I’ve been letting Film Fight slide a little, but it’s time to get back to it. February was almost five months ago, but was exceptionally strong, with six films that were all (spoiler!) really good. Not a bad one in the bunch, but what will win?

First up, Inside Llewyn Davis is relatively restrained for a Coen Brothers movie, showing life for a talented but struggling musician in the 1960’s folk scene. The titular character’s problems are mostly of his own making, finding himself unable to progress personally or artistically. The soundtrack is excellent throughout, the performances and characters are spot on, and the whole thing looks just right. The divisive meta ending aside, this is a strong movie. (See my Inside Llewyn Davis Twitter review).

Dallas Buyers Club is the sad story of a man who finds out he has AIDS and is given 30 days to live. Struggling to come to terms with his death sentence, he has to start putting aside his prejudices and old life in order to survive. Touching, sad, and wonderfully acted, this is another excellent performance by Matthew McConaughey; an actor on a great run of late. Very good. (See my Dallas Buyers Club Twitter review).

The Lego Movie is exactly what you might hope for: a funny, daft and often self-deprecating adventure aimed at kids, but with more than a few nods to the older audience members. The original characters are all good enough, but it’s the weird takes on existing characters (like Batman) that really shine. It’s got a good message, and manages to be both fun and well-considered. (See my Lego Movie Twitter review).

Her is about a lonely, quiet man who finally finds love again. To give it the twist you’d expect from a Spike Jonze film, his new partner is the artificial intelligence that he installs on his computer to put his life in order. The film follows their romance, as a commentary on the ever-changing nature of relationships from new love to drifting apart, but set against the question of what it means to be human. Jonze doesn’t let the big ideas get in the way of the story, as you’ll find yourself rapt from start to finish. A very good movie. (See my Her Twitter review).

Richard Ayoade’s second feature film, The Double, is about a man whose small life starts to fall apart when he meets his more successful doppelgänger. Set against a surreal Kafkan bureaucracy that makes the whole thing feel weird, we see the lead unravel scene-by-scene. Jesse Eisenberg does a great job as both the mild and meek character, and his charismatically aggressive double. There are no big laughs, but that’s fine: the humour is all in the tension. Funny. (See my The Double Twitter review).

Finally, Only Lovers Left Alive is about a vampire who is growing weary with immortality, especially with the humans he sees as ruining the planet. When his distant wife comes to comfort him, the film really starts. Between the cinematography, editing, and music, the film has a weirdly hypnotic feel that gives the comfortable romance a surprising warmth. This does, however, mean that the few dodgy lines of dialogue are oddly jarring, pulling you out of the trance-like mood. Still, both Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton are excellent, with a great supporting cast around them. A little odd, but definitely worth seeing. (See my Only Lovers Left Alive Twitter review).

The winner? Well, this is the toughest month in a very long time, but I think the contrast of scope and intimacy in Her being handled so well puts it ahead.

A new year, a new start for Film Fight. It’s been a busy start to the year so this is coming quite late. Three films for January:

First up, American Hustle has the kind of cast that you know you’re not going to have to worry about. They’ll turn in great performances and nail whatever you throw at them. That’s precisely what happens here, save for a few comically over-the-top moments. Leaving the cast aside, then, we’re left with a wildly unevenly paced film. At times, we get a barrage of clips, being narrated by the leads, at other times nothing much happens for 15 minutes. Given the lengthy runtime, this starts to become problematic. An entertaining film, with fun performances, but not a classic.  (See my American Hustle Twitter review).

Similarly, 12 Years A Slave has some of the most stunning performances of the Oscar season. Chiwetel Ejiofor, as the titular slave, is as fantastic when he’s trying to keep his head down as when he’s being brutalised by one of his masters. Likewise, Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of the cotton plantation owner is shocking and unnerving; bringing a genuinely frightening presence. We see the same level of performance from the rest of the cast, except for one minor but pivotal role that seemed quite out of place. It’s tough to watch the lingering, violent shots but it’s certainly worthwhile. An excellent film. (See my 12 Years A Slave Twitter review).

Finally, The Wolf of Wall Street is a fantastic, comic take on some of the worst excesses that came out of the world of stockbrokers. Based on a true story, it follows a mans rise from nobody to head of his own stockbroking firm; a position he gets to through lying, stealing and cheating, while indulging in every excess imaginable. The 18 rating on the film is well-deserved, given the copious sex and drug-taking scenes that make up the bulk of the film. The film is entertaining with a wonderful cast, but at three hours is vastly longer than it needs to be, knocking at least half an hour off would lose nothing of substance. Fun. (See my Wolf of Wall Street Twitter review).

It’ll be no surprise to say that 12 Years A Slave is the first winner of the year.

Twelve film fights later and we’ve got another finale. As always, my caveat from earlier years still applies: Film Fight is done in a knock-out style and, as such, only picks my favourite film of the year; there are no guarantees about second place.

