingdom 

And after stating my rules for the list I sort of go and break them. Australian crime drama Animal Kingdom was indeed nominated for an Oscar but as it didn't feature in the Best Picture list I've decided to include it. Another reason it's in the list is that it is a brilliant piece of work and was rightfully awarded for the brilliant supporting performance from Jacki Weaver as the sinister grandmother Smurf. Animal Kingdom is told through the eyes of 17 year old J who is forced to live with his mother's estranged family after she dies of an overdose. It becomes clear that the Cody family are a notorious crime gang led by J's monstrous Uncle Pope. The story basically comes to a head with a shocking incident about halfway through in which J has to decide whether he's on the side of the police, headed by a moustached Guy Pearce, or if he is aligned with his family. I loved everything about Animal Kingdom from the way it was filmed to the performances - Weaver in particular creating a character who accepts her sons' behaviour as long as she gets to shower them with affection. As I said earlier with Snowtown this has been a great year as far as Australian cinema is concerned and I think in particular their gritty outback scenery is a great backdrop for gripping crime dramas as has been proved multiple times in 2011.

The Artist 

I think if any of us thought twelve months ago that an almost completely silent film in black and white was one of the favourites to win the Best Picture we'd have been utterly out of our minds. But that's before Michel Hazanavicius wrote and directed this fabulously charming piece of cinema which evokes memories of pre-sound cinema. Concentrating on the fictional movie star George Valentin it shows how the advent of the talkies prevented some of the stars of the silent age from advancing in their careers. As Valentin's career is on a downward spiral we see aspiring star Peppy Miller go from strength to strength after briefly meeting George in her first feature. While The Artist doesn't really have a gritty subtext it is a lovely film with stars Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo really clicking sharing fabulous chemistry and looking like real movie stars. Familiar faces like John Goodman and James Cromwell are great as the movie producer and loyal chauffeur respectively but the real star of the show is Uggy the Dog as Valentin's loyal companion and one that is around at the right time to save his life. Though there are touches of A Star is Born and Sunset Boulevard, The Artist is definitely its own film full of joy and humour and more importantly an arthouse film which could appeal to the masses. When modern life is so depressing its great to see a heart-warming film like this doing so well and I for one hope it gets the Best Picture award it so richly deserves.


Drive

2011 was definitely the year of Ryan Gosling from political intrigue in The Ides of March to romantic comedy in Crazy Stupid Love he seemed to conquer every genre but it was the LA-set crime film Drive that saw him give his best performance of the year. At the start of the film Gosling's unnamed driver is an emotionally detached character who simply offers five minutes of his time as a getaway driver to criminals who are after a professional. However his world is changed when he meets his neighbour Irene, played by Carey Mulligan, and her young son that things get complicated and he starts to reveal himself to have emotions even he didn't think he possessed. Drive is very reminiscent of the moody crime films of the 1960s and 1970s and has been in particular compared to Bullitt and The Driver. Gosling's getaway driver/stuntman is a great antihero character and the actor delivers an almost muted performance which develops into something great as the film goes on. Albert Brooks, an actor known for his comic work, was brilliant in the role of the crime lord who ends up becoming the driver's enemy. Drive is incredibly violent but it is never over-the-top and always within the context of the film in addition in possesses one of the year's best soundtracks which has new music which somehow feels that it is about 25 years old. A very new film with a foot in the past, Drive combines great camerawork and set pieces with a lead performance from 2011's most consistent performer.


Poetry

Now onto a great piece of cinema from South Korea with Lee Chang-Dong's story of an elderly woman who has to care for her increasingly unruly grandson while at the same time coping with the fact that she is suffering from dementia and will soon lose her memory. Yoon Jeong-hee gives a great lead performance as Yang Mija a 66 year old woman who discovers that her grandson is one of five boys who was responsible for the gang rape of a girl who later committed suicide. While the fathers of the other boys are able to pay a share of the compensation to the girl's mother, Yang Mija is not and is still torn over whether to put the matter in the hands of the authorities. To distract herself from the real world she enlists in a poetry class and struggles to write her own poem. Poetry survives thanks to the beautiful Korean scenery that Chang-Dong creates and balances it with the harsh reality of both the grandson's crime and  her deteriorating health. The central message is that we all have a poem in all of us whether it be a beautiful one or one that reminds us of the harsh reality of our situation and while the film is not always easy to watch it captures the audience from beginning to end thanks to a great script and an even greater central performance.


Senna 

As you can see in the first part 2011 has an excellent year for documentary films from Inside Job to Armadillo to Cave of Forgotten Dreams a number of great directors have bought films dealing with a number of subject matters. But it was Asif Kapadia's film about the life and untimely death of three time Formula One Champion Ayrton Senna. Obviously going into this film I knew how it was going to end but that's about all I knew as I'm not a big fan of motor racing, or sports in general, therefore I wasn't expecting to enjoy it very much. But Kapadia painted a picture of a complicated man, born in a deprived area of Brazil his skill at his sport meant that he could use his money to improve the area. As well as Senna's life story the film told of the inner-workings of the F1 world full of wealthy brand owners and sponsors willing to buy people's favour. Before the tragic finale the main story told was Senna's rivalry with fellow driver Alain Prost which was present on and off the track. Everything was put together perfectly from the race footage to the talking heads to the soundtrack and this was a film that wasn't just a documentary but a great story. As someone who doesn't know about Formula One I thought it explained the sport well and more than that I felt I'd got to know the man which is a testament to Kapdia's film as well as the captivating Senna himself.

A Separation 

As someone who has studied Iranian film in great depth it was great to see a film like Asghar Farhadi's A Separation which depicts modern day Tehran and the stigmas attached to Iranian society. It sees a couple wanting to end their marriage after fourteen years as the wife Simin wants to leave husband Nadir as he refuses to leave Iran and his father who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. The couple argue about who their eleven year old daughter should be with, with her initially wanting to stay with her father and grandfather but her mother slowly changing her mind as the film goes on. Nadir then hires a poor woman to be his father's carer but gets annoyed when his father his left on his own and is accused of pushing her by her angry father. A Separation deals with themes of how much one's social status defines how much people believe their story it also looks at the themes of divorce in a culture as strict as the one in Iran. While Leila Hatami and Peyman Moaadi are both great in the leads it is young Sarina Farhadi as the couple's daughter who is the star of the show as a character who starts to learn that her parents aren't as innocent as she first thought. More than anything else Iranian cinema is about realism and  A Separation almost feels like we are spying on a real family and the ambiguous ending lets the audience decide how the story ultimately ends and that's one of its best qualities.



The Skin I Live In 

Pedro Alomodvar took a break from working with Penelope Cruz this year and the result was this tense revenge thriller about sex and passion. Antonio Banderas starred as Robert Ledgard a plastic surgeon who was working on a new form of artificial skin but who let his personal life get in the way of his work and ends up using his skills as surgeon to a devastating effect. Saying any more than that would ruin the film for anyone who is yet to see this masterpiece which was full of twists and multi-layered characters. Anyone who has seen an Almodovar film knows that they aren't just about one thing but here the main theme seems to be how we define ourselves whether it be by our profession, our relationships or our gender. Banderas is absolutely great in the lead role and it's good to see him playing something outside voicing a computer animated cat it's a very hard role to play but he does exceptionally well. Any film that features a woman in a perfected skin suit fighting with a slightly thuggish man dressed as a tiger is Okay with me and The Skin I Live In combines bizarre plotlines with believable characters and realistic motives for the extraordinary things they do. For me this is possibly Almodovar's best film since All About My Mother which I completely adore. 

Super 8 

Another one people are seemingly split on some people thought it was only okay or detested it but for me Super 8 was another film, along with Hugo, that rejuvenated the flagging genre of the classic family film. JJ Abrams' 1970's set movie about a group of young friends making a zombie film was essentially a love letter to the film's producer Steven Spielberg. The kids against the authorities storyline seems to have been taken straight out of E.T. while the mysterious goings on in the small town of Lilian also draws comparisons to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Though the alien story is the film's central mystery what drew most of us to the film was the relationships between the kids namely Joel Courtney's Joe who has just lost his mother and Elle Fanning's Alice the lost fragile girl who is the object of all the boy's affections. The young actors in the film are just superb and make their film-making endeavours believable as the town members get more and more paranoid as dogs start to disappear and town members go missing. While the ending may be a bit of a letdown what comes before is so great that it doesn't really matter for me this was the best purely entertaining film that I saw at the cinema all year. 


Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 

Tomas Alfredson's Let the Right One In was one of my favourite films a couple of years back and now he returns with an adaptation of John Le Carre's classic cold war thriller. Gary Oldman was seemingly made to play the lead of George Smiley a sort of distant character who goes into semi-retirement but is talked out when he asked to discover which member of the MI6 team is in fact working for the Soviets. During his investigation Smiley uncovers some secrets and our initial ideas about certain characters are changed throughout the piece. What I really liked about this film was its moodiness, something Alfredson had already demonstrated in Let the Right One In, with all the smoky meeting rooms and dank exterior scenes adding to the feel of the whole thing. Oldman is brilliant in the lead role in a cast of great British male actors and Kathy Burke stand-outs for me were Tom Hardy's slightly shifty Tarr and Mark Strong's illusive Jim. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was a film which let its characters speak volumes without actually saying anything a film about men who have been sworn to a life of much secrecy and in some cases are wondering why. A truly spectacular piece of work and another masterpiece to prove that Alfredson is one of the best directors working today. 

