Just three films in April’s Film Fight…

First up, The Kid With A Bike is a missed opportunity. It tells the story of a small boy who has been abandoned by his family, for reasons that he doesn’t really understand. It’s about him coming to terms with the anger he feels, the difficultly he has in making new relationships, and the mistakes he makes. What should be a sad piece (possibly with a hopeful ending), doesn’t do the subject any justice. Through failings in pace, dialogue, and direction, it fails to bring any weight to the boy’s situation. We end up with a smattering of events without the feeling of any deep consequence. A shame. (See my The Kid With A Bike Twitter review).

Sean Penn finds a role that is surprising even for a seasoned character actor like himself in This Must Be The Place. Penn plays a fragile and quiet goth rocker, coming to terms with the death of his estranged father while coming to some realisations about the emptiness of his life. Penn’s performance is, as always, something to behold. For a man who has portrayed so many strongly driven characters, it’s eye-opening to see him play someone so meek. Sadly, the rest of the film does not live up to the lead: it’s a slow, meandering slog where not enough happens over far too long a period. It’s difficult to watch, not due to the subject, but simply because it is largely bereft of worthwhile content. (See my This Must Be The Place Twitter review).

Finally, The Cabin In The Woods has taken years to finally make it to the screen, and it has been worth the wait. It’s in that most troublesome group of films to review; in which any commentary could ruin the first watch, which would be a shame even though it will undoubtedly stand up to many repeated viewings. What can I say? It’s ostensibly a horror film that is about horror films, but it’s also so much more. It’s been put together with craft, style and wit into a package which we haven’t seen before in many years. I’ll say no more other than to say it is excellent. Definitely see this film. (See my The Cabin In The Woods Twitter review).

As should be clear, The Cabin In The Woods is the clear winner for April.

March sees just three films reviewed…

First up, In Darkness deals with a Polish sewer worker using his knowledge of the passages under his city to hide Jews from persecution, for a price. As you can imagine, living in a sewer has a great physical cost and the film shows many horrible moments. However, the film really fails to bring any weight or insight to the tragedies. It fails to make any deep emotional connection. Exactly how or why it failed, I am not sure, but I know this film has been done better before this. Disappointing. (See my In Darkness Twitter review).

Having not read the books and going in with very little knowledge, The Hunger Games was a relatively pleasant surprise. It has serious pacing issues, showing far too much of the story before the titular games and thereby compressing the more important acts to a greater extent than necessary. That said, we do get quite a vivid picture of the world the games are set in, and are left with no doubts about the inequalities in the society presented. For the teen fiction genre, this stands out as quite an enjoyable watch. (See my The Hunger Games Twitter review).

Finally, 21 Jump Street was an excellent surprise. Where I expected yet another formulaic US comedy with Jonah Hill, I actually got something of a classic. It’s just dumb enough to be funny without pandering, it’s self-aware without being groan-worthy, and it’s ridiculous enough to pull in the big laughs without being overly weird. It’s pacy, it tries mixing in a lot of different styles of comedy, and is, most importantly, amusing from start to finish. The funniest film I’ve seen in a long time. (See my 21 Jump Street Twitter review).

The winner for March is 21 Jump Street. The Hunger Games were good, but this comedy was better.

February’s Film Fight only has two films in it…

First up is A Dangerous Method, the story of how the relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, as well as an inappropriate relationship with a patient, shaped the early days of psychoanalysis. Despite some scenes of manic behaviour from Keira Knightley and Vincent Cassel, the strained friendship at the heart of the film just isn’t very interesting. Both men are played in an extremely cold and detached manner, reflecting the analytical nature at the heart of their work. While this may be accurate (I don’t know if it is), it certainly doesn’t make for interesting viewing. As a whole, the film was largely uneventful and dull. Disappointing. (See my A Dangerous Method Twitter review).

Carnage is, at times, amusing and kept interesting by a great cast selection. The four principal actors manage to keep the drama and comedy finally balanced, coming back at each other with the timing that such a play requires. The downside is that the film is very obviously that: a play. By sticking to the conventions of the medium, rather than adapting for film, it has more off-putting stage contrivances than are needed; when the characters start to get drunk within minutes of starting to drink, for example. On a stage, we accept these shortcuts as necessary for putting on the production. On film, they just seem a little lazy. Decent. (See my Carnage Twitter review).

While neither film was great, I think the winner was clearly Carnage.

A relatively quiet January for once, with just three films…

First up, J. Edgar is about the personal life (or lack thereof) of former FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover. As well as recalling some of his deeds (and exaggerations about said deeds), it goes to great lengths to show what kind of man he was and why. Paranoid, extremely driven, shaped by his domineering mother, and lacking much in the way of a social life, it’s a sobering picture. Leonardo Dicaprio does an excellent job in the lead role, but is often left working with material that seems extraneous. The final cut is overlong, largely because it remains relatively unfocussed. Many aspects could have easily been removed and a tighter film made. Good, but badly needs editing down. (See my J. Edgar Twitter review).

