python2000

August: Osage County is definitely more tiring than captivating despite the story having good potential to be quite interesting. It is really a performance movie, but another area it fails in is that the performances just aren't strong enough to carry the whole film. Think about Dallas Buyers Club, that had incredible acting all round and (although the story and writing was brilliant) the acting alone could have redeemed most bad points you could come up with. But in August: Osage County the characters are not portrayed in a very unique way, all the performances are merely pretty good. Meryl Streep got nominated for a **** tonne of awards like always when she really didn't deserve many of them. Don't get me wrong they're not bad just straightforward performances and undeniably nothing special. The first hour really didn't have my attention and wasn't exactly boring, just painfully slow. Thank god in the last 40 minutes or so it sped up because it saved this from being a pointless and undeniably boring movie about pretty much nothing. Most loose ends are tied up in a satisfying way and the ones left without an explanation are left like that for a good reason. Meryl Streep's story and ending just annoyed me though. Throughout the whole movie all she did was act **** and moan about things. The performances are decent, the story not very interesting but bearable, the chemistry between the cast very good and a strong ending which redeems quite a few weak aspects. Only worth watching if you're good at analyzing movies and noticing things like cinematography and foreshadowing, otherwise it will bore you to death.

Marvel movies just don't interest me anymore. I have never really been a big fan, but at least back before The Avengers they were enjoyable to say the least. SPOILER ALERT: The villains ****. Electro is crap. He just whined and moaned about how Spiderman "lied to him" in half his scenes. He is the main villain and he is almost as weak as Sandman in the slightly worse Spider-Man 3, just for the record. Rhino is also in the movie and appeared in the trailer just as much as the other two villains, he is actually in the movie for about four minutes. And it's in the last scene. And you don't even see him get defeated. I'm not a Marvel fanboy and have never really cared for the original comics and how close the movies were to them. However if I were an annoying Marvel fanboy I would be pissed about the misleading advertisement. Finally the third villain The Green Goblin, one of the best things about the Raimi Spider-Man movies, is actually pretty cool, it's just a shame that he is only in the movie (as The Green Goblin not Harry Osborn) for ten minutes at the most. DeHaan is the best thing about the movie, he always grabs my attention no matter what movie he is in. The villains are not the only problem with the characters though. All of the cast play messy characters, in a decent way, the only above average performance is from Dane DeHaan who is always strangely entertaining. The plot has potential to be very interesting, but the amount of stuff going on at once is confusing and somehow quite boring. Maybe it is even more overstuffed than the legendary Spider-Man 3. Also the tone of the movie is inconsistent. Sometimes it is grim and reasonably realistic. Others it is like a kids movie full of slapstick gags and lame pants jokes. Some things are just downright ridiculous, I mean Spiderman is basically Superman. He can pretty much fly and use his webs to do anything. Like catch a police car? Seriously? There is no mystery in this movie because it feels like the writers just wrote in new things Spiderman is capable of doing so he doesn't die. The Amazing Spiderman 2 is probably going to end up being yet another superhero movie fawned over by fanboys for the next couple of years, but personally I won't bother watching it again. I quite like the twist (even if I didn't care for the characters involved much) towards the end, overall the finished product met my expectations. A weak and predictable superhero movie with close to no redeeming features.

Vampires **** is one of the few movies to join Grown Ups 2 on my prestigious list of Movies Which I Have Purposely Not Finished. I didn't even make it halfway into this travesty which does not even deserve to be called a film. However despite it being an undeniably bad film Vampires **** is not as pain inflictingly bad as Friedberg and Seltzers previous spoofs such as Epic Movie, Date Movie and arguably the worst movie of all time Disaster Movie. Anybody who enjoys this has an even lower IQ than the people who wrote it. Every second is juvenile and all of the jokes could have been thought up by me at the age of 8. Do not bother with this insult to the human race.

The most famous thing about The Notebook is probably how it is universally hated by men but loved by women. I don't hate it, but it is definitely weak and overrated. The performances are good, especially from Ryan Gosling who luckily is now picking much better projects to work on. But the plot is predictable and cliched, despite many claiming it is one of the most original story lines ever. Just because a story happened in the past doesn't mean it isn't straightforward. I guessed the so called twist within the first 5 minutes (seriously that is not an exaggeration). Towards the end it gets a bit stronger and I can understand why fans call it the most emotional ending to any movie ever. To be honest The Notebook is not worth watching and is nowhere near as good as most say it is. Thank god the critics have more sense than the general public.

The Royal Tenenbaums contains all the usual things Wes Anderson puts in his movies. Quirky effective humor and jokes, unique interesting characters, an unpredictable plot and that bizarre visual flair. The fact that I can always tell when I'm watching a Wes Anderson movie just by looking at one frame draws me to his work. The Royal Tenenbaums is one of his best, ever second is enjoyable and I cannot even stress how ridiculously entertaining the last 20 minutes is. One of my favorite comedies, worth watching as long as you understand Anderson's type of humor.

