Man On A Ledge (2012)

Recently watched: lightweight Inside Man/Phonebooth/16 Blocks rehash where all is not as it seems - very silly but enjoyable enough while it’s on.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Recently watched: taken on its own, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a slick, suspenseful, engaging bit of film-making from master craftsman David Fincher. Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara are on top form as the sleuthing odd couple, and visually the movie is never less than stunning. Perhaps the film’s biggest problem is its protracted ending, but then this is somewhat inevitable given that it’s the first part of a trilogy. Compared with the original 2009 Swedish movie, it looks more polished, and it cuts out some of the awkwardness, including the coldly ambiguous relationship between Mikael and Lisbeth, which I actually quite liked. Craig and Mara’s relationship is much more conventional and straightforward and boring, which is a shame, but apparently this is closer to the book, so what do I know?

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

Recently watched: some spectacular stunts and set-pieces make the fourth Mission: Impossible film a cut above the standard action movie fare.

Before Sunset (2004)

Recently watched: that couple from Before Sunrise are back again, only older, wiser and more disillusioned. As before, the film is mostly conversation and scenic backdrops, but while both movies are enjoyable I think I prefer this one — possibly because I am older, wiser and more disillusioned. There are rumours of a third film…

Before Sunrise (1995)

Recently watched: the romantic comedy genre is far from my favourite type of film but Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise is natural and unforced enough to avoid being annoying. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy hit it off on a train before spending a night wandering around Vienna. It earns extra points for being set on Bloomsday, for being deeper and more reflective than you might expect, and having an imperfect ending.

The Inbetweeners Movie (2011)

Recently watched: behind all the bawdy banter of the TV series there are some clever moments but all subtlety is dispensed with in the movie version, a 97-minute mix of sex, drink and plotting-by-numbers that leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Recently watched: Johnny Depp gets to act like a pirate for another two-and-a-half hours.

The Tree Of Life (2011)

Recently watched: Why are we here? What brought life into existence? Does anything really matter? These are the short of big-hitting questions most of us usually eschew in favour of more immediate concerns, but Terence Malick meets them head on with The Tree Of Life. As in Malik’s previous films, every shot is a gorgeous one, with glimpses of everyday life interspersed with intergalactic space panoramas and footage of dinosaurs tramping through the woods. It’s an amazing film to look at, and certainly gives us a sense of our insignificance, but you’ll need to be a fan of abstract, meandering movie-making to get anything out of it. The conventional parts of the film, covering a set of brothers growing up and dealing with discipline and death, feature strong performances from Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn.

Senna (2010)

Recently watched: Asif Kapadia’s take on the brilliant life and tragic end of Ayrton Senna is a deft and well-balanced one, making fine use of archive footage, interviews and behind-the-scenes shots. You don’t have to be a Formula One fan to enjoy it, but it certainly helps if you are.

A Prophet (2009)

Recently watched: Jacques Audiard’s visceral prison movie is impressive but not quite perfect. Tahar Rahim stars as the callow new arrival in jail who grows to become something of a mafia mastermind thanks to a few good connections and a run-in with a deer - while his character and the plot are never fully convincing, when the film works, it works very well. I still prefer Audiard’s previous film, The Beat That My Heart Skipped.

The Illusionist (2010)

Recently watched: Sylvain Chomet’s follow-up to Belleville Rendez-vous has the same beautifully drawn animation as its predecessor and the same minimal level of dialogue. The story loses its way slightly in the second half but it’s still a wonderfully poetic and tragic piece of work.

Ronin (1998)

Recently watched: compared with the lean mean Bourne movies, Casino Royale and even its 90s contemporary Heat, Ronin looks rather dated. You can kind of believe Matt Damon and Daniel Craig are expert spies, but this feels like a bunch of actors pretending to be mercenaries. According to Wikipedia, Ronin “is noted for its car chases through Nice and Paris” and these are by far the best bits. The rest is standard and predictable action thriller fare.

Unstoppable (2010)

Recently watched: Denzel Washington, getting more grizzly with each passing movie, is a widower about to lose his job whose daughters don’t like him much. If he can just stop a runaway train with Chris Pine (who - spoiler alert - he doesn’t get on with in the beginning) maybe, just maybe, everything will turn out okay. Chris’ wife isn’t dead, she just wants a divorce - if only there were some way he could become the hero of the hour and regain her affections? As for the action, it’s not bad, but there’s only so much you can do with two parallel tracks.

The Informant! (2009)

Recently watched: another entertaining entry in the Soderbergh canon - Matt Damon is the ever-so-slightly unhinged star as a man a little too eager to help the FBI uncover a corporate fraud.

Let Me In (2010)

Recently watched: remember Let The Right One In? The Swedish vampire movie loved by critics and foreign cinema buffs is now available in a Hollywood version for those who don’t like reading subtitles. The title has fewer words in it to help us English speakers along. I preferred the characters in this version, though it’s not as elegant or as well put together as the first one. As you could’ve probably predicted in advance, the remake is more accessible, less scary, more polished and not as memorable - by Christmas we might well be coming to the same conclusions about The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Take 2.