Gomorrah: Film #171 of Film 365

Friday 10th August 2012

Director: Matteo Garrone
Year: 2008
Stars: Salvatore Abruzzese, Simone Sacchettino, Francesco Pirozzi, Vincenzo Caso, Anna Sarnelli, Ginafelice Imparato, Toni Servillo

So far, this is the only movie I've managed to watch all month - and it's taken me 10 days to blog about it. Disappointingly, it also wasn't very good. Now I'm on maternity leave and have a bit (well, quite a lot) more spare time I'll have to find some movies I've heard are good to try and make sure August isn't totally wasted! I have to admit, I'm not even entirely sure why this movie got recorded - it's an Italian movie (although it took us a while to figure that out; at points they are definitely speaking French, and sometimes such colloquial Italian I couldn't make out a single word) that I had never really heard of. It must have sounded interesting in the TV guide!

The movie follows five different story strands, all in some way (some more loosely than others) connected to the Italian mob. I have to admit that, ten days later, I probably couldn't tell you what all five story strands are. However, the stories themselves aren't (generally) that bad. The problem came, for me, in trying to understand why they were all in the same movie. I spent the entire movie waiting for the "oh! That's what connects them all!" moment, and it just didn't come.

Yes, all the stories do (tenuously) have the mob connecting them. But beyond that, I don't really understand why Gomorrah isn't five different movies. Or, alternatively, focuses on one of the stories in much more detail. There was clearly enough thought put into each story strand so that this could have worked. Not a bad movie in places, but somehow fails to join the pieces together successfully.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

July 2012 films

Once again, the amount of films I watched in July was pretty rubbish. The amount of time it's taken me to blog about them is even more rubbish. Being that it's already the 20th August, you can probably guess how many movies I've watched this month so far... July did start off a little better than that at least! Here's the full list:

• The Dark Knight Rises (2012) - 3.5 stars
• Transamerica (2005) - 4 stars
• Race to Witch Mountain (2009) - 2.5 stars
• Adulthood (2009) - 3 stars
• Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009) - 4 stars
• St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (2009) - 2.5 stars
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter 3D (2012) - 3.5 stars

There are a lot of pretty average movies in here, which is a shame considering I've only watched 7 in total. Two stand out as notably better than the others though, and these are Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Transamerica. In some ways, it's really hard to pick between them as they are just so different. But I'm going to go with Transamerica as my Film of the Month, because it's so different to most movies. It's memorable, has some great talking points, and some excellent acting. I'd happily recommend this to others, and more than willingly watch it again (not that I wouldn't watch Harry Potter either, of course).

Film not to waste your time on also isn't that easy. Although there are a lot of average movies in here, none of them are real stinkers. As I have to pick, I'm going with St Trinians 2. In fairness, that and Race to Witch Mountain have equal things to recommend them (or not), but I just find St Trinians 2 a little harder to recall. Which suggests it wasn't quite as much fun to watch.

So, on to Film 365 (ha ha ha). Here are the figures: As of 31st July, I had watched 170 of 365 movies (46%), but I was 143 days (about 4 and a half months) behind the deadline.

Film of the Month: Transamerica
Film not to waste your time on: St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold

No of films watched: 170/365
Target no. of Film 365 films to have watched: 365+142

The Dark Knight Rises: Film #170 of Film 365

Friday 27th July 2012

Director: Christopher Nolan
Year: 2012
Stars: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman

I was keen to see this as I had really enjoyed Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, although I was a little unsure about whether or not it could ever compete with these movies - especially considering it is the final movie in the trilogy, and I guessed that a lot of the movie would be all about spectacle. It's also 160 minutes long - something I wasn't sure whether or not I'd be able to handle what with being 7 months pregnant and having some back pain.

Thankfully, the back pain wasn't too bad. I wasn't really wrong about the spectacle, and it doesn't compare with the earlier two films. But then perhaps it never would have been able to. This doesn't make it a bad movie though. Sure, it could probably have been a bit shorter (time drags a little at about 1 hour in), but it's still miles ahead of most super hero movies. The plot is perhaps not as sleek as it could be (the holes aren't gaping, but they are there), but you still care about the characters. And the spectacle is definitely spectacular. Very enjoyable, just not quite up to Nolan's usual standards. But if, at your best, your standards are Memento and Inception, you're aiming pretty high in the first place.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Transamerica: Film #169 of Film 365

Tuesday 24th July 2012

Director: Duncan Tucker
Year: 2005
Stars: Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zegers

I was fairly sure I had never seen this before. My hubby, however, was convinced he had. Ten minutes in, and I knew I hadn't seen this before - I'd remember it. But my hubby remained convinced for the entire movie. Neither of us have any idea when he would have watched it, because we both agreed that it's exactly the sort of movie I'd make him watch, but he'd otherwise probably not bother with.

