The Muppets (2012)

The Muppets gets a brilliant revival from director James Bobin and screenwriters Jason Segel (who also stars) and Nicholas Stoller who have re-energised a dormant franchise. The whole gang returns, which is plenty of cause for celebration.  With this story about a major showbiz comeback for Kermit, Fozzie bear, Miss Piggy and the rest, the filmmakers have smartly created a new Muppet character named Walter whose heart and soul drives this film – and indeed the whole franchise – forward.

This slight but thoroughly enjoyable family flick is, as they say, a film for all ages. No matter whom you’re taking to the cinemas.  Hell, even if you decide to go on your own, you can’t go wrong with this one.  James Bobin’s modest reinvention of the Muppet franchise blends the low-tech puppeterring style of the late Jim Henson with some tremendously fun old-school song and dance numbers.  It moves along episodically from one stage to the next - and captures the spirit of Henson’s Muppet show admirably, meaning that its core audience are probably adults in there 20’s and 30’s, but it’ll also be terrific for little children and grandparents.

As plots go, it’s the same as most reunion films you’ve seen before. And it’s when the group start re-forming that one thing becomes clear: The Muppets may not have been away for as long as you think, but it’s certainly a long time since we’ve seen them being funny in the way they were in the original Jim Henson TV show. The film’s that followed Henson’s death, even the utterly brilliant The Muppets Christmas Carol, attached the group’s weirdness to existing stories. The beauty of the latest film is this: They’re allowed to be weird and crazy in their own way, and not follow a particular narrative.

Segel clearly has a passion to drive this reboot forward – he even included his love for the Muppets in comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008). He took the concept to Disney, which certainly was looking for a new take on the franchise that went missing for nearly ten years, but his and Stoller’s vision won the day and so does this joyous and hilarious movie. Starting out with a sweet toe-tapper , “Life’s a Happy song”, sung by Gary (Segel) and his Mupper brother Walter, the pair vacation to Hollywood’s with Gary’s long-term girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) where Walter feeds his obsession with all things The Muppets by visiting their famous studio. But when they get there, they discover the place has gone way down hill and The Muppets have gone out of business. On top of all that, an evil Texas oilman (Chris Cooper) plots to bulldoze the site so he can dig for oil. Walter and Gary decide to help The Muppets raise enough money so they can but the studio back. So after enlisting Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Gonzo, they now have to put on one last show to save The Muppet studio.

Segel and especially Adams make an adorable leading pair and the mild self-mockery of the whole enterprise is very much in the Henson spirit of old. There’s also Celebrity cameos, too  many to mention all here, but some include Jack Black as a rage counsellor, Emily Blunt as Miss Piggy’s receptionist (reprising her role from Devil Wear Prada?) Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Silverman, Selena Gomez and Alan Arkin just to name a few of them.

Make no mistake, the kids may enjoy it, but this film was made purposely for grown-up fans. This is The Muppets as you remember them: Funny and charming.

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Shame (2012)

Sitting in the theatre watching Steve McQueen’s new film, the sexually charged ‘Shame’, I enjoyed it quite a bit. After the screening, I was walking with another film critic and he asked what I thought. Now, normally this would be a straightforward question, but in trying to explain what I thought, I actually wasn’t sure how to respond.

There are many things in Shame that are absolutely breathtaking. Michael Fassbender, for one, is simply outstanding. He gives a subtle, stripped-down and absolutely brutal performance as Brandon: a man who needs sex –not wants – needs to have it. He hardly says anything but you can’t take your eyes off him. One minute he’s quiet and controlled, seeming to have things completely in hand, next moment he has succumbed to a terrifying burst of rage.

Shame hints at a conventional movie narrative a fair bit more than McQueen’s previous film ‘Hunger’. But it’s first and foremost a visual and sonic symphony: a journey through New York where words are mostly redundant. I would say we get 12 or so minutes into the film before anyone actually says anything, concentrating on a tense and powerful scene showing Brandon (Fassbender) trying to pick up a married woman on the subway. When we do arrive at the first words of the film, it’s only Brandon asking a co-worker what happened to his porn-infested computer.

