Albums of 2010: Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Arcade Fire's third album manages the trick of sounding more stripped back than before, yet somehow more epic as well.

Albums of 2010: Ash - The A to Z Series

Ash have always been a great singles band and they managed to keep that track record going here, releasing one every two weeks over the course of a year. Arcadia and Dionysian Urge are arguably two of the best ash songs ever released and the 10 minute plus Sky Burial takes the experimentation hinted at on Twilight of the Innocents to the next level.

Albums of 2010: Darwin Deez - Darwin Deez

Seemingly made for Summer Festivals with his live show boasting regular dance offs, the album works just as well as home with 30 mins of pure guitar pop about girls a joy to listen to.

Albums of 2010: Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Deftones return with an album that takes the blueprint of their breakthrough Around The Fur, but improves on every aspect of it.

Albums of 2010: Dinosaur Pile Up - Growing Pains

Sadly no Beach Buggy, which was the highlight of their earlier EP releases, but each song hear chugs along in style reminiscent of early Foos, which is no bad thing at all.

Albums of 2010: Eels - End Times

Nobody makes misery quite so uplifting like Mr E, and boy he's pretty miserable here in 14 tracks documenting the break up of his marriage

Albums of 2010: Metal Swim

Seeing as they do a show called Metalocalypse, you'd expect Adult Swim to know their stuff - and this free compilation proves it, spanning the genre to provide something for all fans of heavy music.

Albums of 2010: The National - High Violet

Already a shoe-in for the Top 10 on its original release, the expanded edition adding another 8 tracks only confirms what we already knew about The National's quality.

Albums of 2010: Steve Mason - Boys Outside

Teaming with Richard X (famous for his edgy electro productions with pop acts such as Sugababes and Liberty X) you'd expect Steve Mason to embrace the more experimental side shown in his work with The Beta Band - However, Boys Outside is his most straight up collection of songs, adding more impact to his lyrics about loneliness and depression.

Albums of 2010: Weezer - Hurley

After 3 terrible albums in a row, Hurley harks back to the OTT silliness of Maladroit - combining funny videos but remembering the tunes this time as well.

Top 75 Tracks of 2010 - Spotify Playlist

Follwing on from last year's list, and once again brought to you via Shareyourplaylists.com is compilation of my top 75 tracks of 2010* - If you've got Spotify installed just follow the link, click on play and listen away.

* Apart from Arcade Fire. Who aren't on Spotify.

Best of 2010 - iamstockmonkey.blogspot.com

Arcadia - Ash
Factory - Band of Horses
Ramona - Beck
Boyfriend - Best Coast
Shutterbugg - Big Boi
Colours Fade - Blood Red Shoes
Firefly - The Bluetones
Ivy & Gold - Bombay Bicycle Club
Escape Velocity - The Chemical Brothers
Breaking Walls - Chief
Night By Night - Chromeo
Audience Of One - Cold War Kids
Celestica - Crystal Castles
Champion Sound - Crystal Fighters
Trouble Seeker (feat. Daron Malakian)- Cypress Hill
Tron Legacy (End Titles) - Daft Punk
Cauliflower - Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip
Pain (Feat. Iggy Pop) - Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse
Constellations - Darwin Deez
Blue Blood Blues - The Dead Weather
Diamond Eyes - Deftones
Barce-Loner - Dinosaur Pile-Up
Andalucía - Doves
A Line In The Dirt - Eels
Starry Eyed - Ellie Goulding
Trouble in Mind - Erland And The Carnival
Leni - Flash Fiktion
Nothing Like You - Frightened Rabbit
When You Walk In The Room - Fyfe Dangerfield
Doncamatic (feat. Daley) - Gorillaz
Palaces Of Montezuma - Grinderman
Paper Romance - Groove Armada
Time - Hans Zimmer
One Life Stand - Hot Chip
Memory Serves - Interpol
Cold War - Janelle Monae
Ain't No Grave - Johnny Cash
I Don't Want To See You Like This - The Joy Formidable
Runaway - Kanye West feat. Pusha T
Tenderoni - Kele
Telephone - Lady Gaga/Beyoncé,
One Touch - LCD Soundsystem
(It's Not War) Just The End Of Love - Manic Street Preachers
Bang Bang Bang - Mark Ronson & The Business Intl
Paradise Circus - Massive Attack
Lifelong Dayshift - Middle Class Rut
Friend Of The Night - Mogwai
As We Enter - Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley
Hypnotize U - N.E.R.D.
Terrible Love - The National
Drawing Maps From Memory - North Atlantic Oscillation
Mr Peterson - Perfume Genius
Stay Too Long - Plan B
Back To The Fuck Yeah - Pulled Apart By Horses
Shot After Shot - Rival Schools
Dancing On My Own - Robyn
The Best of Times - Sage Francis
In The Sun - She & Him
Answer To Yourself - The Soft Pack
Black Rain - Soundgarden
Lost And Found - Steve Mason
Floating Vibes - Surfer Blood
Lucidity - Tame Impala
Dark Clouds - Teenage Fanclub
Pass Out - Tinie Tempah
Dead American Writers - Tired Pony
In Motion - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Something Good Can Work - Two Door Cinema Club
Giving Up The Gun - Vampire Weekend
I Don't Bite - We Are Scientists
Hang On - Weezer
Percussion Gun - White Rabbits
Take That - Wiley & Chew Fu
Tokyo - The Wombats
O.N.E - Yeasayer

