Here is My 2011 Movie Guide & Ratings (in alphabetical order).
The rating is based on how I enjoyed the movies and how good I think the movies were. And this is how MyRating works:
YYYYY= EXCELLENT YYYY= VERY GOOD YYY= GOOD YY= FAIR Y= BAD
BOO... = EXTREMELY BAD
I will keep updating this list from time to time to make a complete guide of all the 2011 movies that I've watched. Hope you enjoy reading and find it useful in digging movies worth watching for, and eventually spend your good time with the movies. If you happen to share the same feeling with most of my thoughts, then we possibly may have the same taste in movies. I love movies! No, it's my addiction. Have a good time at the cinema. (MJ)
50/50(2011)
MyRating: YYYYY/ [A+]
Director: Jonathan Levine
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston MPAA: RatedRfor language throughout, sexual content and some drug use
A moving and heartwarming drama-comedy about a 27-year-old radio journalist, Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who is diagnosed with a rare spinal cancer and finds out that he has only 50/50 chance to live. Supported by people who close to him, his beautiful artist girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard), his best friend (Seth Rogen), his controlling mother (Anjelica Huston) and an inexperienced young therapist (Anna Kendrick), while he is going through treatments to cure his disease, Adam learns the important lessons about life and relationship, on who really cares for him and what matters him the most, as his time is ticking. The lessons that change him and his life forever. A beautiful and powerful story, funny and sad at times, with an inspiring friendship and good best-buddychemistry between Gordon-Levitt and Rogen, that will definitely make you smile. Good performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who portrayed a sympathetic character with a calm and collected personality, but has his moment of emotional outburst when things get rough. While Seth Rogen was funny and basically playing himself, as the movie was inspired by the true story of how Rogen and his real-life pal Will Reiser, the screenwriter of this movie, dealt with Reiser's cancer diagnosis in the past. A thoughtful movie that will deeply touch your heart. An example of a smart screenplay that made a brilliant movie. Definitely one of the best and one of my favorite movies of 2011.
MONEYBALL(2011)
MyRating: YYYY1/2/ [A]
Director: Bennett Miller
Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hofffman, Robin Wright MPAA: RatedPG-13 for some strong language
Brad Pitt gave a wonderful performance in this baseball drama based on a true story as Billy Beane, the general manager of Oakland Athletics, who changes the history on how a baseball team competes, when he assembles a competitiveteam based on sabermetric approach by using statistical data in evaluating and scouting the undervaluedgood players, so as to overcome the financial constraint of their club in paying high salaries. He hires Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a bright young graduate from Yale as assistant, whom believes and convinces Beane that such philosophy and approach is the key to form a successful team. It is not and never easy though, as they still have to prove that what they do will bring in success. But the history stated a 20 consecutive wins in the 2002 season and an American League record. The very well-written adapted screenplay and the good performances made this movie an enjoyable to watch. Brad Pitt's convincing acting and interesting character, as the headstrong and temperamental leader, is the heart and soul of this movie. His charisma shined throughout the movie. Jonah Hill was good in his serious role here, out of his usual comedic typecasting. While Philip Seymour Hoffman was also a pleasure to watch as the field manager Art Howe, who is unhappy with Beane's approach. A wonderfully told and inspiring biographical sports movie.
MYMOVIE CRITIC-REVIEWING MOVIES FROM THE AUDIENCE'S STANDPOINT
OK, following Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury, I struggled to make a decent Top Ten with any of the other planets in our solar system. So here's the best of the rest, with two caveats...
i) There are no decent Uranus songs. For obvious reasons. And yes, I do include 'Rocket To Uranus' by The Vengaboys when I make that statement.
ii) I know Pluto isn't considered a planet anymore by those who know far better than me. But it's still better than Uranus.
More interesting than the R.E.M. song of (almost) the same title. I know very little about this band other than they're from Philadelphia and don't appear to be any relation to Grandaddy.
Stevie's had enough of all the bad stuff - y'know, wars, murders, people nicking your trolley when you pop to the toilet in Tesco - so he's packing his bags and moving to Saturn, the planet where people live to be 205.
