Apologies for the delay in this. Enjoying an extended Christmas/New Year break plus the other blog entries of late meant that I kept never getting round to this. Still, better late than never, eh? A solid 20 for the month to round off the year.

1st: Life As We Know It – Not a good start to the month! This was dire. Starring Katherine Heigl (I think) and Josh something or other (I care so little about the film that I can’t be bothered to look the film up on IMDb). It’s a sort of rom com where two people who hate each other end up in close proximity because they’re godparents of a baby who is orphaned. I can’t actually remember if they ever get together. I’ve got a low tolerance level for rom coms (as people will have seen over the past year of roundups) but this was awful. Avoid!

4th: Arthur Christmas (cinema) – The first cinema trip of the month was much more successful. Arthur Christmas is wonderful. It captures the spirit of Christmas and Father Christmas really well, while still throwing in plenty of clever humour too. It’s definitely got the potential to be a Christmas classic.

5th: The Hangover 2 – Ahh the Bradley Cooper effect. I saw this twice at the cinema. Sorry about that. It’s my fault when there’s a third film. Having seen this on Blu-ray, I’ve been reminded that yes it’s really not as good as the first one. The first Hangover is a film I watch when I need cheering up. This one will be reserved for much rarer occasions.

6th: 50/50 (cinema) – So, I quite liked this. That’s clear from my earlier entry in which I declared it my film of the year. It’s brilliant. It’s equally funny as it is sad. Joseph Gordon Levitt truly deserves to be a star after this. It’s the kind of film (and performance) that sticks with you for a while afterwards.

8th: Did You Hear About The Morgans – Back to the frivolous. It was on TV while I was doing some work. Good film to watch in the background. Nothing challenging of course. Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker play the exact same roles that they always do (I’m not convinced SJP can do anything else so it’s lucky she can do the role so well!) and it’s very predictable but it’s an enjoyable romp.

10th: Tangled, Tropic Thunder, Knight and Day, Super 8 – I can’t remember what happened on this date but I’m guessing I didn’t go out or do much else other than watch films. Admittedly, I turned Tangled off halfway through. It was a tad too girly, even for a Disney film, for me. So I switched to Tropic Thunder which is always brilliant. Robert Downey Jr is unrecognisable and Ben Stiller plays a Tom Cruise style role perfectly. Even Jack Black isn’t irritating in it! Or at least he’s meant to be so it’s not so annoying.

Knight and Day is another easy film and a great example of what Tom Cruise does so well. He can’t act exactly. He can only ever play ‘Tom Cruise, likeable action star’ but a bit like SJP, that’s fine because he does it so well! Proper screen presence and real movie star quality.

I was keen to see Super 8 at the cinema but didn’t get the chance. I’m glad I waited till it came out on DVD and I rented it. It felt very underwhelming. The only bit I thought was great was while the credits were rolling. Not a patch on The Goonies!

13th: 500 Days of Summer – One of my favourites of recent years and another film that demonstrates how good Joseph Gordon Levitt is. The tagline for this film gets it spot on: It’s not a love story, it’s a story about love. Sad in places and funny too, it’s something that anyone who’s been in love can empathise with. A great summing up of a relationship really!

14th: Kick Ass (part) – Only caught half of this but as I’ve seen it before, I’m counting it. I still reckon it’s a bit overrated but I enjoy it nonetheless. Mark Strong is what makes the difference and the brief time that Nicholas Cage is in it.

18th: Superbad – I’ve never seen Superbad before. Plenty of people at my old workplace raved about it. It’s not bad but it wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be. Interesting and worth the watch but not as raucously funny as I expected.

19th: She’s Out Of My League – I can hardly remember this. I suspect that says it all really.

20th: Love Actually – It’s Christmas which means the iffy showing of Love Actually! The reason why it’s iffy? Over here in this older blog entry. I watched it while wrapping my Mum’s Christmas presents. It was quite nice despite the problems.

23rd: Shrek – Another film that I watched while wrapping presents, this time the plethora of children we have to buy presents for. I like Shrek. Shrek 2 is my favourite but the first is still pretty good. I spotted some references that I missed for some reason last time round so that was fun! Not quite as amazing as the Toy Story series but I’d argue a tad funnier.

25th: Elf – I’ve never seen Elf before. People raved about it a lot so I thought I’d see it! It’s pretty good. I can see why others love it so. Captures the spirit of the season nicely and has some very funny moments.