Both Brandon and Sissy (Carey Mulligan), his drunken, slutty and suicidal sister, are on self-destructive paths but we never learn about their pasts and seemingly don’t need to know.
Sissy’s arrival in Manhattan is the catalyst of Shame. Before his sister arrives, Brandon’s life is a carefully measured series of quick sexual encounters with strangers, prostitutes, and women on the subway. There are cracks in the veneer of his life, like his office computer, infected by a virus caught from the mass amount of porn he’s been downloading. His life has a very definite pattern and these periodic cracks are akin to a stopwatch counting down to his impending, escapable doom.

Sissy is the polar opposite of her brother. Brandon, some sort of business professional, wears low-key blues and greys, while Sissy, a struggling nightclub singer, dons a bright red hat and vintage leopard print coat. Everything about him is designed to blend; everything about her is designed to stand out. She falls desperately in love at the drop of a hat, is loud, moved by momentary passions and drives Brandon absolutely crazy with the chaos of her life.

Fassbender and Mulligan both give immense, irresistible performances as people drowning in a sea of sexuality and self-hatred. Shame isn’t an easy film to sit through, to describe or to figure out but it’s riveting and spectacular cinema.

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Devil's Double (2011)

Before talking about the film itself, an acknowledgement should go to director Lee Tamahori for making a film about Iraq. Many directors would take one look at a story involving Iraq, particularly one that closely involved the Hussein family, and say thanks, but no thanks, before hailing the nearest cab. This film is, if nothing else, a brave move on a narrative front.

The Devil’s Double firmly hangs on one actor and two performances: those of Dominic Cooper who plays both Iraqi Lieutenant: Latif Yahia and Hussien’s rather unhinged son: Uday Hussein. Latif enters a living nightmare when he is forced to play a body double for the insane Uday who has no gripes about taking what he wants, when he wants it and will gladly kill anyone who gets in his way. Although this film is not without its problems, amongst them: Uday seems to be dating a woman who inspired some of Lady Gaga’s less-inspired looks, Cooper is fantastic in both roles and, if there’s any justice, these performance will put him in high Hollywood demand.

Tamahori has approached this film in pretty much the same way he approached all of his other films. The soundtrack is loud and boasts some of the biggest hits of the 80’s (including Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood), it’s a bit of a strange feeling to think about a mass murderer like Uday getting down to a bit of ‘You spin me right round’ on a Friday night. The action is violent and frequent and often far too gratuitous. One scene in particular involving a newlywed is probably the most disturbing you’ll see this summer (unless you watched The Zookeeper). Certainly not for the squeamish this film feels a bit like watching an MTV-produced film about the Gulf War with The Hussein family being turned into pimping gangsters that wouldn’t look out of place in a Scorsese film.

Those expecting The Devil’s Double to provide an eloquent history lesson should know that politics of the early 90’s are of little interest here. The Gulf War is nothing more than a lurid backdrop to the darker side of Iraq: one that’s full of drugs, pimps and young prostitutes. The ending to this picture is also decidedly flat and Cooper’s Gaga-esque love interest (played by Ludivine Sagnier), well, isn’t of any interest at all. This said until its less-than-exhilarating conclusion Tamahori’s film never lets you up for breath, constantly putting you on edge whenever Uday is on screen and leaving you in perpetual doubt over what he’s going to do next. For hard-core film fans Cooper’s performances are worth the ticket price and if gratuity is your thing then I’ve no doubt that you’ll find it brutally entertaining throughout.

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Friends With Benefits (2011)

After the disappointing No Strings Attached (2011), Mila and Justin have the second stab of the year at a rom-com about two friends having sex with each other without getting emotionally involved. Gratefully Friends with Benefits is raunchier and on the whole much, much better.

The film starts out as a rom-com that jokes about other rom-coms. Mila Kunis plays Jamie, who is sick of romantic comedies that tell her everything will turn out ok and that true love is really out there. Justin Timberlake plays Dylan, a guy who doesn’t like to get into deep and meaningful relationships after going through his parents’ divorce. The pair first meet after Jamie head-hunts Dylan for GQ magazine. She brings Dylan to New York and persuades him to take the job. And, well you can pretty much guess what happens next.

