Top 50 Tracks of 2012: Part 1

And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Catatonic



Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine?



Atoms for Peace - Default



Band of Horses - Dumpster World



Band Of Skulls - Bruises



The Black Keys - Gold On The Ceiling



Ben Kweller - Out The Door



Big Boi Ft. Phantogram - Objectum Sexuality



Black Mountain - Mary Lou



Bloc Party - We Are Not Good People

Top 50 Tracks of 2012: Part 2

Blood Red Shoes - Cold



Blur - Under the Westway



Bruce Springsteen - We Take Care Of Our Own



Childish Gambino - Heartbeat



The Cribs - Come On, Be A No-One



Crystal Castles - Telepath



Deftones - Swerve City



dEUS - Quatre Mains



Dinosaur Jr. - Watch The Corners



DZ Deathrays - No Sleep

Top 50 Tracks of 2012: Part 3

Frank Ocean - Thinkin Bout You



Fucked Up - Year of the Tiger



The Gaslight Anthem - 45



Gaz Coombes Presents - Simulator



Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury - Helmet Theme (Reprise)



Gotye - Easy Way Out



Graham Coxon - What'll It Take



Grimes - Oblivion



Hot Chip - Night & Day



Jack White - Sixteen Saltines

Top 50 Tracks of 2012: Part 4

Jamie XX + Radiohead - Bloom (Jamie xx Rework Part 3)



Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built



Lana Del Rey - Born To Die



Mark Lanegan Band - The Gravedigger's Song



Maximo Park - Write This Down



Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Psychedelic Pill (Alternate Mix)



Orbital - Beezledub



Public Enemy - Harder Than You Think



Public Service Broadcasting - Spitfire



PSY - Gangnam Style

Top 50 Tracks of 2012: Part 5

Radiohead - Staircase (live From the Basement)



The Shins - The Rifle's Spiral



The Smashing Pumpkins - Panopticon



Spector - Celestine



Spiritualized - Hey Jane



Tame Impala - Elephant



The Temper Trap - Trembling Hands



Towns - Gone Are The Days



TOY - Motoring



Walter & Jason Segel - Man or Muppet

Review: Dredd

The similarities between Dredd and The Raid has been pointed out more than enough times already - Dredd deserves more credit for how its different to most recent Hollywood action films.

Where most films pander to the widest market possible, aiming for that 12A audience - Dredd is unashamedly an 18 certificate film, not afraid to skip to skimp on the guts and gore the goes with a high bodycount. Dredd also drops the viewer straight into the action, no origin story here for Karl Urban's rebooted British comic book hero. The title character is a man who lies to shoot first and talk later, so Olivia Thirlby's rookie Anderson (unrecognizable as Juno's BFF) does most of that and arguably steals the film doing so.

Marketed as a 3D film, it looks to make decent use of it, with a few scenes giving you a sense of missing something without glasses. The use of Slo-Mo is rationed well too, avoiding falling into Zakk Snyder territory. Though only limiting the film to a 3D release seems to have back-fired, with the film leaving cinemas without recouping its budget with competition fierce for the comparatively limited number of 3D screens - a shame as Dredd deserves to be seen by more - if only for bizarre use of the Snuff Box theme about 25 minutes in.

Review: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

In this directorial debut from Lorene Scafaria, writer of the underrated Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Keira Knightley steps into the Manic Pixie Dream Girl role for a tale of an odd couple's road trip across the country in the face of impending apocalypse.

Steve Carell is once again back on regular turf as the sad sack middle-aged man, whose life had seemingly already fallen apart 3 weeks before Armageddon, who decides to help Knightly's Penny track down a plane to see her parents whilst finally mustering up the courage to take a chance for the first time in his life and track down his childhood sweetheart.

At times the film does seem like a collection a scenes with a few cameos thrown in for good measure (namely William Petersen, Martin Sheen and one of the blokes from Cloverfield) but the likeable chemistry between the leads holds the film together and makes the romantic storyline much sweeter than it has any right to be on paper, with plenty of gentle laughs thrown in along the way.

Review: Shame

There's something sordid about the whole experience of watching Shame - Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan as the siblings at the centre of the story let it all hang out there, both emotionally and at times quite literally physically too.

Enjoyable doesn't seem like the right word to describe this film, its far from fun to watch - but powerful, compelling and claustrophobic can all be applied to the second film from Steve McQueen. Fassbender is great as usual, with his distant portrayal of sex addict Brandon now drawing interesting parallels with his turn as android David in Prometheus - the emotional distance they both have giving them a not-quite human quality to them.

Shame is definitely one to watch on your own, but not for those reasons you might expect going into it.

Review: The Five-Year Engagement

After watching The Five-Year Engagement you may feel like you've sat through at least 2 or 3 of those years - which is a shame as there's a good film lost somewhere underneath a gruelling runtime that goes over 2 hours for no good reason.

As a result of the length, the film just doesn't feel funny enough, with the gaps between laughs too long and no real drama to hold your attention in between.

On the plus side the cast are all likeable and in particular Emily Blunt and Jason Segel have a great chemistry as the lead couple - bit odd to see Rhys Ifans play another Professor so soon after Spider-Man, the sliminess is more metaphorical this time around instead of his reptilian turn in the superhero story.

Often you get comedies promoting uncut versions for DVD and Blu-Ray release, in the case of The Five-Year Engagement - a version with 30 minutes cut would arguably be a superior effort.

Review: Haywire

The two Expendables movies have been a bit a disappointment as despite being billed as an all-star action cast, they've really featured far too much Stallone and Statham, with little more than short cameos from the rest.

But with the likes of Traffic, the Oceans' Trilogy and most recently Contagion, Steven Soderbergh has proven himself to be the master of pulling together an all-star cast. So whilst its unlikely to see him behind the camera of Expendables 3, Haywire might be closest you'll get to see what he would do with a cast of a-list ass kickers.

Gina Carano is the lead who does more talking with her feet and fists, but can handle herself in both senses against the likes of Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum and Ewan McGregor. Haywire at heart is a simple story of someone having to fight their way to find answers/vengeance, but its stripped back b-movie aesthetic actually results in a fresh 90 minutes that breezes by, avoiding many of the bloated tropes that have blighted a few recent action blockbusters.

Review: Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows

The surprise success of the first Sherlock Holmes film meant that hopes were high going into this sequel, once again directed by Guy Ritchie and reuniting Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law as the super-sleuth and sidekick.

Sadly it's not just the increased number of Holmes Vision scenes that add to the feeling of deja-vu - the whole film suffers in comparison to the freshness found in the first outing, the action scenes and bromance banter between Holmes and Watson comes across a bit predictable and jaded in comparison.