I feel obliged to start off by saying that the movie being booed and critically panned at the Berlin Film Festival was wrong and completely unjustified. The Monuments Men is based on a true story just like most of the dramatic movies which have been released over the past 6 months (American Hustle, Dallas Buyers Club, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street). Despite many critics commenting on the poor acting quality I though all of the performances were decent, nothing special, surprisingly Cate Blanchett is the weakest and forever trying to make her accent just a little bit more realistic but fails. The least well known member of the almost ensemble Bob Balaban is by far the best but not on one of the posters for the movie at all, probably because he is not well known so the advertising campaign will do better. Again in contrast to what the critics have been saying the plot of The Monuments Men is compelling and believable (probably because it is true). What impressed me the most though was the dazzling cinematography and brilliant sets which were so realistic I can't believe they weren't filmed on location. However you may be wondering why I haven't said anything bad but I have given the movie a pretty low score. The problem is that quite a few minor things are cliched. Lots of minor things to be honest. Just some of these are the hammy dialogue, the cliched Great Escape like soundtrack (a very rare thing) and the period costumes which I really doubt were not what they actually wore, having read sections of the book I can assure they are not even close. Another thing was the stilted attempts at humor in serious situations which took away from the atmosphere, created quite well especially in the death scenes may I add, and I didn't usually laugh at. But the most annoying flaw about The Monuments Men was how Clooney felt the need to do the way too obvious "not showing the Presidents face" gimmick, which always irritates me because it just feels pointless. While it didn't offend me or ruin the true story in any way, my enjoyment of The Monuments Men was severely affected by many minor problems which added up to one big problem. I didn't hate it and it wasn't terrible, but I doubt I will bother watching it

Sightseers has possibly the biggest change in tone of any movie ever. In the first 20 minutes it goes from being bizarre and reasonably upbeat to being bizarre and very very dark. But quite funny. By way of laughs I wasn't exactly satisfied, out of the moments which I did laugh at, the jokes were usually witty and clever. However in some places it got unpredictably juvenile and lost it's intelligence, this did not happen a lot only in the more mature scenes but I felt the movie could have done without it. Apart from being entertaining as a simple comedy, Sightseers is also very arty and was even shown at Cannes. This is probably because of the brilliant cinematography in the worryingly funny murder scenes. It was at the same level as the masterful camera angles Stanley Kubrick used in such as A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. Sightseers is a chilling and very funny black (not bleak) comedy which succeeds at being serious and realistic but enjoyable at the same time. The phrase strangely enjoyable has never been so fitting. Much like the close to perfect 2013 movie Don Jon, I was almost ashamed to laugh in Sightseers. That doesn't stop me recommending it.

One of the most consistently tense movies I have ever seen in my life. It would be the number one most tense, but the 2013 movie Prisoners had me on edge for the whole runtime. Anthony Hopkins is the main reason this movie is so popular, he has just under 30 minutes screen time and won Best Actor at the 1991 Oscars. Jodie Foster is kind of overshadowed by him, but is also amazing. It is a performance movie, but has a brilliant plot and does not just rely on it's cast to carry the whole thing. Incredibly tense and impeccably performed The Silence of The Lambs is one of my favorite movies ever.

This 2012/2013 crime thriller eerily reminds me of the very intelligent 2005 David Cronenberg movie A History of Violence, right down to the hairstyles of the main characters. In a good way though, both are undoubtedly worth watching. The Place Beyond The Pines is a performance movie if you don’t know what that is, it means a movie which relies on its supposedly strong cast to carry the whole thing because the plot is thin. The difference between The Place Beyond The Pines and a normal performance movie is that the plot is very deep and intelligent. It is believable, but exciting at the same time for almost the whole 140 minute movie. However the performances are brilliant all round, some slightly more than others, the most unknown of the almost ensemble Dane DeHaan is actually the best out of everyone. I have not yet seen Kill Your Darlings in which he stars alongside Daniel Radcliffe, but I will soon and he looks brilliant in that too. I don’t usually comment on how a movie is filmed because I believe it to be quite a lot less complex than many claim, although there is skill involved, the masterful cinematography keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole movie and never lets your attention stray even in the less riveting scenes. The Place Beyond The Pines is a must see, due to many strong performances and a realistic but thrilling plot.

A very funny but also very heartfelt and true inside look at the black culture of America in the early 90's. Brilliant performances, especially from Laurence Fishburne, and a gripping plot make Boyz In The Hood hugely enjoyable and one of the most realistic comedies ever.

When not being an unintentional comedy and not scary whatsoever. Insidious is incredibly boring, formulaic and predictable. Many compare this to Sinister, I think that is unfair, not just because Sinister is actually a good film but because Sinister bothers to build up tension. Insidious does not. The scares consist of a long silence and then a CGI ghost or creature appearing (usually the very funny Darth Maul with a 60’s haircut and Freddy Kreuger glove), that is not scary. In some places I jumped but as I have ranted about in many other reviews there is a large difference between a film making you jump and a film being scary. I was always bored, always knew what was going to happen next, always cringing and almost always laughing. A perfect example of how modern horror movies are complete crap.

This is definitely not Martin Scorsese's most sophisticated movie and also far from the best. But I had a very good time when watching it and was consistently entertained. All of the cast give good performances, Leonardo Di Caprio especially as the central character Jordan Belfort AKA the Wolf of Wall Street, and Jonah Hill is surprisingly good in one of his first non comedic roles. However the main and most obvious reason why The Wolf of Wall Street is so entertaining is because of how outlandish and crazy close to every scene is. In places you almost forget that it's based on true events. From the immature conversation between Belfort and his mentor, played brilliantly by Matthew McConaughey, to the hilarious but quite juvenile night where Di Caprio and Hill get the strongest high known to man, it is ridiculously entertaining. And also worryingly enjoyable due to the extreme amount of sex, nudity, violence and drugs much like the far wittier 2013 movie Don Jon. Overall The Wolf of Wall Street will keep you interested through its whole runtime despite it being 3 hours long, but may repel some more sensitive viewers due to its mature content.

