Review of 2012

Happy new year people! Shall we start the year with my review of the last one? 2012, what a year it was! My top ten films list may just be the hardest I have had to compile! Other lists include my top 5 TV shows of the year and my top 3 albums of the year. So please take a look at my post and I hope you enjoy my review of an outstanding year of film! Starting with my top ten films of 2012:

10. Liberal Arts

Funny, charming and very sweet. One of the films I saw at Sundance London and it sure did leave an impression. Check out my review of this film and the festival here: Sundance London

9. Dredd 3D

The biggest surprise of the year. I saw this film just to pass away time one day whilst waiting for my phone to be repaired. I went in with low expectations but came out very happy! It was super cool and featured some of the best 3D I have seen. Read my full review here: Dredd 3D

8. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I didn't realise how much I missed Middle Earth until I saw the first part of The Hobbit earlier last month. A very good film but unfortunately the higher frame rate let it down a bit, making it only 8th in my top 10. I wonder if the second part will make into my list for 2013? Read my full review here: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

7. Looper

The most original sci-fi film of the year! Featuring some excellent performances and a very smart storyline that changed the way I felt about each character all the time. An example of brilliant film making. Read my full review here: Looper

6. The Hunger Games

Being a massive fan of the book, I was extremely happy at how faithful the adaption was on the big screen. An excellent approach to a film that could have been a disaster. A standout performance from Jennifer Lawrence and top notch direction from Gary Ross. Although I am worried for the sequels, at least this film was awesome! Read my full review here: The Hunger Games

5. Skyfall

The best Bond film yet! An excellent way to celebrate 007's 50th anniversary! I couldn't have asked for anything more from Skyfall! Read my full review here: Skyfall

4. Your Sister's Sister

The first of two films starring Mark Duplass in my top 10 list. The guy sure knows how to play lovable losers. I am a sucker for new takes on the romance genre and this film is one of them. A great film with some great performances from all 3 leads. If you haven't seen it, check it out!

3. The Dark Knight Rises

Not as good as The Dark Knight, but Christopher Nolans final Batman film was nothing less then spectacular! A great finale to one of the best trilogies we have seen. I feel sorry for whoever has to take on the next Batman film. Read my full review here: The Dark Knight Rises

2. Safety Not Guaranteed

Mark Duplass's second film in my list and second on my list! Another film I saw at Sundance London and what a treat it was! An awesome and heartfelt film that every time I've watched it has never failed to put a smile on my face. A well deserved second place! Read my review of the film and the festival here: Sundance London

1. The Avengers

The ultimate superhero film! Never before have I been so happy and excited in the cinema and the feeling has not declined every time I have seen it! The ultimate geek feast for your eyes! I could not have wished for anything more. The best film of the year and one of my favourites ever! Read my full review here: The Avengers

Some of you may be surprised to see that The Amazing Spider-Man did not make the list considering I am a giant fan of the character. Although I did not think it was a terrible film, I was however disappointed with it. A good film, but not the best of the year. There were loads of films that could have made the top 10 in 2012. It was such a good year for films and lets hope 2013 can continue the trend!

2012 wasn't just a good year for film, it was also a great year for TV. Here are my top 5 TV shows of the year:

5. Doctor Who Series 7

Matt Smith continues his brilliant run as The Doctor. The latest season shows off why, in my opinion, he is the best man yet to play the time lord. Not every episode was amazing but the majority of them were awesome. I look forward to the second half of the season coming later this year.

4. Sherlock Series 2

The first season was good, but the second was on another level! Sherlock proved Benedict Cumberpatch and Martin Freeman were top class actors, and look where it's got them now. We're going to have to wait a little while for the third series as they are only just about to film the episodes this month. I for one can't wait!

3. Game of Thrones Season 2

Game of Thrones is Lord of the Rings but the adult version. This show brings the fantasy genre to a new level. Truly is one of the best shows on TV and it has some adorable looking dragons. Such an epic TV show!

2. The Walking Dead Season 3

After some people disliked the second season (not me), the creators really tried their hardest to make the third season much better. And their hard work really paid off. Season 3 has created some of the best TV moments I have ever seen and has even reduced me to tears in parts. The Walking Dead is something special indeed.

1. Breaking Bad Season 5

I have never been so hooked on a TV show in my life! This show is the reason that posts have been slow for the last few months on the blog! Well that and University life! Breaking Bad is like nothing I have ever seen before, the story lines are great and the characters are awesome! Such a clever and truly incredible TV series and the latest season has been no exception. I can't wait to see the final 8 episodes coming this summer. I highly recommend!

Now on to my favourite music albums of the year:

3. The Killers - Battle Born

Although it wasn't everything I had hoped for from my favourite band, it still had some great tunes!

2. Mystery Jets - Radlands

The Mystery Jets change their tune a bit in their latest album, which has a very American feel to it. Maybe because it was produced over there! Very catchy!

1. The Vaccines - Coming of Age

The Vaccines take first place for a second year in a row! Both the band's albums have been great, I hope they will only get better!

Well that concludes my review of 2012, I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I did! 