It's a bit of shame to be so harsh on Sherlock Holmes 2, as its does seem as if everyone is trying and is far from the lazy cash-in that some feared the first would would be - A Game of Shadows is an apt title, as in the end this film suffers from the shadow cast from its first effort.

Review: Lawless

Despite sticking him on the poster, Gary Oldman probably gets more screen time in those new O2 adverts than he does in this, so those wanting to see another Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy acting master class will be left disappointed.

Fans of Tom Hardy mumbling are in luck though, as despite delivering another convincingly menacing performance, it would be nice to be able to hear what he was saying more often. Shia Labeouf gets the most screen time as the youngest of three moonshine-selling brothers in Prohibtion-era America, trying to win the heart of the local preacher's daughter, as well as the respect of his two big brothers - and coming from the pen of Nick Cave, you can guess there's a few grisly moments along the way.

In a similar way to Public Enemies, Lawless has to count as something of a disappointment considering the names involved, but the general air of negativity around the reviews so far underplaying the many things the film does well. So adjust your expectations accordingly and you'll find another decent crime thriller lies within.

Review: Skyfall

Inception was often accused of owing more than a bit to the Bond movies, but the 23rd film in 007 series certainly returns the favour, with a fair few nods towards Christopher Nolan's recent efforts.

For starters we get a daring raid on a Shanghai skyscraper, followed by a villain's liar that looks more than a little reminiscent of Limbo. Bond even has his own Alfred-type character show up at one point, but as Nolan sadly denied us the chance to see Caine wield a sawed-off shotgun Get Carter-style, Skyfall easily one ups it in this area.

Jokes aside, Skyfall picks up where Casino Royale left off, righting the wrongs of the last effort (Quantum of Solace) and continuing the renaissance in the series since Daniel Craig took over in the lead role.

Bond has often been cited as the epitome of all things Anglo and Skyfall succeeds by making the series feel more English than it has in a long, long time - casting the cream of British acting talent and actually setting a fair bit of the story here in and amongst the traditional far-flung set pieces in foreign climes.

That being said, it is one of the international stars the steals the show, Javier Bardem plays his Bond Baddie with just the right amount of over-the-top mania that shows that despite what many would have had you believe a Roger Moore style villain can work in a modern setting.

Review: Argo

Argo tells a truth is stranger than fiction story of a 1980s CIA operation to rescue six American diplomats from revolutionary Iran - under the cover of a science fiction film.

You'll be surprised at just how funny much of Argo is, with the plans to put together the fake film from which the name is taken from coming across like an Ocean's Eleven-esque wisecracking caper. What Ben Affleck as director deserves a great deal of credit for is how it seamlessly shifts gears to its evacuation ending, which features some of the most tense scenes of recent memory.

The only black mark against Argo is the slightly stereotypical Hollywood portrayal of all Iranians as hostile hoodlums, which Team America lampooned so successfully - but I doubt Ben Affleck has watched that for some reason...

Spot The Difference #8

David Estes: Homeland

Emile Heskey: Footballer

Suddenly it becomes clearer why the Director of the Counterterrorism Center at the CIA kept missing that Brody was a terrorist.

Review: Fast & Furious Five

A sign of how far this fifth installment has moved away from the origins of the Fast & Furious franchise is when the time comes in story for an actual street race to take place, they skip over it and don't actual show it on screen.

Fast Five reinvents the series as an action heist film and the end result is the equivalent of Ocean's Eleven on steroids as Vin Diesel gets the band back together to take down a corrupt Brazilian businessman before The Rock's DDS agent can bring them in.

At any point if you stop and analyse what is actually going on in Fast Five, you realise its utter bobbins with enough gaps in logic to drive a muscle car through, but with your brain switched off the sheer ridiculousness of it all is highly enjoyable, with the 2 hour plus running time flying by much quicker than it has any right to - The Rock is star of the show playing a sort of Dog The Bounty Hunter with extra guns and is the nearest thing to a modern day Arnold Schwarzenegger, pumped up to the max with a one-liner after every punch/

Review: Madagascar 3 - Europe's Most Wanted

The original Madagascar film has grown in popularity over the years as it stands up surprisingly well to getting hammered at home by kids on the DVD player - the second in the series, Escape 2 Africa was a bit of a clunker, so it nice to report that this latest installment is a return to form for those who'll have to watch it umpteen times over the next 12 months.

There's not much new here to report, as despite the moving the setting to Europe the jokes largely stay the same - Noah Baumbach getting a screen writing credit is one of the more bizarre sights of the year, but you'd be hard pressed to spot any signs of his previous indie-riffic work at any point during this.

Truth be told, that's probably a problem that's affected the whole Madagascar series as a whole, as despite an impressive range of names involved in the projects, there's always the nagging feeling they could be a little bit better - though with likes of Cars 2 and Brave dropping standards slightly of late, the Pixar sized shadow doesn't loom over Dreamworks' output quite as badly as before.

Review: Moneyball

There's a natural and un-cinematic feel that starts as one of Moneyball's strengths but does also stop it falling slightly short of previous Sorkin effort The Social Network. Hampered by being a real-life story, the stage seems set for a West Wing inspirational speech and triumph against adversity full of stirring music and the like, but true life gets in the way of that slightly, which is a shame.

The film is at its best when Pitt (playing as downbeat as someone who looks like Pitt can get really) and Hill are together on screen - Hill deserves particular credit for a shy and sympathetic turn as stats guy Peter Brand, tuning down the increasingly obnoxious traits of many of his recent performances.

I personally could've done with a bit more Philip Seymour Hoffman, as his role a coach seems quite under-developed and disappears from screen far too early in proceedings.

Moneyball probably wasn't worth the awards buzz that came its way, but is a solid effort that even non-sports fans can enjoy.

Review: The Campaign

Considering his recent track record includes the likes of Due Date and The Hangover 2, Zach Galifianakis can count The Campaign as somewhat of an improvement as he plays a character that doesn't comes across as totally unlikeable for once. In fact Galifianakis' naive Marty Huggins actually manages to garner a fair bit of sympathy when is manipulated into abandoning all his principles to run for office.

Fans of Ferrell might be slightly disappointed though, as much like his George W. Bush impression, he has the voice and look down for a simple Republican Senator Cam Brady - he doesn't actually have that many jokes to back it up.

The lack of laugh out loud jokes or any memorable lines put it below the likes of middle of the road Ferell film like Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro and Talladega Nights - meaning despite being perfectly watchable once, The Campaign is completely forgettable.

Review: Looper

A fast-paced opening half set in the futuristic city is where Looper draws most of its comparisons with the science-fiction staples of Blade Runner, Terminator and Matrix films - and if it had managed to keep up the pace throughout, might have ended up being mentioned as one of the classics in the cannon of the genre down the line.

