Madagascar (Tom McGrath, 2005)

Synopsis: Spoiled by their upbringing with no idea what wild life is really like, four animals from New York Central Zoo escape, unwittingly assisted by four absconding penguins, and find themselves in Madagascar, among a bunch of merry lemurs.

Was on BBC1 so thought why not, funny enough film.

(119/365)

Event Horizon (Paul W.S. Anderson, 1997)

Synopsis: A rescue crew investigates a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now returned…with someone or something new on-board.

Cannot even remember why I random decided to watch this film, but it popped into my had. Pretty average by all accounts not to bad though. Definitely good enough to watch for any sci-fi fans.

(118/365)

The Running Man (Paul Glaser, 1987)

Synopsis: A wrongly-convicted man must try to survive a public execution gauntlet staged as a TV game show.

All this talk about Hunger Games just fancied watching something it was based on… pretty decent film really. If you like Schwarzenegger then you’ll like this, classic Arnie at his (worst) best.

(117/365)

The Darkest Hour (Chris Gorak, 2011)

Synopsis: In Moscow, five young people lead the charge against an alien race who have attacked Earth via our power supply.

I was pretty surprised when I saw this film, partly because I hadn’t heard anything about it, and when I started watching it seemed like a pretty high budget affair to empty out so many streets (maybe thats why it was filmed in russia, bit cheaper) but overall I was a bit disapointed with the film, definitely expected a bit more from one of my favourite genres in film (the whole dystopian/apocalyptic thing) the aliens were cool, kind’ve a new take on an invasion but the cgi stuff was pretty bad, and outside of the main cast (emile hirsch mainly) the acting wasn’t all that great, pretty average film really.

(101/365)

Contraband (Baltasar Kormakur, 2012)

Synopsis: To protect his brother-in-law from a drug lord, a former smuggler heads to Panama to score millions of dollars in counterfeit bills.

I really enjoyed this film even more than I thought I was going to, absolutely BRILLIANTLY cast in every single role in my opinion, an incredibly interesting action film with a good few twists and a satisfactory ending. Felt like a cool twist on a traditional heist film, although slightly predictable in parts it certainly doesn’t disappoint. 

(100/365)

The Divide (Xavier Gens, 2011)

Synopsis: Survivors of a nuclear attack are grouped together for days in the basement of their apartment building, where fear and dwindling supplies wear away at their dynamic.

I wasn’t too sure about this film going into it, but it was a pretty decent cast of those faces you KINDA recognise from other stuff, and all of them held their own well in a pretty demanding role really, I generally enjoy this kind of cabin fever type films, and this was an especially grim and tense one. I can’t say that I loved this film in all honesty, but it does what it does well.

(99/365)

Stomp The Yard (Sylvain White, 2007)

Synopsis: After the death of his brother, An expert street dancer goes to Georgia to attend Truth University. But his efforts to get an education and woo the girl he likes are sidelined when he joins in his fraternity’s effort to win a step dancing competition

There has been a HELL of a lot of these kinda films come out, and this is the only one of them that I can stand at all really, it’s a good enough story even though slightly ridiculous really, and the dance is cool as hell, but overall, not a particularly great film in all honesty.

(98/365)

Burlesque (Steve Antin, 2010)

Synopsis: A small-town girl ventures to Los Angeles and finds her place in a neo-burlesque club run by a former dancer.

Not gonna lie, people had been telling me to watch this for ages and I’ve always ignored them because I figured it really wouldn’t be for me, but honestly I absolutely loved this film, really enjoyable and well done. Well acted all round, surprisingly so considering the cast in parts, and Stanley Tucci knocks it out of the park as he literally ALWAYS does!

Really can’t say how much I enjoyed this film, and it once and for all proved it is in fact possible to sustain an erection for 2 solid hours… Seriously though, Aguileras character in this is just THE perfect woman, and ridiculously hot tbh! 

(97/365)

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Synopsis: As Johnny Blaze hides out in Eastern Europe, he is called upon to stop the devil, who is trying to take human form.

I always find it kind’ve perplexing when a film like this is made, when a film is quite as terrible as the first Ghost Rider comes out how the hell does someone manage to get MORE money to throw at Nick Cage to make a reboot only a few years later!?

It was barely better than the first and really not worth watching unless you want to see some mediocre action and even worse acting, the only thing they did right was playing the Rider as more of a psycho this time, because if we’re honest that is pretty much the only thing Cage can act convincingly!

Don’t bother.

(96/365)

21 Jump Street (Phil Lord and Chris Miller, 2011)

Synopsis: A pair of underachieving cops are sent back to a local high school to blend in and bring down a synthetic drug ring.

This film was absolutely fucking HILARIOUS, awesome cast and just all round brilliant film. I honestly absolutely loved it, haven’t laughed as hard as I did at the end of this film for absolutely ages. 

Definite must see!

(95/365)

Underworld: Awakening (Mans Marlind, Bjorn Stein, 2011)

Synopsis: When human forces discover the existence of the Vampire and Lycan clans, a war to eradicate both species commences. The vampire warrioress Selene leads the battle against humankind.

I’ve been quite a fan of the Underworld series which obviously has very little to do with Kate Beckinsale in the leather cat suit! This was a pretty awesome action film really, good enough plot, no faults with the acting and some sweet action scenes.

For what it is, no complaints! 

(94/365)

We Bought a Zoo (Cameron Crowe, 2011)

Synopsis: Set in Southern California, a father moves his young family to the countryside to renovate and re-open a struggling zoo.

I’m sure a hell of a lot of people won’t like this film, but tbh those people will be hollow, unfullfilled, emotionally crippled shells of human beings! If you can’t watch this film and just get caught up in it, get emotional as fuck and enjoy the ride then fuck you.

Brilliantly acted and an awesome surprisingly true story that I absolutely loved, seriously emotional film on both the highs and the low (in fact so emotional it has both randy newman AND sigur ros in ONE film!) All of the actors do a great job, the laughs are genuine and the emotion feels sincere all the way through, and more to the point everything feels relatively believable in what is really a really odd situation.

I think everyone should see this film even though it seemed to only be in the cinemas very briefly, definitely grab it when it comes out on DVD.

(93/365)

Winters Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)

Synopsis: An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.

Since although I didn’t particularly enjoy Hunger games one of the main things that impressed me was Jennifer Lawrences acting skills, so I decided to check this out as I heard it was pretty awesome and earned her one of the youngest oscar nominations ever. 

I was definitely not disapointed, absolutely brilliant indie film with outstanding performances all round, incredibly bleak and depressing bit with still with enough hope to keep you engaged, very dark film but without doubt worth a watch for anybody that gives indie films a try!

(92/365)

The Hunger Games (Gary Ross, 2012)

Synopsis: Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister’s place for the latest match.

I’m actually now starting to read the books for the most part because of how let down I felt by the film in all honesty, I’m not gonna try and say this was a bad film in any way but it definitely wasn’t great. I can imagine a lot of people being disappointed by it for various reasons.

My main problem with it was similar to a LOT of book adaptations, there was just too much to cover and not enough time to cover it all well, I feel there were things they should have left out in order to cover other things more thoroughly, overall my main complaint was what seemed to be an almost complete lack of character development whatsoever, and the relationship between Katniss and Peeta especially did not feel real in any way whatsoever, one minute he’s trying to kill her the next they’re best mates again just because he got hurt… 

Just didn’t live up to the hype at all because they were just trying to do too much. Although Jennifer Lawrence’s insane hotness kinda made up for a lot of it!

(91/365)