Dallas Buyers Club is a performance movie. If you don’t know what that is it means a movie relies on its actors and actresses to carry the plot. Usually this is because the plot is terrible and has no depth whatsoever, but the plot is one of the best things about Dallas Buyers Club. You probably know that it is based on true events and some of the stuff Ron Woodroof got away with is almost unbelievable. And it makes brilliant entertainment. But as I have mentioned this is a performance movie and the strongest thing about it are the performances. Matthew McConaughey is amazing and I think the reason behind it is he has just had what some are calling a McConnaissance, he has had a career change and is now planning to do more serious roles and less crappy rom-coms. Jared Leto I think is just as good, he plays a transvestite. And is not a transvestite in real life. That is a hard thing to pull off. But he does it extremely well and the hair and makeup artists perfectly show his descent into extreme illness. All of the supporting cast are brilliant aswell and compliment the lead cast while staying Oscar worthy, of course they haven’t even been nominated that’s how the Academy works. The only things about Dallas Buyers Club which I didn’t like were that I had no idea who some characters were, they just sort of turned up. And the last shot was slightly clichéd, not the whole ending that was almost perfect. It was just the last shot felt a bit overly philosophical when it wasn’t actually philosophical in any way. However Dallas Buyers Club is a hugely enjoyable and very intelligent movie overall, mainly due to the two leads Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto who practically carry the whole movie.

Yet another brainless cheesy action movie by Robert Rodriguez which is way to reminiscent of the 1980’s and so violent it makes Tarantino look Pee Wee Herman. However it is also yet another brainless cheesy action movie by Robert Rodriguez which is extremely entertaining and intentionally tacky. Pretty much every action movie star in movie history appears in Machete from Steven Segal to Danny Trejo to Robert De Niro. Machete may be undecided on whether it is a parody or an action satire but either way I enjoyed it.

People and critics call movies beautiful way too much, and I always think it’s probably good but I doubt it’s beautiful. Then I watch the movie and I’m almost always right. Her is a beautiful movie. The way it is filmed and designed catches your eye but doesn’t ram how stylised it is down your throat (like for example 300 and **** Punch). Spike Jonze writes and directs Her, a science fiction romance (two very unusual genres which usually don’t mix) about a card writer who falls in love with his operating system Samantha. Joaquin Pheonix plays Theodore who has just come out of a horrible break up with his long time wife who he has known almost all his life, he is perfect and remains likable for the whole runtime without being the clichéd “innocent divorced man” who appears in way to many romantic movies nowadays. Although you only hear her voice Scarlett Johannson also embodies her character perfectly, this time in the role of Theodore’s operating system, however she was not as likable as Theodore and came out as a bit of a **** (I didn’t think it was possible for computers to be ****) this is pretty much the only major problem I have with the movie and it might have even been intentional by the writers. Amy Adams and Chris Pratt are the supporting cast and are equally brilliant. Apart from four characters Her has pretty much no cast, this another strange thing which I liked about it. Instead of having Theodore confront his parents and start thinking about marriage like in straightforward predictable romance movies, Her only revolves around the relationship between Samantha and Theodore which is why I think it is so gripping without having any action in it. Another little thing which just interested me was how funny it was. I laughed more in Her than I did in straightforward comedies like Red 2 and The Family, it’s not exactly hilarious but that’s because it’s not trying to be. It is because of this that Her reminds me of The Spectacular Now, but set in the future. I loved The Spectacular Now by the way and I loved Her even more. It is undeniably a must see and genuinely one of my favourite movies ever. I think romance movies are the worst pieces of cinema, Her is an exception.

In 2013 we had Die Hard in the White House in 1997 we had Die Hard on a plane. President Marshall played well but straightforwardly by Harrison Ford is on Air Force One flying from Russia to America when Gary Oldman and his gun wielding friends take the plane hostage demanding that a war criminal is released from prison. Oldman is undoubtedly the best thing about the movie, he gives the only above average performance in 2 hours of scenes best described as "decent". Much like the only good Michael Bay movie ever The Rock, you will enjoy Air Force One as long as you are prepared for how dumb it is. The CGI is terrible, the story is thin, every time someone is killed there is a cheesy one liner, the soundtrack is typically reminiscent of the American National Anthem and so inspirational it's cliched. But Air Force One is an enjoyable and fun action movie, perfect to watch with friends and lots of popcorn. Not really worth a watch unless you're an action junkie (which I'm not) but dumb fun if you do give it a try.

I actually started to think that this might be a funny movie starring Adam Sandler. I did laugh a few times, but by the end my opinion had changed. This is a dumb and brainless raunchy comedy disguised as a father and son bonding movie. Usually Sandler is juvenile, but juvenile as in childish and immature. That's My Boy is juvenile because pretty much every joke is about bodily excrement, nudity or excessively drinking alcohol. Every now and again Vanilla Ice turns up and makes you laugh a bit. The keywords in that sentence were "a bit". No moments made me laugh very loudly and when I did smirk it was a joke completely unconnected to the rest of story which is in the movie just to attract the easily satisfied. However it must be pretty hard to attempt to connect a joke to the story when the story almost does not exist. Not Sandlers worst (definitely Samberg's worst) but utterly pointless and really quite boring.