Friends with Benefits has a slightly braver approach to the storyline than other films in the genre, with an honest look at the mechanics of sex. It’s not actually very sexy, but it is funny. Director Will Gluck did a great job with Easy A and has brought over the same comedy tone (albeit with a few more swear words) and has an easy, natural pace. That is until the third act, which is typically bland and overly serious. It has a side storyline involving Dylan’s Dad which is totally unnecessary and has too many of the clichés it was only too happy to joke about in the first two acts. Although this diminishes the films charm though, it doesn’t destroy it completely.

Timberlake and Kunis make a charismatic pair and create a decent on-screen chemistry. Kunis in particular does a great job and you could see her starring in similar roles that made household names of Reese Witherspoon and Katherine Heigl. Timberlake also rises to the occasion, giving a performance that proves he can do more than just sing, dance and, err, sing. Woody Harrelson is great in the relatively small role and gets the laughs you’d expect from a sidekick character, but once again it’s Patricia Clarkson who steals the film as Jamie’s party loving mother. Patricia was brilliant in Easy A and has done another great job for Gluck here too.

Friends with Benefits doesn’t do anything new with the rom-com but it’s certainly a lot more open about relationships then many others which makes this one of the better films of the genre. The film has plenty of charisma and laughs but ultimately fails to deliver on its early promise.

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The Inbetweeners Movie (2011)

After the huge success of the Inbetweeners TV show it seemed inevitable a film would be made to say a final farewell to the boys. After being dumped by the love of his life, Simon (Joe Thomas) decides to go on a lad’s holiday to Malia with his mates Will (Simon Bird), Jay (James Buckley) and Neil (Blake Harrison). The guys are hoping for “sun, sea, sand, sex, booze and sex” but what they get is rubbish hotels, OAPs and embarrassing sunburns.

The lads have made a successful transition from television to cinema and the audience will find themselves knee deep in crude jokes and hilarious performances. The adventures of the four lustful lads on a booze-drenched holiday contain enough hilarious gags to fill out the extended time they normally don’t get in the television series. The introduction to the boys starts off in England as they reach their last day of school and are given a hilarious send off by their headmaster (surely all headmasters would love to give a send-off like Mr Gilberts?) We also get to see the rest of the excellent supporting characters from the TV show turn up in the first 10 minutes before the guys head off on a holiday of a lifetime.

The show always had strength in depth and the film is no different: the four girls they meet on holiday are well fleshed-out ladies (in terms of performance and not actual size) They all provide great punch-lines of their own and are far more than just eye candy for the lads. But of course it’s the four lads we came to see and they don’t let us down. They deliver a believable portrait of young blokes growing up amongst all the booze and vomit. The performances from Bird, Buckley, Thomas and Harrison are spot on. They all have hilarious set-pieces – the dance off scenes to impress the girls are pure comedy gold. But they also have some emotional moments, including a scene where the guys realise that this is maybe the last time they will all be together.

There were fears that the Inbetweeners movie would be awful, with a feeling that most British teenage films turn out to be, well, rubbish. But this is no Kevin & Perry Go Large (2000) and screenwriters Iain Morris and Damian Beesley should be congratulated for making a film that is much closer to great American youth films like American Pie (1999) and Superbad (2007).

Yes the film suffers from repetition and it’s fair to say the film is just an extra-long episode of the show. But that’s what the fans wanted, a film that is a fitting end to a great show and one that offers continuous gags and hilarious moments throughout. Hands down the best British teenage comedy in years and possibly the best comedy you’ll see this summer.

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The Help (2011)

A deeply touching human story filled with humour and heartbreak is rare in movies these days, especially just after a summer filled with comic book and Sci-Fi productions. That’s what makes The Help such a pleasant surprise.

