MY 2011 MOVIE GUIDE AND RATINGS

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: Rated R for 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-buddy chemistry 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: Rated PG-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 competitive team based on sabermetric approach by using statistical data in evaluating and scouting the undervalued good 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

Top Ten Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune & Pluto Songs

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.



10. Grandchildren - Saturn Returns

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.

9. Stevie Wonder - Saturn

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.

8. Tori Amos - Hey Jupiter

I'm not even going to attempt to tell you what this song is about. It's far too deep for a dumb-head like me.

7. The B-52s - Hallucinating Pluto

Because I have an extremely juvenile sense of humour, I love the fact that the only things written on the youtube page for this song are...

All rights and ownership go to The B-52's.

...and...

penises

6. Train - Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)

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?"

5. The Futureheads - Jupiter

When your life fills you with despair,
You have to believe that there’s good out there
No enemies anywhere
Then you are free

If you're quick, lads, you can share a rocket with Stevie Wonder. He's going in vaguely the same direction.

4. Super Furry Animals - (Drawing) Rings Around The World

A little bit of a cheat, but worth it. A Saturn song in all but name.

3. The Divine Comedy - Neptune's Daughter

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...

Neil Hannon: the Noel Coward of indie-pop.

2. Donovan - Jennifer Jupiter

What's that, you say? "Juniper"? Don't be daft...

1. The Inspiral Carpets - Saturn 5

Dig that funky Clint Boon organ!

An Eagle lands, and a planet full of people raises its hands
All hail the men who will walk up in heaven today

So, that's the rest of my musical solar system... which would you land on? (Uranus, anybody?)

Book Review - Stonemouth by Iain Banks

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.

Waiting On A Sunny Day - Bruce Springsteen Live in Manchester

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!

Coming Attractions: More Sex & Violence plus some Peculiarity

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.

Top Ten Mercury Songs

Back into space, this week with ten songs about (or very loosely connected to) the smallest, hottest planet in our solar system...

10. Long-View - Further

OK, I'm stretching the rules, but this is from the debut Long-View album, called 'Mercury', and it's a nice enough noise.

9. Red Hot Chilli Peppers - On Mercury

The Chilli Peppers go ska. I'm not the world's biggest RHCP fan, but I love the fact that Flea was in the Back To The Future movies.

8. Bloc Party - Mercury

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.

7. American Music Club - Johnny Mathis' Feet

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.

6. Todd Snider - Thin Wild Mercury

A song about the rivalry between Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. Billy Bragg would have something to say about that.

5. Counting Crows - Mercury

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.

4. The Steve Miller Band - Mercury Blues

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.

3. Kathleen Edwards - Mercury

Another song about the same car... though this one leads to a tragic death. Don't smoke pot and drive, kids.

2. Mercury Rev - Goddess On The Hiway

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?

Comic Review: Video Nasties

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!