Rise Of The Guardians

I'll start by saying that I LOVED this movie sooooooo much, I couldn't fault it. We all know the Tooth Fairy, Sandman, Easter Bunny and Santa Claus but all we know of Jack Frost is what we've heard in a song. These 5 make up the guardians of all children, so when Pitch threatens the happiness of the children of the world the guardians must come together to stop him. Some great actors lend their voices to this film like Chris Pine (Frost), Alec Baldwin (North "Santa"), Isla Fisher (Tooth Fairy), Hugh Jackman (Bunnymund), Jude Law (Pitch). No voice for the Sandman because he doesn't speak, which surprisingly enough makes him funnier. You get to see the different worlds of each of this magical beings which provides every single colour imaginable making it a dream to watch. It's very funny due to the arguments the guardians have and sad due to the fact that no one can see Jack because no one believes in him :( I can't recommend this film enough, it might even take the place of Finding Nemo as being my favourite animation film. 5 out of 5.

This Is 40

Described as 'the sort of sequel to Knocked Up'. The film follows Debbie (Leslie Mann) and Pete (Paul Rudd), first seen in Knocked Up, as they both deal with turning 40 while trying to keep their relationship -and family- together. Like all of Judd Apatow's films, This Is 40 is funny and smart. However, if you see this film and are not married it might make you rethink the idea. I never stopped laughing and I'll be buying this one on DVD to add to my Judd Apatow collection. Although I prefer Knocked Up, mainly due to hearing Seth Rogan's laugh, This is 40 is a decent sort of sequel. Sequels are usually let downs when comparing to the originals but Apatow is so good at writing scripts that everyone finds funny, it would be very hard to fuck up this film with him attached to it.

Movie #54- Dogma

Funny, biblical-esque Kevin Smith movie. If you've seen any of Smith's films, you know that Dogma will be like the rest, funny and absolutely ridiculous! The film follows two fallen angels, Loki and Bartleby, who, through a loophole in Catholic dogma, find a way to get back into Heaven after being cast out by God. However, as existence is founded on the principle that God is infallible, their success would prove God wrong and thus undo all creation. The last scion and two prophets are sent by the Voice of God to stop them. It stars Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock and Jason Lee. There are two categories when it comes to audience members, the ones that will see Dogma, take it apart piece by piece saying it made no sense and it was stupid. Then there is the other side of the coin, the people who know it's stupid and makes no sense but love it anyway BECAUSE of this fact, I belong to this warped and funny side of the coin because this film isn't supposed to be an oscar worthy, heart wrenching, throw some popcorn in the air kind of film. This is 2 hours of enjoyable nonsense with pretty people to look at, and that's fine by me, I'll watch Schindler's List another day!

Movie #53- You've Got Mail

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan reunite in this 1998 rom com. A classic romantic film with two great leads about two e-mailing lovers who are completely unaware that their sweetheart is, in fact, a person with whom they share a degree of animosity. This is the second time Hanks and Ryan have starred as each others love interest, the first being Sleepless in Seattle where for most of the film they were hardly in any of the same scenes, kind of like Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack in Serendipity. For this reason I prefer You've got mail, it would be very hard for me not to like a film with Tom Hanks in anyway, but he easily charms in this film and is funny as usual. Ryan is perfect as Kathleen Kelly, who's outspoken and endearing.

Movie #52- Pride and Prejudice

In my top 10. Can I just say - in my opinion- this smashes the 1995 BBC mini series to tiny little pieces till the wind blows it away. It's also worth mentioning that Pride and Prejudice is my favourite book, which I own 6 copies of! The story follows Lizzy Bennet and Mr.Darcy and the relationship between the two change. This 2005 version is stunning, the cinematography is beautiful, the script is perfect and the chemistry between Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen is pure bliss.

Movie #51- Fried Green Tomatoes

In my top 10. It tells the story of a Depression-era friendship between two women, Ruth and Idgie, and a 1980s friendship between Evelyn, a middle-aged housewife, and Ninny, an elderly woman who knew Ruth and Idgie. The centerpiece and parallel story concerns the murder of Ruth's abusive husband and the accusations that follow. This film really has it all, the friendship between polar opposites Ruth and Idgie makes you cry for their heartbreaks, smile for their successes and pray for their survival- of life and hardships and mishaps and anything else that stands in their way of being happy. It stars Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Mary-Louise Parker.