However as things slow down in the film's second half the pause in pace results in the film's premise starting to feel slightly creaky, leaving the viewer time to find a few holes in logic in the time travel story as well thinking despite a prosthetic nose, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis don't really look that much alike.

Spending most of the second part stuck on a farm with a creepy kid means Looper ends up being more reminiscent of a lot of 70s horror - and having most of the good stuff front-loaded means despite all the positives, the film ends up feeling a slight disappointment.

Review: The Bourne Legacy

When The Bourne Legacy was first announced, expectations were pretty low for the series return minus main star Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass: who despite only signing up during the second film The Bourne Supremacy, had become synonymous with the franchise - but in case of the marketing men really earning their money, as each piece of information and trailer leaked out this reboot of sorts started to look like it could be the surprise hit of the summer.

Despite having all the tools in place, The Bourne Legacy never quite clicks meaning it struggles to live up to the standards set before. The film is directed by writer Tony Gilroy with a similar flair for action as Greengrass and Jeremy Renner has much of the believability Matt Damon brought to Bourne as Aaron Cross - but the story so far lets the film down, with too much held back for the sequels leaving a pretty basic plot stretched to breaking point thanks to a run time well over 2 hours, resulting in a final action chase that should be thrilling just ending up a bit boring as you know nothing will be resolved by this point.

The potential is there for a great film, maybe the sequel will see a similar jump in quality like The Bourne Supremacy made from Identity.

Review: Ted

On the surface the premise of Ted, the story of a sweary, stoner teddy bear and his manchild friend sounds like it will struggle to fill a film - but thanks to Seth MacFarlane's proven track record in creating crude comedy characters and Mark Wahlberg once again excelling at playing the idiot, Ted finishes up as one of the funniset comedies of the year.

As you'd expect from the man behind Family Guy and American Dad, the jokes are mostly rude and random - there's just about enough of a plot this time around to ward off any accusation of Ted being written by manatees, but the film is arguably at its weakest in its final third when the jokes slow down and the plot takes precedence - as beneath the jokes its not much more than a pretty basic rom com with a chase stuck in it.

The ability to create chemistry between Wahlberg and a CGI bear is at the core of Ted's success, but there's also strong support from Mila Kunis as John's long-suffering girlfriend alongside Joe McHale making the movie from Community to movies as her sleazy boss Rex - also much like 21 Jump Street, the other comedy hit of the year, the film features an outrageous 80s cameo that comes close to stealing the show.

Review: The Dark Knight Rises

With the hype sky-high after the success of The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan's third and final installment in the Batman franchise was always going to struggle to match up to people's expectations - but quite how short The Dark Knight Rises falls will be a surprise to many.

The main problem with this final film is that whilst the success of the series has been in its realistic setting of the superhero's story in the modern world, too much of The Dark Knight Rises plot stretches the believability to breaking point, taking the viewer out of the film to question whether what happened actually made any sense.

That's not to say this is a bad film - there's plenty to enjoy in the action set-pieces and the performances of Anne Hathaway and the return to the fore of Christian Bale as The Caped Crusader himself, who is back inform after taking a backseat to performances from Aaron Eckhart and Heath Ledger in the previous film. Tom Hardy is good as his nemesis Bane, playing him more like a Bond villain than you may expect - it would be unfair to compare him to Ledger's Joker as they are very different type of villains, but Bane could've done with a bit more development to show why exactly he has managed to amass a cult-like army of followers.

The Dark Knight Rises also suffers from trying to cram too much stuff into one film - it would arguably have been better following the lead of the final installments of the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises by splitting the story into two parts, as it feels like there is at least 4 hours of film crammed into 2 and 3/4 hours, with several minor characters introduced and subsequently getting lost in the shuffle, leading to some underwhelming moments the should be much more powerful as the film hurdles through several of its multiple endings, of which the final one seems a little bit too much like trying to repeat Nolan's trick from Inception, copping out from the proper ending that actually suited the story.

The Top 5 Familiar Faces In The Dark Knight Rises (Spoilers)

1. Lieutenant Jim Dangle (Thomas Lennon) as a Doctor wins the award for the strangest casting, wisely giving the shorts a miss this time around to give Bruce Wayne the once over.

2. Bellick from Prison Break (Wade Williams) appears once again on our screens as a prison guard. With his previous record it won't come as much of a shock that all the prisoners don't stay captive for long.

3.By now most people will know that Carcetti pops up in the IMAX prologue that introduced Bane, but another Wire alumni Bunny Colvin (Robert Wisdom) briefly turns Gotham into another Hamsterdam as an Army Captain. Maybe he thought the nuke was street slang for drugs.

4. Quinn from Dexter (Desmond Harrington) has Bunny's back later as an unnamed officer who makes sure no-one crosses that Bridge - even if Joseph Gordon-Levitt does his best squinty face impression of Keanu Reeves.

5. Finally, Owen from Torchwood (Burn Gorman )plays Stryver, one of Jim Daggett's lackeys. Speaking of all stuff Doctor Who, The TARDIS might actually explain how Bruce Wayne actually managed to get back to Gotham from a jail in the middle of Africa with no money and no shoes.

Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

This latest take on the Spider-Man origin story takes a darker and grittier tone than the recent trilogy of Raimi films - and although its still a world away from Batman-levels of blackness, the more realistic feel does its best to blow away any cobwebs still left after the dreadful Spider-Man 3 and Tobey Macquire's best Saturday Night Fever audition.

New lead Andrew Garfield quickly convinces as the superhero-to-be, tetchy and twitchy enough to convince as geek Peter Parker, but charismatic enough to make you believe you he'd actually have a chance with someone like Emma Stone - its no surprise the real life couple have great chemistry and Stone's Stacy is helped by being more than someone just to be rescued at the end.

However its Martin Sheen who is the real star of the show as Parker's Uncle Ben, popping up at the right moments to give the film a gravitas much like Michael Caine's Alfred and the standard does drop noticeably as Sheen's scenes come to an end - Rhys Ifans does a sound job as the villain, but doesn't have too much to work with as Sony have saved the bigger name bad guys for the inevitable sequels that will follow.

The Spider-Man origin story is a well-worn tale, but this reboot does enough things different and enough things well to make sure it comfortably exceed expectations.

Review: Katy Perry - Part Of Me

During this documentary/concert film following Katy Perry's California Dreams 2011 Tour, it's pointed out at several times that the singer is far from a record company puppet and that Perry oversees all aspects of what goes on when on the road - you quickly get the feeling that control extended to this film as at no point during Part Of Me does anyone having anything negative to say about Katy, shown as the devoted idol to her millions of Katycats and devoted wife trying her best to save her marriage to Russell Brand.