Review: Exit Through The Gift Shop

This should be a lesson to Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck on how to create a documentary that blurs the line between truth and reality. My take is that Thierry Guetta is creation by Banksy and those around him to frame the telling of the story of how street art rose from the gutters to galleries (quite literally) and in staging the whole MBW exhibition managed to take it away from the collectors and take it back to the people.

Review: Wanted

I would've enjoyed the movie a lot more without all the slow-mo bullet time nonsence. Mainly because it would've finished a hell of a lot sooner.

Review: The Town

Sadly a bit of a let-down from it's awesome trailer, The Town reverts too much to crime story cliché with its tale of bank robber meets girl but gets drawn back for one last job.

The heist scenes themselves are where the film excels, Affleck showing his skills as a director shooting them with a kinetic energy that's up there with Mann and Greengrass, but the talky bits in between just descend into a load of Bawston mumbling with Jeremy Renner popping doing the whole doesn't care if he lives or dies, adrenaline junkie with a gun thing from the Hurt Locker and being the best thing in it.

Review: RocknRolla

Released in 2008, in 2010 the idea of making money from real estate now seems equally as dated the idea of a Guy Ritchie Gangster movie itself - but despite being more than a bit clichéd and a little bit rubbish, its still entertaining rubbish thanks to an excellent cast supporting Gerard Butler in the lead role.

Review: Tyson

The Story of Mike Tyson in his own words, as Iron Mike himself is the only person to feature in this retelling of the heavyweight boxer's rise and fall. I would've preferred to hear more from the people surrounding Tyson as while to certain extent he was left hang himself showing his disgusting attitude to women, too many times it was glossed over quickly to move onto the next subject and the instances where clips of speech are together to create a sort of rhythmic pattern turns into sort of celebration of misogyny, which leaves a sour taste after.

Review: The Happening

It's no surprise the story is bobbins, after all M. Night Shyamalan's been working on the law of diminishing returns for a while now - what's more surprising is how bad the acting is considering it stars Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel, who have frequently proved before that they can both deliver the goods.

In the end The Happening becomes one of those special films that are so bad they're actually good with plenty of completely unintentional laugh out loud moments throughout to keep you entertained.

Review: Machete

Dropping the fake scratches and bad cuts of Planet Terror, Robert Rodriguez comes closer to making the cult movie he pays tribute too, but Machete still suffers from trying to hard to be something its not.

Plenty of blood and boobs ensure Machete is always entertaining, but the cheesy dialogue and crap acting is just to knowing to make it memorable - you'll be ghard pressed to find anyone remembering this in a year, let alone 30.

