Because Everybody Else Has One

I knew I wanted to do an overview for the year in film seeing as how I have seen the vast majority of films released this year but I wasn't entirely sure what format to use. A simple Top 20? An involved essay? Something in between? Well, after much deliberation (OK, "much" might be overstating it slightly) I decided to break the year down into categories and look at it that way. Also, I will be looking at the films released in South Africa this year so some of it might be old news for international readers and, of course, a number of big films that have been released overseas will not be included - even if I have actually seen a number of them. And, yes, this will be done in two parts because there's quite a lot of ground to cover. Also, for any of you who do want a complete list of all films released in SA this year, check out this very useful site for more information.  Like pretty much every year, 2011 was a mixed bag for film. There were some astonishingly aw...

Just a couple of quick reviews before I get to my overview of the films of 2011. One from this week and one that came out a few weeks ago that I've managed to miss until very recently. Moneyball isn't just a drama about baseball; it's a drama about the statistics behind baseball. Needless to say, this is not a subject with what anyone would call "universal appeal" but, for the 6.99999 billion of you who have no interest in baseball or statistics, Moneyball still has plenty on offer. Brad Pitt stars as a former ball player turned manager of a relatively minor baseball team who, after meeting a young Yale economics graduate with a formula that could forever change the way major league baseball is played, is confronted with an opportunity to leave a greater mark on the game than he could ever previously have imagined. That's right: however much Moneyball may seem to be about baseball on the surface, dig just a little bit deeper and you'll find the st...

Finishing off my look at a few of DC's relaunched comics, four of their biggest and best titles... Action Comics by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales To be entirely upfront about this, if I included its massively underwhelming fourth issue in this evaluation, Action Comics may not have quite made it this high in my list. Hopefully issue #4 was just a misstep though, because this series has been pretty damn terrific otherwise. Grant Morrison has already written what may well be the definitive Superman story in All Star Superman and, though Action Comics isn't on that level, it is a remarkably fresh take on the Man of Steel. It's kind of astonishing that no one thought to do this before but Morrison revitalizes (at least his section of) the monthly adventures of Superman by taking the character back to his 1930s roots. With a brasher, less experienced, less powerful and rather anti-establishment Superman, I suppose it would be tempting to say that the reason this wor...

Coming soon to the blog are reviews of some very notable films over the next couple of weeks; the final part of my roundup of DC Comics' New 52 initiative and a look back at 2011 in film and, perhaps (I haven't decided yet) in comics. For now though, here are some thoughts on Spielberg's eagerly anticipated Tintin adaptation.  Also at Channel24 What it's about Tintin, a young investigative journalist sets off on an adventure to find a sunken ship and the treasure that went down with it. What we thought The ingredients for a top notch Tintin movie are all very much in place. Produced by Peter Jackson, directed by Stephen Spielberg and written by some of the hottest new British screenwriting talent around in Joe Cornish (Attack the Block), Steven Moffat (Dr Who) and Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs the World), it has more A-grade talent behind it than any other film this year. Add to that a very impressive group of motion-capture (so...

Sorry for the delay but onto the best of what I'm reading from DC's relaunch. The Top of the Crop (The magical and the Horrific) Swamp Thing by Scott Snyder and Yanick Pacquette I haven't yet read Alan Moore's definitive run on the character but, from what I understand, writer Scott Snyder is doing his best to take the book in a very different direction. Either way, I could seldom be happier with the results. Despite an appearance from Superman (in that fugly new suit of his) in the first issue, Swamp Thing is really a straight up horror comic book that brings to mind the early days of Vertigo - though, you know, with prettier art and better production values. Its success lies in the combination of intriguing world building and the lead character, Alec Holland's desperate but clearly futile attempts to escape a destiny that involves his giving up his humanity. Snyder proves once again that, though he may be a new face to the world of comics, very few write...

With a long weekend coming up, this week's film come out a day early. Not that there is a wide variety to see, of course. There's the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie for the kids and Free Men, which I know nothing about, for the art crowd. Best of all, though, we have this surprisingly awesome entry in the Mission Impossible series... Also at Channel24   What it's about: Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his new team find themselves working on their own to clear their name and bring down a nuclear terrorist, after being framed for bombing the Kremlin. What we thought: With the James Blond franchise having refashioned itself as a more "realistic", down to earth take on the spy film, it's up to the Mission: Impossible series to keep the sillier side of the genre alive. And, boy, does it. While the previous Mission: Impossible films have had very little to do with one another, Ghost Protocol keeps the tone very much in keeping with what JJ Abram...