But bother with it you should, because it's really good. Transamerica is all about Bree (Huffman), a transsexual who discovers she has a son (Zegers) just before she's about to go in for surgery to make her into a woman. The movie follows her journey (both physical and spiritual) as she meets her son, and learns to come to terms with this fact (and also as her son learns to come to terms with this). Bree's tale is told sympathetically, and does a great job of getting you to understand where the characters are coming from. A special mention has to go to Huffman, who does an excellent job of portraying Bree - at one point the emotions she manages to convey, even through massive sunglasses, are incredibly impressive.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Race to Witch Mountain: Film #168 of Film 365

Wednesday 18th July 2012

Director: Andy Fickman
Year: 2009
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig, Carla Gugino, Ciaran Hinds

We currently have 500 Days of Summer, 127 Hours and a bunch of other fairly well regarded movies waiting to be watched. So hubby decided that he'd like to watch Race to Witch Mountain - you know, that well known family fantasy movie starring The Rock (the WWE wrestler turned actor). You mean you haven't heard of it? Or if you have, you'd probably choose to watch a Danny Boyle movie over it? Not us, apparently.

In fairness, Race to Witch Mountain isn't that bad - if you know what to expect. A couple of kids appear in Jack Bruno's (Johnson) cab, and need his help to be protected from the evil US government and get back to their spaceship (yep, you read that right). Cue lots of racing around in a taxi, Johnson beating up the bad guys and general (thankfully, fast paced) action. It's saving grace it's probably it's length- this is a family film, and as such, stays short enough to appeal to the kids. I can handle a tight 1 1/2 hour plot (even if it does have some obvious flaws) - I get more fed up when running times for movies like this go over the 2 hour mark.

If you want an action adventure movie squarely aimed at kids, you probably won't mind this. Otherwise, I hear 127 Hours is quite good. Although I can't say for sure; I still haven't watched it...

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Adulthood: Film #167 of Film 365

Friday 13th July 2012

Director: Noel Clarke
Year: 2008
Stars: Noel Clarke, Scarlett Alice Johnsson, Adam Deacon, Jacob Anderson, Ben Drew, Femi Oyeniran

Having previously watched Kidhulthood, I had pretty high hopes for Adulthood. Unfortunately, it didn't really live up to them. I'm willing to confess that whilst I remember Kidulthood was good, I don't remember the plot that well. Which probably didn't help when watching Adulthood, as it's very definitely a continuation of the same story - albeit set 6 years later.

In Adulthood, (Clarke) has just been released from jail. He just wants to get on with his life, but there are lots of people looking for revenge. So he has to, somehow, deal with this before he can move on. The idea behind Adulthood is fine, but it all feels very moralistic. Characters are painted with broad brush strokes, and seem to be there simply to get a point across. There are very few times when it feels as if a character has a reason for their actions - they are simply there to move the story forward.

Watchable, but very dissapointing after Kidulthood. At times I really found myself wanting to be watching Attack the Block instead.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: Film #166 of Film 365

Thursday 12th July 2012

Director: David Yates
Year: 2009
Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gambon, Jom Broadbent, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Bonnie Wright, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter

We recorded this back on New Years Day, when it was being shown on TV. We did half watch it then, at a friend's house. Having seen it before, I was vaguely aware of what was happening. But having re-watched the rest of the series when they were shown on TV earlier in 2011, I was keen to do the same with the sixth Harry Potter movie. The reason it took so long to get around to doing so was that the movie is nearly 2 and a half hours long - and finding that much time to spare at the moment is no easy task!

I'm glad we finally did find the time though. There's a lot about the sixth movie (and, for that matter, the sixth story) that I didn't really remember. I hadn't forgotten the ending or the broad plot, but most of the details had escaped me. This time round it's (as always) darker than before, with Voldemort (Fiennes) being a very clear, looming threat. Having said that, the story isn't as grand as Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. The focus is firmly back on Harry (Radcliffe), Ron (Grint) and Hermione (Watson) and their relationships - albeit with Harry doing his utmost to help Professor Dumbledore (Gambon) fight back against the Dark Lord.