Rodriguez seems to have missed the point of Grindhouse and even his earlier films that ended up being cult hits - they weren't trying to be cults at all, they all wanted to be mainstream films and tried to make the best of their limitations - both money and talent wise. Making his films worse than should be, ironically or not, is a waste of a talent as huge as Rodriguez's and hopefully its a phase he'll snap out of soon.

Review: I'm Still Here

In many ways I'm Still Here is just as muddled as Joaquin's infamous performance on Letterman, in that while this supposed documentary claims to be saying something about the media, you're never ever really quite sure exactly what that is at any point.

Still despite the rambling nature of the plot there's still plenty to enjoy here, the biggest laughs come when Phoenix comes into contact with other famous faces such as Ben Stiller and Puff Daddy, and only add to the questions that surround the film as you how many people were in on the joke as some reactions are too good to be true.

Review: Defendor

Watch the trailer and you'll expect a second-rate Kick Ass, but Defendor is a surprisingly touching movie about a man just trying to some good in the world.

True there are plenty of comedic moments to be found, especially as he chooses to goabout this dressed as a superhero daubed in shoe polish and sticky tape, but the relationship between Defendor and Kat Dennings' crack whore is what makes the movie works, giving it a heart instead of just being a succession of prat falls.

Not even getting a cinema release over here, Defendor deserves to be one of the word of mouth hits of the year on its DVD release.

Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Edgar Wright's visual flair, packing the screen full of references to all things geek culture makes sure that Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World flies along faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. The only downers being that its probably 10 minutes too long and any attempts to create drama fall a little flat as the repetitive storyline was never in danger of veering from the predictable ending

Highlights of the movie include Anna Kendrick showing she's the best thing to come from Twilight by far and an awesome soundtrack from Nigel Godrich.

Review: Black Dynamite

Forget Tarantino and Rodriguez's attempts to pay homage to the exploitation films of the 70s, Black Dynamite trumps those two Grindhouse tributes with ease.

Finding the middle ground between those two, it dials down the OTT stylings of Planet Terror - sure there's plenty to laugh at here, but many of the jokes are surprisingly subtle and don't get in the way of the straight kung-fu action plot, this ensures the joke doesn't wear thin and keeps you interested throughout the 90 minute runtime. Also Black Dynamite's slavish attention to detail usurps Death Proof where instead of a few fake scratches to the film seen in Tarantino's work, this really feels like a product of the 70s from the whole look and feel of the sets to the super funky soundtrack all adding to the experience.

Review: The Expendables

This all star action film is always watchable, but falls flat in one liners it needed to become the ultimate guilty pleasure movie - going to the trouble of casting Jason Statham as Lee Christmas and having no one shout 'Christmas is Coming!' reeks of missed opportunity.

If you excuse the pun, The Expendables could've done with Cranking up a bit for my tastes.

Review: Grown Ups

Sandler and Co. jump on the Couples Retreat bandwagon and make a really bad film whilst holidaying at the studios expense. Unlike its predecessor, Grown Ups barely tries to hide the fact its just a big jolly for those involved - there's only the flimsiest of plots to hold together the 90 minutes with a few pee and poo jokes thrown in alongside the air of general misogyny to masquerade as humour.

Review: Salt

With a bunch of evil Russians on the loose looking to bring about Nuclear Armageddon, Salt is throwback to the early 90s spy action/thriller that seemed to have fallen by the wayside since a certain Mr. Bauer exploded onto our screens in 24.

Angelina Jolie is a strange choice to go all Jack Ryan, and unlike in Tomb Raider, she looks too frail in the lead role to ever really convince you that she's the one woman killing machine she's made out to be.

Salt suffers from thinking its smarter than it actually is - one twist is straight out of the Nikki and Paolo episode of Lost and to be honest, there were times you'd wonder if this was a plot for the spoof show Expose.

