Cinema Review: The Avengers (2012)

It's difficult to think of another film that has been teased for so long before finally appearing, so The Avengers (official UK title: Marvel Avengers Assemble, which I will ignore) has a lot to live up to. Beyond the usual trailers and TV spots, you could say that this film's marketing campaign has consisted of five actual movies: Iron Mans 1 and 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America. All of those films shared to varying degrees an identical problem: none of them felt like complete films within their own right, with that everpresent distraction of The Avengers lurking on the horizon. Laying such groundwork for a future film has been a ballsy plan by Marvel and a first in cinema, but the signs are that it will pay off big time. Finally, at last, here is a film with no obligation to build up to a figurative "To be continued". Sure, there will no doubt be further sequels, but this is the main event.

Blu-ray Review: Hugo (2011)

Hugo is Martin Scorsese at play. Never before has he had such a toolbox at his disposal. It is his first venture into 3D and also his most extensively effects-based movie yet, and the master does not disappoint. Hugo is a technical tour de force but also a completely enchanting picture, its extravagant effects and sumptuous production design used in the service of telling a charming story. Scorsese has said he made this film so that his 12-year-old daughter could finally watch one of his films, but Hugo isn't just a children's film; indeed, it will probably hold much more interest for adults, especially those with a love of Paris and cinema history.

Blu-ray Review: Wuthering Heights (2011)

After Red Road (2006) and Fish Tank (2009), a pair of highly acclaimed gritty urban dramas, Andrea Arnold is one of the current champions of British independent cinema. For her third feature, she has taken a detour to what initially sounds like costume drama territory: Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, the classic story of a doomed romance on the Yorkshire Moors. Unsurprisingly, though, the result is a big departure from the typical confines of heritage cinema. With its sparse dialogue, naturalistic filming style and occasionally uncompromising brutality it's designed to shock those expecting another Pride & Prejudice (although those with any knowledge of the story should know its harshness well enough already).

Blu-ray Review: Game of Thrones, Season 1 (2011)

Game of Thrones is HBO's latest sensation, and deservingly so. Based on George R.R. Martin's as-yet-unfinished series of novels called A Song of Ice and Fire, it's a fantasy saga that's more medieval than Middle-Earth. The title, taken from the first book of the series, could not be more apt, as the series' main preoccupation is the constant intrigue surrounding the seven kingdoms of Westeros, with numerous contenders claiming their right to the throne that unites them all. (The throne itself, made of hundreds of melted-down swords, is already an iconic image.) There's also the everpresent threat of an invasion of mysterious, demonic 'White Walkers' from the north, a frontier that is protected by a massive ice wall, which is where the pilot episode begins.