So, it comes to that time again when we look back on the year at what has graced or plagued the silver screen over the past twelve months. The year has been considered by most to be hugely below-par despite some notable blockbusters. I’m going to take each month apart and examine what I liked and didn’t like.

January
January kicked off with, in my opinion, one of the year’s finest films. Closer was a bitter, powerful take on modern relationships which presented a negative, if a little extreme view on how people treat one another. It contained exceptional, award-winning performances and was a refreshingly dark start to the new year.
It seemed like a surefire success, but Meet The Fockers was hugely disappointing. Regurgitating the same jokes and containing some wildly unfunny over-acting it was a bloated mess. Much funnier and inventive was Team America: World Police. A subversive take on both action movies and also contemporary politics, it was laugh out loud funny and also surprisingly intelligent. Million Dollar Baby took home the Best Picture Oscar and for once in a long time, actually deserved it. It was a powerful drama which contained a devastating twist. Another Oscar winner came in the shape of Ray. Jamie Foxx took on the lead role of Ray Charles and gained massive praise but personally all I saw was a decent impression, not really a passionate performance. Creep was an energetic and effective Brit-horror which used the atmospheric setting of the London underground to its advantage. One of the best reviewed films of the month was Sideways. Personally I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. Wildly overrated and overloaded with tiresome wine metaphors, it bored me to tears. White Noise was a bizarrely successful yet derivative chiller which caused shocks only through loud lurches in the soundtrack. Dear Frankie was a yawningly earnest British drama which would have been better suited to Sunday night television yet strangely received a standing ovation at Cannes while Assault On Precinct 13 was a diverting enough thriller, if a little unspectacular.

February
One of the most anticipated sequels of the year, Ocean’s Twelve arrived in February with a truckload of hype. It was a solid sequel, failing to improve on the original yet still entertaining enough. There were some fun moments yet it still reeked of smugness. Causing controversy ever since its original festival showing, The Woodsman hit independent cinemas this month. Containing a brave performance from Kevin Bacon, overall it was rather unimpressive. It didn’t get as much of a reaction as it should have from the subject of paedophilia. Spanglish was a charming, if rather inconsequential culture clash comedy while In Good Company was entertaining with a star-making turn from Topher Grace. One of the year’s guiltiest pleasures was the critically lambasted shlocker Hide and Seek. It was stupid for sure yet still trashily enjoyable with some great acting, especially from Dakota Fanning. Hotel Rwanda was good but not really as harrowing as a film about Rwanda should be despite a superb lead performance from Don Cheadle. A major disappointment was Wes Anderson’s follow-up to The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Visually impressive but too self-consciously quirky and uninvolving, it wasted its stellar cast. Criminal was fun and brilliantly acted even if its plot twists were a little conventional while The Door in the Floor was a quietly dark and moving drama with more great acting.

March
Already discussed for Christian Bale’s 60lb weight loss, The Machinist arrived in March. A compelling Hitchcockian thriller it contained some powerful visuals. Christian Bale’s performance was awesome and Oscar-worthy. One of the season’s biggest hits was inexplicably the bland romantic comedy Hitch. Inoffensive and predictable it’s success was largely depressing. Hostage was a surprisingly fun Bruce Willis thriller. Containing some neat surprises and dark moments it was only let down by some cheesy dialogue and an anti-climactic finale. Possibly the worst sequel of the year was Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. Sandra Bullock tried her best but couldn’t fight a barrage of unfunny moments and a non-existent plot. One of the least scary and dull horror films of the year was Boogeyman. An inexplicable box office success it was derivative and poorly plotted. Infinitely more entertaining was the Keanu Reeves action horror flick Constantine. Subversive and visually impressive it also managed to squeeze a decent performance from the usually brain-dead Reeves. One of the worst reviewed films of the year arrived in Darkness, a stupid, badly acted, illogical horror which squandered the talents of its cast. Much better acted was the engaging biopic Kinsey. It took a difficult subject and was brave and frank about it. Liam Neeson and Laura Linney were both excellent. Maria Full of Grace was a compelling mix of bleak dramatics and tense thrills as it told the tale of a drugs mule flying from Colombia to New York. It was packed with involving themes and nervy moments but the end was a bit of a cop-out


