O Those Wonderful Wonderful Women

I was originally planning to write a series of blogs on James Bond this month full of my usual humour and smutty remarks (I know I'm a bit late to the bandwagon, but does anyone really care?). However you all will just have to wait for those with baited breathe, while I get serious for this one.

Today (8th of March) is International Women's Day and I thought I should take a few moments to show appreciation to the women who have affected my life personally. I have been lucky enough to know a lot of magnificent women and though they may not be famous (yet), they do deserve a mention. (Please note that I will be using only initials for some of the women as I haven't told anyone I am writing this and they may wish to protect their privacy, they will hopefully know who they, if not they can ask).

Let me begin at the very beginning with my Mother. You may find this hard to believe however I'm not always the easiest person to get along with, there is the moodiness, the cynicism, the sarcasm and the undying belief that I am always right. All that and we won't even go into my teenage years, throughout all this my mother has always been there. Being an immigrant to the UK, her life hasn't been easy but she has worked hard (still does) and raised 4 children during testing times. Though I may not say it often I do love her dearly.

Next my two sisters (C and R), both of whom have had to put up with a lot of my crap over the years and yet still can bring themselves to talk to me. Both are younger then me (but mentally a lot more mature) and have both grown into strong independent women of whom I am very proud. 

Speaking of strong, independent women in my family I should also mention my cousin MB who was also an immigrant to the UK, has made a wonderful life for herself, works hard with charities and raised a family which also includes the first in the next generation of strong brilliant women, her daughter PB. PB is one of the smartest people I know, also she is someone who won't take any crap from anyway (which is cool).

Other women I would like to show appreciation would be the teachers who helped shape me into the mad genius you all know and love today. I can't remember all of them for which I am very sorry (however I am getting on a bit). From North Combined First and Middle School, Mrs Nunn, Miss Ryder (who started my taste for writing) and Miss Nicholson (who first recognised my ability to act). From Villiers High School there was Ms Halford (a most excellent form tutor and French teacher), Mrs Garcha (who got me through Chemistry), Miss Fortune (who gave me my love of History), Mrs Chana (who made maths fun)  and Mrs. Bennett (who got me to write for fun, so you can blame her for this blog).

Finally we get to the present, for some strange reason (not that I'm complaining), the vast majority of my friends are women, all of whom are strong, smart, talented and supercool. Some of them have had a tough time over the last year and a bit (I won't go into detail as they wouldn't appreciate it and I want them to carry on being my friends), So let me just say this SB (back home), KC and CM (here in Prague), EP (out in Malaysia) and KC (in Canada) I am lucky to know each and everyone of you, you are all fantastic in your own ways and I hope you always stay so.

Films You Should Have Seen #2

It's time again for me to enlighten some of you who have missed out on some  fantastic cinematic gems for whatever reason, on their virtues and why you should stop whatever you are doing and watch it right now, (unless you are preforming surgery of course). 

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Year: 1989
Directed by: Stephen Herek
Starring: Alex Winters, Keanu Reeves, George Carlin, Amy Stock-Poynton, Terry Camilleri, Dan Shor
IMDB Plot Summary:  In the small town of San Dimas, a few miles away from Los Angeles, there are two nearly brain dead teenage boys going by the names of Bill S, Preston ESQ. and Ted Theodore Logan, they have a dream together of starting their own rock and roll band called the "Wyld Stallyns". Unfortunately, they are still in high school and on the verge of failing out of their school as well, and if they do not pass their upcoming history report, they will be separated as a result of Ted's father sending him to military school. So, a man from the future named Rufus came to help them pass their report. So, both Bill and Ted decided to gather up historical figures which they need for their report. They are hoping that this will help them pass their report so they can stay together. (Written by John Wiggins) NB. I have taken out one line from the plot summary to stop spoilers.
Why it is worth watching: This is a true classic. One of the funniest films I have ever seen. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winters are two of the most charming and loveable leads in any film you will see, even if they are not the sharpest tools in the shed. Having these two travel through time and interacting with famous historical figures, without really having any clue about what is going on around them is brilliant to watch (especially a scene where they are trying to out philosophise Socrates in ancient Greece).

This is also one of the rare films where most of the cast is almost pitch perfect, George Carlin as the uber-cool Rufus, Amy Stock-Poynton as the boys old crush and Bill current step mother and all the actors playing the historical figures just fit perfectly. 

