Then We Came To The End
Joshua Ferris
It takes a little while to get into the rhythm of it but, when one does, the book turns into a rollicking indictment of Western boredom and fear. It doesn't completely work - the near-ending's farce of Tom's storyline is a little underwhelming - but there is enough here to see how Ferris has built up a growing following. Having read The Unnamed, before this, there are similar problems in his structure, however, he's a no-fuss writer who writes about seemingly mundane things in an interesting way. It'll be interesting to see where he ventures next.
Salt
Phillip Noyce
Intelligently directed by Noyce this is the perfect example of a genre pic not taking itself too seriously and in the end getting close to very good for it. Its ending lets it down considerably but with an in-form Jolie - she's never bad even with all the naysayers - and a non-stop sense of action, Salt in the end meets its purpose in spades. Good, action-packed fun.
Young Man In America
Anais Mitchell
Imagine Joanna Newsom with more heft to her voice and a lot less pretension with her lyrics and you've pretty got much the perfect folk artist in Mitchell. With an astonishingly well-written set of country-folk songs melding together with that buttery warble of hers, Young Man In America may very well be the surprise album of 2012. It's without doubt one of the best albums of 2012 and marks a voice that has been around for a while but who may just be about to get her due.
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