In the end, the only real mystery with Salt is where on the Earth did the sex scene that the trailer so heavily promotes end up? Seems like here's going to be some teenagers left a little disappointed by Salt for two reasons then...

Review: Extract

A disappointing return to workplace comedy from Mike Judge, Extract is mildly amusing throughout but an absence of any big laughs make it quickly forgettable. However, as a veteran of early Kevin Smith films, Ben Affleck knows how to play stoner barman Dean to steal the show.

Lost in Translation?

Looking at the all the extra features that come with US Releases of Recent Lost DVDs in the States, seems its not just a plane that's gone missing between continents.

Lost Complete Seasons 1-6 Boxset US

Lost Complete Seasons 1-6 Boxset UK

Lost Season 5 Dharma Initiation Boxset USA

Lost Season 5 Boxset UK

Bet this is another thing they won't end up explaining properly either.

Review: Knight and Day

This film is all about shiny stuff, whether thats guns, cars, hair or teeth - but with Tom Cruise unsurprisingly being pretty good at playing someone a bit mental and a nice chemistry with Cameron Diaz (when she isn't shrieking and screaming) that holds your interest till the end, Knight and Day ends up actually being a step above most other action films this year that aren't called Inception.

Review: Inception

Was it just me, or was it slightly spoilt by the fact they kept changing the rules as they went along? First they just needed to fall to wake up, then it ended up need to be all lined up - and all the stuff with the totems, wasn't that meant to tell whether you were in someone else's dream? So the big cliffhanger still didn't answer the question it set?

Review: The A Team

For the first half its harmless fun, in particular the montage of the team coming together is an OTT joy. When they get into the meat of the plot though it all falls apart sadly, ending up just as an explosive-filled mess.

A sequel seems unlikely unless they switch to Plan B and drop the budget to match the disappointing box office so far.

Review: The Coca Cola Case

Disappointing Documentary the chronicles attempts to sue the Coca Cola Corporation for Human Rights violations in Columbian bottling plants. The lack of narration or any on screen graphics to pull the story together just means it ends up a hotch potch of footage jumping between North and South America that leaves the viewer confused and lost as to who is who and what they are accused or accusing people of.

For those wanting to find more about the allegations, they are much better off looking elsewhere and should really track down a copy of Mark Thomas; Dispatches Documentary a few years back or a copy of his book Belching Out The Devil

Review: Cop Out

Its not as bad as many of the reviews would have you believe, its just pretty average but perfectly watchable stuff for 90 mins. Tracy Morgan has the best lines, but you'd be better off with a 30 Rock boxset for a tenner a better example of his comic skills.

Review: Get Him To The Greek

This could have been a car crash of epic proportions, with Russell Brand and the Frat Pack getting to run wild wild their already slightly dubious and leery comedy - however Get Him To The Greek is surprisingly one of the better recent comedy coming from the Apatow stable with plenty of laughs that don't just rely on tits and drugs.

The songs are the weakest point of film and stop it from becoming anything near a classic like This Is Spinal Tap, but it definitely works a vehicle that shows Brand has Hollywood star power.

Review: Brooklyn's Finest

You'd think for a film that wants to be The Wire quite badly you'd at least let Clay Davis say his catchphrase like the 25th Hour did.

Review: The Losers

If you can switch your brain off and accept that a man can run after being shot in both legs or that someone can blow a plane up whilst standing right next to it without a scratch then you'll enjoy The Losers. Me? I thought after of a load of potential from a snappy start The Losers quickly runs out of steam into a guns and explosion ridden mess that at least sets a low standard for the new A-Team to live up to.

Review: Up In The Air

With echoes of Thank You For Smoking thanks to the story centring around having a Charming/Bastard protagonist in the lead role, Up In The Air also takes its cue from Reitman's other film Juno in not being afraid to be equally sad/moving in places.

This will no doubt be the first of many films dealing with the economic downturn, like the slew of war films from Hollywood hitting the screen now - Up In The Air deserves a lot of credit for its fine performances across the cast (Even Danny McBride dails it down a touch) but the film focused on Clooney being Clooney for too long to deserve all the praise it has gained so far.

