Happy Birthday: One Year On...

One year ago from today I put my first blog post online. I started doing it as a bit of fun, not expecting for my blog to grow as much as it has! 63 posts later and I have an audience that I never thought was possible. The amount of different people in different countries that have read my posts is incredible! I have even had the organisers of the Sundance Film Festival read some of my posts! I would not have a got here without the help of my readers! Thank you guys so much! I also want to thank The Large Association Of Movie Blogs (The LAMB) for letting me into their community and bringing a larger audience of fellow movie bloggers to my site.

I was a bit unsure as to what to write about today for the 1st birthday of my blog, but I have decided to look back at my 10 most popular posts of the last year. So please enjoy!

10. The Avengers Review
I remember this day very well! I was so excited for this film and I am so glad that it met all my expectations. My review is a very happy one indeed and although I am biased as a massive fan boy! There is no doubt in my mind that this will most likely be my favourite film of the year.

9. Chronicle
Many of my popular posts I did not expect to do as well as they did and this post is one of them. I saw it on DVD, really liked it and wrote a review. It sure is a film to check out if your fan of superheroes and found footage films.

8. Ted
Ted is one of those films that I had mixed feelings on. I would definitely watch it again with a group of friends but it definitely wasn't the funniest things I have ever seen. Check out this review to see if you agree with me.

7. God Bless America & 21 Jump Street
Even though I was on holiday when this was posted this still got a great amount of hits. This is mainly due to the fact that this was the first post people saw when I had been allowed as member of The LAMB. Both films I believe are great and I recommend them both as good comedies.

6. Reinventing Romance
This is one of my more recent posts and it actually contains my case study for the end of Media Studies course. I really enjoyed writing about the subject and I am glad you guys took a liking to it too!

5. Shame
Shame is one of those film that I loved but don't really want to watch again. It contains one of my favourite actors, the Fassbender, in one of his best roles. But the subject matter of sex addiction is an uncomfortable one and is most likely why it was denied an Oscar nomination.

4. Would You Like The Good News or The Bad News First?
Another post I am surprised has done well.One of my first posts and it just contains a summary of movie news that had happened that week.

3. Alex's Essential Spider-Man
I am so glad this post did well as I worked very hard on it. I loved the fact that I was able to get fan made pictures from my readers to work on this post and celebrate our love of Spider-Man. Even if the most recent film was a bit of a disappointment.

2. Sundance London 2012
One of the best weekends ever in blog form! With help from organisers of the festival I was able to move this post up to second on the list. Whether I'll be there next year, I do not know. Being a student can be difficult in this day and age! If I can, I will!

1. What Would Travis Bickle Do?
The biggest surprise of them all! My quick angry rant turned into my biggest hit. I don't really know what else to say as i wasn't expecting this to that well. I think when I first put it on it did terribly but as the months have passed, more people have read and enjoyed it. Thank you so much!

Although things have slowed down here recently on the blog I would like to thank everybody who keeps reading it. Here's to another year!

Thank you for reading!

The Dark Knight Rises

It's been too long. 8 years too long since Gotham has seen Batman and 10 days too long for me to see The Dark Knight Rises, but I have seen it now and yes my mind was blown. Although most of you reading this have probably seen the film, for those who haven't this review is spoiler free.

'Eight years on after the events of The Dark Knight, a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham's finest, and the Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy.' This plot is a vague outline of the film but like all Christopher Nolan films there is much more happening then you first think. Although this is a story about Batman and Bruce Wayne, a lot of time is given to the supporting characters as their arcs have a huge impact in the end. New supporting characters to the final instalment of The Dark Knight Trilogy include Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake. Both proving essential to the plot and both being nothing but awesome.

A lot of people have been saying that Anne Hathaway steals the show but for me it is Joseph Gordon-Levitt who has a much larger part in the film then I first anticipated and as usual he gives an incredible performance. Anne Hathaway is still very good though. Although never referred to as Catwoman, her take on the character is the best yet, she is kick ass and gets most of the gags. All of the performances in the film were top notch as well. Christian Bale as usual gives a thrilling performance that brings Bruce Wayne's story full circle. Micheal Caine as Alfred is just perfect as is Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox and Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon.

Tom Hardy also plays a great villain. The Joker is out and this time Bane is in. Unlike previous villains, Bane is a physical challenge for Batman, bringing some awesome fight sequences that will make you hold your breath in agonising awe of the end result. That's the great thing about Nolan's Batman films, unlike other superhero films you don't know whether your hero will make it out of the film alive. Tom Hardy is just great and is really menacing in the role, no wonder all of Gotham is scared of him. The guy is the new Darth Vader but with a foreign accent and less breathing problems. I also had no problem with hearing the lines as was previously feared from early footage. Even Batman's voice was slightly toned down making it less laughable.

The film still has a serious tone and theme that the previous films had but this still has quite a few laughs and feels a lot more like a comic book movie then The Dark Knight did, not completely though. This still is a long way off the tone of The Avengers which makes comparing them very hard as both feel completely different. You could even argue that this wasn't even a superhero movie as we don't even see Batman for the middle section of the film, emphasising the fact that this is Bruce Wayne's story. If this wasn't a Batman film it would still be as good!

As usual, Hans Zimmer's soundtrack is spot on and really heightens emotions throughout the long film. A long film that never bores and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. Although it was 10 minutes longer then The Dark Knight it definitely did not feel like it at all!

Being the final instalment of Christopher Nolan's trilogy the ending had to round off all the character stories he had created in the first two films and it certainly did this and more! The final act of the film for me was completely perfect and gave me goosebumps throughout and even a few tears to my eyes. An ending that was more then I could have hoped for as a farewell to a Batman that will go down in cinema history. It lives up to its hype and is one of the best films of the year so far. To me The Dark Knight is a fraction better but never the less The Dark Knight Rises is definitely a 5/5.

Thanks for reading!

P.S I am happy to announce that my blog in now a member of LAMB, The Large Association of Movie Blogs. I would like to say thank you to LAMB for accepting me and thank you to all those who are now reading this after being directed from the site, I hope you carry on reading all my posts to come!