I genuinely think that this movie is not as absolutely unbearable and completely full of **** as most people make it out to be. But it is undeniably bad. Nominating Dev Patel for a Golden Razzie was very harsh but overall the acting is atrocious. Mainly due to the title character Aang played by Noah Ringer. How the hell did he even get through the audition process with a face which looks constantly surprised and in pain at the same time. Pretty much everyone else with the exception of Dev Patel (who is alright) is bad, but not to the point of self harm like Noah Ringer. Reading other reviews most people claim that the cheesy dialogue is the worst thing about the whole movie, I have to admit I agree with them all. Sure it isn't Tommy Wiseau's The Room, but damn this is written by the same guy who directed The Sixth Sense. What the **** happened? Out of every second of The Last Airbender which I watched the only above average and enjoyable aspect of it was Zuko's storyline (Dev Patel). Maybe if I could be bothered to watch the anime TV series it might be better, I hate to admit it but I actually thought his banishment was pretty cool. However the last scene (which is only in there for the minute chance of a sequel) they totally ruin it and attempt to bring in even more family conflict to create drama. Every attempt at drama in the movie fails though, I did not care one bit about the bull**** love story between Sokka and Yue (who's **** haircut was the best part of the movie). Overall M.Night Shyamalan really should have made the movie much less crap for it to be enjoyable. I have never summarised a movie so bluntly before.

I had heard that Clerks was very funny and appealed to movie nerds especially. But it still totally surprised me for being incredibly witty and hugely enjoyable. Every character is memorable and unique. Every line is quotable and piss yourself funny. Every scene is better than the one before it and impeccably written. The only flaw I have with Clerks is that in some places the humor becomes a bit too juvenile and dirty. Which is strange because most of the time it is one of the wittiest comedies I have ever seen. Dante and Randal's debate over the death of innocent Death Star construction workers in Return of the Jedi was hysterical. But the funniest part of the movie without a doubt was the one line of the correctly named Silent Bob when giving advice to Dante on girls and lasagne. It deserves it's cult status 100% and should have got even more recognition than it did. Which was a lot anyway! Absolutely hilarious and surprisingly sweet in some places.

One of the most intelligent and exciting crime movies I have ever seen. Possibly even better than The Godfather, the movie franchise which bought Al Pacino and Robert De Niro together for the first time. One of the main differences this time is that they are playing enemies, and they do it very well. I found the scene, just before the hugely famous bank robbery sequence, where Pacino and De Niro are explaining their intentions to each other over coffee to be ridiculously tense. So tense that I was almost feeling uncomfortable! Val Kilmer and Natalie Portman (in one of her earliest roles) are brilliant as part of the supporting cast too. It's a shame Michael Mann didn't direct anymore movies like this because Heat is to be blunt the only memorable work he has ever done. It definitely could be shorter but that doesn't mean it isn't exciting, personally I enjoyed the last hour the most due to the extremely tense coffee scene and of course the unforgettable gunfight in the street.

I am very happy for Ben Stiller at the moment. He has finally been daring enough to venture out of the brainless teen comedy zone which he has been stuck in for the past few decades and made a very entertaining movie. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in my opinion should not be described as a family movie. Not because it isn't fun, because I expect adults will actually prefer it to children. This is probably down to the much more sophisticated type of humor used to get the laughs than in Stillers previous movies (basically the **** movies). I have to admit the style to the whole film varies in places. For example it goes from being a quite funny and sweet to being downright creepy and forced. If you have seen it already you will understand that I am of course talking about the Benjamin Button scene. However this is not what you would call a major flaw and I found most of it to be harmlessly enjoyable. The funniest moment was undoubtedly how Walter deals with the aggressively unlikable character firing half of the people in Walter's company. Kristen Wiig (who I usually find irritating) singing Space Oddity to inspire Walter to get off his ass, is also a brilliant scene. Not perfect, but satisfying by way of laughs and worth watching. Stiller has finally made an intelligent comedy.

The second chapter in the life of Vito Corleone best known as The Godfather. At just over 200 minutes I think it's safe to say that The Godfather Part Two isn't a movie for a rainy Friday afternoon, it's definitely less gripping than the first but that doesn't mean to say that it isn't interesting. Actually it's the opposite. Francis Ford Coppola keeps everything slick and cool but still intelligent, some scenes are more compelling than others. Particularly the tense confrontation between two brothers. With no Marlon Brando to give the film at least one guaranteed brilliant performance, you might worry that the actors are not strong enough to portray the legendary characters well. Luckily Pacino and De Niro are both excellent and provide the movie two Oscar worthy performances, which don't even rival Brando from the first film but are still very good. Overall I don't think that The Godfather Part Two was as enjoyable or as gut wrenching as the first, but due to many excellent performances and another chilling yet satisfying ending I still find it to be a timeless piece of cinema.

Everybody knows how good The Godfather is meant to be, and while the 100% may not be fully justified it is definitely a work of surpassing excellence. Francis Ford Coppola perfectly chronicles the late life of Don Vito Corleone also known as The Godfather. Simply witnessing all of the hugely famous scenes and impeccably written lines is an enjoyable experience. Yes it goes on for 3 hours but sitting through the whole thing is undeniably worth it. Some scenes are much more gripping than others, basically Marlon Brando's screen time is the best thing about it. However every second is interesting and almost deserves the 100%, I found it to be masterfully acted and with some brilliant direction, but the most impressive aspect of The Godfather is undoubtedly how engaging every second is despite going on for 180 minutes. I would say it's worth watching but it's cult status ensures you were going to anyway.

One of the first mockumentaries ever made and also mostly improvised This Is Spinal Tap isn't exactly your straightforward comedy. Nowadays we have new fake documentaries and found footage movies every week. Back in 1984 with one or two minor exceptions, this was a new idea and new way of making comedies. Take a look at the score out of 10 people obviously liked this new style of funny movies, this new template of how to make you laugh. And you laugh a lot. From how loud the amps can go to the story about how their drummer spontaneously combusted, pretty much everything is some kind of a joke. Overall it might not be as laugh out loud hilarious as it's reputation suggests it to be, but I definitely laughed an above average amount of times and really enjoyed myself with This Is Spinal Tap. It undoubtedly deserves it's cult status.

