would have been ok if no other sci fi films had ever been made :) too much rippage going on there to get away with. 

Scarlet Johannsen running around in a tight suit.

Great beer movie. 

Fail Safe (1964) - Sidney Lumet's film about nuclear war came out at the same time as one of Kubrick's highpoints, Dr Strangelove. It suffered in comparison at the time and, looking at it objectively today, it still suffers.

Unlike Kubrick's satire, this is a deadly serious film but apart from a gloomy atmosphere created by the stark black and white cinematography, it has next to no dramatic tension or impact. All very strange considering the filmmaking talent involved and the strong cast, including Henry Fonda and Walter Matthau.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058083/

4/10


Alphaville (1965) - pretty much demonstrates Godard at his best and worst. A deliberately low budget sci if satire with some very clever ideas but also a display of outright contempt for the genre. The basic plot is not all that different from A Brave New World (mixed with a little bit of 1984) set in the titular futuristic city, and when Godard is actually trying he manages to offer some very insightful commentary that is also quite touching.

But, unfortunately, most the time is spent displaying how above the genre and material Godard thinks he is by deliberately going out of his way to break convention and highlight the low budget nature of the movie (eg the main character has to make an intergalactic voyage to Alphaville, which looks a lot like 60's Paris, and he does so by way of what looks a lot like a Ford along a highway, all done with a very straight face).

Credit to the actors for playing along and making it all look believable but a little less self indulgence and ego stroking and a little more respect for the audience would have made for a better film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058898/

5.5/10


The Young Victoria (2009) - well made if not very original royal period drama with a terrific lead performance from Emily Blunt. Whenever she's on screen, and thankfully it�s a lot, this rises from above average to quite good.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0962736/

7/10


Bellissima (1951) - excellent neo-realist satire from Luchino Visconti with Anna Magnani as a lower class pushy mother determined to get her child into the movies. Equally balancing humour and pathos, Visconti rightly lets Magnani's magnetic presence dominate each scene she is in.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043332/

7.5/10


The Insect Woman (1962) - Shohei Imamura's bizarre, matter of fact, sprawling, blackly comic take on the rise and fall of post war Japan viewed through the life and misadventures of a poor farmer's illegitimate daughter is a brilliant film, but one which does require a little bit of effort from the viewer to really work.

Spanning half a century of Japanese history with little to no indication/announcement of time shifts, it does require some close attention to work out when and what is happening, but rewards you with a fresh and vibrant display of intelligent storytelling.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057363/

7.5-8/10


The Natural (1984) - A baseball movie made out of the Arthurian legend. It has to be seen to be believed but this is a stunning, if overlong, film which is not really about baseball but the pursuit of the American dream and the pitfalls along the way. Gorgeously shot by Caleb Deschanel in an array of golden hues and with a commanding central performance by Robert Redford, this is one of the best sports based movies ever made.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087781/

7.5/10


Up (2009) - exhilarating stuff, loved pretty much every part of this, Pixar's best film since Toy Story 2 and easily the best film of last year. The opening 15 min are more touching than most full length films and the subsequent adventure story is tremendously entertaining and fun. Doug is a classic Pixar character.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1049413/

8.5/10


Adventureland (2009) - someone forgot to write a credible third act but until then this is an extremely solid and likeable coming of age flick with decent laughs, a very fitting soundtrack and good performances from the ever reliable Jesse Eisenberg and also Kristen Stewart.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1091722/

6.5/10


He Walked By Night (1948) - probably the prototype for all crime/police procedural films and tv shows ever made, Anthony Mann's documentary styled film noir is a little dated in some aspects but is still striking because of the great John Alton's camerawork and an objective and unbiased focus on the criminal character being pursued. Alton had a number of theories on lighting and I bet he employed all of them in this film, in which each scene looks different from but as astonishing as the one before.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040427/

6.5-7/10 

Fawlty Towers Series 1 and 2 - didn�t find it brilliant but its definitely very funny. Some of the writing's a bit hit and miss but the performances and casting are very spot on.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072500/

7-7.5/10


Monsoon Wedding (2001) - rewatch, wasn�t a huge fan on initial release of this bollywoodesque riff on Father of the Bride. This time around I thought it was pretty brilliant for about 60% of the film but the last part got far too melodramatic, albeit deliberately, to have any real impact. Naseerudin Shah is excellent in the central role and he gets good support from a number of supporting players too.

Interestingly, this was shot by Declan Quinn, who also shot the more drab looking but similarly home-video styled Rachel Getting Married.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265343/

6.5-7/10


Drag Me to Hell (2009) - Sam Raimi's return to the Evil Dead brand of film is not really scary enough or funny enough to work as either a horror or comedy. Then again, neither were the original Evil Dead films so a lot of how much you will like this depends on how much you enjoy the Evil Dead brew of silly comedic horror. I would have preferred it to be more of one or the other rather than the passable mixture that it is.

