Nearly a year after I've started this blog and we're back to where we began (by which I mean January). The selection of films here is based on British release dates, so while these films might have been in cinemas in 2012 in other locations, from my perspective these were all released in 2013. Without any further ado:
10. Pacific Rim - Loud, dumb but inventive fun, and some of the coolest CGI set-pieces ever filmed, anchored by a mostly on-form cast and the masterful hand of Guillermo Del Toro doing what he does best. It might not be thought-provoking but it's riotously good entertainment all the same.
9. Don Jon - Joseph Gordon-Levitt's debut as a writer and a director was sharper than a pin prick and balanced masturbation jokes with life crises in its own weird, beautiful way. Promising and intelligent, it's an admirably audacious piece of social commentary.
8. Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa - Steve Coogan's hero of British screens gets a well-deserved and well-executed foray into new territory with an adaption that takes everything good about the original and makes it just that little bit more daring. Funny throughout and frequently hilarious, it proves that you can teach an old Partridge new tricks.
7. Iron Man 3 - The funniest and most entertaining installment of Marvel's money maker, it stuck with the sarcasm and explosiveness and elevated it to a higher level. Knowing exactly when to go for laughs and when to go for thrills, Iron Man 3 is crowd-pleasing without being simple or lazy, and an excellent blockbuster.
6. American Hustle - Just creeping in before the year was out, David O Russell's stylized yet serious crime flick wrings fantastic performances out of a prestigious cast to a backdrop of ridiculous design, thoroughly engrossing drama with sprinklings of mirth and enjoyable 'who's conning who' shenanigans.
5. The World's End - Maybe the Cornetto Trilogy deserved a better send-off, but as a stand alone film it's simply side-splitting, jaw-dropping brilliance, combining anarchy and banality to extraordinary effect from the masters of the art form. Comedy and sci-fi have never made better bedfellows.
4. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire -Things got moodier and even more intense for the second chapter of the dystopian action series. Jennifer Lawrence's spellbinding performance is the highlight in a more confident, more emotional and subtler re-run of what came before.
3. We're The Millers - I'm as surprised as you are. What looks like a mediocre stoner comedy is actually a snarky and most importantly hysterical comedy that takes things back to basics to show that low-concept and intelligent immaturity can still be funny, distinct and fresh if you have a good cast and you're prepared to go far enough.
2. Filth - A no-holds barred turbulent wrecking ball of a film providing enough shocks to run a power plant. James McAvoy gives the best performance of his career, and the bleak, pitch-black sense of humour will have you wheezing for breath though a mixture of laughs and gasps. Not recommend for the faint-hearted, recommended for anybody wanting a dark, subversive and intense delight.
1. Django Unchained - Powerful, powerful film making - subtlety be damned. Combining genuinely harrowing drama, over-the-top spectacle, intelligent story/dialogue and sheer guts, Tarantino's latest is as brilliant as it is controversial, showing brains behind the brutality and insensitivity. It's not just a film that will blow your mind with it's droll witticisms, blood-stained madness and spine-tinglingly good performances, but actually makes a statement about racism and exploitation.
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