We Need to Talk About Kevin  

I wish we could end this blog on a high but instead it's a film about the lack of connection between a mother and a child that ultimately leads to a fatal incident, that ends the blog. Some thought Lionel Shraver's original book of the same name was unfilmable but then director Lynne Ramsay came along and proved everybody wrong. The film though is really Tilda Swinton's show as she plays Eva a woman who is being persecuted for something her son has done, again I don't want to give anything away, and is living in the shadow of tragedy. Most of the film is shot in flashback as we see Kevin's birth and Eva's struggle to get on with him as he goads her while constantly favouring his father played by John C Reilly. My favourite parts of the film were probably those set in the modern day with Eva working in a trashy travel agent where the ceiling fans are blowing posters off the wall and the Christmas party is a particularly cringe-worthy affair. But I feel Ramsay has done everything right here and I did empathise with Eva throughout the film and Ezra Miller was also electrifying as the teenage Kevin. There's too much to praise her from Ramsay's direction through to Johnny Greenwood's score everything was absolutely great and I'm just hoping someone gets some recognition come awards season.

Alright that's your lot, 2011 is finished but 2012 is now upon us and if you go to http://filmsof2012.blogspot.com/ you will discover what my next project is all about. See you on the other side people.

Top 25 Films of 2011: Numbers 25-11

OK so those who haven't got sick of me here we are again with my Top 25 films of 2011. Some notes before we get started I'm doing this in two segments (25-11 and the Top Ten) both of which will be in alphabetical order. If the film was released in 2011 but nominated for this year's Best Picture Oscar then it won't feature here so no Black Swan, 127 Hours, True Grit, The Fighter of The King's Speech on this list. So without further ado here are the films that did make the list:

13 Assassins 

We kick off this year's Top 25 with one of the year's most engaging action films released this year and  another engrossing Samurai film from director Takashi Miike. In this re-make of the 1963 film of the same name, Miike brings the action into full colour and assembles a great cast to take on the roles of the assassins tasked with bringing down the rule of the sadistic Lord Naritsugu whose dominant rule is oppressing the people of Japan. Although I found this incredibly talky in the early going it improved as it went on and the last hour which features the majority of the battle scenes are just spectacular. In the lead role Koji Yakusho was very good indeed but I also enjoyed Yusuke Iseya as the sort of comic relief of the piece. The film obviously draws comparisons with one of the greatest films of all time, The Seven Samurai, while its nowhere near as great as that it is still good to see films like 13 Assassins are still being made.

Arrietty 

It's fair to say that this hasn't been a great year for animated films with Pixar releasing a disappointing sequel to Cars and Dreamworks giving us an only alright second instalment of the Kung Fu Panda franchise. Thankfully Studio Ghibli are still producing beautifully animated pieces for the whole family this year adapting Mary Norton's timeless tale The Borrowers and retitling it after the name of its diminutive heroine. The story of the little people who live under the floorboards seems like a perfect fit for the studio behind such family favourites as Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle. While Hiromasa Yonebayashi directed the piece, Hayao Miyazaki was still heavily involved co-adapting the source novel to make it fit for his style of film. The results were spectacular with the animation being predictably splendid and the story flowing nicely with a focus almost solely on Arrietty and her world as well as the obsessed Haru who is convinced of The Borrowers existence who is a great source of humour for the film. The themes of family and acceptance which run throughout a lot of Miyazaki's films are present in Arrietty and at the end of the day it is just a great hand-drawn animated film that is very uncomplicated but at the same time a great film.


Attack the Block 

As a big fan of Adam and Joe I think I went into Attack the Block, the debut feature from Joe Cornish, already wanting to like it and although it's a far from perfect film it still has plenty of qualities that lands it a place in my Top 25. Instead of making this a comedy in the mould of Hot Fuzz or Shaun of the Dead this is a well-observed piece of social commentary about youths who live in council estates and their flippant nature to the world around them. When a gang of kids from the block of flats kill off an alien the rest of the race descends on the block and a war ensues between the humans and the aliens. Most of the humour within the film comes naturally as references to Fifa videogames and pay-as-you-go mobile phones make this a very British film. Though the aliens are furry creatures they are certainly still scary and Cornish isn't afraid of killing off some of his cast members. Talking of the cast there are assured performances from the majority of newcomers headed up by John Boyega as gang leader Moses while Jodie Whittaker is also great as nurse Sam someone who is mugged by the gang at the beginning of the film but is forced into helping them as the film goes on. It is rare to see a sci-fi film so intrinsically British which shows a real love and appreciation of the genre and this is certainly an assured debut for Cornish who is already making waves in Hollywood thanks to his writing on various projects.



Bridesmaids

I know this all-female comedy film divided audiences but I was in the camp who really enjoyed it and thought it was one of the funniest films of the year. Kristen Wiig, who I've always been a big fan of, wrote and takes the lead as Annie a failed baker who is asked to be maid of honour to her best friend Lilian when she announces her engagement. The film deals with themes of being stuck in a rut as Annie finds herself in a dead end job and sharing an apartment with an incestuous brother and sister pair. She also finds a rival in Lilian's new friend Helen who seemingly has the perfect life and is jealous that she may lose her old friend to a new life. What I really liked about Bridesmaids is that all of the six central characters all felt real even Melissa McCarthy who could've become the funny fat girl is afforded a scene in which she explains why she is so confident in her life. Even the love story between Annie and Chris O'Dowd's cop feels realistic and never slips into sickly sweet territory. More than anything though this is a very funny film with the scenes on the plane and at the wedding shower being my personal favourites. My only fear is that Bridesmaids will usher in a slew of new all women comedies which will be poor replicates of this brilliant original. 


The Guard 

For anyone who saw Martin McDonagh's In Bruges they know that probably the best thing about it was Brendan Gleeson's multi-layered performance that landed him a Golden Globe. So it seems that when McDonagh's brother John Michael was casting the lead for his second feature The Guard he had only one actor in mind to play the unorthodox policeman Boyle and once again it is Gleason's performance that is the jewel in the crown of this amiable comedy crime caper. When rumours of a drug-smuggling ring in Boyle's patch circulate Don Cheadle's FBI agent Everett comes over to lead the investigation. Boyle and Everett's double act is this year's funniest as the two clash but become friends throughout the film as they attempt to bring down the criminals who include Mark Strong's slightly psychopathic Clive Cornell. What I liked about The Guard more than anything was that it was a charming film with a protagonist who drunk, did drugs and used young prostitutes but was still completely likeable and relatable. To me Gleason was even better in The Guard than he was in In Bruges and deserves another award for playing one of 2011's most memorable characters.



Hugo 

I don't think any of us expected Martin Scorsese to follow-up such dark films as The Departed and Shutter Island with a 3D kids film but that's exactly what he did with the stunning Hugo. Centring around a Parisian train station Asa Butterfield stars as Hugo a boy who is secretly controlling the station's clock and is constantly trying to avoid being caught by the station guard who sends waifs and strays off to the orphanage. What I really like about Hugo is that Scorsese instantly transports you into Hugo's world of stealing croissants from cafes and going among the various stalls throughout the station. It also offers up a history lesson about early cinema from the Lumiere brothers to George Melies and how some of the early films were received by their audiences. Mixing both humour and warmth with some well-crafted scenery and a great cast which includes Sir Ben Kingsley, Helen McCrory, Christopher Lee and Sacha Baron Cohen dressed as the policeman from 'Allo 'Allo but doing a Peter Sellers impression. More than anything else Hugo is the type of film that you don't really see any more a proper film for the whole family that has engaging story and themes about family life and redemption. 


The Interrupters 

The first of three documentary films on the list, The Interrupters takes you on a ride through the gang culture in Chicago and focuses on the titular group of people who are trying to protect their streets from crime and violence. The interesting thing about The Interrupters is that many of them were part of the gang culture themselves when they were younger and they then are able to use this to relate to today's youngsters. For me I was taken with Ameena Matthews the daughter of legendary gang leader Jeff Fort who takes it upon herself to console the family and friends of murdered high school student Derrrion Albert whose death made news when it was captured on camera. Another startling scene involves another of The Interrupters convincing a young offender to go back to the barbershop which he and a group of friends previously robbed and heard from his victims their shock and fear at having guns pointed at their heads. It was the realistic nature of Steve James' film that really took me and he really made you support this group of people who were trying to rid their city of its crime element in the best way they knew how. 