Many people have accused Zoolander of being overly silly and way too juvenile for it's own good. Personally I think that one of the reasons it is so enjoyable is because Ben Stiller and the writers know that it is not intelligent whatsoever and use this as a way of getting laughs. Which I don't think there is anything wrong with. Dumb fun.

Unique and underrated director Danny Boyle follows up one of my favourite movies of all time 28 Days Later (also starring Cillian Murphy) with this intelligent yet exciting science fiction movie, reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey and probably behind some of the inspiration for Alfonso Cuaron's more recent Gravity. When the Earth's sun begins to die a spaceship named Icarus II follows after the previous missions ship Icarus I which failed to relight the sun. Just by reading that plot summary you can tell this isn't a brainless sci - fi action movie featuring lots and lots of big flashy explosions About two thirds of the way in it loses some of it's cleverness and morphs into a strange science fiction horror which reminded me of the absolute disaster Jason X. But I still found it interesting and the last 5 minutes sort of redeemed that, John Murphy's powerful score, Cillian Murphy's brilliant acting and Danny Boyle's genius direction and writing makes it near perfect. Probably the most underrated final scene of all time, how come everyone remembers Seven but no one remembers Sunshine. Definitely worth watching, not quite as exciting as 28 Days Later, but full of clever twists and deep interesting characters which help the movie keep your attention even if in some places it loses it's intelligence.

This years Argo with the most Golden Globe nominations of any movie. American Hustle seems to be preferred by critics than the public, just take a look at the discussion forum, however I found it to be one of the years best films. Despite a slow and disappointing start, in which I was already planning my review containing many uses of the word overrated, American Hustle improves hugely in the last 100 minutes. Mainly because of the brilliant ensemble cast with names such as Christian Bale, in yet another body transformation for a role. His two wives Amy Adams as Sydney Prosser and Jennifer Lawrence giving the best performance in the movie for Rosalyn Rosenfeld. Oscar nominee, for Silver Linings Playbook, Bradley Cooper is mesmerising along side Louis C.K. as the 2 FBI agents. But the most surprising performance is definitely by the most unknown members of The Avengers himself Jeremy Renner who was obviously out of his comfort zone playing the corrupt politician Carmine Polito. A very unusual role for him to play because he didn't blow anything up within the first 5 minutes. How much they develop over the 130 minutes is probably the most unpredictable and surprising thing about the whole picture. Everything is filmed with a unique style obviously paying homage to the decade it is set in, the 70's. Retro costumes and most noticeably retro hair give American Hustle a very likable and entertaining visual style which I hope will appear in more of David O. Russell's movies in future. Much to my surprise American Hustle also has a very witty and effective sense of humor, which easily made me laugh on many occasions, mainly due to the convincing chemistry between Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence. However what surprises the most is without a doubt is the almost unbelievable fact that American Hustle is based on a true story, it obviously has exaggerated elements put in the script for dramatic or comedic effect, but still it's pretty mind blowing that someone would even attempt the events that happen in this movie. Perfectly cast and full of unique interesting characters who never fail to entertain you, America Hustle is one of the best scripted and directed movies of 2013. I enjoyed near to every second of it and think it deserves it's title as this years Argo.

You would expect a movie about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden to have a blockbuster director and an ensemble cast. Zero Dark Thirty does not have either of those things. It has a few big names James Gandolfini, Mark Strong, Jessica Chastain but no one hugely popular. The director was completely unknown to me before watching this. After watching this I might check out some of her other movies (The Hurt Locker). Because Zero Dark Thirty is amazing. Every single cast member is Oscar worthy, even the actor playing Osama Bin Laden's dead corpse (who has a huge nose). Mark Strong is particularly awesome and should have got some more recognition for this performance, despite only having about 20 minutes of screen time. The story while staying true to life, is exciting and never predictable. Alexandre Desplat's moving score perfectly fits the mood of every scene and may even have the power to make you cry. Lets just say that everything besides the dragged out runtime is perfect. I highly recommend Zero Dark Thirty to everyone except people who get bored easily.

Pointless and not funny at all. A Haunted House is ridiculously crass and 90% of the jokes could be thought up by a 9 year old (with a very dirty mind). However it is slightly better than the similar Scary Movie 5.

Just when I thought there had been enough dumb brainless action movies this year (The Lone Ranger, White House Down, The Wolverine etc etc) when another one pops up and surprises me. Getaway is possibly the stupidest action movie I have ever seen, not the worst but the stupidest. From the slightly interesting premise to the incomprehensible ending which I don't understand but isn't clever at all, it could be written by a monkey! No that's an insult to our good evolutionary friends. Getaway could be written by a mentally **** goat with no limbs. Instead of making you think about what's going on in the movie Getaway does not make you use your brain at all, it's all just moving images infront of your eyes. The two things I can praise Getaway for are a mildly enjoyable soundtrack and exciting action scenes. Except the whole movie is pretty much one big action scene. With no plot, no character development, no proper ending, no humor, no good performances, no unpredictable scenes and no unique qualities whatsoever. Getaway is one of the worst films of the year.

