I finally got around to watching "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" last week and, apart from thoroughly enjoying the film - Gary Oldman's muted yet nuanced performance was exceptional - I was overwhelmed by a sense of nostalgia.

It seems to me that the return to films and scripts with stellar casts and character development has been a long time coming. The script wasn't perfect, but at least it was excellent by comparison with most of the drivel that passes for blockbuster these days. I enjoyed getting to the end and feeling the need - and more importantly, the desire - to watch it again just to see if there was anything I'd missed.

It's no Primer, but few films are that complex. Then again, it didn't fall into the trap of beating me over the head with obviousness because I'm obviously too dense to get it otherwise. It's nice to be treated like an intelligent viewer and enjoy characters that weren't all cut out of a discarded cardboard box.

So I have a question for any of those interested. Actually two questions.

1) What films would you add to this list? (I would add - without thinking too hard - Twelve Angry Men, All the President's Men, Glengarry Glenn Ross)

2) What films would you say were worth seeing at least twice? (To keep this list contained, I would add "because maybe you missed bits the first time around?")

I do love a 60s or 70s movie where the film makers show how with it they are by having a groovy band play a number or two. Old favourites include Stone Ground in Dracula 1972 AD, The Flowerbuds in Carry on Camping and, of course, The Yardbirds in Blow Up.

This one that was new to me, from The Sorcerers which I watched last week. Evil hypnotists take over the mind of Ian Ogilvy, a charming but cold-hearted face on the London club scene, and it is there that we get to enjoy Lee Grant and The Capitols.

As I say, I love this stuff and there must be many more which I don’t know. Your suggestions please.

I have loved The Eagle Has Landed for as long as I can remember. It came out when I was 11 or 12, and I must have been taken to see it around that time. I still never seem to tire of watching it. I think I would probably name it as the first "grown up" film I watched, though there was plenty in it to interest a pre-adolescent schoolboy. Some of the images are indelibly stamped on my memory: The German soldier tangled up in the waterwheel - a delicious oak-wrap moment; Larry Hagman taking a bullet to the head, the blood spilling down his face...

It was a long time before I realised that Donald Sutherland wasn't Irish; I still come over all unnecessary when I see Jenny Agutter; and I still find myself rooting for the Germans, quietly being thrilled when the Americans are being trounced, and somehow still getting slightly nervous when the tables are turned.

Recently, I have had a renewed interest in it. I made a discovery that I hadn't realised before, and it has only made the affection I already had for it grow. I won't bore you with the details here, if you are interested you can read about it over at my "serious" place.

Do you have a film dear to your heart - your first grown up film? It's easy to say, "Yes, lots." I could name a few of my own: Jaws, When A Stranger Calls, The Omega Man, Gregory's Girl...

But, isn't there one that stands head and shoulders above the rest?

It's not very often you'll catch me promoting a commercial venture, but I've just come across a project for which I'm happy to make an exception.

Here's the pitch, in their own words from their website at http://www.indiegogo.com/Last-Shop-Standing-Documentary-phase-2 :

"Last Shop Standing is a collaboration between award winning feature film company Blue Hippo Media www.bluehippomedia.com and Proper Music Publishing Ltd.

Based on the successful book by Graham Jones of the same name, "Last Shop Standing" will be a 60-minute documentary to be released in the summer of 2012. It will be a celebration of the unique spirit of comradeship and entrepreneurial ingenuity that has enabled so many shops to keep operating successfully against the backdrop of massive changes in the music industry, the biggest recession in years, the growth of online file sharing, and the explosion of choice in music consumption."

As you'll see on the website, the makers are trying to raise $5,000 in donations, in return for which donors will receive rewards ranging from a signed copy of the DVD, to being named as Executive Producers, depending on the level of donation. Myself, I think I'll opt for the "Your Name On Screen" option, for twenty-five quid.

This looks like a terrific, and much needed record of a cultural fixture - the indie record shop - that seems destined to fade from view, and from memory, unless someone captures their glory before they're gone. When I saw this, I thought some of the Massive might share this view!

..."Get some rest".

And, why, why oh why, do couples always kiss with a mouthful of food? Take a big bite of a burger, and then kiss. Ee-gads.