If you don't like, haven't read the books, or haven't seen the preceeding Harry Potter movies, this probably isn't going to make much sense. But then if that's the case you're probably not planning on watching this anyway. If you are, and have no specific objection to the story, then you'll probably enjoy this. For me, my favourite scenes are those (and there aren't many) between Bellatrix (Bonham Carter) and Snape (Rickman). My only complaint is that there aren't more of them. Thankfully, this improves in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Rating: 4 out of 5

St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold: Film #165 of Film 365

Sunday 8th July 2012

Director: Oliver Parker, Barnaby Thompson
Year: 2009
Stars: Rupert Everett, David Tennant, Colin Firth, Tallulah Riley, Jodie Whittaker, Juno Temple, Tamsin Egerton, Gemma Arterton

Wanting something easy to watch on a Sunday afternoon, this seemed like a good choice. Nothing too taxing, so I wasn't really expecting a lot from it. Which was a good thing, as I didn't get much. It  has a pretty basic plot that is very easy to follow - and one that you're reminded of numerous times in case you didn't catch it the last six times round. It basically involves the St Trinian's girls hunting for treasure to ensure Lord Pomfrey (Tennant) can't get his hands on it.

Other than its simplistic plot, there's nothing really wrong with St Trinian's 2. It's very unmemorable (I'm struggling to remember the plot, even with IMDBs help and numerous reminders during the movie itself, after a week), but it does have its funny moments. Without Camilla (Everett), I'd probably go so far as to say this would be rather dull. Thankfully Everett is in the movie enough to make at least some of it enjoyable - and funny.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (3D): Film #164 of Film 365

Sunday 1st July 2012

Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Year: 2012
Stars: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Rufus Sewell, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Lots of my friends have been rather sceptical about this movie. I, for one, was more than happy to see it. It sounded fun to me. So when my husband and I were looking for a movie to go and see on our wedding anniversary, this one just beat the competition. Although I'll admit that the competition wasn't that strong - it is the middle of the summer, after all. I was mildly surprised to find my husband willing to sit through it. Although his acceptance wavered a little when we discovered we had to watch it in 3D, and it was therefore going to cost us a hideous amount of money (this being a Sunday, not a Wednesday with its Orange 2-4-1 offers).

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter does exactly what it says on the tin. Amazingly, it's adapted from a novel - but it's all about a world where Abraham Lincoln goes off killing vampires. Oh, there's a bit in the middle where he stops and fights slavery (turns out the vampires are responsible for that, too), because doing both at once would be, well, silly. It's all very tongue-in-cheek, and although the movie plays it straight, it must know this. It doesn't try to be anything it isn't. Although the scene with the stampeding horses did have me almost laughing out loud for its sheer ridiculousness...

If you know what you're getting, and are willing to accept it, this is a pretty fun movie. I enjoyed the hour and a half by simply taking the movie for what it was. And the 3D was, for me, surprisingly effective. Sure, all the usual "vampires jumping out at you" tricks are employed, but what I really liked were the early scenes where the 1800s are given a hazy, washed-out summer tone, and the 3D makes the figures seem almost unreal.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (I enjoyed it, but I'm willing to admit that it's not an example of cinema at its best)

June 2012 films

Well, this is going to be easy. I've only watched three movies this month. I think the only other month that's been this quiet is this March. I've been busy! Mostly with more house DIY and house warming parents, plus pregnancy-related appointments and visits... I won't promise things are going to improve either. Here are the movies I have managed to watch:

• Attack the Block (2011) - 4 stars
• The Proposal (2009) - 3 stars
• Dan in Real Life (2007) - 2.5 stars

Film of the Month is so easy. Attack the Block is the only one of these films that I'll even remember in a month's time, let alone want to recommend to anybody. It's original, funny and extremely enjoyable.

Of the other two movies, either could win Film not to waste your time on - although neither are really worthy of that title either. They're both totally forgettable (as proven with Dan in Real Life, which I actually did watch two years ago and then forget about), but not particularly awful. Just very average Hollywood fare. Dan in Real Life just wins the "honour", but it's entirely possible that in two years time I'll re-watch The Proposal and it will score 2.5 stars for being just as un-noteworthy.

