Tom's Films of 2007

It’s that time again where I round up all the hours this year I’ve spent in the cinema. Due to having more free time than ever before this year it’s a top 20.

1. Infamous

The year's most underrated film. It suffered from coming out so early in the year and of course from treading the same ground as Capote, one of last year's best films. But this was actually the better movie. Toby Jones gives the performance of a lifetime as Truman Capote and there's great support from Juliet Stevenson, Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig and yes even Gwyneth Paltrow.

2. Atonement

Admittedly I went into this thinking that it might be a bit dull. I couldn't have been more wrong. I loved it from the off, a sweeping, tragic epic with some great performances it will surely get Oscars chucked at it in the new year.

3. Taking Liberties

A brilliant documentary which is sure to make any UK citizen shake with rage while watching it. The film looks at the erosion of liberties under Tony Blair's rule. The website is well worth a look and the DVD is out now.

4. Superbad

Immature, crude, sexist, aye maybe but the funniest film of the year all the same.

5. Hot Fuzz

This wasn't far behind. As good as you would expect from the makers of Spaced and Shaun of the Dead. Lethal Weapon meets Miss Marple.

6. Sicko

Michael Moore's damning documentary on the American health system. Of course it has had its detractors, like everything Moore does, but it's hard hitting and moving and makes you grateful for the NHS, despite its flaws.

7. Knocked Up

A really enjoyable comedy from Judd Apatow. I look forward to more of the same from him in the multitude of Apatow written, produced and/or directed films that are coming out in 2008.

"He's doing the dice too much."
"That's all he's got."

8. This is England

Skinheads and racism in the Midlands in 1983. This might be Shane Meadows' best film. It captures the racist mentality well, and features some really strong performances.

9. Mutual Appreciation

The story of a musician coming to stay with his friend while trying to put a band together, he realises he kind of fancies his friend's girlfriend and that's about it. It has a lot of charm and some likable characters.

10. The Darjeeling Limited

More of the same from Wes Anderson as three brothers cross India in a train in an attempt to reconnect. I happen to love Anderson's quirky style of filmmaking, so this kind of thing will always win me over. Amusing performances, great sets and cinematography an excellent soundtrack and a couple of nice cameos.

11. Zodiac

Directed by David Fincher and based on Robert Graysmith's books Zodiac tells the story of the people hunting the infamous 'Zodiac' killer over three decades in San Francisco. Nearly three hours in length, it really doesn't feel it, as it's completely absorbing. Although the film focuses more on the investigation there is at least one truly shocking murder scene. A bumper DVD is out in the new year.

12. In the Shadow of the Moon

The story of how America won the space race. A Fascinating documentary with some stunning footage.

13. Bee Movie

Jerry Seinfeld's heavily promoted animated comedy. It's got a lot of Seinfeld's touches, "Toe-rings? Why would anyone wear a ring on their toe? That's like wearing a hat on your knee." Smart enough for grown-ups, daft enough for kids.

14. The Simpsons Movie

The much anticipated feature film hit the mark for me. Perhaps not as funny as its reputation as the world's funniest comedy show would suggest, but enough laughs in it to be a success. 'Look out he is a spiderpig'.

15. The Hoax

Another film based on a true story, Richard Gere plays Clifford Irving who claims he is ghostwriting the autobiography of Howard Hughes. It sags a bit towards the last half hour but it's a compelling story of opportunity and greed and a solid performance from Gere.

16. Run Fat Boy Run

Simon Pegg stars in this comedy that was actually much funnier than I anticipated.

17. 3.10 to Yuma

Russell Crow plays the heartless villain, Christian Bale the loving family man who offers to escort him to prison in this western. Two of the best actors working at the moment playing off one another, you could hardly lose.

18. American Gangster

Crowe again, this time opposite Denzel Washington in a cops and robbers tale. It never really takes the mantle of great movie but it holds your attention all the way through and there are some good supporting roles, notably from Josh Brolin.

19. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

I'm a huge fan of director Andrew Dominik's film Chopper and since then I've been waiting to see what he would do with some Hollywood big bucks. He did this and although it's long and slow moving it's captivating. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck in the title roles are both outstanding.

20. The Bourne Ultimatum

The third instalment of the Bourne saga ticks all the boxes. I could have done with more Paddy Considine however.

Worst films of the year? The Number 23 was pretty awful. In fact I don't think I went to the cinema again for about a month after seeing it.

Tom's Films of 2006

Tom's Films of 2005

Tom's Films of 2004

Phil O'Donnell 1972-2007

It was a big shock for the country and football as a whole when Phil O'Donnell passed away suddenly yesterday. If you're a Scottish football fan you would have seen his career progress over the last 17 years through his early days at Motherwell, sucess and injury blighted periods at Celtic and a fruitless time at Sheffield Wednesday.

I for one was pleased to see him back at Motherwell and he seemed to be enjoying an Indian Summer as the Well climbed the table.

It was unfortunate he only gained one full cap for Scotland and his manager for that game, Craig Brown, was on the radio this morning saying he would have capped him more often had he not suffered from frequent injuries.

There are literally hundreds of tributes and obituaries for him online, but this is about the best one I've read, from the Sunday Times.

There are numerous video tributes to him online on YouTube and below is his goal from probably the best Scottish Cup final that I can remember, the 1991 game where Motherwell beat Dundee United 4-3.

Charlie Brooker's Christmas Quiz

From yesterday's Guardian.

Happy Festivus Everyone!

Tough Day at the Office

So after 7 months on the buroo, countless knock-backs from prospective employers, endless hassles with housing benefit, interviews that were nothing but a waste of time and a dwindling back account, that's right, I've finally found a job. It was a shock to me too.

It wasn't easy finding it. A burst of activity on the job market, where I applied for 91 jobs in 12 days did the trick. So aye, right-wing radio phone-in jocks 'there's jobs out there if you look for them'. If you look at every single one of them every single day until someone lets you have one.

Two days in and surprisingly I've not found (much) to complain about. Like everyone else who suffered from the same redundancy axe as myself I've now got a better job, better money, better working conditions, I'm working for a better company and have a more rewarding day than I ever could have dreamed of at my previous employer.

Of course since I started I've done nothing but bat away phone calls and e-mails from other agencies asking me to speak to them about jobs. Yet I could barely get anyone to return my calls from May to November.

Much as I enjoyed having the time off, I'm relieved to have discovered that I'm not unemployable after all. I had months of people saying, 'Something will turn up,' and I would say, 'You know, I'm not so sure.'

So anyway it's back to going to the cinema in the evenings when it's crowded, getting up in the dark, moaning about holidays, moaning about pay, listening to people who get paid more than you moan about pay. Aye, it's good to be back.

Bee Movie

I went to see Jerry Seinfeld's much hyped Bee Movie yesterday, and it didn't disappoint. It's pretty funny. Much like The Simpsons it offers a combination of jokes for the kids and stuff for adults. Chris Rock is only in it for two scenes, but he gets most of the best lines.

Down below are two very funny trailers featuring Jerry and a few star cameos.

Maldini

I was about to write a post about the career of living football legend Paolo Maldini. However the 39 year old has announced that he is not retiring after today's World Club Cup final. He plans to carry on until his contract runs out in June 2008. And why not when now he's added the World Club Cup to his already impressive list of honours.

Double Take

I thought there was funnier stuff in his show, but Limmy's legendary Double Take video is now up on his YouTube page. When listening through headphones Surprise Surprise is just too creepy.

Music Class

My music nightclass semester finished last night with a panel discussion that featured some notable figures from the Glasgow music scene.

It was later on in the pub though when we got treated to stories about Andrew Loog Oldham, Grand Royal, Bis, the inner workings of the NME and Alan McGee making some poor choices in video directors.