Come on, you'd almost written Train off as a one-hit wonder, hadn't you? I quite liked their new MONSTER HIT, Drive-By, until Louise asked me, "What are you listening to - is that the Jonas Brothers?"
When the last course has been consumed They withdraw to the drawing room Where the Schubert she plays with style Keeps her friends happy for the while But the memories are a burden, So she draws back both the curtains Stepping out into the night...
Many, many years ago, when I was doing my A Level English, I had one of those rare teachers who inspire you. Back then (as now) I spent a lot of time writing stories and I used to submit them as part of my coursework whenever I could. One day, the teacher asked me if I'd ever read any Iain Banks. From the sort of (slightly weird, character based) fiction I wrote, he thought Banks would be an author I'd appreciate. He recommended I start not with the obvious choice, Banks' controversial debut The Wasp Factory, but with his latest, The Bridge, a novel with one of the most striking and memorable opening scenes I've ever read. After that, I was hooked.
I've stuck with Iain Banks ever since, and though I've not loved all his books - and I could never get into his sci-fi work as Iain M. Banks - he's remained a favourite for the last 23 years. And every now and then, he comes out with a real belter...
Stonemouth revisits many familiar Banks themes and tropes. It tells of a young man returning to his Scottish family home after leaving under a cloud some years back (similar to The Crow Road), involves some very real yet very threatening local gangsters (Dead Air) and prominently features a bridge from the opening scene on. At heart it's a mystery novel - not so much a whodunit? as a whatdidhedo? - about a romance gone wrong. Like many of Banks' stories, the plot hinges on the effects of an everyday item used to devastating effects. If Dead Air made us extra cautious about using a mobile phone while drunk, Stonemouth warns us of the danger of disposable instant cameras at weddings.
Stonemouth is a gripping, funny, emotional and scary novel - it's Iain Banks back on top form. Read it.
On a day when the North West was drowning under torrential rain (yet another "wettest June on record", as though it's now become a contest), we were prepared to be Lost In The Flood at Manchester City's Etihad Stadium as Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band returned to town. We'd been lucky at previous outdoor Bruce concerts in Manchester, enjoying rare sunny days at both the Lancashire County Cricket Club and Old Trafford (the first time I saw him, at the indoor MEN Arena, the weather wasn't a worry). But it was inevitable that holding an outdoor concert in June in Manchester was going to risk angering the weather gods sooner or later, and on the day the Isle of Wight festival sank into the mud, we were ready for the worst.
It had rained all day. Not just rain - buckets, frogs, cats and dogs, a plague of locusts - and the forecast for the evening looked just as grim. As we trudged over to the stadium in the drizzle, we enjoyed a brief respite from the torrents, but nobody expected to stay dry over the next few hours. Bruce and the band took to the stage at 7-15, and suddenly the rain stopped completely. At 8 o'clock it made a brief return bid, but the band launched into Waiting On A Sunny Day in response and drove the clouds away. There were a couple more minor showers at 9 and 10, but neither lasted more than a song or succeeded in dampening the electricity in the atmosphere.
At 62, Bruce Springsteen has the stamina of a man a third his age. A three and a half hour set flew by in what felt like minutes, and we could easily have watched the band perform twice that and still wanted more. Having seen the boss live three times before, I've heard him play many of my favourite songs at one time or another, and while there are certain ones he just can't drop (Born To Run, Thunder Road, Dancing In The Dark), it's not a problem that we didn't get Glory Days, Born In The USA or anything from Tunnel Of Love this time. There was plenty more to keep us enthralled. The sound was a little muddy for the first few songs and there were the inevitable arseholes in the audience who'd paid £50 to chat / shout with their friends or drink as much overpriced beer as they could rather than watch the band, but once the show got going, such distractions ceased to matter.
It was another thrilling performance from the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, earth-quaking, nerve-breaking, Viagra-taking history-making, legendary E Street Band... but also a hugely emotional one, this being the first time they've toured without The Big Man, saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who died last year. The tributes brought tears to my eyes, but so did the fact that those enormous shoes have been filled by Clarence's nephew, Jake. The lad blows a mean horn himself.
