Day 1 – Your Favorite Film
Grosse Pointe Blank

Day 2 – Your Least Favorite Film
Babel

Day 3 – A Film You Watch to Feel Good
Stealing Beauty

Day 4 – A Film You Watch to Feel Down
25th Hour

Day 5 – A Film That Reminds You of Someone
500 Days of Summer

Day 6 – A Film That Reminds You of Somewhere
The Quiet American

Day 7 – A Film That Reminds You of Your Past
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Day 8 – The Film You Can Quote Best
The Big Lebowski

Day 9 – A Film With Your Favorite Actor (Male)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Day 10 – A Film With Your Favorite Actor (Female)
Black Swan

Day 11 – A Film By Your Favorite Director
The Social Network

Day 12 – A Film By Your Least Favorite Director
21 Grams

Day 13 – A Guilty Pleasure
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Day 14 – The Film That No One Expected You To Like
Let The Right One In

Day 15 – The Film That Depicts Your Life
About a Boy

Day 16 – A Film You Used to Love, But Now Hate
Vanilla Sky

Day 17 – Your Favorite Drama Film
The Constant Gardener

Day 18 – Your Favorite Comedy Film
Withnail and I

Day 19 – Your Favorite Action Film
Casino Royale

Day 20 – Your Favorite Romantic Film
When Harry Met Sally

Day 21 – Your Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film
Fellowship of the Ring

Day 22 – Your Favorite Horror Film
Alien

Day 23 – Your Favorite Thriller/Mystery Film
Donnie Darko

Day 24 – Your Favorite Animated or Children’s Film
Spirited Away

Day 25 – Your Favorite Documentary Film
Être et avoir

Day 26 – Your Favorite Foreign Language Film
Three Colours Red

Day 27 – Your Favorite Independent Film
Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai

Day 28 – The Most Obscure Film You’ve Ever Seen
Black Cat, White Cat

Day 29 – Your Favorite Film As a Kid
Labyrinth

Day 30 – Your Favorite Film This Time Last Year
Kick-Ass

day 01 – your favorite song

“An Ending (Ascent)” – Brian Eno

day 02 – your least favorite song

“Dancing in the Moonlight” – Toploader

day 03 – a song that makes you happy

“If I Had $1000000″ – Barenaked Ladies

day 04 – a song that makes you sad

“La Cienega Just Smiled” – Ryan Adams

day 05 – a song that reminds you of someone

“Crazy English Summer” – Faithless

day 06 – a song that reminds you of somewhere

“Elements” – Lemon Jelly

day 07 – a song that reminds you of a certain event

“My Lovely Horse” – The Divine Comedy

day 08 – a song that you know all the words to

“Salvador” – Jamie T

day 09 – a song that you can dance to

“Jump Around” – House of Pain

day 10 – a song that makes you fall asleep

“Blue Calx” – Aphex Twin

day 11 – a song from your favorite band

“Tracey Jacks” – Blur

day 12 – a song from a band you hate

“Livin’ On A Prayer” – Bon Jovi

day 13 – a song that is a guilty pleasure

James Blunt – “Wise Men”

day 14 – a song that no one would expect you to love

“Tribute” – Tenacious D

day 15 – a song that describes you

“Regret” – New Order

day 16 – a song that you used to love but now hate

“I Predict A Riot” – Kaiser Chiefs

day 17 – a song that you hear often on the radio

“You’ve Got the Love” – Florence + The Machine

day 18 – a song that you wish you heard on the radio

“All Along The Watchtower” – Jimi Hendrix

day 19 – a song from your favorite album

“Stolen Car” – Beth Orton

day 20 – a song that you listen to when you’re angry

“Smack My Bitch Up” – The Prodigy

day 21 – a song that you listen to when you’re happy

“Sunday Shining” – Finley Quaye

day 22 – a song that you listen to when you’re sad

“Walking Wounded” – Everything But The Girl

day 23 – a song that you want to play at your wedding

“Go Daddy-O” – Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

day 24 – a song that you want to play at your funeral

“So Long and Thanks for All the Fish” – Neil Hannon

day 25 – a song that makes you laugh

“Not the Sunscreen Song” – John Safran

day 26 – a song that you can play on an instrument

“Frère Jacques” (on the piano only and not nearly as well as the person in this vid)