Movie #50- The Fifth Element

Another in my top 10, this is such a good film I could cry. The film is set during the twenty-third century, the plot involves the survival of humanity, which becomes the duty of Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis)—a taxicab driver (and former special forces Major)—when a young woman (Milla Jovovich) falls into his taxicab. Upon learning about her significance, Dallas must join efforts with the girl to recover four mystical stones essential to defending Earth from an impending attack. This film doesn't take itself too seriously, it's light hearted and over the top throughout, making it brilliant.The scenes where raw emotion is required are also great, Milla's Character learning about the Earth's history - mainly war- is stunning and shows the range she has. Willis and Jovovich seem like an odd couple, but the pair actually have great chemistry. AMAZING film also starring Gary Oldman, Ian Holm and Chris Tucker. 5 out of 5.

Movie #49- The Goonies

Another one in my top 10, this is a film that stays with you thanks to the laughs it provides and the sense of adventure throughout. A group of kids find themselves being chased by bad guys forcing them beneath the town to get away. This then leads them on an adventure that includes booby traps, waterfalls, a lot of gold and a pirate ship. A great family film that's funny and heart warming, an Indiana Jones for kids. If you haven't seen it you're missing out because it's a film classic from the brilliant mind of Steven Spielberg that WILL make you laugh and smile.

Liberal Arts

Liberal arts is Josh Radnor's second film that he's directed, written and starred in, the first being HappyThankYouMorePlease. It portrays 35-year-old Jesse(Radnor) who has a romantic relationship with Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), a 19-year-old college student. Radnor has already proved he knows comedy by starring as Ted Moseby on How I Met Your Mother but with Liberal Arts he proves he knows people and how they think. Understanding the human mind is an ability to treasure for the rest of your life, it also makes you the perfect person to create a piece of art that has an effect on people, Radnor has this ability that he continues to prove time and time again, I can't wait to see what he does next.

Lawless

Based on the historical novel The Wettest County in the World, Lawless is the story of the three Bondurant brothers, Jack, Forrest and Howard (Shia Labeouf, Tom Hardy and Jason Clarke)who sold moonshine in Franklin County, Virginia, during Prohibition in the United States. Some parts of this film is hard to watch, like a character getting their throat cut, but overall the film is memorable due to the powerful acting of everyone involved and the wonderful direction given by John Hillcoat. This film is moving, and bloody and an all round good time.

Resident Evil: Retribution

The 5th installment of the franchise picks up where the 4th one ended on The Arcadia.It focuses on Alice (Milla Jovovich) captured by the Umbrella Corporation, forcing her to make her escape from an underwater base in the Arctic Circle, used for testing the T-virus, its revealed that Wesker isalive and no longer working for Umbrella and reveals that the Red Queen is now controlling what remains of Umbrella and he plans to aid Alice's escape and battle the base's programs, in order to save what's left of mankind.. The film has many returning actors and characters, from the previous films making the film a bit better, the film lacks a little in the story but makes up for it in the action. In the last sequence it starts to really pick up with a great battle but then finishes a bit short, implying another sequel. One can only guess how this franchise will end. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Movies # 45-48- Resident Evil Quadrilogy

This franchise is not perfect but I love Milla Jovovich who stars in these films as Alice and the fight scenes are perfectly done and amazing to watch. The first film begins with the outbreak of the T-virus in an underground facilty owned by the Umbrella Corporation called the Hive, the T-virus is released causing The Red Queen (the computer that controls the Hive)to kill every living thing in the facility to ensure the T-Virus doesn't reach the surface, but the T-Virus reanimates them, transforming the humans into ravenous zombies. We then get introduced to Alice (Jovovich) as she awakens on the floor of her shower with no memory of who she is, a team of commandos lead her underneath the house she was in, which turns out to be the entrance to the hive.It's revealed that Alice works for Umbrella as a security operative and the team was sent there to find out "why the Red Queen went homicidal". They turn the power off which releases the zombies that the Red Queen had trapped. The rest of the movie is the team trying to get out of the Hive alive, while making sure the virus is contained. Brilliant zombie film that's one of my favourites, Resident Evil is a cold looking, fast paced zombie film that would make Romero proud. The second film, Resident Evil:Apocalypse picks up where the first left off, the viral outbreak reaches the surface and in an effort to contain the infection, Major Timothy Cain seals all exits to and from Raccoon City. Alice and a group of survivors are contacted by Dr. Charles Ashford who claims to know of an evacuation point in the city in exchange for the rescue of his daughter Angela, who is trapped in the High School. The group then have to find Angela and make it to the evacuation point without any bites or scratches. Not as good as the first but a decent sequel that takes the franchise to a larger scale. The third film, Resident Evil:Extinction sees the world consumed by the T-Virus, Alice roams the country for survivors, when failing to find any living people she comes into contact with a convoy of survivors led by Claire Redfield. The convoy, along with Alice, heads to Las Vegas to gather supplies so they can reach Alaska in an effort to get to a place called Arcadia, thought to be a safe haven and free of the T-Virus. This is one of the best- if not the best- of the Resident Evil films, most of the scenes are during the day, moving away from the previous only at night film. The fight scenes are amazing in this one and the introduction of Alice's powers allows for great special effects.