I've been a Bruce Springsteen fan most of my life and, unlike many of my heroes, he's never let me down. He even managed to drive away the rain on the wettest day of the year in the wettest city in the north. Bring on that wrecking ball!
Too Much Sex & Violence #4 is heading towards completion and will hopefully be hitting the streets sometime in what we're laughably calling this "summer". To whet your appetites, here's the front and back covers... a couple of wonderful arty homages from Nige & Dave...
But that's not all... my other new comic, Department of the Peculiar, drawn by the amazing Rob Wells is also nearing completion and provisionally scheduled for release some time in August (ish). Our good friends at the Forbidden Planet Blog were kind enough to preview the first five pages yesterday... so pop over there if you want to find out more.
Their Mercury's in retrograde. The video is what happens if you eat too much cheese while watching Planet of the Apes... and then fall into a nightmare.
I've had to cheat again. As with the Long-View song, this is from an album called 'Mercury'. But never mind that - the name of this song is Johnny Mathis' Feet! You need no other reason to love it.
It's a sunny day as I write this (I'm sure it won't be by the time it gets posted) and there are few better bands for chilling in the summertime. The music of the Counting Crows evokes long, dusty roads stretching off into nowhere and a heat haze on the horizon. Not quite as hot as the planet we're celebrating... but hot enough for me.
Lots of songs have been written about American cars. This is just one of them, and it's a Ford too. See, American songwriters had it easy. Try writing a song about a Ford Escort, Sierra or Mondeo... without sounding like Alan Partridge.
How could I have a Mercury list without the Rev? This is their finest moment, a song built around a quite dreadful pun... and yet, a thing of great beauty.
1. Freddie Mercury - Mr. Bad Guy
Well, it had to be. I could have chosen any number of Freddie songs, but this one wins out for its shamelessly autobiographical nature, and the fact Fred sings:
Can't you see? I'm Mr. Mercury!
Yes, he's everybody's Mr. Bad Guy. They're all afraid of him. He can ruin people's lives. And somehow he manages to rip off both the Jaws and Psycho themes in this track...
Those are the songs that get my Mercury rising... but which is your Mr. Bad Guy?
I've been hearing good things about Chris Doherty's Video Nasties for some time, so when I found out there was a collected edition of the whole series available again, I had to give it a go. Mighty glad I did.
Evan is a teenager with a healthy addiction to "video nasty" horror films. I've been there. There's nothing more exciting to the average teenage lad than watching nubile young things meet their ends at the end of a psychopath's knife, axe or meat cleaver. Adolescence = sex 'n' death, how better than to combine them? (Plus, there's a kind of transference going on there as you imagine a similar fate for all your obnoxious schoolyard enemies.(
Evan's also something of a whiz with a video camera himself - that's how he gets roped into helping film a school project documentary about a group of students who went missing under mysterious circumstances many years ago (well, that and a fit girl... there's always a fit girl involved somewhere... though one of the most important lessons we learn growing up is that the fittest girls often aren't worth all that heartache).
Evan's investigation leads him to dangerous places and shock revelations regarding some of his closest friends. There will be sex. There will be violence. There will be a clown murdering people with a baseball bat! All drawn in a wonderfully cute, cartoony style that fits the teenage soap elements to a tee... and makes the horror much more shocking when it finally hits.
Video Nasties collects the complete 7 issue series and it's available in eBook and good old fashioned dead tree format from Chris's store. Well worth your time and money, this one's a cracker... I'm looking forward to the movie!
I'm a huge fan of the BBC crime drama Luther, starring Idris Elba as the eponymous hardbitten London cop, so I was eager to read the prequel novel written by series creator Neil Cross. It reveals the investigation of which John Luther is still feeling the fall-out when the show began, both professionally (via internal affairs) and personally (his wife left him for another man during the case). You don't need to know anything of the show to enjoy the book, though picturing Elba's imposing form will help you get into the character (indeed, Cross reveals in author's notes that the character wasn't complete until Elba was cast). As a novelist, Cross has a gripping, no-nonsense style that propels the plot forwards while still finding time for character moments and black humour. It's everything I'd hoped for... but this review does come with one warning.
