Hostage (2005) 8/10

Starring : Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollack, Jimmy Bennett, Michelle Horn, Ben Foster, Jonathan Tucker, Marshall Allman
Director : Florent Siri
Running Time : 109 mins

Hostage negotiator Jeff Talley (Willis) has been retired from his particular job for a year following a hostage situation that went horribly wrong. Now working as a simple police chief, he finds himself dragged back into the negotiation business when a trio of teenagers decide to break into the house of local criminal businessman Walter Smith (Pollack) to steal his car and things escalate out of control.

This is a pretty standard thriller plotline, but still manages to give us some good performances, specifically from Foster, who is creepy without even trying, and Willis who is basically playing John McClane from the Die Hard movies. Granted, what at first seems to be a simple premise soon transforms into something far more complicated with some unexpected twists and turns.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Negotiator

Returner (2002) 8/10

Starring : Takeshi Kaneshiro, Anne Suzuki
Director : Takashi Yamazaki
Running Time : 117 mins

A time traveller from the future named Milly (Suzuki) finds herself in present day Japan, where she is accidentally shot by a criminal named Miyamoto (Kaneshiro) who has gotten himself caught up in some trouble with the Triads. When she wakes up in his hideout, she seeks his help to find an alien creature that has faked a crash landing on Earth and is attempting to take over the planet.

This has got a pretty basic plot, but the characters make it a likeable enough romp. The special effects aren't brilliant, and the story is basically a reworking of The Terminator, but this still manages to be entertaining in a live-action Manga-esque style that makes the story both enjoyable and engaging.

You’ll like this if you liked : Blade Runner

Outpost (2008) 6/10

Starring : Ray Stevenson, Julian Wadham, Richard Brake
Director : Steve Barker
Running Time : 91 mins

A group of ex-soldiers are hired to travel into no man’s land and check over an old abandoned military outpost, but soon discover that this was the head quarters for a series of bizarre experiments carried out by the Nazis on their own soldiers. To make matters worse, they find that one of these soldiers has survived all these years as a genetically engineered killing machine!

This is an intriguing, if not original idea, that doesn’t quite work. It has something of the feel of a Neil Marshall movie, but doesn’t quite match up with Marshall’s ability to combine action with character development. People who like their horror-thriller-action movies will enjoy this; others might struggle with this as the narrative is so basic and gives little in the way of plot development.

You’ll like this if you liked : Mutant Chronicles

Classic Friday : Star Trek III : The Search For Spock (1984) 7/10

Starring : William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols
Director : Leonard Nimoy
Running Time : 101 mins

With the death of Khan and Spock (Nimoy), and the creation of the Genesis planet, Admiral James T Kirk (Shatner) is faced with more problems when he thinks that his good friend Dr Leonard McCoy (Kelley) is going insane, but when Spock's father turns up and informs them that McCoy is harbouring Spock's spirit, Kirk decides to steal the Enterprise and travel to the Genesis planet to look for Spock's dead body and see if he can stop McCoy from going mental, but what he discovers is more than he could ever have hoped for.

Although not the best in the series, what with it suffering from the curse of being an odd numbered instalment, this is still a memorable one which features the rebirth of Spock and some naughty behaviour from Kirk. This nicely takes away Kirk's position as an Admiral, and returns him to his Captaincy by the fourth. Well worth watching, but not brilliant.

You’ll like this if you liked : Star Trek V : The Final Frontier

Angels And Demons (2009) 6/10

Starring : Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgard
Director : Ron Howard
Running Time : 133 mins

Robert Langdon (Hanks) is called in to investigate when the Catholic church is threatened by a group claiming to be the ancient secret society known as the Illuminati, a group who plan on murdering a number of high ranking priests in the church before setting off an anti-matter device in the middle of Vatican City which will destroy everything and everyone inside.

This tries desperately to keep some sort of action going throughout, but all it succeeds in doing is looking like a version of National Treasure that takes itself too seriously. Hanks is likeable enough as he reprises his role as Robert Langdon, and the highly necessary villains keep him on his toes, but all the convoluted clues and ensuing nonsense just makes this feel like it's trying too hard.

You’ll like this if you liked : National Treasure Book Of Secrets

Cursed (2005) 7/10

Starring : Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson, Jesse Eisenberg, Judy Greer, Michael Rosenbaum
Director : Wes Craven
Running Time : 95 mins

When Ellie (Ricci) and her brother Jimmy (Eisenberg) are attacked by a wolf, they start to exhibit some very strange symptoms, and when a series of animal attacks occur in close proximity to each other they start to fear that they might actually be responsible in some way for the fatalities and that they may have been turned into werewolves.

Although not as good as the Scream series, which had the same writer and director, this tongue in cheek scary movie still has some good things going for it. The humour isn't in your face, so its subtlety really helps it appeal to hard core horror fans as well as fans of teen comedies, and the acting, though not brilliant, still helps to keep the surprises coming thick and fast.

You’ll like this if you liked : An American Werewolf In London

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) 8/10

Starring : Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johannson, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz
Director : Woody Allen
Running Time : 97 mins

Close friends Vicky (Hall) and Cristina (Johannson) decide to spend their holidays in Barcelona, each trying to escape various elements of their lives. There they meet an artist who tries to get the two of them into bed, but they initially shun his attentions, yet it isn't long before they seperately engage in whirlwind romances with the man. Unfortunately Vicky is engaged to be married, and find things difficult to cope with after the short but elicite affair.

Thankfully Woody Allen's script isn't as pretentiously witty as they sometimes can be, which makes this much more pallatable for the every day movie goer. Hall is especially good as the lead in this romantic farce, and Johannson, though almost secondary, gives her usual effervescent performance.

You’ll like this if you liked : Feast Of Love

Ali (2001) 7/10

Starring : Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Jon Voigt, Ron Silver
Director : Michael Mann
Running Time : 151 mins

Cassius Clay (Smith) finds himself pronounced the heavy weight champion of the world at a tender age, and quickly becomes and arrogant yet charismatic sports superstar. It isn't long before he turns to the Nation Of Islam, converting to become a Muslim and changing his name to Mohammed Ali, and his attitude towards conscription comes to the fore when, as a pacifist, he refuses to join the military.

Although this movie is a little over long, there are some good moments, usually revolving around the fights Ali took part in. His personality id perfectly replicated by Smith, who does a good job of immitating the sports star as he becomes increasingly ambitious in his bid to become and remain the heavy weight boxing champion of the world.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Hurricane