Classic Friday : Carrie (1976) 8/10

Starring : Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, William Katt, John Travolta
Director : Brian De Palma
Running Time : 94 mins

When Carrie White (Spacek) hits puberty, she suddenly develops the power of telekinesis, an ability that her mother Margaret (Laurie) considers an affront to God. Against her mother’s wishes, Carrie goes to the high school prom with a date for the first time, but when she arrives and discovers that the whole situation is nothing but a practical joke, her abilities fly out of control.

Just like in Stephen King's novel, this movie is all about one scene, and that’s the school prom. Many movies have attempted to imitate this classic scary movie, but none have quite hit the spot. With ridiculously kitsch split screens and some actual funny death scenes, this is still a firm favourite of mine, and a genuine classic in anyone’s book.

You’ll like this if you liked : Friday The 13th

Artificial Intelligence : AI (2001) 7/10

Starring : Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Sam Robards, William Hurt, Brendan Gleeson
Director : Steven Spielberg
Running Time : 140 mins

Following the seemingly irreversible illness of their son, a young couple decide to purchase a robot child named David (Osment) which they use as a replacement for their son, but when their real son recovers and comes home, they start to realise that having a robot around the house could be quite dangerous so decide to get rid of him. Soon David finds himself wandering the streets in a world filled with robot hating humans, his only wish being to become a real boy.

I found the first hour of this movie the best part, in fact it felt on first viewing like David's story was over once Gigolo Joe showed up, but despite a considerably bizarre and almost unnecessary last half hour, this is still a fascinating movie which could have been so much better if it had have ended with David getting frozen.

You’ll like this if you liked : I, Robot

High Fidelity (2000) 9/10

Starring : John Cusack, Jack Black, Todd Louiso, Iben Hjejle, Joan Cuasack
Director : Stephen Frears
Running Time : 111 mins

Following his latest breakup, record-store owner Rob Gordon (Cusack) decides to compile a top five list of his greatest breakups so that he can try to discover if there was a running theme that accounts for all of his relationships falling apart. Along the way he is given less and less meaningful advice from his employees Dick (Louiso) and Barry (Black).

This is one of those movies that, in spite of completely changing the setting, has been perfectly translated from the novel. Cusack is perfect as Rob, the coaster of life who can’t be bothered to make a decision or take the next step in his life, and Black is, as always, fantastically funny and aptly poignant in his observations on life.

You’ll like this if you liked : Shallow Hal

Drillbit Taylor (2008) 8/10

Starring : Owen Wilson, Nate Hartley, Troy Gentile, Leslie Mann, Stephen Root, David Dorfman
Director : Steven Brill
Running Time : 111 mins

Two school kids, Wade (Hartley) and Ryan (Gentile), who have just moved into their new high school find themselves on the receiving end of some fairly unnecessary bullying, so they advertise for a bodyguard. What they get is Drillbit Taylor (Wilson), a homeless bum with no skills whatsoever who uses the opportunity to rob the kids blind while pretending to teach them self defence, but it isn't long before Drillbit starts to care for the kids and tries to help them for real.

I really liked this movie. Owen Wilson was okay, but it was really the two kids, Hartley and Gentile, who stole the show with their quick wit and energy filled performances. Here's hoping they keep up the good work, because this indicates a great career for them in the future as two of the cinemas great up and coming comic actors.

You’ll like this if you liked : School Of Rock

Jackass Number Two (2006) 7/10

Starring : Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Jason "Wee Man" Acuna, Preston Lacy
Director : Jeff Tremaine
Running Time : 94 mins

The Jackass guys return for a second helping of mania in this vast improvement on the first installment classic nonsense. Watch as the crew once again go to the extreme in their attempts to entertain and, consequently, injure themsleves in a series of increasingly ridiculous and pointless exercises at causing pain and looking stupid.

The highlight of this movie has to be the terrorist in the cab going to the airport, as the pracnk is quickly turned around and the true panic on Bam's face is irreplaceable. Some of the stunts just look too painful to be true, like the cattle branding, but if you have a twisted mind you'll definitely find this entertaining.