Luther is a dark and extremely violent show. Likewise, the book pulls no punches - yet I've always found violence on the page to be far more affecting / disturbing than on the screen. You use your imagination more as a reader... and there are some extremely horrific scenes here. There's also a recurring theme of cruelty to animals which I always find harder to stomach than violence against humans. And when even Luther gets involved, dangling a dog from a balcony while trying to extract information from a its lowlife owner, Cross almost lost my sympathy for his hero. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but even anti-heroes need to know where to draw the line...
Leftover from my collection of Spacemen and Spacewomen Songs, I realised I had enough tracks to make an Astronauts' Top Ten too. And I think it's gonna be a long, long list...
(Sadly no Sleeper in this list, but their debut album cover seemed appropriate.)
A Welsh band named after David Mitchell's insanely enjoyable novel (soon to be desecrated at a cinema near you with Tom Hanks... presumably he'll play one of the clouds... or an atlas... or a plank). Cloud Atlas have a chunky indie guitar sound and interesting lyrics. Sadly, it looks like they gave up the fight a couple of years back. Unless you know differently... (I've stopped saying bands have split up because someone always ends up telling me they recently got back together.)
A song about a girl Axl knew who was going to call her band Rocket Queen (and therefore nothing to do with actual astronauts), this sneaks into the Top Ten by being from the very best GNR album and rocking like a chair.
This, on the other hand, is one of many stand out tracks from the very best Amanda Palmer album (thus far - there's a new one promised later this year from the prolific Mrs. Gaiman), Who Killed Amanda Palmer. Also, if you're looking for a rhyme with 'astronaut', 'after-thought' takes some beating...
The National are a great example of a band whose lyrics sound like they mean a lot more than they actually do. That's not a bad thing. Not always, anyway.
Laika, if you're scratching your head, was a pioneering astronaut: the first dog to successfully orbit the earth. Sadly, she died up there, but Neil Hannon paid eulogy to her twice on the album Absent Friends, firstly on the instrumental theme named after her, and secondly in the title track...
Laika flew through inky blue 'Til Laika neared the atmosphere And Laika knew Laika's life was through. Here's to absent friends...
I'm surprised nobody's asked me about the absence of this track from previous lists - it could easily have fit the Spacemen, Countdown, Spaceship or Mars Top Tens ("Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids," after all). I've been saving it up, because whatever you might think of Elton's crimes against sanity in recent times... there's no denying this is a stone cold John/Taupin classic.
"I'm not the man they think I am at home..."
Indeed.
Those were my favourite astronaut songs... but which one gets you high as a kite?
And so we finally reach the end of the road, the finale of Garen Ewing's epic Rainbow Orchid trilogy, a book I've been both breathlessly anticipating... and quietly dreading. Could this really be the last we see of Julius Chancer and co?
For anyone as yet unacquainted with Garen's masterpiece, The Rainbow Orchid follows Chancer's quest to seek out the legendary flower of the title so his employer can win a wager with the nefarious Urkaz Grope, a truly hissable villain we're all hoping will finally get his come-uppance in this final chapter (you may be surprised!). As always, it's a witty, action-packed mix of Tin Tin and Indiana Jones that looks like no other comic out there... truly, the level of detail Garen puts into his artwork is staggering: you could easily stare at any of his panels for a week and never get bored... if only you weren't wanting to race through the book to find out what happens next. Definitely a comic to read more than once, then - the first time for the excitement of the story, the second to wallow in the beauty of the artwork.
The three volumes of The Rainbow Orchid are available from all good booksellers, and you can read a huge preview - and go behind the scenes for a wealth of extra fun - at Garen's website. Get over there and find out why this book was recently named The Observer's Graphic Novel Of The Month!
I know, I promised you my Top Ten Astronaut songs this week... but with the release of Prometheus, this one seemed too good an opportunity to miss.
This Top Ten is also dedicated to the late Ray Bradbury, one of my favourite authors. Something Wicked This Way Comes is among the greatest novels ever written.