day 27 – a song that you wish you could play

“The Heart Asks Pleasure First” – Michael Nyman (on the piano and better than Nyman)

day 28 – a song that makes you feel guilty

“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” – Band Aid

day 29 – a song from your childhood

“The Power of Love” – Huey Lewis and the News

day 30 – your favorite song at this time last year

“Sleeping Lessons” – The Shins

Motion picture of the year: The Social Network

The Social Network is easily and without a doubt a much more urgent, relevant and inspiring film than the King’s Speech which is by no means a bad film; it was just an entertaining bit of fluff (albeit good fluff)…

Performance by an actor in a leading role: James Franco (127 Hours)

James Franco should have got this because he gives an amazingly restrained, yet utterly compelling performance and is on screen for virtually the entire film, on his own. Ralston had a lot more to overcome than George VI and was unable to simply spend his way out of trouble afterall…

Performance by an actress in a leading role: Natalie Portman (Black Swan)*

Natalie Portman, yes absolutely. She broke new ground in being utterly deranged, and has probably never been as frightening. As much as anything this should be a nod to her career to date.

Achievement in directing: David Fincher (The Social Network)

Fincher should get the recognition he deserves for The Social Network. End of.

Art direction: Inception – Guy Hendrix Dyas (production design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (set decoration)

Art Direction should have gone to Inception, which deserves to clean up on the technical awards. The film looks so exciting; so outlandish and futuristic and yet authentic and recognisable all at once.

Achievement in cinematography: Roger Deakins (True Grit)

Cinematography is at least one award that should have gone to True Grit which is a solid, beautifully crafted piece of work and easily one of the Coens’ best films to date. Deakins helped the beguiling and stunning Texan and New Mexico landscapes to really come alive and become a character in themselves.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role: Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)

Hailee Steinfeld easily gave the best performance of any of the nominees in this category, she was selected from 15,000 applicants and the Coen’s were quoted as saying “…if the kid doesn’t work, there’s no movie.” Well, the kid worked and was key to making the movie what it was.

Best animated feature film of the year: Toy Story 3*

Toy Story 3 was just as enjoyable as I knew it would be; a natural continuation of the story so far, it more than justified itself and was a lovely way to round off a beautiful series of films. How many trilogies these days can honestly claim that?

Adapted screenplay: The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin*

Hell yeah Sorkin deserves this and then some. So utterly compelling and it’s a movie about Facebook! (and the rest).

Original screenplay: The King’s Speech – David Seidler*

The team behind this film definitely deserve to walk away with awards (just not all of them and especially when other nominees were better in their respective categories). The screenplay for this film simply allowed everyone involved to be as good as they were and convey the gravitas and tensions necessary for a straightforwardly entertaining film.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role: Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech)

Geoffrey Rush was one of the best things about this film and much more someone the audience could identify with. More memorable than Firth (who was doing his best not to go “full retard”).

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (original score): Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network)*

Reznor and Ross’s score was very cool. All pulsing beats and electronica, just up my street, it really helped keep pace with a story that zipped along and helped make sure the audience were locked in.

Achievement in sound mixing: Inception (Lora Hirschberg, Gary A Rizzo and Ed Novick)*

Another technical award to add to this impressive achievement of a film. Sound mixing was another way for Nolan to help deliver an incredibly complicated plot in the most economical and clear way he knew how.

Achievement in sound editing: Tron: Legacy (Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague)*

This award probably should have gone to Inception too but Tron was just so enjoyable and the sound was one of the things it did best; marrying the Daft Punk score to the delicious computer beeps and squelches that brought “The Grid” to life. So much fun.