Julia's Eyes 

In 2008, The Orphanage was one of my favourite films of that year a genuinely creepy Spanish horror film starring Belen Rueda and produced by Guillermo Del Toro. Producer and star reunited this year for the equally creepy if a little more predictable horror yarn Julia's Eyes. Rueda stars as Julia a woman who is inflicted with a degenerative disease which means she will go slowly blind and the beginning of the film sees the death of her sister Sara, who has already lost her sight, at the hands of a mystery assailant who then makes it look like suicide. As Julia starts to go blind she wants to investigate the death of her sister who she rightly believed was killed despite the instance of everyone that it was just suicide. Though I worked whodunnit straight away I still enjoyed the ride and there were still a few twists that caught me unawares. The best thing about it though was the concentration on sight and how vital it is to us as our heroine's vision is thwarted throughout the film the sense of peril is heightened. Director Guillem Morales makes the most of his brilliant leading lady who is by far the best thing about this film and like The Orphanage this film does not have a very happy ending but I won't spoil it for you because I would encourage everybody to go out and watch this superb chiller.



Kill List 

At the start of last year I watched Ben Wheatley's interesting debut film Down Terrace an odd family crime film which genuinely showed promise and then very recently I watched his brilliant second film Kill List which played with the genre of the crime film. Kill List is a film that can be split into three equal parts the first is very much a domestic drama about a couple with a young son trying to cope with the father's post-traumatic stress disorder following the war. The second sees the father, Neil Maskell's Jay, team up with Michael Smiley's intimidating Gal to finish off three individuals for a shadowy client. Their kill list is made up of three people who have done very wrong things usually to small children therefore the two contract killers can rightly justify their actions. The best thing about Kill List though was its final third because just as I thought I knew where it was going it turned into a horror film and evoked memories of both Rosemary's Baby and The Wicker Man. While Maskell was great playing the conflicted everyman for me Michael Smiley, best known to most people from Spaced, as the sort of big brother character who could both be charming and very sinister in equal measure. Kill List is by far not an easy watch but its combinations of three different genres and its small cast makes this a great British horror-thriller and one that I would greatly recommend. 


Life in a Day 

The second documentary on the list is Kevin MacDonald's very brave attempt to capture life around the planet on one day, July 24th 2010, by carefully editing together a numerous amount of the 80,000 clips posted on a YouTube channel by people from 192 nations across the globe. In the film we saw birth, marriage and coming-of-age tales we also saw the sad tale of the man who told his best friend how he really felt about her just to see her reject him. As anybody who saw Touching the Void knows, MacDonald is an assured documentary film-maker and the clever editing here perfectly captured the human spirit and all manner of emotions from different countries. Obviously MacDonald wanted to capture some big events, including the guy who was attempting to cycle the entire globe, but littered the film with smaller events such as people having breakfast, shaving, going to work and going to bed. One bit of the film that stuck with me was one of the final segments with a woman saying that nothing really major happened to her on that day and I think that's true of most of us because while some do experience big events on a regular basis most of us are just getting by. This was a film that really stuck with me and was a really massive project that definitely had a satisfying end result. 


Rise of the Planet of the Apes 

It has been an interesting year for blockbusters with the next chapters in the Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers franchises being predictably crap it was the films that rebooted certain series that seemed to be better. While I did enjoy X-Men: First Class for me it was Rupert Wyatt's take on the Planet of the Apes saga that I found really engaging. Wyatt supposed that the original ape became super-intelligent due to James Franco's young scientist injecting him with a drug he was developing to combat Alzheimer's disease a condition which his father played by the brilliant John Lithgow was suffering from. Though Lithgow and Franco were both great the film was bought to life by Andy Serkis' motion-capture performance as Caesar the Ape who was really the central focus of the story. After the first half of the film explored the family unit, the second half was all about the mistreatment of apes from humans and the brilliant moment in which they finally rose up against Brian Cox and Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. The final scenes with the battles between apes and humans were truly spectacular but this was a blockbuster that had both realistic characters and great action sequences and neither outshone the other. The only thing that ROTPOTA lacked was a decent female lead with Freida Pinto only existing to look pretty and smile occasionally but apart from that this was a great film and I'm excited to see what Wyatt does next with Caesar and the rest of his ape brethren. 


Snowtown

It is fair to say that it has been a good year for Australian cinema with the Western film Red Hill almost making the list and another Australian film making the top ten here we find the gripping and harrowing Snowtown in the bottom half of the 2011 list. Snowtown focuses on the story of how charismatic drifter John Bunting charmed his way into the hearts and homes of the people of the titular Australian town only to reveal himself to be a psychopath and a serial killer. The main focus on the film is the relationship between Bunting and young Jamie Vlassakis who was in search of a father figure and was taken under the wing of the man who began a relationship with his mother. The first half of the film showed how a mass-murderer could easily become a member of a small society while the second half concentrated on the brutal killings in which Bunting and his associates hid their victim's bodies in barrels. Overall a gripping drama with a tense lead performance from Daniel Henshall as the unremorseful Bunting the man who committed one of the most famous atrocities in Australian history.

Source Code 

Another interesting film which could be given the tag of blockbuster was the second film from Moon director and son of David Bowie, Duncan Jones. Source Code was a time-bending film starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a wounded soldier who is enlisted to try out a new military endeavour whose aim is to track down terrorists before they strike and arrest them before they are able to carry out any mass killings of civilians. In this case it was a bomb on a train and Gyllenhaal's Colter has to prevent the
bomb from going off something he isn't succesful with on multiple occassions meaning we see the same scene over and over again. What Jones' film is great at though is making this scene different every time as Colter falls for the attractive Christina the love interest of Sean Fentress the man who Colter has taken the body of. As well as the interesting story there are great performances from Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga, Michelle Monaghan and a slightly creepy Jeffrey Wright as the Source Code inventor. While it isn't as inventive as Moon it's good to see an intelligent blockbuster with plenty of excitement and twists as well as a cute little romantic edge and some interesting themes about what it means to exist and how we as humans can find redemption. I have to say though I'm still puzzled about that whole end scene. 


Submarine 

We end this half with two films from debut directors who are better known as actors firstly The IT Crowd's Richard Ayoade who helmed the likeable coming-of-age film Submarine. Set in the Welsh city of Swansea it follows Craig Roberts' teenage oddball seeking the love of kooky pretty classmate Jordana. For me the film perfectly captured the awkwardness of teenage affection and having to deal with both love and heartache in equal measure. Some found the character of Oliver quite annoying but personally I found him fairly endearing and his first person narrative was very well-handled. I think that Ayoade's direction perfectly suited this quirky little tale and the subplot involving Craig's mum, played by Sally Hawkins, being tempted by an ex-boyfriend was also fairly amusing. Submarine could be put into the same category as other films with strange adolescent males such as Rushmore or Harold and Maude and while it's not a patch on either of these I can definitely say that it is the best Welsh film of the year and Paddy Considine's arrogant psychic is a work of utter genius.



Tyrannosaur 

Talking of Considine his directorial debut is the final film on the list and again it isn't the easiest watch but it is a great study of the human condition. Peter Mullan puts in another assured performance as Joseph a drunk and a widower who is often getting into fights and alienates most of those around him. He forms an odd bond with charity shop worker Hannah played by the fantastic Olivia Colman who herself is the victim of abuse at the hands of her paranoid husband. With scenes of extreme violence, animal cruelty and rape, Tyrannosaur was never going to be hailed as the feel-good film of the year but what it is is the latest in a long line of great British realist films. I can't praise Colman's performance enough as the frightened and abused Hannah she owns most of the film but that's not taking anything away from the brilliant Mullan. Like with the other performers turned directors on this list it is clear that Considine is a student of the craft of film-making and displays his knowledge in full force in this gripping and compelling film.


Next time we'll get onto the Top Ten films of 2011.

Films of the Year: 2010

We're back again with the Top 25 films released in the U.K. between 1st January and 31st December 2010. There's been a lot of choice this year so its been fairly arduous compiling the list.

25. Mary and Max

A bit of a quaint one to start off with an offbeat adult animation in the vein of Wallace and Gromit about a depressed eight year old girl living in Australia and a middle-aged New Yorker with Asburger's Syndrome. The film has a warm feel from start to finish partly due to the use of music and score and partly because Barry 'Dame Edna' Humphries is the film's narrator. Mary and Max also boasts two strong vocal turns from Philip Seymour Hoffman as Max and Toni Colette as the grown-up version of Mary. The film isn't for everyone but for me I found it incredibly funny, very warm and at times extremely moving. To be fair it is a bit predictable in places but overall I found this to be a splendid little gem of a film.

24. Four Lions

As you will see from the list, I thought this year was a great year for British films and this is the first of many in the list. I think everybody expected that the debut from Chris 'Brass Eye' Morris wasn't going to be a small romantic comedy but not many were expecting a film about suicide bombers. But rather than present the suicide bombers as a smart bunch they are all presented as rather bungling or over-the-top. That is apart from Riz Ahmed as Omar who anchored the film with a superb breakout performance portraying a family man who realises he has a greater purpose and has to try and rally his team of misfits together. The film also has some really laugh-out-loud moments and one is particularly shocking but this is a comedy that makes you think possibly more than it makes you laugh, which can only be a good thing.

23. The Maid

While not always thriling, this character study from Chile is a great little comedy-drama about family and belonging. Catalina Saaverda puts in a top notch performance as Raquel a maid who has been with the same family for 23 years and whose position feels threatened when her employers decide they want to hire an assistant for her. The film definitely has splapstick comedy elements which feature around Raquel trying to get rid of the other maids in the house but there is also a sweet story of a woman who doesn't fit in without outside society and isn't entirely happy with her lot. Sebastian Silva expertly puts the film together making every scene count and I thought Saaverda's performance was one of the best female leading turns I have seen in a while.