And is there even any point in mentioning Film 365? Here are the figures, just in case you want a laugh. I've watched 163 of 365 movies (44%), but I'm 112 days (about 3 and a half months) behind the deadline.

Film of the Month: Attack the Block
Film not to waste your time on: Dan in Real Life

No of films watched: 163/365
Target no. of Film 365 films to have watched: 365+111 

Attack the Block: Film #163 of Film 365

Saturday 30th June 2012

Director: Joe Cornish
Year: 2011
Stars: John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones, Franz Drameh, Simon Howard, Maggie McCarthy

I will admit that I was a little sceptical about watching this. It got really good reviews, and I had wanted to see it since it was released, but it's a film about kids in South London attacking aliens. How good could it really be? Surely it was just going to be, at least in some sense, another alien movie? And can you really make kids living in South London who mug people seem redeemable?

The answers are "pretty damn good actually", "not really" and "yes, as long as you make at least one of them sorry". Attack the Block is as good as the critics said it was. It probably helped that maybe I wasn't expecting something amazing, but I'm not sure even good expectations would have ruined this one. Yes, the basic premise is that some horrible kids from South London are trying to deal with an alien invasion. But every convention is subverted; everything you expect to happen either doesn't, or happens in such a way you didn't expect it in the first place.

The beauty with Attack the Block is that the whole movie is set up knowing you'll expect one thing, then deliberately doing something totally different. And if none of that gets you interested, well, it's funny too. It loses a star simply because I don't think it's the type of movie I'm likely to want to watch over and over again. But I still strongly recommend it.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Proposal: Film #162 of Film 365

Wednesday 27th June 2012

Director: Anne Fletcher
Year: 2009
Stars: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds

I had half a day off work, so figured chilling out and watching a film would be a nice way to spend a couple of hours. As I was on my own, I quite fancied a romantic comedy - and knew we had a fair few of them lurking around, having been recorded and not being things that anybody else would care about watching. I had also wanted to see The Proposal for a while, in a sort of indifferent way.

As with most Hollywood romantic comedies, there's nothing amazing here. Margaret Tate (Bullock) is a Canadian, working as a publisher in the USA, who everybody fears. But she is about to get exported because her visa has run out. So she forces her assistant (Reynolds), who apparently loathes her, to get engaged to her. Can you see where this is going?

I spent a perfectly enjoyable couple of hours watching a very predictable movie that I won't remember in a month's time. The leads (Bullock and Reynolds) are nice enough so that it's not frustrating to watch, doing exactly what you'd expect them to do, exactly when you expect them to do it.

If you like rom coms, this will keep you happy enough. But don't expect anything novel - for that, watch Attack the Block.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Dan in Real Life: Film #161 of Film 365

Sunday 17th June 2012

Director: Peter Hedges
Year: 2007
Stars: Steve Carrell, Juliette Binoche, Dianne Wiest

I was utterly convinced I hadn't seen this before. So, when, in the first five minutes my other half proclaimed that he'd seen this before, I was rather dismissive. Five minutes later, he had me doubting myself. Ten minutes later, I had to concede that he was right. I'd seen this before too. Which is probably a good indicator of how memorable it was first time round.

Not only had I seen this before - I even blogged about it. And my opinion hasn't really changed. It's a totally average, clearly unmemorable movie, with nothing much to recommend it in any way. Unless you like cheesy American romantic comedies.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 (it loses half a star for being so utterly forgettable)

May 2012 films

So, there's good news and there's bad news. If your RSS feed is as clogged up as mine, you'll probably view most of this as good news. The good news is that, other than this post, I'm up-to-date with posts for this blog. The bad news is that I haven't watched a single movie since 15th May - so for over a month now. Which hopefully helps explain why this particular post is half a month late...

I am hoping to get round to watching at least some movies in the near future, as a lot of series we've been watching on TV have now ended (The Big Bang Theory, Touch, Have I Got News For You to name a few). Of course, I may be naive to believe that this means more time to watch other things on TV!

