53. Dr. No

After being lucky enough to receive the Bond 50 set on Blu-ray for Christmas I thought the least I could do was to work my way through them all. So here goes...

What needs to be said about Dr. No? Well it's the start of the greatest movie franchise ever and its as slick and engaging as many contemporary spy yarns. The one thing that really stands out is the Blu-ray print. This looks like a movie made today and set in the 60's - the image is crystal clear and the colour range is gorgeous.

The same however, cannot be said for the sound mix. The score sounds screeching high compared to everything else; although this may be optimised for surround set ups, which is something I don't currently own. Maybe I'll ask for that next Christmas...

52. End Of Watch

End of Watch is great. Not amazing or the 'greatest cop movie ever made' but a good, serviceable jaunt into the day to day wise cracking and shootouts of the LAPD.

The two leads are great and it does everything a David Ayer film usually does. Namely promises a lot but then descends into a big shootout at the end. Actually, that is a little harsh. As I have said - it's great - it just feels like it could and should have so much more...

51. Down Terrace

After seeing the amazing Kill List from the same director I was keen to catch Down Terrace. Ben Wheatley's first feature certainly has many of the same assets that made Kill List one my films of 2011. Generally this is involves bickering suburbanite families, organised-crime-based violence and some of the darkest humour ever committed to film.

Down Terrace is a look at what can happen if paranoia grips small time junkies and they start a bit of 'Let's murder everyone we think may know sometihng about anything'. It's eye watering funny at times and is punctuated by some very hard, straight forward violence. Which is nice.

Recommended.