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Okay then, as the new year settles in & shows us it's colours, let's have a brief look at what was memorable shall we? As my usual disclaimer, these are in no particular order, (I lie, they are alphabetical). They are the 10 films I most enjoyed this year & suggest you watch if you haven't already, this is not to suggest the others were crap (just crapp-er or I didn't see them), neither is it to suggest these are the best, after all, personal preference is too a factor, right?

Well here goes:

(500) Days of Summer
Bundling this in as another romcom / chick flick would be a major injustice to it. I mean for starters it's from the guy perspective, plus this is most certainly one of the best written films I've seen in quite a while. Written as a journey through a relationship, it moves back & forth in time to fill yu in on the details, just as you need them. Definitely a tough balance to find, so Kudos for that, but beyond this treatment, it felt novel too.

I think Joseph Gordon-Levitt is definitely an actor to look out for, This is the 2nd time that one of his films has made my Top 10 of the year, a couple of years ago there was The Lookout, both of whic were surprise films, hadn't heard anything about them until a week or so before their release. I'm not going to suggest the guy is the best actor since sliced bread, but he's certainly making some wise career choices that I think may be worth following.

District 9
Getting yourself a novel concept isn't enough. The other day I saw Daybreakers which I thought was a novel concept, and a lot of thought was given to a lot of the details, but large things had been ignored, making it average overall. This one on the other hand was not only a novel concept, but novel execution too. Aliens come to Earth and don't stop by at the US Embassy and say hi to the president, novel in itself, but adding to this there are many aspects to this film that were unexplored previously. From the anti-hero hero, the setting & ofcourse the actual story-line. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't already & I promise you the word prawns will never be the same. ;)

Drag Me To Hell
Sam Raimi helms another Evil Dead style horror flick I was told. I gave a toothy grin & fobbed the guy off. I didn't want to admit I haven't seen the Evil Dead films. Now having seen this I understand what the big craze is all about. The story is simple, this is all about the execution, skipping comfortably between hilarious & shocking you out of your skin with less than a second in-between. It settles you down to shock you even more. It's been no secret that I'm not a fan of horror, but if they were all this effective, I would be. It doesn't depend on cheap jumps or extremely gruesome violence to gross you out, yet manages to do both. Bravo Mr. Raimi, if you stuck to this & gave up the Spider-man films I'd respect you even more, but we all need a franchise & that's a whole different story.

Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wes Anderson films are always a bit special. Take that as you will. So when I hear that he's now working on a children's story originally written by Roald Dahl who was an exceptional writer & a bit of a nutter in his own right, I'm certainly intrigued. The result is almost perfect. The quirkiness Anderson provides is only one of the assets. The stop motion animation was novel and works well too. Adding to this the voice actors really really get into their roles. I totally got lost in this world. With Pixar and Dreamworks both churning out animation that seems to be losing the spark to pull me in, this was just what was needed to renew my faith.

Gran Torino
While many action heroes are renewing their franchises, some enjoyable, some less so, Clint Eastwood brings us a film that is a little more grounded in reality. Only a little though. :) In recent years we've seen him direct more than act, which I always thought was a shame. I used to love the Dirty Harry films and teh others that followed under the Malpaso banner. So, I was extremely happy to see him on the big screen again & trust me he's stil a bad-ass. You would not mess with this guy. So, is there anything here for non Eastwood fans? Well yea'. A simple enough story, but the way it pans out and takes you in is magic in itself.

Hurt Locker, The
Forming a bit of a trend here, but much like 'modern-day' horrors, I don't like war films. War is bad, people die, families cry & above all America rules. It bores me. Unless the 'setting' is war and there is an interesting story within it, normally I don't care for them. I saw the trailer for this & was intrigued by it. It's about a bomb squad. Those guys that get called when there is a threat, to assess and diffuse where possible. This interested me. After watching it, what amazed me is how involved it made me. Specialised jobs in war or otherwise always have an aspect that an outsioder wouldn't even think about. When this requires immediate action and means instant life or death, you get real tension, which in turn makes good film-watching.

International, The
Many run-of-the-mill thrillers about government conspiracies, revenge & the such come & go, month after month, some are good fun, some are less so, but only some every once in a while leave you with more than that. This was one of those few. Now the way I phrase this may make it sound like the whole film hinges on it's end. It doesn't. It is a pretty good thriller throughout, but the more that I learned about the characters & as the plot unravelled, I found myself not only rooting for the heroes but also wondering if anything was won in the end of it all. Was there satisfaction in unravelling the mystery, was there redemption or wasn't there. & it's this part that makes it fit into a highly respectable film to me.

Julie and Julia
This one turned out to not only be a sweet film about struggles & places where people find a space to artistically vent but also turned out to be a very personal film. There were aspects of this film that I felt very closely mirrored where I am in my life, professionally and emotionally. I mean sure, putting yourself in people's shoes is what film-watching is about on some level, but these shoes fit curiously too well, to t he point where it kinda got me a bit paranoid about flies on the wall. So, of the 10 ths one is probably the most personal one, but that said I'm sure people out there are loving it for more reasons than it reminding them of me. ;)

Star Trek
I actually have very little to say about this one. I've watched 2 or 3 Star Trek episodes in my entire life, maybe 2 of the films, didn't think much to any of it. This however is fantastic. It caters for the outsider. I'm told it also caters for the fans. I think simply the opening scene should be enough to grip you, if not, I have no idea what will. I saw a webcomic somewhere tha even Jesus Christ liked Star Trek & I can believe it. Superb in every way.

Terminator: Salvation
Now this is the film that's a little controversial. I know a lot of people that'll huff & puff seeing this in my Top 10 list, but frankly, I'd find it wrong if it wasn't. Despite it's flaws, this for me was one of the most anticipated films of the year & for me, it delivered. Everything that I wanted from the film was right there. Christian Bale as Connor was not at all 'distracting', but I think he had the show stolen from under his feet by relatively recent starter Sam Worthington. The CGI Arnie obviously took it to a whole new level & was worth the admission price in itself, but all in all I enjoyed this a lot. If you missed it I'd certainly recommend it a a rental.

Well there you have it, my Top 10. There's a couple of World Cinema films I'd like to mention as a must-watch before I sign-off & that's Fermat's Room - I'd describe it as Saw with less brutality meets Mathematics geeks & then there's Let The Right One In - A film about a little girl vampire & her fraandship with her next door neighbour. Both pretty engaging films that I think could have done with a little more promoting & wider spread releases.

Well, as the kids from Looney Tunes'd say .. That's All Folks ..