April
April turned up another Indie gem in the form of Mean Creek. A thought-provoking and rather bleak drama about lost innocence it contained a number of fine performances from a group of young unknown actors. The combined acting powers of Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn couldn’t save the mediocre UN thriller The Interpreter. Alongside the underdeveloped romance and predictable twists, it did contain a breathlessly exciting bus explosion. Following the pattern of uninspiring sequels came The Ring Two, a horror film which made little to no sense despite a few effective sequences. Naomi Watts and David Dorfman tried their best though. A step in the right direction was the remake of The Amityville Horror. More visually compelling and with a few more scares, it still however wasn’t particularly involving and was also terribly written. Yet another horror arrived in the disappointing Cursed. Despite boasting the creator and director of Scream it was a messy, poorly edited shocker which yet again didn’t provide the scares it should have. . The finest film of the month and one of the year’s best was the bleak yet utterly compelling drama The Assassination of Richard Nixon. Based on a bizarre true-life tale which started with a man’s continued disappointment with 1970s America and led to an attempted plane crash into the white house. It was beautifully acted by Sean Penn and deserved more attention than it received.

May
One of the most enjoyable films of the year came in May, the trippy thriller The Jacket. Boasting an incredible lead performance from Adrien Brody it was a visually arresting and ultimately surprisingly moving film and deserved to be a bigger success. Paris Hilton got beautifully murderlised in the trashy teen horror House of Wax. It was a solidly enjoyable film if you’re into that sort of thing. I also took great pleasure in avoiding Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, although most reports suggested it was the best of the recent bunch.

June
Summer started to hit and with it came the disgracefully entertaining Mr and Mrs Smith. Boasting a sizzling chemistry between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie it’s tale of married assassins was dark, funny and action-packed. Darker still was the cult hit Sin City. Impressively layered and visualised it was shallow yet always compelling. It will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most popular films of the year. Another excellent blockbuster was the much anticipated Batman Begins. More layered and intelligent than any Batman film had any right to be, it set a new standard for superhero films. Christian Bale easily outdid all those who came before him with a great turn.

July
The big films continued to hit and the biggest came with War of The Worlds. Up until the last half hour it was a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat ride with some great performances from Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning. But sentimentality overruled with a poor climax. After all of the underwhelming horror films of the year finally The Descent had the balls to scare the shit out of us. A British success it was a terrifying chiller about a caving expedition gone wrong that will stand out as the scariest film of the year. Top class. The big comedy of the Summer came from ‘Frat Pack’ regulars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers. It was rather uneven and derivative at times yet still provided enough good-natured merriment to pass the time. July also saw the release of The Skeleton Key, an entertaining supernatural thriller with a great turn from Kate Hudson. It also boasted one of the year’s most devious twists which put a dark and clever gleam over the entire film. A talented cast helped to make Imaginary Heroes one of the year’s best indies. Sigourney Weaver starred as the mother of a hugely dysfunctional family and the film boasted both darkly comic moments and also incredible poignancy.

August
Amid the summer madness there was an independent smash hit in the form of Crash. It was a fine film full of powerful moments and brilliant performances. Matt Dillon, Micheal Pena, Sandra Bullock, Thandie Newton and Don Cheadle were all outstanding and the film presented many important themes which were highly thought-provoking. The only thought that mediocre chiller The Cave raised was is another horror film set in a cave really necessary so soon? The answer was of course no and despite some fine cinematography it paled in comparison to The Descent. The Perfect Catch managed to be a rare thing, a likeable romantic comedy. An Americanised version of Fever Pitch it contained two engaging lead roles from Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon and was excellently reviewed. An inventive and incredibly different drama called Me, You and Everyone We Know was one of the month’s biggest surprises. It had some great moments although at times strived a little too hard to be quirky.

