My three favourite movies of January 2012.

To choose my all-time favourite movie would most likely land me in a mental asylum trying to figure out if the feel-good factor of a Wes Anderson film can top the rush of a well crafted Korean thriller, or if a classic Western trumps one of many modern dramas. I avoid the topic like the plague. On the other hand to choose three on a monthly basis is something I think my delicate mind could just about handle.

3.  Ides Of March - This George Clooney directed, George Clooney acted political drama is set in the backrooms of an upcoming American presidential election where a young, aspiring aide to Governor Mike Morris (Clooney) finds out first hand about the dirty, dark side of the political arena. 

The young staffer is Hollywood's man of the moment, Ryan Gosling, who seemingly couldn't put in a bad performance if he tried. Here he must find a balance between what he feels is right morally and his dreams and place in politics. 

Paul Giamatti, Phillip Seymour Hofman and Evan rachel Wood complete a stunning cast which all together make a fantastic piece of cinema.

2. Blackthorn - As a big fan of Westerns I have become very skeptical towards the modern approach that filmmakers have taken in their production. Some have pleased me greatly, others I'm left feeling cheated and wanting, and I'm forced to rewatch an old favourite to remind myself good Westerns exist.
Here there was massive skepticism. Blackthorn is a rehash of the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid story yet set in a slighty different world where they did not die, or at least Butch didn't.

Cassidy had changed his name to James Blackthorn and settled in a remote Bolivian mountain range. Yet after many years of loneliness he eventually makes the decision to return to America to meet his long lost nephew. His plans do not quite go to plan and we are taken on an adventure through landscapes of stunning beauty.
Sam Shepard and Stephen Rae, both highly respected actors each side of the Atlantic act superbly along with the well-known Spanish actor Eduardo Noriega.

1. Drive - This choice is a given for number one, and even it being so early in the year it should certainly be a contender for film of the year. Many respectable publications have called it a 'modern classic', 'true masterpiece' and other compliments if equal praise. How it did not pick up Oscar nods for Best Picture, Best Actor for Ryan Gosling (here he is again), Best Supporting Actor for Albert Brooks or Carey Mulligan, Best Director for Nicolas Winding Refn and for Best Score or Editing, is truly beyond me. There is something special about this film that may see it live on for years to come, a cult film, that will sit amongst the other great Oscar tragedies of Citizen Kane or Shawshank Redemption.

In Drive we have the classic Western archetypal character of the mysterious wayfaring stranger, a loner with no past, someone who is quiet and who we know very little about. Ryan Gosling fills this role perfectly as the character we only know as the Driver, equatable to Eastwood's role as the Blondie in The Man With No Name trilogy. By day Driver is an auto-mechanic and stunt driver for Hollywood movies, by night a getaway driver for criminals.
The Driver falls in love with his beautiful next door neighbour, but when her husband returns from prison and he helps him out, a succession of events unravels into the most exquisite of crime thrillers.