Review: Baby Driver

I know director Edgar Wright has quite a cult following. I wouldn't think of myself as hardcore as those fans. But I really like all of his films (especially Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz), and am always excited for his next feature. No matter what the story is.

His particular style of film-making is very agreeable with me and he always gives us a very interesting story to get involved with.

This particular one has been getting a lot of buzz before its release. I purposely avoided trailers for this one, to get the full enjoyment at the cinema.

Boy does this film get their wagons rolling with a highly memorable first act. I was already feeling Wright's fingerprints firmly smudged all over this. The cinematography and editing alone put me right at ease.
The second act does slow down to develop a love story that is occurring. But there are still lots of memorable scenes that develop the main story rather well.
Then we can an exciting finale that even though I think it could have been resolved much quicker, it was still a pretty satisfying ending.

I really liked Ansel Elgort as our main protagonist. He was really charming and engaging in 'The Fault In Our Stars', and gave us another very memorable character. This performance proves to me that he is not just a one hit wonder, and can also do multiple genres.
While none of the performances were Oscar-worthy, they were all pretty good. The one that stood out for me, was Jamie Foxx. It has been a while since I had seen a memorable Foxx performance, and his sly yet cool character gave me another one to add to his impressive list.
Kevin Spacey is a great support and fitted the tone beautifully. He remains as funny and dead-pan as you would expect him to be.
Lily James and her involvement whilst pretty solid, was probably the weakest part of the film. She was great in the recent live-action re-make of Cinderella. In this one, while I still love her on-screen presence, she felt a bit out of place.

On the technical side, this is near perfect. The directing in this, is some of the best I've seen for a long time. Wright never has a boring moment in his films, and this is no different. The pacing is romping and it never grinds to a halt. His sharp and crisp editing is a complete and utter joy to witness. Its flow in between scenes is the very definition of seamless, and should be commended in the awards season.
You are completely locked into the action scenes. They are wonderfully executed and highly thrilling. I was pleased to see everything be practical effects as well.
Like in some of Wrights previous films, there are some cool long takes where the camera is sweeping around the scenes and becomes quite captivating viewing.
But by far the films strongest aspect is the music. I was surprised at how integral its soundtrack was to the film. What Wright and his team have managed to do, is incorporate it with a lot of its set-pieces and it makes the film feel like a musical without anyone singing. From a technical perspective, this is impressive and very clever film-making that reminds how smart Wright is as a story-teller.

I had a damn good time with this and this is the first 2017 film that I feel could end up in my top 10 by the end of it. Everything about it was so fluid. The performances are great, the action is exciting, the writing is sharp and the story very well developing and you never where it is going next and the use of the soundtrack was utter genius.
It has a slick style to it that I cannot see many films replicate for the rest of the year. Wright shows us what he is capable of doing, and the ideas he has in this film will give it great re-watchability to make you find all those Easter eggs.

This could very well be the film of the summer.

Rating: 8/10

My Top 10: Movie Fathers

Parents in movies can be some of the strongest characters of all-time. I have already done one for the mothers, and now it's time for the fathers to have their moment.

Like the mothers list, this is ranked on their parenting with their respective movies. So there are no bad fathers in this list, such as Thanos (Guardians Of The Galaxy), Jack Torrance (The Shining), Dr. Evil (Austin Powers), Vernon Dursley (Harry Potter franchise), Mr. Wormwood (Matilda) and many others.

There are plenty of movie fathers that I had to miss off this list. So here are my honorable mentions:
Bryan Mills (Taken), Fletcher Reede (Liar Liar), George Banks (Mary Poppins), Rocky Balboa (Rocky Balboa), Dad (Boyhood), Roy (Midnight Special), Pops Racer (Speed Racer), Captain Steve Hiller (Independence Day), President Thomas J. Whitmore (Independence Day), Maximus Decimus Meridius (Gladiator), Father (Swiss Family Robinson), Tom Baker (Cheaper By The Dozen), Vito Corleone (The Godfather), Daniel Planview (There Will Be Blood), Darth Vader (Star Wars: Episode VI - The Return Of The Jedi), Martin Brody (Jaws), Jack Byrnes (Meet The Parents), Gru (Despicable Me), Ted Kramer (Kramer vs. Kramer), Wayne Zalinski (Honey, I Shrunk The Kids!), Peter Panning (Hook), Howard Langston (Jingle All The Way) Jor-El (Superman) and Logan (Logan).