You’ll like this if you liked : Jackass The Movie

Sylvia (2003) 5/10

Starring : Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig, Blythe Danner, Michael Gambon
Director : Christine Jeffs
Running Time : 114 mins

Sylvia Plath (Paltrow) is a poet with highly suicidal tendencies. When she meetsand marries fellow poet Ted Hughes (Craig), she thinks her life is going to turn itself around, until she starts to suspect Ted of having an affair with one of his students, a suspicion that makes her start to think about suicide again.

This movie only goes to show what a truly desperate character Sylvia Plath was. Granted her poetry was very popualr after her death, but her instinct to kill herself whenever things go badly is the main focal point of this entire movie, which despite some nice performance from Paltrow and Craig, makes for very unsettling viewing on the whole.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Hours

The Emperor's New Groove (2000) 7/10

Starring : David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton
Director : Mark Dindal
Running Time : 75 mins

In Disney's 39th Animated Classic, Emperor Kuzco (Spade) is tranformed into a llama by his evil advisor Yzma (Kitt) so that they can stop him ruling their kingdom and take over it themselves, but Kuzco desperately seeks the help of a poor peasant named Pacha (Goodman) so that together they can try to stop Yzma from taking over the kingdom.

This movie is largely rescued by Patrick Warburton as Kronk, but there is still enough here to keep anyone entertained. The classic animation which is sadly missing from Disney's more recent works has an angular charm all it's own here, and the simple story of finding the good in everyone, no matter how arrogant, won't be lost on the viewer.

You’ll like this if you liked : Hercules

The Grey Zone (2001) 6/10

Starring : David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Kamelia Grigorova
Director : Tim Blake Nelson
Running Time : 109 mins

A group of Hungarian Jews find themselves working in the concentration camps of the Nazi Germans, dealing with the corpses of their own people as well as their own families, but when one particular group find a young girl (Grigorova) has survived in the gas chamber, they do everything they can to try and save her from the Nazis.

This was clearly a movie that relied heavily on celebrity names rather than real drama, and uses every cliche in the book to further it's story. There some good moments, which generally outweigh the boring ones, but overall this felt like a vain attempt to make Schindler's List without Oscar Schindler.

You’ll like this if you liked : Schindler's List

Are We There Yet? (2005) 7/10

Starring : Ice Cube, Nia Long, Aleisha Allen, Philip Daniel Bolden, Jay Mohr, Tracy Morgan
Director : Brian Levant
Running Time : 92 mins

Nick Person (Cube) despises children, but when he meets attractive divorced mother-of-two Suzanne Kingston (Long) he decides to put on a show for her in the hope of getting a date with her, but when Suzanne asks Nick to get her kids to Vancouver, where she is stuck working for New Year, Nick is left travelling cross country with two of the brattiest children imaginable.

I’ve heard some really negative reviews of this movie, so I went in to it with my eyes wide open, but actually enjoyed it for the most part. Granted the children needed slapping almost from the get go, but in some ways they do get their comeuppance which was rewarding for the viewer. It’s Cube for whom I felt sorry for the whole movie, having to put up with those kids. Let’s hope that as the credits role he took his belt off to them!

You’ll like this if you liked : Home Alone

I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007) 8/10

Starring : Michelle Pfeiffer, Paul Rudd, Saoirse Ronan, Stacey Dash, Fred Willard, Jon Lovitz, Sarah Alexander, Tracey Ullman
Director : Amy Heckerling
Running Time : 94 mins

Rosie (Pfeiffer) is a forty something screen writer on television’s ever popular Go Girl who falls for a new actor on the show, Adam (Rudd), who is considerably younger than her. Their relationship starts to blossom, but soon hits problems when Rosie’s highly jealous and manipulative secretary Jeannie (Alexander) begins to plant false information under Rosie’s nose concerning Adam and the star of Go Girl, Brianna (Dash).

I actually enjoyed this movie, although it did feel a little dated in parts. It was a nice touch to have Stacey Dash, who was near thirty in Clueless, playing an actress more than twice the age of the character she’s playing. Pfeiffer and Rudd put in likeable performances as the leads, but the show is definitely stolen by Ronan as Pfeiffer’s young daughter.

