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.