But that's enough about the future, let's take a look at the movies that I watched in May- a grand total of five:

• Desperado (1995) - 4 stars
• Twilight: New Moon (2009) - 4 stars
• Dark Shadows (2012) - 3.5 stars
• A Mighty Heart (2007) -2.5 stars
• The Hunger Games (2012) - 4.5 stars

Thankfully, I really enjoyed the majority of these movies. Which is good news because if I'm only watching five in a month I want to enjoy every single one of them! Admittedly, I knew I was going to enjoy a couple of them because I'd seen them before (Twilight and Desperado). However, neither quite make my Film of the Month. This honour happily, and easily, goes to The Hunger Games. A really unique movie, well adapted from a book I haven't read, which led to long discussions between myself and my husband about the rights, wrongs and general questions of morality the film posed.

Film not to waste your time on is also pretty easy. A Mighty Heart isn't really a bad movie, but it's not especially memorable, rather dull in places, and simply can't compare in any way to any of the other movies on this list - not even to Dark Shadows.

And if you hadn't guessed, Film 365 is doing really badly. And June isn't going to help one little bit - not even if I watch a film a day from now on (which isn't going to happen). I've now watched 160 of 365 movies (43%), but as of the end of May I was 82 days (nearly 3 months...) behind my deadline.

Film of the Month: The Hunger Games
Film not to waste your time on: A Mighty Heart

No of films watched: 160/365
Target no. of Film 365 films to have watched: 365+81

Desperado: Film #160 of Film 365

Tuesday 15th May

Director: Robert Rodriguez
Year: 1995
Stars: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Joaquim de Almeida, Steve Buscemi

Hmm... it’s taken me a while to get around to writing this. A week and a half, in fact. In case you hadn’t guessed, this also means I’ve had no time at all to watch any other movies. Anyway, on to the review.

I’ve loved Desperado for a long time, but it’s also been a while since I’ve watched it. So when I saw that it was being shown on Five USA (not a random channel at all...), I thought it was a good opportunity to re-watch it. Desperado is, loosely, a remake of the Spanish movie El Mariachi. Whilst El Mariachi is also good, I actually prefer Desperado. I’ve always been something of a Rodriguez fan (my first introduction to him was watching From Dusk to Dawn- still a favourite- long before I probably should have done); and it still annoys me that I’ve not yet managed to see The Grindhouse movies.

Desperado is all about El Mariachi (Banderas), a man who used to be a mariachi but is now out for revenge after his lover was killed. We don’t really know much about the person who killed his lover until the end of the movie, except for the fact that his name is Bucho. A typical Rodriguez movie, this is very stylised – although also very obviously filmed in the 1990s. The movie is definitely dated, but it’s still a fun watch. What’s not to like when you have guns disguised as guitars, Antonio Banderas and Rodriguez directing? Maybe it’s just me.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Twilight: New Moon: Film #159 of Film 365

Sunday 13th May 2012

Director: Chris Weitz
Year: 2009
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Anna Kendrick, Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning

Yes, I've seen this before. And yes, I've blogged about it before - twice. Back in October 2011 and November 2011. I'm including it here though because I think it's a valid contribution to my 365 films.

I'm not going to go over the plot or things I've said previously again, but I will say that I still enjoyed New Moon. It's still not Twilight, and never will be, but it is enjoyable. It was also great to be able to watch it totally uninterrupted on a relaxing Sunday evening.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Dark Shadows: Film #158 of Film 365

Friday 11th May 2012

Director: Tim Burton
Year: 2012
Stars: Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Bella Heathcote, Chloe Grace Moretz, Gulliver McGrath, Jonny Lee Miller

If you like Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, gothic movies and schlock, the likelihood is that you'll enjoy Dark Shadows. I'm a pretty big fan of all of the above, so wasn't going to let the opportunity to see this movie go by unnoticed.

Barnabas Collins (Depp) is a 200 year old vampire. He was created back in the late 1700s by an jealous ex-lover (Green), and was been buried alive not longer after he became a vampire. He is dug up by a construction crew in the early 1970s - which is when the majority of Dark Shadows is set.

Dark Shadows is a typical Burton gothic movie in many senses, and this makes it all quite enjoyable. However, the movie isn't without its flaws. The storyline is based on a old 1970s US TV show that, apparently, nobody except Burton and Depp ever watched. And my guess is that it was quite bad.

