Love and loss are two common themes in storytelling and my favourite film of the year certainly encapsulated both. Beginners weaves through the past and present as Oliver (Ewan McGregor) is coming to terms with the death of his father Hal (Christopher Plummer); the twist on the relationship here being that Hal had only recently revealed that he was gay after Oliver’s mother (Mary Page Keller) had died. In Oliver’s present he meets Anna (Mélanie Laurent); a French actress who has a complicated family history that bonds the pair but also has the potential to drive them apart.
With the new year just around the corner every movie mag, website and jaded film studies graduate will be spouting off about which films you should be getting excited about next year. In my extensive (read ‘not very extensive’) research, most articles seem to be understandably focussing on the same five or six movies (Spiderman, Hobbit, Avengers, Prometheus, Hunger Games, Dark Knight etc). Here at This Film Is On however, we like to do things a bit differently (Just look at Owen’s beard). So, with all this in mind here’s five films that you’ve probably already heard about but have hopefully forgotten about. (more…)
2011 has been a weird year for cinema. Lars Von Trier admitted to being a Nazi, A werewolf fell in love with a baby in a 12A and one of the best films of the year was a documentary (Senna), WTF right? All this has meant that choosing one film to crown as my annual favourite has been even harder than usual. Then there’s the films I haven’t even seen yet; Take Shelter, Money ball and The Artist could all as yet take the crown but for now they’ll have to wait.
To make the task arbitrarily easier I have also discounted those movies decorated by the Academy earlier on in the year. Using my dog eared collection of ticket stubs I whittled the list down to fifteen movies then to ten, then to three, then finally to one. The ticket that remained read simply ‘Submarine’.
In the words of Rakim and Eric B, “It’s been a long time, I shouldn’t have left you, without a strong rhyme to step to”. Well, maybe not “rhyme”, but “insightful, occasionally humourous, entirely unedited movie opinion” to step to. So after almost a full year away, we’re back. Like The Dark Knight, bread in the oven and my penis when I see Anne Hathaway, ThisFilmIsOn will rise once more.
And quite frankly we couldn’t be back for a better year. 2012 may not provide the culmination of all human history but if it did, and as long as the big movies of the year live up to expectation, it wouldn’t be a bad way to go. Prometheus, The Amazing Spider-man, The Hobbit, The Avengers, The Dark Knight and that’s just the multiplex nomming blockbusters.
Elsewhere we’ll have new Coens (Gambit), new Pixar (Brave), Cameron Crowe’s latest (We Bought A Zoo), hopefully some more Charlie Kaufman and a film based on an internet meme about a time-travelling nutjob. If that’s a success then it won’t be long before Missing Missy makes the bigscreen. To start the year you also get The Muppets. Which I’ve seen and can confirm is as heart-tuggingly lovely as a furry, felt aorta massage.
But right now, It’s all about one thing…Batman! Enjoy the latest trailer below. Just don’t think about the half a year you have to survive before you get to see the damn thing.
