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Only 4 films this month: First up is Frank Darabont’s take on Stephen King’s The Mist. Amongst filmed versions of King’s work, it ranks amongst the most subtle and controlled pieces. Rather than explicitly showing everything that happened (creatures coming from another dimension and covering the world in a deep fog) and giving us another brainless monster/horror piece, Darabont has focussed on the real heart of the story: the tension between believers and non-believers, through a fairly cunningly chosen bunch of set-pieces. Slowly, different fears and prejudices seep through a group trapped in a supermarket until they inevitably turn on one another. The way this is done is masterful, and the climax is pretty heartbreaking, cheapened only slightly by an unnecessary...

A few things have bothered me about my film reviews over the last few years. While the format of Film Fight is broadly what I want, in that it allows me to sum up the year in films in fairly handy units, it does have more than a few flaws. Because it’s at least a month between watching some films and writing that month’s Film Fight, some of the spark for the film is gone. I lose enthusiasm and I fear that my reaction, my writing, gets slowly watered down by further comparing films and analysing them. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, films should stand up to scrutiny over time, but I also want to capture that initial reaction a little better. Additionally I’m more than aware that my timeliness with updates can be pretty poor. That’s due, in part, to the...