X Men Origins Wolverine was funnier than this, but The Wolverine is still one of the most amusing movies of 2013. No I'm not writing a review of a different movie in the wrong place The Wolverine suffers from being unintentionally funny, much like X Men Origins Wolverine. The acting is half decent and respectable Hugh Jackman surprisingly giving the weakest performance, and the special effects top rate (but what do you expect it's an X Men movie). Those are the only fully positive things I have to say about The Wolverine, with the exception of it not being boring. While they have good CGI and aren't filmed badly the action scenes are way too overblown and unrealistic to be taken seriously, which is a major problem because there are lots of them. Samurai ninja's appear at one point to kill The Wolverine. Why? Earlier in the movie they just got people with guns to kill Logan, why the sudden change? Oh that's right, because it's set in Japan! I'm not saying it's racist, I'm saying it's a totally reason to put samurai ninja's in the movie. Because nowadays superhero movies are aimed at 4 year olds there isn't a lot of plot, but the very small amount of it is also ridiculous and too unrealistic to take seriously, there is a giant robot samurai suit controlled by a dying old man. End of argument. As for the twist near the end, I didn't see it coming but it's still terrible. Maybe I'm being too harsh on The Wolverine? Movies like The Rock, White House Down and Undercover Brother have had ridiculous plots and cliched scenes but I have still enjoyed them. That's because they are intentionally flawed and meant to be cheesy, The Wolverine tried and failed to be serious. Hugely disappointing.

I have some truly amazing news. Michael Bay has made a movie which isn't total This has only happened once before in 1996 with The Rock. He's still one of the worst directors on the planet, but I did find Pain and Gain to be mildly enjoyable. Much like in the ridiculously popular Transformers movies the female characters are still used as a cheap way of attracting men. One woman is a stereotypical stupid stripper, another overweight and foul mouthed, the most amazingly sexist a huge breasted druggie with an exaggerated large ass and many bikini wearing extras at a gym swimming pool. All are mind blowingly offensive and unfunny, not that all of the other characters aren't just as insanely crude. By way of plot it's surprisingly good for a Michael Bay movie because it exists, which is more than you can say for some of his previous travesties. I could not believe my eyes when Pain and Gains three leads were actually played quite well. Wahlberg, The Rock and Mackie all give respectable performances and will not be nominated for any Golden Razzies like Shia La ****. While it is quite obviously exaggerated for dramatic effect, despite a caption occasionally popping up saying: This is still true, the plot is very interesting and not like any other movie I have seen this year. Following directors tradition Pain and Gain has no inner message even if it tries to be philosophical, but in contrast to the directors tradition it is very exciting and not just moving pictures infront of your eyes which do not engage your brain Pain and Gain is the most surprising movie of the year even if it's not very good. I found it to be mildly enjoyable.

Possibly the hardest movie to critique I have ever seen, I can't decide whether I think this is Rotten or not! 60% of the movie is Johnny Depp playing the same character he always plays and out of place euphemisms, while the other 40% is a ridiculously entertaining but unintelligent action movie full of huge machine guns and trains which can defy the laws of physics. Every time that unforgettable and universally recognised theme song comes on you start enjoying it and then it goes back too Johnny Depp being the same unfunny character he always plays and Armie Hammer being quite annoying actually. I'll give it 3 stars because of how amazingly enjoyable the action sequences are.

Brad Pitt and his long, luscious locks star as the main character Gerry Lane in this supposedly political thriller. Director Marc Forster unsuccessfully tries to emulate the mix of exciting and political effects which others (George A Romero, Danny Boyle) have done so well. The action scenes are clear and don't overuse shaky cam, even though there is a lot of it. While the acting is quite good and benefits from Tyler Durden himself Brad Pitt (and the new Doctor Who Peter Capaldi), the story is eerily familiar cough cough 28 Days Later cough cough and the resolution is just **** When the most exciting thing about a movie is Brad Pitt's new haircut, you have to accept that it's failed at being enjoyable. World War Z is nothing special, pretty much everything about it is just satisfactory.

Yes it's better than Olympus Has Fallen, but not by a lot. You probably know the plot already, a bunch of terrorists (sort of) take over the White House and one man, Channing Tatum in this case, must save the day. By way of leading men in action movies Channing Tatum does pretty well, he is obviously modelling his character on Bruce Willis from Die Hard but he does it well and stays likable the whole way through. However it's really President Django (Jamie Foxx) who steals the show and delivers one of my favorite movie portrayals of any President ever. Those two team up too defeat the bad guys and save the day, (quoting Jeremy Jahns) and now we have our movie. It's very cheesy and borrows too much from Die Hard, but it's a popcorn action flick what do you expect? As long as there are lots of explosions and it's exciting White House Down has done what it set out too do. Much like Michael Bay's only good movie The Rock, White House Down is enjoyable as long as you are prepared for dumb and totally unrealistic it is.

This movie is nothing like The Social Network. I'm not saying that as a bad point or as a good point. I'm just starting my review with a common mistake. The Social Network was about two friends and how a big corporation ruined their friendship. Jobs is about the big corporation, not the people involved with it. Ashton Kutcher was a decent actor in this movie. When it was announced that he was going to be play Steve Jobs, everybody lost their But he's actually alright, nothing special, but not a bad performance. Pretty much everyone is nothing special. Ashton Kutcher is the only actor who I can name off the top of my head, who was in Jobs. Besides JK Simmons who has such a memorable face that I will always recognise him. You may think that the story of the movie was already prepared, but the writers had to pick some events in Steve Job's life which were interesting. They did not do it too well. I would have preferred to have seen more about the later life of Steve Jobs, than him sitting in an office shouting at people. The writers obviously noticed how good Ashton Kutcher looked as old Steve Jobs and decided to give him as little screen time as possible. Also it was not made clear what year's things were taking place in. I'm not an expert on Steve Jobs so I have no idea what year he was born in (probably in the 50's), after watching the movie about his company. I still don't know. One of the things I did like was the soundtrack. There was some of The Beatles some of The Rolling Stones (I think) and it really gave the movie a vintage feel. I'm guessing that's when a lot of it took place because I had no idea what year it was most of the time. To be honest Jobs did not teach me much about Steve Jobs at all. I can't remember what college he went to (even though it's in the second scene). I can't remember the name of his wife. Or whether she was even his wife? As an autobiographical movie Jobs is not good and focuses more on which people he shouted at than what products he made. But watching people getting shouted at is funny. As a movie overall Jobs is good and for the most part enjoyable.

