My favourite films of 2011

I know that this year isn't yet over, and with 2-3 weeks left of the year to release a few new films this may change, but I decided to put together a list of the films released in 2011 that I had the pleasure of watching.

I have watched a total of 30 films released this year, and so begins my rundown from 30 - 21:

30. Hobo With a Shotgun
29. The Rite
28. Sucker Punch
27. Your Highness
26. Gnomeo & Juliet
25. Thor
24. Battle: Los Angeles
23. Insidious
22. Drive Angry
21. Transformers: Dark of the Moon

So we start off with Rutger Hauer murdering some crazies hamming it on screen.  Why?  Cos he wants a fricking lawnmower, thats why!  What a homeless man would do with it (its not a sit-down & drive one) is beyond me, but tons of exploitative blood, guts & gore make for a good independent film.  Plus Rutger Hauer is off his trolley!

We move on to the Rite, a film I found quite boring, but I like exorcism/possession films, so I stuck with it.  It goes ahead of Hobo just because of the storyline.  Sucker Punch, to some people, was an awesome film.  I found it quite annoying but ladies with guns & minimal clothing keep it in there.  Your Highness was a film full of cock & ball jokes, hence why I like it.  Shit plot means it gets a lower place than it could have.  Gnomeo & Juliet was a good little animation film for which the flamingo story almost made me shed a tear.

Thor was, in my opinion, an average comic book story.  This could have been better than mediocre, but we will see what the Avengers brings us... Battle: Los Angeles was a rip-roaring ride that only failed to achieve a higher position due to way too much USA patrionism!  It was cheesy and shmaltzy, and so Pro-USA that I felt I should be taking the pledge of allegiance.  Insidious could have been better - a fantastic first half was let down by the 2nd half of the film, hence its position in my list.

Drive Angry started off well, explosions, limbs being torn off, & Nicolas Cage hamming it up.  Unfortunately, it tailed off later on & lost my interest.  Then to Transformers 3 - well, it was better than the 2nd film (which deserves to be forgotten) and was the only one to actually have a good story, but its letdown was the numerous explosions that werent needed.  Someone please take Michael Bay off this series now!

20. Scream 4
19. Conan the Barbarian
18. The Thing (Prequel)
17. Paranormal Activity 3
16. The Green Hornet
15. Super 8
14. Green Lantern
13. Bad Teacher
12. Paul
11. The Hangover Part II

Scream 4 misses out on the top 10 due to predictability (aka me working the killers out within 30 minutes), but it gets no lower as its the Scream series which I love.  Conan the Barbarian was full of hack & slash moments, and may have got higher if I had ever seen the originals, but  commend it for the numerous topless wenches in it, as well as Ron Fucking Perlman.

The Thing Prequel was an entertaining film, that answered a lot of the questions raised in John Carpenters Thing, but it lacked the suspense of the original, and the CGI work was crap compared to the original.  Still worth a watch though, but not worth a higher position.  Paranormal Activity 3 was actually suprisingly good, with a few good ghostly moments (much better than the 2nd one) but let down by a crap ending.  Hopefully this will be the end of it, but no doubt they will find enough of a story for Paranormal Activity 4...

The Green Hornet was Seth Rogens chance to shine & was enjoyable but the story wasn't great & what was the point of Cameron Diaz?  Seth Rogen is a comedy genius so he gets away with it, but no higher position for the film...  Super 8 had the potential to be amazing, and it was except for the ending which was Spielberg shmaltz at its finest, and was very predictable.  How about an alien movie without a happy ending for once in a while?  Green Lantern was a comic book film that actually reminded me of a comic book.  Plus Ryan Reynolds is fricking funny.  Shame it seemed to just start then end, and with bad press it looks likely that a sequel wont be made, which is a shame!

Bad Teacher is not like Bad Santa, but it does feature Cameron Diaz in minimal clothing after a boob job.  I was put off by Justin Timberlake dry-humping her leg tho.  Not a bad film but very similar to a film called Mr Woodcock (which starred Billy Bob Thornton, who was Bad Santa).  Paul, on the other hand, was an exceptionally good film with a good story & good comedy, and narrowly missed out on a top 10 spot, mainly due to the Hangover Part II which I enjoyed immensely, although it was basically the first film set elsewhere.  I ummed-and-ahhed about putting this in the top 10, but in the end a spot outside it just makes sense (at least to me).

10. Bridesmaids
09. Hall Pass
08. The Adjustment Bureau
07. Grave Encounters
06. Horrible Bosses
05. Limitless
04. Source Code

Bridesmaids was hilarious & proved to be the same sort of comedy as the Hangover Part II, but as it was fresh it just sneaked ahead of it and made the top 10.  Kristen Wiig showed she can handle the lead in comedies after Paul, so more like this please!  Hall Pass was one of those films where I thought I wouldnt enjoy it (slow start syndrome) but it was actually fricking funny, albeit with too much sausage on show.  Well worth a watch, and Jenna Fischer is hotttttttt!