Review: Four Lions

The film that finally shows the link between Toploader and Terrorism that we've long expected, Four Lions features the trademark wordplay that you've come to expect from Chris Morris but alongside several surprisingly moving moments in place the vicious streak made famous in Brasseye.

This will leave those expecting more of the infamous Paedophilia episode disappointed, yet they both argue against the culture of fear in our society - where Brasseye rallied against the Media's dramatisation of news, Four Lions suggests we need not live our life in total fear of Terrorism due to the Stag-like mentality of many a plot - and that tackling this myth through comedy may just be the most effective way of tackling this problem.

Review: The Infidel

Too low-key to be anywhere near as the title suggests, The Infidel is pretty much a gentle joshing of Jewish customs that would work better on TV than in the cinema. Richard Schiff is reliably good at being grumpy and Omid Djalili does the same kind of shtick he does in the Money Supermarket adverts.

Review: Hot Tub Time Machine

There's not else to this film apart from the riffs and references to the movies of the 80s, so if you struggle telling your Buellers from your Breakfast Clubs - there's not much to recommend from this.

Review: Robin Hood

A lot has been made of Crowe's accent, my take on it is its just standard Northern really that is hardly funny like some have made out - its just really obvious that he's putting it on.

You could say the same about the film - there's just something about this that doesn't quite click, view any of the aspects in isolation and you'd say that was good yet towards the end of a two and half hours it gets quite boring as it becomes clear its all set up for a story you'll probably never see.

Review; Iron Man 2

The script is all over the place, and every 5 minutes a new character seems to turn up - but like the first movie you don't care about the failings when Iron Man 2 is such fun and at the least the raft of new characters gives Robert Downey Jr amble opportunity for the trademark banter and bickering alongside the big action sequences.

Review: Date Night

There was a point about through this where I had to check I was actually watching the right film and not 2008's Get Smart, so similar is Steve Carrell doing the whole bumbling around whilst exposing criminal activities thing. Tina fey takes Bill Murray's place this time around as the comic genius to be sadly wasted.

Review: How To Train Your Dragon

A sweet film that can't fail to go straight for the heart strings with its portrayal of the relationship between one man (here a Viking) and his dog (here a Dragon). The film looks likely to take the coveted '2nd Best Animated Film' place this year behind whatever Pixar release - but like Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs last year, this has come from nowhere and looks set to do great business on word of mouth recommendations.

Review: The Bounty Hunter

I think somehow this was actually worse than I was expecting. Aniston and Butler play unfunny and downright unlikable characters that we are meant to care about finally getting together at the end.

Review: Cemetery Junction

Catching every one unawares by switching from Gervais' recent run of Woody Allen wannabes, Cemetery Junction is more drama than comedy - the tale of three friends who dream of escaping Reading but are seemingly trapped.

That's not to say there's no shortage of comedic moments, and Gervais is great in his small cameo role. Plus though slightly familiar, the girl caught between two men is handled with the aplomb you'd expect from the guys behind The Office.

Review: Kick Ass

Much like how Iron Man did a couple of years ago, Kick Ass succeeds by actually remembering that Super Hero films can be fun and vibrant affairs, and this is a film full of bright colours and actual sunshine can be seen at times - a rarity in the flood of dark and dingy films that followed in the wake of Batman Begins.

Kick Ass is damn funny film at times too - not just from the sweary Hit Girl that grabbed the headlines, but right throughout the cast with even the minor roles of Marty and Todd providing plenty of laughs.

Not sure I agree with all the 5 Star reviews being handed out all over the place for this film, Nicolas Cage is still bad, but its okay here as his tongues firmly in cheek with his best Adam West impression - However, Kick Ass is still a fine film and arguably the best of the year so far.

