Films seen so far this year: 445
Films seen this week: Avatar, Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel, Youth in Revolt, Sherlock Holmes, Nine, Crazy Heart, Black Death, 3 Idiots

The Best Films of the Decade
And I thought coming up with last week's Top Ten Films of 2009 was difficult. Whittling down well over 3,500 films into a Top Ten for the Noughties was sheer bloody agony. I thought about putting them all into Flickchart and clicking away till either an acceptable order emerged or I drove myself insane, but time was a factor, so here it is. Apart from the top two, they're not in any particular order, though number one is definitely my Film of the Decade.

1. The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
2. Amelie
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Ghost World
5. Together
6. Mulholland Drive
7. Dogville
8. Junebug
9. Memento
10. O Brother, Where Art Thou?

And the also-rans, which could stand as a perfectly acceptable Top Ten of the Noughties on their own:

11. Brokeback Mountain
12. The Royal Tenenbaums
13. Magnolia
14. Being John Malkovich
15. Spellbound
16. Secretary
17. City of God
18. The Incredibles
19. Irreversible
20. Innocence
 
There are a few films that I haven't seen (such as Bong Joon-Ho's Memories of Murder) and there are probably a couple that will come to me as soon as I post this, but this is the list I'm sticking with. Thank God I don't have to do this for another ten years...

Films I'm Looking Forward To: Iron Man 2
Okay, so large chunks of this trailer were included in the teaser footage that came out of ComicCon, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. Like most right-thinking film fans, I loved Iron Man and felt it was one of the few comic book adaptations that got everything exactly right. (As much as I loved Spider-Man, I still haven't really forgiven that awful Green Goblin costume). So I was already insanely excited about the Iron Man sequel (especially once it was confirmed that director Jon Favreau was back on board) and this trailer promises great things. Mickey Rourke looks fantastic as Whiplash, Scarlett Johansson looks smoking hot in the Black Widow outfit (although I'm still nervous to see whether she's doing a Russian accent or not) and the shot of Downey Jr and Cheadle in their matching Iron Man and War Machine suits at the end left me grinning like an idiot. It also looks like Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts will be getting more of a look-in this time round, which can only be a good thing – I love the “You complete me” scene here. I confess I am slightly worried about the whole packing-three-storylines-into-one-film thing (Whiplash, Black Widow, War Machine), but I trust Favreau to get the balance right. UK release date is April 30th. Can. Not. Wait.

Top 10 Films On Release This Week (as recommended by me):
Only three new entries this week, with Avatar (which, surprisingly, does live up to the hype, at least as far as the effects are concerned), star-studded musical Nine (not to be confused with 9, District 9 or The Nines) and enjoyable male bravado comedy Humpday all making it into the top ten. You can also read our exclusive interviews with St Trinian's stars Celia Imrie and Tamsin Egerton and Talulah Riley here and here. This will be the last blog for a couple of weeks, so recommended films to look out for include Guy Ritchie's surprisingly enjoyable Sherlock Holmes (opens 26th Dec) and Sam Taylor-Wood's early days of John Lennon drama Nowhere Boy. Happy Christmas!

1. Where the Wild Things Are
2. The First Day of the Rest of Your Life
3. A Serious Man
4. Paranormal Activity
5. Avatar
6. The Informant!
7. Humpday
8. Me and Orson Welles
9. Carriers
10. Nine

DVD of the Week: District 9 (out Monday 28th December, RRP £19.99)
This week's DVD of the Week (although it's actually out on December 28th) is District 9, which is easily one of the best films of the year (see last week's Best Films of 2009 blog). Co-written and directed by Neill Blomkamp (and produced by Peter Jackson), the plot revolves around a South African pen-pusher (Sharlto Copley) who gets more than he bargained for when he tries to help relocate an alien colony in Johannesburg. Superbly directed, brilliantly written and full of delightful twists and turns, this is a hugely entertaining, thought-provoking and thoroughly gripping sci-fi thriller with state-of-the-art special effects and a terrific central performance from Sharlto Copley. Extras include: a director's commentary with Blomkamp, a three part Making Of documentary (lasting 34 minutes) and no less than 22 deleted scenes, making this a pretty decent package. Highly recommended on both counts (the DVD and the film itself).