You’ll like this if you liked : Prime

Classic Friday : Flatliners (1990) 7/10

Starring : Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt
Director : Joel Schumacher
Running Time : 99 mins

A group of young medical students decide to try out an experiment which temporarily kills them then brings them back to life. As they try to go for increasing periods of time in a state of death, they start having visions of people who have dies in the past, and soon these ghosts start coming back with them when they return to the land of the living.

This is a great little movie with such a simple plotline that is taken to the extremes and really takes the almost banal scares to another level altogether. Every member of the cast pulls their weight in this movie, but the most memorable performance for me has to come from Sutherland, who is beyond reproach in this film – his best performance second only to Freeway.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Craft

Hellboy II : The Golden Army (2008) 8/10

Starring : Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Seth McFarlane, Luke Goss, Anna Walton
Director : Guillermo del Toro
Running Time : 115 mins

Hellboy (Perlman) and his team of secret government freaks find themselves once again fighting for the safety of humanity, this time against a race of spiritual beings who wish to take over the Earth by gaining control over a mythical crown which in turn controls an unstoppable golden army of robots.

This was just as good as the first movie, but in a different way. The characters are more established, and even Abe Sapian gets a bit of character and plotline to himself. Perlman shows once again that he is the perfect choice to play Hellboy, with Selma Blair actually feeling like she’d grown into the role of Liz since the first movie. Here’s hoping for a third instalment, and that we don’t have to wait another four years.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Mummy

Blood Diamond (2006) 8/10

Starring : Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly, Kagiso Kuypers
Director : Edward Zwick
Running Time : 144 mins

An African fisherman living in Sierra Leone named Solomon Vandy (Hounsou) obtains the assistance of a smuggler named Danny Archer (DiCaprio) to help him find his son Dia (Kuypers) who has been kidnapped by a revolutionary group and is being used as a soldier. Archer agrees to help, but only in return for the location of an extremely rare pink diamond.

Although overly long, this film moves between scenes at such a fast pace that it seems a lot shorter. Hounsou, the lead character in all but billing, plays the put upon fisherman well, and keeps us sympathising with him from beginning to end. Despite a slightly ropey South African accent, DiCaprio wasn’t too bad as the smuggler, but Connelly’s character seemed a little characterless, especially considering she was a reporter.

You’ll like this if you liked : Hotel Rwanda

Pitch Black (2000) 7/10

Starring : Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Keith David
Director : David Twohy
Running Time : 104 mins

A team of space travellers find themselves marooned on a seemingly deserted desert planet following their sudden crash landing, amongst them an escaped criminal named Richard Riddick (Diesel). Everything seems safe enough on the planet, other than the dry heat, until night falls and the native creatures of the planet come up to the surface in search of food.

I did enjoy this movie, mainly because it looked so cheap you had to like any effect it managed to achieve. Diesel was in his element here as the emotionless Riddick, it’s just a shame that most of that wasn’t acting. Despite the obvious points of ham acting and substandard special effects, this was a good movie with some good things going for it – just avoid the prequel.

You’ll like this if you liked : Resident Evil

Son Of Rambow (2007) 8/10

Starring : Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jules Sitruk, Jessica Stevenson, Neil Dudgeon
Director : Garth Jennings
Running Time : 92 mins

Will Proudfoot (Milner) is a well behaved, highly religious young boy who is banned from watching television, but makes a bond with fellow school boy Lee Carter (Poulter), a trouble maker who regularly disrupts his classes, when he sees First Blood for the first time. Soon Will becomes involved in Lee’s plans to win a young film makers competition, and they pull out all the stops to make their spin-off from First Blood, Son Of Rambo.

This movie was just so entertaining, and it made me smile from beginning to end. The choice of child actors for the roles couldn’t have been better, and the story line which mixed between firm reality and outright fantasy made for a thoroughly enjoyable spectacle. I especially liked the choice by the boys of Eric Sykes to play John Rambo in their version of the film. Inspired.