Arthur Christmas certainly wasn't the only film to come out this week. It wasn't even the only good one. On with the show, then... Don't Be Afraid of the Dark may be produced and co-written by dark-fantasy master, Guillermo Del Torro, but Pan's Labyrinth it ain't. Hell, it's not even half as good as Chronos. The problem isn't so much that it's badly made - performances, direction and production values are all perfectly solid - but that it's boring where it's supposed to be scary; never building up so much as a passingly creepy atmosphere. At least, it doesn't once you get past the film's 5 minute pre-credits sequence, which manages to be more unsettling than the rest of the film put together. Aside for occasionally evoking Pan's Labyrinth, which is a risky move for even better horror flicks, the film's biggest mistake is assuming that tiny CGI creatures are scary. This is hardly the first genre work to feature "scary toot...

Well, it's that time of year again... Santa Clausians of the world rejoice! (Also at Channel24)   What it's about: Santa Claus's youngest son, Arthur (voiced by James McAvoy) sets off on a mission to correct a mistake made by his father's hi-tech operation: To give a Christmas present to a little girl who was overlooked. What we thought: At a cursory glance, Arthur Christmas doesn't look too promising. Its frankly awful title aside, Arthur Christmas isn't just a seasonal kids film, but a seasonal kids film that sets out to answer that most ridiculous of eternally ridiculous questions: Just how does Santa Claus deliver all those presents to all those billions of kids in a single night? Isn't devoting a film to answering that question more or less the same as devoting an entire film to figuring out why Superman can fly?  Worse, this is a Christmas film whose main plot revolves around Santa delivering presents, which means it will ...

Now onto the next batch of books... Good, But Not Quite There Yet Justice League Dark by Peter Milligan and Mikel Janin This was easily one of the new titles that I was most looking forward to but high expectations are something of a double edged sword: when they're fulfilled, the result is usually something special but when they're not, it can turn a really rather solid piece of work into a disappointment. Such is the case with JL: Dark. Milligan clearly gets these characters and there's a sense that he has stepped back on plot to allow this motley crew of damaged mystical personalities to interact. The result is a slow burn of a comic book that may well read better in large chunks but even if the story has left me somewhat cold, the characterization makes it worth it. That said, the third issue was clearly the best yet and it looks to only get better from here. This is true of the story but it's even more true of the art. Janin's art didn't reall...

And now, because it's been a while, something for the comic book fans... Introduction  For those who don't know, in response to both dwindling sales and a lack of enthusiasm for most of their superhero line, DC Comics launched a fairly gutsy initiative 3 months ago to try and garner some fresh interest in their line of comics. Along with some generally hideous redesigns of some pretty damn classic superhero costumes (I'm looking at you, Superman!), they also rebooted/ relaunched every single one of their books - well 52 of them, anyway - with a brand new #1 issue; started selling digital copies of their comics on the same day the physical copies are released and committed to keeping their 20-page comics at $3, as well as sticking to a set schedule every month. Financially, the move worked brilliantly: for the first two months, at the very least, they have owned the sales charts, outselling their main competitor, Marvel, significantly. Whether this lasts or not is an...

But first, the one film from last week that I haven't reviewed yet - at least of those I've seen. Dream House is something of an oddity of a film in that it's a psychological drama that plays out like a ghost story. Sadly, though it's probably better than most reviewers suggest, it doesn't entirely work on either level. It's efficiently put together and, considering it boats always solid thesps like Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts, it's obviously well acted. It's just that, for a ghost story, its decidedly uncreepy and, for a psychological drama, it's surprisingly inert. All this, despite the grizzly murder that is the backbone of the film, as well as the big twist in the middle of the film that, though obvious in hindsight, actually managed to take me by surprise. If you're going to see it, try and go in with low expectations and as little knowledge about the film as possible (hope I helped!) but there's little reason not to w...

After Twilight ruling cinemas for the last couple of week, we at long last have something to talk about. From Channel24 What it's about: In the near future, where robot boxing has become a popular sport, a struggling ex-boxer/promoter (Hugh Jackman) soon finds himself bonding with his estranged 11-year-old son (Dakota Goyo) as they attempt to create a champion out of a scrappy but antiquated robot. What we thought: Both feature robot-on-robot smackdowns, dazzling CGI and Stephen Spielberg attached as executive producer but Real Steel wisely does all it can to be the antithesis of everything that is so vacuous and hollow about the increasingly bloated Transformers franchise. While Spielberg may lend his name to both of these robo-centric crowd-pleasers, it's clear where his mark is more acutely felt. Real Steel director Shawn Levy goes some way towards making up for his previous cinematic foibles ( Cheaper by the Dozen , The Pink Panther remake, Night at...