Still, at least its somewhat original, which is more than you can say for most horror these days which usually involves a remake or a sequel.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1127180/

6/10


Badlands (1973) - Terence Malick's equally beautiful and disturbing take on a Bonnie and Clyde type story has many notable features including Malick's evocative use of landscape and imagery, Martin Sheen's amazing performance (which is surely one of the all time great performances) and Sissy Spacek's depiction of an unknowing sociopath. Spacek's character lends the film a voiceover which is equal parts poetic, when it narrates the character's feelings, and outright disturbing, when it makes offhanded remarks about the killing committed by the couple.

Falters a bit towards the end, which is not as strong as it should be, but an impressive and memorable film nonetheless.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069762/

7.5/10


Coraline (2009) - beautiful stop motion rendering of Neil Gaiman's novel, which itself is inspired by Alice in Wonderland, having all the hallmarks of a Tim Burton's styled film. The first half is better than the second, mixing nice scenes of magical enchantment, odd characters, and an undercurrent of darkness. The second half, which is focused on the darkness, lacks a bit of bite but is still imaginatively animated and rendered.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327597/

7/10


Star Trek (2009) - never seen any Star Trek but was pretty impressed with this even though the overused lens flare effect almost drove me insane. Reasonably intelligent, quite fun and with likeable characters. Action scenes were also pretty impressive. Cant all blockbusters be the same?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796366/

7-7.5/10


GIJoe (2009) - so ludicrous it was almost enjoyable but the terrible special effects don�t allow for that. Seriously, where did the $160m budget actually go? Some of the effects were tv standard.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1046173/

4/10


Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) - dorky loner nerd teen invents a machine that can make it rain food from the sky. Narratively weak, but the original concept makes for a fun animated film with some brilliant and ingenious scenes of destruction by food.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844471/

6.5/10 

The Wire Season 5 - seriously stretches credibility for the first half of the season, particularly noticeable given how realistic and believable everything up until now has been, but none of that matters once it settles into finalisation mode. Quite possibly the most satisfying and memorable finish to any drama series, let along arguably the greatest drama series of all time. The final episode is pitch perfect.

8/10


Mad Men Season 2 - pretty much lives up to everything the tremendous first season set up with great character development, particularly the women. Some of the character writing is of serious quality and its all set up for potentially another great season to follow by the end. And style wise, this is second to none.

8.5/10


Moon (2009) - I feel a bit bad trouncing what is a legitimate attempt at a serious and thoughtful science fiction film but there are a couple of major faults that are showstoppers. First time director Duncan Jones has definitely done his research, creating a rich mood that is 2001 meets Solaris meets Alien. Unfortunately, that's the all the plusses (although I suppose Sam Rockwell in the lead is decent enough). The script has serious problems, particularly once a certain event has happened. After this event, I found the character interaction to be very suspect, contrived and requiring too big a suspension of disbelief to seem credible. A number of gaping plot holes also reared their heads. Some of this could have been ignored if the movie actually tackled the issues it raised rather than simply skimming the surface, but unfortunately the script didnt even allow for that.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182345/

5.5/10


The Brothers Bloom (2009) - Like Moon I really wanted to like this too, Rian Johnson's meant to be fun attempt at the con movie. It is not a homage to any of the great con movies but rather more akin to Wes Anderson's style of whimsical filmmaking. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but Johnson is no Anderson and cannot deftly balance the drama and quirky humour in the same way. This movie works when its trying to be slyly humorous, not so much when it tries to be serious. Mildly amusing but fairly lacking.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844286/

5-5.5/10 

MOON - not sure exactly what holes you're referring to nitin (unless you mean whether it is AHEM SPOILER credible that the guy can figure it out and do anything about it at all), but other than that I agree with your take on it; semi-interesting idea, could have been better. Nice to see slower/weirder scifi though.

ANTICHRIST - what can I say this is one fucked up movie. I really liked it. One of the few genuinely creepy movies I've seen in the last couple years, awesome ending, ridiculous idea, effective dialogue, good subtle effects. 

Subtle as in CUTTING OFF A CLITORIS??? Or so I hear. 

there was the reason for why the corporation did what it did which seemed pretty expensive for a cost cutting measure, the programming on GERTY just seemed silly if the corporation was serious.

More than the plot holes, it was the less than credible character interaction that annoyed me.

Antichrist is on the to get list. 

A perfect feel-good movie for a first date...

I think if I hadn't read the book I'd be pretty shell-shocked by this. Does it exactly what it says on the tin, an atmospheric and accurate translation of a bleak and gripping book, with only a few minor deviancies. Even having read the book, I still thought it was great, really well done. I found the book bleak, but the film more sad than bleak, there's a few scenes where if I hadn't been a big strong man I'd have shed a few tears. 