22. Cemetery Junction

As close friends know I've never been a big fan of Ricky Gervais' work, while I enjoy both The Office and Extras I find both, especially the former, very overrated and I also found his first work as writer/director, The Invention of Lying, very uneven indeed. Imagine my surprise then that I found his latest work, co-written and directed with Stephen Merchant, very enjoyable indeed. While the story of three lads in their early 20s growing up in a small Reading town pretty cliched it was well put together and flowed very nicely indeed. The whole thing has a nice retro feel to it and the three young actors shone throughout however it is Emily Watson as Ralph Fiennes' put upon wife who stole the show for me and I though even Gervais was pretty good in it.

21. The Disappearance of Alice Creed

I often find that the one genre that Brits never seem to do well is that of the thriller however this year with The Disappearance of Alice Creed I think they got it spot on. This film works as its incredibly well-executed and tense relying on three strong characters rather than a lot of explosions and car chases. All three actors, especially the always excellent Eddie Marsan, make the story worth following and the film's final third is edge-of-your-seat stuff. The films first 10 or so minutes are also acted in complete silence which means you get hooked straight away without having to worry about what people are saying. This is a thriller about actions rather than words, very simple and utterly rewarding if only British thrillers were always this good.

20. Catfish

2010 was the year in which we were presented with documentaries which may or may not be entirely true. There was Baksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop (which almost made the list) and Casey Affleck's doc about Joaquin Phoenix - I'm Still Here. However my favourite was Catfish, a film about a photographer who starts chatting to a family on Facebook after he is sent a painting of one of his photos by the family's 8 year old daughter. He soon finds himself in a virtual relationship with the girl's half-sister but when he, his brother and their other filmmaker friend dig a little deeper they start to realise that things aren't what they seem. Some of the elements of the story and the discoveries that are made almost seem too far-fetched to be 100% real and as this is a film about cover-ups and lies it would be ironic if the 'documentary' wasn't entirely genuine. Despite that it is still a compelling story and is very relevant in a time in which we spend more time texting and talking on Facebook than we do conducting face to face conversations.

19. The Illusionist

For those who feel that in 2010 that films aren't seen as pieces of artwork any more need look no further than Sylvian Chomet's perfectly drawn film about a down-on-his luck French magician who goes to Scotland and forms a strange relatioship with a young girl. The film relies almost soley on its visual presentation but despite containing hardly any dialogue at all this is a character study about what happens when people believe in something your not and the unexpected relationships that we form throughout our lives. Despite not being real I found the character of The Illusionist one of the most genuine of the year and the film's final scenes almost had me in tears. Although animation in the 21st century is almost dominated by computer animation, I think hand-drawn animation still has its place and feels a lot more real.

18. Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Turning from an animation that felt very real to a live action film that didn't really have its place in reality, Edgar Wright's adaptation of Bryan Lee O'Malley's Graphic Novels had a style all of its own. The story focuses on the titular drop-out, played by Michael Cera, who finds out that in order to date the woman he loves he has to defeat her seven evil exes. Each of these battles is utterly hilarious and all have different elements to keep them a little bit fresh. The film is one stark scene after another everything is full of action and there is also a lot of laughs to be had throughout. While Michael Cera's performance anchors the film it is the support cast who provide most of the laughs namely Kieran Culkin as Pilgrim's roommate and Chris Evans as one of the exes. The film slightly slips when it has to explore the character's emotional sides but overall this was possibly the guilty pleasure movie of the year.

17. Winter's Bone

Some films rely heavily on their backdrop to create character and Winter's Bone did this throughout. The film involves 17 year old Ree Dolly desperately trying to find her father in order to keep her family's home in the Ozark Mountains. The film is part road-trip and part coming-of-age story as Ree tries to get to the bottom of the conspiracies that haunt the area's small community. I found the film utterly involving and Ree's story particularly harrowing thanks mainly to a strong script and a realistic performance from Jennifer Lawrence who is sure to be a big star following this film. An intriguing and original tale and one that still sends chills down my back when I think about it.

16. Up in The Air

Although Up in The Air is techincally a 2009 film, it didn't arrive over here till January and that's why it features in this list. Despite the film dealing with very modern topics like the recession and computers doing the jobs of men an women this is very much a story that would've fitted in during Hollywood's Golden Agea nd that's mainly due to the appearance of one George Clooney as Ryan Bingham a man who goes around the country firing people and spends most of his time flying around. Although Clooney is very good the film wouldn't be anything without its two female leads Vera Farmiga as Clooney's love interest and Anna Kendrick as the girl he is reluctantly showing the business to. After Thank You For Smoking and Juno, Jason Reitman has really established himself as a director who knows how to tell a story and Up In The Air was certainly a story worth watching.

15. Shutter Island

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio team up together for the first time since the Oscar winning The Departed. Although Shutter Island was a different piece of film-making all together, as Scorsese made a homage to the classic noir genre with a bit of a modern element thrown in. The island in question houses a mental institute where one of the patient has escaped and DiCaprio's CIA agent Teddy Daniels must get to the truth. This film was pure escapist enjoyment with a huge gazumping score and some fine classic actors like Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow completely hamming it up. While this might be seen as a bit of a kitsch film it was still highly enjoyable and was made with the high standard that you would expect from Scorsese.

14. The Kids Are All Right 

With Kathryn Bigelow picking up the Best Director Oscar this year it finally marked the recognition of female directors and strong female voices within cinema. This is probably best highlighted through Lisa Cholodenko's work about a lesbian couple with two children from the same sperm donor and what happens when they meet said donor. It was very refreshing to see that the film didn't wholly focus on the fact that two lesbians were raising children but instead treated them like any other family with their dysfunctions and arguments. This film also boasted fine five performances from its ensemble cast most prominently from Annette Bening as Nic, the older of the two women and certainly the more reserved of the two. There is one scene in particular in which Bening discovers something that she shouldn't which is just heartbreaking and this scene alone should win her the Best Actress Oscar that's alluded her so far in her career. This film is both funny and sensitive but never is it preachy or over-sentimental.

13. Restrepo

After the success of The Hurt Locker, this year we were presented with Restrepo which some dubbed - 'the Real Life Hurt Locker'.The documentary is highlights of the year that journalist Sebastian Junger and photographer Tim Hetherington spent in Afghanistan's Korangal Valley following the lives of the men in the 2nd Platoon for a Vanity Fair assignment. The Restrepo of the title is the outpost that the platoon were fighting to defend for the majority of the film and was named after the medic who tragically died before the film started. The film is eye-opening in its exploration of war, why the men are still in Afghanistan and most importantly their relationship with the Afghans themselves. But what really strikes you is the relationship between the men and how quickly they come become friends when they're thrown together in extreme circumstances. There's warmth, humour and unsurpringsly a lot of tragedy but this for me is one of the best stories of the year and certainly the Best Documentary film by a country mile.

12. Another Year

For his last film, Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh left his trademark bleak storytelling behind and instead produced as a light-hearted comic piece. While not as light as that, Another Year certainly has a lot of laughs but mainly explores human relationships and how we react to certain situations. Centred around four seasons of the same year it follows Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen's happily married couple as they encounter difficulty with their friend Mary, meet their son's new girlfriend and have to deal with a tragedy in the family but reacting to it all in their same matter-of-fact way. I found the film to be very British and highlighted a lot of the nuances that make us human. The film's best point though is Lesley Manville, who as Mary, goes through a complete turn around as Leigh brings out the real side of this seemingly cheery individual. Overall this proves once again that Mike Leigh is one of Britain's greatest living film-makers.

11. Easy A

Just missing out on the Top 10 is this High School comedy which many have compared to Mean Girls or Clueless but for me its closer in tone to Jason Reitman's Juno as it boasts both a witty script and a very smart and clever central performance. That performance comes form Emma Stone, who has previously been seen as a supporting player in films like Superbad and Zombieland, as Olive a socially-invisible girl who gets spun into a web of lies and starts lying about her sexual conquests. Like Ellen Page's Juno, Stone's Olive sees herself as a tough girl who has used sarcasm as a way of making her way through High School but under her exterior their are emotions that come out quite naturally in the film's final stages. There are plenty of things to like in this film - the story, Stone herself and a supporting cast that includes Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Thomas Hayden Church and Malcolm McDowell. It's very hard to make a film about High School that is this good but somehow Eay A has done it.


10. Skeletons

Starting off the Top 10 now with the first of two films that see people going into other people's subconcious to discover their secrets. I'm sure you can guess what the second one is as most people flocked to see that over the summer, but not many saw Skeletons Nick Whitfield's delightful comedy about Bennett and Davis two men who are hired to explore the skeletons in peoples wardrobes which they do quite literally. The imagination behind the whole thing is astonishing and it is a pretty high-concept film but at the same time it shows that you don't have to have a massive budget to make films with these concepts. Whitfield makes sure that the film retains its Britishness so there's plenty of scenes on trains and at railways as well as Jason Isaacs' turn as 'The Colonel' the boy's boss who is as British as they come and also sleeps in a very comical fashion. Skeletons explores the themes of family, loss and belonging has lots of laughs along the way and a very heart-warming but unsentimental ending.