Achievement in costume design: Colleen Atwood (Alice in Wonderland)*

Alice in Wonderland doesn’t deserve to go away completely empty handed just because the screenplay sucked. The costume designs were fun and Colleen Atwood is one of the best in the business…

Achievement in visual effects: Inception (Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb)*

Yep. The Escher-esque “…examples of paradoxical architecture…” ; the Matrix style lack of gravity; the imagined cityscapes…

Achievement in film editing: Lee Smith (Inception)**

Again the editing is one of the central reasons why the film makes sense in the way it does; why the film stands up and was the box office smash it was. Why this film wasn’t even nominated in this category astounds me.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (original song): If I Rise (from 127 Hours, AR Rahman, Dido and Rollo Armstrong)

To be honest Randy Newman is a bit schmaltzy and although it might work in the context of a Pixar film when compared to something like “If I Rise” it can’t compete. This is a beautiful song that smoothes over much of the trauma of what’s gone before. Rahman is such an accomplished composer and the sentiment in Dido’s lyrics makes it all O.K. again after such an intense and harrowing experience.

* = where the academy did actually get it right.
** = wasn’t even fucking nominated!

65 years later, and after 33 recorded screen appearances, students at Albright College, Pennsylvania, noticed that Hollywood actor Kevin Bacon had worked with a staggering amount of people and used him to illustrate this small world theory in the beautifully conceived game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”. The rebranded theory, having gained a massive popularity boost, became more accessible in the form of a website devised at the University of Virginia where the “Oracle of Bacon” helped people calculate the “Bacon Number” of any other actors they chose. If Karinthy is to be believed it should be possible to link anyone on the planet to Bacon. All we need to do is know an actor, or someone in the film industry. Or in my case an ex-member of the entertainment industry, my Bacon Number is 4:

1. I worked on Doctors with Christopher Timothy.
2. Christopher Timothy worked on All Creatures Great and Small with Robert Hardy.
3. Robert Hardy worked on Frankenstien with Robert DeNiro.
4. Robert DeNiro worked on Sleepers with Kevin Bacon.

Easy. Actually I’m more pleased that I’m only three steps away from DeNiro. And of course being that Robert Hardy has been a staple of the supporting cast in 4 Harry Potter movies I’m probably connected to all sorts of weird and wonderful folk. We can call Hardy a “node”, or connection point.

Another “node” revealed themselves to me as such the other day, without realising it, through the wonderful medium of Facebook. Whilst flicking idly through the contacts of one of my “better connected” friends on Facebook I found to my amusement that they’re friends with one Piers Morgan. Yes, that Piers Morgan.

I’m not a huge fan of the man but it goes without saying that he has an enormous amount of “friends” on the site (let’s refer to them as acquaintances to support Karinthy’s theory) and, being as this is what got me thinking about the whole Six Degrees of Separation thing in the first place, I couldn’t help having a cheeky look at PM’s friends. If there was anyone particularly notable or infamous it would mean they would be a simple three steps away from me.

Names thrown up in a cursory look down the list included a bewildering array of folk, some of which were terrifying to behold; James Murdoch; Jeremy Clarkson; Jimmy Carr; Paul McKenna. Others less so; Krishnan Guru-Murthy; Rageh Omaar; Sarah Brown; Yoko Ono (yes those were in alphabetical order and, no I don’t believe I’ll try and befriend them as it’d be a bit weird).

Because you’re reading this and you know me, all you need to do is add 1 for your Bacon Number (or Clarkson Number if that’s your thing) and you’ll know how many steps away you are. Of course the way this whole thing works, you may be part of an alternate more immediate chain linking to you to any of the people referenced above; one that doesn’t involve me at all. That’s the beauty of the theory. If you aren’t aware of any other route then it’s good to know that in my own small way, and without having any control over it, I have become a node myself.

It was the word “indefinitely” that made me wonder if anyone was really all that bothered. With all the talk of delays and the arguable dissatisfaction with Quantum of Solace comes the inevitable talk of rethinking the franchise. I was under the impression that the franchise had been rebooted quite successfully. It would surely take a lot more than one weak instalment to necessitate yet another back to basics reboot. I came to conclusion that I was bothered and that I just wanted the producers to make the next film better.

Quantum of Solace managed the impressive achievement of being the only official Bond film to date to not feature the character of James Bond in anything other than name. I’ve mentioned before that The International (starring Clive Owen, who was heavily rumoured to be taking the role of 007) was almost as good, and whilst it was a particularly unremarkable film it is comparable since both it and Quantum of Solace were heavily derivative of the Bourne films; both were directed by largely humourless German directors; both contained very driven protagonists similarly with no sense of humour, and both were concerned with evil multi-nationals using either the environment or the economy to propel the interests of terrorism. World domination, just not with sharks and frickin’ laser beams.