(We've done movie clichés before, I know, but who ever heard of magazines rehashing old topics, eh?)

Part 1 http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/non-conformist-opinions-lots-films

12 Monkeys 10 out of 10
A great film, one of my all time favourites. There's nothing to say as everything about it ranges from good to exceptional. Whatever negatives I can come up with are pointless niggles that don't matter.

The Man With Two Brains 8
I've never really liked this movie before. It started fine but quickly ran out of steam and was rather boring in my opinion. Or so it has been until now. For some reason I enjoyed it this time, properly enjoyed it from start to finish. It's a gloriously silly movie and often very funny. Certainly not a masterpiece but a very solid comedy.

Christie Malry's Own Double Entry 3
For me it’s an interesting story told with a decent script but a bad lead actor and a weak director. With an actor who can conjure up some charisma and a visually stylish director (think Brian De Palma) this could have been really good. As it is, I find it to be a bit of a plodding bore. I wouldn’t describe it as entertaining or even particularly thought provoking. The movie is often edited like a Nicholas Roeg film. That means two or three scenes are intercut with each other to draw out connections between past, present and future. I don’t think it really adds anything to the film, but at the same time I don’t think it does any harm. The editing is done in a nuts and bolts way and not with any great style or flash.

I’ve been keeping a list of every film I’ve watched for a little over a year. This is the first half of that list.

I’ll wait to see what way the arseholes are blowing before publishing the second half. No one needs to waste their time pointing out that it’s geeky.

Warning: Includes opinions on films I didn’t watch to the end. Some might be offended by this.

Sherlock Holmes (2009 Guy Ritchie film) 1 out of 10
Rubbish. Gave up after an hour (the bath death scene) as it was clearly not going to get any better. Very weak script that was too linear with little actual investigative stuff. Also the action was poorly filmed and out of place.

Children Of Men 6
A film to admire more than love. Technically impressive if rather indifferent action scenes, usually filmed in long unbroken takes. So-so ending as I didn't even know the final action scene was the climax, I was thinking at the time that it was a pointless diversion that should have been removed! V For Vendetta, which has a similar fascist Britain setting, is a better film as it had clear bad guys with clear motives.

Shutter Island 3
Pretty beige movie. Doesn't really come together and the direction was rather drab and subdued. The ending was nothing great either. Just really indifferent overall. It held my attention, but beyond that there's nothing else positive to say. A minor film at best.

A Lot Like Love 6
The first hour is really good but it runs out of forward motion as soon as they go on a road trip out into the desert. The problem is that the end point of the plot becomes vague and it descends into fairly random scenes so it becomes meandering. The film should have ended when Kutcher plays the Bon Jovi song to her. For no obvious reason they threw up a needless roadblock (her engagement) which just meant we had to sit through another ten minutes for them to get together properly in the next sequence.

Kick-Ass 9
Very well made "real life" comic book movie with excellent stylised action scenes. The director's previous film, Layer Cake, did not suggest he was capable of something this good so this was a very pleasant surprise. Curiously violent with proper death being dealt out to the bad guys.

I watched The Big Lebowski for the first time in ages last night.
The Dude abides, he really does.

I then thought about how I'd describe the film to someone who hadn't seen it. I decided this would do:

1) Funny as f**k. Goes a bit flabby in the middle. Ends well.

(Incidentally, I then decided I would love to have this as my epitaph. Unfortunately, the only part I know to be strictly true is the middle bit).

So, anyone else want to have a go at a pithy movie summary (or two)? You can tell us the title, or leave it for us to guess if you like...

You know the one. You don't even remember how you came across it, but when you watched it, it completely bowled you over - but you've never had anybody to talk to about it because when you do either their eyes glaze over, or they say, "ooh, I must see that..."

Tell us about it. Either we can enthuse about it, too, and you'll know you weren't the only one who saw it. Or we can go, "ooh, I must see that..."

Mine in the comments.

I've just finished watching The Eagle Has Landed (BBC2 3.00-5.10pm). Saw it was on...couldn't miss it! Seen it umpteen times, might even own the DVD. Damn and blast it all to hell, there's two-and-a-bit hours I'm quite glad to have squandered!