Kathryn Stockett’s novel faced some sizeable barriers before being published (receiving over 60 rejection letters). Even when it finally found a publisher, this book still riled a few book critics, who thought Stockett to be a bit crazy: a white woman from Mississippi thinking she could write a book from the point of view of black maids serving white folks in the 1960s. However, the book touched a nerve with the general populace, causing a reaction which helped it to become one of the best-selling novels in recent years.

The film begins with Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone) returning home from college to find that her family’s maid, who basically raised her, is no longer working with them. No one talks about it, but Skeeter is determined to discover what happened. Meanwhile, she hunts for a job and manages to procure one from the local paper, but it’s a cleaning column. She enlists the help of Aibileen (Viola Davis), a maid who works for one of the circle of friends Skeeter knows.

Skeeter is appalled by the attitude of her friends towards the help, so decides to write a book from the perspective of the maids, sharing their stories and their point of view on life.

The film version of The Help, directed and written for the screen by the inexperienced Tate Taylor- at Stockett’s request- does full justice to the book. The film is short on style and technique, but compensates with general emotional force.

The actors are all brilliant. To start with there’s Viola Davis: playing Aibleen, the housekeeper who raised 17 white children from various families but is still reeling from the accidental death of her own son. Then there’s Octavia Spencer who plays Aibileen’s best friend Minny Jackson, who isn’t one to hold back and gives the film its many laughs. Both performances are excellent and deserve an Oscar nomination at the very least.

We also have fine performances from Bryce Dallas Howard who plays racist boss Hilly Holbrook and Jessica Chastain who plays Celia Foote. Jessica plays the role with such warmth and feeling that it’s hard not to love her straight away.

Finally, we have the film’s catalyst Skeeter, Emma Stone, taking on the trickiest role with exceptional talent. Stone is subtly effective at showing all sides of Skeeter; from her passion of writing to her naivety at dating.

The Help is a story with many other stories attached to it. Tate Taylor obviously worked hard to try and deliver them all without making the audience confused with the detail. The dialogues are fantastic and the background stories on all the main characters are slowly revealed to keep the audience interested.

The Help takes the audience on an emotional ride through the lives lived in a culture aptly referred to as ‘hell on Earth’ in one scene. This is one moving film which does not bow to sentimentality. The Help has everything you could want from a film.

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Warrior (2011)

Before I start reviewing the film I’d like to get the obvious question out of the way. That question being, is it similar to The Fighter? The answer is yes. The next obvious question would be; is Warrior a better film? We would have to say, yes it is.

Gavin O’Connor’s Warrior manages to balance really tense action with a fractured family drama. It also features one of the best performances from a British actor this year; that of Tom Hardy.
After 14 years, ex-marine Tommy (Tom Hardy) returns to Pittsburgh to prepare for the world’s biggest mixed martial arts tournament, reconnecting with his father, Paddy (Nick Nolte), who will train him. Meanwhile, his estranged brother Brendan (Joel Edgerton), a former fighter himself, must return to the ring if he has any chance of saving his family’s home.

For those who don’t know what MMA is, it’s a type of fighting style that mixes all different types of Martial Arts. A fight can end in a typical TKO or the contestants can grapple each other and force a tap out (when the fighter gives up) This proves to be a blessing for O’Connor because the fight scenes are so much more intense than most boxing films and offers a lot more variety.

Warrior does a great job of showcasing its two up and coming stars, Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton. Hardy’s physique is astonishing, easily in the best shape of his life. He gives Tommy a very sinister edge, making him a tough character for the audience to cheer for; his past is clouded in mystery and he seems to hate everything that breathes, especially his father and brother.

Edgerton’s character, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He’s a nice guy and adored schoolteacher, whose only priority is his wife and kids. Thankfully, both Hardy and Edgerton have the acting talents to pull these characters off. Tom Hardy can do no wrong at the moment. He stole the show in last year’s biggest film Inception (2010) and he’s threatening to do the same again with next year’s Dark Knight Rises (2012). In Warrior he is simply fantastic. If Warrior were released earlier in the year then Hardy would have got an Oscar nomination, he is that good.