You talk a lot about nothing at all Watch TV shows about nothing at all Think a lot about nothing at all Listen to songs about nothing at all
You write the laws about nothing at all Make 3D films about nothing at all Stage happenings about nothing at all Sound and light shows about nothing at all
You complain about nothing at all Go insane about nothing at all
You have no feelings I think you are an alien being
Another rarity: it's not often you hear Neil Hannon releasing a song under his real name. This was part of an Oxfam charity album called The Cake Sale. It's really quite lovely.
7. Dweeb - Chart Raider Space Invader
Dweeb were a late 90s indie band who sounded quite a lot like Ash and had most success with their excellent single Scooby Doo. This was their debut record... good luck in tracking it down!
Kind of a French Bjork, Soko transfixed me a couple of years back with her superb stalker anthem I'll Kill Her. Apparently she hates it now she's grown up a bit. Because I haven't grown up, I still love it. I Thought I Was An Alien is the title track of her latest album.
In which Dan Bern gets abducted by aliens who strap him down, stick a probe up his nose... and start critiquing his songwriting.
Then they waved this wand around my head Said, "Now we're reading your thoughts, you see You got an awful lot of songs in there Though it seems they're all in the key of G"
I said "What about Marilyn? That's in D" They said "D flat, actually" I said, "Yeah, because I tune it down a half step What about Hannibal?" They said "What about Hannibal?" I said "Well, technically, it's in G But it's really a dropped D tuning capo'd up"
They said "How come you don't play the harmonica more?" I said "How come I'm in a space ship Talking to aliens about my act?" They said, "We'd rather talk physics But you're illiterate there"
Can you believe it's 40 years since the release of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars? I could easily have filled a Top Ten just from the Bowie back catalogue, but Starman is undoubtedly his greatest alien moment (and not just because it gave its name to the John Carpenter / Jeff Bridges movie). Loving The Alien can't compete, but it does feature one of crazy Davey's maddest videos.
Like Bowie, Thom Yorke could easily have fallen to earth with a bump. Could this be his most autobiographical song?
I wish that they'd swoop down, in a country lane Late at night when I'm driving Take me on board their beautiful ship, show me the world as I'd love to see it I'd tell all my friends but they'd never believe me They'd think that I'd finally lost it completely I'd show them the stars, and the meaning of life They'd shut me away, but I'd be alright Alright
1. The Carpenters - Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Crafts (The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day)
Originally recorded by Klaatu, who score an extra point for naming themselves after the alien hero of The Day The Earth Stood Still... but it's Karen Carpenter's version I consider definitive.
Those were my favourite alien anthems... but which one will you take to your leader?
The lukewarm reviews did Prometheus a favour. They helped puncture the biggest bubble of hype to surround any movie in recent memory. It's been impossible to take a breath over the last few weeks without someone trying to ram Prometheus down your throat. Complete three minute TV ad breaks devoted to one monster trailer. "Special cinema featurettes" interviewing the entire crew, right down to the big stone head's cleaning lady. You couldn't go out in the street without being accosted by Ridley Scott, desperate to tell you about his "creation myth" and how "this was much more than just an Alien prequel".
Like many people, I'm wary of too much hype. When Hollywood throws so much money at a film before it opens (and refuses critics access till the very last second), I start to smell turkey. And then, late last week... I started to hear the reviews. Ho-hum three starrers that complained of a poor script, a lack of suspense, anticlimax and 'meh'. One former colleague, possibly the world's biggest Alien fan, whose excitement over this movie has been bubbling over for months, broke down in soppy wet tears on Facebook and blew his brains out with a bicycle pump.
As I said at the top, all this did Prometheus a huge favour. My expectations weren't too high... and so...
I liked it.
Go in expecting another Aliens movie and you'll probably be disappointed. Because that's not what's on offer here: and that's a good thing. Indeed, the closing moneyshot seems almost shoed in to make the obligatory connection to the franchise Scott gave messy birth to back in 1979. This is a film that stands fine on its own, and may even have benefited from not being tied to the movies that went before. It has a fascinating mythology all its own, a great cast (Fassbender steals it once again) and some truly stunning visuals (note: I did not watch this film in 3D, and can only imagine what a mess that pointless "technology" would have made of many of the key moments).