Some that came pretty close to making my top 10 list were: John Matrix (Commando), Scott Calvin (The Santa Clause), Furious Styles (Boyz N The Hood), Clark Griswold (Vacation) Gil (Parenthood), Marlin (Finding Nemo), Captain Von Trapp (The Sound Of Music), Thomas Alden (Fly Away Home), George Newton (Beethoven), Antonio (Bicycle Thieves), Daniel Hillard (Mrs. Doubtfire), Stanley T. Banks (Father Of The Bride (1950)), George Bailey (It's A Wonderful Life), Moses Pray (Paper Moon), Caractacus Potts (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and Ray Kinsella (Field Of Dreams).

As you can see, there are a lot of top movie Dad's there that missed out. So here are my top 10 movie Dads:

10) Big Daddy (Kick-Ass) - A pretty super Dad very well played by Nicolas Cage.
His methods might be unconventional. But his loyalty to his daughter is clear to see throughout the film. They become a pretty memorable duo, and he always makes sure her daughter is well protected to the very end.

Definitely a Dad you want to hang out with.

9) Robert Parr/Mr. Incredible (The Incredibles) - Speaking of super Dad's, here is the best of the lot.

While some of the film shows how selfish he is about getting back to his days as a superhero. His love and affection he has for his family does not get ignored.

8) Jim's Dad/Mr. Levenstein (American Pie) - This role from the 1999 comedy hit made the actor Eugene Levy into a superstar.

While his son Jim is learning about sex and trying to lose his virginity, his Dad plays it super cool whenever he catches his son in an awkward situation.

It is touching and their relationship is one of the films strongest aspects.

7) Henry Jones Snr. (Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade) - Brilliant played by Sean Connery, this third chapter in the Indiana Jones franchise has become many peoples favourite, and that is largely due to the relationship between Connery and Harrison Ford's character.

While the film begins showing the hands-off approach to parenting, the film slowly brings them together in a really fun way.

6) Joseph Cooper (Interstellar) - A pretty recent entry from Christopher Nolan's 2014 sci-fi epic.

It sees Matthew McConaughey play a father having to leave his family to save the human race.

By the end of it, we see how important his love for his family has on completing his mission.

5) Chris Gardner (The Pursuit Of Happyness) - When the characters top priority is to be a good father to his son, that is a good enough reason to put Will Smith's portrayal of Chris Gardner into this position.

With Smith's real son Jaden playing the role of Gardner's son, that elevates their scenes together even more. What we get is really touching and emotional drama that ends up being quite life-changing for our main characters.

4) Mufasa (The Lion King) - While he was great at being King, Mufasa was even better as a Dad.

This 1994 Disney animated classic shows such memorable parenting by a character whose lasting effect made his son Simba a much more strong-willed character then we see at the start of the film.

3) Atticus Finch (To Kill A Mockingbird) - It's 1960's America, and we see a lawyer trying to defend a black man who has been wrongfully accused of rape.

Whilst trying to prove his innocence, Atticus Finch is also teaching his kids about equality and prejudice. It's an important film that lead a father teaching his family the right way to live.

2) Man (The Road) - We never really know Viggo Mortensen's character name, he is simply known as 'man' in the credits.

What we do know, is that he will stop at nothing to make sure his son is safe and healthy. Even if it means getting through a post-apocalyptic world where roaming gangs of survivors threaten their very lives.

1) Guido Orefice (Life Is Beautiful) - It is quite a tough sell to somehow make a holocaust film seem uplifting and highly amusing.

Director Roberto Begnini has managed to do that as the main character, a father who protects his son from the dangers of the camp by using humor and imagination.
It's very clever, very sweet and is pure joy seeing him and his son together.

Review: Churchill

It is not often where we get two similar films released so close to each year. We had in 1998 with Deep Impact and Armageddon, and it's been done in 2012 with Mirror Mirror and Snow White And The Huntsman. This year sees the first of two films centered on Winston Churchill, with the other coming out at the end of the year. It is a strange occurrence. But it is one that sometime can't be helped as certain studios can sometimes have similar intentions.