You’ll like this if you liked : Millions

Dead Man's Shoes (2004) 7/10

Starring : Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell, Jo Hartley
Director : Shane Meadows
Running Time : 87 mins

Richard (Considine) is a soldier who returns to his hometown to exact revenge on the group of villains who had abused and beaten his handicapped brother Anthony (Kebbell) by frightening them into never doing it again, but his actions soon lead to violence as he starts trying to kill them one by one.

This movie is odd, going from being very downbeat and overly violent to moments of actual comedy that did make me chuckle. Considine plays Richard well, appearing slightly maniacal in almost every scene, and the gang of thugs – who most of the focus is on throughout the movie – are so miss matched it’s laughable.

You’ll like this if you liked : Straightheads

Keeping The Faith (2000) 8/10

Starring : Ben Stiller, Edward Norton, Jenna Elfman, Anne Bancroft, Eli Wallach, Ron Rifkin
Director : Edward Norton
Running Time : 120 mins

Best friends Jake Schram (Stiller) and Brian Finn (Norton) are unusual pair - one being a Rabbi and the other a Priest – but despite their differences, nothing has ever come between them. That is until the meet their childhood friend Anna Riley (Elfman) for the first time in many years, and both fall instantly in love with her all over again.

This is a nice little comedy drama, in which you can’t help but feel sorry for most of the characters. Stiller and Norton play buddies very well, almost as if they are in real life, and Elfman manages to bring a childlike charm to her character while still remaining sexy. Definitely a must watch for anyone who likes Norton or Stiller, but it is a little on the long side.

You’ll like this if you liked : Broken Flowers

The Quiet American (2002) 6/10

Starring : Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Do Thi Hai Yen
Director : Philip Noyce
Running Time : 97 mins

Thomas Fowler (Caine), an aging British reporter, meets serious competition for the affections of Phuong (Yen), a young Vietnamese woman who he has been romancing, in the shape of a young American doctor named Alden Pile (Fraser). Fowler finds himself faced with the fact that he might lose Phuong to the doctor, but soon discovers some terrible truths about the man his lady has become involved with.

Although not long, this was quite a long winded movie, with Caine’s attempts at brooding misery distracting from the actual plot, but it is possible that this was intentionally done to keep people from guessing the true ending. Fraser plays his role to the best of his abilities, once again proving he can handle drama and comedy equally well. This is worth watching the once, but not one to go back to necessarily.

You’ll like this if you liked : Vantage Point

Kung Fu Panda (2008) 9/10

Starring : Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan
Director : Mark Osborne & John Stevenson
Running Time : 92 mins

A panda named Po (Black) wants nothing more than to see his heroes, the Furious Five, perform their amazing feats of Kung Fu, but he is unwittingly chosen as the fulfilment of a prophecy and is forced to train in the art of Kung Fu with his new master Shifu (Hoffman). But things go from bad to worse when the evil Tai Lung (McShane) escapes from his imprisonment and comes looking to seek revenge against the Furious Five.

I really liked this movie, it was just so cute and funny and filled with great characters and scenarios. Black is perfect as the large and clumsy Po, with Hoffman putting in an admirable performance as his master Shifu. As far as the animation goes, I thought it looked a little too CGI for my liking, but after a while you forget about it and become too engrossed in the plot to realise.

You’ll like this if you liked : Shrek

Underclassman (2005) 5/10

Starring : Nick Cannon, Roselyn Sanchez, Kelly Hu, Ian Gomez, Cheech Marin, Shawn Ashmore
Director : Marcos Siega
Running Time : 95 mins

Young reckless detective Tre Stokes (Cannon) is sent undercover at a private school so that he can try to uncover information regarding a crime ring that has been stealing cars around town. Along the way he falls for one of the teachers at the school, Karen Lopez (Sanchez), and starts trying to romance her despite their teacher-student relationship.