When the brothers finally meet in the ring it hardly comes as a surprise but it’s still unquestionably one of the tensest cinema moments you’ll see this year. It’s genuinely tough to predict which brother will come out triumphant. The rest of the action scenes are just as terrific, with Hardy and Edgerton mixing it up with real MMA fighters and former WWE Champion Kurt Angle.

Warrior is a very emotional and inspirational film that tugs on the old heart strings. Warrior doesn’t do anything vastly different, but it’s still an utterly brilliant movie.





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Take Shelter (2011)

Roles in Revolutionary Road and Boardwalk Empire have finally put Michael Shannon on the map, but you could argue he is mostly known for a role he hasn’t even finished playing yet- Zod in 2013’s Man of Steel. However, it’s his nuanced turn in American indie Take Shelter- one that is full of emotion and slowly building anxiety – that’s probably his best performance in recent years.
Blue-collar worker Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon) lives with his wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain again!) and their young daughter in the suburbs of Ohio. A series of strange goings-on in LaForche’s home town seem to signify impending doom. Curtis quickly starts to make plans to protect his family but his paranoia soon frightens his family.

Director (and writer) Jeff Nichols, working with Shannon for the second time after Shogun Stories (2007), has produced a compelling dive into a psyche spiralling into the abyss. From the start, we see Curtis staring at a faraway storm as dark oily rain falls from the sky. It’s the first of his vivid nightmares, which get more intense as his mind starts to unravel.

Nichols experiments with genre in hallucinatory moments that bring horror movies to mind. Obscured figures terrorise Curtis, trying to abduct his daughter Hannah and causing him to crash his car. In one haunting scene, Samantha is standing in front of Curtis, soaking wet and looking closely at a kitchen knife.

Take Shelter is the latest example of Shannon’s prowess as an actor; he’s surrounded by a great supporting cast which also includes Kathy Baker as his mother, Ray McKinnon as his older Brother and Shea Whigham as a co-worker and friend but none out-do Shannon. LaForche’s distress and confusion are palpable and whether his perceptions are correct or not, the cost is going to be high.
The only problem with Take Shelter (and it’s a very small problem) is the film is slightly too long. Nichols does a fantastic job in setting up LaForche’s situation, the small town in which he lives, the emotional and financial pressures that he and Samantha face dealing with their daughter’s condition and his devotion to his family. Nichols also keeps the audience as off balance regarding Curtis; is he insane or the sanest man on the planet? There is a point where Nichols could end the movie and retain that uncertainty. Instead, he opts for something more explicit which manages to keep the film’s power.

Shannon and Chastain wrench up their characters’ emotions and deliver performances that are worthy of Oscar nominations. Shannon’s explosion of rage during a town get-together is typical of some of his recent turns, but in truth his portrayal of Curtis is delicately layered with pain brewing beneath the surface.

Take Shelter is a terrific movie with Shannon’s performance staying with you long after you’ve left the cinema.

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Jurassic Park (1993)

19 years ago a film came out that would change cinema in many ways. Not only did the film exhibit extraordinary family-friendly narratives and showcase some of the finest Hollywood's actors of the time but it pushed the boundaries of CGI and taught film-makers that computer graphics could be integrated into a film without hindering the storytelling but rather enhancing it. During the film Jeff Goldblum's character exclaims, " You did it. You crazy son of a bitch, you actually did it", which I think can also appropriated to Jurassic Parks incredible director; Steven Spielberg.

Obsessed with dinosaurs since childhood, Spielberg had been nursing Jurassic Park for some time. However, in 1992, Spielberg had been intending to make Schindler's List his next project but having convinced to big studio executives to gamble on a three hour, black and white holocaust movie, Spielberg was happy to abide by the one condition made by the studio: he must make Jurassic Park first. No wonder people call 1993 Spielberg's miracle year.

To bring you back up to date on the story, the film follows the investigation of the zoological Jurassic Park and just how safe a South Pacific island that has free-roaming prehistoric dinosaurs (brought back to life through the magic of DNA retrieval and mind-boggling science). In for the ride are prehistoric world experts Alan Grant (Sam Neil), the role could've gone to Harrison Ford, but he turned down the opportunity to play Dr Alan Grant. Ellie Setter, who is played by Laura Dern is also accompanied by mathematician, Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), and park owner, John Hammond's grandchildren Lex (Ariana Richards) and Tim (Joesph Mazello). Of course, Jurassic Park, being a hypothetical theme park, things go wrong and before long the characters go from awry situations to ones of life and death.