9. The Secret in Their Eyes

Many were shocked at this year's Oscars when an Argentian film that not many people had heard off beat favourites like Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon and a French film on this list to the Best Foreign Film prize. However Juan Jose Campanella's film does feel like it has elements of Ameircan crime movies in it, which may be explained by Campanella's work on shows like House and Law and Order. The film focuses ont he re-opening of a case that has dogged a legal counsellor for years as he consults with his lost love as he writes a book about it. As well as having a very strong script and plot, some of the films visual sequences are extremely striking and in particular one at a football game gets you right into the action. The film's ending is both shocking and fullfilling giving an original conclusion to a film that could so easily have ended in cliche. While it may not have been the best film out of the five contenders at this year's Oscars, after everybody saw the film there wasn't as many complaints about the outcome as there was at the time of the awards themselves.


8. Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll

While it's not the highest placing given to a British director, Mat Whitecross' biopic about the life of Ian Dury is the top British-set film in the list. While I am a fan of the music of Dury, I didn't really know that much about the man himself and this depicts his arkward relationship with his father, growing up tormented in a boy's home and his failure to be a good family man and husband. However Whitecross and writer Paul Viragh have refused to present a linear narrative and have instead presented the story in flashback and flash-forward having scenes interspersed with musical performances from Andy Serkis as Dury. Serkis' Dury then acts as both subject and compere and the actor himself gives a career-best performance as the troubled rocker. A great supporting cast including Naomie Harris and Son of Ramob's Bill Millner add depth to a film full of style and one that subverts the genre of the musical biopic and gives it a bit of a kick up the arse.


7. The Girl With The Dragon Tatooo

Although the adverts would have you believe that it is a 'International Phenomenon', Stieg Larsonn's Millenium Trilogy were simply three very-well written mystery novels transported to the big screen, two of which debuted on Swedish T.V. While those two films were average at best, the original The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo film was one of the best of the year as it sort of came out of nowhere and gripped me from start to finish. Most of that credit can go to Noomi Rapace who gave possibly the character of the year in the tatooed, often mono-syllabic Lisbeth Salander, a girl who finds it hard to trust people but is incredibly intelligent at the same time. While the plot itself may be a standard whodunnit it style mystery it is the characters that give the film its greatness and as well a Rapace, Michael Nyqvist must take some credit for portraying Mikel Blomkvist who sort of ties the whole thing together. As well as being the most tightly-plotted of the three films, it is also very cinematic especially the scenes involving Lisbeth's motorcycle chase in the film's final stages. Niels Arden Opley did such a good job with the film that it seems a shame that David Fincher seemed to feel the need for an American-language remake. But Rooney Mara will never do Lisbeth justice the same way as the brilliant Rapce has done.

6. A Prophet

The film that lost out to The Secret in Their Eyes as the year's best Foreign Language Feature is, for me at least, the year's best that isn't in the English language. Although I found Jacques Audaird's film baggy in places, and not quite as good as his masterpiece The Beat That My Heart Skipped, I thought it was one of the best films set in prison of all time. Tahar Rahim's central performance as a young man trapped in the middle of a war inside prison was just superb and the scenes set inside the institution felt entirely real. Audaird was able to show a frank and unflattering portrayal of prison life and give us a character we enjoyed to follow no matter waht actually happened to him. I did feel that the film possibly could've been cut down a tiny bit but the story was so good that I didn't mind the film's slower moments. Overall a triumph that did deserve the Oscar that it didn't get.

5. Toy Story 3

As previously stated this year's films have been of a very high standard that the third and final film in one of cinema's greatest trilogies only enteres the list at Number Five. As of late Pixar have been dealing with rather deep character-based films and Toy Story 3 was filled with plenty of darker moments to counterbalance the light comedy which was given an added twist with the addition of Little Miss Sunshine's Michael Ardnt to the screenwriting team. The film combined screwball elements and some clever satire with a story about growing up and saying goodbye to childhood. While I didn't cry buckets at the film's ending like others have admitted to doing I still thought that the ending was the right way to go and that Woody and Buzz et al had a fitting send-off.

4. Monsters

The first of three British directors to hit the Top 5 despite their films not being set in the U.K, Gareth Edwards' first full length cinematic feature sees him follow an Ameircna photo-jounalist entasked with making sure his boss' daughter gets back from Mexico to America safely. This is made harder by the fact that their route will see them cros an 'Infected Zone' in which a NASA space probe crashed six years earlier and where monsters are seen to attack. Edwards film is part sci-fi, part road movie with a love story thrown in and the chemistry between leads Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able feels genuine as they were boyfriend and girlfriend at the time of shooting and are now married. While some have been annoyed that the film feature hardly any actual monsters, the monsters are simply a backdrop to a story about war, greed, the media and ultimately what we care about most. Edwards' is able to create a very real, subtle and emotive piece of work which trascends genres and is a truly great watch.

3. The Social Network

If this list were based on screenplay alone than The Social Network would find itself very firmly at the top of the list. That's thanks to Aaron Sorkin who has written a very witty and insightful script about Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook and the ends he went to to get to the top, but would you expect anything else from the man who bought as The West Wing? The performances from Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg, Andrew Garfield and even Justin Timberlake as Napster's Sean Parker are just stunning and despite all the flashbacks and flash forwards the film runs along nicely and tells us a interesting tale about the online tool that most of us now use everyday. The Social Network is a story about jealousy, paranoia and how some of the greatest inventions of our generation can come from the oddest of places. At the same time its not particularly cinematic and that's why I have only awarded it a bronze medal here. Saying that I thought this was a well acted and a well written piece that the academy will lap up and I wouldn't be surprised if it nabbed Best Picture at next year's Oscars.

2. Kick Ass

I have to say I'm not a massive fan of comic book movies I often find them overlong and over-indulgent although there is the odd exception, Iron Man (but not the sequel), I just think they take themselves too seriously. I think that's why I enjoyed Matthew Vaughn's Kick Ass so much a film about an outsider and comic book fan who decides he wants to become a superhero himself. After tackling the fantasy world with Stardust Vaughn and co-writer Jane Goldman look at the superhero film and turn it on its head creating a vivid New York city and turning the standard superhero fights into something special indeed. Aaron Johnson followed up his John Lennon role in Nowhere Boy with the lead donning an American accent and really performing well in a cast that also included Mark Strong and Nic Cage. However it was Chloe Moretz as the 12 year old foul-mouthed Hit Girl that caught everyone's attention and unshockingly outraged The Daily Mail. But for all its bravado, colour and broad humour, Kick Ass still has a lot of heart its about growing up, its about fathers and sons and fathers and daughters and what it really means to be a hero. Kick Ass was a very striking and unforgettable piece of film-making that just happened to be based on a comic book.

1. Inception

And I'm afraid that my Number One, like so many other people's, is Inception mainly because I've been a Christopher Nolan fan ever since I saw Memento almost ten years ago. Nolan brings elements of all of his previous works together for what will probably be considered his masterpiece - the sort of methodical nature of Memento, with the twists and turns of The Prestige, the stark settings of Insomnia and the big scale epicness of his Batman films. But more than anything it proved that you can have an intelligent grown-up plot to a summer blockbuster and you can give ingenious reasons why people are being shot at and why explosions are happening. The performances were also all very good while there's too many to mention here I would single out Tom Hardy and Marion Cotillard the latter of whom did a great job portraying Leonardo DiCaprio's wife a role that was sort of half villain half tragic heroine. I think that Inception caught everybody unawares and still has everybody talking almost six months after about that ending...

And now for the duds...
Most Disappointing Films of The Year:

Alice in Wonderland -Once my favourite director and a man that could do no wrong, Tim Burton seemingly can do no right as of yet and his Alice in Wonderland was embaressing, slow and made worse by the retro-fit into 3D. Its worrying when one of the best things in your film is the voice of Barbara Windsor.

The Killer Inside Me -Although I don't always enjoy them, I find Michael Winterbottom's films interesting if nothing else. But for me The Killer Inside Me was a violent film not a film about violence, I felt the story lacked depth and that Casey Affleck do a lot better.

Robin Hood -I don't know if it was Russell Crowe's Yorshire-Australian-Irish accent or the fact that there was too much walking around but Ridley Scott's Robin Hood just didn't do it for me.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps -Why wasn't Michael Douglas in it more?


Top 5 Worst films of the Year:

5. The Bounty Hunter: Midnight Run as a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston as a journalist. Where could it possibly go wrong? Aniston and Gerard Butler are not for one minute believable as a couple and to say the slapstick segments are unfunny is to do dishonour to the word itself. 

4. Grown-Ups: This film probably would've been funnier if Adam Sandler and his comedy pals had simply gone on holiday and filmed what they got up to. Instead a weak script full of the usual gross-out gags and innuendos topped off with hardly any resolution to speak of meant that this was an unfunny dud and did a disservice to Sandler's career following the brilliant Funny People. 