Don't get me wrong, Prometheus is by no means perfect. There are some pretty huge plotholes and the last half hour feels rushed. Guy Pearce, while excellent, seems a strange choice for a role that could just as easily been filled by an older actor minus the liver-spotted war paint. But these are quibbles; I didn't have any major problems with the script, the mystery kept me engrossed, and Noomi Rapace proves a great choice for the lead, more than just a girl with a dragon tattoo... and much more than just a Ripley substitute.
It's all left wide open for a sequel, obviously, yet if they do go down that route they'll need to make damned sure not to revert to type. There are many questions still to be answered here, but the temptation to run back down a dimly lit corridor towards another crowd pleasing humans versus aliens shoot-out must be avoided at all costs.
Reading Jon Ronson's latest book led me to conclude, with some relief and also a whiff of sadness, that I am not a psychopath. If I learnt one thing from his investigation it's that psychopaths don't care what other people think and don't suffer any remorse over the way their actions impact the lives of others. While there's a part of me that always says "I don't give a monkey's", I know deep down that the opinions of others matter greatly... that's why criticism just kills me. And despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that other people spend the majority of their time pissing me off... I also spend far too much of my own time worrying that I might be pissing other people off. Frankly, it can be exhausting. That's where the whiff of sadness comes in... there are times, I think I'd be better off a psychopath. Perhaps we all would.
Putting aside the incarcerated psychopaths whose lack of empathy has led to crimes the police can't ignore, Ronson argues that many more have actually gone on to positions of great power and wealth... exactly because they don't give a monkey's. So he meets a notorious CEO and hatchet man who shows no remorse over the many lives he's affected through ruthless business decisions. Well, why should he? Look to anyone in power and see the bodies they've climbed over to get where they are today, Ronson discovers, and chances are they'll score highly on Canadian psychologist Bob Hare's infamous Psychopath Test which identifies factors such as superficial charm, grandiose sense of self worth, proneness to boredom, callousness and impulsivity as classic traits that make up the average psychopathic personality. That's all you need to be a success... which I guess explains how I got where I am today.
However, Ronson's book offers little to reassure us about the psychiatric profession itself. From the "thud experiments" in which a group of researchers tricked their way into getting committed to various psychiatric hospitals across the US simply by telling doctors they heard a voice saying the word "thud" (my own diagnosis would have been: you read too many comics) to the many dissenting views and extreme research methods shared by mental health professionals over the years, there's a real suggestion that the lunatics are running the asylum wherever you look.
By turns hilarious and horrifying, Ronson's book ultimately left me profoundly depressed. At last I can see where I've been going wrong all these years. Forget the anti-psychotic medication - where do I get me some anti-empathy tablets?
My old pal Andrew Cheverton is spoiling us this month with the release of not one but two outstanding new comics.
First up, Jerusalem West returns in his latest adventure, Points West - another atmospheric shot of mystery and bloodshed in the old west, this one fleshing out a small moment from a previous adventure, adding more to our understanding of the title character, yet working as a stand-alone story too. As usual, it's packed with grim humour, sudden/shock violence and pitch perfect dialogue... and it looks a million dollars, thanks to regular artist Tim Keable, a man born to draw westerns. Once again, I can't recommend it enough.
Next, we have this...
The Whale House is a new book written by Chev and drawn by Chris Doherty of Video Nasties fame (which I'll be reviewing here soon). It's an entirely different ballgame to West, but no less gripping. A mystery begins to unravel when a young man sets out on a voyage of discovery to find the parents he's never met... but winds up taking lodging with the Whales, a creepy family who believe he's someone else entirely. I happen to know that one of Chev's favourite books is Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived In The Castle, and there's shades of that here, although the characters are ploughing their own furrow and there's absolutely no way of knowing where this story is going. I'm looking forward to finding out, particularly as Chev has once again found the perfect collaborator, another artist so good you wonder why he's not working for the big boys. (Then again, I ask myself that question about many artists in the small press... just as I ask how some of the artists who are drawing for Marvel and DC ever got their jobs in the first place. But that's a discussion for another day.)
Points West and The Whale House #1 are both available to buy from the Angry Candy website in both paper and digital versions. So get on with it...