Elements of the plot in Dark Shadows don't really make that much sense - I'm still confused over exactly who Victoria Winters (Heathcote) really is. Whether that's the fault of the TV show or the movie I'm not entirely sure, but there are aspects to Dark Shadows that continue to frustrate me a little. But as long as you know what you're getting (and are a fan of that sort of thing), you'll probably be happy enough.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

A Mighty Heart: Film # 157 of Film 365

Wednesday 9th May 2012

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Year: 2007
Stars: Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Archie Panjabi

This started out fairly well. Futterman plays Danny Pearl, a journalist who is in Pakistan with his pregnant wife. About twenty minutes into the movie, he is kidnapped by terrorists. The first half an hour shows great promise and I thought I might be in for a well-told, enjoyable movie.

The next hour follows Dan's wife Mariane (Jolie), and the group of people who try to help her find her husband, work out why he has been kidnapped, and get him released. And that's all that happens. Now, I know this is a true story, and more than once I felt as if I should really care more than I did- but for me the film just dragged.

In the final half an hour, we find out what has happened to Danny. I know I'm meant to care, and care a lot more than I did. I can certainly empathise and feel the way I'm meant to - but that's because I know this is a true story, not because the film made me feel this way. Somehow I just expected more.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

The Hunger Games: Film #156 of Film 365

Wednesday 2nd May 2012

Director: Gary Ross
Year: 2012
Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Elizabeth Banks, Toby Jones,  Liam Hemsworth

Being a fan of the Twilight series (don't let this put you off, I also love Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd, Sideways, Psycho and Stand by Me), I had heard quite a lot about The Hunger Games. It's certainly marketed at the same "young adult" audience- whether or not that is actually the type of person who will go and watch it. I was persuaded it was worth giving a try when every comment I heard about it was a positive one- from Twilight fans, critics and friends who had never read the books alike.

Not having read the books myself, I can't compare it to the novel. But basing my opinion purely on the movie, this is very, very enjoyable. You don't need any prior knowledge of the books to understand the story (something that the later Twilight films admittedly lack), and the way it has been filmed makes for a really enjoyable movie experience.

I was a little bit unsure about the plot at first - it's basically exactly the same premise as Battle Royale (put a group of teenagers together in a forest and get them to kill one another). However, the resulting movies are very, very different. Whilst Battle Royale is unashamedly a horror movie, The Hunger Games is much more political. Although the politics are, for the most part, in the (albeit very obvious) background here, they clearly play a much greater part in the subsequent novels.

Every thing about The Hunger Games has been done to make you think about what's happening. At one point I found myself thinking about how effectively sound was being used to make a point. But then I thought "but so are the colours, and the images, and the narrative". Definitely worth two hours of your time, and you may well want to watch it again.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

April 2012 films

April has been a fairly quiet month movie-wise - but still busier than March! Not that that takes much. I've watched 7 films in total:

• The Love Letter (2009) - 1 star
• Sex and the City (2008) - 1 star
• Ghost Town (2008) - 3 stars
• Frost/ Nixon (2008) - 3 stars
• Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) - 3 stars
• Beowulf (2007) - 3.5 stars
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) - 2.5 stars

Of the films I have watched, the majority of them have been fairly mediocre. A couple of them have been actively bad. Unfortunately, there are no stand-out movies here at all.

Film of the Month is fairly easy - not because there's an especially good movie on the list, but because one is simply better than all the others. Beowulf was a lot better than I was expecting, and whilst it's never going to be a movie that makes my 2012 Top Ten Films of the Year, it was an enjoyable, fun watch.

Film not to waste your time on is actually much harder. There are two real stinkers here - Sex and the City and The Love Letter. Whilst both of these could easily make my 2012 Top Ten Worst Films of the Year, The Love Letter just wins this (or loses, if you prefer). Whilst Sex and the City is truly, truly awful, and worse, morally ambiguous, The Love Letter is also awful, but in addition it is dull and entirely forgettable. Sex and the City might have a lot of problems, but at least it's unforgettable. Although not in a good way.

Looking back at my March Film not to waste your time on (Pirates! In an adventure with Scientists!) I feel quite sad. I wish I had watched Sex and the City in March and The Love Letter in April so I could have two properly bad films not to waste your time on. It's all so unfair on Pirates!

Once again, Film 365 has suffered this month. I've watched 155 of 365 movies (42%), but am now 51 days behind my deadline.

Film of the Month: Beowulf
Film not to waste your time on: The Love Letter

No of films watched: 155/365
Target no. of Film 365 films to have watched: 365+51