Classic Friday : Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) 7/10

Starring : Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Jurgen Prochnow, Ronny Cox, Brigitte Nielsen
Director : Tony Scott
Running Time : 99 mins

Axel Foley (Murphy) is sent deep undercover, and again finds himself in Beverly Hills where he helps old friends Detective Rosewood (Reinhold) and Sergeant Taggart (Ashton) investigate the near fatal shooting of Captain Bogomil (Cox). As they get closer to the truth they discover a connection between the attempt on Bogomil’s life and a series of thefts that have been happening in the area.

In spite of not being as good as the original, this is still a worthy sequel. Murphy is still on top form as Axel Foley, with Reinhold and Ashton being even better than in the original now that they’re on Foley’s side. And with Tony Scott directing, you know that this is nothing if not action packed.

You’ll like this if you liked : Die Hard With A Vengeance

Away We Go (2009) 8/10

Starring : John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Carmen Ejogo, Catherine O’Hara, Jeff Daniels
Director : Sam Mendes
Running Time : 98 mins

Burt Farlander (Krasinski) and Verona De Tessant (Rudolph) are expecting their first child together, and have move to live near Burt’s parents so that they can share in the experience with them, but when Burt’s folks decide to move to Belgium the couple make the decision to find somewhere else to live, with people that they care about who will be there for them. So they begin and road trip to find somewhere new to live.

I thought this was a really good, well observed comedy that had just the right level of additional pathos to make it both witty and touching. Krasinski and Rudolph are a likeable couple, and I liked that it felt believable that they were together but weren’t a perfect couple. With a string of guest stars that all put in sterling performances, this is a must see.

You’ll like this if you liked : Broken Flowers

The Babysitters (2007) 5/10

Starring : Katherine Waterston, John Leguizamo, Cynthia Nixon
Director : David Ross
Running Time : 89 mins

Shirley Lyner (Waterston) is a high school girl who makes extra money by babysitting for parents in the area, but when she falls for single father Michael Beltran (Leguizamo) she decides to make even more extra money by starting up an escort service, using some of her school friends as additional “babysitters”.

This isn’t a particularly pleasant movie to watch, and it really needed a nice injection of humour to make this bearable, so sadly this just made me cringe pretty much from start to finish. The acting was also pretty sub-standard and the plot was obvious, so I don’t think this would appeal to anyone other than those easily pleased with movies that have little or no charm.

You’ll like this if you liked : Walk All Over Me

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (2009) 8/10

Starring : Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell
Director : Phil Lord & Chris Miller
Running Time : 91 mins

Failed scientist and inventor Flint Lockwood (Hader) finally invents something that works – a machine that can turn water into food, thus solving the food shortage situation on the island on which he lives. Unfortunately the machine starts mutating the food, making larger and larger portions which begin to inundate the world with too much food.

I really enjoyed this movie, which has apparently been about as faithful to the book it’s based on as a movie can get. The voice actors are all wonderful, with Hader and Faris making the perfect cartoon couple, and the supporting cast really flesh this out into a thoroughly enjoyable kids cartoon that parents will enjoy as well.

You’ll like this if you liked : Monsters Vs Aliens

Day Of The Dead (2008) 5/10

Starring : Mena Suvari, Nick Cannon, Michael Welch, AnnaLynne McCord, Ving Rhames
Director : Steve Miner
Running Time : 82 mins

The small town of Leadville, Colorado, is sealed off by the government and military when it is discovered that an epidemic similar to the flu is spreading through the town. However, when Corporal Sarah Bowman (Suvari) takes her mother to the hospital she discovers that the illness isn’t flu but is in fact turning people into flesh eating zombies.

Although this has all the elements of a good zombie movie, the casting truly ruined this for more. Nick Cannon turns everything her touches to crap, and the lines he was given really didn’t help his cause. As for Mena Suvari as a Corporal in the military, I just found this about as believable as the fast moving, ceiling crawling zombies that this movie portrayed.

You’ll like this if you liked : Diary Of The Dead

Miss March (2009) 7/10

Starring : Zach Cregger, Trevor Moore, Raquel Alessi, Molly Stanton, Craig Robinson
Director : Zach Cregger & Trevor Moore
Running Time : 94 mins

On the night he plans to consummate his relationship with his long-term girlfriend Cindi Whitehall (Alessi), Eugene Bell (Cregger) falls down a flight of stairs and is put into a four year coma. When he wakes up he is horrified to discover that his once pure high school sweetheart is now a Playboy centerfold, and he embarks on a road trip with his best friend Tucker Cleigh (Moore) to track her down.

This was surprisingly enjoyable for such a gross out comedy. It is filled with silly jokes that teenagers will enjoy, and harks back to the day of American Pie. Sadly these movies are all too common, and the audience for them has started to die out, but if you get a chance do watch this for some guilty pleasure funny moments.

You’ll like this if you liked : Kickin It Old Skool

Classic Friday : Carry On Camping (1969) 7/10

Starring : Sid James, Bernard Bresslaw, Joan Sims, Kenneth Williams, Barbara Windsor, Hattie Haqcues
Director : Gerald Thomas
Running Time : 85 mins

Sid Boggle (James) and Bernie Lugg (Bresslaw) decide to take their girlfriends camping, planning on getting them to a nudist camp for a little bit of nudey fun, but when they end up at the wrong campsite they find themselves surrounded by a group of incredibly unlikely campers, including a gang of hippies and a coach load of sex-starved school girls.

This movie took the summer of 69 and gave it a distinctly British twist. Filled with moments of total political incorrectness, this classic bawdy movie still looks as appealing today as it did forty years ago. Containing some of the Carry On teams most famous scenes, including the infamous scene where Barbara Windsor loses her top, this is one of the most popular of the series, although definitely not the best.

You’ll like this if you liked : Carry On Behind

GI Joe The Rise Of Cobra (2009) 6/10

Starring : Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, Marlon Wayans, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Quaid
Director : Stephen Sommers
Running Time : 118 mins

James McCullen (Eccleston) has created a weapon based on nanotechnology, and two military soldiers, Duke (Tatum) and Ripcord (Wayans) are ambushed by a terrorist organization known as Cobra when delivering it to a military base. Another group, known as GI Joe, stops the team of hijackers and prevents them from getting their hands on the weapon, and when Duke reveals that he knows the real identity of one of the terrorists, known as The Baroness (Miller), the two are invited to join GI Joe.

This was a pretty predictable and standard action movie that does nothing to surprise its audience, but action lovers and fans of the toys and cartoons from the 1980s might enjoy this revamped trip down memory lane. Most of the actors put in an acceptable performance (aside from Wayans who is as annoying as ever), and the plot is reasonably simple for kids to follow, so give it a go if you have two hours spare to switch off and zone out.

You’ll like this if you liked : Transformers

Harold (2008) 7/10

Starring : Spencer Breslin, Ally Sheedy, Cuba Gooding Jr
Director : T Sean Shannon
Running Time : 94 mins

After years of trying to be accepted by his school friends, Harold (Breslin) finds his world turned upside down when his mother (Sheedy) decides to move the family to a new town, which means a new school and further explanations about his problem with early onset male pattern baldness.

For a film with such a silly notion, this was pretty hit and miss. There were some funny deadpan moments, and Breslin has the character of Harold – a young boy with an old man’s attitude to match his hairline – down to a tee. Gooding seemed out of place in this movie, and seems to be taking something of a nose dive in the career stakes, but those who like good old fashioned comedy movies with predictable but desirable storylines will thoroughly enjoy this little gem.

You’ll like this if you liked : Drillbit Taylor