This film captures the change over from the 1980's to the 1990's fantastically, by having both charm and wit, and nothing in the film captures this more then the soundtrack. Full of 80's style pop-rock that sometimes veers close to power ballard territory without ever fully crossing over. It might sound a bit cheesy now but sometimes a bit of cheese is a good thing.

So in short go watch this film if you haven't seen it before and if you have then go watch it again, it is a really good time.

Plans for a Papal Revolution

Some of you may have read my earlier post "The Start-up" and they will know that I have given some thought to starting a new religion as a business venture. Obviously those of you hearing about this for the first time are all thinking, "Wow! What a brilliant idea," and/or, "Damn it! Why couldn't I think of that first." To you I would say "Yes I am a genius and why the hell have you not read all my other stuff yet?"

Anyway on February the 11th this year the current Pope announced his decision to retire. This got the many gears in my head working and I decided maybe instead of building a religion from the bottom up, why not take over an established religion and make it better. Therefore I have decided to throw my name into the hat for the job as then next Pope.

Undoubtedly there will be some who would object to this. I mean I'm not Catholic, I'm not even Christian. I'm not any sort of priest, being firmly agnostic probably doesn't help. Also the fact that I'm young and a man of the world may go against me. However to those doubters I would say maybe after 1980 years it's time to try something a bit different. I would project an air of coolness that the papacy lacks, as well as bringing my overall awesomeness into play globally.

To show that I have thought this through, here is an outline of what my Papacy would deliver:

1) Public executions of all priests known to have taken part in the abuse of children. OK this is not a joke. The Catholic church has lost a lot of respect and this issue has caused a lot of pain, not just the acts but the response of the church to them. So in order to bring back confidence to the church we need to send a message. That message should come in the form of swift justice to all those who committed these heinous deeds and all those that helped cover them up.

2) Allow women to be priests. After carrying out my first point there would be rather a lot of vacancies to fill in all levels of the church, so what better time to introduce women into positions they have been denied for far too long. This would modernise the church and bring a whole new energy to its current stagnant state.

3) Allow priests to marry. From what I have read, the reason priests are meant to be celibate is so that the church will inherit all their worldly belongings when the priest shuffles off his mortal coil. if this is the reason then all I can say is that the Vatican has more then enough money, and at this point it's just being greedy. Also this goes directly against the wishes of God, who said "Be fruitful and multiply" if you believe in Genesis 1.28.

4) Give homosexuals equal rights in the church. Look this should be a no brainer logically, if you believe in an all knowing and all powerful God, then you have to believe that if that God didn't want two men, or two women to fall in love with each other, then he or she (it's God I'm not sure if gender pronouns can even apply), wouldn't have made something like 10% of the worlds population gay (is that politically correct? I'm not sure. I apologise if not.) So let openly homosexual people become priests and marry.

5) Allow the use of contraceptives. OK let's get serious here, people like to have sex. It is a lot of fun from what I remember, and the idea that people should only do it when they want to have children is bordering on the absurd. This is the 21st century and burying its head in the sand will not do the church any good, it needs to grow up. This isn't even taking into account the vast numbers of the church's followers that are dying of HIV each year. If you were to look at this as a business model, then allowing your customer base to dwindle each year, when you can prevent it, without any additional financial costs yourself, is really crappy business.

Now that all the serious issues have been addressed here are a few changes I would bring along just for me.

1) No special hat for the pope. I don't do hats it makes my hair all weird. I understand that most of the people working in the church are very old men, so I wouldn't ban hats altogether. Just not for me.

2) Pimp out the Pope Mobile. I mean just look at it. And it's white!  

3) I would create a Vatican City Football team for international football tournaments and be allowed to pick any player from any Roman Catholic country (So South America, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Poland....)

4) Sell off some of the churches assets to start a Space program, so I can be an astronaut.

5) Raise a Papal army. I've always wanted an army.

Anyway these are my ideas for the direction the Catholic Church could take under my brilliant leadership.

A Salute to Those Taken Away Too Soon

Hello there you lovely people and those of you who aren't lovely as well. This week I read some news that deeply saddened me. It’s something that has happened to me on multiple occasions, however no matter how many times I go through it, I still feel the same frustration and sorrow every time.

I am of course referring to the way I feel when a TV show gets cancelled before it’s time has come. In this instance I am referring to the comedy series “Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23” Now for those of you unfamiliar with this particular show, let me give you a quickish overview.

