Arthur Christmas

Christmas, along with Santa is getting old and Steve, Santa's oldest son and soon to be replacement, believes the way forward is to up the technology. However, Steve gets caught up in the job and when  a present that slipped off the conveyor is found, it's up to Arthur (Santa's youngest) with a little help from Grand-Santa and his pre-historic ways to save the day. The minds of Aardman never cease to disappoint, even with a Christmas movie.They have created yet another humorous, smart storyline which is suitable for anyone in the Christmas spirit. It is, however peculiar seeing the voice of 33 year old James McAvoy coming out of a 12-year-old's mouth but hey-ho, maybe Arthur is just mature for his age. Similarly Hugh Laurie is probably the last person you'd want to play someone with Steve's young audacious persona but it seems to work well. Jim Broadbent and Bill Nighy appropriately fit, ageing Santa and ancient Grand-Santa and Ashley Jensen is made for this role as the annoyingly squeaky, Scottish Christmas elf, Bryony who also plays a crucial part in saving the day with her wrapping skills. Everyone loves fresh, new Christmas movies.... but avoid if you don't.

Contagion

Although Contagion was deemed gross and inhumane by some, I believe it is a fresh take on a very realistic occurrence. Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow), comes back from Hong Kong with a shocking illness. Symptoms include seizures and dizziness and she succumbs to the illness in a surprisingly quick death. Unfortunately, 26 million others follow in her step, including Kate Winslet (karma, for not letting Jack get on the Titanic door)
This is a unique film, with an all star cast and clever, dark script. It highlights how naive humanity is and how unprepared we are for anything that matches the power of this virus globally..
Unfortunately there is no fairy-tale ending for anyone (not even Matt Damon or Jude Law) and yet you'll want to see this film again because if you blink, you'll miss something. Infectious.