In this, we see our former Prime Minister during the build-up to D-Day. After seeing it, I don't think this was the right point in time to give an entertaining piece on the person many claim as the greatest Briton of all-time.

The majority of the film moves along quite nicely with a great looking production design and gripping performances. You do the seriousness of the situation our main characters are facing and remains tense. But sadly, the film for me did show us the greatest Briton of all-time. What I got from this instead, was a bumbling old fool out of his time and always in the way.

Thankfully, the film does have its strengths, and that is thanks to the performances. Brian Cox is great in it. It's very committed and there were scenes where certain camera angles did make you feel that the man himself is there on screen.
Miranda Richardson had great moments Churchill's wife Clementine. Her performance gave us a character we can easily sympathize and her chemistry with Cox was as good as you would expect from two modern members of British acting royalty.
It was also great to see a solid supporting cast such as John Slattery, Ella Purnell and Danny Webb.

With the choice of story being the main negative. There were also moments that felt melodramatic and it was as if I was watching a BBC One prime-time evening drama or mini-series. That can be seen as not such a bad thing. But for something that should be cinematic, there was a lot of scenes that didn't.

My best analogy is that it had a bit of 'The Iron Lady' syndrome. For a film centered on a British icon, you can would expect them to show the character at their best, instead getting towards the end of their days.
That being said, the film is pretty decent on the whole. It portrays that moment in history rather well, its looks great and the performances are top notch.

I'm still looking forward to 'Darkest Hour' as I feel that will a more definitive Churchill film.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Gifted

Who remembers 500 Days Of Summer? It's one of the few modern rom-coms that I enjoyed. That was directed by a man called Marc Webb.
He also did The Amazing Spider-Man films which started o.k, and then ended up making the same mistakes as the previous Spider-Man film series.
Now, he seems to be back to his former, with an uplifting drama.

The trailers certainly looked appealing. Chris Evans looked really charming, some of the scenes made me laugh and the story looked like one that would work.

From the first scene, it already had me smiling, laughing and feeling at ease. The chemistry with Evans and leading female McKenna Grace was instantly great and never lost pace. The first act sets us up nicely was some very memorable scenes. We then get into more of a serious angle for the second act. Then finale gives us a well deserved emotional pay-off whilst posing some great questions that I had myself jumping from one side to next multiple times.

Chris Evans is really good in this. His charm works so well with his character and his development with McKenna Grace's character is something I could watch all day. As for McKenna Grace, she is terrific. The execution of her characters sarcastic humor and sassy attitude was a real treat. She tugged at my heart strings rather well.
Lindsey Duncan was a top support. It is easy to forget how great she has been in pretty much all of her roles. She played the villainous role well and had a particular powerful scene in a courtroom that was a proper 'tour de force' moment.
Jenny Slate and Octavia Spencer also contributed well in their roles as well.

I think the only thing that would stop me from rating this extremely high, is the unoriginality and formulaic structure.

Sure it might be both of them. But its general execution made this highly entertaining.
On the face of it, it may look like something that is based off a Nick Sparks novel which for me they is quite schmaltzy for the most part. In the end, this is being really charming with a smart and funny script with top performances all-round.

There are many memorable scenes that are both powerful and very funny, and there are some show-stopping scenes that really moved me. It's great to see a film that is just about characters. There is no CGI or green screen required. It's just a nice peaceful environment with some interesting and well written characters that are engaging throughout.

There's also a cute cat in this, and that is always a nice little added mixture to an already successful recipe.

Rating: 8/10

Review: My Cousin Rachel

Films about Daphne Du Maurier novels have had a pretty solid history. But it has been a while since we have a major release for one. The last time was probably 1973's 'Don't Look Now'.

A couple of major successes involved the late great Alfred Hitchcock. He won Best Picture for 1940's 'Rebecca'. Also, there was 1963's 'The Birds' which certainly changed the way I looked at birds.
Other notable releases are Jamaica Inn, The Years Between, Hungry Hill.

With 'My Cousin Rachel', it was a solid piece of period drama. The first act took a while for me to piece everything and understand why certain characters were doing certain things. Once that was sorted, it was evolving into something you would expect with every Du Maurier screenplay. Than sadly, the final act never gave us a big pay-off. I know Du Maurer's ending usually leaves it open for discussion. But the execution of it in this one, did not give me that punch of satisfaction.