3. Jonah Hex: Although only 70 minutes long, Hex still felt overlong, baggy and ultimately pointless. 

2. Eat Pray Love: Julia Roberts goes around Italy, India and Thailand looking pretty, eating and not putting on any weight. Ryan Murphy is glad that people still like Glee or his career would be over after directing this tripe. 

1. Dear John: It made me want to vomit repeatedly it ruined most of Damien Rice's music for me but at least I learnt something about coins.

See you all back here in 2011.

Films of the Year: 2009

Here are my Top 25 of films that have been released in the UK from 1st January 2009 to 31st December 2009.

25. Kisses

Two of the films on this list feature juvenille relationships and this is the most traditional of the two. Set in and around Dublin this follows the journey of two children next door neighbours Kylie and Dylan both of whom have turbulent home lives and agree to run away together to find Dylan's brother. The film's central narrative is about them trying to find Dylan's brother who ran away from home and the difficulties they have in finding him. The film changes from black and white into full colour as Kylie and Dylan get to Dublin and changes back at the end after they return home. Dealing with themes of immigration, prostituion and homelessness, Kisses isn't an easy ride but the relationship between the two children is very sweet indeed and their chemistry is better than some of the big Hollywood romance pairings. At just over an hour it is a little short but then it may have outstayed its welcome if it had been any longer sweet-natured and gritty at the same time, Kisses is definitely one to check out if you haven't seen it yet.


24. Messrine: Killer Instict

One of the coolest films of the year, the first part of the Messrine double bill saw Vincent Cassell tackle the role of one France's most notorious criminals Jacques Messrine. This was reminiscent of old school crime films of the 1970s and 1980s such as Serpico and Scarface and even had a bit of Bonnie and Clyde in there for good measure. While Cassell's performances has to be one of the best of the year the supporting performances were good too notably from Ludvine Sagner and Gerard Deperdeu as Messrine's gangster contact. Tough to watch at times but always compelling Killer Instinct was superior to its sequel Public Enemy No. 1 which was still a cracker and both were better than this year's other disappointing crime biopic - Public Enemies.

23. Big River Man

This year's 'human interest' documentary was all about Martin Strel a Slovakian man who has made it his passion to swim. The big selling point of this film is that Strel isn't particularly athletic and is a heavy drinker. Strel is more a subject than an active part of this film as he is very monosyllabic and is often seen sitting down in his underwear watching T.V. when he's not swimming. His son is in awe of him and narrates the film while the only other main character is a slightly hickish admirer of Strel who thinks Strel is the last superhero. Strel is an extremely likeable character even though he does unlikeable things and oftern risks his own life just to swim while drinking whisky. A documentary is as only as good as its subject matter and Big River Man had a very good subject.

22. Broken Embraces

Penelope Cruz had a very good 2009, winning an Oscar for her role in Woody Allen's likeable but mediocre Vicky Cristina Barcelone but also reuniting with Pedro Almodovar the man who describes her as his 'muse' for this very good film about film-making. Mixtures of a revenge thriller with a farce and commentary about the film industry this is one of Almodovar's most commercial films yet while at the same time retaining his strong themes about sexuality and especially disability. As you would expect, Cruz dazzles in her role as a wannabe actress and trophy wife an old, rich man who begins an affair with a director. Lluis Homar is equally good as the egotistic director who is made blind by events that are narrated throughout the film. This being a film about film-makers there is also some good blurring off texts as we see the film-within-the-film Girls and Suitcases is shown in different ways throughout Broken Embraces and is just one of the treats of many of this little cracker of a movie.

21. Funny People

I have to say that if I was ranking the first half of Funny People it would be higher in the list but the film got bogged down in its second half. Saying that though this was Judd Apatow's most personal project to date and Adam Sandler's best since Punch-Drunk Love. A comedy about comedians wouldn't be everyone's thing but the first half of this film in which Sandler's comedy movie star finds out he's dying and hires Seth Rogen's junior stand-up to be his assistant. This was very funny and moving but its in the films second half in which Sandler pursues his old love that things get silly. The fact Apatow feels the need to cast his family again seems a little self-indulgent and even though Eric Bana pops up near the end and steals the show most of this felt forced. Apatow manages to reign it back to a satisfying conclusion but despite its faults this was still very funny, touching and original. Apatow just needs to learn to edit and his next film could be a comedy hit.

20. Fish Tank

Uncomprimisingly gritty and surprisingly heartfelt at the same time Andrea Arnold's second cinematic feature saw her hit the big time. Focusing on dis-satisfied teenager Mia and her aspirations to be a dancer this was a look at the dead-end lifestyle given to a lot of children in council estate Britain as Mia was destined to go to a special school and had a very dis-intereseted mother. Katie Jarvis was absolutely outstanding as Mia delivering a very real performance and great passion both in delivery and in the dance sequences. The film also succeded in its filming of a very bleak Britian with the block of flats where Mia lives being given an almost institution-like feel. While people are waxing lyrical about American female directors taking over the Brits can show that they can do it just as well.

19. 500 Days of Summer

Some people found this unbearably smug and others found in delightful I think I fell somewhere in the middle. This film was very clever in its approach of relationships blurirng the lines between happiness and misery. As we see Joseph Gorden-Levitt falling in love with the Zoey Deschanel's titular Summer and then be dumped by her in the space of five minutes. The skipping between days was a nice little neat narrative device and there were some nice stylistic touches as well as cracking soundtrack (although did they have to use The Temper Trap twice?) The film was held together by Levitt who finally shed the image of the little kid from 3rd from the Sun giving us a rounded performance as a normal guy in love like a kind of less neurotic Woody Allen.

18. Gran Torino

This is said to be Clint Eastwood's final feature which is just as well as he seems to be struggling to speak. But that's doing him a disservice as he plays almost Dirty Harry the senior years as a man who despises everyone but eventually gains respect for his Korean neighbours. Eastwood proves he still has it as we see a man whose prejudices are challenged as his emotional barriers break down and he forms a new family. Although the direction may not be as tight as on his previous three features this seems to be a much more personal project. Although one question Clint, Did you really have to sing at the end?

17. Thirst

First of two vampire films but that's not hard in the year we had the second Twillight movie: New Moon, Cirque de Freak: The Vampire's Assistant and Lesbian Vampire Killers. However this Korean effort form the director of Old Boy stands out for me for its impeccable cinematography as well as its themes about religion, lust and violence. Kang-ho Song is brilliant as the priest who gets a blood transfusino and turns into a vampire corrupting an unhappy girl in his plight. The film is sexy and shocking with some really brutal scenes and a heartbreaking conclusion. Not for the squeamish but this is a vampire film without any of the prentesion.

16. Anvil: The Story of Anvil

Almost like a real Spinal Tap this focused on the true story of the band Anvil, who were the fore-runners of the whole metal scene precedding Motorhead, Metalicca and others but this proves that what is really needed is timing. We follow Anvil as they try and get their fanbase back in a poorly organised tour around Europe and then recording a new album. At its heart is a film about friendship and hope, if the end of the film doesn't bring a tear to your eye then what's wrong with you?

15.Zombieland

Hands down the best straight comedy of the year. Twinkies, a gun-toting Woody Harrelson and Bill Fucking Murray this had it all. Jesse Eseinberg brings his nervous charm to a role that requires him to be the fall guy to Harrelson's fast talking zombie destroyer. But like with all good comedies it has a big heart behind the big laughs and it makes you question what being in a family means. The only criticism I have is it was way too short I could've at least done with fiftenn more minutes of laughs.

14. Goodbye Solo

A film about the trouble that immigrants have finding work that doesn't involve driving taxis actually turns into a lovely film about friendship. The friendship here is between African cab driver Solo and long in the tooth Westerner William. This film isn't a big deal but it warms the heart without be particularly patronising and features two stunning lead performances.

13. Coraline

For fans of Nightmare Before Christmas everywhere as its director Henry Sellick adapts Neil Gaiman's gothic classic in all its stop-motion glory. Funny and scary in equal measure this was made for the cinema as it is visually stunning in an eerie way it is also has an excellent voice cast in among others Ian McShane, Teri Hatcher and French and Saunders.

12. In the Loop

The Thick of It comes to the big screen with the same amount of laughs but more Peter Capaldi swearing. Although it struggles for a feature-length story it still has the same magic that made the TV show such as success. Malcolm Tucker really suits the big screen and it helped that Capaldi had a brilliant foil in Tom Hollander. It was nice to see James Gandolfini doing farce as well as an American general.

11.Star Trek

JJ Abrams was always going to completely change the Star Trek format thankfully it was for the better. The young cast all boil down elements of the original characters and make them their own with Zachary Quinto's Spock a particular highlight. Although it falls down towards the middle there's enough action and decent storytelling for this to be the blockbuster hit of the year.

10. Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire actually managed to be an Oscar-winner that deserved it as it wasn't a traditional Oscar film neither was it 'the feelgood film of the year'. This story was so well told and the slums of Mumbai so-well shot that it was hard to put it this low on the list but it has lost some of its originality a year after its realease. Still this is still going to be touted as a modern classic and earned Danny Boyle a well deserved Best Director statuette.