A little note at this point on Bourne. I can’t really continue without addressing the success of this franchise…The Bourne novels by Robert Ludlum, which I haven’t personally read, are by all accounts thrilling, gripping, can’t-put-them-down-they’re-so-fucking-good spy yarns. 2002′s The Bourne Identity was all of these things. Directed by one of my favourite filmmakers, the immeasurably talented Doug Liman (who had previously made Swingers and Go!) this film had intrigue coming out of its ears, a superb soundtrack; it was pacy, well edited, featured the ever-gorgeous Franka Potente and above all it reminded audiences that this genre could be presented in a way that made it all appear vaguely plausible. In fact it was so good that two years later they remade the film almost shot-for-shot. And again in 2007. As I’m writing this I can’t remember in which order The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum come. I know they’re both quite indistinct and directed by Paul Greengrass who fails to excite me on any level, and I know that the second one featured nearly all the exact same set pieces as the first film (including Bourne fighting a hitman in someone’s kitchen and a car chase through the streets of a major European city) done in a slightly less diverting way (was it supposed to look like a documentary?). After Bourne learns who he is the mystery was lost and by the time the third film came round my interest had evaporated.

The producers for Bond obviously didn’t feel the same way. They felt panicked enough to try and emulate the style of the Bourne films for some of Casino Royale which wasn’t necessarily a problem because they could use this style for the scenes in which it counted; namely the stunt sequences, fight scenes and other explosive bits. The rest of the film could then rely on Fleming’s original story and the sterling work the screen writers had done in getting all this on screen (such good dialogue) and also through Bond and Vespa’s relationship (Vespa herself is by far and away the most fully realised Bond girl ever – to the point where it’s hard to describe her as such). With Casino Royale there were two films in one and you almost don’t notice it because it was so well marshalled by Martin Campbell (who had previously relaunched the franchise with GoldenEye 11 years earlier).

When I heard the events of Quantum of Solace would take place directly after Casino Royale ends I thought this would be an exciting idea, even the suspect title didn’t especially bother me because it was taken from a Bond short story Fleming had written (even if James Bond features absurdly briefly) and it suggested that Bond would be caught up in grieving for Vespa’s death (and by “grieving” I mean “killing a lot of people”).

So what went wrong with Quantum of Solace? It was fairly slick; one of the shorter Bond films clocking in at 106 minutes (compared to the usual 2 hours), it had decent locations (even if a few were recycled from Casino Royale) and familiar characters. My prime concern as mentioned above was with those characters; Bond seemed weirdly absent, as though he could have been played by a stuntman. The villain was equally as anaemic and the Bond girl almost an utter non-entity, so much so it seemed this film was half the film Casino Royale had been. This was a desperate shame because there was room in Quantum of Solace for more character, especially of Bond. Daniel Craig proved that he could fully embody Ian Fleming’s spy in Casino Royale and now that this novel’s storyline has been thoroughly exhausted by both Casino Royale and its sequel let’s just move on…

…As long as the tone and flavour of the next film are that bit more inspired. As Casino Royale proved, there’s room for Bourne style antics inside a more satisfying story. It might not be a bad idea for Craig to leave some of the more dangerous stunts to the actual stunt men this time – although it’s great to know he’s game for leaping across roof tops, it does slightly limit what can be achieved, especially if the script originally called for something even more exciting. We’re all knowing viewers and are aware the actor might not have been dicing with death in quite the way the character seems to be (if a freak accident occurred it would be a shame to lose such a talented actor – an accident that might not happen if a professional were involved). Certainly I remember not being especially excited by the involvement of Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road) but then it’s been argued that Bond films are essentially director proof and it’s great news that Peter Morgan (who did such great work on political screenplays such as The Deal and Frost/Nixon) will be co-scripting.

