Film 56: Contraband (2012)

Directed by: Baltasar Kormákur.

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Beckinsale, Caleb Landry Jones.

My Rating: So/so.

Film 55: Batman & Robin (1997)

Directed by: Joel Schumacher.

Starring: George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chris O'Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Michael Gough.

My Rating: Thumbs down!

I originally avoided watching this because of how universally disliked this film is. I didn't want it to dent my love for the previous instalments in the franchise. However, it was on TV last night so I thought I'd give it a go. It really is as terrible as they say. The most disappointing thing, though? Just how boring it is! No one told me that!

Film 54: Alien Resurrection (1997)

Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Dominique Pinon, Ron Perlman.

My Rating: So/so.

Film 53: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Directed by: Christopher Nolan.

Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

I'm a huge Batman, and Christopher Nolan fan, so I've been anticipating this film for about 4 years. Well, what an epic conclusion to The Dark Knight trilogy! It was everything that I expected and more. Though, it's not without its problems. There are 3 major things that I didn't like about it, but the spectacular ending more than made up for it. I left the theatre feeling overwhelmed with emotion. Hands down, the best film of the year so far.

Film 52: The Machinist (2004)

Directed by: Brad Anderson.


Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón.


My Rating: Thumbs up!


I love a film with a good twist.

Film 51: X Men: First Class (2011)

Directed by: Matthew Vaughn.

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 50: Dread (2009)

Directed by: Anthony DiBlasi.

Starring: Jackson Rathbone, Hanne Steen, Laura Donnelly.

My Rating: Thumbs down!

One of the worst endings to a film that I've seen in a long time.

Film 49: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Directed by: Marc Webb.

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, Sally Field.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 48: Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Directed by: Sam Raimi.

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, James Franco.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

One of those few times where a sequel exceeds the original. Epic in every way.

Film 47: Spider-Man (2002)

Directed by: Sam Raimi.

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Norman Osborn: "Sorry I'm late. Work was murder." Classic.

Film 46: The Descendants (2011)

Directed by: Alexander Payne.

Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 45: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Directed by: Joe Johnston.

Starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper, Stanley Tucci. 

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 44: Iron Man 2 (2010)

Directed by: Jon Favreau.

Starring: Robert Downey Jr. , Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 43: The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Directed by: Louis Leterrier.

Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 42: Iron Man (2008)

Directed by: Jon Favreau.

Starring: Robert Downey Jr. , Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 41: Failure to Launch (2006)

Directed by: Tom Dey.

Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew McConaughey, Zooey Deschanel, Justin Bartha, Bradley Cooper, Kathy Bates.

My Rating: Thumbs down!

An apt title for yet another clichéd romantic comedy. Yawn. Zooey Deschanel is the only redeeming feature in this film.

Film 40: Archipelago (2010)

Directed by: Joanna Hogg.

Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Kate Fahy, Lydia Leonard, Amy Lloyd, Christopher Baker.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

I personally prefer Hogg's first film 'Unrelated' to this one, nonetheless, this is still a brilliant film. The quiet subtly of it means you might require a lot of imagination to connect with it, but that's why it's so great. Key scenes for me include the restaurant scene (I was squirming as it reminded me of being in a similar situation) and the last interaction between Edward and Rose in the kitchen.

Film 39: Unrelated (2007)

Directed by: Joanna Hogg.

Starring: Kathryn Worth, Tom Hiddleston, Mary Roscoe.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

"Don't you just want to run away sometimes?" asks the main character, Anna, in this atypical British gem of a film.

Film 38: Bad Teacher (2011)

Directed by: Jake Kasdan.

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel.

My Rating: So/so.

Film 37: Salt (2010)

Directed by: Phillip Noyce.

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor.

My Rating: So/so.

Film 36: Midnight in Paris (2011)

Directed by: Woody Allen.

Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Michael Sheen, Carla Bruni, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hiddleston, Alison Pill, Adrien Brody.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

I didn't want this film to end.

Film 35: The General's Daughter (1999)

Directed by: Simon West.

Starring: John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, James Cromwell, Timothy Hutton.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 34: Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) (2009)

Directed by: Niels Arden Oplev.

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 33: Thor (2011)

Directed by: Sir Kenneth Branagh.


Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba, Clark Gregg.


My Rating: Thumbs up!


Chris Hemsworth makes for a worthy Thor. Great casting there, but the film is just stolen by Tom Hiddleston's Loki. There's something intriguing about his character, and his portrayal that keeps your attention firmly focused on him.

Film 32: The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)

Directed by: Randall Wallace.

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gérard Depardieu, Gabriel Byrne. 

My Rating: So/so.

Film 31: Total Eclipse (1995)

Directed by: Agnieszka Holland.