Yet only during the home-video tributes from fans about what an inspiration Katy is does this end up being as lame as it sounds, thanks to Perry having an interesting story to tell about her struggle to make it big against her ultra-religious upbringing and record company politics holding her back for years, alongside the slow break up of her marriage keeping your interest throughout and making sure that backstage segments don't all blur into one.

Concert footage is kept to montages and the odd number here and there, so anyone looking for the live experience will be disappointed - and whilst those who hate Perry's pop won't have their minds changed, there's enough of interest for those on the fence to mean that this is a film not just for the fans.

Review: Prometheus

It's tempting to put Prometheus in with the rest of Ridley Scott's recent work where the impressive visuals have often outshone some pretty weak scripts - and whilst that's true to a certain extent with this Alien prequel, there's enough ideas and excitement to be found beneath its pretty exterior to make this more than worthy of your time.

The cast is reliably excellent, Fassbender gives the standout performance as an O'Toole obsessed android that will change the way you look at Wall-E from now on, but Noomi Rapace as proto-Ripley Elizabeth Shaw and Charlize Theron as ambiguous villain Vickers are also worthy of praise.

On the downside, minor quibbles would be a few too many crew members are there seemingly just to die (I don't think that's a spoiler for an Alien film?) and the big orchestral score doesn't really fit into the mood of the franchise for me - but the biggest problems come in the film's final third, featuring an unsatisfying end that only really tees-up more prequels to bridge the gap with the 1979 original and an over-reliance on big CGI effects to create tension and terror - the original being the case in point for how less is more.

Those flaws aside, Prometheus is still a welcome addition to the post-Inception line of intelligent blockbusters that don't seek to insult the audiences intelligence.

Review: Rock Of Ages

Despite its star-studded cast, Rock Of Ages can't hold a candle (or should that be a lighter?) to the Broadway and West End musical from which this has been remade.

Where the movie mostly disappoints is in the performances from Tom Cruise and Russell Brand, two castings that looked ingenious on paper but turn out to be massive letdowns. Cruise bizarrely plays rocker Stacie Jaxx as a drug-damaged mumbling mystic instead of the cross between Les Grossman and Axl Rose we all hoped for, severely cutting down on laughs as a result. Brand should be able to play this kind of role in his sleep, but decides to adopt a bad Brummie accent and drop most of the shtick that made his turns as Aldous Snow in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek so entertaining.

In fact the whole film seems to take its self to seriously, where the stage version embraced the cheesy nature of musicals and 80s cock rock, the films script lack of humour and dearth of any actual jokes throughout makes you think the producers have mistook what made Rock of Ages entertaining in the first place, making the love story more prominent when the fact that the plot was a bit rubbish was a joke to be mocked not maintained.

The Taking of Pelham 123

It's kind of apt that a film with 123 in its title is such by the numbers fare - Denzel Washington appears to be phoning it in teaming up with director Tony Scott once again, who feels like the wrong choice behind the camera, whose visual style of his recent work sits uneasy with mood needed for a tense hostage thriller and seemingly unable to resist blowing up a load of police cars half way through for no real reason.

The film might've been more successful with someone stronger to go up against Denzel, but John Travolta's performance instead just makes you wish they'd managed to get hold of Nicolas Cage to deliver one of his more mental performances as the train-jacker.

Review: Blitz

Anyone waiting for the potential Luther movie might find 2011 effort Blitz has enough things goings for it to tide them over, as it has the same stylish, but ultimately silly sense of fun present in the BBC TV series.

Jason Statham may not have the charisma of the former Stringer Bell in the lead role - he's better doing the talking with his fists and Blitz doesn't quite have enough action to match up to his previous films, but a strong support cast of the likes of Paddy Considine, Aiden Gillen and David Morrissey do most of the actual acting between Statham's one-liners as the by any means necessary detective Brant.

It really should be total rubbish, but somehow it ends up being incredibly entertaining, like most Statham films.

Review: The Guard

The Guard's plot may be a tad predictable, but thanks to a script packed full of outrageous one-liners alongside some poignant bitter-sweet moments, it overcomes these problems with ease to end up a highly entertaining movie.

Directed by John Michael McDonagh, the film comes close to matching up to his brother's In Brugges, but odd couple cops Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson don't quite have the same chemistry the Irishman shared with Colin Farrell as hitmen hiding out in Belgium.

As a result, you could argue The Guard features a stronger performance from Gleeson, having to carry a weaker story almost on his own - though look out for Mark Strong in a frustratingly small turn as one of the erudite English drug-smuggler who steals all the scenes he's in.

Comparisons to In Brugges are unavoidable and the basic story does make it feel like a b-side to his brother's work, but the comedy is more broader and the warmer feel to proceedings could actually take it out of that films shadows and make it work with a much wider audience.

Review: Carlos The Jackal

Cut-down from the 5 and half hour long French mini-series, it's rather apt that this biopic of famous plane-jacker Carlos the Jackal flies along a rapid pace.

Thanks to its subject matter, style and having a stunning performance in the lead role, Carlos is reminiscent of recent films such as Mesrine and Steven Soderbergh's Ché - but where those were wisely released in 2 parts, despite its quality the first half of Carlos in particular suffers slightly from feeling like its being played in fast-forward at times.

Things settle down once we reach the raid of 1975 OPEC meeting and the fallout from events, but whilst being highly enjoyable, anyone watching the film version will feel that they're missing out by not going for the full 5 and half hours.

Review: Unknown

Fans of Liam Neeson's last trip to Europe may be disappointed as despite having a trailer that makes it looks like more of Liam Neeson beating up a load of foreigners, Unknown is for the most part a thriller about a man who awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and life.

There's nothing new here, but what it sets out to do it does really well - the last third especially, picking up the pace with a well-handled twist and Neeson delivering plenty of the action that made Taken such a cult hit.

Review: The Rocker

The Rocker is likeable enough, but is never funny enough to escape the shadow of School of Rock hanging over it.

A cast including a young Emma Stone do a good job with some pretty bland material, but the finished product does feel like a Disney TV movie that somehow made it to the silver screen. The televisual feel isn't helped by the most laughs coming from Rainn Wilson and Jane Lynch, who more funnier - and more famous for their roles in the American Office and Glee respectively.

Review: Mission Impossible 4 - Ghost Protocol

The third installment in the Mission Impossible franchise was lost under the wave of Crazy Cruise-bashing that surrounded its release, meaning that one of the biggest movie stars of all time grabbed more headlines for being a settee jumping Scientologist rather than starring in one of the best Hollywood action films of the noughties so far.