The fourth film, Resdient Evil:Afterlife opens with Alice attacking the Tokyo Umbrella station where she escapes after it's blown up and goes after the head of the Umbrella Corporation Albert Wesker where he uses a serum to remove all of Alice's powers. 6 monts later Alice is headed to Alaska to meet the other survivors but only finds Claire, the two then travel to the ruins of Los Angeles where they find a group of survivors living in a prison surrounded by the infected. From one of the survivors Alice learns that Arcadia is not a town in Alaska but a ship travelling along the coast. The aim in this film is to get to the Arcadia and avoid the infected who have now mutated in to creatures WORSE than zombies. A great film visually and a pretty good script. Overall this franchise is one of my favourites, go see them if you haven't already.

Movie #44- Armageddon

Another film that belongs in my top 10, Armageddon is one of those films you walk away from just happy to be alive, as stupid as that sounds, its true. A fantastic movie that sees a group of blue-collar deep-core drillers sent by NASA to stop a gigantic asteroid on a collision course with Earth and their journey to get there, a superb cast featuring Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton and Liv Tyler. This film shows that heroes can be found anywhere and when humanity is threatened we prevail, we come together and we believe, when to believe seems hopeless but this movie is all about hope. I laughed and I cried, but above all I felt lucky to have seen a movie like this, so if you ask me not bad for a 2 hour drama.

Movie #43- The Hunger Games

The hunger games is based on the book by Suzanne Collins and has blown up on a massive scale. Due to an unseen uprising The Capitol create the annual hunger games where each of the 12 districts must offer up a boy and girl aged 12-18 to compete in a fight to the death until there remains the last standing victor. The film focuses on Katniss from the 12th and poorest district, volunteer as tribute in the place of her little sister Prim. Human survival is the main focus of this film and just what you're willing to do to survive but the shocking thing is the fact that the tributes are essentially children, and children killing children is always surprising. Fantastic film and sad and lovely and inspiring. A must see for anyone breathing.

Movie #42- Finding Nemo

This stunning Pixar movie is in my top ten because its funny and heart warming and beautifully done. Nemo ends up getting taken from the reef by a diver who intends to give Nemo to his niece as a birthday present, the film follows the journey that Nemo's dad, Marlon takes across the ocean to get him back, along the way he meets Dory, an incredibly funny lovely fish who offers to help him get Nemo back, the only problem is she suffers from short term memory loss which results in a lot of laughs. Dory and Marlon meet a lot of characters along the way and develop a real friendship when facing obstacles. Perfect family film that will be enjoyed by everyone.

Movie #41- Detention

I LOVE this movie but I fear I may be the only one.There are some films, like Detention, that are just a stupid concept. Despite this, this film is funny, current, with riduculous 80's death sequences being a guarantee but the cinematography is stunning. It does the typical serial killer within a high school murdering teens but the film or characters recognizes this by the police saying its like the Scream films. It also takes the style of Tarantino with its chapter format. The film and the lovers of Detention know that this film is stupid but its just too good. Go and see this film.

