It was a bit of a quiet month for me at the cinema, despite a lot of films that looked like they might be good being released. I only saw two films…

Youth in Revolt is a Michael Cera film, which should set up a number of expectations for it. You expect it to be a cute, indie-comedy about a geeky kid who has to find confidence to get the girl, or some other variation on the theme. The first act plays straight into this and is fairly weak for it. The middle, however, is substantially better as the lead character defers to his maniac alter-ego. Sadly, even this pretty funny section is ruined somewhat by the fact that 90% of it is in the trailer. While the ending isn’t as strong, it’s a fine finish to a watchable, but not great, movie. (Read my Youth in Revolt Twitter review).

A Single Man is a fairly straight-forward and somewhat predictable story of living with grief, through the eyes of someone who cannot allow themselves to express their feelings. The direction here is solid, bringing memories of Kubrick’s shorter shots; dressing tables, desks, and lived-in spaces giving the feel of the characters in a few short seconds. Colin Firth puts in a fantastic performance as the lead, wavering between having a breakdown at any moment and keeping a stiff upper-lip. A very good film overall. (Read my A Single Man Twitter review).

While there wasn’t much in the way of competition, A Single Man is a well-deservied winner.

Another year, and another fresh film fight. As always, January was a tough month, with lots of pretty strong competition (usually the Oscar wannabes are released around this time of year). To get us started, there are 6 films this month.

First up is Robert Downey Jr. in a role that he really wasn’t born to play: Sherlock Holmes. Guy Ritchie gives us an interesting take on the classic detective. His typically non-linear storytelling is used to great effect to explain how the master detective has reached his conclusions, and is particularly good when he’s sizing up opponents in fights, slowly and methodically showing how he’s going to break down their defences. Why this particular story mechanic is dropped relatively early in the film is beyond me, because it’s one of the strongest. Less good is the script: a fairly poor mishmash of ideas, ranging from secret societies, magic, steampunk and master villians. It doesn’t particularly fit into the Sherlock Holmes mythos, and doesn’t readily establish itself as a new take. It’s a pretty mediocre action film, that’s also trying to be a comedy. It fails to do anything particularly well. Not recommended.  (Read my Sherlock Holmes Twitter review).

Daybreakers is a surprisingly watchable, but not great, film. It deftly manages to build up its world, quickly, quietly and effectively, and moves on with the story it has to tell. This is a world where an infection has caused the vampires to take over and hunt down the humans. The vampires, however, have over-extended and food is becoming scarce. Queue a story about diminishing food supplies, the folly of rapid and mindless expansion, and a lot of gore. That’s what saves this film: the tongue-in-cheek bloodbath we’re treated with visually, paired with some slightly cheesy lines. The film would’ve been better had it been more over-the-top. As it stands, Daybreakers is a decent action movie, but not a great one. (Read my Daybreaks Twitter review).

The Road is the almost resolutely bleak, yet absolutely compelling. The primary narrative follows a father and son travelling through a post-apocalyptic world (what happened is never explained), as they encounter endless difficulties and enemies. What starts as trying to protect his son soon becomes a desperate paranoia, as the father becomes wary of everyone they met, and slowly loses his way. Several scenes are horrifyingly blunt about the lengths the father will go to to ensure they don’t become food for the more cannibalistic elements, and Viggo Mortensen does a fantastic job of showing the slow decay that takes a grip of him. While the ending ties things up a little too neatly, the rest of the film is very well done. A must see. (Read my The Road Twitter review).

Not many people would make a comedy about firing people, but Jason Reitman has done just that with Up in the Air. The core conceit gives way to an inspection of the main character’s choices in life at just the right time, showing him up to be a willing outcast and seeing if those choices are right. While it does veer dangerously close to schmaltzy in places, it always manages to pull away by being brutally honest elsewhere. It’s not the funniest comedy, nor the best character piece, but both halves combine to make a good, solid movie. (Read my Up in the Air Twitter review).

A Prophet is a very interesting French film, a fairly gritty take on a prison drama. Malik begins as a young, somewhat naive hoodlum who goes to jail and, over the course of the film, becomes warped by his environment and the things he needs to do to survive. It doesn’t pull many punches as he schemes his way further up the criminal ladder. It’s well-structured and well-paced, being lent real weight by the very natural performances. While the scene in the middle where they both use the title and throw around a dead deer are puzzlingly unnecessary (and in poor taste), the rest of the film is very well done. (Read my A Prophet Twitter review).

Finally, Precious is a fairly harrowing story of bullying, abusive upbringings and never thinking you can make something of yourself. While, at times, it turns things around a little too neatly, the main plot-line is equally engaging and chilling. Mo’Nique puts in an Oscar worthy performance as the abusive mother, handling a fairly dicey subject with a great believability. It’s not easy to watch, but it is worthwhile. A powerful film. (Read my Precious Twitter review).

And the winner? It was a close-run thing between Precious, The Road and A Prophet, but I think The Road takes it in the end. Another great January for film.

