The Top Ten Films of 2011 - week 1

I decided something when I was doing my Top Ten list for 2010. I realised that I was spending ages looking back through lists and ticket stubs, etc to try and remember all the films I had seen that year in order to try and decide what the top ten were. I realised that it would be much easier to chart the top ten throughout the year, thus saving myself a lot of time come December.
So each week, I'll update my top ten to include films I have watched that week.
Here goes (note there are only 3 films at the moment as that is all I have seen so far!)

1. BLACK SWAN - 5 stars
"If Polanski ever directed a mash-up of The Red Shoes, All About Eve, Suspiria and Showgirls, the result would be Black Swan. A dark, disturbing masterpiece with a career best performance by Natalie Portman. Her final dance as the black swan is one of the greatest things I have ever seen in my life."

2. THE KING'S SPEECH - 3 stars
"a safe, run-of-the-mill BBC drama elevated to cinematic status due to the great performances of its cast"

3. 127 HOURS - 3 stars
"Great performance by Franco as a man stuck between a rock & a film that has visual, aural & editing ADHD"

THE KING'S SPEECH review

The King is lost for words... but Colin Firth hopefully won't be when he wins the Best Actor Oscar next month (that he should have received last year for A SINGLE MAN) and can finally lay the ghost of Mr Darcy to rest.

THE KING'S SPEECH is the current frontrunner for the upcoming awards season (and also looks like it will be The Belmont's biggest moneyspinner since MAMMA MIA).

Why? Is it a better film than THE SOCIAL NETWORK? Not by a long shot. Is it more Oscar friendly? Absolutely!

Here is a British film that is based on a true events, has a historical setting, thespians get to play real people and Firth gets to play a real life person with a disability/affliction (double win) and there are no mentions of Facebook anywhere.

But is it any good? After all, Oscar doesn't always get it right. While it has terrific performances, lovely production design, a nice script and all that, it does suffer from a problem that affected the last great British monarch drama, THE QUEEN. It does have the feeling that if it didn't have such a great cast, you could easily have watched this on BBC1 at 9.00 on a Sunday evening in the comfort of your own living room.

A British film made by-the-numbers to tick as many boxes as possible to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Congratulations, you succeeded, but I wish that you hadn't played it so safe.

3 stars

127 HOURS in 127 WORDS!

127 HOURS is the true story of Aron Ralston who literally found himself between a rock and a hard place facing the decision stay there and die or cut off his arm in order to escape and live.
A terrific central performance by James Franco is almost lost underneath the incredible visual and aural assault to the senses perpetrated by Danny Boyle, who seems to believe he must use every camera and editing trick in the director’s playbook to keep the story interesting for the audience.
A good, disarming film but to see how a story like this can be done more effectively, buy or rent the excellent BURIED, that features nothing but Ryan Reynolds in a coffin for 96 minutes, when it’s released on 14th February.

2010: The Year In Review

As the year draws to a close, all film journalists/bloggers/fans like to procrastinate and list their favourite films.

Drawing up the top ten is always difficult because you normally battle back and forth over what films will miss the cut... but this year it has been tough to find ten films to put on the list!

I have said it before, and many people seem to have the same opinion... 2010 has been a pretty poor year in terms of quality. For every rare spark of originality like Inception, there was just further proof that Hollywood suffers from an over-reliance on sour sequels (Sex And The City 2, Iron Man 2, Predators), rank remakes (Clash Of The Titans, A Nightmare On Elm Street) and trying to create an 80's revival (The A-Team, Karate Kid, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Hot Tub Time Machine) and the horrid reality that Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer (Vampires Suck) continue to be allowed to make films

What follows is my Top Ten Films Of 2010 (which are films that had their UK release in 2010. Otherwise Black Swan would have been top of the list) plus a bunch of other random awards.