This movie was pretty bad, with Nick Cannon putting in a pretty sub par and stereotyped performance. There’s a semblance of a plot, though it feels like it was lifted from an early Eddie Murphy movie that Eddie might have turned down. Basically Nick Cannon is awful in this, and very hard to watch. This is the kind of movie that gives black people a bad name, even though it’s unlikely any black people other than Cannon had anything to do with this. White people : stop trying to write black characters as stereotypes! Just make it so that their race makes no difference to the plot and let the actor make the choice of how to play the role.

You’ll like this if you liked : Who’s Your Caddy

Classic Friday : Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) 7/10

Starring : Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, James Earl Jones
Director : George Lucas
Running Time : 118 mins

Farmboy Luke Skywalker (Hamill) mistakenly receives a message from Princess Leia (Fisher) saying that she has been kidnapped by the evil Lord Vader (voiced by Jones), so he joins forces with a group of revels, lead by the charismatic Han Solo (Ford) and together they travel in search of the Princess, finding themselves under attack from all sides in a galaxy spanning war.

This is one of the most famous and populare sci-fi’s of all time, but to be fair it isn’t really that special. Granted the special effects were inovative for the time, and there are some good ideas and solid characters here, but there isn’t really anything that brilliant about it. Everyone should have seen this movie by now, not because it’s brilliant but because it’s iconic, so if you haven’t, then get out there and see it now.

You’ll like this if you liked : Krull

You Don't Mess With The Zohan (2008) 7/10

Starring : Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson, Lainie Kazan, Rob Schneider
Director : Dennis Dugan
Running Time : 109 mins

Israeli super soldier Zohan Dvir (Sandler) fakes his own death in a battle with his arch nemesis The Phantom (Turturro) so that he can travel to America and fulfill his life long ambition to become a hair stylist under the assumed name of Scrappy Coco, and uses his sexuality to coax in new clients with the promise of his "special services". But he soon finds himself falling in love with Palastinian salon owner Dalia (Chriqui), who is trying to save her small shop from being taken from her by a multinational conglomerate.

This movie is the ultimate no-brainer. If you watch this thinking that something sensible might happen then you're going to be sorely disappointed, but if you watch this with an open mind for stupidty then you might actually find yourself enjoying it. Be warned, the accent and some of the early outfits are quite reminiscent of Borat, but don't let that stop you from enjoying the nonsense.

You'll like this if you liked : Deuce Bigalo : European Gigolo

Green Street (2005) 7/10

Starring : Elijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam, Claire Forlani, Marc Warren
Director : Lexi Alexander
Running Time : 104 mins

After being kicked off his journalism course at Harvard for something he didn’t do, Matt Buckner (Wood) travels to England to visit his sister Shannon (Forlani) and his brother in law Steve. He soon becomes friends with Steve’s brother Pete (Hunnam), who is part of a football gang-of-sorts called the Green Street Elite, and Matt soon finds himself spiralling into the world of football holliganism.

Although this started off slowly, and seemed a little too choreographed for my liking, this soon picked up speed and become quite entertaining. Hannam’s accent was a little distracting – he’s a Geordie trying to do an Eastend accent – and Elijah Wood wouldn’t have been my first choice in the lead, but overall this was a pretty good movie which was well worth watching.

You’ll like this if you liked : ID

Loser (2000) 6/10

Starring : Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari, Greg Kinnear, Zak Orth, Dan Aykroyd
Director : Amy Heckerling
Running Time : 95 mins

College student Paul Tannek (Biggs) finds himself sharing a dorm room with three of the world’s worst roommates. They kick Paul out, and he is forced to set up home in a veterinary clinic, and soon meets Dora Diamond (Suvari), who he starts to fall in love with. Unfortunately she’s having an affair with one of her college professor’s, Edward Alcott (Kinnear).

This is an okay movie, but not one of Amy Heckerling’s finest. The plot was engaging and the cast put in some okay performances, the trouble is I’ve seen the actors all do better. Don’t get me wrong, I really like this movie, I just thought that there could have been more to it and there could have been a lot more substance to the whole storyline.