First up, the films that were good but that did not win their month i.e. the honourable mentions:

• Lincoln
• Zero Dark Thirty
• Robot and Frank
• Compliance
• Trance
• Mud
• The Iceman
• World War Z
• This Is The End
• The East
• The World’s End
• Monster’s University
• Kick-Ass 2
• Filth
• How I Live Now
• Machete Kills
• Captain Phillips
• Anchorman 2

Then the monthly winners:

• January: Django Unchained
• February: Wreck-It Ralph
• March: Cloud Atlas
• April: The Place Beyond the Pines
• May: Upstream Color
• June: Much Ado About Nothing
• July: Pacific Rim
• August: Lovelace
• September: The Way, Way Back
• October: Prisoners
• November: Gravity
• December: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The winners, as a whole, don’t seem quite as high-quality as some other years, but there are some absolutely fantastic films in there. The Place Beyond the Pines is a powerful look at privilege and family ties. Upstream Color is a wonderfully hypnotic piece of story telling that pulls off its dreamy feel far better than similar films. In Pacific Rim we have the monster movie done well: the story is nonsense but the fights are fun and have weight, despite being CG. Lovelace has two of the best lead performances of the year. While Gravity is spectacular visual storytelling, gripping throughout.

The winner, though, as predicted back in June, is Joss Whedon’s take on Much Ado About Nothing. It’s suitably breezy, funny, delightful, wonderfully shot, and rammed full of excellent performances. This is an absolute masterclass on making Shakespeare feel relevant today, without dumbing down the source material. A well-deserved win.

A very quiet December, with only two films viewed.

First up, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is that rare sequel that manages to be confidently better than the original in almost every regard. The pacing of the film is excellent, moving through months of propaganda in minutes without feeling rushed before settling into a slower, but still lively, pace for the main events. It’s a little darker, the situation unravels a little more and, most importantly, I actually cared about what happened to most of the characters by the end; something I can’t really say about the original. The ending marks it very much as the middle chapter of the series, but it had done enough by that point that a cliff-hanger ending didn’t seem unfair. Well worth seeing. (See my The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Twitter review).

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, on the other hand, was never going to live up to the original, which was likely my most watched comedy of the preceeding ten years. Let’s be clear: it’s a good comedy, better than most of the competition, and with some incredibly funny moments (Doby!). In fact, for the first hour it seems like it might just pull off getting into the same league as the original. Sadly, it begins retreading the same plot arc as the original, and the same jokes. While the supporting cast are still great (Brick is a particular highlight), it’s Ron Burgundy that seems a little off. Rather than being the out-of-time, dumb, but loveable anchorman, he is played as an amped-up-to-eleven version of the original; a louder, pantomine parody. Again, it’s a good film, it’s funny, but it’s not a classic. (See my Anchorman 2 Twitter review).

The final monthly winner for 2013, then, is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. An unexpectedly fun sequel.

For the November Film Fight, we have 4 films.

First up, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa is an attempt to take the over-the-top pranks of Jackass and try to cram them into a story, with mixed success. It plays out in a similar fashion to much of Sascha Baron Cohen’s work, like Borat or Bruno: unsuspecting members of the public play against the characters in ridiculous situations to see how they react. It’s dumb and mean-spirited humour of the lowest form, albeit done very well. This film won’t change your mind about Johnny Knoxville and his brand of humour, but if you already find it funny then this is a pretty good example of the genre. (See my Bad Grandpa Twitter review).

Captain Phillips seems bizarrely tone-deaf. At times, the story of a tanker captain taken hostage by Somali pirates is remarkably tense and, despite knowing the ending, you can’t help but be drawn in by every twist. Hanks puts in his usual, down-to-Earth and absolutely spot-on performance, with no surprises, with the Somali pirates coming across with jagged believability. However, at other times, it goes way too far in one direction or another. The opening with Catherine Keener is so underplayed that no-one appears to be making any effort. Contrast that with the many Oscar-baiting moments later, and you have a film that, while very good on the whole, can’t seem to decide what to do with itself. (See my Captain Phillips Twitter review).

The next entry in Marvel’s cinematic universe is Thor: The Dark World. The lead character isn’t the most cerebral in Marvel’s canon, and that is fully on display here. Expect the usual “smash, drink and nobility” sentiments wrapped around a plot where Thor saves everyone from world-ending doom. So, nothing new. That’s not to say it’s bad. Thor is fun and dumb, and I’m not sure anything else would work. Loki is as great as ever, playing the meddlesome brother, but the main bad guy, Malekith, is so generic that you wonder why they brought in as great an actor as Christopher Ecclestone to do the part. The film, then, is ultimately fun and fine, but you’ve seen it many times before. (See my Thor: The Dark World Twitter review).

Finally, Gravity is Alfonso Cuaron’s way of following up the his 2006 Film Fight finalist, Children of Men. It is an astounding piece of film that, I believe, cannot be done full justice in a home-viewing setting. The 3D IMAX screenings draw you in better than anything else I’ve seen in the format, with the eye-filling frames giving you nowhere to look for respite. The story itself is a little saccharine at times, but that’s largely beside the point. The film is a journey that mixes moments of eerie calm with uncontrolled frantic action. I don’t want to say too much about the content, other than it’s a thrilling movie, with a great lead performance and great support. Definitely see this in as big a format as you can. (See my Gravity Twitter review).

The winner for November is Gravity, a film that was worth waiting seven years to see.