Much like wine, the quality of a film year is sometimes unpredictable. You do everything you can to make sure that the end result is the best it can be, but circumstances intervene to make what looked like an excellent vintage, a little disappointing in the end.

2011 has been such a year – there was plenty of promise but didn’t quite deliver and even the really good films never achieved the greatness they might have done. Admittedly following a year which had The King’s Speech, The Social Network, Inception, and a host of other great directors, writers and actors doing top work – it was going to be hard to match.

While a lot of the heavyweights kick in during awards season in January, one actor has stood out this year in the shape of Michael Fassbender, from Mr Rochester to the young Magneto, not to mention his forthcoming work in Shame and A Dangerous Method. An honourable mention for Edward Hogg in Anonymous as well. Actress of the year is a little tricky – probably everyone assuming Meryl is a shoo in with Maggie so held back- but Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre stood out. The film that should have been brilliant but really let itself down was Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The award for film that should have been terrible but annoyingly wasn’t is shared between Anonymous and Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1. Rising star of the year is Tom Hiddleston, who has risen from accomplished supporting theatre actor to Hollywood star quietly stealing Thor from everyone and with roles for Spielberg, Woody Allen and the main villain in the Avengers movie, he is one to watch. Unsung hero of the year is Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort, you really can’t imagine anyone else in the role. And on that note there really was only one film of the year in the shape of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2, by far the best of the entire series and a fitting conclusion to one of the greatest British film achievements of all time.

So what does next year have for us? There will always be the one or two films that come out of nowhere, but coming up we have Clint Eastwood directing Leonardo Di Caprio in J Edgar, Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, three Oscar winners and one nominee heading up Carnage for the more discerning filmgoer. On an entertainment level it’s looking good for some excellent blockbusting action with the Spiderman reboot, the final Batman film The Dark Knight Rises, Marvel superhero ensemble movie The Avengers, Smith & Jones back for Men in Black 3 and there’s a certain James Bond coming back in November in Skyfall. Here’s to a vintage 2012, or not as the case may be.

6/10 (for the whole year)