19. The Raid

Smack, Stab, Kick, Shoot, Throw, Punch etc.

On my god The Raid is good!

It's a nuts and bolts tale of good vs. evil with some of the best head busting action scenes you will ever see. The sheer athleticism of the protagonist made me feel exhausted just watching it.

It kicks off as a big shoot-em up movie, slowly loses its guns, picks up some knifes, axes and then finally  turns into an amazing feast of martial arts punchery. If it only wins one award this year it will surely be for the most inventive use of a door frame.

And all this directed by a Welsh man who resides in Indonesia! You really couldn't make it up.

18. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Team 4!

Even though I've seen Anchorman many times it still retains it's above average charm. Actually, I'm being a little unfair and generally lying as I think it's easily one of Will Ferrell's best movies and it features one of the funniest bridge-based dog puntings in cinematic history.

Also it has a few scenes that had me in tears of laughter (the aforementioned dog punt, the post dog punt telephone box based crying session and this)

It's all tied up so neatly at the end I really can't see how the sequel is going to work, but I guess we'll find out next year.

Can't wait!

17. Road House

Big Hair Alert!

Road House has everything that a growing boy needs in a movie.

Punch ups, beat downs, knife fights, fist fights, shoot outs, shootin's, big boobs, little boobs, big hairstyles, little hairstyles, sex scenes, scenes with no sex, arms getting broken, throats getting ripped out, more fighting and some of the greatest mullets in cinematic history. It's pretty much got the lot!

In fact the only thing it seems to be missing is a Monster Truc - Hang on a minute!!

16. Fantastic Mr. Fox

Cuss Yeah!

Fantastic Mr. Fox - and I couldn't agree more. The initially off kilter animation (which is a stumbling block to enjoyment for some) soon won me over in this highly enjoyable Wes Anderson stop motion caper!

A hoot from start to finish. The only thing I didn't like about it was Clooney's annoying 'whistle click trademark' as Mr F. Other than that, totally BEEZER!

15. Bronson

"You Facking Caant!"

Tom Hardy, Tom Hardy, Tom Hardy, Tom Hardy! That's what Nicolas Windyourneckin's Bronson is all about. That and some mentalist prisoner who likes nothing more than using prison officer's faces as punching material.

It all feels quite theatrical at times and the scenes of balletic violence only add to the totally hatstand nature of the movie. Every time Bronson speaks you feel he is moments away from smashing someones face open.

Reassuringly the swear count is high, perhaps even rivalling Don Logan (Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast) on the 'fackin' cant' count.

14. The Guard

The Odd Couple

I'd imagine the poster for The Guard would have a big quote at the top saying something like:

"Laugh Out Loud Funny!"- Bill Crap The Daily Shite

As this is certainly true, although I couldn't be bothered to find out.
The film features a bulldozing performance from Brendan Gleeson (with Don Cheadle providing a straight and steady back up) and is one of the funniest, cruelest and drug fuelled black comedies I have seen this year.

Glorious!

13. Die Hard

Christmas isn't Christmas without a dead European terrorist in a lift.

I fucking love Die Hard!

Everything about the film is just RIGHT! Bruce Willis is excellent as the wise cracking John McClane, Alan Rickman launches himself into film baddie typecasting as the slick Hans Gruber and John McTiernan directs another Joel Sliver 80's action cracker!

Not only is it the best Christmas movie ever (okay, with the possible exception of this) but it also has the teacher from the Breakfast Club in it and Endo from Lethal Weapon, who appears as a baddie is every action flick ever!

What's not to love?!

12. Point Blank

"I'm Lee Marvin, it's 1967 and you're gonna get yours!"

Watching Point Blank will always make me think of this. A bit like if your twelve you'll be thinking of this, rather than the second best action movie of all time. But I guess that is just down to what decade you are born in (sadly).

John Boorman frames every shot with sniper eye precision but for me I just can't get over the crumpily, head locking struggles in the fight scenes - I can't quite make out if the protagonist wants to strangle said bad guy or give him a lovely fat kiss on the neck piece. Awkward.

It also has a brilliantly ambiguous ending - all the characters kind of go their own way without feeling the need to kill everyone off or explicitly reward the hero. Which is kind of mind blowing when comparing it to a modern genre flick.

11. Batman: Year One

An animated version of one my favourite comic books ever is always going to be a tricky one to pull off; and this doesn't do it justice at all.

The book had subtly, atmosphere and tension whereas the animated version has seemingly missed or ignored all of this. It moves far too quickly through a story that requires some delicate pacing at times. All this proves to me that the story itself is not really suited to the medium of animation.

It's worth mentioning that the animation is workmanlike at best and it feels like the whole project has had very little love from it's creators.

A shame.

10. Lockout

"So if the big hand is pointing to the three..."

After the enjoying the quirky, french based style of both Léon and The Fifth Element it has come as a bit of a surprise to me that Luc Besson has rested on his laurels. He now seems to be quite happy to churn out any old B movie tat.

Needless to say Lockout follows that trend. But in a very enjoyable, wise cracking fashion. Guy Pearce is great as our head exploding hero Snow and Maggie Grace provides a good foil for his snappy repartee as they try to escape the space prison for Glaswegians.

A good distraction for a Tuesday night. Luc Besson needs to try a bit harder though...

9. Troll Hunter

"Light that mother fucker up!"

Troll Hunter is a top quality caper.

I found it quite sad at the end – not for the student camera team (they could have all been eaten thrice times over for me) but for the Troll Hunter himself who for years has been an outcast, for doing nothing more than his governments bidding.

The found footage aspect was a bit crappy but didn't detract too much from the Fee-fi-fo-FUN.