Many bond films have demonstrated the thrills to be had with Bond using his initiative rather than novelty gadgets, e.g. Goldfinger’s electric heater-in-the-bath scrap, and although Quantum of Solace was good for this approach (with the sublime moment when Bond hurls a guy from his motorbike merely by over revving the accelerator) it shouldn’t be to the exclusion of fun, iconic gadgets such as the Aston Martin DB5 or “Little Nellie”, and some advice for you Campbell – if you are going to feature a gadget-laden car, don’t neglect to actually use it; how much of a let down it was in GoldenEye when the BMW Z3 drove off into the sunset without us having seen the wonder of the “Stinger missiles behind the headlights…” that we were promised or Bond destroying his Aston Martin DBS in Casino Royale having only utilised the defibrillator and the slightly-supped-up glove compartment…

Some of the best Bond films have proved that the villain doesn’t need to look freakish to be 007′s match for eccentricity or charisma; Roger Moore was particularly fortunate to get a lot of the best villains e.g. Scaramanga and Zorin and poor old Pierce Brosnan whose villains were larger than life, were arguably the least successful (many of the Brosnan era villains were undermined by something unfortunate: Xenia Onatopp had a ridiculous, carry-on name; Janus/006 had an unnecessarily haughty accent and staff who frequently wouldn’t obey his instructions; Elliot Carver was possibly the least threatening damp-squib of a megalomaniac ever…).

There are plenty of little touches you could inject to advance the series and yet make a nod or two to what’s worked in the past. The next theme tune might benefit from a return to vocals from Shirley Bassy – the mighty Propellerheads who reworked the theme from “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” on David Arnold’s Shaken and Stirred collaborated with her to great effect on the supremely enjoyable “History Repeating” and her voice would create that instantly recognisable Bond vibe. The Brosnan era films did such a great job in making me realise the possibilities for quality title sequences and they could be conceptually developed well beyond projecting different coloured texts onto semi-naked women holding water pistols (well, the projections anyway).

It was immensely satisfying to be shown Bond’s apartment in both Dr No and Live and Let Die, the introductory films of the two actors who’ve played Bond most often on the screen, and to see a little more of the private life of Fleming’s character. These moments are always especially intriguing passages in the books: Bond tends to enjoy the brief time he has off between assignments frequenting “Blades”, his private club in Mayfair and his flat off the Kings Road in Chelsea, with the odd visit to the golf course thrown in. Our spy actually consumes far more whiskey than any other alcohol and is rarely seen without an accompanying cigarette; indeed it would be difficult to be seen any other way when you smoke 60 a day on average. More could be made of our character through behavior that was shaped at Eton, Fettes College in Edinburgh, The University of Geneva, and Cambridge. There are probably endless ways to enliven and broaden the franchise, which is why it was unforgivable that Quantum of Solace turned out the way it did. As the Bourne films have proved, there’s no mileage in their approach. If there is ever this level of debate about Bourne 23 I’ll reconsider, right now I just hope MGM find some cash from somewhere.

The first in an epic and gloriously irreverent thread began simply with the plaintive “Just sending an email in the hope of a response and confirmation that I am not the only person working today?”

The sender turned out to be having issues with the college’s lighting which is designed to sense movement and so remain on (to allow work to be possible in the windowless bowells of college), except that last week there was no movement so they would periodically be plunged into darkness. Someone else suggested that they had heard “Reports of Gremlins in [the] new building going around switching off lights“. When it was suggested that the weekly badminton session be observed (despite only about three people working last week) it was someone else’s inspired comment “Maybe the gremlins would fancy a game too, you never know?!” that prompted this superb announcement and piece of photoshoppery:

“Security have just informed us that the surveillance cameras in the main sports hall were mysteriously vandalised last night sometime after midnight. In an attempt to identify the culprits, security have released the following screenshots from the time of the attack“:

So far so daft. Quality use of time – morale is boosted. This was apparently not an isolated instance of slight madness and excessive creativity. A new member of staff made the questionable descision to ask a colleague for my whereabouts so that I could carry out a spot of training for the software I help maintain (Microsoft’s SharePoint) before receiving this rather curt reply:

“I am glad that you are… ready to seek the ways of the enlightened.

Raise thy hands to the stars and speak clearly ‘I seek the ways of Sharepoint!’ and he will set you free.”