1. Inception

2. The Social Network

3. Toy Story 3

4. A Single Man

5. Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

6. Buried

7. Catfish

8. Shutter Island

9. A Prophet

10. Of Gods And Men

Best Performance - Ryan Reynolds in Buried

It's this year's Sam Rockwell in Moon performance in that it won't be recognised by any of the Awards ceremonies but Reynolds single handedly engaged an audience for 90 minutes whilst stuck in a coffin. He runs the entire spectrum of emotions and really connects with the audience to the point that you completely empathise with him come the conclusion of the film.

Honorable Mention - Leonardo DiCaprio for two great performances in Shutter Island and Inception.

Best Director - Christopher Nolan for Inception

The best blockbuster of the year: original, thought provoking, entertaining. Nolan should be praised for showing Hollywood that audiences are willing to embrace original films as long as they are made this well.

Best Screenplay - The Social Network

I would put my life savings (which isn't all that much but it's the thought that counts) on Aaron Sorkin winning the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. He manages to recreate the sharp as a tack dialogue from The West Wing... but most importantly he makes a movie about Facebook genuinely thrilling and interesting.

Best Poster - (500) Films of Empire

It is probably poor form to award the best poster to my own event but the guys at head office did such a wonderful job creating this image of The Godfather using pictures from every single film that I watched for the challenge.

Best BluRay/DVD - Scott Pilgrim Versus The World

A great film is given a first rate blu ray treatment with stunning picture and sound quality but also hours of bonus footage and FOUR audio commentaries that reveal the incredible level of detail and passion that Edgar Wright has invested in the best comic book movie of the year.

Guilty Pleasure - Piranha 3D

Storytelling and characterisation at its most basic, dodgy 3D effects and even dodgier acting but I'll admit that I really enjoyed this. It was ridiculous, but it worked because it knew it. It had a great Jaws spoof at the beginning, a gorgeous (and naked in 3D) Kelly Brook, and it was refreshing to see a horror film that took pride in having an 18 rating. Some of the deaths were so OTT that I was laughing out loud in the cinema (getting weird looks from other cinemagoers in the process).

Best Use of CGI in a movie - The Winklevii in The Social Network

Fincher (like Christopher Nolan) knows how to use CGI to enhance a storyline not become it, and it is still hard to believe that they are not identical twins but Armie Hammer's face digitally grafted onto another person's body in some scenes. Flawless.

Unfortunately the worst use of CGI was also in The Social Network, with some terrible CG cold breath left over from Titanic being used in an outdoor conversation between Eisenberg and Garfield.

Best Song - Black Sheep by Metric (from Scott Pilgrim Vs The World)

Honorable Mention: BRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMM from Inception

Best Breakthrough Performance - Chloe Moretz in Kick-Ass

"Alright you c*nts, let's see what you can do know". Boom, a star is born. No other actor this year made such an immediate impact as Chloe Moretz did as the foul-mouthed, deadly but pint-sized assassin Hit-Girl. Slicing and dicing her way through a room full of drug dealers to the Banana Splits theme tune made her an instant fan favourite but with the remake of Let The Right One In, she has shown that she has the acting ability to become the next Natalie Portman or Jodie Foster

Best Cinema Audience - The Room

Not since the Star Wars special editions releases in 1997 have I seen an audience so in tune with a film that it turned a truly terrible film into a "must see" cult classic. Spoons were thrown, people screamed "You're tearing me apart" and everyone had a blast. Can't wait till we can screen it again.

Best Fight Scene - The hotel corridor fight in Inception

Full marks to Nolan for achieving all of this dizzying fight in camera, using old-school practical effects. Bonus points go to Joseph Gordon Levitt for doing 99% of the stunt work himself.

Honorable Mention: Hit-Girl's night vision goggle raid on the warehouse (cut beautifully to John Murphy's Sunshine score)

The "They don't make them like that anymore" Award - Back To The Future (re-release)

What Really Grinds My Gears - The "Avatar Effect"

Thanks to the financial success of Avatar, cinemagoing audiences have been forced to endure poor quality films (Alice In Wonderland, Titans, Last Airbender) being retrofitted with 3D which not only made the finished film look dull and lifeless but bumped an extra couple of quid on the already high ticket price.