Coming off the back of Hook's troubled shoot - Jurassic Park managed to come in on budget and ahead of schedule. Some of of the human performances seem hurried, but Spielberg's definitely didn't rush the making of the dinosaurs and inspired a technical achievement on a scale that represented an entire visual revolution. In their early script meetings author Crichton was anxious to know how Spielberg was planning to tackle the technical challenge of the dinosaurs. Spielberg however, wanted to talk about dinosaur character. Spielberg took on board advice from some specialists but brought in lessons learned from his previous creature feature: E.T.. Eventually all this came together on the big-screen: The T-Rex eyes blinking in the flashlight, the velociraptor breath snorting against the kitchen door. These little details are what make the dinosaurs believable.

The film is remarkable in its ability to consistently juggle the many different themes and character paths without ever appearing clunky or tiring. From start to finish, Spielberg supplies us with varied sequences of horror, family, comedy, action and adventure. Jurassic Park reeks of Spielberg's incredulous charm and awe that makes you want to watch the film again and again.

Jurassic Park feels like a film that gets better with age, never feeling out-dated but just getting better and better with every nostalgic moment. Jurassic Park is one of the biggest and best summer blockbusters ever made, and a giant leap for cinematic effects.

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War Horse (2012)

In the nicest way possible, War Horse is old fashioned. It’s a film that could have been made – perhaps not with the technology but definitely with the heart – in Hollywood’s heyday. War Horse is an epic film that has Steven Spielberg doing what he does best. He takes the audience on an emotional journey through World War 1 and the other side. It wears its emotions on its sleeve, and there is no place for cynicism in that world. JJ Abrams payed tribute to Spielberg movies he grew up watching as a kid with Super 8. I feel Spielberg is paying tribute to the films he grew up watching with War Horse.

War Horse is set in England – 1914. Devon lad Albert Narracott (Jeremy Irvine) tames, trains and bonds with a stubborn farm horse he names Joey. When times get tight, Joey is sold into the British cavalry and begins an adventure that takes him across France and onto battlefields of World War 1 – with Albert in pursuit.

War Horse is adapted from the Tony-award winning play, as well as a children’s novel by Michael Morpurgo. The film opens with Landscape shots of Devon, where the story begins. If Tintin was made so Spielberg could try out the latest technology in film making, War Horse sees the director returning to his storytelling roots. There’s certainly no doubt that Spielberg is using the style of his childhood heroes, John Ford, David Lean, to name a couple, but he also brings his own cinematic intelligence to the film.  It may not stand up to some of his most applauded work (E.T, Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan), but his direction is as good as ever, the performances are strong (especially by Jeremy Irvine) and is, for want of a better word; a proper movie.

The film can take its time in certain passages; Spielberg seems to be enjoying his time with the characters, but spends too much time with some, and not enough time with others. But the cinematography is simply stunning. Janusz Kaminski’s work here is much different to the work he did on Saving Private Ryan. It’s shot in the style of a classical film, with long tracking shots. You won’t see many handheld shots here, especially in the more intense War scenes, and is definitely the most gorgeous work they’ve done together so far. War Horse calls on films from the 20’s and 30’s and feels like its come straight from that era.

The movie has Spielberg using his imagination, whether is entrance shots from the reflection of Joey’s eye, a regimental pendant as a telling narrative motif, or a strategic use of a windmill sail. Finally we have the use of the horses in the film. Much of the magic and enjoyment of the stage show comes from the excellent puppetry used to bring the horses to life. Of course, this wasn’t an option for Spielberg (it’s a bit too ‘old school’ for Hollywood). But somehow, Spielberg still manages to tell the story almost entirely from the point-of-view of the horse. Once the bonding session with Albert is over, we pretty much stay with Joey throughout the rest of the film, a decision that makes the journey of Albert less important, but the audience has came to see the story of Joey more than anything else. Spielberg definitely knows how to film horses, be it crafty camera moves or expansive tracking shots of Joey as he gallops through the war, in these moments in particular, there’s no more impressive camera movement.