With the likes of Valkyrie and Knight & Day being solid if unspectacular efforts, Cruise needed Mission Impossible 4 to hit the spot to show he still had the star power to open a movie, Jeremy Renner seemingly drafted into the cast in case everything went tits up again this time around.

Katie and Suri will glad to know that Tom is safe for a while as Mission Impossible 4 is the strongest film in the set so far, with a series of set pieces that make full use of the IMAX format - most action films would be pretty happy with a sequence as good as Cruise and crew breaking into the Kremlin, but they then go and top it minutes later with some thrilling stunts on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.

As a result, the films finale feels a slight anti-climax as after all Ethan Hunt has been through, struggling to fight a 50 year old in a fancy car park seems a bit of a let down. Pixar's Brad Bird directs the film with flair, but the JJ Abrams influence is still prevalent and feels similar in tone to the job Joss Whedon did with Avengers Assemble - the Marvel film may be set to be the blockbuster box office hit of 2012, but MI:4 is worthy of being held in equal critical esteem.

Review: Paul

Pegg and Frost team up once again to showcase their natural chemistry once again as a pair of nerds setting out on a once in a lifetime US road trip, but despite taking the lead roles they settle for being the links between several not so-subtle spoofs 80s sci-fi as the rest of the cast get most of the good lines - with Seth Rogen shining as the CGI alien Paul, showing he suits a supporting role and delivering an excellent voice performance that could've ruined the film if he hadn't delivered the goods.

Relying a bit too much on swearing for laughs and the lack of any truly memorable jokes stop this film from being a classic, but simply describing Paul as a more mainstream effort from Pegg and Frost downplays how entertaining and likeable this film is.

Review: Hugo

Mis-marketed as Scorcese's first family film - instead of having the widest appeal, Hugo is arguably Marty's most niche film to date, focusing on French film-maker Georges Méliès and the birth of cinema rather than the character from which the film takes its name.

At times you feel like Hugo actually gets in the way of things, with his hijinks trying to escape from Sasha Baron Cohen's 'Allo 'Allo style station master sitting uneasily amongst Scorcese's love-letter to early cinema. Kids won't like the second half and adults will struggle to stay with the by the numbers chases and pratfalls that make up most of the opening act.

Hugo deservedly won 5 Oscars for its sumptuous design, but its telling they were all for its technical prowess as the sets always outshine the script.

Review: Snow White And The Huntsman

Forget the cartoons you watched when you were young, this version of the Snow White tale is closer to Ridley and Russell's recent re-telling of Robin Hood than anything Disney.

What counts in Snow White And The Huntsman's favour is whilst Robin Hood felt like a disappointment thanks to those involved - because this looks a little bit rubbish many will come out pleasantly surprised that it's a pretty competent and enjoyable film.

Chris Hemsworth once again proves that him talking in a slightly ridiculous accent and wielding a weapon can carry a film and Charlize Theron wisely plays it straight instead of the OTT wicked witch may would've gone with. Kristen Stewart is the weakest of the leads, not awful but doesn't show anything to suggest she's the fairest of them all with army's doing battle for her at the drop of a hat.

Things gets a bit disjointed in the middle, with a live-action Studio Ghibli style sequence breaking up the mood created - things get even more surreal when the 8 (Spoilers!) Dwarves turn up and feature the likes of Ray Winstone, Nick Frost and Lovejoy.

Not sure it'll get the sequel that the ending is clearly hoping for as its not quite good enough to go out of you're way to see - but on DVD or telly it's perfectly entertaining fare.

Review: London Boulevard

A real mis-match of a film, half the cast give performances like they're in the gangster version of Love Actually, whilst the other half seem to think they're in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 2.

Neither half is up to much to be honest, Colin Farrell looks the part, but his London accent lets him down badly. Kiera Knightley phones it in as the reclusive young actress Charlotte and you never sense any type of chemistry between the pair that's needed to carry the story off successfully. Ray Winstone is reliably great as the threatening gangster trying to drag back Mitch to a life of crime - but the rest is just the usual British Gangster traits of violence and swearing.

Writer/Director William Monahan was involved in Scorcese's The Departed, a remake of Infernal Affairs, by the time you get to the end of this film, you'll wonder why he's decided to try and remake Layer Cake this time around.

Review: Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows looks exactly like you'd expect a Tim Burton film too and Johnny Depp delivers the type of performance you'd expect from him as Barnabas Collins, a vampire from 1752 set free after 200+ years. Those aren't necessarily bad things, but where the film falls down is in its predictable plot and a running time too long that mean the jokes start to wear thin well before the end.

Burton's unique visual style means the Seventies setting doesn't really feature too much - aside from using a few records from the era as a soundtrack you'd struggle to tell the difference if Barnabas was set free in the present day - and for the first hour the film flies by as Barnabas struggles to adapt to the changes to his body and new-found blood lust, but with the changes in society after two hundred years buried below the ground.

Depp carries the film, but too many supporting characters are introduced and don't have enough chance to shine - Helena Bonham Carter is seemingly cast just because she's married to Burton, her role as character as psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman ends up taking away screen time from characters who come to the fore at the end, resulting in the end falling flat as Barnabas battles to save characters you don't really care about.

Dark Shadows isn't a bad film, the problem with it is that it's an entirely predictable one.

Review: The Dictator

Don't go in expecting anything new from Sacha Baron Cohen, as The Dictator once again features Cohen combining another outrageous foreign accent alongside many even more outrageous jokes in his tried and tested formula.

The main difference is dropping the interaction with real people that had started to wear thin in the hit & miss Brüno, this time around the film is a straight up comedy that Cohen's performance as the despot Aladeen has to carry throughout, with the rest of the cast simply there to be the butt of his latest offensive outburst.

He succeeds at this thanks to most of the jokes hitting the mark and wisely keeping the running time short, with The Dictator being a rare example of a Hollywood comedy that finishes before the 90 minute mark. One downside of the switch to the scripted form seems to be the loss of some of the satire present in his previous work, the one scene at the end feels a bit bolted on and slightly out of place in a story that gives more prominence to the relationship between Aladeen and Anna Faris' Zooey.

The Dictator won't go down as one of Sacha Baron Cohen's more memorable work, but will still makes a fun way to spend a Friday night.

Review: The Devil's Double

The Devil's Double features great performances from Dominic Cooper in the two lead roles, but the rest of the film is a case of style over substance - ending up a simple action movie, with an interesting concept lost beneath the shiny surface.

Clearly influenced by the tales of excess told Brian de Palma's legendary Coke and Cubans story in Scarface, watching Cooper switch between the OTT traits of Saddam's psychotic son Uday and the passive portrayal of his dead man walking double Latif means the film is always watchable, but by never rising beyond a one-dimensional tale of good and bad trapped in a world of death, drugs and debauchery, The Devil's Double doesn't offer anything particularly memorable after the films finishes.