The Adjustment Bureau was an excellent thinker that I thought would be boring when I started watching it.  It starts off as a political thriller but becomes this tale of fate & destiny where you can move between places with just the opening of a door.  Missed out on the top 5 by just a smidgen tho, everything in the top 10 is close...  Grave Encounters was a film that I wanted to see as soon as I saw the trailer - this has it all, scares, creepiness & some comedy, with the effects being amazing.  It was let down by a less-than-stellar ending, but a good horror nonetheless, as well as being a satire on reality ghosthunt shows.

Horrible Bosses has many a star turn in it - Justin Bateman, Charlie Day, Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell & Jennifer Aniston are all amazing in it, its funny as fuck & Jennifer looks amazing when she wears next to nothing, despite her left boob being saggier than her right one (keep an eye out for it, you will see it).  Limitless was a fantastic story & I loved how the book was brought to screen.  What I would do for one of those pills...Bradley Cooper shows that he can actually do more than comedy, and this film is well worth a watch!  Source Ode was also fantastic, maybe cos I grew up watching Quantum Leap.  This sci-fi tale of body-swapping & bomb-hunting was fantastic, but what do you expect from the director that brought us Moon.  David Bowies son knows his stuff!

03. The Inbetweeners Movie
02. Captain American: The First Avenger
01. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

So, top 3 time, and the Inbetweeners Movie gets things going, with a good mix of gross-out and laugh out loud comedy.  I will miss the show but I loved the way they ended the Inbetweeners world.  I will be watching this tonight, as well as trying to bust out the dancing as often as possible...

Captain America was the quintissential superhero movie - the CGI in making Chris Evans weedy was amazing, and the story & geek out moments were fantastic!  This was the first superhero movie I've seen in many years that had me hooked from beginning to end.

Finally, ny favourite film of the year, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  I didn't want to see this when the trailers came out, but I caved in and watched it at the cinema.  Am I glad I did!  It was an amazing film that answered so many questions & wasnt over the top as well.  Andy Serkis does chimps proud with his take as Ceasar, and James Franco & John Lithgow give amazing performances.  Its a shame that a Brit has to be the bad guy, but we do make good villains, so in the scheme of things its not that big a thing.  Am looking forward to the sequel (I hear its been green-lighted) & can only hope that it improves upon this fantastic (and tear-jerking) film!

There were a number of films released in 2011 that I haven't had the chance to see as yet (though I do own some of these) that I may watch, so I can't comment on these quite yet, but they will be hard put to beat Rise of the Planet of the Apes as my favourite film of the year:

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas
The Adventures of Tintin
Attack the Block
Cowboys & Aliens
The Dilemma
Drive
Fast Five
Fright Night (Remake)
Hanna
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hop
Johnny English Reborn
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
The Muppets
Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides
Real Steel
Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadows
The Smurfs
Unknown
X-Men: First Class

Christmas and the music associated to it

Its been a few weeks since I last blogged about anything, so I feel its high time to get back on the blogging horse and entertain the "masses" (by that, I mean the 2 or 3 people that read this blog).  My choice of topic today?  Christmas.

Now, I like this time of year.  The dark evenings highlight the Christmas lights well, and I enjoy the practice of giving gifts (I think its more fun than getting anything, as I can pretty much buy anything I need these days).  I know its more for the kids, but do you know the one thing that really grinds my gears?  The lack of recent (and good) christmas songs.

Where did we go wrong?  If you pick up the numerous Christmas Hits albums released at this time of year, you can guarantee that you'll have the same songs on there (Slade, Shakin Stevens, Roy Wizzard, Band Aid, The Pogues, etc).  From 1990 onwards, the highlights of our Christmas songs are East 17 (Stay Another Day), The Spice Girls (2 Become 1), Mr Blobby (Mr Blobby) and Bob the fricking Builder (Can We Fix It).

Do record companies look at the UK and think "They're retards, they'll buy anything!"?  I think Christmas 2009 proved them wrong with Killing in the Name of.  But as each year comes around, I long for someone to release a truly great Christmas song.  Or just re-release Zig & Zags classic Them Girls, Them Girls, They All Love Me.  But no more Cliff Richard.  Unless its the Living Doll version with the Young Ones.

For reference, my top ten favourite Christmas songs are as follows:

1. The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale In New York
2. Queen - Thank God Its Christmas
3. Elton John - Step Into Christmas
4. Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody
5. Band Aid - Do They Know Its Christmas
6. Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
7. Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone
8. Mel Smith & Kim Wilde - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
9. John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
10. The Darkness - Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)

More blogs to follow!