September
One of the funniest films of the year hit in September called The 40-Year-Old Virgin. It had a star-making role from Steve Carrell and was universally loved by critics and audiences. It managed to be both hilariously funny and also incredibly sweet-natured. Another film which struck a chord with both critics and audiences was Red Eye. A tense air-borne thriller it was elevated by two excellent performances from rising stars Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy. Despite being showered with affection from just about everyone I really couldn’t see what the fuss was about A History of Violence. An average TV movie plot and a lack of real tension or drama made me scratch my head to see why everyone liked it so much. Football hooliganism was the theme of the cliched brit drama Green Street. It was entertaining enough although suffered from a miscast Elijah Wood and also a glamorous sheen which it attached to the violence on show.

October
The big film for Halloween in a big year for the horror genre was the rushed sequel Saw 2. It was a runaway success at the box office but somehow missed out on a lot of the tension and surprise that the first one offered up. It still provided some thrills though and will undoubtedly become a regular horror franchise for the next few years. I was hugely disappointed by the drama Lord of War this month. Written and directed by the visionary Andrew Niccol it was a toothless satire of the arms trade which benefited from some visually arresting sequences but ultimately lacked any real drama or compassion for the lead character.

November
November saw one of the year’s most important films in The Constant Gardener. A fiercely intelligent yet also hugely involving political thriller it was also wonderfully acted by both Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. It was also brave enough to hit on some topical themes and topped off a big year for politics in the cinema. Flight Plan contained an energetic performances from Jodie Foster and did manage to raise some intriguing questions but suffered from one of the worst plot twists in recent memory. By far the best of the series so far was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Breathlessly thrilling and also benefiting from some improved acting by the leads, it raises much excitement for the next installment. A bizarre mix of courtroom drama and supernatural horror gave The Exorcism of Emily Rose a workable gimmick. It was an interesting mix which didn’t always work but an incredible performance from newcomer Jennifer Carpenter helped a lot.

December
Arguably the biggest film of the year hit around Christmas time with Peter Jackson’s much anticipated LOTR follow up, King Kong. Everything it promised to be and more, the film was an exhilarating achievement. It managed to capture the spirit of a classic blockbuster movie while also developing into pne of the most moving love stories of the year. Another much anticipated fantasy epic came in the shape of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Not a total success as its narrative was sometimes awkward, it still stood out as an above average kids film. The big Christmas movie was The Family Stone. A Meet The Parents style culture clash comedy it had some great acting from Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Keaton and Rachel McAdams and was one of the most likeable films of the month. A phenomenal success in the states yet failing to repeat in the UK was the engaging documentary March of the Penguins. It’s fascinating tale of the yearly mating rituals of the Emperor penguins it was a surprising and uplifting treat.

Ben's Best Of The Year
Closer, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, The Descent, Crash, Team America: World Police, Mr and Mrs Smith, The Machinist, The Jacket, The Constant Gardener, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, King Kong, Imaginary Heroes

Ben's Worst Of The Year
Boogeyman, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, Sideways, Lord of War, Darkness, Meet the Fockers

A Good Year For
Cillian Murphy, Rachel McAdams, Christian Bale, Jessica Alba, Don Cheadle, Naomi Watts, Steve Carrell

A Bad Year For
Orlando Bloom, The Rock, Paul Walker, Jennifer Garner

Big Hits
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Mr and Mrs Smith, Meet The Fockers, Revenge of the Sith, Wedding Crashers, War of the Worlds, Batman Begins, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Big Misses
The Island, Dark Water, The Cave, Cursed, Domino, Into The Blue, Son of the Mask, Man of the House, Elektra, Lord of War, Elizabethtown, XXX2, Doom

Most Ubiquitous Stars Of The Year
Don Cheadle (4 - Crash, Ocean’s Twelve, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Hotel Rwanda) Naomi Watts (4 - The Ring Two, King Kong, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, We Don’t Live Here Anymore), Liam Neeson (4 - Batman Begins, Kinsey, The Chronicles of Narnia, Kingdom of Heaven), Ewan McGregor (4 - Robots, The Island, Valiant, Revenge of the Sith), Morgan Freeman (5 - March of the Penguins, Million Dollar Baby, War of the Worlds, Batman Begins, Unleashed), Will Ferrell (5 - Wedding Crashers, Bewitched, The Producers, Kicking & Screaming, Melinda and Melinda)

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