Does volcanic ash have properties akin to opium? Possibly. It’s just excessively pleasing to return to work and yet, return to nothing like the standard day you were expecting. Thank you colleagues for brightening my day… You absolute weirdos

There’s no getting round that. The man is responsible for many of the most loved and admired films of the last few decades. Infact, he is so revered that people will not hear a word against his films, so enamoured are they with the worlds and atmospheres he has created for them.

So it came it came with some degree of difficulty that I had to finally accept recently, much as I hate to admit it to myself, much as I have denied it throughout the last ten years, that Tim Burton was a genius and sadly is no longer, in short: Tim Burton has lost it. If you haven’t reached that conclusion yourself, you’d best not read on because you may end up wanting to kill me (the adult equivalent of being told Santa Claus doesn’t exist might be too hard to stomach).

As far as his 25 year career goes, it’s still possible to divide his films into two distinct categories: before he started using the word “reimagining”, and afterwards. The last film of his I really enjoyed was 1999’s “Sleepy Hollow”, it’s far from his best film but it’s one of my favourites because, for me, it combines everything Burton does really well. The screenplay is confused and over complicated and bit dull in places but Burton managed to weave his magic so that on a first viewing, you somehow didn’t notice. As a viewer you’re too preoccupied with the amazing forest he conjures up; the performances; Danny Elfman’s score and other visual affects and make-up. His eternal-Halloweened world of eerie, dreary Pennsylvania-Dutch witchcraft is for me, truly spellbinding.

Then we witnessed the spectacular train-wreck that was Planet of the Apes (not even quality performers like Tim Roth could save this deeply ill-judged experiment). Big Fish now appears an attempt to rediscover that essential Burton originality after two Burton-isings of other popular stories (not everyone felt Sleepy Hollow was a success and obviously Planet of the Apes was roundly rejected). Infact this abortion turned out to be arguably the worst film Tim Burton has ever made. It’s twee, self important, meandering, inconsistent, bloated and diabolically saccharine at almost every turn – exactly the kind of film a young Burton, seething about everything he felt was wrong with Disney, would have never dreamed of making. Thinking back now, all I can remember is Ewan fucking McGregor (fresh from being deeply awful in Moulin Rouge!, deeply boring in Star Wars Episode 2 and deeply plastic in Down with Love) standing in a field of daisies, or sunflowers or something, proclaiming his undying love for the heroine. Eeurrggh.

Having established that Burton probably shouldn’t try an original story again for… ever, Charlie and the Chocolate factory sounded a perfect project for Burton to bounce to: “Great! What much loved Children’s story can Tim Burton work his magic on next? Roald Dahl’s classic about Willy Wonka, you say? Er, even though there’s an intimidatingly good version already filmed? Er, great, go for it…” Having found Mark Wahlberg and Ewan McGregor to be too dull to really front a Burton production the obvious move was to get Depp back (the formula has been good in the past, so seeking to recreate it made sense). Dahl’s story’s is already in place so Burton almost neglected to really shape a pleasing script and just concentrated on the weird and wacky world of his central character. It was a shame then that Depp’s Wonka had about 3% of the charm and charisma of Gene Wilder, spoke with a voice that sounded like a cross between Michael Jackson and Doctor Evil and whose appearance resembled Zoe Wanamaker.

The panic appeared to continue with another attempt to recreate the magic of a former success. Live action wasn’t doing it anymore so Burton turned to his first love – animation. Audiences who flocked to The Corpse Bride were expecting another Nightmare Before Christmas except not many people appeared to realise that the main person responsible for the genius of this earlier feature was one Henry Selick, its erm, director. Without Selick, the feature didn’t have the charming story or pleasing little touches that made Jack Skellington such an iconic character and the erm, the main people in Corpse Bride, (oh now… what are their names…?) so utterly forgettable.

Sweeney Todd…, despite being a musical, is in many ways the best thing Tim Burton’s made for a long time. I can’t really fault it, I just don’t like musicals. I found the songs distracting and a bit annoying but they were in keeping with the piece as a whole and much as I’d have preferred them to be stripped out of the film, it wouldn’t have worked without them. It was also nice to see Helena Bonham Carter in a decent role that exhibited her considerable talents well.

