FILM: The Grey (dir: Joe Carnahan, 2012)

"They're everywhere...."

The Grey is an unexpected gem.  Although the story is nothing new - oil-drillers in Alaska's plane crashes, survivors battle the icy elements and wolves - Joe Carnahan's excellent direction means that the film is relentlessly gripping and brutal, and Liam Neeson gives a truly wonderful performance as the haunted group leader who rediscovers the will to live.  Sound design is superb, putting the audience right in the middle of the action with the characters, complemented by Marc Streitenfeld's thoughtful music score.  The plane disaster is brief but terrifying, made stronger by focusing on Neeson's character's experience rather than spectacle, and the immediate aftermath is harrowingly shot in emotionally harsh close-ups, but indeed all the set-pieces are very strongly handled.  The Grey is grim, shocking, absorbing and bleakly beautiful.

FILM: Like Crazy (dir: Drake Doremus, 2012)

"It does its job."

Like Crazy is a very straightforward trans-Atlantic idealised Hollywood romance - he designs furniture in L.A., she works for a London magazine - of which the trailer told almost all of the story and holds no surprises whatsoever.  The film is basically a two-hander, and it is to the credit of Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin (two strong young performers) that they give the couple credibility and some charm, in spite of the romance's increasing naivete and narrative silliness.  The unfussy direction and use of improvisation both help to give the film a reasonably natural feel, but the film overall, whilst pleasant and undemanding, does not really go anywhere.

FILM: The Descendants (dir: Alexander Payne, 2012)

"Paradise can go f**k itself."

Directed and co-written by Alexander Payne,  The Descendants is nowhere near as good as Sideways.  The cast is very strong - the younger members surprisingly so - and Clooney wrings out a solid, understated and sincere (though hardly award-winning) performance from a script that often feels under-written in a move to avoid playing up to the predictable soap-opera melodramatics of the story.  The critics may be raving about this film, but it is only really the performances that maintain some interest.

FILM: Underworld Awakening 3D (dirs: Mans Marlind and Bjorn Strand, 2012)

"I'm not good with feelings."

The Underworld franchise has always come across as the Resident Evil series' slightly-simpler cousin, but this fourth entry marks some slight improvement.  The opening capture/escape is lively, design is effective, the action is full-blooded if - as usual - over-reliant on variably-successful CGI, the final multi-character-smackdown works and direction is well-handled and maintains interest visually.   Kate Beckinsale gives 100% in a focused if one-note performance, and there is good Brit support from Charles Dance, Stephen Rea and also Theo James making a surprisingly confident move up to the big screen.  The difficulty lies with the relentlessly-predictable plot trajectory, thus giving the viewer little with which to engage emotionally; there is no real sense of threat, danger or true thrills that come off the screen, and it really is a case of 'sit and watch the movie' as it unfolds.  Nevertheless, this is a well-made genre offering with some ambitious ideas, some well-staged action and a clear determination to raise the bar for the franchise.

FILM: J. Edgar (dir: Clint Eastwood, 2012)

"You see, we have to give our protagonist a bit of mystery."

In telling the story of 'the world's most powerful man', J. Edgar treads a well-worn path and provides no real new insights beyond the general public image of the man.  Eastwood's direction is as assured and slightly chilly as expected, but the juxtaposing of time frames and main characters at different stages of their lives and stories is handled well.  DiCaprio adds another strong and convincing performance to his CV,  Armie Hammer charms and finds surprising light touches of humour as Hoover's lifelong close companion (in spite of off-puttingly poor old-age prosthetics), and Naomi Watts does nice work in a vacuously-written role as Hoover's secretary.  By attempting to cover as many touchstones in the career and 20th Century American history, the film feels somewhat cluttered and perhaps over-long, but J. Edgar remains a well-made, solid if perhaps unremarkable look at one of last century's most public yet enigmatic figures.

FILM: The Artist (dir: Michel Havanavicius, 2012)

"BANG!"

Watching The Artist is like being hugged warmly for one hundred minutes.  The film successfully treads a fine line between old silent-movie tropes and a respectful modern sensibility, telling its story of the shift from silent film to the talkies against the backdrop of the late-1920s and early 1930s.  An almost-completely silent but scored film in itself, The Artist tells archetypal universal stories of romance, the old versus the new and stardom's rise-and-fall which still resonate today in an utterly enchanting and engaging way.  Writer/director Havanavicius crafts a clever and delightful tale, with some deft and creative filmic touches and brilliant interweaving of his central romantic tale with American and movie history.  Jean Dujardin gives a stunningly charismatic performance as fading silent star George Valentin, with Berenice Bejo delightful as the appropriately-named 'Peppy' Miller, and the amazing John Goodman and James Cromwell seem natural fits for the silent screen.  It was interesting to note that the audience was still and captivated throughout, a consequence of a silent movie that demands attention, in salutary contrast with a lot of modern blockbusters.  Cynics might say that the film is schmaltzy and predictable, but The Artist uses those old-fashioned qualities in a wonderful, beautifully-crafted and winningly-played way from start to finish.