You can skip over to YouTube and watch Robert Duvall's classic "synchronicity" spiel. How could you not? http://youtu.be/zUqFhtX4H70 (Begger won't let me embed.)

Which film do you find yourself simply unable to not watch when it turns up on TV?

Ok, I feel I must get this off my chest.

I really didn't enjoy this film.

Admittedly I knew that it wouldn't all be comedy banter after having read the review in the Word. But then I saw the trailer, and I thought I'd watch it. After all, how bad could it be?

I recommend you watch the trailer before reading on...

Supposedly a light-hearted warm and humorous film, the first thing that struck me was just how unlikeable the majority of the characters are. Admittedly Giamatti's Barney is a loveable buffoon, seemingly inable of doing the right thing, but even then, his character doesn't help matters in this respect. I don't know about most people, but I think chatting up another woman on your wedding day has got to be classed as fairly low, right? And it becomes the defining story line for half of the film. Barney's two wives are equally patronising of him, the first being from possibly the most cliched Jewish movie family of all time, who cheats on him with his best friend. Again, fairly low. And his second wife leaves Barney for her boss, simply because Barney fails to listen to her radio show. Is this real life? Because I certainly can't relate to it. Dustin Hoffman's character is the only one you feel you can any empathy with, that is until he has a heart attack in a brothel. To quote the film, "classy, dad".

But what I found the hardest about the film wasn't the awkward and slightly irritating characters, no, what I found the most painful to watch was the harrowing representation of Barney slipping into Alzheimer's towards the end of the film. Admittedly, it was the most "real" bit in the film. But consequently that made it all the harder to watch. For anyone who's ever had someone in the family with Alzheimer's (and I suspect that's a fair few people), having to watch a scene where a the father is unable to peel a banana is not pleasant, its too real, and far too depressing. Particularly as it comes just before his death (which unsurprisingly ends the film). Talk about ending on a downer.

Now I'm all for a bleak movie or two (or three), but I like there to be a point to the bleakness. Do the characters learn anything? Is there redemption at the end? Can you empathise? One of my favourites is The Mission, with De Niro and Irons at the peak of their game. Its about the slaughter of a number of native Amazonians. But there is hope at the end. Many of the children are spared to live another day. But Barney's Version has none of that. Its bleak, its brutal, and then it ends. Oh joy. I paid £7 to bring my mood down on a three day visit to a school friend in London in the middle of two weeks holiday.

Why not just bill the film as a depressing look at growing old? It'd still get viewings from the art house crowd. And I'd have been £7 better off...

Thanks. I feel better after having ranted. Can't get those 2 hours back though...

As you were.

Before it gets too late to post this sort of thing (if it isn’t already), I thought I’d weigh in with my list of favourite movies from last year. It’s been the best year for film that I can remember, one when I’ve tried to see at least one film at the cinema every week (despite the best efforts of the cinema distributors in Belfast), and in a year when I’d struggle to name 5 albums I really cared about, my only struggle with this list was limiting it to 10 (the addendum indicates I failed). So here goes:

1. The Social Network – pure entertainment, beautifully scripted, acted and directed, taking a potentially dull subject and being totally enthralling for two hours. Unlike many a year, deserves all the awards it’s going to get.
2. Another Year – I’m no Mike Leigh fanatic, but this was perfection. A heartbreaking performance from Lesley Manville, and the first film I’ve been to in years where the audience applauded at the end.
3. Enter The Void – By turns enthralling, dazzling, intense, weird, over-the-top and even a bit boring at times (it was 20 minutes too long), this was nevertheless a must-see one-of-a-kind by a true original, a film trying (and largely succeding) to do something new in cinema, and one I can’t wait to see again.
4. The Secret In Their Eyes – the big surprise of the year for me, a film that beat “A Prophet” and my favourite film of 2009 “The White Ribbon” to the best foreign language film Oscar and almost deserved to, this Argentinean thriller / love story is an absolute gem and one that deserves to find a much bigger audience.
5. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – never read the book so didn’t know what to expect, but got a dark nasty thriller with strong characterisations and a plot that never lets up – the sequels weren’t as good (different director), but were still satisfying.
6. Kick-Ass – by a country mile, the best comic book movie of the last 10 years – I should qualify that by saying I’m not a huge fan of this genre, but with great characters, terrific plot and dialogue and not a little panache, this really pulls it off.
7. The Arbor – another complete original, this told the tragic story of playwright Andrea Dunbar (who wrote “Rita, Sue & Bob Too”), before dying at the age of 29. Just when you think her story is sad enough, you get to hear her daughter’s…
8. A Town Called Panic – simultaneously the best comedy and best animation (though not best animated) film of 2010, this is basically the Cravendale milk adverts spun out to 75 minutes with a ludicrous plot and hilarious dialogue – an absolute gem, and one no-one who sees it ever seems to regret.
9. A Prophet – Epic storytelling on a small scale, this was one of the most sustained narratives of last year – once it takes hold it never lets go. Justifiably lauded.
10. Skeletons – A very small budget British film and again a true original, this gem builds intrigue as to what is happening before relaxing into a strong character piece – perfectly cast and beautifully made.