The acting is top-notch with great performances from Emily Watson, Benedict Cumberpatch and Tom Hiddleston. Their performances are very old fashioned and works very well with the style of the movie. Of course the stars of the show are the horses. How Spielberg managed to get these performances from Horses is nothing short of amazing.

War Horse is fantastic family film making that does what all good films should do, which is take the audience to another world that either doesn’t exist or never will again.

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The Artist (2012)

They say silence is golden, well it certainly is in The Artist, a brilliant homage to 20’s and 30’s Hollywood cinema that’s so ripe with invention it goes way beyond what some people consider to be ‘Old School’.

When The Artist premiered at last years Cannes film festival, Harvey Weinstein snapped up the United States rights and a handful of critics pronounced it Oscar worthy on the spot. At the time, that sounded far fetched, and maybe still is now. But save your judgement until after you’ve seen the movie, a project so idiosyncratic, so unlikely, so simultaneously innocent and sophisticated that it could only have been devised by the French. Furthermore, The Artist is also an insane amount of fun, which is not a concept most people would associate with French film (think Mesrine Part 1 & 2). But it’s that factor that may have put its handsome leading man, Jean Dujardin, in the race for the top awards this winter.

Jean Dujardin is totally luminescent in the role, echoing stars like Rudolph Valentino and Errol Flynn in his mannerisms yet with an uncanny resemblance to Gene Kelly. Unless you’re a fan of the alternative cinema that is French comedy, you’ve never heard of Dujardin of director Michel Hazanavicius. But the qualities that would seem to make their movie totally unmarketable are also its strengths, The Artist is in Black-and-white. It’s not merely a silent film, but one that both imitates and spoofs the silent age dramas of the late 1920’s, movies that hardly any living people today have sat through. That’s at least three strikes against the film, (Mark Wahlberg’s latest film Contraband has taken more $ in one day, then The Artist did in one week), but ever since that Cannes premiere, audiences at festivals have been lapping it up. Not everyone will like it that much, that’s a given, but if you do, it’s the kind of movie you tell your friends about, and drag them to the cinema.

Dujardin plays George Valentin, who is byword for vanity at first, as the star attends the premiere of his latest romantic adventure and makes another performance out of soaking up the applause. He has legions of fans, including Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) who breaks through the cordon and manages to get her picture taken with him.

She’s just the sort of sassy female you’d expect to see in a musical comedy of the era and Bejo adds a girlish twinkle that sets her apart in her first dance audition for Valentin’s next movie. Both Bejo and Durjadin rehearsed their dance scenes in Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly's dance studio. It’s only a walk on role, but in a wonderfully funny turn by Dujardin, it’s Valentin who keeps spoiling the takes. Very obviously, Peppy has turned his head.

Certainly director and his leading man have lots of fun with their affections for silent cinema, but the gags are crafted with such a loving eye for detail that you never once think they’re trying to make a mockery the genre. Even the slapstick moments are graced with a higher with and cleverly work to reveal things that are left unspoken.

Hazanavicius has created something truly great and unforgettable. Gorgeously shot by cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman and with a great score by Ludovic Bource, The Artist has everything we go to the cinemas for, to laugh, cry and get lost. How can this not fail to win big at the Oscars?

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Alien (1979)

When Alien was first released in 1979 during the summer season, science fiction movies were all the rage. The trend had been started two years earlier with the unexpected box office success of Star Wars, and by 1979, anything even remotely connected with space and/or aliens was a guaranteed success. Two highly anticipated efforts – the big screen debut of Star Trek and the Star Wars sequel (Empire Strikes Back) – both of which were within a year of their opening dates, further invigorated the atmosphere. It was into this climate that Alien was unleashed upon the general public.