FILM: War Horse (dir: Steven Spielberg, 2012)

"It is good to be proud when you've done something good."

In War Horse, Spielberg takes a largely faithful adaptation of the source material involving at its heart a simple boy-and-his-horse tale and translates it into a beautiful old-fashioned epic on screen.  The director's sheer confidence and visionary control makes the film seem effortless, yet it presents many wonderful flourishes and ideas that make even the most straightforward of scenes so enjoyable to watch.  The film allows the characters a true gentleness for the period in which they live that the stage version cannot allow, giving both the rural Devon folk and the military an engaging humanity.  Performances are universally strong, cinematography is gorgeous, design is triumphant, and even a fussy John Williams score  underpins scenes effectively for the most part.  The sheer scope and weight of real-world scenarios and major events are effectively balanced with the small-scale simple emotional heart of the story - another Spielberg trademark - making War Horse a wonderful cinematic experience.

FILM: Shame (dir: Steve McQueen, 2012)

"It was....interesting...."

More art than heart, is Shame really that daring?  The collision of sex-compulsive order-obsessive brother and emotionally-wayward sister follows an inevitable trajectory, with some remarkably jarring character leaps along the way, but the real interest in this film lies in the on-screen delivery and performances.  Michael Fassbender proves an excellent choice as the shark-like Brandon (Patrick Bateman without the chainsaw) showing real honesty and precision, even though it is hard to find much sympathy for such an affluent and successful character living the high life in NYC.  Likewise, Carey Mulligan gives Sissy a contrasting rawness that gives their increasing clashes some poignancy.  McQueen gives the film a careful and deliberate look, favouring lengthy takes which mostly work in favour of his very able cast but which occasionally become too languorous.  It is this obvious yet potent clash of intellect and emotion - echoing the main character's conflict - which makes Shame ultimately interesting rather than remarkable but it is a fine achievement overall.

FILM: The Darkest Hour 3D (dir: Chris Gorak, 2012)

"So, what do you actually do?"

The Darkest Hour's main redeeming feature is the interesting and impressive use of Moscow as a backdrop to what is essentially The War Of The Worlds with a slasher template in which the kills - although impressively swift and exciting in the first wave attack - are all the same.  There is some good effects work on display, but the reveal of the creatures towards the end is surprisingly weak.  In spite of occasional tension derived from the 'invisible' aliens, bolstered immensely by a strong Tyler Bates score, most of the running time is quite a dull plod, largely owing to uninteresting and shallow characters saddled with stretches of banal dialogue and join-the-dots plotting and exposition.  The 3D post-conversion is mostly satisfactory with a good sense of depth and space conveyed, especially in the exteriors.  The Darkest Hour is not as weak as Skyline, but this sound idea could have been saved by stronger writing.

FILM: The Iron Lady (dir: Phyllida Lloyd, 2012)

"Now, shall I be Mother?"

Released in The King's Speech slot, The Iron Lady is a surprisingly melancholy and brutal look at the cruelty and loneliness of old age, and the fact that it focuses on the life of Margaret Thatcher serves simply to juxtapose onset senility with the life story of the woman who became one of the most powerful people in the world at her peak.  It is uncomfortable to watch the frail elderly character portrayed this sadly in her own lifetime, yet this is probably the best part of Meryl Streep's truly remarkable performance, giving the currently aged ex-Prime Minister a sense of dignity, warmth and despair that evokes sympathy rather than pity.  The film is stuffed with great British character-actor performances, notably Jim Broadbent and Harry Lloyd as the older and younger incarnations of Denis Thatcher, and the broad historical canvas of the second half of the twentieth century is effectively re-created.  The writing is occasionally naive, but the constantly shifting time-structure is interesting and Lloyd handles her actors and overall direction much better than seen in Mamma Mia!  Forget the politics - The Iron Lady is a remarkably-played look at the life of a singular woman from the optimism of youth to the sadness of her twilight years.

FILM: Goon (dir: Michael Dowse, 2012)

"I'm not winning anything!"
"That's because it's a jukebox, Jerry."

Sneaked out in the post-festive lull, Goon almost works, but it has a bit of an identity crisis which means that is not wholly successful as a sports movie or a comedy or a drama, but it has elements of all three which are very entertaining.  At the centre of the film is an immensely engaging and heartfelt performance from Seann William Scott as Doug Glatt, the dumb-as-a-doornail bouncer who finds a career as a 'goon', essentially a hired thug on the Canadian ice hockey circuit, and there are many other effectively reliable performers in support, including Jay Baruchel (who co-wrote and produced), Eugene Levy and Liev Screiber.  It has been marketed as an American Pie-style comedy, and the film' early attempts at low-brow humour and gratuitous comedy-violence jar significantly with the terrific dramatic storylines being played out, and the film improves considerably as it progresses towards its (literally) bone-crunching final showdown. If Goon had the courage to play it straight from the outset, it would have been an unusual and sincere character tale - as it is, the film does entertain but flows uncertainly.