Feisty yet naive girl from Indiana June Colburn (Dreama Walker), comes to New York to start her dream career in the finance sector. The company who employed her turns out to be based on a Ponzi scheme, and as she step off the elevator on the morning of her very first day she is told that the company is being raided by the IRS and all its assets seized, including her extremely lush apartment. Unemployed, homeless and too proud to head back home June decides to stay in the Big Apple and get her life back on track. Step one find a place to live. Answering a advert for a flatmate June meets the seemingly nice, but in truth a bitch/party girl/con-woman/possibly psychopathic Chloe McGruff, (Krysten Ritter). After an initial dislike the two of them decide to continue as flatmates and much fun is had by all that watched.

Now some of you may say, “But that doesn’t sound that funny”. Some of you may even think I am not sincere in my admiration of this show. If you believe that then you are mistaken on both counts. The show may be a riff on the odd couple scenario; however what make this show special was definitely the cast, Ritter plays Chloe with such aplomb and seems to be having the time of her life doing so. Walker’s portrayal of June is a perfect foil for the over the top (but still loveable) Chloe, showing shock, envy and wonder in equal parts at Chloe’s antics. The rest of the cast is also great Liza Lapira as Chloe’s ex-flat mate and current neighbour, who is desperate to get back into Chloe’s world, Eric Andre as Junes boss who has the hots for her. The best outside the two leads though is definitely James Van Der Beek playing a fictional version of himself as Chloe’s BFF. He plays up his vanity and acting career to great amusement but still is very likeable.

Anyway after only 18 episodes being aired the show has been cancelled. In honour of another show that was cancelled too soon, I thought I would list a few other shows that weren’t given enough time or cancelled too soon (or on a cliffhanger).

Firefly: Series: 1 Series there should have been: 5

This is the best example of a show with fantastic potential that should have been treated a lot differently. A great concept, a wonderful background and a brilliant cast, this could have been a truly great sci-fi classic. The fans obviously being smarter then the TV execs did force a film through, but still I would like a lot more.

My Name is Earl: Series: 4 Should have been: 5

This is one of those case of ending a great series on a cliffhanger. With one more series they could have tied up any loose ends and Earl could have finished his list and he and Randy could have had happily ever after.

Pushing Daisies: Number of Series: Series: 2 Should have been: 6

A quirky wonderful show the likes of which I haven't seen before. It was a colourful masterpiece. The creators knowing the end was nigh rushed to tie up all the loose ends on the last show. However I would still love to see a lot more of these characters.

Outcasts: Number of Series: Series: 1 Should have been: 3

I was introduced to this BBC gem by my friend. A great Sci-fi series which ended after just 8 episodes and unfortunately on a big cliffhanger. A great cast of British acting talent made this tension filled series well worth watching.

Outsourced: Series: 1 Should have been: 4

A very funny sitcom that was cancelled too soon. Some critics considered this to be racist, being of Indian origins myself I can say I didn't find it so and wasn't offended. I found it charming, and the fact that it was making fun of both the Indian and American office cultures made it even more funny. More Diedrich Bader and Pervesh Cheena!

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Series: 2 Should have been: 5

Another great show. This time based on an existing franchise that ended too soon. To make matters worse it ended on one hell of a cliffhanger. A great cast all round with special mention to Lena Headey and Garret Dillahunt, as Sarah Connor and Cromartie respectively.

To these and all the other great shows that burned brightly but not for long enough, we salute you.

Films You Should Have Seen #1

Prologue
So the other day I was talking to a colleague at work about a currently TV series (Elementary) and told him the name of the actor who stars in it (Jonny Lee Miller). He didn't recognise the name so I took the universal next step in this situation and named a film that he was in. Now when thinking of Jonny Lee Miller the first film that comes to my mind is of course Hackers, (same for Angelina Jolie). However I was aghast to find that not only had my colleague not seen the film, he hadn't even heard of it. I then asked a couple of colleagues around us and they too disappointed me by not having heard of it.

Now to be honest I am something of a film fanatic and love watching a lot of different types of films. So maybe the fact that I have seen something that other people may not have, shouldn't surprise me (though it constantly does). I have therefore come to the conclusion that it is my duty to educate you less fortunate beings, so you may too enjoy some of the film industries lesser known gems.

I will therefore be publishing at least one monthly post on a film I believe you should have seen but may not have. You are Welcome.

So let us begin with the film that started this process.

Hacker
Year: 1995
Directed by: Iain Softley
Starring: Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Fisher Stevens, Matthew Lillard, Lorraine Bracco
IMDB Plot Summary: A young boy is arrested by the US Secret Service for writing a computer virus and is banned from using a computer until his 18th birthday. Years later, he and his new-found friends discover a plot to unleash a dangerous computer virus, but they must use their computer skills to find the evidence while being pursued by the Secret Service and the evil computer genius behind the virus.
Why it is worth watching: OK the plot summary hardly does the film justice. Yes that is basically what happens in the film, however this film is one where the style over the substance is what makes it so fantastic. 