27th: Fred Claus – Another Christmassy film. Fred Claus isn’t great though. Vince Vaughn does the same old role that he always does. It wears thin a little. Nice idea for a film though and sort of ties in with the Arthur Christmas theme really. You’d never watch it outside of Christmas though and I’ll probably never see it again either.

29th: Sherlock Holmes 2 (cinema) – I’ve been looking forward to this since the moment I limped out of the cinema after seeing the first one. The film didn’t cause the limp by the way, I was still on crutches at the time. The second one isn’t as good as the first. I felt a bit disappointed. It’s Moriarty’s fault. He’s just not psychotic enough to me, nor as unhinged as he should have been. Mark Strong in the first film had fantastic screen presence, equal to Robert Downey Jr’s, plus he was downright fearsome. Moriarty does not. It all feels a bit limp compared to the fantastic chemistry that Downey Jr and Jude Law clearly have. Real shame. It is good, just not as good.

31st: The Three Musketeers, Footloose – The Three Musketeers was the 1993 version with Charlie Sheen and Kiefer Sutherland. I used to love it as a kid. I was an idiot. It’s pretty dire.

On a dire note, I’d never seen Footloose before until this day. I stumbled into it as it was showing on Film 4. I kept watching but I’m not sure why. It was awful! So very cheesy, badly acted and the music was pretty bad too. I get it, dancing is a metaphor for sex. There really is no need to overplay it and act like dancing is the most important thing ever. Still, it made me keep watching so it must have done something right. How embarrassing!

This year I managed to watch 250 films which isn’t bad going at all! Amongst those 250 films, I went to the cinema 50 times

Deciding what my films of the year are though is tough. Much like the gaming year, it’s been a good year for films but I’m struggling to think of something that will stick in my memory for many years to come. Simply put, there are plenty of 4 star games/films out there, not so many 5 stars though.

I’ll resurrect the categories from last year to add some structure to this ramble of a blog post.

Most overrated
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One

Oh Potter. I’m not much of a Harry Potter fan admittedly but I ended up watching all of the Harry Potter films in preparation for this as my Mum was keen to see her first Potter film at the cinema. Part One was ridiculously slow and dull with some utterly cringeworthy acting too. Wandering around the wilderness in a book for a long time is probably quite interesting. In a film, it feels needless and could have done with some hefty editing.

Honourable mention in this category goes to Bridesmaids. Ignore all the comments about how it’s a female Hangover. It’s not. It’s just a regular chickflick with slightly more attitude but not enough to propel it any higher than average. It makes being female look utterly boring!

Most watched at the cinema
Limitless, The Hangover 2 and The Inbetweeners

A dead heat between these three, each watched twice. The Hangover 2 isn’t anywhere near as good as the first but it is entertaining, plus the Bradley Cooper factor helps. I maintain Limitless is quite a good film with an interesting concept. Oh and there’s Bradley Cooper again…

The Inbetweeners has no men worth looking at but it’s bloody good fun. This year’s Hangover funnily enough (unlike Bridesmaids!).

Most thought provoking
50/50

I don’t think I’ve seen any particularly thought provoking films that came out this year which has been a real shame. I saw Rendition for the first time but that’s not new. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was very interesting, but thought provoking? Nope.

So I’m giving this award to 50/50 purely because it’s an interesting look at how to deal with such grim news. I’ll talk about that more shortly though.

Redemption of the year
?

No one has really redeemed themselves this year like Leonardo DiCaprio did in 2010. I dislike Michael Cera less thanks to discovering Arrested Development but he still plays the same role in every film, I’ve just learnt to put up with it.

I’m pleased to see Joseph Gordon Levitt shining through now but I always knew that he was a good actor. Maybe Jude Law? He seems to have settled down a bit and become a reasonable actor. No one’s truly stood out to me yet though.

Maybe 2012 will be the year that Charlie Sheen redeems all……or perhaps not.

Ignored by everyone but really quite good
The Devil’s Double

I can’t think of anyone else I know who’s seen this but The Devil’s Double is really rather good. Clearly demonstrating that Dominic Cooper can be a great actor if given the right script, it’s not an easy watch but it is gripping. I’m unsure of its accuracy but it’s not meant to be a documentary so the story it tells (Saddam Hussein’s son ‘hires’ a body double – some poor sod who’s unlucky enough to look like him) is very interesting.

Film that delivered exactly what I expected
Sherlock Holmes 2

Bigger, better, funnier is how Empire described Sherlock Holmes 2. It’s certainly bigger. I’m not so sure about better or funnier. I’m unconvinced by Moriarity who lacks any real menance. It delivers exactly what you expect though. It’s fun, action packed and exciteable. Liked the first one? This is a no brainer.