Disappointing but a good movie overall. Zack Snyder make the same mistake which he made in 300, the same thing over and over again in a fight scene. But that's at the end so it's alright. Overall Man of Steel is a good film even if it did not live up to my expectations.

A pretty average movie to be honest, not as good as the first. But definitely entertaining mainly because of the cast which benefits from names such as Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins and David Thewlis. Most of the jokes fail and you forget, but the ones that work are very funny and mostly come from Mary Louise Parker which is very different from the first movie where she just pulled faces and acted sarcastic. Bruce Willis has swapped with her and only has one facial expression throughout the whole movie.

A surprisingly good movie. The CGI is cringingly bad but if you forgive that the worst thing about it is Ewan McGregor's hair which never loses it's style even after a fight in a river. Better than Man of Steel anyday.

Can I start off by saying that this movie is not homophobic or anti-gay and that that is only the writer of the book Orson Scott Card (****). The director of that badly written CGI fest X-Men Origins Wolverine sets out to make the movie of the complex book which predicted things such as the internet, gaming and e-mail, he does it surprisingly well. Asa Butterfield is perfectly cast as Ender and really makes the role his own, Harrison Ford is awesome (need I say more) and all of the supporting cast who make up Enders dragon army are brilliant also. Something which took me by surprise was the quality of the CGI in the space scenes. It was really good. I have not yet seen Gravity, so I won't say it's the best of the year. But it's definitely near the top of the list. However the best thing about the movie by far is the twist within the last 20 minutes (WHICH I WILL NOT REVEAL), but really took me by surprise. I am assuming that the twist was in the book and if I had read that first maybe it would not have been so effective. But I didn't read the book first, so the twist was totally unexpected and very very clever. The first thing which started to ruin the movie was the ending which is not satisfying, and while I understand it now, it was difficult to interpret while the credits were rolling. The last shot is stolen from Avatar too. Also in contrast to many other movies, where he has been absolutely amazing, Ben Kingsley's performance is not all that good. He fits his character, but changes personality and even worse changes accent, which is one of the biggest sins possible for an actor to commit. Although the main problem with Enders Game, is too many unintentionally funny scenes (the same problem Gavin Hood had in X-Men Origins Wolverine). The clichéd bully gets embarrassed scenes, grin inspiring voice breaks from Asa Butterfield and laugh out loud hilarious first appearance of Ben Kingsley are just some of the unforgettable comedy moments in the movie. Overall Enders Game failed to be the science fiction epic that Orson Scott Card's (****) novel was, but does succeed at being an intelligent science fiction fantasy for kids and I found that movie perfectly enjoyable.

From the makers of District 9 comes this sci-fi action movie starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster. This movie had a lot of expectations to live up to because of how unique and clever District 9 was. Much like my reaction Man of Steel, I can't really make up my mind. It did not live up to my expectations, but was a good movie overall. All of the cast give good performances. Matt Damon is pretty good, Jodie Foster is pretty good (even if her character doesn't do much), Alice Braga is pretty good, Sharlto Copey is awesome. But what can you expect? He's awesome in everything, even when playing nerdy office workers/aliens. The special effects were very good, excusing Matt Damon's exoskeleton which sometimes looks like one of the 1960's Cybermen from Doctor Who, and the plots quite clever. It gets a bit straightforward in the last 40 minutes, but still good. What really let the movie down was the action sequences. I had no idea what was going on in the final battle. It's a type of filming I've never seen before, it's not shaky cam it just changes angles too much. You're right next to Matt Damon's face. Then you're 25 meters away from him. Then you're looking down on him from up in the air. Then you're back right next to his face. Then you're a meter away from him. Then you're just behind him. And finally you're back up in the air looking down on him. All of these angles in the space of 20 seconds. The cameras not shaky, it's just changing position too much I have too come up with a name for this so that I can use it more in future. Unfortunately the action sequences are a large part of the movie. So it ruined a lot of scenes. But not the whole movie. I enjoyed myself during Elysium mainly due to Sharlto Copey's amazing performance and the clever plot, but the strange filming style in the action sequences may have made it a slight disappointment.

Founder of Facebook Jesse Eisenberg stars alongside Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco as the Four Horsemen a group of criminal magicians. Mark Ruffalo gives a brilliant performance as the Interpol agent Dylan Rhodes trying to track them down. And just to top it all off Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine star as money grabbing ****. Most of the cast do a good job. Following Zombieland Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg have obvious chemistry, some of their conversations are actually very funny. The other two horsemen Isla Fisher and Dave Franco are nothing special, but not bad. No surprise Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are extremely entertaining especially when on screen together. But the star of the show is definitely Bruce Banner himself Mark Ruffalo. Some of his dialogue is very cheesy, so he performs the dialogue in such a good way that it doesn't bother you. Undoubtedly the strongest performance in the whole movie. It's just the way that his character was used which pisses me off. Up until the last ten minutes all is well. The plot has been cleverly written and sort of makes sense. Most of the loose ends have been tied up, even if they have not been resolved in a very good way. Then the major twist happens and it's **** ***SPOILER ALERT*** It turns out that Mark Ruffalo's character (not The Incredible Hulk) was the mastermind behind the whole conspiracy all along. And his reasons for this are that his Dad gave him a watch the day he died. The twist felt so forced and so unrealistic that it almost the whole movie. Why would Dylan Rhodes bother leading the case trying to track down the four horsemen if he was behind it? Why didn't he tell the magicians who he was and make it all so much easier? Why did he purposely cause car accidents and possibly kill innocent people? Why did he randomly hang around at that abandoned fairground at the end of the movie? It would have been better if the movie just finished when the magicians jumped off the roof and turned into money. That would have been awesome! But instead they had to go all Oceans Eleven on us. Overall Now You See Me is a decent movie with a brilliant plot and interesting characters, but a very disappointing and cliched twist which took the magic out of it all. (See what I did there).