The Sitter is a pretty standard American comedy: a man-boy takes on more than he can/should handle for selfish reasons, and arrives in increasingly farcical situations. There’s nothing surprising or shocking here, but it does manage some good laughs, even if it feels like some of the gross-out moments are shoe-horned in. Sam Rockwell stands out as an unhinged drug dealer, but even he starts to wear a little by the end. Funny, but probably exactly what you expect. (See my The Sitter Twitter review).

Finally, Haywire is a spy film with all the usual genre tropes like, double-crosses and a bunch of international locations. The story itself isn’t particularly interesting or well told, and the acting from leading lady, Gina Carano, is pretty poor. That said, the one thing it does surprisingly well is the fight scenes. Not only is Carano convincing when she’s beating up everyone, as you might expect from a former fighter, the direction favours clean and clear shots. No handycam shaking or impossible to follow shots; everything here is about clarity, and it does sacrifice any energy or visual impact to do so. Not a classic, by any means, but the action scenes make it perfectly watchable. (See my Haywire Twitter review).

The winner for January was tough to pick, as none of the films blew me away, but I think J. Edgar was the best. It’s certainly the film I’d most like to see again.

Another year, another bunch of film reviews. What was the best of the lot? Settle down and read on to find out.

As always my caveat from previous years still apply: Film Fight is a knock-out tournament and, as such, will only select my favourite film. It makes no guarantees about any other place.

First, the films that were good but did not win their month:

• The King’s Speech
• Blue Valentine
• 127 Hours
• NEDs
• Rango
• Cedar Rapids
• Attack The Block
• The Tree of Life
• Beginners
• Horrible Bosses
• Super 8
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• Warrior
• The Ides of March
• Snowtown

Now, the monthly winners:

• January: Black Swan
• February: The Fighter
• March: Submarine
• April: Source Code
• May: 13 Assassins
• June: Senna
• July: Cell 211
• August: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
• September: Drive
• October: Red State
• November: We Need To Talk About Kevin
• December: Another Earth

As you can see, there are some great films that didn’t make it through because of a tough month. That said, there’s little slack in the monthly winners. August is probably the weakest of the bunch, but that’s a pretty good average.

Of all the years I’ve done this, I think this year has the most serious contenders. There are at least 5 of those 12 that I’d consider as film of the year worthy, and several more just outside that bracket. Rather than trying to place them all, as I did last year, let me just talk about them in their release order, and figure out a winner at the end.

I’ve long been a fan of Darren Aronofsky’s work, which often picks dark and difficult subjects. It’s probably no surprise, then, that Black Swan has made this list. It’s a strange film, in which reality and what passes for reality to the central character are constantly shifting as she destroys herself to pursue her art. It’s difficult to sell ballet to the masses, but Aronofsky does an excellent job.

One of the few foreign language films I saw in the cinema this year, Cell 211 was a bit of a surprise. I expected it to be an interesting prison drama/action film, and it was, but it was so much more. Following the first day of a guard in a prison, we see the worst of the prison system, and how it changes people. Sure, it does this in a physically violent manner, but just as often we see it in the menace around the lead. Where lesser films would stop, Cell 211 boldly goes further and further. A gripping movie.

Ryan Gosling has really come into his own in recent years. He could take the easy money and churn out some Hollywood action drivel, and become a bigger mainstream success, but instead he’s focussed on making great movies. Drive is his best to date. Driving movies have been out of vogue recently, nitro-fuelled nonsense like Fast and Furious aside, so it’s good to see a movie with driving at its heart. It does it scene setting slowly, building a world in which the calmness of the lead is as unsettling as the over-the-top brutality of the criminals. At times, it’s got a magical quality, like the neon tinged city moving to the astounding soundtrack. This is how you do action: build a compelling lead, a tragic situation, paint it with unique touches, and put them all at odds.

We Need To Talk About Kevin, meanwhile, is like waking from a nightmare. A reasonable portrayal, for once, of the behaviours of a psychopath: a facade of charisma, masking a lack of empathy. It’s extremely difficult to watch, knowing early on what is going to happen, but the constant flips in direction keep pulling you through the difficult narrative. Dark, but very worthwhile.

Finally, Another Earth is full of a tragic beauty. It’s bittersweet, with a haunting soundtrack that pulls you through. I’m going to say the least about this just now, as I wrote my review for it just yesterday. It’s an exceptional film with so very little wrong with it as to not be worth mentioning.

So, a very difficult year. The winner is Drive. It’s an action film like no other, a tragic love story in some ways, a western made through a neon veil. A very well deserved win.