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 non-finalists that deserve a nod:

• Slumdog Millionaire
• Milk
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Anvil: The Story of Anvil
• Monsters Vs. Aliens
• Star Trek
• Antichrist
• Mesrine: Killer Instinct
• Zombieland
• Up
• Where The Wild Things Are

And then the monthly finalists:

• January: The Wrestler
• February: Revolutionary Road
• March: Bronson
• April: In The Loop
• May: Synecdoche, New York
• June: The Hangover
• July: Moon
• August: Inglourious Basterds
• September: District 9
• October: Fantastic Mr. Fox
• November: A Serious Man
• December: Nowhere Boy

Last year, it was very easy to give the title to There Will Be Blood (despite a good effort from No Country For Old Men), but this year the finalists are almost all fantastic films; The Hangover being the only one that slid through in a weak month.

I don’t know if I could pick a bronze medallist this year, the pack is so tight, but the silver (almost gold) goes to Darren Aronofsky’s fantastic movie, The Wrestler. It’s dark, and gritty, and will leave you a little sadder, but only because it’s such an excellent movie. An absolute must-see.

The winner, however, is Synecdoche, New York. Charlie Kaufmann’s film is so rich with imagery, imagination and an incredible spectrum of emotions that it can’t help but be an amazing film, in the truest sense of that word. It’s an instant classic, in my book.

The last month of the year, and the final five films…

First up, The Men Who Stare At Goats tries to be an oddball tale about the forming of an army unit who are training in psychic warfare. Despite a fairly big name cast (George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, and Ewan Macgregor), it never really manages to capitalise on what it has. It’s funny in places, but largely inconsistent. It’s merely an okay film. (See my Men Who Stare At Goats Twitter review).

Spike Jonze is well-known for his vivid imagination, so there’s probably no-one better placed to turn Where The Wild Things Are into a movie. Rather than do a direct adaptation, which would be incredibly short, Jonze has focussed on telling a story about the problems people often face in childhood. It’s very cute and sweet in many places, with a tiny hint of menace streaked through a large portion. He expertly moves the protagonist, Max, through his journey, showing us a wide-range of beautiful moments and difficult challenges. The lead, Max Records, does an excellent job. Good entertainment.  (See my Where The Wild Things Are Twitter review).

Doing a biopic of John Lennon’s life you might focus on his success and admiration as a fascinating musician. Nowhere Boy instead focusses on his formative teenage years to great effect. Seeing the legendary figure as a troubled teen was a good choice for a screen play, and it’s handled very well. Given his abandonment as a child, and his subsequent reconnection with his mother a decade or so later, we get to see a fairly turbulent time in his life that seems to have shaped him. The film has several very powerful scenes, and manages to draw a fairly detailed picture of Lennon’s early years. Very good.   (See my Nowhere Boy Twitter review).

Avatar is the film that has been in the making for a dozen years according to director, James Cameron. Sadly, very few of those years have been spent on the story, which is somewhat flimsy and you have seen before. The character development is relatively meek, and most of the film lacks any real depth. It does have a message which, while delivered a little heavy-handedly, is worthwhile: both that we should be conserving the world’s culture and the environment in which we live. Avatar is, however, a good, mindless, action film. The effects (in 3D) are well-done, and some of the battle sequences are suitably epic and fun. If you want something fun that you don’t have to think about, this is your movie. It’s entertaining, but ultimately nothing special. (See my Avatar Twitter review).

Finally, Humpday is about two friends, an artist and an apparently average Joe, who decide to make an art film of themselves having sex, for various reasons. It’s shot in a natural, almost documentary style; managing to be simultaneously amusing and uncomfortable as they get closer to the filming. The tension throughout is well-pitched, particularly between the “average” guy and his wife. Some great performances make this film, even if the ending is a little abrupt. (See my Humpday Twitter review).

The winner this month is Nowhere Boy for an emotional and affecting biopic that perfectly captures an important time in a young man’s life.

Frequent readers will have noticed a fairly large upturn in the number of posts I’ve been making recently. For the last year or so, I’ve averaged around 1-2 posts a month, which is a fairly low amount.

Separately, for a few years now, I’ve wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo, where, in the month of November, you’re expected to write an entire novel. Now, I’m realistic enough to know that I wouldn’t make enough time to do that this year. So I wanted to do something else instead, much smaller scale.

I opted to try and write a post each day for the month of November. Obviously, that’s a lot less than writing a novel, but I felt that it was do-able.

As I’m writing this, the last post for November, I have no idea whether or not I managed it (this is being written at least a week early, and then scheduled to publish last thing on the 30th). Whether I did or not, I’ve enjoyed it so far. There have been a number of items sitting waiting to get written for a while, without any pressure to actually do so.

While I am absolutely not aiming to keep this rate up, I do have something of a plan to publish a number of other items over the coming weeks. Hopefully, that’ll pan out okay and we won’t get back to that abysmal rate before this month.

Anyway, apologies for some of the lower quality items you’ve seen (I should not write early in the morning), I’ll be aiming to make everything from here a lot higher quality.

UPDATE: Turns out I did manage it. Nice.