The performances were a strong positive aspect. Sam Claflin is becoming quite an impressive young actor. His mix of success in top franchises and British period pieces as well as Me Before You has now made him quite a hot property. What's even better, is that he continues to deliver a very engaging performance every time. His development kept me interested and his chemistry was spot on.
Rachel Weisz was very good as the title character. She keeps that air of mystery that you expect from a Du Maurier novel throughout. You are never sure what her true personality is, and it keeps you guessing far beyond the credits. It is easy to forget how great of an actor she is.
There some surprisingly memorable scene-stealing moments from the supporting cast which was great to see. Most notably from Tim Barlow, Holliday Grainger and Iain Glen.

What a period drama always seems to do well, is the settings. The locations were gorgeous to look at and the sweeping camera shots really a terrific backdrop to have. Also, the costume designs looked great and the actors made them look ever better.
The score by Rael Jones fitted the story well. It hinted at any possible sinister characters, but never gave anything away.

Seeing this reminded how good Du Maurier books are at transcending into film. That mystery tone to them, and the ending that always make you question the decisions are main characters make in the end.
Sadly, I think the performances and the execution of the story did not seem to mix enough to make it a highly memorable experience. Nothing had me totally gripped. It just went at a pretty pedestrian pace with a few potential moments of tension that never had a finished product.

Everything is there. The performances are great, the setting and costume designs looked on point and the score is solid.
What was missing for me, was the emotional impact. I think in the right hands this would have been as good as it should have been. I wish someone like the late Alfred Hitchcock could have got their hands on this.

It is still worth watching, especially for Rachel Weisz. But by the end of it, I was thinking more about what it could have been rather than what it was. I can see a lot of people thinking the same thing as well.

Rating: 7/10

My Top 10: Morgan Freeman Films

He may have started late getting work in the filming industry in the late 1960's when he was in his 30's. But it was only until the late 1980's where people started to recognise the now acting legend that is Morgan Freeman.
Since then, he has been part of many iconic films and franchises, as well as play many notable characters including God (twice) and the President of the United States (twice).

Known most for his captivating voice, the American Oscar winner has touched many hearts of all generations. He has been in modern family classics, superhero franchises and powerful and emotional award-winning dramas.

Sadly I'm not counting his role in Batman Begins. It is a small role and there are many other performances that have more time on screen then his. However, his character of Lucius Fox has much more involvement in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. So I will be keeping those.

Out of his 91 films, I have only seen 30 of them. I will rank all of his films, and then give a short review of each of my top 10:

30) Evan Almighty
29) Olympus Has Fallen
28) The Nutcracker And The Four Realms
27) Chain Reaction
26) Along Came A Spider
25) Transcendence
24) RED
23) Unleashed
22) High Crimes
21) Now You See Me
20) Lucy
19) Wanted
18) Oblivion

17) A Good Person
16) Invictus
15) Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves
14) The Bucket List
13) Bruce Almighty
12) Gone Baby Gone

11) Unforgiven

10) Outbreak - It may have its problems and gets a bit unbelievable in the final act, but this a very tense and exciting thriller. When an African monkey arrives in America, a virus spreads through a California town forcing a major quarantine.
Freeman plays an army general with a hidden secret of the discovery of the virus about 30 years before these events. With a star-studded cast, the way this film moves really makes up for its negatives to make a fun watch.

9) Deep Impact - One of my favourite disaster films, this late 1990's hit saw Freeman give one of his most notable roles. It is also one of the best roles as the President of the United States.

When a comet is projected to crash into Earth, it is up to a group of astronauts to stop that from happening.

8) Lucky Number Slevin - A slick crime drama that does not mentioned enough anymore. It sees a man getting mistakenly identified, and ends up  landing in the middle of a war between two notorious gangs.

The action is tense, the performances from a star-studded cast are solid and Freeman's character name is great. He is simply known as, The Boss.

7) Glory - One of the first films that saw Freeman become a household name.

It tells the true story of the first all-black volunteer company during the American Civil War.

Winner of 3 Oscars including one for a young Denzel Washington, this is one not to be missed.

6) The Lego Movie - A film that on the surface sounds like a cheap money-grabber. But the smart comedic writing of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller made this one of the most enjoyable films of 2014.