OK I work in IT and I understand that the way the film depicts hackers and hacking is utterly ridiculous, gloriously ridiculous, so ridiculous in fact that it becomes sublime. They depict the internal workings of servers as city grids and building, with running process seeming to be vehicles moving along the grids at super fast speeds, and hacking process as breaking into one of those building. 

The hackers themselves are depicted as these uber-cool sexy rebels all colourful hair and colourful latex. Speaking in meaningless slang, inhabiting a world of computer games and techno music. The then young cast (one of Jolie's first film roles), play the parts with a frenetic energy and elusive coolness that all young know-it-alls posses.

Speaking of the music, the soundtrack is a whose who of mid nineties Techno, Trance and Electronica, with bands such as Leftfield, The Prodigy, Underworld and Orbital providing the perfect mood for this over the top romp.

This film is a brilliant reminder of the positive attitude prevalent at the time. When a film like this could be made by people with little knowledge of the main subject and still make something showy and fun.

Anyway there you are, go watch it this film

What Every Geek Has Done Before

OK Ladies and Gentlemen, Girls and Boys and everyone and everything in between. Let me warn you straight off, the nerd factor on this post will be set to warp factor 9.8, yes this post is about Star Trek. Before I begin I think I should provide the non geeky amongst you with some information, I will be using the following abbreviations

TOS = The Original Series (The one with Kirk and Spock)
TNG = The Next Generation (The one with Picard)
DS9 = Deep Space Nine (The one aboard the space station)

Anyway while watching the trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness, (looks excellent, can't wait), I remembered something that me and my friends used to do years ago. We would try and come up with the ultimate Star Trek crew from the crews of the TV series, (at the time there were only 3 TOS, TNG and DS9). To be honest with me at the time it would end up with the crew of TNG with Spock and Dr. Bashir thrown in for variety.

Anyway I decide to try this again especially as there are two new crews to pick from Voyager and Enterprise, (though I really really dislike Voyager). In order to makes sure that we again didn't end up with the crew of TNG with Spock and Dr. Bashir like usual, I set up some rules. Please feel free to to create your own ideal crews following my rules, it's extremely nerdy and very relaxing, (once you are done).

The Rules
1) Only members of crews from the TV Series are to be picked from, all other media, (films, books, games etc.) are not valid.

2) You must use at least 1 person from each of the TV series crews.

3) You must fill certain roles. After researching the roles that were on most of the shows were:

          Commanding Officer/Captain (Archer,  Kirk,  Picard,  Sisko,  Janeway)
          Second in Command (T'Pol,  Spock,  Riker,  Nerys,  Chakotay)
          Chief Medical Officer (Phlox,  McCoy,  Crusher,  Bashir,  The EMH Doctor)
          Chief Engineer (Tucker,  Scott,  La Forge,  Torres)
          Chief Operations Officer (Data,  O'Brien,  Kim)
          Chief Science Officer (T'Pol,  Spock,  J. Dax,  Wildman)
          Communications Officer (Sato,  Uhura)
          Tactical\Security Chief (Reed,  Worf,  Odo,  Tuvok)
          Helmsman (Mayweather,  Sulu,  Crusher,  Paris)

4) Those amongst you with the tendency to do so will have noticed that there are 9 positions to fill currently. For some reason, (possibly just a general disposition towards decimalisation), I would prefer to have a tenth member of the crew. So I researched some more to see what other positions showed up with the main crews of the shows and came up with the following list, from which you will pick only 1:

          Nurse (Chapel,  Kes)
          Counsellor (Troi,  E. Dax)
          Navigator (Chekov)
          Astrometrics (Seven of Nine)
          Stewards (Daniels,  Rand,  Guinan,  Quark,  Neelix)

5) Only designated positions are allowed. You can not assign someone to a role that they are not listed under, (I.e. you can not make Data the second in command, or make Seven of Nine into a nurse (as much as we would like to see her in a nurses uniform)) 

6) Each member of your crew can only be assigned to one position. Some are listed under multiple roles, this is due to the fact that the fulfilled multiple roles during there series, (I.e. Spock and were both the Second in Command (First Officer) and the Science Officer aboard their respective Enterprises). However you can only pick someone once. 

