The Grey

This wasn't my first choice today. That being 'The Artist'.

But I missed that due to time issues and ended up seeing this..

The basic synopsis is that a group of oil workers in Alaska
crash on a routine fight and they find themselves being
hunted by wolves.  It was a bit intense to say the least!
The plane crash, although not particularly graphic, was well
executed and set the tone for the rest of the movie.
I found it genuinely gripping and jumped on several occasions..

Liam Neeson played an Irishman for a change and he put in an
excellent performance as did the supporting cast..
Overall I enjoyed it and thanks to the 'Run-pee' app, stayed
till the end of credits bit.. (though I'm not quite sure what it was!)

Rating: ****

Haywire

Ummm.... Disappointed with this one.. The trailer and general blurb 

hinted at a 'Bourne' copy but to be fair this is NO 'Bourne' film.. 

I'm not quite sure why it didn't work. It had all the ingredients, 

young ex-marine, betrayed, against all odds, etc etc.. 

But it just didn't do it for me. It may have been down to the general pace, 

which at times felt cumbersome. Or maybe it was the music which was 

taken straight out of Oceans 11.  This didn't help with the mood. 

Also the lead wasn't really lead material.  Don't get me wrong, she's very

talented but she lack's charisma..  Michael Fassbender (who I last saw in 

X-Men:First Class) was wasted too.

Overall it was a shame because I was looking forward to this one.

Rating: **1/2

My Review of 2011

Well I got to see 41 films last year (three of them twice!) and overall the quality was.... ok.
There were a few exceptions, notably the British efforts and I particularly enjoyed 'Sherlock Homes 2' (although wether it'll stand the test of time remains to be seen).

In my opinion the Super Hero offerings this year were generally poor in comparison to the recent Batman & Spiderman francises (not including Spiderman 3).  With the exception of the first 'Iron Man', the Avengers line-up has been pretty weak.. I'm hoping Christopher Nolan will show them how its done with 'The Dark Knight Rises' later this year (although the law of averages states it's going to be poor, I hope not)

There was some particularly poor efforts this year. Most notable was 'Hangover 2'. I'd heard bad reports of this one but I really enjoyed the first film so I thought I'd give it a go... Idiot..

I'd seen all the Harry Potter films and to be fair most of them had blended into each other.. The last one on the other hand, I did enjoy.  It had plenty of action and emotion, plus it rounded off the francise nicely.

There was a few good sci offerings this year too. 'Super 8' and 'Source Code' were two of my favourites and I was pleasantly surprised with 'Rise of The Planet Of The Apes'.  Other enjoyable time wasters were 'The Adjustment Bureau', 'Xmen - First Class','Limitless' and 'Cowboys and Aliens'..

Good comedies were a bit thin on the ground... Although I enjoyed 'Paul' and 'Bridesmaids'. I even laughed at 'Horrible Bosses' although I think I was in the minority with that one.

The quality seemed to improve towards the end of the year.  In particular the previous mentioned Sherlock Homes and also I really enjoyed David Finchers 'Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'. With hindsight I think I should have seen 'Hugo' in 3D instead of 2D but it was ok..

I'm looking forward to 2012 movie wise. In particular 'The Hobbit Part 1' and the above mentioned 'Dark Knight rises'.. Also hopefully a decent 'Avengers' movie with Joss Weadon at the helm..