Review: The Runaways

Much like the band on which the film is based, The Runaways movie looks like it has a shot at becoming something special, but fizzles out before it can reach its potential.

Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart deliver convincing performances as Cherie Currie and Joan Jett respectively, with Michael Shannon coming across like an evil Eddie Izzard as manager Kim Fowley in support. Whilst the film's fast pace helps build the sense of momentum and energy that The Runaways had behind them, it means that dramatic moments fall flat as a result, moving to the next montage before you really get a chance to let things sink in.

Whilst always entertaining and stylishly shot, It seems a shame to waste such a strong cast in what essentially becomes a 90 minute music video.

Review: Safe

It's rather fitting that this by the numbers Jason Statham action-flick is so preoccupied with them, as numbers are the loose theme that ties the film together.

The plot is all over the place as Statham goes from MMA fighter to Hobo to CIA Agent, taking on Triads, Russians, policemen and politicians at various points, protecting a young Chinese girl from the many, many villains on screen.

Thankfully the plot is never the main reason to see a Statham film and the action definitely delivers , making the film fun throughout. The central relationship between Statham's Luke Wright and human calculator Mei is reminiscent at times of Leon - and its this relationship that brings the film above average into an entertaining action film that whilst offering nothing new, knows how to play to its strengths.

Review: Marvel Avengers Assemble

Avengers Assemble is the film Michael Bay thinks Transformers is - where in Bay's head he's made a film that features a team of superheroes coming together to save the world, that is full of action, laughs and a little something for the ladies - The Avengers actually manages to deliver on all these promises in spades.

That's not to say its perfect - the final battle feels like it goes on forever, mainly to make sure all six superheroes get the chance to shine in the fight to save the Earth from the scene-stealing Loki and his anonymous army of CGI monsters. But up until that point Joss Whedon deserves a great deal of credit for splitting scree-time between all six Avengers whilst keeping the plot moving on with pace and verve.

The script is the usual Marvel mix, with the amount of one-liners almost matching the number of punches thrown, but this manages to become funniest of the films so far by using the superheroes' powers to bring some great physical comedy to the table, with bodies flying all over the place like crash test dummies bringing some of the biggest laughs.

2012 looks set to be a bumper year for superhero movies with The Dark Knight Rises and the new Spider-Man film still to come, what Avengers Assemble has done is ensure the standard has been set pretty high already.

Blur: 3 Things Missing from 21

This week Blur announced the release of a career spanning box set to mark the 21st anniversary of their début album Leisure.

The package will come as a special 21-disc set, including 2cd special editions of each of the band's seven albums, four discs of rarities, three DVDs including two hours of unreleased footage, two live shows and a disc of video rarities - plus a a collectable 7" from when they were known as Seymour.



Sounds pretty comprehensive? Here's 3 things that didn't make the cut that any would-be completist might want to hunt down.

Starshaped - Video, 1993



A fly-on-the-wall documentary, covering the time the spent mostly drunk and touring their first tow albums. The DVD re-release suffered from technical problems so may explain why it didn't make the cut for 21, though you can now get hold of Day Upon Day in the box set for the first time since this video.

Live at the Budokan - Live Album, 1996



Japan-only live album, though if you were signed up to the Parlaphone mailing list like I was back then you were able to get hold of a copies via mail order - well worth the effort it was too featuring an excellent setlist and a band at the peak of their popularity and giving a performance that breathes new life into many of the Great Escape tracks in particular.

Bustin' + Dronin - Remix/Live Album, 1998



Another import album, though this one actually managed to sneak into the UK Top 50 chart thanks to a low-key release over here. The remix side of things is pretty weak with a so many versions of Death Of A Party going down and the bigger name remixers phoning it in. The Live CD picks things up however with a recording on a live session from John Peel's home studio Peel Acres from 1997, notable for featuring a version of Popscene, at the time an elusive track to hunt down after its commercial failure as a single.

Review: Tabloid

Even without a skilled documentary-maker like Errol Morris behind the camera, the story at the centre of Tabloid would be strong enough to grip the viewer - as it tells the tale of Joyce McKinney, a beauty queen accused of abducting and imprisoning a young Mormon Missionary along with umpteen twists further along the way.

Morris recognises that the material itself is more than enough to hold everyone's attention and sticks to simply letting those involved (apart from the object of McKinney's affection, Kirk Anderson) tell their side of the story, with the contrast of McKinney's crazy charisma against the various differing takes on how things really went down amongst the tabloid frenzy created is always engaging.

When the film veers away from the main tale of kinky sex onto McKinney's attempts to clone her dog in later life, the documentary does lose its way slightly, due to the lack of other protagonists and their input - all these different points of view is what makes Tabloid such an interesting documentary and Morris's skill in bringing them together makes for a gripping watch, with the added comment on the
nature of British newspaper journalism having extra relevance in light of the hacking scandals of recent times.

Review: The Hunger Games

Comparing this to Twilight is really mis-selling what type of film this is. Whilst the adventures of Bella and Co. gets undeserved flack for daring to aim itself at teenage girls, it doesn't really offer that much else to crossover to any other audiences - The Hunger Games however can be enjoyed by anyone teen and upwards thanks to its superior mix of story and action.

The more realistic comparison is Battle Royale not only for sharing the children fighting to the death premise (though despite Jennifer Lawrence being brilliant she struggles to pass for 16) but Gary Ross deserves great credit for making a 12A feel more brutal than what actually goes down on screen with a tense, dystopian atmosphere gripping throughout. The only let-down comes towards the end with the introduction of some ropey CGI monsters that do there best to ruin the mood created, but this slight blip doesn't come close to spoiling things.

One question that did bug me after was I'm still not sure how someone who lives in a District where they have to survive on hunting squirrels is quite so proficient in cake decorating though?

Review: Your Highness

The premise of Your Highness (which is little more than swearing in a medieval English accent) unsurprisingly struggles to hold itself over the duration of an entire film - any fans of Danny McBride are still better off sticking with Eastbound & Down. There's still a few laughs to be found, but thankfully most of them pop up in the red-band trailer above, so you don't have to bother with watching the film itself.

Review: 21 Jump Street

A remake in loosest possible sense, 21 Jump Street might carry the name of the 80s undercover police show, but the film is closer to Superbad than the TV series.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum play the lead roles who find themselves out of their depth time after time in every scenario, but by being constantly funny the film manages to avoid seeming repetitive. Hill might be the one from the comedic background but Channing Tatum is the star of the show, stealing all the the scenes he's in thanks to the best performance of a himbo since Brad Pitt's turn in Burn After Reading.

