Alice in Wonderland (05/03/10)
I didn’t have the highest of high hopes for this movie. I was going into it expecting some amazing stuff from Tim Burton’s mind, crazy stuff from Johnny Depp’s and general entertainment. That’s roughly what I got. I did go and see the 3D version of the film and, to be honest, the 3D didn’t grab me. As more and more movies try out the 3D I’m finding myself getting more and more jaded by it. Not once did I oo or ahh at the 3D. In fact I was vaguely more impressed by the 3D trailer for Toy Story 3 and the Sky 3D advert! Some people in the cinema ooo’d when a teacup came flying at the screen, but in my mind it wasn’t really coming out of the screen.

Enough poo-pooing 3D, what about the film? I really enjoyed it, as I already said. The couple things I really liked was the vision and the casting. Tim Burton’s mind never fails to give you something that looks amazing. And I wasn’t disappointed at all here. Wonderland looked amazing. All the characters were brilliantly conceived. Just lovely to look at. Then there’s the casting, which in my mind was perfect. Everyone from Mia Wasikowska as Alice to Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. I couldn’t fault any of the cast on their roles. Just perfect casting. And Johnny Depp? Well he plays crazy really well and I thought he was great as the Mad Hatter.

I was slightly disappointed with Danny Eflman’s score. It really wasn’t that memorable. I can’t remember the last score of his where I thought ‘wow’.

It was a nice enough story. Nothing mind blowing and nothing unexpected. Good entertainment in my mind. I think my score might look slightly inflated, but I really loved the look of the movie.
Rating: 4/5

Bolt 06/03/10
Disney’s Bolt – a movie about a girl and her dog. Or just the dog. I’m a bit upset at myself for waiting so long seeing this movie. I’m a dog lover and I lap up anything that involves dogs and Disney. Yes, even Snow Buddies. I loved the film. Much funnier than I was expecting and I warmed to all of the characters more than I thought I would. I even forgot Miley Cyrus was in it! Bolt just reminded me of Axel so much at times! I miss that dog. So I had a fair few tears watching the movie. More than I was expecting. Rhino was hilarious. He really made me laugh. All in all a be-awesome Disney movie!
Rating: 4/5

Gran Torino (06/03/10)
I wasn’t expecting to laugh in this movie. All I knew was that it was Clint Eastwood going all badass on a bunch of neighbourhood thugs. There were quite a few laughs! Just at the bits where Walt is getting to know his neighbours and really getting into the community spirit. Fantastic film. Clint Eastwood was brilliant and I just really enjoyed the whole thing. Not completely what I was expecting, but that was a good thing. And the car? It is a thing of beauty! And here it is!
Rating: 5/5

Franklyn (07/038/10)
Umm, I don’t know what to say about this film. Throughout most of the beginning I was clueless as to what was going on. I thought the two narratives jarred incredibly. I understood how the two narratives were connected, but I just couldn’t buy into it. I was impressed by Ryan Philippe’s English accent! Eva Green was good too. Just couldn’t get behind this film much.
Rating: 2/5

Read more to see the full list of movies I’ve seen so far this year.

35 movies so far this year

1. Three Kings (4/5) 04/01/10
2. Defiance (5/5) 06/01/10
3. Frost/Nixon (4/5) 06/01/10
4. Dreamgirls (4/5) 07/01/10
5. Munich (2/5) 08/01/10
6. Ray (4/5) 09/01/10
7. Max Payne (1/5) 09/01/10
8. Mirrors (2/5) 09/01/10
9. Ali (5/5) 10/01/10
10. Slumdog Millionaire (4/5) 16/01/10
11. Australia (2/5) 16/01/10
12. Yes Man (2/5) 17/01/10
13. Shrooms (1/5) 23/01/10
14. Valkyrie (4/5) 30/01/10
15. Love the Beast (3/5) 30/01/10
16. Brick (4/5) 31/01/10
17. My Bloody Valentine (2/5) 06/02/10
18. Fantastic Mr. Fox (3/5) 06/02/10
19. Children of Men (4/5) 13/02/10
20. We Own the Night (3/5) 14/02/10
21. Outpost (1/5) 20/02/10
22. Push (4/5) 21/02/10
23. Revolutionary Road (5/5) 24/02/10
24. Milk (5/5) 26/02/10
25. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (3/5) 27/02/10
26. Rendition (3/5) 27/02/10
27. The Reader (4/5) 28/02/10
28. Flags of Our Fathers (4/5) 03/03/10
29. A History of Violence (4/5) 03/03/10
30. Office Space (5/5) 04/03/10
31. The Eye (2/5) 04/03/10
32. Alice in Wonderland (4/5) 05/03/10
33. Bolt (4/5) 06/03/10
34. Gran Torino (5/5) 06/03/10
35. Franklyn (2/5) 07/03/10

Defiance
Second movie of the year and it’s another war movie based on true events. Which I didn’t realise until the movie ended. Brilliant movie. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to sit down and watch it. Liev Schrieber really surprised me in this movie. Really strong performance from him. He was really rather good. As was Daniel Craig, but then I expect that from him.
Rating: 5/5

Frost/Nixon
Another movie it’s taken me far too long to watch. Amazing performance from Michael Sheen and Frank Langella. Both were uncanny performances. And it did teach me a few things. For one, I never knew how much of a playboy and risk taker David Frost was! All I know of him is this upstanding political correspondant who’s got a lot of respect for himself because of the work he’s done. Though I found it funny at the end of the movie where they did explain a bit more about David Frost… for the benefit of American audiences.
Rating: 4/5

Dreamgirls
And the ‘based-on-true-stories’ movies continue. Not out of any really conscious thought, believe me! Really amazing movie this is. The songs are beautiful and Beyonce surprised me a lot. She held her own pretty well.
Rating: 4/5

Munich
I was trying so hard to like this movie as I was watching. It’s a very bleak movie that’s solely based on vengeance. Despite a really fantastic performance from Eric Bana I still found it hard getting into the movie. Things were going on but I couldn’t connect to whatever was going on in the movie. So I did learn a lot in terms of what happened at those Olympic games, as I had no idea, but unlike the previous based on true story movies, I didn’t feel anything for what happened in the movie after seeing it.
Rating: 2/5

Ray
I promise, not all the movies I see this year will be biopics or based on true stories! Yet here’s another brilliant one. Jamie Foxx was amazing. Like Michael Sheen and Frank Langella, an uncanny performance from him as Ray Charles. I never knew that his earlier days were so littered with drug abuse, unless that was embelished upon slightly more for movies’ sake. Awesome music and an amazing cast. Loved this movie.
Rating: 5/5

Read more to see the full list of this year’s movies and their ratings, so far.

6 movies so far this year

1. Three Kings (4/5)
2. Defiance (5/5)
3. Frost/Nixon (4/5)
4. Dreamgirls (4/5)
5. Munich (2/5)
6. Ray (4/5)