Review: Alice In Wonderland

Its not a great Burton film, but thankfully this update of the classic Alice tale loads better than when Burton got his hands on the disappointing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The film is full of fine performances from the mainly British cast (Helena Bonhem Carter's Queenie rip-off is the highlight), with just a couple of annoying bits that blight it - firstly the whole fudderwhacking business which is built up throughout the film ends up as a major letdown, with what should've been a highlight turning out to be 10 seconds of rubbish CGI special effects with dodgy some music that ruins the tone of the film. Also Anne Hathaway as the White Queen gives a pretty ropey performance doing her version a Depp, unsurprisingly she fails, coming across oddly cold for someone supposedly full of love.

But these are minor flaws, and the film is a fun two hours - just one that probably won't stay in the memory for long.

Review: The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is an incredibly tense affair, made to seem even more realistic by a handheld shooting style made famous by the Bourne films and only loose story that ties together a series of events documenting the remaining days of a bomb disposal squad's tour of Iraq.

Fans of Mike from Neighbours will be disappointed, but blowing him up in the first scene has you on the edge of your seats throughout as you wonder who's next to go. Fully deserving its Oscar glory, the only downside for me was the final action scene, which lost the sense of realism that it had worked so hard to maintain throughout.

Review: I Love You Phillip Morris

Slap bang in the middle of the two sides of Jim Carrey's work, I Love You Phillip Morris allows plenty of time for Carrey to camp it up in his outrageous, rubber-faced style whilst also managing to touch on some pretty dark subjects at several points too.

Carrey plays Steve Russell, who has an epiphany after a near-fatal car crash, becoming a flamboyant gay conman that stays just the right side of a stereotype thanks to Carrey's likeability - McGregor stars as the title character, doing the whole wide eyed, near-retard Southern thing we've seen from him before - but doesn't feature enough to ruin the movie.

I wouldn't say the film is a total success - it isn't quite a funny as it needs to be in places, but the several incredibly brave choices in the film that make it worth a watch for sure.

Review: Shutter Island

Scorsese's latest sometimes lays down homages to its influences a little too heavy handedly at times - the score of eerie horns and Hitchcock strings is borderline ridiculous - but for the most part Shutter Island is a stylish thriller that looks stunning and always entertains throughout. It won't be remembered as one if his classics but is another entry to his cannon of consistently good films recent times.

Review: No Distance Left To Run

More than just a tour diary following this film also documents the rise and fall of Britpop trailblazers Blur and their eventual return to the top with a pair of sold out shows at London's Hyde Park.

Alex James' hedonistic past is well documented in his book A Bit of a Blur, so whilst he and drummer Dave Rowntree get to say their pieces, the film shows how the friendship between Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon was always central to the band's fortunes. With plenty of detail for fans, the fact that Blur so ubiquitous during Britpop's heyday means that this is also film for everyone to enjoy.

Review: Green Zone

Sadly its not just the subject matter that means this has more in common with The Kingdom than the Bourne films that Greengrass and Damon previously worked on. Something just doesn't quite click with Green Zone meaning that whilst it has all the trademark visual tricks of the Bourne films, it just seems a bit lightweight beneath the surface and is simply just a competent action thriller that'll keep you entertained, but won't make you think afterwards.

Review: Iron Maiden - Flight 666

Unlike recent rockumentaries such as Anvil! and Dig! which could be enjoyed if you hadn't even heard of the bands, let alone were a fan of then - Flight 666's reliance on concert footage and a lack of any really surprising events within means in the end this can only be recommended for fans only

Review: Capitalism - A Love Story

Maybe it was because it painted the NHS as idyllic paradise of health care (just one look at the coverage of Stafford Hospital this week will prove otherwise), but Sicko and the self-congratulatory Slacker Uprising (or should that be Sicko-phantic?) seemed to find Michael Moore going off the boil - Capitalism: A Love Story reverses that trend making a strong argument for how the capitalism system has badly let down the American public.

Using the usual Moore techniques the film discovers some shocking stories, especially how companies attempt to profit of their workforces deaths and how corrupt judges gained from incarcerating kids for minor offences - but the big stunts the Moore has become famous for don't really hit the spot here and in the end just boil down to him harassing security guards while the CEOs and bankers he paints as criminals probably didn't even know he was there.