9.An Education

A story of pre-Beatlemania slighty-stuffy Britain, this is alledgelly based on real-life events and shows the rebellion of a young girl who has been leading the same path for all her life and gives into the temptation of an older man and a new life. Nick Hornby's script is very witty but is also heartfelt at the right moments and there is a great support performance from Alfred Molina. But this was 24 year old Carey Mulligan's show as Jenny she captivates and holds the viewer's attention from beginning to end hopefully the Oscar buzz will pay-off because this performance deserves to be recognised.

8. Up

Up's first ten minutes are some of the best in cinema history as we follow the life of o man from childhood to old age in the space of a couple of minutes. Although there is still high quality in the film it becomes a standard Pixar film when the old man is forced to bond with boy scout Russell. Witty and heartbreaking and focusing on themes of love, loss and second chances this wasn't as good as Wall-E but still brilliant.

7. A Serious Man

The Coen Brothers are nothing if not versetile. After the thrilling No Country for Old Men and the broad comedy of Burn After Reading we get Jewish surburbia in the 1970s. Its a testament to the Coens that they can make the story of a very average middle aged man engaging and it was also very brave of them to have their first ten minutes completely in Yiddish. The non-starry cast is ably lead by Michael Stuhlberg who displays a cavalcade of emotions as the put upon Larry Gopnick. The real star of this though was the stylised nature of the small-close knit houses brilliantly filmed as ever by Roger Deakins. This is the best study of suburbia since American Beauty and this was a lot funnier as wlel.

6. Moon

This was the year of the sci-fi film as there was something for everyone and that was no more evident than in Moon. David Bowie's son Duncan Jones' first feature showcases one of the best male performances from Sam Rockwell as he plays Sam an astronaut sent on a mission that has taken too long. The film deals with themes of family, identity and isolation and also has a nice voice performance by Kevin Spacey as the ship's robot. For those who are fans of 2001, Silent Running and Logan's Run, Bowie Jr.'s film is for you.

5. Adventureland

This year's Superbad which isn't surpising as its by the same director. But Greg Mottola's third feature sees him grow up a little bit more as the original (not the new) Michael Cera, Jesse Eissenberg plays a high school graduate forced to work in an amusement park in the 1980s. While retaining some of the Superbad humour this is more heartfelt and clever and features some great supporting performances from Twilight's Kristen Stewart, Knocked Up's Martin Starr and shockingly Ryan Reynolds as the handyman who refuses to grow up. Not playing on the nostalgia element too much this was a funny and charming sleeper hit.

4. The Hurt Locker

We've had a lot of films about the Iraq war - Rendition, Redacted, Lions for Lambs but none of these felt like they captured the essence of the war. Thankfully Katherine Bigelow returned with a great story about the soldiers fighting the fight and whether war is addictive or not. The film was shot in a very realistic shaky style focusing on a bomb-disposal squad the tension duirng the bomb defusing scenes were incredibly tense. Casting three non-familiar faces in the leads was a stroke of genius and in this day and age this certainly strikes a chord and makes you think about what's going on in the rest of the world.

3. District 9

A film where South African soldiers fight giant prawn martians doesn't really sound that appealing but with its themes of unjust war and hints to the Arpetheid, District 9 gave us something special. Shot as a mock-documentary to start off with this later became a character piece focusing on a hapless company man forced to turn against his own and work with the aliens. Although not on the scale of say Star Trek or Avatar, District 9's action sequences still work within the confines of the story and Sharlto Copley became an unlikely star in the lead role. Just really enjoyable and engaging District 9 was a decent sci-fi yarn with something to say.

2. Let the Right One In

Juvenille romance meets the vampire craze in this Swedish masterpiece as we explore the life of 12 year old Oscar a boy who is bullied at school and ignored at home. He meets Ellie who he falls in love with but then finds out she's a vampire the story between these two kids is so sweet the vampire story almsot becomes superfulous. There are some cracking scenes most notably the swimming pool finale and both of the young actors are so natural they make the film seem even more realistic. It's a shame that the Americans can't leave well alone and have to adapt good European cinema because most audiences can't be bothered with the subtitles.

1. The Wrestler

One of the first films I watched this year and it stuck with me throughout. Mickey Rourke was completely robbed off his Oscar as Randy 'The Ram' Robinson was the part he was born to play. Completely authentic throughout Robinson was a performer who had his heydays in the 1980s and was constantly trying to recapture the wrestling magic he once had. Rourke was totally captivating as he tried to rebuild his relationship with his daughter and struggle to keep doing the one thing he knew how to do - wrestle. Rourke also had impeccable chemistry with Marissa Tomei as the stripper with a heart as well as with Evan Rachel Wood who played his daughter. The wrestling sequences looked great on screen especially the garbage brawl against the Necro Butcher. Well-structured and compelling from beginning to end, this film never once dips and tells a great story that rings a bell as there are so many ex-wrestlers who have to live this life. Lets just hope that Rourke can build on this and start his career again.

Okay I now its very belated but soon the film blog will look back at the noughties and the top 100 films of the previous decade.

Films of the Year: 2008

Now transferred to the Film Blog and updated here's an update of all my favourite films from 2008.

25. High School Musical 3: Senior Year

A fitting finale for the gang of East High, if film number one was about beginnings, and film two was about negative influences, then film three is about the future. The fact that this was the first film to be shown in cinemas, demosntrates how popular this franchise has become and the songs are as good as ever with added poignance as this is the last time we will see Troy, Gabriella, Ryan etc. However it looks like the legacy will continue all be it with a new class. Go Wildcats!

24. Tropic Thunder

After 2007's rise of the Apatow brigade in Knocked Up and Superbad, 2008 saw the some suffer with a string of average films such as Walk Hard, Drillbit Taylor and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Thanks then for Tropic Thunder which is an excellent film spoof in which five actors are put in the Vienetamese jungle by their struggling director in order for them to finish the film. The three main performances vary Jack Black's drug-addled comedian character struggles to be likeable, Ben Stiller plays his usual dumb-sterotype as the action star but Robert Downey Jr. sparkles as Australian actor Kirk Lazarus who underwent surgery to play the black colonel of the troop and stays in character most of the time. Stiller's script has more misses than hits and thankfully the supporting cast get most of the laughs whether its Nick Nolte's war veteran, Danny McBride's effects surpervisor, Matthew McConaghey's agent or best of all Tom Cruise giving his best performance in years as the film's foul-mouthed producer. A good comedy which is bound to sell well on DVD.

23. Man on Wire

A superb documentary following the attempts of a Frenchman to tightrope walk between the Twin Towers. Narrated by people who were involved in the stunt as well as containing pictures and videos of the events preceding and following the walk. Although a times a little slow, this builds into a story of courage, persevence and sheer luck. One to watch.

22. In Search of a Midnight Kiss

A surprise entry for this black and white indie comedy which sees a down-on-his-luck aspiring screenwriter looking for love on the internet in time for a Midnight Kiss on New Year's Eve. The unknown cast do a wonderful job with an utterly charming script which draws particularly on Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise/Sunset series. And any film which ends with a sing-a-long of The Scorpions' Wind of Change has surely got to be in the Top 10.

21. Iron Man

A lot of the time this latest comic-book adaptation relies on Downey Jr's cocksure performance alone to push the story along. However that seems to be enough as Sebastian Stark he delivers the somewhat comic script with ease. For a comic book adaptation there's not a lot of soul-searching which serves it well in a way allowing us to concetrate on the action and the characters. Ample support is provided by a bald Jeff Bridges and an actually fairly good Gwyneth Paltrow as the bizzarely named Pepper Potts. Although the inevitable sequel will have more depth, this was certainly one of the best films of the summer.

20. The Visitor

Tom McCarthy took audiences by surprise in 2004 with his low-key debut The Station Agent which won a BAFTA for its screenplay. After four years and a role in the final series of The Wire, McCarthy returned to write and direct his second feature about a college professor who is forced into returning to his rented New York apartment for the first time since his wife died in order to attend a confrence. He then finds two illegal immigrants squatting there and decides to let them keep living their and bonds with both of them. The film has a lot to say about immigration but at its heart is a film about love, loss and new beginnings. The central performance by Richard Jenkins rightly earned an Oscar nomination and the whole thing is filled with warmth, wit and beautiful music.

19. The Wackness

Next up is this sweet film set during the hot New York summer of 1994 it sees Josh Peck as high-school loser and pot dealer Luke Shapiro who forms a relationship with one of his clients a therapist played surprisingly well by Sir Ben Kingsley. Shapiro ends up falling in love with the therapists step-daughter and they begin an interesting relationship over the summer. Filled with inner-turmoil, a great relationship between Kingsley and Peck and a 1994 hip-hop soundtrack, The Wackness is a likeable yarn with a good script and if weren't for Kingsley making out with one of the Olsen twins it may have figured even higher in the list.

18. The Savages

The first of two Philip Seymour Hoffman performances in this list sees him star alongside an Oscar nominated Laura Linney as two siblings forced together as they search for a home for their father who is suffering from dementia. The darkly comic script brings out the best from both its leads as well as Philip Boscoe as the father. The trick of this film is that it makes two vain unlikeable characters seem very likeable. There's a nice comedy dog in there as well.