7) Finally you must also pick a ship for your crew. I had thought about allowing you to pick any ship from the Star Trek universe, (I mean who doesn't think the Klingon Bird of Preys are fucking awesome). However in order to make this more interesting I am limiting it to Star Fleet ships only as the crew will consist of Star fleet personal mainly. If you have the time, interest, inclination you can check up on this list to pick your ship. 

OK I can tell that you are all chomping at the bits to know my picks for the ideal Star Trek Crew. So here you go

My Ideal Star Trek Crew

Commanding Officer/Captain: Jean-Luc Picard
This one should be obvious. Picard is the most experienced, balanced and the coolest captain, (sorry Kirk). Even has a battle maneuver named after him.
Second Choice: James Tiberius Kirk

Second in Command: Spock
Lots of experience as a number 2 and with taking command in his captains absence. Highly intelligent with a fantastic ability to adapt to any situation.
Second Choice: Kira Nerys

Chief Medical Officer: Julian Subatoi Bashir
Genetically engineered to be smarter and stronger then the average human. Also has the advantage of being the least annoying Doctor in Star Trek.
Second Choice: The EMH Doctor

Chief Engineer: B'Elanna Torres
Not a conventional Star fleet engineer. However shows great ability to improvise to keep her ship running.
Second Choice: Geordi La Forge

Chief Operations Officer: Data
Possibly the most able member of the crew. Definitely the strongest and smartest, and countless abilities that make him a very valuable member of any crew.
Second Choice: Miles Edward O'Brien

Chief Science Officer: T'Pol
Highly intelligent, with the capacity to question the set beliefs of the Vulcan Science council when presented with evidence that contradicts them. 
Second Choice: Jadzia Dax 

Communications Officer: Hoshi Sato
Has a natural ability with languages, which make her extremely useful should the universal translators ever fail.
Second Choice: Nyota Uhura 

Tactical\Security Chief: Worf
It's Fucking Worf! A natural warrior, He has vast experience facing off against both the Borg and the Dominion.
Second Choice: Malcolm Reed

Helmsman: Hikaru Sulu
Experienced and able helmsmen, and extremely handy with a sword
Second Choice: Wesley Crusher 

Tenth Crewman: Seven of Nine (Astrometrics)
Yes she is smart and has a lot of combat experience from her time with the Borg, however to be honest I just wanted 2 extremely attractive women in cat suits in my crew.

Second Choice: Christine Chapel (Nurse)

Ship: USS Defiant (NX-74205)
I just seem to have a thing for ships that are stripped down to the bare necessities. The Defiant can take a knock and keep on going.
Second Choice: USS Prometheus (NX-59650)

OK so there you go. If you have anything to say (apart from accusing me of sexism) or better suggestions please leave a comment

My Top Ten Films of 2012

My New Year Resolution is to try and write at least 3 blogs a month (you lucky lucky people). I usually publish a top ten of my films of the year at my scarcely updated website. However as I am now writing this blog I thought I would go into a little more detail here, and include some extras as well that I have heretofore not done. Please be aware there may be spoilers.

Notable mentions

These are the films which I really enjoyed and were the closest to being in my Top Ten:

Argo – This is a very good suspenseful thriller with excellent performances from all the cast. A bit of a letdown for me because it changed a lot details from it source material, which I had read before watching the film.

Lincoln – a great film with a lot of power house performances (just give Daniel Day Lewis the Oscar right now). The film also introduced me to a lot of interesting historical figures I was unaware of before.

Prometheus – an excellently suspenseful science fiction film, which unfortunately suffers from its connections to the Alien franchise causing people to not see its own merits. I can’t wait for the sequel the further adventures of Elizabeth and David.

Seven Psychopaths – this has been unfairly compared to the writer/directors previous film the brilliant In Bruges. Though I prefer In Bruges this is still a smart, wicked funny character piece with Christopher Walken out Walkening himself.

The Bourne Legacy – I was dubious about there being a Bourne film without Jason Bourn in it, however setting this film parallel to the previous one and making Aaron Cross a different yet still engaging character made this thriller fit in seamlessly into the Bourne universe.

The Top Ten

10) The Dark Knight Rises

I was conflicted about this one as you will remember if you have read my earlier blog I love batman. So it was hard for me to put this so low on the list, in fact this nearly missed the top ten all together. However in the end what I liked about the film, the mood, the performances (Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy deserve a special mention) and Anne Hathaway in that catsuit, outweighs any issue I may have with plot holes.