You’ll like this if you liked : Jersey Girl

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006) 7/10

Starring : Amber Heard, Anson Mount, Whitney Able, Michael Welch, Edwin Hodge, Aaron Himelstein, Luke Grimes, Melissa Price
Director : Jonathan Levine
Running Time : 87 mins

Mandy Lane (Heard) is the latest hot girl at high school, and all the boys have become infatuated with her, so when one group of school kids invite her to a party at a ranch for the weekend it’s clear that the guys just want to try and get together with her – but someone has followed them to the ranch, and is killing everyone in an attempt to get to Mandy and have her for themselves.

This is a great little thriller which paces the violence perfectly so as to keep things interesting. The surprise twist at the end was indeed a surprise for me, but I really think I should have seen it coming. The deaths aren’t so over the top as to make this into a true horror film, and the killer isn’t an axe wielding unkillable monster, but this has all the elements of a great teen slasher ; like Scream without the comedy.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Pumpkin Karver

Because I Said So (2007) 6/10

Starring : Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Gabriel Macht, Tom Everett Scott, Lauren Graham, Piper Perabo
Director : Michael Lehmann
Running Time : 98 mins

Daphne Wilder (Keaton) decides to interfere in the love life of her youngest daughter Milly (Moore) by advertising for the perfect man for her and interviewing them before organising for them to randomly meet. But Daphne’s plans are scuppered when musician Johnny (Macht) decides to make a play for Milly, and Milly ends up dating two guys at the same time ; the musician and the guy chosen by her mother, Jason (Scott).

This movie had potential, and there wasn’t anything strictly speaking wrong with it, there just didn’t feel like ebough energy had been put into the performances. Keaton feels like she’s playing the same character she played in Something’s Gotta Give, and Mandy Moore plays her usual silly character ala Scrubs. Worth watching, but this isn’t anything special.

You’ll like this if you liked : Failure To Launch

American Psycho (2000) 8/10

Starring : Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage, Chloe Sevigny, Samantha Mathis, Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto
Director : Mary Harron
Running Time : 98 mins

Patrick Bateman (Bale) works as an investment banker in New York City, but he hides a secret – he’s nuts, and his craziness is slowly coming out in his everyday life, no matter how hard he tries to disguise it. Everything he becomes involved in he takes as a slur against him, and he starts having fantasies that killing people may be the way ahead.

This is a great movie, which brought little known Welsh actor Christian Bale to the forefront in American cinema, though he seems to have been typecast as a sociopath. The cast are all brilliant in their respective roles, with very little to complain about, other than the overly ambiguous ending and the odd accent slip from Bale. Definitely one worth watching more than once.

You’ll like this if you liked : Fight Club

Road To Perdition (2002) 8/10

Starring : Tom Hanks, Daniel Craig, Paul Newman, Tyler Hoechlin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law
Director : Sam Mendes
Running Time : 118 mins

When young Michael Sullivan Jr (Hoechlin) discovers what his father Mike (Hanks) does for a living, the whole family find themselves in danger from the gangsters Mike works for, who don’t trust the boy to keep their business a secret and hire an assassin to hunt them down and kill them.

This was a well paced movie, filled with surprise moments and the kind of ending you would expect from director Sam Mendes. It’s nice to see a comic book treated with such loyalty, and the transition makes for an entertaining film. Hanks plays the doubtful hitman well, with Paul Newman and Daniel Craig putting in admirable performances as the mob bosses, and Jude Law is surprisingly effective as the hitman sent after Hanks.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Departed

Hancock (2008) 7/10

Starring : Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman, Jae Head, Eddie Marsan
Director : Peter Berg
Running Time : 89 mins

John Hancock (Smith) is a superhero who has fallen out of favour with the public due to his excessive use of force in catching criminals which has lead to an enormous amount of property damage, but when he saves the life of public relations man Ray Embrey (Bateman), he is convinced to turn himself into the authorities to see how the public cope without him.