It sees a construction worker being prophesied as the man that will stop an evil tyrant.

5) Million Dollar Baby - A terrific sports drama that sees a determined women wanting to become a professional boxer.

This is one that got Freeman his only Oscar to date. As well as winning three other Oscars including Best Picture, this Clint Eastwood directed feature is an emotional story that is perfectly executed.

4) The Dark Knight Rises - The conclusion to the Dark Knight Trilogy sees a Batman forced into exile by a brutal terrorist named Bane.

Now Batman with some help must save Gotham City from total annihilation. Freeman returns as Wayne Enterprises business manager Lucius Fox.

3) The Dark Knight - Seen by many as the peak of modern superhero films, Christopher Nolan's follow-up to the Batman Begins sees scale of the story expand in a way we could never have imagined.

Helped by a stupidly good supporting role by Heath Ledger as the Joker, the mix of superhero action and realism makes this a captivating watch.

Freeman returns as Lucius Fox, and plays a much bigger part this time.

2) Se7en - The gripping and sometimes shocking crime mystery thriller that put director David Fincher on the map.

Freeman plays a veteran detective hunting a serial killer using the seven deadly sins as their motive. With the help his rooke aide (played by Brad Pitt), it ends giving us one of the most memorable finales in film history.

1) The Shawshank Redemption - The number one film of all-time on many peoples lists, and deservingly so.

It tells the true story of two prisoners bond over a number of years while looking to find redemption by giving acts of kindness.

Everything about it transcends so well too many demographics. It is most certainly powerful stuff.

Review: Wonder Woman

I think it's safe to say that DC is having a tough time at the moment trying to get positive reviews of its latest releases.

2013 saw the start of its 'Extended Universe' with Man Of Steel. While it did not match its hype, it was still a solid film. Then 2016 saw 'Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice' which despite being very messy in its editing, it was passably entertaining enough for me. Exactly the same could be said for 'Suicide Squad'. I could see great potential. But in the end, a tragedy seemed to occur in the post-production stage. The pressure is really on Marvel's competitors, and we now turn to some female empowerment with the character of Diana Price a.k.a. Wonder Woman to take her big screen debut in the leading role.

While I think many people know the name of the legendary superhero, not many of the general audience would know her origins and mythology. That would include myself. The buzz I was getting from this made me believe that this could be the saving grace that can hopefully kick start this franchise into forward gear.

I don't think I can match the high level of positivity that its getting, but I still had a pretty good time with it.
The first act took a while to get used to the fantasy element of the story. But as soon as the second act kicks in, it becomes a really enjoyable espionage thriller. Then the third act sort of brings both genres into the mix for the mildly satisfying finale.

Gal Gadot delivered her potential that she showed in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. She made me believe in this strong-willed character, was well developed and it makes me want to know more about the history and mythology of Wonder Woman.
Chris Pine as the leading male continues to prove how great of a blockbuster actor he is. His chemistry with Gadot is a real highlight. It is easy to forget that he is more than just Captain Kirk in the Star Trek franchise. He was very memorable in Smokin' Aces, I liked him in Unstoppable, This Means War, Into The Woods and is terrific in Hell Or High Water. Pine oozes charisma and he totally fits the setting this story is in.
I felt a lot of the minor roles were great choices in casting. It was great to see actors like David Thewlis, Ewan Bremner, Said Taghmaoui and Danny Huston. One really nice surprise was Lucy Davis. She is most well known for being in Shaun Of The Dead, and she got some good laughs out of me.
While Elena Anaya was not in the film as much as I would like. Her character looked pretty terrifying.

There are lots of positives to mention from the technical side. I really liked the romping score by Rupert Gregson-Williams. I remember really liking Wonder Woman's theme from Batman V Superman, and it has extended out really well into a fully fledged soundtrack.
The writing is really well structured. The story is surprisingly quite grounded and the writers give itself time to show us some little moments with our main characters.
It was great to see a rich colour palette to a DC film, as the previous releases have been quite dark and grim.

Despite there being a lot to like, there are some negatives. Some of the CGI was questionable. But on the whole, it was perfectly fine.
Like with most superhero films, the villain is very forgettable. You only ever properly see it in the final act, and therefore it is never fleshed out.
Also, there is far too many slow-motion moments. Sometimes, it looks cool. But for the most part, it is done far too much. Maybe that was producer and writer Zack Snyder's contribution to this?