Yet another black comedy from Luc Besson. But in contrast to some of his earlier movies, this is actually good. Not overwhelmingly good, but definitely entertaining. Robert De Niro returns to the crime genre in style alongside Michelle Pfeiffer in two brilliant performances, however their two children give the best performances in the whole movie. Regrettably I don't know either of the actors names off the top of my head because both of them are reasonably unknown, but they both deserve to be in more stuff (especially John D'Leo as the boy). Every now and again Tommy Lee Jones pops up too. The plot makes sense and holds up, even in the overblown final act. And the action, again even if the overblown final act, is exciting and will keep viewers only watching for explosions entertained. Much like most of the other comedies I have watched in my entire life, the main problem is that I didn't laugh much. It's either that this is an unsuccessful black comedy or that I'm an unhappy pedantic who rarely ever smiles, but I did laugh a below average amount of times. Sure I was almost in hysterics at the very clever joke about De Niro being able to express any emotion just by saying and the two agents who are constantly listening in to the families every word have some hilarious conversations. But most of the other jokes only got a smirk or a weak smile out of me. However, that does not stop The Family from being a hugely enjoyable black comedy, which delivers excitement and thrills (but fails to satisfy the audience by way of jokes) without forgetting emotion and story arcs. To my surprise I thoroughly enjoyed The Family, and strongly recommend it.

Definitely enjoyable. Not one of the cleverest, most intelligent comedies of the year. But good fun and never boring. Watch the credits for some very funny bloopers, especially if your fan of Friends (hint).

Most romantic comedies exaggerate every single aspect of relationships, to please the collective unconscious who flock to see them despite 99% of them being total The Spectacular Now does not. It's a very realistic and down to earth representation of two teenage lovers and how they struggle to stay together. No gunfights, no car chases, no murderers and no giant mutant squids. It's very simple and straightforward but also very sweet and charming. I was always interested despite nothing grand or particularly exciting happening, which isn't an easy thing to do. In some places it lagged and my attention was lost, but I was immersed again a few minutes later. Some major events felt slightly forced (but still true to life) and put me off even if they were significant to the movie. Coming from a rom-com loather, who thinks 90% of chick flicks should be erased from history, it was pretty darn good. Not uproariously funny or very exciting but always emotional and interesting. Worth a watch even if you're not a fan of the genre like me.

Not only an awesome action movie and a clever science fiction flick. But also quite funny, I don't understand why it got so much hate. Seriously it is probably in my Top 10 of the year, planet Earth I guess.

Fun, cleverly written and very funny. Warm Bodies is the best zom-rom-com since Shaun of the Dead. Nicholas Hoult and John Malkovich are the standout performances providing great entertainment in the midst of all the satisfactory scenes and average plot twists.

An amazing film. The quality of the visuals is outstanding, all of the cast (even if there are only 3 of them) give brilliant performances, the plot may be thin but it's like nothing you have ever seen before and the score is totally immersing. It may not be better than Captain Phillips, but it is still a masterpiece.

Literally just finished watching this and my heart is still racing. Jesus Christ this movie is tense. Hugh Jackman plays the father of one of two children abducted on Thanksgiving, I think that this year it's between him and Tom Hanks for Best Actor. With the exception of Jake Gyllenhaal as Detective Loki (Best Supporting Actor 2013), the cast is reasonably unknown. That doesn't mean that they don't all do a brilliant. But there is one performance in the movie, by an actor who before watching this was unknown to me, which is amazing. Paul Dano as Alex Jones. Give that man an Oscar. No give him a new type of award which is better than an Oscar. A award or something. He plays a strange, creepy alleged pedofile who is the supposed culprit behind the kidnapping of the two girls. The one word which comes to mind when I think of his character is slimy. He's a mix of Hannibal Lecter, Gollum and the late Michael Jackson. Super creepy! I would watch the 150 minute movie all over again just for his performance. Best actor in the whole film, he totally compensates for the plot hole riddled script and some boring scenes. Much like the recent movies Captain Phillips, Argo and Zero Dark Thirty one of my favourite things about Prisoners is that it stays realistic the whole way through and does not exaggerate action scenes or the climax. This is probably why it gets slow moving and quite boring in the middle, but it's still riveting stuff overall. I am not the type of movie reviewer who pays attention to the score, however, from what I have heard it was extremely effective at building up tension and always fit the scenes it was being played too. Finally the ending is extremely hard to understand. Once I had checked that I was right on Wikipedia it made sense. But as the credits started to roll, I asked myself the question: "What the just happened"? Overall Prisoners is a hugely enjoyable movie. Sure it has plot holes the size of small villages and the ending isn't very easy to interpret. But those things are redeemed by Hugh Jackman's brilliant lead and Paul Dano's chilling, shiver inducing performance as the alleged pedofile who can best be described with the word: slimy. Ridiculously tense and very intelligent Prisoners is undoubtedly worth a watch.

This Is The End is hilarious and has one of the funniest endings to a movie since Life of Brian. I hope Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are planning another movie to direct.