Hopefully this trend has ended now that Harry Potter 7 refused to put out the film in 3D since it was ready yet.

Either film the entire thing in 3D from the outset or don't bother at all!

My Own Personal Favourite Cinematic Moment of 2010

When the end credits rolled on The Godfather that meant I had finally completed (500) Films of Empire.

Anyway let the debate begin. I am right in my views or have I got it completely wrong. I'm sure you will let me know if I have!

BLACK SWAN - This swan is certainly no ugly duckling

It would be perfectly normal to see a performance of Swan Lake greeted with a standing ovation at the climax of the show, but a standing ovation in a cinema is rarely seen outside of the Cannes Film Festival. However this is precisely what I wanted to give Black Swan when the end credits rolled on this fabulous film... but I didn't. I wasn't at a film festival, but in the middle of a crowded cinema in New York and I would have felt like a bit of an idiot clapping on my own!

In a year of overhyped cinematic disappointments, it was a delight to find a film that actually exceeded expectations, helped by the fact that I had only watched the teaser trailer and seen the gorgeous poster campaign.



Darren Aronofsky returns to the world of performance that he explored in The Wrestler but transfers the action from the wrestling ring to the ballet stage, examining the price that someone is willing to pay in order to succeed.

Natalie Portman plays Nina Sears; a young, up-and-coming ballerina who is picked to play the lead role in a new production of Swan Lake.
Whilst she is perfect for the fragile, innocent Swan Queen, her director (played with sleazy charm by Vincent Cassel) worries that she does not have the passion or sensuality needed to portray the Black Swan.
As Nina gets deeper and deeper into the role, she begins to lose her grip on reality, afraid that her understudy Lily is after her part, as she embodies the freedom and sexuality that Nina craves.

While The Wrestler was shot in the style of a documentary, Black Swan is a full blown, unashamed psychological thriller.

When I first saw the trailer, I thought the look and feel of the film as "if Polanski had directed a hybrid of The Red Shoes and Suspiria" and I wasn't wrong in my assumptions.
As Nina's darker side of her personality emerges, it manifests itself both mentally and physically as she is plagued by visions of a doppleganger and even undergoes some disturbing physical transformations in scenes that are a clear nod to David Cronenberg's The Fly.

Aronofsky delved into a nightmarish world in Requiem For A Dream and has crafted a film that slowly ramps up the tension to a point where this film is scarier than the majority of horror films released this year. The use of handheld camera creates a palpable sense of unease that trickles through the film like Nina's growing sense of paranoia and persecution.
By using the camera in this way, neither Nina or the audience are able to distinguish what is real and what is in Nina's head.

As Nina learns to become less inhibited, it triggers not only changes in her personality but also a sexual awakening: starting with seduction by her director, to pleasuring herself and culminating in the only scene this year that features Meg from Family Guy going down on Queen Amidala (and destined to become the main talking point of many reviews).
A lot of the film's humour comes from these scenes and the dialogue would not seem out of place in Showgirls, but it never descends into sleaze and that is due to the performances of the actors.



Natalie Portman delivers the performance of her career and must be the front runner for the Best Actress Oscar in February.
Like the ugly duckling that transformed into a swan, Portman undergoes a magnificent metamorphisis.
She begins the film as a placid, innocent "sweet girl". Her protective and domineering mother (played by Barbara Hershey in full-on Mommie Dearest mode) has denied her a proper childhood, instead putting all her focus into her dancing, in an attempt to live out her dreams through her daughter.
Until now Portman has done well with roles that captured her ingenuity like Leon and Beautiful Girls but this is her first truly grown up performance reaching a level of maturity and confidence previously hinted at in Closer.
Her final dance as the Black Swan is a truly mesmerising scene to watch and completely becomes the character, leaving the old Nina behind.

It would be a crime to review the film without commenting on the ballet sequences. “it’s been done to death, I know, but not like this. We’re going to strip it down and make it visceral and real” says Cassel's character early on in the film and that is what they have done with the choreography here, all beautifully underscored by Clint Mansell who also puts his own spin on the classic Tchaikovsky. Portman and Kunis deserve huge credit for doing the majority of the dancing themselves.
I will hold my hands up and say that I am not a huge ballet fan and don't know much about the technical side of it, but I became swept up in the story being told through the dance and was nearly shed a tear during the final number... and since I have never cried at a film that is a bold statement.

