My Mum and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Well, I'm looking after my mother last the moment as she traverses a course of chemo therapy. 

I've been subjected to all of those soaps, you know the ones, EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale Farm... errr.. sorry Emmerdale, that I grew up with, and left behind as quickly as I could

My Mum also loves her musicals and growing up I got to enjoy all and any film with Howard Keel and Mario Lanza in them.

So, imagine my joy at seeing The Rocky Horror Picture Show come up on the TV listings 😏

It's my favourite musical.

To her credit my mum sat through the entire move, and noted all those references to the Science Fiction Double Features she had avoided watching her entire life. She also noted the Charles Atlas references.

When I asked her what she thought of this cult movie she said,

"That's the oddest film I've ever seen."

Favourite film this year... it's a tough one...

I'm torn between Batman - Dark Knight Rises and Avengers Assemble.
Two very different films and both exceeding my expectations. I'd hoped for the Avengers movie to live up to its promise, the build up in the other related Marvel movies had us all eager to see it, and it didn't let me down. If I had only one criticism it was that Thor's humour was a little too human, but that was so minor in a film full of great scenes, characterisations and where the CGI just, well, worked.
Batman however I think clinched it, just. A fabulous way to end the trilogy. Drawing on the story told in the previous two movies and throwing in some surprises with a great ending. I loved the Tim Burton Batman movies but the latest three have been outstanding, I can't imagine how anybody is going to follow up on them but I hope we don't get a re-imagining as we did with SpiderMan (which wasn't that bad actually and deserves a second outing).
The new Dredd movie again was a completely different film and whilst it's budget was low, and it was in 3D (which I'm not a fan of), I really enjoyed it. Not in the same league as Batman and Avengers it did show a lot of promise and I'm really looking forward to the next one.
Lastly there's The Hobbit, which I also really enjoyed even if it did feel very similar to the Lord Of The Rings... yes, I know, it's bound to as it's got Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves and Gandalf in it, but it just had the feeling of watching the same film. The group get together and go on a quest which involves being chased by Orcs on Worgs, Goblins in mines and walking across mountains. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it but I'm hoping that Mr Jackson mixes things up a bit in the next one, which I'll definitely be seeing.
Guilty pleasure confession time ... I'm quite enjoying the Twilight movies. There, I've said it.
So film of the year was the latest Batman movie for me, with the Avengers coming a very very close second.

Must see film of next year.

It occurred to me that whilst I commented how the John Carter of Mars books had lost their appeal, I've seen a trailer for the John Carter of Mars movie and it looks absolutely stunning. I think it could be the next epic set of movies to rival The Lord Of The Rings.
Hell, I was getting really excited by the prospect of The Avengers movie but I think this will be even better.

Favourite movie of the year...

Well, for me the best movie of this year was Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.
I had the same feeling at the end of this that I had with last year's Star Trek re-imagining. They had done the franchise proud and I hope that this will be the first of a number of sequels that would take the story further.

Jemma's favourites (she couldn't choose between them) were Thor and X-Men : First Class. Both very enjoyable films.