All in all it was an entertaining 12 weeks that opened my eyes to various aspects of the music business and numerous different ways of looking at the industry. The essays and exams are another thing entirely.

Vaginarinoed

Back at the beard contest I've been Vaginaro'ed. Monday was album cover day, so you had to replicate an album cover of your choice. So down below it's me mimicking the album cover, then Jennifer from Vaginarino mimicking me, then the original album cover.

Animal Actors

Ken Levine has a good post on writing for Eddie in Frasier and animal actors in general.

The Nines & The Killing of John Lennon

Over the last few days I've been to the cinema to see The Nines twice and The Killing of John Lennon.

The Nines is the directorial debut of Go and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory screenwriter John August. It tells three inter-connecting stories about showbiz types in LA. Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis and Mellisa McCarthy play the three central characters in each strand.

It's undeniably a little bit confusing, but it's a good watch if you're prepared to put the puzzle together. Which several folk in the first screening I went to weren't, considering the number of walkouts.

I went back to see it a second time in order to watch it while listening to the commentary that John August made for download on his website. Listening to an audio commentary on headphones in the cinema was quite a nice experience. For one thing it shuts out anyone around you who might be talking.

The Killing of John Lennon is about as straightforward a movie title as you can get. It tells the story of three months in the life of Mark Chapman. Why it bothered, I dunno.

It's a well made film, no question about that. There's some great cinematography and some nice camerawork, but for my money the film manages to glamourise Chapman. It probably doesn't set out to do this, but there's an attempt to make a glamorous, good looking film, with a handsome charismatic star.

The story, such as there is, is taken from Chapman's interviews, depositions and court transcripts, so the words in the narration are all Chapman's own. The locations are almost all the actual locations. The gun shop seen in the film is the actual one in which Chapman bought the gun he used to kill Lennon.

The director Andrew Piddington said in an interview, "I knew the series of events that led up to the murder but I didn't know the mind behind the killer. I set out to try and explore the reasons why he did it and hopefully to come up with something that gave me some kind of closure on the tragic loss of somebody so amazingly talented who still had so much to offer." Well, he doesn't really explore the reasons why Chapman did it. His mental problems that appeared much earlier in his life were unexplored. The film offers nothing much other than his obsession with Catcher in the Rye and the suggestion that he killed Lennon because he was 'a phoney'.

Jonas Ball gives a good performance, but I'm not sure it's representative of Mark Chapman. He also looks more like Jim Morrison than the chubby baby-faced Chapman.

There's a mixed critical reaction. It's either getting great reviews or terrible ones.

Here's a mixed review of the film by Robert Rosen, who wrote the book 'Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon'.

There is a second film on the same subject, called Chapter 27, due out next year. This film has attracted a boycott website.

This is an interview with John August and Ryan Reynolds about The Nines.

GOSH!WOW COMICS

Coming soon from the team who brought you Black Cape...and all that. This is Iain and I having a look at the kind of stuff we read by the ton while growing up.

We'll be posting it here and Iain has already stuck up some cracking teaser artwork.



The first Mr Hubris story is with me to complete at the moment so shouldn't be too long.

Black Cape #34

Merry Xmas folks...

The Lion Ate Bambi

This was the main story in the early edition of the Evening Times today. It made me laugh.

Basically the big advertising screen on George Square showed a trailer for I Am Legend. In it a deer gets eaten by a lion. There appears to be no evidence that any children were traumatised by this, though the Evening Times suggests otherwise.

I love that the 'passerby' insisted he remain anonymous.

One passerby, who asked not to be named, said he was shocked by the images. He added: "I just happened to look up and got the fright of my life.

"Will Smith was watching this deer graze and then suddenly out of nowhere comes this lion. You think you're watching an almost pastoral scene with this cuddly little deer, then this thing zooms across the screen and suddenly the deer gets devoured in one gulp.