Review: Hunger

As you'd expect from a Turner Prize winning artist's first film - this is an incredibly visual debut from Steve McQueen. Taking place in near silence for the most part - it is compulsive, but stomach-churning viewing.

Review: Gran Torino

2009's best comedy. Some of it intentional with Eastwood channelling Borat to ridicule racism, but some not with plenty of laughs coming from the abysmal acting of the supporting cast around Eastwood.

Review: Milk

On the surface this is Gus Van Sant's most straightforward film for many a year, but his clever use of actual archive footage cut into the film really serves to enhance the impact of the film - showing the importance of Harvey Milk and accentuating the excellent performances from the cast across the board, who really come to embody their characters.

Sean Penn has taken the headlines for the lead role but any other year would be Josh Brolin's for Best Supporting Oscar as the conflicted Dan White.

Alternative Brit Awards

This year's Brit Awards are on Wednesday night. As the list of nominations is far from inspiring - the main point of interest will probably come from seeing if Kylie can cope better with the autocue than she did at the Baftas.

So hears my take on where the Brits went wrong with my alternative picks for this years awards.

Best British Male: Seth Lakeman

A poor list of nominations with no one really standing out - even Seth Lakeman's album was too samey, but it still was better than any of the five that actually got selected.

Best British Female: Laura Marling

Dead-behind-the-eyes Duffy and Adele are the two heavy-hitters to pick up this award, but I personally can't believe that Laura Marling didn't even get a nomination for her actually way better than Feist debut album of Joni Mitchell style folk.

Best British Breakthrough: Noah & The Whale

The aforementioned Duffy and Adele have had success on both sides of the Atlantic, but had huge label backing from execs looking for the next Winehouse. I'd throw some recognition Noah & The Whale's way for Five Years Time becoming the least likely summer anthem out of nowhere.

Best British Group: Mogwai

Mogwai have the quiet/loud dynamic down to perfection now. Its summed up by Batcat which is so massive it makes the Great Khali look like a midget.

Best British Live Act: Oasis

Pretty sure they'll win this next year after their 2009 stadium gigs and a festival or too, but how Scouting For Girls get nominated ahead of their set of arena dates and electric proms performance I'll never know.

Best British Single: Elbow - Grounds For Divorce

This somehow manages to be a great pop song and sound like Tom Waits at the same time.

Best British Album: Radiohead - In Rainbows

The fact that Radiohead are nominated for an album first released in October 2007 works as a metaphor for how behind the times the Brits have become. That said, its still a phenomenal album.

Best International Male: Bon Iver

Beck and Kanye West could probably release an album of flatulence and still get nominated (808’s & Heartbreak was pretty close to that too) Of those chosen I hope Seasick Steve beats Jay Z who gets a nod for one half-decent live show, but Bon Iver should be on the list for his cabin-folk thats so intimate it feels slightly voyeuristic to listen too.

Best International Female: Katy Perry

Seems a lock to win this award. Wonder if she'll dedicate the award to Gwen Stefani who she's ripped off so obviously.

Best International Group: Alphabeat

Kings of Leon should have these last two categories nailed down, but Alphabeat should have got some recognition for a year of great shows and an album featuring a raft of great pop tracks.

Best International Album: Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

A great album full of contradictions. More experimental, harder, heavier yet somehow seeming more commercial all at the same time.

Early Adopters

Twitter is all the rage right now, and kids are getting mobiles younger and younger - so I thought I'd combine the two with a t-shirt from mysoti.com, which makes it really easy to sell your own designs online. If its good enough for Stephen Fry, its good enough for me.

Review: Gomorrah

Succeeds in stripping away the glitz of gangster movies, but in the end fails to make you care that much about what actually happens to those trapped in Gomorrah's gritty, grimy and gun-driven world.

Review: Man On Wire

The charisma of Petit carries the documentary. You listen to him talk about anything for 90 mins and he would hold your attention, let alone a subject so interesting as this one.

Not sure its Bafta Best British Film worthy, but its still a fascinating watch nonetheless and features many stunning and poignant images of the walk between the two towers.

Spot The Difference #2

Benjamin Button

Ron Howard

Who else reckons Fincher could've saved a load of money on make-up and cast Ron Howard as old Benjamin Button instead

Review: Hulk

Picked this up for cheap on HD-DVD the other day. The transfer is beautiful, looking crisp and vibrant throughout - and it really shows the step up in visuals from DVD to the new HD formats.

Sounds all good so far.

Its a shame that the film itself is pish. Which is quite a feat for any film featuring zombie hulk poodles.

Spot The Difference

Either WWE's Wellness Policy is be working, or Brandon Flowers idea of a spaceman is the Legion of Doom with a cock ring (watch the video to see what I mean)

Review: Hamlet 2

Its not that bad, with the actual musical itself and the Sexy Jesus song in particular being the highlight - but Summer Heights High and Mr G do all this is supposed to do, but much, much funnier.