Review: Sherlock Holmes

Much like Iron Man, also starring Robert Downey Jr. - Sherlock Holmes came from out of nowhere to exceed both Box Office and critical expectations after its Boxing Day release.

I couldn't quite believe all the reviews saying what good fun it was (would you in a world where Empire gives Terminator Salvation 4 stars!), so I finally plucked up the courage to give it a go and can now state for the record,

It's really good fun - doesn't take itself too seriously like a lot of modern action blockbusters do, but also has a great Victorian look and a visual flair to it that proves that Guy Ritchie does know what he's doing behind the camera (though I would say the slo-mo bits were a little too Lock, Stock for me)

Robert Downey Jr is reliably great but credit must also go to Jude Law for being good for the first time in ages, going one-liner to one liner with Downey Jr in a plot that makes 2 hours fly by and still manages to lay the seeds for what will be a highly anticipated sequel.

Review: Food Inc.

The likes of the Chicken Out campaign here in the UK means that some of the revelations in Food Inc aren't as shocking to us as they are to the American audience - that said, there's still plenty of food for thought here (oh yes, I went there) and does a good of showing you why its worth paying a little more for better quality and just how much crap is in a lot of modern processed food.

Review: Gentlemen Broncos

Watch just a couple of minutes of this and you can quickly see why this tanked and never even reached many US cinemas - which is a terrible shame as the film itself had a lot of potential.

Jemaine Clement is the only thing decent in the film and you'd save yourself some money by just going to the viral ronaldchevalier.com for excerpts from his audiobooks and general words of wisdom.

For those still wanting a spoof of the dodgy Sci-fi are best of watching South Park's awesome take on the genre in Major Boobage.

Review: Youth in Revolt

There's a few good comic moments to be found in Youth in Revolt, mostly when Fred Willard is on screen - but those expecting a load of laughs from Michael Cera riffing on his geeky persona as bad boy François Dillinger will be left sorely disappointed from a film that isn't dark enough to be a black comedy or bawdy stand up the rest of the Frat Pack films of recent years.

Review: Whip It

Its full of clichés, but that doesn't stop Whip it from being surprisingly good fun - though at close to 2 hours I could've done without the slightly pointless love interest business to end up with a leaner, tighter film.

Review: The Informant!

If Up In the Air is Clooney doing Danny Ocean as a corporate downsizer, then The Informant! is Matt Damon revisiting the guise of the bumbling gambling official he played briefly in Ocean's Eleven and trying to do his own con of a lifetime.

The film itself is far too quirky at times, with a Damon's silly asides providing laughs but the silly score ruining the mood of the piece. The film would be much better as The Informant, without the stupid touches like the exclamation mark to spoil what was an interesting story.

Review: Avatar

In the end the film James Cameron has been waiting the best part of 30 years to make boils down a 3 hour version of Pocahontas with giant Smurfs.

Review: The Invention of Lying

The concept of a alternate universe where people can't lie is funny at first, but it runs out of steam pretty quickly as in the end the film is just a queue of celebrity cameos insulting each other for nearly 2 hours as you really don't care whether Gervais who specialises in pretty unlikeable characters ends up with Jennifer Garner, who is even more unlikeable till she realises right at the end that fat people are sort of okay really.

Review: Bunny & The Bull

At times you can't help wonder why Boosh director Paul King didn't cast the slightly more famous long haired and grumpy northerner comedy duo in the lead roles if the characters were going to be so similar in the end.

But for those pining for more Boosh goodness fear not, as all the regulars all appear in cameos at regualr intervals which steal the show each time around.

The film itself is a visual delight throughout, with the hand-made quality making it that much more endearing - King was obvious influenced by early Gilliam, but maybe Terry himself needs to look at this to realise how Doctor Parnassus would have benefited from cutting back on the CGI for a more low budget ethos.

2009 End of Year Lists

Albums of 2009

Films of 2009

TV of 2009