I didn’t expect this movie to actually have a plot, so it was nice to discover that there was one. Smith isn’t exactly suited to the role but he does a reasonable job throughout the movie, with some great support from Theron and Bateman. This reminded me of a comic book called Major Bummer, but the writers claim that the movie is wholly original so who am I to argue…

You’ll like this if you liked : My Super Ex-Girlfriend

The Pacifier (2005) 6/10

Starring : Vin Diesel, Lauren Graham, Faith Ford, Brittany Snow
Director : Adam Shankman
Running Time : 96 mins

Navy Seal Shane Wolfe (Diesel) is put in charge of a household full of children when their father is murdered on his watch, but things get dangerous for him and the kids when one of the father’s top secret experiments is suspected to be somewhere in the house and a group of foreign agents are trying to get to it.

This wasn’t as bad as I thought, but it still wasn’t brilliant. Some of the set pieces were okay, but Vin Diesel’s acting was pretty out there in the hammy department and it was difficult to take even the serious moments of the movie seriously with him over acting every line.

You’ll like this if you liked : Mr Nanny

Classic Friday : Back To The Future Part III (1990) 8/10

Starring : Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F Wilson, Lea Thompson, Elisabeth Shue
Director :Robert Zemeckis
Running Time : 113 mins

Trapped in the past, Marty McFly (Fox) gets in contact with the Doc Brown (Lloyd) of 1955 to try and send him back to his own time with the aid of a 70 year old time machine, but when they discover that the Doc of 1985 was murdered in 1885, where he was accidentally sent back to, Marty decides to go back even further in time to save him.

Personally I didn’t think this was as good as the previous instalments, but it was just as strong. The story is tightly wound together and flows wonderfully; I just wasn’t all that keen on the Wild West setting. Still, it’s the perfect ending for the trilogy and, fingers crossed, no money grabbing executive at Universal decides it would be a good idea to revive the franchise. It’s bad enough someone’s remaking Short Circuit, but please leave Back to The Future be!

You’ll like this if you liked : Wild Wild West

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) 8/10

Starring : Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, Nick Nolte, Mary-Louise Parker, Joan Plowright, David Strathairn
Director : Mark Waters
Running Time : 96 mins

When the Grace family move into their inherited home, the children of the family discover a secret world of fairies and goblins which had originally been discovered by their uncle Arthur Spiderwick (Strathairn), but as they become more involved in this strange world, an evil creature named Mulgarath (Nolte) notices them and tries to steal their uncle’s magical book which will give him control over the world.

I thought this was the perfect fun filled family movie. Granted, some of the creature effects might have been a little too scary for young kids, but the action and adventure was perfect for an afternoon viewing by the whole family. It was a bit annoying that Freddie Highmore was putting on that odd American accent for the whole film, but thankfully not so annoying as to distract you from the movie itself.

You’ll like this if you liked : Bridge To Terabithia

Road Trip (2000) 8/10

Starring : Breckin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Amy Smart, Paulo Costanzo, DJ Qualls, Rachel Blanchard, Tom Green
Director : Todd Phillips
Running Time : 91 mins

Barry Manilow (Green) tells the story of college legend Josh Parker (Meyer) and of how Josh and his friends travelled the length of America in the vain hope of retrieving a sex tape of Josh and his college friend Beth (Smart) that accidentally got mailed to Josh’s girlfriend Tiffany (Blanchard).

In spite of being a complete ripoff of the movie Overnight Delivery, starring Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd, this movie still has a lot going for it. There’s the exact right level of crass humour for teen comedies of the time, and some of the scenarios are so over the top they’ll keep you laughing long past the end credits.

You’ll like this if you liked : Overnight Delivery

World Trade Centre (2006) 5/10

Starring : Nicolas Cage, Maria Bello, Michael Pena, Jay Hernandez, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Director : Oliver Stone
Running Time : 130 mins

A group of police officers, lead by Office John McLoughlin (Cage), find themselves trapped in a lift shaft when they are sent into the World Trade Centre to help with the rescue. As the hours pass, their friends and family hear differing reports on their well being, ranging from them never having been in the building to their deaths.