I'd be tempted to say the film could do without the last 20 minutes as like most modern comedies it does suffer from being just a bit too long, but in featuring one of the best cameos of recent times you can see why they chose to keep all of it in.

Review: Half Nelson

Half Nelson's setting can't help but draw comparisons to season 4 of HBO's The Wire, and the eagle-eyed viewer will be able to spot a couple of the kids from the show return in Dan Dunne's classroom - but David Simon's show never worked in just a single sixty minute fix and in being so similar to it, Half Nelson is a little bit of a letdown, drifting by without much resolution, not having the luxury of another 50 episodes to tell its slow-burning story.

However, there's still plenty to like about the film, in particular excellent performances from Ryan Gosling as drug-addled teacher Dunne and Shareeka Epps as Drey, who share a unique Teacher/Student relationship on discovering Dunne's addiction. The film-makers also deserve credit for avoiding falling into the same trap of Gran Torino where having such a great actor in the lead shows up a cast of novices in support, though we know from Blue Valentine, Gosling could step in and sing over the end credits if they wanted to go down that route.

Review: Lars and The Real Girl

The premise might sound like one from the latest gross out comedy, but Lars and The Real Girl avoids the lewd humour to tell a sweet-natured story about one man's relationship with a sex doll he buys off the internet.

This film is definitely more Coen Brothers than Farrelly Brothers, with the wintery setting recalling that of Fargo. But the darkness of the Coen's work is something that is missing from this film, a result of everyone being so nice means there's no real drama of such to drive the story forward, meaning it kind of drifts towards the end - but on the other hand with everyone being so likeable does serve to give the films finale surprisingly enough warmth that could melt the iciest of hearts.

Review: Cars 2

Pixar have an almost flawless record when it comes to family films - but Cars 2 isn't trying to be a family film, so it doesn't really matter that the film became the first of Pixar's to be certified rotten on film aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.

But for anyone over the age of 8 or so who wants to know what the film is like... the problems with the first are amplified in Cars 2 thanks to four different plots fighting for attention, leaving the story all over the place and the decision to give the main role over to Larry The Cable Guy's Mater, who was frankly the most annoying thing about the original.

The result in the end is the same as first time around - young kids will love it just like they did the first film and anyone over a certain age will be left cold.

Review: The Road

This adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel shows The Walking Dead how a post-apocalyptic drama should be done, focusing more on the 'Why live?' aspect of the drama whilst still providing enough edge of seat tension and jumpy bits to keep your attention.

The only downside is as the film gets closer to the 2 hour mark Kodi Smit-McPhee shouting 'Papa!' starts to get a little bit annoying - perhaps they could've cut out the glorified Coca-Cola advert in the middle to move things on a little bit quicker.

Review: Sucker Punch

Zack Snyder's career output of increasingly diminishing returns finally hits rock bottom with Sucker Punch, another of his fantasy-action films that is crammed full of CGI and his trademark slow motion shots.

The flimsy clothes flouted controversy, but the flimsy plot is the biggest crime of all - Sucker Punch tries to provoke some kind of reaction from the viewer, but simply ends up in 90 minutes of utter boredom.

Review: Fire In Babylon

Fire In Babylon focuses on the emergence of the great West Indies team of the 1970s and 1980s and the impact they had not only on the game of Cricket itself, revolutionising the game fielding a fearsome quartet of fast bowlers - but the impact the team had on society itself in a period of tense racial relations.

A mixture of talking heads and archive footage, this documentary excels thanks to the charisma of those involved - the likes of Viv Richards and Michael Holding having a way with words that always holds your attention throughout. Those without a interest in the sport or younger fans will also be surprised at just how brutal the archive footage can be - Brian Close getting a going over by the short pitched stuff is particularity eye watering at times.

Cricket buffs might've have hoped the film would cast its net wider to cover the other legends of West Indies cricket such as Sobers and Headley that came before and the likes Lara, Walsh and Ambrose that followed on from them - but like the bowlers themselves, Fire In Babylon hits the right marks more often than not to make the film a success

Review: Dinner for Schmucks

Steve Carell and Paul Rudd are usually two of the more likeable stars in the Judd Apatow stable, so its quite a surprise just how bad and unfunny this film is.

Unlike his turn as Brick Tamland in Anchorman, this time Carell is just irritating instead of the loveable idiot - the film hangs on his performance and the lack of any laughs means it fails completely. Paul Rudd coasts along doing his usual nice guy routine, so escapes relatively unharmed - but its a shame to see someone who should be a much bigger star wasted in so many films.

Jermaine Clement provides the few laughs that are in the film, playing a character pretty similar to his role as Ronald Chevalier in Gentlemen Broncos. But the fact that Dinner for Schmucks is only just better than that film tells you all you need to know about this. One to avoid.

Review: Bad Teacher

The problem with Bad Teacher is it just isn't funny, with no real jokes to speak of throughout its 90 minutes of screen time. Instead the film just seems to rely on the premise that Cameron Diaz swearing is funny to try and get its laughs from the audience. Unsurprisingly this weak attempt fails.

Jason Segel pops up at random points to set up the predictable happy ending, but the writers seem to have forgotten to get Diaz to do anything vaguely redeeming to get to that point - I'm not sure her character framing an innocent teacher whose boyfriend she tried to steal is quite the 'journey' the makers seem to think it is.

Bad Teacher certainly lives up to the first part of its title - this is one of the worst films I have seen in a while.

Review: Love and Other Drugs Trailer

Love and Other Drugs tries its hands at many different styles, all of which have potential - but never really succeeds at any of them due to the uneasy nature at which they fit together as a whole.

The film would've been much better if it simply decided whether it wants to be a simple rom-com with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway as the will they/won't they couple, or a screwball comedy with Gyllenhaal's Randall and his increasingly desperate attempts to sell enough prescription drugs and get promoted to Chicago. Option three would be to drop the comedy altogether and focus on the impact the onset of Hathaway's stage one Parkinson's has on the relationship. yet the film tries to shoehorn all this into under 2 hours and it never really works.

For long periods it does seem to be going down the more interesting route of exploring the couple trying to hold it together in the dace of a terrible illness, but at crucial moments it jumps back into the prescription drugs plot, even more baffling as Gyllenhaal's character never really gives the impression he's that bothered about the job. Add in Josh Gad as his brother who seems to walked straight in from a Judd Apatow film and it starts to feel like you're watching two films cut together such is the disjointed feel.

Still despite its flaws, I do find it hard to hate any film that features Anne Hathaway getting naked for a surprising amount of time.

Review: Man On The Moon

Don't go expecting any big revelations from this biopic of the life of Andy Kauffman, Man on the Moon doesn't do anything to delve beneath the surface to find out what made the controversial comedian tick, instead simply recreating all the famous moments of his career and quickly moving onto the next 'remember this' moment.