Movie #40- The Cabin in The Woods

One of my favourite films of 2012, The cabin in the woods is original in it's story which is rare for today's horror films but also funny in the style of slasher classic, Scream. Five friends travel to a remote cabin for a holiday and become victims of a seemingly stereotypical horror movie plot while being observed via hidden cameras by mysterious office workers. While watching this for the first time, myself and everyone else in the cinema was confused by the "office workers" observing these teens on monitors and taking bets on what will kill them, until all was revealed in the end making it an "ohhhhhh" moment of realisation. This film is shit scary with the zombie family killing everyone and really funny thanks to the stoner character. Excellent film starring Thor actor Chris Hemsworth. 5 out of 5.

Movies # 37-39 - The Mummy Trilogy

The first one in the trilogy is in my top ten, however the second one is also very good, but the third is a bit of a dissapointment compared to the first two. Although it's decent enough to watch because of the action. The Mummy sees Imhotep brought back to life after 600 years of being mummified alive for killing the Pharaoh. He gets brought back by Evelyn (Rachel Weisz)reading from the book of the dead. Throughout the film Imhotep is killing people to be regenerated while Rick (Brendan Fraser) is trying to stop him. A lot of laughs and scares and romantic moments, and beautifully shot. The second one takes place ten years after the first one, Rick and Evelyn are now married with an 8 year old son, Alex. Imhotep is brought back once again and takes Alex, Rick and Evelyn then follow them all over Egypt trying to get their son back. It features less horror and more frivolity than the first film, often resorting to slapstick humor. The third one departed from the previous Egyptian setting, which I think plays a part in its downfall. Alex -who is now all grown up and an archaeologist- locates the Emperor's tomb, and he gets brought back from the dead, and the whole family have to defeat him, a bit dissapointing. All in all, a great trilogy.

Movie #36- Dream catcher

Dreamcatcher is in my top 10 and is a brilliant film adaption of the book by Stephen King. It follows four friends from childhood through to adult hood where they've grown apart but each year they get together at a cabin in the Maine woods. They encounter a man whose been stranded in the woods with a mysterious rash on his face, then military helicopters fly over the area and announce that the area will be quarantined. This fantastic piece of science fiction covers aliens and telepathy, but also the very real human qualities of friendship and how far you're willing to go to stay alive. It stars Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Timothy Olyphant, Damian Lewis and Morgan Freeman.

Pitch Perfect

I can easily say that this is one of my favourite movies of 2012 and I am positive that the day it comes out on DVD I will be in line. It's a pretty straight forward plot, Becca (Anna Kendrick)starts college at Barden University where the world of a capella is slowly becoming a "thing" probably thanks to Glee. Becca ends up joining the Bellas, an all female a capella group whose rival the treble makers just accepted Jesse who shows a lot of interest in Becca. The laughs keep rolling on throughout the movie thanks to fat Amy (Rebel Wilson), however Kendrick really shows her comedic chops from the beginning. Pitch Perfect has all the charm of Glee with none of the cheese. Great film.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Every once in a blue moon there is a film adaption of a book that instills the belief in you that not all hope is lost in Hollywood,this is the case with Stephen Chbosky's film adaption The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This coming of age drama shows Charlie (Logan Lerman), a shy and introverted teenager starting high school and befriending two seniors Sam (Emma Watson) and her step brother Patrick (Ezra Miller). Charlie deals with first love with Sam and defending Patrick when it comes to his sexuality. He starts to experience life instead of watching it go by. Heartbreak and troubles come in spades when you're a teenager, but they don't define who you are. However this film defines a generation with it's sharp and sarcastic wit, it's ability to hope and prevail when faced with life altering decisions and ultimately the belief that WE ARE INFINITE.

Silver Linings Playbook

This astoundingly good film focuses on bipolar Pat (Bradley Cooper) and widow Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence)who meet at a dinner at their friends. Each have their own problems, Pat after being released from a mental hospital is determined to get his wife back and Tiffany after being fired for sleeping with everyone at the office is determined to win a dance competition. Each realise they have a true friend in one another that could possibly turn into something more. Jennifer Lawrence has already proved her astounding acting ability in film's like Winter's Bone and critically acclaimed The Hunger Games but she truly soars in this film, for those who thought she couldn't get any better or possibly anymore charming must see Silver Linings PLaybook to be blown away by her portrayal of sassy Tiffany Maxwell. As usual Bradley Cooper delivers a wonderful performance opposite Lawrence, both of whom should look forward to the Oscars because this film is worthy of every award. 5 out of 5.