Qwerty Norris
Posts: 3150
Joined: 26/10/2005
From: Edinburgh
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41. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009, Sommers)
Not quite the shit sandwich I was expecting, yet still extremely mediocre. Gordon Levitt's a lot of fun in the villain role (despite his characterisation seemingly taking place entirely off screen) and the smash-up of Paris somewhat fulfils the wishes of the inner adolescent craving a bit of delirious spectacle. Just about passes as a bit of disposable entertainment whilst lying on a couch in a near comatose state, even if the concept of Marlon Wayans being the saviour of Moscow & Washington is an absurdity too far. Bring on retaliation! 
2/5
42. Even The Rain (2010, Bollain)
A neat juxtaposition of a film crew seeking authenticity and affordability in a modern day environment all too reminiscent of the historical tale they wish to tell. Its conformation to neatly tied melodrama cheapens the impact a little, but thankfully not enough to drain the merits of what is for the most part an excellent film. It wouldn't have troubled my top25 of last year however.
4/5
43. Robot & Frank (2012, Schreier)
Much more successful as a depiction of technological advancement assisting the elderly & infirm than a tale of a robot companion being the perfect partner for a heist. Still, Langella & Sarandon are both quietly brilliant.
3/5
44. Arbitrage (2012, Jarecki)
The script is a little contrived at points, yet in the end this is still a very solid drama which is more about the upper class evading the law than anything to do with stockbroking and finance. It's also further proof that elab can be very harsh with her critique and probably should watch more rubbish to gain perspective sometimes - Gimli - help her out? (For the record gimli I genuinely admire your ability to embrace anything & everything and certain folk here could learn a lot from you )
3/5
45. Oz: The Great & Powerful (2013, Raimi) BEWARE OF SPOILERS
It's no wizard of Oz. Hell, it's no Return to Oz either. Yet as a kids film it still works a treat with some pleasing Raimi imagination & humour at work (his Evil Dead roots serve him well here). There's a genuinely lovely scene involving a china girl (which later on results in a glorious Bowie pun) and I actually adored the idea that despite being in a world dominated by witchcraft, it's the aesthetics of cinema which end up being the more spellbinding. Also another reminder that I can watch Weisz & Williams in pretty much anything.
4/5
46. Cloud Atlas (2012, Twyker & the Wachowskis)
The novel felt like a collection of short stories tied together by varying themes of slavery, suspicion, conspiracy & captivity; but with a structure that gave it a feeling as an overall body of work. Sadly, that concept is lost here and its attempts to condense everything into a one off feature of less than 3 hours long doesn't work at all. It's a given that the content of each story would be stripped to its bare bones (and in some cases altered a little; for better or worse) but it's flippant nature of jumping from one short to another and then another (and so forth) in a higglety pigglety order kills the dramatic arc - so much so that the Timothy Cavendish & Somni sequences lose their absurdest & dystopian strengths & feel extremely confusing to bare witness on the big screen - and that's not even getting into the terrible TERRIBLE decision of having the assembled cast playing different ages, races and genders across the stories. (Jim Sturgees as a Korean, Halle Berry as a white woman, Hugo Weaving as A woman, Hugh Grant as anyone, Tom Hanks as a Irishman via Cornwall - the list is distractingly huge). For this to have succeeded (in my opinion, as obviously there are those who believe it does i.e. MC) it needed to be either two films or a six part television series. As a 172 minute long standalone, it totally & utterly fails.
2/5
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Qwerty's Top 10 of 2013 (so far)
1. Zero Dark Thirty
2. No
3. In The Fog
4. Good Vibrations
5. McCullin
6. Beyond the Hills
7. The Place Beyond the Pines
8. Wreck-it Ralph
9. Shell
10. In The House
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Printable Version
RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 
) he wears on his sleeve which I love. Along with Perks of Being a Wallflower, Submarine is one of the greatest coming-of-age films I've seen in quite awhile and a terrific début from Ayoade, who might be able to break out and be known as a great director instead of just Moss or Saboo from the Mighty Boosh. 
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