9) Wreck-It-Ralph

Wreck-It-Ralph is something of a rarity. It is an animated film made completely for children without any nods or winks towards adult, (the exception being some of the older computer game characters), that parents can sit through and still have a great time with their younglings. It is a colourful mash up of heroes who are bad, and villains with hearts of gold, in a story about wanting to belong and fighting bullies with the odd poop joke thrown in.

8) Jesus Henry Christ

A small independent comedy that you may have missed (not the only one on this list), dealing with children who are more clever than their parents, parents on the edge and finding out in the end that being yourself and loving your family no matter how weird they are will get you through almost anything. With brilliant performances from the all the cast this is one you should try and catch.

7) The Dark Knight Returns Part 1

As disappointed as I was with The Dark Knight Rises, this straight to DVD animated Batman film was a wonderful surprise. Following closely the first two issue of The Dark Knight Returns comic book series, it succeeds in bring to the screen both the darkness and despair of a Gotham City without the Caped Crusader and the obsessive desire and need for Bruce Wayne to wear the cowl. Part Two is released at the end of this month.

6) Skyfall

James Bond is back and with a bang. After the less then great Quantum of Solace we get Daniel Craig back to his best as a slightly older and even more world weary secret agent. This being the 50^th anniversary of Bond on film we had hoped for something special and Sam Mendes delivers just that. With tonnes of references to the history of bond, an excellent opening song, in my opinion the best Bond villain so far and the action turned to just right this is one of the best Bond films ever.

5) Safety Not Guaranteed

This is another small independent comedy, this time with a very slight science fiction edge to it. The thing that makes this one of my top five films of the year are the performances especially by the always wonderfully deadpan Aubrey Plaza and the “Yes I find him strangely charming in this, however I don’t know why” Mark Duplass, (very different to his character in The League). This film is definitely one to catch if you can.

4) Moonrise Kingdom

So Wes Anderson makes another offbeat comedy, full of quirky characters, a bright colour palette and starring Bill Murray. I would tell him to stop and try something new if he wasn’t fantastic at it and didn’t produce such wonderful films. Moonrise Kingdom may star big names like Bruce Willis, Edward Norton the aforementioned Bill Murray and Francis McDormand, however it is the child actors that make this film not just the two leads but also the scout troop full of psychopaths, who are just delightful.

3) The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey

Let me just state from the start this is my favourite so far of all the Peter Jackson Middle Earth films. I liked the Lord of the Rings Trilogy well enough, however I find when watching them at home I tend to skip past all the Frodo scenes in the last two films. I don’t think it will be the same with Bilbo and this film. Martin Freeman brings a charm and depth to Bilbo that Frodo lacked. I know that The Hobbit is a lighter book then the Lord of the Rings, but that makes this more enjoyable for me. Bring on Smaug and the Five Armies.

2) The Avengers

Being a huge comic book fan this should be on the top of my list and if it wasn’t for the eventual winner this would be. The culmination of 5 years and 5 other films, this was fan boys wet dream of a film, finally we get a superhero team up film that didn’t suck. The now crowned king of all the geeks and nerd Joss Whedon did a fantastic job in bringing a giant yet intimate story to the screen and also making people want a Mark Ruffalo starring Incredible Hulk film.

1) Cloud Atlas

Being the misanthropic loner that I am what probably attracted me most to this film is the idea about the interconnectivity of everyone and everything. Six seemingly unrelated stories from six different time periods shown in bits and pieces, this may not be for everyone however I found it fascinating. Actors were playing multiple parts (sometimes different sexes or races) and in most instances the performances were brilliant. Special mention should go to Ben Whitshaw as Robert Frobisher, Jim Broadbent as Timothy Cavendish and the most excellent Doona Bae as Sonmi 451. The films central messages of how ideas, deeds and words echo through time makes one sit back and think. With a most excellent score by co-director Tom Tykwer I left this film feeling wonderful and slightly hopeful for some reason. Hopefully you will do the same.

And as an added bonus my worst film of the year for 2012

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

If I’m honest I wasn’t a huge fan of the original Ghost Rider film. It’s not a comic character I have read much of. Also the film wasn’t very good. So when I heard that a sequel was being made I didn’t have high hopes. This film did something surprising though it failed to reach anywhere near my extremely low expectations. This film basically drags out the Ghost Rider character and pisses fire all over it, (if you have seen this film you will get the reference). As I have mentioned before I love comic books and this film makes me want less comic book films to be made that’s how bad it is. Hopefully every single person (with the exception of Idris Elba) who had anything to do with this film will stay away from comic books and comic book films from now on.