This movie was okay, but I was expecting a lot more action. I should have known when I read that Oliver Stone was the director that the emphasis would be on the tragedy of the day rather than the events themselves. Cage is given about half an hour to try his best to work with the script before his character is trapped in the Centre, and the remaining 90 minutes was a little on the dry side to say the least.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Day After Tomorrow

Definitely, Maybe (2008) 8/10

Starring : Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz, Abigail Breslin, Derek Luke
Director : Adam Brooks
Running Time : 112 mins

Political consultant Will Hayes (Reynolds) tells his young daughter Maya (Breslin) the story of how he met her mother in the hope of explaining his imminent divorce to her, but the story involves three relationships he had and Maya is challenged to guess which of the three grew up to give birth to her.

This movie was great. The premise felt original to me and the characters were warm and likeable and made for enjoyable viewing. My only gripe was that the father and daughter relationship could have been explored better during the telling of the story, but there were large segments where the director didn’t even go back to them from the narrative.

You’ll like this if you liked : Chaos Theory

Taxi (2004) 7/10

Starring : Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, Henry Simmons, Jennifer Esposito, Gisele Bundchen
Director : Tim Story
Running Time : 94 mins

Belle Williams (Latifah) is New York’s fastest cabbie, with one of the most souped up cars around, but soon finds herself dragged into police business when Andy Washburn (Fallon), a cop without a driving licence, enlists her help as a driver to catch a gang of ruthless bank thieves who have a secret only Belle knows.

I wasn’t expecting this to be entertaining, but I thought it was pretty good. Granted it wasn’t as good as the French original, and it took the comedy of the situation a little over the top, but all in all this made for a fun filled family movie. Fallon’s loser of a cop made an interesting contrast to Latifah’s streetwise cabbie, but neither character was lampooned to the point of caricature which was nice to see for a change.

You’ll like this if you liked : Blue Streak

Broken English (2007) 6/10

Starring : Parker Posey, Drea de Matteo, Tim Guinee, Gena Rowlands
Director : Zoe R Cassavetes
Running Time : 98 mins

Nora Wilder (Posey) is in her thirties and becoming increasingly worried that she’s the last of her friends to find someone. In a desperate attempt to find Mr Right, Nora embarks on a series of disastrous dates, finally meeting a younger French man named Julien (Guinee) who she quickly becomes smitten with, but when he asks her to come to France with him she declines, then instantly regrets her decision and travels with her friend Audrey (de Matteo) in search of him.

The first half of this movie was pretty boring, but towards the middle it became a little more interesting. Posey’s performance was good, but there was very little for her to play with in the sense of plot development. Once her character gets to France things pick up, but the ambiguous ending did little to satisfy me.

You’ll like this if you liked : Closer

Stealth (2005) 7/10

Starring : Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx, Sam Shepard, Richard Roxburgh, Joe Morton
Director : Rob Cohen
Running Time : 117 mins

Three Navy Pilots are teamed up to work with an unmanned stealth plane named EDDI which uses state of the art artificial intelligence so that it can learn as it is continually used. Unfortunately the plane decides to start following its own orders and decides that everywhere is a target and that collateral damage is something which is perfectly acceptable.

This movie was actually very entertaining, and didn’t feel as long as the almost two hour runtime. All three of the lead cast play their roles well, and the storyline is paced perfectly, although I didn't really like the ending. It's surprising it had such bad reveiws, because it is a pretty good action adventure.

You’ll like this if you liked : Flight Of The Navigator

Tigerland (2000) 8/10

Starring : Colin Farrell, Matthew Davis, Clifton Collins Jr, Tom Guiry
Director : Joel Schumacher
Running Time : 97 mins

It’s 1971 and Private Jim Paxton (Davis) enlists in the army and is sent for training in an area called Tigerland, which has similar to the terrain of Vietnam. There he befriends Private Roland Bozz (Farrell), who has an uncanny knack for getting into trouble, but Paxton realises that Tigerland could be more dangerous than actually going to war when he suspects that at least one of the soldiers there may be have sociopathic tendencies and might do anything once he gets hold of live ammo.

This is a very entertaining war movie, with just the right balance of fighting and character to sustain it from start to finish. Davis is suitable enough as essentially the lead character, but he is overshadowed by Farrell who takes to the helm with natural ease. A good film with some great moments, definitely worth watching.

You’ll like this if you liked : Buffalo Soldiers