Did you enjoy 2012? Do you agree with my lists? Are you looking forward to 2013? Feel free to comment and share with me your top films of year!

Thanks for reading! Happy New Year!

Sundance London 2012

So it is the end of the weekend. A weekend that was amazing and inspiring. This weekend I went to Sundance London the film and music festival hosted in the O2 Arena. Over the last 3 days I saw a total of 6 films. In this post I will give my full write up of each day and then hopefully in the next week or so my video blog will be up about the event. So let’s start with day one:

DAY 1 – FRIDAY

The festival actually began on the Thursday but unfortunately my dad and I were not able to make it up to London until the Friday. We started off the day by having a look around the O2 Arena and ended up in the Sundance Inc Club where we had a few drinks and watched a couple of live bands. The first live band we saw were a competition winner sponsored by Gibson Guitars. They were an unsigned band named Orlando Seale and The Swell. They had 10 members who played a range of instruments, this included flute, drums, guitars and an awesome string section. The band was incredible and I have no doubt that they will go on to do great things, their music was a mixture of genres including, indie, pop and folk. I found an instant connection to the music and immediately bought their CD after they had performed. You can check out the band here. In terms of music they were definitely the highlight of the weekend and recommend them highly to everyone. We only saw one film that day, and that film was Safety Not Guaranteed. What a way to start off the first day of the festival. This was actually one of the best films of the weekend and I have also read reviews that say it could be ‘the film of the year’. The film follows a magazine reporter and his two interns on a journey to find out if a man can time travel after he had placed an advert in paper looking for a partner to go with him. The advert in the paper is actually real and happened a while ago and turned into something of an Internet phenomenon. The screenwriter Derek Connolly saw potential in this and the idea for this film was born. The film was mix of sci-fi and romantic comedy and it fulfilled all expectations and more! The characters were all cast brilliantly especially the character of Darius played by the brilliant Aubrey Plaza. The film was very funny and very touching and you are left throughout wondering if this man can actually time travel or is he simply mentally unstable.  All the characters were well written and loved even though they are all misfits and have their flaws. I can’t really say anything bad about this film apart from that it took me a while to see the relationship between two of the leads but by the end I loved it. Being able to meet the director Colin Trevorrow afterwards really confirmed that this film was made by the right people who really cared about telling this story to the audience.

DAY 2 – SATURDAY
On Saturday we saw 3 films. The first being For Ellen, this film was about a young rock star named Joby who travelled to a town to meet with lawyers to discuss the divorce with his wife and who will get the custody of his child Ellen. The film had a great cast with Paul Dano proving yet again he is one of the best actors around. The story was also great and had so much potential to be better then it was. Because unfortunately this film was not that good, it was very slow and was filled with scenes that dragged out too long or made no sense to the narrative at all. The director So Yong Kim touched upon other subplots including the breakdown of his band and how his experiences were changing what music he wanted to play. These were well set up but after that they were not touched upon again. I would have loved to hear one of his songs as it would have made sense of the character he was, because he could have been anyone, not a rock star. The film had a great story with so much potential which was wasted and in the end created a slow and boring film. The second film of the day was LUV, which was about an 11 year old boy who in one day takes a trip out with uncle and ends up witnessing a side of Baltimore which a young child should never see, we watch the events unfold that witness this boy becoming a man in one day. The film and the story was great and had one of the most emotional and compelling performances of the weekend which was actually from 11 year old boy, Woody played the by the incredible Michael Rainy Jr. The young boy puts on a performance better then the rest of the cast which included the extremely talented Danny Glover, Common, Dennis Haysbert and Michael Kenneth Williams. When the film ended I had enjoyed it but found some of the set pieces a bit unbelievable, but the director Sheldon Candis gave a talk about the film and how it was loosely based on his experiences with his uncle and how it was a coming of age ‘fable’. The man was incredible and his talk made me love the film even more. Shelodon described the film as ‘a gangster film with love’, which is true, but to me it was much more then another gangster film. The final film of the day was the 25^th anniversary of the screening of the cult classic film Rivers Edge, this was a special event made possible by MGM who also gave away some pretty nifty goodie bags including a studio blanket. The film is about a group of friends who’s loyalty is tested when one of the members kills his girlfriend. Many of the audience had seen this film or were big fans, this was my first time. I really enjoyed the film and saw it as black comedy that raised questions on society in that era. Crispin Glover played a weird a wacky druggy named Layne and actually came out after the show with director Tim Hunter to talk about the filmmaking experience. I liked the film and it came across to me as an adult’s version of E.T.

