I think I’m running a bit behind this year if I hope to get to over 120 films for the year! Need to pick up the pace.

A Beautiful Mind (01/05/11)

After a brilliant but asocial mathematician accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn to the nightmarish.

Beautiful film. Really great film. Great performances from everyone and I think Russell Crowe’s best since Gladiator. Jennifer Connelly completely tore me up as John Nash’s world started falling apart. I completely and utterly believed what John Nash was seeing and doing. I didn’t really think that he might be hallucinating. Well, until things started going really crazy.

Loved the James Horner score. Think it’s my favourite score of his since Titanic. It doesn’t sound like a lot of his other scores, most of the time! The biggest problem I have with Avatar and Troy’s scores.

Very touching film that had me in tears!
Rating: 4/5

Extract (05/05/11)

Joel, the owner of an Extract plant, tries to contend with myriad personal and professional problems, such as his potentially unfaithful wife and employees who want to take advantage of him.

Thanks to my new love of Arrested Development I have a bigger love for Jason Bateman. Seeing his name listed in the credits for this film made me think it’d be worth a watch. Him and Mike Judge of Office Space fame, which was one of my favourite films I’d seen last year.

Extract just bored and irritated me sadly. There were some funny moments. JK Simmons made me laugh as did Bateman. But overall it just felt like a painful film to watch with none of the fun or wackiness that Office Space had.
Rating: 2/5

Hanna (06/05/11)

A 16-year-old who was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives.

Loved this film. I really like my action-thriller type films. This one had the added benefit of Eric Bana. Even with a slightly unidentifiable accent he was very good in the film. However all the credit in this film goes to Saoirse Ronan. Fantastic young actress who can play a ruthless assassin as well as a very naive young girl who’s never been out in the world. Think the weakest character in the film was probably Cate Blanchett’s Marissa. She just felt a little one-sided to me.

At times the film felt a bit schizophrenic, but in a good way! Flipping from fast paced action thriller to an indie feeling film about a very innocent girl.

Loved the British family played by Olivia Williams and Jason Flemyng. They weren’t caricatures, instead felt like real people. Funny people at that.

The score was awesome! I’m loving this trend of DJs scoring films. There was Daft Punk and Tron, Basement Jaxx and Attack the Block, and now we have The Chemical Brothers and Hanna. Loved some of the pieces they did during the action sequences.

I know there are talks of a sequel. I hope there isn’t one. Well, unless they can top this one!
Rating: 4/5

Catfish (07/05/11)

In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel’s brother.

A lot of hype surrounding this film and it’s hype I got caught up in. However, it still took me a long time to watch the film. I think the hype ruined it slightly.

I did enjoy the film but I think I was expecting a bit more of an ‘OMG’ twist towards the end. I kept hoping something else was going to happen. Though, after I’d watched the film and thought about the events a bit more, I did see the madness of it all properly.

Ariel really annoyed me throughout the film. I just got more and more annoyed with him. I can’t remember why, but I remember the annoyance!
Rating: 3/5

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (20/05/11)

Jack Sparrow and Barbossa embark on a quest to find the elusive fountain of youth, only to discover that Blackbeard and his daughter are after it too.

I’m one of those weird people who enjoyed films 2 & 3 in the POTC series. Yes, they were long and convoluted. But they’re fun to watch and get lost in.

I did not get lost in On Stranger Tides. Johnny Depp is still fantastic as Captain Jack Sparrow and new additions Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane were great, but there were some other new additions who weren’t so great. The main plot line of the fountain of youth was a fun bit of adventure. The love story between Philip and Syrena felt a bit pointless and was just in there for extra padding. Neither character had much depth to them and I couldn’t get behind either of them.

There were some good set pieces, but none of them felt like they were as big in scope as any of the ones in the first three films.

I sadly did spend some extra money and see this film in 3D, due to lack of 2D screenings. There were some attempts at some things pointing out into the audience, but for the most part, like Thor, it just wasn’t necessary. Especially during the action and fight scenes where things are moving so quick it makes me feel slightly cross-eyed with 3D glasses on!

Wasn’t impressed with the scoring on this film either. I was looking forward to some good stuff from Hans Zimmer – I’ve loved his previous work with this franchise. But it just didn’t feel like this film had its own theme.

I hope there’s not a fifth film!
Rating: 2/5

Read on to see the entire list of movies seen this year so far:

49 Movies so far this Year

1. The Horse Whisperer 3/5 (1/1/1)
2. The Informant! 3/5 (09/01/11)
3. The Fighter 4/5 (11/01/11)
4. 127 Hours 5/5 (14/01/11)
5. The Wolfman 3/5 (15/01/11)
6. Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story 4/5 (16/01/11)
7. The King’s Speech 5/5 (19/01/11)
8. The Town 4/5 (20/01/11)
9. Ninja Assassin 2/5 (24/01/11)
10. He’s Just Not That Into You 1/5 (25/01/11)
11. Imagine That 1/5 (27/01/11)
12. Gentlemen Broncos 2/5 (04/02/11)
13. Hachi: A Dog’s Tale 4/5 (06/02/11)
14. Daybreakers 3/5 (12/02/11)
15. The Book of Eli 2/5 (13/02/11)
16. True Grit 4/5 (15/02/11)
17. Red 1/5 (19/02/11)
18. Invictus 3/5 (20/02/11)
19. Coraline 2/5 (28/02/11)
20. Juno 3/5 (02/03/11)
21. Monsters vs. Aliens 1/5 (06/03/11)
22. Jennifer’s Body 2/5 (06/03/11)
23. Rango 4/5 (09/03/11)
24. The Crazies 4/5 (11/03/11)
25. Lakeview Terrace 1/5 (12/03/11)
26. Battle: Los Angeles 3/5 (13/03/11)
27. Submarine 4/5 (14/03/11)
28. The Adjustment Bureau 2/5 (16/03/11)
29. Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief 2/5 (18/03/11)
30. The Happening 1/5 (19/03/11)
31. Sucker Punch 2/5 (02/04/11)
32. Carriers 1/5 (03/04/11)
33. Source Code 4/5 (06/04/11)
34. 3:10 to Yuma 3/5 (09/04/11)
35. Walking Tall 1/5 (12/04/11)
36. Your Highness 3/5 (13/04/11)
37. El Mariachi 3/5 (14/03/11)
38. From Paris With Love 3/5 (15/04/11)
39. Scream 4 3/5 (16/04/11)
40. Hot Tub Time Machine 2/5 (17/04/11)
41. Attack the Block 4/5 (20/04/11)
42. The International 2/5 (23/04/11)
43. Thor 5/5 (25/04/11)
44. Fast & Furious 5: Rio Heist 5/5 (28/04/11)
45. A Beautiful Mind 4/5 (06/05/11)
46. Extract 2/5 (05/05/11)
47. Hanna 4/5 (06/05/11)
48. Catfish 3/5 (07/05/11)
49. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides 2/5 (20/05/11)