That wasn’t all the great films of last year of course, or my claim at the start of it being the best I could remember wouldn’t hold up – I have to give honourable mention to:

Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll, The Father Of My Children, Carlos - The Jackal, Up In The Air, The Scouting Book For Boys, Shutter Island, Cemetery Junction, The Disappearance Of Alice Creed, Dogtooth, The Ghost, I Am Love, How To Train Your Dragon, Four Lions, Heartless, White Material, Cameraman – The Life & Work Of Jack Cardiff, Iron Man 2, Gainsbourg, Down Terrace, Leaving, Splice, The Illusionist, Toy Story 3, Cherry Tree Lane, Mother, Inception, Buried, Made In Dagenham, The Other Guys, Winters Bone, Easy A, We Are What We Are, The American, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Of Gods And Men.

And I haven’t seen Catfish yet!

So over to you – what did you like in 2010, and why?

Anyone else excited?

Or both?

My wife'n'I saw 'Another Year' yesterday, good, thought-provoking, conversation-starting, sad film... which the audience around us seemed to find hilarious.

I've had this worry before, from 'Abigail's Party' onwards - do Leigh and his actors come up with exaggerated working class/lower middle class characters for his middle-class core audience to feel very pleased with themselves for having gone to see a film about but at the same to laugh AT? Or am I alone in my discomfort?

In fairness to Leigh, I think the new film may address this, and be debating whether the couple at its heart are wholly kind and humane, or slightly smug and condescending in their patronage, though the crowd yesterday afternoon seemed too busy laughing at sad people drinking too much and acting undignifiedly in their pain to have noticed...

Found this on my yahoo homepage this morning:

http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/blog/article/37592/movies-that-make-grown-men...

Have to say that the films on this list mostly left me bored or cold. i absolutely loved "Up" but I wouldn't have said it was a film to make grown men cry.

And where on earth is Bambi? That's one of the most emotionally brutal films ever made, followed by a story that continues to tug at the heartstrings. I still struggle to watch it.

I find films that are based on true stories can have emotional resonance too.

I therefore put my hand up and say yes, I have cried at movies. Here is the top 5 that gets me everytime, there always seems to be a bit of dust in my eye at the crucial point in each film. Must be a massive coincedence...

1. The Mission
(Near the end is a massacre of innocent South American villagers accompanied by the most beautiful music Ennio Morricone has ever written)

2. To End All Wars
(One of the prison inmates takes the punishment of another, being crucified in the process)

3. The Passion of the Christ
(No doubt this suggestion will be trounced a la "God let's have a debate" thread, but if you believe like I do, then this film is unyieldingly brutal against one person for 2 hours, if you believe he did this for you, its exceptionally real and personal - if not, then its probably a snuff movie of a fictional character - whatever, it made me cry like a 5 year old girl when he says "forgive them for they don't know what they're doing")

4. Free Willy
(Yes the film has dated, and we all know what happened to the whale star of the film, but when he escapes at the end, I did have something in my eye. It was hot. My eyes were sweaty, ok?)

5. Blood Diamond
(Story about conflict diamonds that I think is superb, others not so convinced - the bit that gets me is when the young boy holds a gun up against his father, and the father is crying saying that he loves him - superb acting from Djimon Hounsou)

Anyone else man enough to admit crying in front of other people?