That's not to say it's not enjoyable, Carrey gives a nice performance paying tribute to Kauffman and this could well be one of the few times where the words 'Courtney Love' and 'likeable' are used in the same sentence, but the film is just too light and frothy to be anything substantial in the end.

Review: Crazy Heart

On the face of it, not much actually happens in Crazy Heart, former country star drinks a bit too much, a couple of bad things happen and well...that's about it really.

However the story isn't what makes Crazy Heart worth watching, it's the masterful performances from Jeff Bridges as 'Bad' Blake in the lead who completwely inhabits the role and the excellent support he gets from Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duvall who all give suitably world-weary performances, subtle enough to give Bridges the space to shine.

Review: Jackass 3

Jackass 3 is back with more of the stunts and gross-out humour you've come to expect from the likes of Johnny Knoxville, Chris Pontius and Bam Margera. The 4 year gap between films mean things once again feel fresh and the break has given the crew chance to think of some inventive new stunts to fill 90 minutes of screen time.

The main twist this time around was that things were done in 3D, with many surprised by the clever ways with which they managed to use the technology. Having just watched the film on DVD I can't vouch for that myself, but with the amount of props and bodily fluids you see flying about I can guess you'd get your money's worth.

Where Jackass constantly manages to stand out from the competition is that it's always been more about silliness than stupidity, with a warmth and humour present throughout instead of it just being a collection of gross and dangerous stunts that you get from the likes of Dirty Sanchez - the closing credit montage is actually quite touching and shows how the gang and the audience have grown old together.

Review: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest

The final part of the Millennium Trilogy is a return to form, wisely getting rid of much of the Bond and Kill Bill inspired antics and going back to the spirit of the original with a tale of murders, conspiracy and a mysterious past.

The past in question this time is Lisbeth's as Blomkvist tries to prove she is innocent of the 3 murders she is accused of, whilst to uncover why the Swedish authorities seem so keen to silence her. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest is still not without problems though, mainly being its still a bit too long and the feeling it would work better as a TV series is hard to shake, but thanks to the power of the performances from Nyqvist and Rapace in particular, you still manage to stick with despite it being hard-going at times.

Therein lies the problem with why the sequels fail to match up to the original - the fact that Blomkvist and Salander are barely together in parts 2 and 3 means they are always destined to be seen as the weaker of the efforts, stripped of the chemistry that made The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo such a success.

Review: The Girl Who Played with Fire

For those whose first introduction to the Millennium Trilogy was David Fincher's recent remake - The Swedish version of The Girl Who Played with Fire is pretty easy to get up to speed with, as the only major difference to get used to is journalist Mikael Blomkvist now looks more like Shaun Ryder than James Bond.

It's a shame then that this second instalment is the worst of the three by far, thanks in main part to the introduction of a hokey Bond-style bad guy who feels no pain in an implausible action-based plot that actually turns out to be pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of the trilogy's storyline.

Add on an ending that tries to be a cliffhanger but just ends up annoying the viewer for wasting 2 hours on a film that goes nowhere and you have a middle part that is eminently skippable.

Review: Mr Nice

This movie, based on Marks's 1996 memoir Mr Nice is reminiscent at times of 24 Hour Party People, thanks to the light-hearted take on the protagonist's life story and various comedians popping up throughout in several roles.

Much like Coogan did in 2002, Rhys Ifans is a much playing himself as much as he plays Howard Marks and his natural charisma carries the film throughout. There's not much plot to speak of apart from going to different countries to get drugs, but like Marks himself there's a certain charm to it that makes sure it gets away with it in the end.

Review: Wall Street 2 - Money Never Sleeps

With Western civilisation seemingly collapsing around us as we speak, the time couldn't be better for a second instalment in the adventures of Gordon Gecko - but what we get is up there with Godfather 3 levels of disappointment as we get 2 and half hours of a dodgy love story between Shia Lebeouf and Cary Mulligan instead of Douglas chewing scenery as ultra-bastard Gordon Gecko.

When he does get the chance to do that the film succeeds, but they chances are few and far between. In the end a bit more greed would've been good.

Review: Takers

For a film about a gang of thieves, it's kind of apt that Takers liberally steals from the Ocean's Eleven template. As Idris Elba is the only one with the acting chops to match up to Clooney's crew, Taker's wisely focuses most of the plot on his character and the usual clichéd struggle to pull off one last job.

Matt Dillon plays a cop with troubled family life and a corrupt partner, but neither story really goes anywhere - same with most of the minor members of the crew who get a small bit of back story before a couple of Heat-style shoot outs finish things off.

Spot The Difference #7

Michael Nyqvist

Shaun Ryder

If Mikael Blomkvist does need a new sidekick, he could always call Bez

Review: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

This remake of the Swedish crime thriller does most things bigger and better, but not that much is different to make it worth going out of the way to watch for fans of the original.

The main difference this time around is that this feels more like a film instead of TV episode (though when US TV whore Alan Dale pops up you could be forgiven for being mistaken), thanks to Fincher's eye for cinematography and another pulsating soundtrack from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

As always, Fincher can always be relied on for an excellent title sequence, but in the case the Bond-esque take on Immigrant Song feels totally out of place with the rest of the film, unlike his previous efforts which complement the existing material.

However, what this film can't fix are the problems with the source material, suddenly swapping from crime thriller to Mission Impossible style chases and heists towards the end still mean things don't ever wind down satisfactorily - and there are times during the two and half hours that feel like like you're watching an Apple advert with the amount of product placement.

Films of 2011: 50/50

It's a shame those involved in making this film couldn't write a decent female character to save their lives and this chauvinism is the one black mark on a comedy that manages to be poignant and uplifting as well as most crucially - funny, for the rest of the time its on screen, despite the presence of Seth Rogen.

Films of 2011: Attack The Block

As my default response to most things is to go home, lock the door and play FIFA, there's a lot for me to like about this film.

People might've been expecting something more comedic from one half of Adam & Joe, and its certainly no Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz - but as a throwback to 80s sci-fi and 70s action thriller Attack the Block excels.

Films of 2011: Black Swan

Who would've thought that when Darren Aronofsky made The Wrestler, featuring spandex, steriods and the Necro Butcher, that it would look positively restrained compared to the madness that is Black Swan.

Films of 2011: Blue Valentine

When a film starts with a dog dying, you know its not going to be a barrel of laughs...

Films of 2011: Bridesmaids

Showing things from a female perspective this time around really does freshen up the stale US comedy frat pack formula.

Films of 2011: Drive

Ryan Gosling, scorpion jackets and a soundtrack drenched in synths. Films don't any cooler than this.