It does indeed sound like a textbook date movie. Then again, from my previous posts in here, you'll see I saw Audition on a first date. 

saw it yesterday. Pretty good, comments later 

A perfect feel-up move for a first date... 

yeah it was great. Apparently John Hillcoat is having trouble with funding his next project, which freaking sucks. He's only done two films, The Proposition and The Road (some interesting parallels between the two) and already he's demonstrated a powerful visual style and a really dark set of themes. No one can do 'bleak' like him. 

he also did Ghosts of the Civil Dead back in 1988 or so. 

30 Rock Season 3 - funnier than Season 2 but the celebrity cameo per episode gets annoying. And I've worked out why I don�t personally think this is brilliant, only good (and it took watching something more traditional like Fawlty Towers to realise this). All the ingredients are there but there is just no buildup for any of the jokes, they are just delivered one after the other with no real effort for setup.

7/10


The Road (2009) - as good an adaptation of the source material as there could be really. It's a very difficult book to adapt and director John Hillcoat does quite well in choosing to focus on the relationship between the father and son (with flashbacks to the mother) rather than the hardship of their journey through a post apocalyptic world. It's uncompromisingly bleak but so was the book and the only thing that could really be improved upon is a better child actor. The one used was fine but struggled in some of the more difficult scenes. Viggo Mortensen is excellent as usual.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/

7-7.5/10


Bright Star (2009) - Jane Campion's film about english poet John Keats is not a biography but more about his brief relationship with seamstress Fanny Brawne before his eventual death. It's a film of two halves in more ways than one.

Narratively, the first half is better than the second which drags on a good 20 min too long. Performance wise, Ben Whishaw lacks charm and charisma and does not come across in any way as a great poet or someone that would draw attention in the manner that his character is shown to do. On the other hand, Abbie Cornish is terrific as the witty, strong minded and naive Fanny Brawne (who was robbed of at least an oscar nomination). Even visually, the first half has some breathtaking cinematography before there is a deliberate shift to a more dank and gloomy atmosphere (and Greg Fraser's work was also robbed of an oscar nomination).

On the whole, its well worth watching, having a strong emotional core without being mawkishly sentimental.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0810784/

6.5/10


Waterloo Bridge (1940) - In direct comparison, this is an unashamedly sentimental melodrama with Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor. And for the most part, it is quite well made by Mervyn LeRoy who gives the whole thing a natural flow despite the script being ludicrous at times. What will make it or break it though is how you react to Vivien Leigh. I have never been a fan of her mannered and camera mugging acting style and although it is more restrained than usual here, it rears its head in several key scenes.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033238/

6/10


Z (1969) - Costa Gavras' brilliant political thriller based on the real life assassination of greek politician Grigoris Lambarkis and the subsequent investigation into his death is an old fashioned european film that eschews the general trappings of a thriller for a more matter of fact approach that focuses on capturing the prevailing public atmosphere preceding, surrounding and succeeding the assassination. Interwoven into that atmosphere are some inspired touches that also give time to the more personal and intimate side of things. And its all set to Mikis Theodorakis' marvellously rhythmic score.

Admittedly, some of the later investigation scenes arent quite as interesting as what comes before but on the whole this is high quality cinema.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065234/

7.5-8/10


Mother (2009) - Joon Ho Bong treads familiar ground with another rural south korean murder mystery drama that draws inevitable comparison with his earlier and masterful Memories of Murder. Unfortunately, this latest film, despite its strengths, is only an above average affair which takes too long to get to its interesting and fresh ending. But Bong is a master of mood and this is permeated with an eerie ambience that is enhanced by one of the best scores of last year. And Kim Hye-Ja's central performance as an elderly single mother whose mentally disabled son is charged with murder is some of the best acting you will come across, full of nuance and intense emotion and carrying the film through some of its duller periods..

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216496/

6.5/10


Martyrs (2008) - brutal but partly engrossing french horror film that ultimately bites off way more than it can chew in its last act. Director Pascal Laugier seems to have higher aspirations in mind than just a well made B horror film but its questionable whether those aspirations match the execution. Nevertheless, when Laugier sticks to the standard genre conventions, he unarguably demonstrates plenty of skill in generating surprise and shock.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1029234/

5-5.5/10 

thought the first half was a bit better, too.

up until the lock down it was awesome, but after that point it just gets silly.

I think I've said it before, but Inside is better in my opinion, as far as french horror goes.

A bit goofy, but just absolutely intensive gore. and as unrealistic as the premise seems, it's happened in real life! 

yeah have Inside on the to watch list. Any others? Frontiers looks shit but I could be wrong. 

Yeah, I don't know how that's gonna be, still have pretty high hopes!

Lake Eden's pretty decent, as far as over the top xenophobic survival horror goes...