Even with those problems, on the whole it is a pretty good time. The one thing I liked about it the most, is that it feels that it can stand alone, and not feel like set-up for another chapter in the franchise.
I was afraid this might be like the all-female Ghostbusters, where it was coming across as a misandrist presentation. I had to look up that word, which means a person who hates men. Thankfully, this is an equal opportunities film. Much like something like a James Cameron feature. Director Patty Jenkins has everyone having their moment and does have fun at times with the period setting and how society was back then with women. Speaking of Jenkins, I remember hearing that she was a big fan of Richard Donner's Superman. You can see a lot of similarities in the structure, and that was great to see.

This also reminded me a lot of 'Captain America: The First Avenger'. While the majority seem to not be too bothered by that Marvel installment, I really like it. It reminded of those fun action adventures with a fun war espionage motif.

While I don't think it is as great as most people say it is, it is most certainly the best film to come out of the DC Extended Universe. It is the most enjoyable, coherent, has the best executed action set-pieces and it deserves its 2hrs+ duration. I can also see myself watching this again, as it looks to have great re-watchability. As for films based on DC Comics, it is the best one since The Dark Knight Rises.

With it being a superhero movie, you would naturally expect a post-credits scene. However, DC don't seem to want be with the majority. So there is not a post-credits scene.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Red Turtle

Any new film from Studio Ghibli always gets me at peak interest. While this is not quite a pure Ghibli production, it is certainly a co-production with European distributor Wild Bunch.

This debuted at last years Cannes Film Festival, and I was hearing really good things about it. A few more festivals, some general releases in various countries and an Oscar nomination later, it has finally arrived onto British shores.

I avoided all trailers, as I heard enough positivity to not need to see any. But I did not know it apparently has hardly no dialogue. That sounded promising as I love visual story-telling, and when it is done well, it can be something quite special.

The opening act sets us up well with the situation our main character is in. You get absorbed by the lovely animation with a dreamlike score going on in the background. Then the longer the film goes on, the more into the realm of fantasy we get into.
There are so many lovely segments, especially when the story takes a dramatic turn in the early part of the second half. The scenes at night and under the water look gorgeous and the accompanying score makes it quite a magical experience. There are also some minor characters that totally deserve their own spin-off. They are so sweet and funny anytime that they are on screen. It is the perfect amount of comedic relief.
The ending might not have that triumphant oomph that matched with the rest of content. But it is one that leaves open for discussion and you can have your own interpretation of it which I liked.

Despite the ending not being quite as satisfying as the rest of film, it is a wonderful piece of cinematic art that I rarely see, and with their being virtually no dialogue, this film is universal. I love films like this where this can be seen by anyone of any language, and you can get the same experience out of it. I always hope for more films like this, as it reminds me of the origins of film before the talkies came around.

Director Michael Dudok De Wit and his team have a fantastic job. The imagery and symbolism is fantastic especially in the night scenes and the whole experience was exciting, moving, touching, sweet, funny and sad. It is great to see that a simple plot can give us such a terrific film. Films like this keep my faith that you don't need complex plots to make a critically successful feature. Also the 80 minutes duration felt right. Had it been longer, I think it would have over-stayed its welcome.

As I mentioned before, the score by Laurent Perez Del Mar is so dreamy. It is a really great piece that fits perfectly with the imagery. I will certainly be listening to the entire score multiple times.

I must mention that the rating is PG, so it is fine for kids to watch. I think kids could really get into this. There are some tough scenes, including one moment that I found really distressing. But the overall feeling of it, is one that they can get into. At the screening I was at, there was a family of six in front of me, and all four kids seem to really love it, and they looked to between 6 and 9 years old. They seemed to be Studio Ghibli fans which was great to see, as they got excited when they saw the studios logo at the start. So top parenting by them for getting their kids into those films. I hope to get my nephew into these films one day.

It is a shame that I can't put it in my top films of 2017 list, and I have this down as a 2016 film. However, this would be well into my top 10 films of last year. Also in terms of films I've seen in a calendar year, this is the best one so far.

Rating: 9/10