Biggest surprise
The Inbetweeners

I’d seen a few episodes of The Inbetweeners but that was about it. My Mum and I were looking for something to see one Bank Holiday and that was the only film on at the time we were standing outside the cinema so we gave it a shot. Funniest film I’ve seen all year! Ended up seeing it a second time not long after and now I own the Blu-ray. Well written to ensure plenty of laughs but never overdoing it.

Second best film of the year
The Fighter

Somewhat deserving of the previous award is The Fighter. I’ve never seen a boxing film before due to having no interest at all in the sport. I like Christian Bale though and I wanted to see all the Oscar nominated films. I wasn’t a fan of Mark Wahlberg though as, while he always seems like a nice person, he really can’t act. He just looks a bit befuddled most of the time. Fortunately, he was great in The Fighter and Christian Bale was mesmerising and deserving of the Oscar. From the moment the film started, I was hooked. It’s not really about boxing anyway, more about family dynamics.

Film of the Year
50/50

Pipping The Fighter to the prize of my film of the year is 50/50 – a film that genuinely does make you cry as much as it makes you laugh. Joseph Gordon Levitt was always a great actor before but since 50/50, he really should be appreciated by more people. He conveys the humour in tragedy while also showing the desperation and denial perfectly too. As cliched as it sounds (and believe me, I hate this phrase), it really is quite an uplifting film despite the subject matter.

There are a few films I haven’t seen that I’m very keen to catch up with. Notably, Midnight in Paris, We Need To Talk About Kevin and Drive. All films that my local cinema decided not to show (or in the case of Drive, only show at about 11pm at night for a few nights). I’m seeing Midnight in Paris in the next few weeks at the local arthouse cinema (as well as Shame which I’m very keen to see!) and I have Drive pre-ordered on Blu-ray. So I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these categories change around. Oh and I’ll be seeing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in the next week too!

2012: I’m most looking forward to J Edgar, The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers and Skyfall. Plus catching up on some older classics that I’ve bought over the past year and still not seen!

Love Actually is one of my favourite Christmas films. It’s not quite my absolute favourite because I can’t settle on just one (throw in Home Alone, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Santa Claus: The Movie and Die Hard and I still can’t decide!).

It holds a huge amount of memories for me despite its relative youthfulness (sort of – it’s 8 years old now).

When it first came out in 2003, I was a first year at University. It was a crap academic year. I’d coped stupidly badly after a break up (the kind of thing in hindsight that you realise just how young you were at the time but it felt so, so important at the time!) but really the main problem was the plethora of upheaval I had going on at the time plus some less than helpful new housemates.

I went to see Love Actually with my Mum having got some free tickets from a copy of Heat magazine. It was a great couple of hours of mother/daughter bonding. Due to the whole silly break up thing, I remember mostly emphathising with the Andrew Lincoln character and the whole unrequited love thing. Even more so given that I was on a bit of a Dido kick at the time and one of her songs featured during a relevant scene. Yeah, I was so cool in 2003.

I got out of that crappy phase of life and Love Actually turned into a good, happy Christmas film. One that me and my Dad would always persuade my Mum to watch every Christmas even though we all knew the script.

Along the way, I reacted differently to the film each time. As I grew up, I appreciated the complexities of life. Not in terms of being able to relate directly but to see the different shades of life. It’s become an interesting benchmark of how I’ve changed as I’ve grown up a bit more.

In all Richard Curtis films, there’s the sad, poignant bit. Much in life really. Now, I watch it and get the terrible sadness of Liam Neeson’s situation in the film (and tragically in life now too). That’s not to say that Love Actually does that part well. From what I’ve seen and know of how my Mum feels, it’s quite ridiculous to think that his character would be happy to date Claudia Schiffer a month after the death of his wife (even if it is Claudia Schiffer!), but this is a film. Things have to be wrapped up relatively fast. Plus it is Christmas. No one wants to spend time with the grieving at Christmas. In a film or otherwise. Blunt but true.

It’s weird seeing a film so regularly yet seeing it from a different perspective each time. I’m not saying Love Actually is an amazing film for everyone but it has its place in life for me. My Mum and I couldn’t watch it for the first couple of years after my Dad died. We watched it last year but didn’t really enjoy it. I watched it on my own today and quite enjoyed it. It looks likely I’ll be watching it a second time, with my Mum this time, soon.

It still feels odd to do so though. Like a lot of things in life, especially around Christmas.