So to now. Like everyone else I was utterly, pant-wettingly excited about Alice In Wonderland – the images of the production design and costumes looked so outlandish and inspired that it could be no one other than Burton and – it could be the much longed-for return to form, to rival even something like Beetle Juice. The only note of warning was that Burton would now be working for Disney. His journey to the dark side would be complete. The only question would be whether our Tim could retain his filmmaking identity, complete with all that idiosyncratic genius, or would it be utterly drowned in feel-good schmaltz and put the service of Disney? The results; were disappointing…

Many of the elements were there and the film looks incredible. It’s well cast and I didn’t even mind that a few of my favourite characters like the Mock Turtle and the White Knight and The Walrus and The Carpenter weren’t included. It’s just that it isn’t very interesting. I was more enticed by the promotional stills of the characters than I was with what they say or do in the film and maybe this is because Burton’s job, even before the film was released, was already done. His name’s attached to the project and his ideas have been duly wrong out of him and conjured before your eyes and very little more is required of him for the film to make lots of money. Alice is potentially a more interesting character here than she is in the book but her journey, full of wonder and intrigue when explained by Carroll, is shallow and very un-involving here: the Burton magic is very much weaker now. And if it was strong on a difficult project like Sleepy Hollow, which was mired in development hell for years and only Burton could get it made, but weak here on a epic, heavily backed, Disney, 3-D, CGI spectacular, you’ve got to wonder where the director’s passion has gone (or how he allowed himself to be bullied by the studio). Burton-by-numbers has come to pass for Burton. It’s almost as if he’s parodying himself except it’s not because that would require some effort. If everything during the noughties were failed projects, or attempts to recapture his filmmaking mojo then that’s commendable. The man tried. Tried everything in his repertoire and truly cast about for something worthy of his earlier work. Alice… for me, feels like the first Burton (possibly of many, hopefully not) to be an admission of defeat, it’s almost been phoned-in.

As a devotee of TB, you remember the past greatnesses and convince yourself that this production is going to provide a similar experience and this time it’ll be better. Perhaps better to go back to Wonderland as it was then than to experience the updated “Underland”.

The first was a lazily written slice of home life where the writer explained about the “war” he regularly has with his daughter over what to watch. He is apparently so in love with football that it’s the only thing he’ll watch. I find most televised sport so mind-numbingly dull that I can see why his daughter might make a case for not watching it every evening. He then goes on to say that his daughter only seems to want to watch Britain’s Top Model which is a show that sounds so uncompromisingly unbearable that I can understand the father’s complaints about being subjected to the show’s narcissistic, self-promoting characters each time he wants to spend time in the living room (although he must see a few of those whilst watching the footie). Why can’t these people develop an imagination? They’re shows that exist on TV that are actually interesting, entertaining, informative, stimulating, involving and an absolute joy to behold. You might have to spend a bit of time reading a TV guide or the previews of coming shows but they’re out there. The writer might benefit from realising men are allowed to watch stuff other than football – and that’s O.K. (Mad Men, for example, is probably not made with a solely female audience in mind).

Because of the infrequent good programming, services like iPlayer or 4oD are very much the way forward (I found out recently you don’t need a TV license for anything that’s not being broadcast live) and DVD boxsets of the genuinely good stuff are really good value now. It’s just depressing that father and daughter have to undergo constant feuds over which is the lesser of two painful viewing experiences. Not to mention the other half of the family who can’t even bear to experience either!

The second article banged on about 57% of men between 18 and 44 preferring surfing the internet compared to 46% preferring TV and that “…the relevance of television is fading.”

I don’t think this comes as any shock.

“Some 73% of young males between 18 and 44 watch video-on-demand at least once a week, with nearly half watching full-length TV programmes.” – Now that anyone (women included) need not watch programmes at a regimented time slot we are free to plan our time better and an evening doesn’t have to revolve around a particular show. Also watching stuff on-line cuts out the majority of TV advertising which is often so loud and annoying that it can distract you from what you were trying to concentrate on.

We also prefer to get our news on-line as the internet allows stories to be updated as events develop. A good friend of mine says she doesn’t like to watch the news because most of the features are presented in a way that suits the (often limited) footage they have.

