Especially Johnny Depp whom I have come to consider an actor who has had so much success over the years that he may have run out of tricks in his bag. But surprise, surprise, once again he has reinvented himself. Sure, a few quirks still remained in this performance but in its entirety I was very impressed yet again at the depth of this portrayal. 

Knowing nothing of the original Dark Shadows, I thought the entire cast was just as brilliant. I was more excited to see Chloe Grace Moretz and Michelle Pfeiffer actually but I was very impressed with everyone involved.

Eva Green was deliciously sexy and evil. Moretz gave a very "matured" performance that made me a bit uncomfortable because she was so good in her portrayal. The great Michelle Pfeiffer with slight nuances here and there was incredible and a joy to watch. Bonham Carter did not disappoint. Jackie Earle Haley was funny. And then there were Jonny Lee Miller and Bella Heathcote to round up the very fantastic Tim Burton-esque performances. 

Tim Burton no doubt is brilliant. But I still did not agree with certain choices he made for this movie. The beginning when Depp's character was chasing down Heathcote's character, he stopped a couple of times for creating the dramatic effect, which I thought was too staged. I'd rather see him run as fast as he could seeing as how dire the situation was. 

Also towards the end, the demise of the protagonist was very unclear and incomplete. How and why did that happen, I just didn't get it.

So these two issues, the second one being the big question mark, was the undoing for the film. Otherwise it was a very fun and very entertaining piece of work. Burton and Depp once again delivered.

As for The Avengers, Whedon actually directed as well, making this a successful jump from directing TV episodes to a mega-budgeted behemoth that is The Avengers.

I was very curious as to how the story would go seeing as this was a cast of big names. But it turned out very well as someone actually had the foresight to only bring in one major A-lister, Robert Downey, Jr. to act as the anchor while the rest supported. And perhaps this was why Edward Norton wasn't involved in this outing.

As for the storyline, it really gelled all the characters together very well. The story didn't feel fragmented and the members of the Avengers had ample of opportunity to tell their own stories. A feat that Whedon has achieved to perfection in this movie and I'm sure it wasn't easy.

Even when Gwyneth Paltrow appeared for just that little while as Pepper Pots, she didn't feel out of place at all.

And as a fan of Marvel for the past two centuries, I could not help but notice every time I let out an involuntary expression of awe seeing characters of my favourite comic title on the silver screen. The scene where the camera panned around the Avengers immediately after they finally came together as a team and then posed in the middle of the street, I could hardly contain my glee. 

The only thing that I (personally) didn't enjoy was when Thor, Iron Man and Captain America duked it out as their "introduction" to one another; I thought that was not necessary and the fight scenes weren't all that exciting.

Also, I thought when Hulk finally got hold of Loki and started slamming him around, by its nature the Hulk should have just killed him then and there. 

But those are just personal ticks. There certainly were more positive things to focus on, one such was the humour written in that really suited the situation. For example, the jab on Captain America and Thor's lack of knowledge of the here and now. Or how the Black Widow used her favourite phrase from the comic book at one point, to all the geeks' pleasure I'm sure.

To Whedon's credit, this movie couldn't have been written or directed any better. Even when I have never really enjoyed Mark Ruffalo's work, here as Bruce Banner he didn't bother me at all. Great job, Mr. Whedon!

This did not look like a Martin Scorsese movie at all. But that's because of the story and the genre. 

Nevertheless, the storytelling from Scorsese still took us in to the place and time and the audience got to dive into the story.  

Ben Kingsley and Chloe G. Moretz were perfect in their roles, though Moretz's accent did sound a little forced - matters little in the overall picture. I even liked Sacha Baron Cohen here who gave a very subdued yet over the top performance.

But while Scorsese brought out the best of the cast, I sometimes found myself disagreeing with the way he wanted to bring out the emotional expressions of the younger Asa Butterfield. Sometimes even while the interaction between him and Moretz were going great, but because of how Scorsese used the camera, the younger cast looked a little awkward during the empty spaces.

And as mentioned, towards the middle it went a little too slow so I got a bit bored. And the ending did not bring the emotional impact that I was hoping it would.

Tomas Alfredson together with cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema, who both gave us Let The Right One In, brought another spectacular and visually engaging movie once again. 

What you would immediately notice about the movie was the texture onscreen. The grainy and gloomy feel set the tone right out the gate and brought the audience into that period and that English weather, temperature and environment.

Every shot on the silver screen was perfectly planned and captured by Hoytema so that the audience could feel like we were there together with the actors.

And the brilliant cast of actors with perfect performances demanded our attention from beginning to end.

A good thing too because the writing in this masterpiece at certain times was very unclear. It's very easy to get lost especially when the pace of the movie was very slow. Even though being an international espionage story, there was zero action - contrary to what we are usually fed. This story involved only men in serious dialogue after serious dialogue, and the tone was very flat.

Having said that however, the Alfredson's direction was brilliant enough to keep the intrigue and follow through with the suspense and interest; though quite barely with the slow script.

Out of the fantastic cast, two actors' performances whom I found electrifying were Benedict Cumberbatch and of course the great Gary Oldman, whose mannerisms were unrecognisable from anything I've seen him do (having been a fan of his since The Fifth Element).

Let's face it, Carell very seldom produce a solid 7 of a movie.

In this movie he played a smooth ladies' man and I'm sure after watching him all the girls want him more and all the guys want to be him. I, too, was mesmerised. The Notebook was his first big movie and I was never on board. Only until The Ides Of March did I start warming up to him, and in this role I really ate it up.

At first from the movie poster I thought this might be something like New Year's Eve or Valentine's Day because of the large ensemble. But I was pleasantly surprised when there were only four real players, namely Carell, Gosling, Julianne Moore and Emma Stone. Only Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon didn't get a lot of screentime. 

Hence, the story didn't go all over the place but was able to have a lot of focus on the four main characters.

There was a very nicely written sequence in the second half when everything and everyone came together. That was brilliant and hilarious. 

And the rest of the cast have all portrayed their roles very nicely, doing their parts in producing a very nicely made movie. Only the ending, again, like Friends With Benefit before this review, where the big speech was; I thought was a little out of place as Jonah Bobo's scene was quite out of his character.

But I thought Gosling stole every scene he was in. And should have had a nomination in the last Oscar for a supporting role here as well.