When commercial towing vehicle Nostromo, heading back to Earth, intercepts a SOS signal from a nearby planet, the crew are under obligation to investigate. After a bad landing on the planet, some crew members leave the ship to explore the area. At the same time as they discover a hive colony of some unknown creature, the ship’s computer deciphers the message to be a warning and not a call for help. When one of the eggs is disturbed, the crew do not know the danger they are in until it’s too late.

The people who developed Alien knew they would be in the shadow of Star Wars and Close Encounters. But these were feel-good family films, Alien marked a return to the malevolent flying-saucer flicks of the 50’s –with a dash of horror thrown in. Writer Dan O’Bannon and Co-story man Ron Shusett intended Alien to be a low budget affair, like O’Bannon’s previous film; Dark Star. Over three months, a modest script emerged from a half-finished O’Bannon story about a distress signal in space called memory. It was re-titled Star Beast and finally Alien.

The film’s memorable tagline “in space, no one can hear you scream”, promised a far different experience to the other Sci-Fi films seen before. Most people these days would consider Alien to be more horror the science fiction. Alien is about shocks, chills and thrills, not space battles. Where Star Wars had Light sabers and blasters, Alien has intense atmosphere. In many ways Alien was the first of its kind. True – it wasn’t the first space movie to feature a homicidal monster, nor was it the first a group of characters were hunted down one-by-one in dark, dank spaces. However, this film was one of the first to effectively combine these two genres. Alien became the blueprint for dozens of rip-offs and three Alien sequels (With the prequel Prometheus coming out this spring!!), with one exception (James Cameron’s superior Aliens which changed the creepy horror for all out action), none has come close to what filmmakers attained way back in 1979.

As I said previously, Alien set the blueprint for Sci-fi horror: the claustrophobia, the crew class system, and getting a cat involved in the proceedings, and of course, the famous Alien out of chest scene. There are thrills of the highest order – but the beauty of Alien remains. One of the best Sci-Fi films ever made.

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Fast and Furious 5: Rio Heist (2011)

They simply had to get this latest instalment of a fading franchise right. So, Universal did what any right-minded studio should do, they put The Rock in it. Dwayne Johnson is the best thing in this film by a country mile. He hulks around the movie all sweaty and leaving testosterone trails in his wake. Clad in a flak jacket and a cage fighter’s beard, he’s the guy the FBI call when they want to catch someone. His body is a temple (I’ve never seen him looking so pumped), and from the moment he turns up on-screen (telling a little Brazilian cop to quite literally, stay the f@~k out of his way) you know you’re in for a stupidly entertaining film.

So, the latest instalment for the Fast/Furious franchise has finally brought Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel together. They’re both two well muscled action stars and their coming together has made Fast and Furious 5 the best film in the series so far. But that’s not all. Not only does the film bring the two meaty juggernauts together, but it’s also a reunion of almost every memorable character from the previous four films. With the notable exceptions of Michelle Rodriguez and Lucas Black, the cast features Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Chris Bridges (Ludacris), Tyrese Gibson (Tyrese), Gal Gadot, Tego Calderon, Don Omar and Matt Schulze. It’s a good time, especially if you’re already a fan.

Picking up where 2009’s Fast and Furious left off, Brian (Paul Walker) and Mia (Jordana Brewster) spring Dominic (Diesel) from his 25 year prison sentence by forcing an accident with the bus in which he is being transferred. The gang speeds off to Brazil on yet another assignment set up by their old friend Vince (Schulze). When the job goes wrong, they come up against Rio’s entire underground drug business. But instead of fleeing the city, they decide to rob the ringleader Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) of $100 million. As the plot thickens with gunfire, chases and fights, an interesting dynamic between Diesel and Johnson emerges with a man-o-man smack down that’s pure macho magic. Needless to say it was one of the best fight scenes in 2011 (even Empire agrees).

Fast and Furious 5 (or Fast Five) shouldn’t have been a good film. Diesel, as always, is incapable of showing any kind of emotion. There are plenty of scenes that just don’t gel. And at over two hours, it’s too long for me. But this was still a bloody good action/adventure which proves that film series don’t always need to stop at 3. If you missed catching this at the cinema, then make sure you watch it on the loudest and biggest screen you can find.

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