Going to war with Lapland.

Well another year has flown by and we’re now fast approaching Christmas yet again. It seems like it was only yesterday when I was being daunted by Christmas dinner and its shed load of calories. This year’s been no different really, the same just without the 200 metres of snowfall.

Well I couldn’t let a year go by without commenting on the annual festive adverts that have been doing the rounds since October. Oh the joy.

Yes, just like this year’s snowfall the offering has been quite pathetic. From Argos’ weird alien Bill Nighy family to Boot’s relentless use of that ‘here come the girls’ advert this year has been pretty poor.

The Great Lancashire Sack Race.

Tonight’s match between struggling Bolton Wanderers and the bemusing Blackburn Rovers is already being dubbed a relegation 6-pointer. Whoever loses is given the dreaded accolade of being bottom at Christmas.

Bolton have lost 13 out of 16 games this season and Blackburn? Well they’re a bit of a clueless embarrassment this year, mostly off the pitch. On it their performance isn’t actually that bad, in fact I reckon even if they were winning games the fans would be on the manager’s shoulder week in week out.

Now Russell's in charge of the buttons.

Kim Jong-il is dead. Aged 69 the North Korean dictator died of a heart attack prompting mass amounts of weeping from the North Korean public.

Well that’s what they’ve said anyway, for all we know he’s still alive, or was killed by an over-amorous swan whilst on an afternoon jog; and let’s face it the weeping could have been brought on by chopping a lorry-load of onions off camera.

This is from a nation who say Kim Jong-il was born in a log cabin under a double rainbow and a bright star in the sky. No really.

But regardless of what’s actually true he’s gone, leaving behind his son to rule over North Korea with an iron fist. This is all well and good, but there’s one small detail that puts the mockers on that scheme. His son, known by many as Kim Jong-un, is Russell from Pixar's Up.

Head stompingly good fun

Every year cinema provides a few hidden gems. Those movies you’ve heard nothing about and see with little-to-no expectations and yet they become one of your favourite films of the year. 2009 saw District 9 become a favourite of mine from absolutely nowhere, 2010’s gem was The Social Network and now 2011 has given me Drive.

The story centres around a character who has a very Daniel Craig from Layer Cake vibe about him; so much so that he doesn’t even have a name. Played by Ryan Gosling, this silent hero goes through the movie trying to do what’s right for those innocent around him, how he succeeds and how he fails.

Cast of the decade?

One of the most absorbing films of modern cinema was released this summer, filled with more British talent than the 1966 World Cup winning team and a screenplay that does the original proud. I am of course talking about Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Set in the 1970s the film focusses on the British Secret Service and their search within themselves for a mole. In order to smoke him out, the top dog brings in retired agent George Smiley, played by Gary Oldman.

Smiley knows the mole is one of four men: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, or Spy; his mission is to find out just who it is.

Rootin' Tootin' Cowboys (and Aliens)

If you’re looking for the most ridiculous movie of the year you’d be hard pressed to find something more bizarre than Cowboys and Aliens starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.

Set sometime in the old West the movie centres around a cowboy called Jake (Daniel Craig) who gets abducted by aliens, as was quite common in them there days, and finds himself mysteriously back on the cold sandy planet we call Earth with an alien weapon attached to his wrist.

Harrison Ford plays baddie come goodie, Woodrow, who owns much of the land in the town and becomes distressed by the mysterious disappearance of his cattle and therefore money. He gets no such alien weapon, plenty of normal guns though.

America vs. Wild.

The BBC’s brilliant documentary Frozen Planet has wrapped up now but it didn’t quite manage to get to the end of its run without some form of scandal. Now even poor old David Attenborough has been the subject of widespread complaint from the British public. His crime? Misleading viewers, apparently.

Yes during the scene of a polar bear’s birth the documentary actually filmed the scene in a zoo. The run up to the scene was in the wild, and the actual cub being born was filmed in a Dutch zoo. I feel so mislead.