And I've heard great things about that movie Time Crimes. Looks pleasantly goofy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ndXJnT8AM 

could be interesting.

Meanwhile :

Videodrome (1983) - pretty effective little flick from David Cronenberg with some very creepy sequences (and effects!) and some quite prescient insight. Not going to try and summarise the plot because describing early Cronenberg plots in a non-stupefying manner is almost impossible. But Cronenberg's prophetic, if not always logical, exploration of consumer control and reaction within the tv entertainment world is bizarrely compelling and ludicrously entertaining at the same time, with all the strangeness given an anchor by James Woods' fantastic and committed performance in the central role.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086541/

7-7.5/10 

A Prophet, comments later but in short, modern crime classic.

Comments on some others :

Mary and Max (2009) - the new feature length claymation film from Harvie Krumpet director Adam Elliot is good but also repetitive in both content and structure. It does feel a little like a short film idea stretched out to feature length. Still, its very watchable with a strong ending and a nice streak of acerbic humour throughout.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978762/

6/10


Tomorrow (1972) - Robert Duvall is a great actor and this is arguably his greatest performance, which is saying a lot considering his body of work. Duvall is in pretty much every scene of this film, playing a simple minded Mississippi dirt farmer who is hired as an overseer of a saw mill the winter season and finds an abandoned pregnant woman whom he eventually falls in love with. The film shows the turn of the century south in a very straightforward and unglamorous fashion and captures the mood and feel of a very lonely rural community in what appears to be a very authentic manner.

Its slow moving, but always interesting, especially if you like strong acting and moody cinematography. Olga Bellin, who plays the woman, is also brilliant.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069393/

7.5/10


The Ruling Class (1971) - brilliant idea for what should be wicked black comedy, but the execution is just plain poor. A member of the House of Lords dies in a silly way and leaves his estate to his insane son who thinks he is Jesus Christ. Other members of the family try to have him committed in order to steal the estate and their plan backfires when the son no longer believes himself to be Jesus, but rather Jack the Ripper.

Unfortunately, the film is a big sprawling mess with a couple of brilliant scenes but mostly being a poor mishmash of different tones and genres. Peter O Toole is allowed to chew whatever scenery he can find and although his performance is more than zany enough, he only really hits the mark in a few scenes (the most notable being his showdown, as Jesus Christ, with another insane inmate who believes himself to be The New Age Electric Christ).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069198/

4-4.5/10


Side Street (1951) - solid if unspectacular film noir from Anthony Mann reuniting the successful pairing of Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell from Nicholas Ray's superior They live by Night.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042960/

6.5-7/10


The Ascent (1977) - Larisa Shepitko is relatively unknown but is widely regarded by her peers as one of the best female directors in cinema history. She died young, making only a handful of films and this was her final film before her death. It�s a near masterpiece, with a first half that is as good as any film ever made.

In 1942 Belarus, two partisan soldiers leave their band and trek through the snow to find a nearby farmhouse to get supplies. The first half tracks their progress through the wintery landscape, with mesmerising long tracking shots that have to be seen to be believed. Eventually they are captured by Nazi collaborating Belarusians and at this point the film settles into a more conventional biblical allegory that focuses on the different attitudes of the two men towards their fate. This half of the film is still strong, brimming with an unforced honesty, but it is also much less immediate than what has come before.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075404/

7.5-8/10


The Red Desert (1964) - terrible film from Michaelangelo Antonioni. Its only saving grace is that its shot quite well but otherwise this is a tedious, dreary, dated and repetitive effort from Antonioni. His earlier alimentation trilogy covered much of the same ground but far more effectively in my opinion

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058003/

3/10


A Serious Man (2009) - A little too oblique and impenetrable for me to fully appreciate but its another distinctively bleak but hilarious outing that only the Coen brothers can make. I have no idea how they got approval to make something like this but I'm glad they did.

Sy Abelman is one of the all time classic characters.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1019452/

7-7.5/10 

"very important" 

I watched Inglourious Basterds yesterday and agree with what people said before me. Nothing too special but alright. I found the Landa character getting out of character starting with the laughter about the skiing accident, earlier he was ace.

Someone like Guy Ritchie could have managed much better to make the various plots come together in one final big good ending...

I also found the music choice bad sometimes but I guess that is Tarantino having to do his thing.

Gotta watch the older one some day. 

And the 1978 Inglorious Bastards:
Average nazi killing. Some parts are better, some worse. Has almost nothing to do with Tarantino's movie. It's american's disguised as nazis and that's about it. Fun characters. 

http://www.teethmovie.com/trailer.html

Anyone seen this?? Sounds pretty interesting, rated well on RT too. 

yes. it's awful really, but strangely compelling at the same time.. and to be fair it doesn't take itself that seriously anyway. certainly enough to put you off sex for a while :P