Portman's final line of the film is "I was perfect" and she was. I rarely use the "M" word to describe a film, especially a new release but Black Swan is that rare beast in Hollywood these days: A Masterpiece.

1001 Films To Watch Before I Die: La Vie En Rose

Can I just start by asking if it is written into law with the French Film Industry that in order for a film to be made, it MUST star Gerard Depardieu... he's in bloody everything. Sacre Bleu!

In many ways this is your typical by-the-numbers celebrity biopic that charts the many highs and lows, in this case many lows, of Edith Piaf.

What saves it from mediocrity is the performance of Marion Cotillard. Not only is she one of the most beautiful women in the world, has a voice that could make a wolverine purr, but was also the only watchable thing in the terrible musical Nine. She was certainly more deserving of an Oscar nomination for that film than Penelope Cruz.

Speaking of Oscar, she won Best Actress for her performance as 'The Little Sparrow' with the big voice, and she is truly astonishing as Piaf, playing her from a teenager to the frail women who died at the age of 48.

Now Oscar loves nothing more than when actors play real people and Piaf's life gives Cotillard the opportunity to express the entire range of human emotions from the joy of her initial success to the anguish of the death of her lover to the pain of her illness.

It also gives her the chance to 'make herself ugly' and undergo a physical transformation, which of course worked wonders for Charlize Theron in Monster.

In all the celebrity biopics out there, they always feature scenes where the person breaks down due to problems with drink, drugs, people, success, etc. You never see films about straight-edged celebrities who lived a nice quiet life and were a goody two-shoes. And why? Because it wouldn't make a very exciting movie. You need conflict.

The main conflict that I have now with this film is with Piaf's most iconic song 'Non Je Ne Regrette Rien'. The conflict lies in its use by Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer as the trigger song in Inception, especially as the film stars Marion Cotillard.

The film ends with this song and features images of Piaf on her death bed and because of the way my mind works, I was wondering when the 'kick' was going to come and she wakes up from the dream!

Top 5 acting performances by musicians

1. Mark Wahlberg in The Departed

2. David Bowie in Labyrinth

3. Will Smith in Ali

4. Justin Timberlake in The Social Network

5. Stacy Ferguson in Planet Terror

1001 Films To Watch Before I Die - ONCE

This film feels like an album brought to life, detailing the story and inspiration behind the songs in this tale of unrequited love between an Irish busker and a Czech immigrant that unfolds in an organic way that feels completely real and the songs provide a voice to the feelings and emotions of the characters that they cannot express normally.

Musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova both give natural performances and have a genuine chemistry that lifts the film to rise above what could have become a stereotypical romance.

84 minutes of feelgood film that you'll definitely want to watch more than Once (sorry).

Top 5 Songs That Were Robbed of the Best Song Oscar

Falling Slowly won the Best Song Oscar in 2007 but poor Marketa was robbed of the opportunity to say her thank yous by an over-zealous band and a production team running over, and what followed was one of Oscars sweetest moments as host Jon Stewart brought her back on stage later on to say thanks. Speaking of injustice at the Oscars, here are five songs which deserved to win over the bland generic winners. Stupid Academy!

1. Blame Canada from South Park: The Movie

What did win? You'll Be In My Heart by Phil Collins from Tarzan

2. The Power Of Love by Huey Lewis And The News from Back To The Future

What did win? Say You, Say Me by Lionel Richie from White Nights

3. Ghostbusters from Ghostbusters

What did win? I Just Called To Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder from The Woman In Red

4. Nobody Does It Better by Carly Simon from The Spy Who Loved Me

What did win? You Light Up My Life by Joseph Brooks from You Light Up My Life

5. Listen from Dreamgirls

What did win? I Need To Wake Up from An Inconvenient Truth