“More than 25% of young males living with their partners watch TV on a computer in the living room while their other half uses the main TV set.” This might well be true. My housemate watches TV in the living room and I escape to watch an episode of this or that. Anymore than 5 minutes of something that’s not well made or really holding my attention and I have to complain bitterly or (for better relations in the flat) just leave the room. A lot of people who complain to broadcasting standards groups or Points of View should follow suit: just change the channel or be brave and switch the TV off and do something else – if viewing figures were down on poor shows, they wouldn’t be able to justify making them. Although a season of Monkey Tennis might have achieved cult status…

Please feel free to take issue and if there’s something obvious missing it might be because, for one reason or another, I haven’t seen it (I also spend my time away from my house or the cinema venturing in to the world and talking to other people).

1. 25th Hour (2002)
2. 28 Days Later (2002)
3. A History of Violence (2005)
4. About a Boy (2002)
5. Amélie (2001)
6. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
7. Atonement (2007)
8. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
9. Casino Royale (2006)
10. City of God (2002)
11. Code 46 (2003)
12. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
13. Dead Man’s Shoes (2004)
14. Donnie Darko (2001)
15. Finding Nemo (2003)
16. Garden State (2004)
17. Gladiator (2000)
18. Gosford Park (2001)
19. Gran Torino (2008)
20. Grindhouse (2007)
21. Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
22. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
23. High Fidelity (2000)
24. In Bruges (2008)
25. Juno (2007)
26. Layer Cake (2004)
27. Les Triplettes de Belleville (2003)
28. Let the Right One In (2008)
29. Lost in Translation (2003)
30. Minority Report (2002
31. My Summer of Love (2004)
32. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
33. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
34. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
35. Ratatouille (2007)
36. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
37. Sexy Beast (2000)
38. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
39. Sin City (2005)
40. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
41. Spirited Away (2001)
42. The Bourne Identity (2002)
43. The Constant Gardener (2005)
44. The Dark Knight (2008)
45. The Departed (2006)
46. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
47. The Proposition (2006)
48. The Quiet American (2002)
49. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
50. The Rules of Attraction (2002)

01. Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007)
02. The Streets – Original Pirate Material (2002)
03. Sigur Rós – Ágætis Byrjun (2000)
04. Björk – Vespertine (2001)
05. Radiohead – Kid A (2000)
06. Radiohead – Amnesiac (2001)
07. Blur – Think Tank (2003)
08. Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid (2008)
09. The White Stripes – Elephant (2003)
10. Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004)
11. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006)
12. The Strokes – Is This It (2001)
13. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
14. PJ Harvey – Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea (2000)
15. Ryan Adams – Demolition (2000)
16. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois (2005)
17. Tom McRae – Just Like Blood (2003)
18. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend (2008)
19. Gorillaz – Demon Days (2005)
20. Röyksopp – The Understanding (2005)
21. Hot Chip – The Warning (2006)
22. Jamie T – Panic Prevention (2007)
23. Four Tet – Rounds (2003)
24. Sigur Rós – ( ) (2002)
25. Chemical Brothers – Come With Us (2002)
26. Doves – Lost Souls (2000)
27. Ryan Adams – Love Is Hell (2004)
28. Portishead – Third (2008)
29. Lemon Jelly – Lost Horizons (2003)
30. The Postal Service – Give Up (2003)
31. Gorillaz – Gorillaz (2001)
32. Elbow – Asleep In The Back (2002)
33. Death Cab For Cutie – Plans (2005)
34. Elliott Smith – Figure 8 (2000)
35. Florence and the Machine – Lungs (2009)
36. Beck – Sea Change (2002)
37. Coldplay – Parachutes (2000)
38. Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast (2000)
39. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm (2005)
40. Josh Rouse – Under Cold Blue Stars (2002)
41. Kings Of Leon - Youth & Young Manhood (2003)
42. Kasabian – Kasabian (2004)
43. Groove Armada – Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub) (2001)
44. The Killers – Hot Fuss (2005)
45. Roots Manuva – Run Come Save Me (2001)
46. Rufus Wainwright – Poses (2001)
47. Turin Brakes – The Optimist L.P. (2001)
48. Muse – Black Holes and Revelations (2006)
49. Moby – Play (2000)
50. Cinematic Orchestra – Everyday (2002)