"One I watched at the cinema because there was nothing else on but really actually enjoyed" award goes to....... Limitless (runner up: Source Code)

"One that completely took me by surprise because I expected it to be [LIFTED]" award goes to...... Rise of the Planet of the Apes (runner up: Attack the Block)

"The film that rolled back the years and made me feel like a kid all over again" award goes to..... Super 8 (runner up: Transformers Dark of the Moon)

My overall film of the year: Warrior (runner up: Drive)

Honourable mentions: My Idiot Brother, The Inbetweeners Movie, Red State


P.S. I havent seen Tinker Tailer, Tree of Life or The Ides of March yet all of which are supposed to be pretty good

Here's the list of films that I saw last year :

January

Knight and Day
The Killer Inside Me
Wall•E
Monsters
1408
Until Death
Persepolis
Raiders of the Lost Ark
A Serious Man
Green Zone
Splice
Gorgeous
Catfish
The Ghost Writer
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

February

Twin Dragons
The Room
Hard Target
Invasion U.S.A.
The Social Network
Primer
The Mechanic
Centurion
Animal Kingdom
M:I:III

March

The Darjeeling Limited
The Matrix
Scary Movie 3

April

The Whisperer in Darkness
Outcast
The Pack (La Meute)
Wound
The Taint
Source Code
Donnie Darko
12 Angry Men
In Hell
The Blues Brothers

May

The Bank Job
Dogtooth
About a Boy
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
30 Days of Night : Dark Days
Predators
Million Dollar Baby
Max
Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps
Get Him to the Greek
Solo
Devil
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

June

Drive Angry
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
In the Loop

July

S.P.L.
Infernal Affairs
Hobo with a Shotgun
Infernal Affairs II
Sucker Punch
The Lovely Bones
Highlander : Endgame
Gran Torino

August

NEDS
Gerry
The Fighter
Jackass 3.5
The Eagle
Cop Out
The Infidel

September

RoboGeisha
The Warrior’s Way
Maximum Risk
147 Hours

October

Hanna
Knowing
The Myth
Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen

November

The Princess Bride
Heart of Dragon
Bodyguards and Assassins
Captain America
Thor

December

Warrior
Push
My Neighbour Totoro
Season of the Witch
Yo También
Trollhunter

Mark

My favourite films that I watched this year...

Social Network comes top
Source Code
Super 8

Quite a few more I'm sure.

My absolute worst film that I have ever seen in my entire life (although I fell asleep for a lot of it but I imagine I didn't miss much because NOTHING ACTUALLY HAPPENED) was Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Absolutely atrocious film.

I was looking forward to that on DVD/BR, as I didn't catch it at the flicks (as is the norm).

Is it really that bad?

How the hell could they ruin one of the greatest stories ever told when they hired such great actors?

+1. I missed it because no one else wanted to see it.

Was it just a lack of explosions and stuff? Was it more cerebral than popcorn action flick?

Can understand someone not likeing "Tinker Tailor" as it is very much not your typical spy movie, but I thought it was fantastic. I'll acceed the BBC series is better as it had more time to play with the stories but how you can say the film was bad is beyond me.

Best film this year goes to either "Hugo" or "The Artist" but I will have to see both a second time to decide which takes top spot. Honerable mentions go to Senna, TT:Closer to the Edge, The Guard and The Skin I Live In.

Source Code was excellent but there was something that just stopped it being top echelon for me, possibly my own expectations after Moon.

Too many disappointments to list in full but the biggest disappointment was HP7 A/B, the first half went nowhere for an hour and a half and the second seemed rushed, with a touch of " remember us, we were in an earlier film, we're popping back for 10 seconds to show there is a wider world than has been shown in the films to date, no please don't pan the camera so fast there is so much more I have to..."

Think Transformers 3 was my worst film of last year...

What do you mean by not a typical spy movie? Not like Funeral in Berlin, the Ipcress File, North by Northwest, The Tailor of Panama ? Or not an action blockbuster like Mission Impossible (films, not series) or James Bond?

If it is like a real, classic spy film, I'd be very interested in watching it, if they turned it into a slaughter fest with special effects, not so. I think that is one of the big problems with modern films, they seem to trade good story telling for fast action and special effects.

If you look back over cinema's history, the best films have often been those that told a good story, limiting their use of special effects, because they looked cheesy. I love the character and suspense building of "real" spy films, as opposed to action blockbusters.

You are of course right, I was being somwhat flippant with the 'typical spy movie' comment, referring to the modern action style films rather than the more classic character based pieces. I've not seen Funeral in Berlin but it is closer to an Ipcress File than North by Northwest. Very character driven and thoughtful, and a real sense and feel of the time.

Second the mention of Limitless, if you want a fun action film, it ticks all the boxes. And it really is "fun" I'm not using that as a synonym for explosions or car chases. Oh and has no one else seen Moneyball? It's such a cool story, and really good acting from Brad Pitt and PSH.

Who?

Mark

Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

I'd completely forgotten about that film. I saw a trailer and thought it looked good at the time. I shall seek it out.

I'm pretty sure I could level that phrase against so many of the films of 2011.
I see the trailers, think it'd be a really good film to see, and never actually get to see it. *sigh*
I'd like to see more films this year than I did last.

Mark

Drive is worth a watch definitely, the best bit is the opening scene, and a quality unusual music score, and perhaps one of the cutest (British) actresses I've ever seen.