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, David Thewlis, Romane Bohringer.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 30: Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

Directed by: Steve Miner.

Starring: Betsy Palmer, Amy Steel, John Furey.

My Rating: So/so.

I felt nothing but complete indifference to this film. Probably the worst feeling you can have about anything.

Film 29: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

Directed by: Marcus Nispel.

Starring: Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Andrew Bryniarski.

My Rating: Thumbs down!

This version of the original does not even begin to touch the brilliance of the original version. More gore, more bore. It can't replicate the greatness of the original anyway because of the social and cultural significance the film had to the time and place of its setting. 

Film 28: The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) (2006)

Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.

Starring: Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Martina Gedeck.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 27: Our Idiot Brother (2011)

Directed by: Jesse Peretz.

Starring: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer. 

My Rating: So/so.

Film 26: Burnt by the Sun (1994)

Directed by: Nikita Mikhalkov.

Starring: Nikita Mikhalkov, Oleg Menshikov, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Nadezhda Mikhalkova.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 25: Commissar (1967)

Directed by: Aleksandr Askoldov.

Starring: Nonna Mordyukova, Rolan Bykov, Raisa Nedashkovskaya.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 24: Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Directed by: Sergei Eisenstein.

Starring: Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Grigori Aleksandrov.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 23: Stagecoach (1939)

Directed by: John Ford.

Starring: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 22: Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Directed by: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen.

Starring: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

How can anyone not have a smile on their face after watching this film?!

Film 21: In the Name of the Father (1993)

Directed by: Jim Sheridan.

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Emma Thompson.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 20: Hidden Agenda (1990)

Directed by: Ken Loach.

Starring: Frances McDormand, Brian Cox, Brad Dourif.

My Rating: So/so.

Film 19: This Means War (2012)

Directed by: McG.

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy.

My Rating: So/so.

The first thing that came to my mind at the end of this film is: why would you choose Chris Pine over Tom Hardy?!?! That's just personal opinion though. In film terms, it wasn't the greatest either. It's nothing new, it's not pushing boundaries, it's just 90 minutes of pure fantastical escapism. Though, some of the special effects were poor. You could tell it was green screen, and you could even see a stuntmen's face at one point. Oh well. Tom Hardy made it all worth it.

Film 18: Gia (1998)

Directed by: Michael Cristofer.

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Faye Dunaway, Elizabeth Mitchell.

My Rating: So/so.

This is quite well done for a TV movie, but I found some of the editing choices to not be to my personal taste, and it was awfully slow paced. Angelina Jolie was really good though. She kept my interest.

Film 17: This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Directed by: Rob Reiner.

Starring: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 16: Clueless (1995)

Directed by: Amy Heckerling.

Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd, Donald Faison.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Mean Girls has a lot to thank this film for.

Film 15: One Day In September (1999)

Directed by: Kevin Macdonald.

Starring: Michael Douglas, Ankie Spitzer, Jamal Al Gashey.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 14: Munich (2005)

Directed by: Steven Spielberg.

Starring: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciarán Hinds, Geoffrey Rush.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Film 13: Michael Collins (1996)

Directed by: Neil Jordan.

Starring: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Alan Rickman, Julia Roberts.

My Rating: So/so.

Film 12: The Bodyguard (1992)

Directed by: Mick Jackson.

Starring: Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Ok, so it was definitely not the best film ever, the plot was predictable, and some of the acting stale, but overall, it was still quite enjoyable, and the music was great. Ironic that Whitney Houston plays an Academy Award winning actress though, when she was actually kind of devoid of any real acting talent...

Film 11: Control Room (2004)

Directed by: Jehane Nujaim.

Starring: Samir Khader, Josh Rushing, Hassan Ibrahim.

My Rating: So/so.

Film 10: Drive (2011)

Directed by: Nicholas Winding Refn.

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

I don't understand why this got snubbed by the Academy, at all. Everything about is so unusual (in a mainstream way), but it's great! Especially Ryan Gosling, and the soundtrack.

Film 9: No Strings Attached (2011)

Directed by: Ivan Reitman.

Starring: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher.

My Rating: Thumbs down!

This film is so boring. Natalie Portman is the only good thing about this film, even though she has no chemistry whatsoever with Ashton Kutcher. Friends With Benefits is DEFINITELY the better sex-without-relationship film.

Film 8: The Help (2011)

Directed by: Tate Taylor.

Starring: Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain.

My Rating: Thumbs up!

Viola Davis deserves to win an Academy Award for Best Actress for this film. I'll be disappointed if she doesn't!

Film 7: The Notebook (2004)

Directed by: Nick Cassavetes.

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams.

My Rating: So/so.