DAY 3 – SUNDAY

The last day of the festival and it ended in style. I got to see two more films, a panel and Robert Redford stood a couple feet away from me at one point. The first film of the day was Liberal Arts, this film was written, directed by and starred Josh Radnor. The film follows the character of Jesse who is invited back to his old university for a retirement dinner for one of his old professors. While he is there he meets and starts a relationship with a student who is 19 years old. There is a difference of 16 years between the couple. The film strikes up the themes of age, love and most importantly morals. It was one of the best films of the festival and really was a brilliant and touching story. My Dad said that it might possibly be one of the best films he has ever seen and nearly made him cry. Most of the audience were welling up near the end and made you want to do something more with your life. One of the best things about the film was the cast and the great chemistry between them all especially Elizabeth Olsen and her characters relationship with Jesse. I asked Josh Radnor if the chemistry was hard to find in actors and he replied that he would rather work with actors he got on with, rather than because of who they are. My favourite scene was between the two actors and they are reading the letters they have been sending to each other, they talk about classical music and why it is surprisingly good. The whole scene is edited really well and is accompanied by the music which just makes it even cooler. After this film we saw the panel Making LUV that gave director Sheldon Candis even more time to talk about the making of his film. The talk was really inspiring and made me even more determined to fulfill my dream of becoming a filmmaker. He also talked more about the young actor Michael Rainy Jr and how he was a godsend to the film and how without him the film would have fallen apart. The last film of the festival I saw was 2 Days in New York, this was the sequel to the excellent 2 Days in Paris. This time the character of Marion lives with her new boyfriend Mingus played by the hilarious Chris Rock. The plot is similar to the first one, in terms of the testing of the couples relationship, especially when Marion’s dad, sister and ex-boyfriend come to ‘The Big Apple’ to see them. The consequences are very funny and you will not get bored once. The new addition of Chris Rock really helps the push the sequel into new heights, some of his one liners are brilliant; ‘KKK Bunny’ being one of them. Julie Delpy wrote, directed and starred in the excellent film, unfortunately she couldn’t make it to the festival but either way this was a great end to what was one of the most amazing weekends of my life.

Well I think I chose well, when it came to my first ever film festival. I saw some amazing films and met the most inspiring people! There was one thing that stayed the same throughout all the films I saw, this was that they all had incredible stories. This is not something you get as much in mainstream cinema these days. There was always an advert before each of the screenings where Robert Redford would say ‘Imagine a world without stories.’ Films are about telling a story and these films did this and more! These films had heart and should be the ones that are dominating the box office. I haven’t just seen some incredible films this weekend, I have also been told some incredible stories which will stay with me forever.

Thank you for reading! If you attended the festival please let me know if you enjoyed it as much as I did in the comment bellow! Or feel free to email me at alex-moppy@hotmail.com

My video blog for the festival will hopefully be up in the next few days along with my review of Avengers Assemble.

Thank you Sundance London!

Sundance Comes To London

Next week London hosts the first ever Sundance Film Festival that isn't in Utah. The giant indie festival is held in Utah each year and premieres some of the biggest indie films soon coming to a cinema near you. About 120 films are screened at the festival, in London we get to see 14 of them, we also get a range of short films and panels one held by the creator himself, Robert Redford. I have been lucky enough to acquire tickets for my birthday in January and after a long wait, it is almost here!

I have the top ten film package and sharing those ten films with my Dad. So that's five films and exclusive passes to the Sundance Inc Club. This is my first ever film festival and I cannot wait. The films that are coming sound great and so does the host committee which features people such as; Danny Boyle, Edgar Wright, Helen Mirren and Richard Ayoade. Excited is not the word to describe how I am feeling right now. As a budding filmmaker it will be great to here from the masters and hopefully get some advice on how to break into the industry. This could be a life changing experience!

Bellow I have listed the films that I am going to be seeing and why I am anticipating them:

Safety Not Guaranteed
Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel.

My Verdict: This looks very funny and has the possibility to be a touching film also. It also stars that guy from New Girl! I am really excited about this one!

For Ellen
A struggling musician takes an overnight long-distance drive in order to fight his estranged wife for custody of their young daughter.

My Verdict: Paul Dano is one of the most underrated young actors at the moment. He nails every role! So he is the main reason i'm excited about this one, but the supporting cast is great, including Jon Heder and Jena Malone. Should be a good one!

LUV
Over the course of one day, a shy 13-year-old forms a bond with his troubled uncle.

My Verdict: The director Sheldon Candis seems like a very down to earth guy, he also wrote what could be a very personal and emotional story. Really looking forward to this, it also stars Danny Glover and Boardwalk Empire's Chalky White, Michael Kenneth Williams.

Liberal Arts
When thirty-something Jesse is invited back to his alma mater, he falls for a young 19-year-old college student and is faced with the powerful attraction that springs up between them.

My Verdict: Although  I may not have loved Martha Marcy May Marlene I did love Elizabeth Olsen and I cannot wait to see her in another film. This looks like it could be a really good love story that makes audiences question age differences between lover. And for the ladies, it also stars Zac Efron. Looks like good one!

2 Days in New York
Marion has broken up with Jack (Two Days in Paris) and now lives in New York with their child.

My Verdict: Sequel to the great 2 Days in Paris which I watched the other day and liked very much! This time Jack is gone and a new boyfriend played by the brilliant Chris Rock! And if that doesn't flick your switch the main character Marion played by Julie Deply once again, writes, directs and produces! Should be a great end to what could be an incredible weekend!

So if you are also going to Sundance London then you might see me there! If not then I am going to hopefully film the experience and release an Alex's Essential Movie Blog - first ever video blog!

Thanks for reading!