17. Son of Rambow

A great British Comedy with two fantastic young leads in this story of a boy whose raised in a religious community and not allowed to watch T.V. being exposed to Rambo: First Blood by a rebellious classmate and the two then making a film together. The eighties flashback allows the soundtrack to be as weird and wonderful as possible and although there is a needless subplot involving a French exchange student this is still funny and charming with a crowd-pleasing ending.

16. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Draws on shades of Tarrantino's Jackie Brown and mixes a bit of Shakesperian tragedy into the story, this film involves two brothers who try and plot the perfect crime in the roberry of their parent's jewellry store. The structure of the film doesn't follow a linear narrative so more of the story is explained as the film progresses. A quartet of brilliant performances from Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the brothers, Marissa Tomei as Hoffman's wife and Hawke's mistress and best of all Albert Finney as the boy's father whose final tragic scene makes the film.

15. The Fall

For those who say that films like The Princess Bride or Time Bandits don't exist any more should check out this little seen fantasy film. It sees a Hollywood stuntman and a young orange picker staying at the same hopsital in the 1920s. Roy the stuntman starts to tell the young girl a tale which comes to life through her fantasies. However the story is just a ruse for Roy to try and commit suicide something that the young girl is unaware. The mixture of fantasy and the very real subjects makes this an interesting watch and the visuals are truly fascinating. This is worth watching just because you won't see anything else like this for a long time.

14. Persepolis

A French animated film about an Iranian girl growing up during the conflict years of the 1970s, this follows her journey from Iran to Europe and back again, narrated by Catherine Deneuve and featuring the voices among others of Sean Penn and Iggy Pop this included a lot of gravitas as well a many comic moments. As this film is animated a lot of the scenes are reinforced and there's less limitations on what can be achieved with animation like their may be if this was a live action film. A joy to watch from beginning to end.

13. No Country for Old Men

2008's Best Picture winner didn't resonate as well with me as it did others, I found it slow and laboured at times with an ambigous ending that didn't really work for me. Saying that though there were enough superb set pieces and a well-written script to keep me going and make this one of the top 10 films of the year. Also Javier Barderm's Oscar winning performance as well as the likes of Woody Harrelson and Tommy Lee Jones in the cast meant this one is definitely a Coen classic.


12. The Dark Knight

Most people's film of the year, didn't make my Top 10. Nothing wrong with this film I do believe its excellent if not a little over-hyped. From the bank heist at the beginning to the final showdown at the end, Nolan's direction and script keep us on the edge of our seat. Bale's Batman is as good as he was in the last one however inevitably its Heath Ledger's Joker that steals the show. There is also fine support from Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Aaron Eckhart. But the real star is the Gotham City backdrop which provides the bleak and cold setting for this tale of crime and revenge. A cut above your usual superhero movie and the best Batman film to date.

11. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

A heart-warming and ingeniously well-made French film about the accident that saw the ed itor of Vogue magazine completely paralysed and unable to communicate apart from his left eye. Using this eye he was able to narrate his autobiography to the nurses and ordelies and eventually have it published. The storytelling and acting are both superb and even if at times the lead's self pity is a bit too much to handle, that is quickly forgotten. There is also some sumptuos cinematography to enjoy.

10. 4 Months, 3 Days and 2 Weeks

Although a Romanian film about backstreet abortions doesn't seem to be a very good way to start the top 10 this superbly captivating and realistic drama is a great example of artistic film-making. The story concerns two friends, one of whom is pregnant and wishes to have an abortion before it is too late. Because abortions were illegal in Romania at the time the film was made everything has to be done under the radar. However things start to go wrong when the other girl makes the plans and for a minute it looks like the abortion might not happen. It seems wrong to apply peril to a subject as sensitive as abortions but it makes the film all the more watchable. It also is very set on applying the situation to the characters and not really exploring why abortions have been made illegal or the relgious and moral viewpoints about what the two girls are doing. At the end of the day this is a film about too close friends and it is a testament to the director that he is able to pull that off.

9. In Bruges

A film that can suddenly turn from Colin Farrell's drunken Irish comic turn, into serious drama deserves a place in this film as Farrell and Brendan Gleason play two Irish hitmen forced to wait in Bruges, Belgium following a job gone wrong. Gleason gives an outstanding performance as the veteran hitman while Farrell's performance is more out-and-out comedic criticising the entire cit of Bruges. While Ralph Fiennes' cockney accent is a bit strong he also impresses as the boss of the two hitmen and this film is at its best when it lets its actors get free reign over these complex multi-dimensional characters. And the drab setting of Bruges also deserves a mention as it provides an adequate background for the action to take place.

8. Changeling

Every year Clint Eastwood seems to direct a different type of picture that is both well-made and draws on an interesting subject matter last year it was the duel war films - Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima and this year it was the 1920s set Changeling. The film is seemingly about mother who loses her son but it spirals into a conspiracy drama as the son who is returned to her isn't her son at all. The story goes into two different areas, one is about exposing the corruption in the LAPD and the other is looking at what has actually happened to her son. Eastwood's attention to detail is astounding and the period sets and costumes are top-notch as is the script. Also worth a mention is the great lead performance by Angelina Jolie who is a revelation as the devastated mother. All in all a brilliant well-crafted film and yet another triumph for Eastwood.

7. The Orphanage

After 2006's Pan's Labyrnith, Guillemero Del Toro has bought us an equally visually spectacular film however this time he is simply presenting. The Orpanage is a story of a couple and their young son who move to a house by the sea which used to be the orphanage where the mother lived. Of course strange things keep happening, an odd woman visits the couple and the son disappears. When horror films today are usually trashy American slasher films or brutal films from Eastern Asia its great to see a film rely on real shocks and horror than simply gruesome behaviour. This is an incredibly well shot and well played horror film that had me on the edge of my seat fro beginning to end.

6. Lars and the Real Girl

Ryan Gosling cements his role as a hot young star with this indie black comedy as he plays smalltown boy Lars who begins a relationship with a lifesize doll. However this is not Mannequin 2 and instead studies the psyche of Lars who actually believes his doll to be quite real. Lars' anguish is portrayed brilliantly by Gosling however the small-town charm and warmth provided by the supporting cast also makes the film and the doll herself deserves a mention for being one of the most origninal romantic leads of the year.

5. Waltz With Bashir

Similar to Persepolis, this film is a cartoon but deals with extremly emotional and sensitive issues. In this case it is of a former soldier who can't remember anything about the Lebanon conflict so has to meet up with former colleagues as well as a reporter who were all in Beiruit at the time to give their recounts of the event. Using real interview footage as most of the narrative track this almost like a realist animation by using the interviews conducted and turning them into a visually stunning film. The colours used are stark and brutal and the music is incredibly effective and at the end you see beyond the animation and realise how brutal things were for the army during that particular war.

4. Juno

A comedy written by an ex-stripper and starring a bit part player from X-Men 3 and the guy out of Arrested Development shouldn't have worked. Luckily Juno, the story of a quirky high school girl who gets pregnant, worked so well it won Diablo Cody the original screenplay award and cememnted Ellen Page as a star. The film is as good as it was when I first watched it and Cody's words come out of Page's mouth so well its like the two were joined as one. A good supporting cast featuring Jason Bateman, JK Simmons, Alison Janney and Jennifer Garner in one of her finest film roles to date meant this was truly an ensemble piece. It also in my opinion had the best soundtrack of the year moulding together Belle and Sebastian, The Kinks, Sonic Youth and Moldy Peaches, with Kimya Dawson of the latter band providing some original music as well.

3. I've Loved You So Long

I've Loved You So Long is really an 'acting film', there are no real massive plot points and there isn't any exreme filming. What you get though is a character piece about a woman who is released from jail and goes to stay with her sister. Bit by bit the revelations come thick and fast what did she do and why did she do it. The lead performance by Kristen Scott Thomas, taking the lead in a French film for the first time, is truly stunning and deserved a lot more credit than it was given. The subtle cinematography is also well used to capture character's emotions and thoughts and overall this is just a beautiful little film that needs to be seen by a lot more people.

2. Wall-E

After the distinctly average Ratatouille, Pixar fought back with this delightful animation which boldly features fourty minutes of no dialogue. This purely visual experience sees an Earth that has been completely demolished by rubbish and the rubbish is being picked up robots one such being Wall-E, he then meets another robot Eve and falls in love. Although Pixar reverts to type by having more dialogue in the third part, Wall-E still features enough laughs and heart to be Pixar's best since Finding Nemo. And those who don't tear up during the final scenes have hearts of stone.

1. There Will Be Blood

I drink your Milshake, I Drink it Down. Daniel Day-Lewis gives a massively large and epic performance in this Oil-Soaked epic of mid-western American in the 1920s. Paul Thomas Anderson's direction and a top-class script added to the action and the sinsiter soundtrack and sweeping cinematography made this the film of the year and was cruely denied an oscar for Best Picture, although there was a win for Day-Lewis. Paul Dano also provided good support as twin brothers Paul and Eli Sunday. The final scene involving a Bowling Alley is one of the most darkly comic things ever comitted to film.

So overall a good year for cinema but we look forward to 2009.