In the past year (or more) , I have been hopeless at keeping up with this blog – I watch far more films than I have the time to review properly and therefore keeping regular posts going falls by the wayside. And let’s be fair, it’s far quicker (and more fun I have to admit) to watch films than to write about them. Or at least to write about them in a witty, articulate and intelligent style. I live in hope.

So, here are all the films I have watched at the cinema in the last year and a bit (that I haven’t already reviewed) and my thoughts on them.

An Education – warm and clever, well acted, well scripted (no surprise being penned by the brilliant Nick Hornby), intelligent. Carey Mulligan is fantastic and Alfred Molina stole my heart as the irritable father. MMMM

Green Zone – solid action thriller about the Iraq war, set in 2003. A well argued point about the non-existence of those pesky WMD. Matt Damon is unsurprisingly good, as is Jason Isaacs (even with a preposterous black moustache). Could and probably should have been about 10-15 minutes shorter, the pace sagged towards the end. MMM

Alice in Wonderland – sadly disappointing, given the initial promise of combining Lewis Carroll’s fantasy  tale with the deliciously dark directing talents of Mr Tim Burton. Johnny Depp gives a nuanced performance as the Mad Hatter, and Mia Wasikowska is fairly solid as the titular Alice. An hour too long and a dull third act left a sour taste in the mouth.  MMM

Shutter Island – Leonardo DiCaprio psychological thriller from Martin Scorsese. The problem with Shutter Island is that Scorsese aimed for a pastiche of 1950s genre pictures, but failed to get it across – resulting in the film seeming to be taking itself seriously when in actual fact it is meant to send up similar plots.     MMM

Kick-Ass – comic book adaptation about a teenage misfit boy becoming a real-life superhero without possessing any super powers. Controversial on release for 13 year old Hit Girl saying the ‘c’ word. Well written and well executed, an original premise and good performances from all its major players…but I didn’t think it to be the seminal work of genius that others proclaim it to be. Perhaps it deserves another watch.  MMMM

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang – that’s right, Nanny McPhee. But this time set in the midst of World War II, with spoiled city rich kids evacuated to the care of their country cousins.  A great cast of talented child actors, Maggie Gyllenhaal as put upon mother and Emma Thompson as Nanny McPhee made this a wonderful fun, with slapstick comedy and a genuinely heartwarming end. Great fun.   MMM

How To Train Your Dragon – children’s digimation from Dreamworks about a Viking boy who meets and befriends a dragon – the nemesis of his community. Good dialogue, an original story and beautiful art design lifted this film from what could have been another kids’ CG also-ran. Entertaining.       MMM

Cemetery Junction – coming of age comedy-drama from Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais. Watching Cemetery Junction for me was a poignant and bittersweet experience. The film is based on Ricky Gervais’ childhood and adolescence in the town of Reading, Berkshire where for three happy years, I was a student (Cemetery Junction is an actual place in Reading, not far from where I used to live). The film’s themes echoed my watching of it, memories of happy times tinged with a nostalgic sadness of growing up and moving on. The three lead actors are fantastic, particularly Tom Hughes as dashing bad boy Bruce. The script is well written, as are the characters – there are many tiny tragic (yet everyday) moments that couldn’t be better played, for example Emily Watson’s mother telling her daughter that her husband hasn’t said “thank you” for almost a decade. Brilliantly acted, brilliantly conceived. A film that will ring true with anyone and everyone that has grown too big for the town they grew up in.     MMMM

Iron Man 2 – tin-clad super hero sequel. It seems that with every new super hero movie, the plot gets less and less important and more and more paper-thin. Robert Downey, Jr aka Tony Stark aka Iron Man has to stop the evil Russian (typical movie cultural stereotyping here, no sir!) Mickey Rourke thwarting his racing car driving efforts and also taking over the world with an army of Iron Man lookalikes or somesuch stuff. Basically don’t think too much about what’s going on, it’s a fun ride with lots of noisy explosions and gratuitous pencil skirt wearing by Ms Paltrow AND Ms Johansson.      MMM

Death At A Funeral – funny and fairly entertaining black comedy, but just not really funny enough. The appeal for me was 30 Rock’s Tracy Morgan who was sadly sidelined in a dull gross-out subplot, with James Marsden getting the majority of laughs. Fairly predictable romp with Chris Rock in a straight role for once (therein lies the rub…perhaps). And Martin Lawrence, please, just go away.     MMM

Get Him to the Greek – laugh out loud explicit rudeness starring Russell Brand and Jonah Hill. Building on the Aldous Snow character from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Russell Brand does his Russell Brand thing as an over sexed, over stimulated washed-up rock star whom the unlucky Jonah Hill has to take from London to the Greek theatre in Los Angeles. However, sex, drugs and more drugs prove far too distracting for Brand’s character and comedy hi-jinks and dope-fuelled mayhem ensues. Good silly fun but not for those with a weak stomach. As Liz Lemon would say, blerg.     MMM+

Eclipse - third in the saga of Twilight films, and certainly not the best. But not the worst. I’m still undecided whether this was just mediocre or actually quite good. I’m going to go with mediocre as on a recent repeat viewing I was asking myself how I hadn’t found it really dull the first time. The acting from Mr ‘R Pattz’ (as ‘Twi-hards’ refer to him) has certainly got better, as has the wolf/vampire CGI. The second time around my feelings about Eclipse can be summed up as ‘meh’. Not terrible, not amazing. Just kind of there. I leave you to judge for yourself.    MMM-

Inception – in the words of Mr Simon of the Cowell: A. May. Zing. And I saw it in the BFI IMAX. Slightly overwhelming. The must-see film of 2010.

Toy Story 3 - a brilliant and beautiful end to one of the strongest trilogies in film history. As moving as it is entertaining, this film closed the door on many people’s childhoods (mine included) and characters that we had grown up with. Fantastic.

Going the Distance – great romantic comedy (which is actually both funny AND romantic, would you believe it?!?) starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. Girl meets boy, girl and boy hit it off, girl and boy struggle when their relationship is stretched across a thousand miles. Tugged at my heartstrings and tickled my funny bone – the characters are so damn likeable and the actors’ chemistry is tangible. Great stuff.

Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud – Zac Efron sailing weepie – the clue is in the title. Let it be known to all doubters and cynics that the Zefron CAN ACT. And looks rather attractive while doing it.

The Social Network – The prospect of dream team writer Aaron Sorkin (THE WEST WING, oh lordy, THE WEST WING) and David Fincher (Fight Club) conceiving this film about the origins and birth of the social networking behemoth Facebook was simply mouthwatering – and the product does NOT disappoint. Scored by Trent Reznor (the man behind Nine Inch Nails), brilliantly scripted (what else would you expect from Sorkin anyway??) and fabulously acted by Jesse Eisenberg (as creepy geekoid founder Mark Zuckerberg) and Andrew Garfield (tragic hero Eduardo Saverin), this is a real treat. Do NOT be put off by people calling it Facebook: the Movie. It is more like a Shakespearean tragedy. But with less death. Go see.      MMMMM

Easy A – the best teen comedy since Mean Girls. Emma Stone is wonderful.

Made in Dagenham – Fabulous true story about the machinist ladies of Ford in Dagenham going on strike in the 1960s (whose efforts led to the Equal Pay Act being passed into law). Marvellous.

Let Me In – American remake of the quietly outstanding Let the Right One In. A surprisingly good homage to the original which hopefully will serve as a companion piece to John Ajvide Lindqvist’s source novel.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 – Great end (well one part) to a great series. The final final chapter should be just as good if not better.