Alvin And The Chipmunks : Chipwrecked (2011) 5/10

Starring : Jason Lee, Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney
Director : Mike Mitchell
Running Time : 87 mins

Alvin (Long) and his fellow Chipmunks, along with the Chipettes, accidentally go overboard whilst on a cruise ship and find themselves marooned on a desert island in the middle of nowhere.

I was just as surprised as anyone else that someone somewhere decided to make another Chipmunks movie. I was also surprised that Jason Lee – who clearly didn’t want to be in the second one as he tried to palm his role off on Zachary Levi – returned for the third instalment. The plot was pretty much non-existent, and the jokes have been recycled far too much. Fans of the original two might or might not enjoy this third one but, even for a kids film, the storyline is weak and really needed a little more thought.

You’ll like this if you liked : Yogi Bear

Steel Trap (2007) 6/10

Starring : Georgia Mackenzie, Mark Wilson, Pascal Langdale
Director : Luis Camara
Running Time : 89 mins

During a New Year’s Eve party, a number of the guests receive a mysterious text message inviting them to another party a few floors down, but when they arrive they find themselves being given a number of strange riddles that lead them around the seemingly deserted floor of the apartment block on a bizarre scavenger hunt. But there’s someone else watching them, and they have deadly intentions towards the guests…

I really thought that this cheap-looking Saw knock-off was going to be terrible, but it honestly wasn’t too bad, even though the poster is incredibly misleading. The acting wasn’t the best, but at least the majority of the characters had some sort of background personality, and the deaths are paced quite nicely and were not too overly gruesome which could have spoiled the effect of the movie.

You’ll like this if you liked : Saw

A Very Harold And Kumar 3D Christmas (2011) 7/10

Starring : Kal Penn, John Cho, Neil Patrick Harris
Director : Todd Strauss-Schulson
Running Time : 90mins

Harold Lee (Cho) and Kumar Patel (Penn) haven’t seen each other for six years and now lead very separate lives, but when Kumar turns up at Harold’s family Christmas and accidentally burns down his father-in-laws Christmas tree, the two find themselves on another crazy adventure, this time roaming New York City in search of a replacement tree.

Although not quite as good as the previous instalments of the Harold & Kumar saga, this is still a very silly and very enjoyable movie. The two heroes of the piece manage to continue down their separate roads, both high and low, yet manage to wind up on the same page as soon as they meet again. It’s nice to see that Harold managed to bag his lady, and that Kumar has never given up his dream. Plus, as usual, NPH is awesome.

You’ll like this if you liked : Pineapple Express

Mary And Max (2009) 8/10

Starring : Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana, Barry Humphries
Director : Adam Elliot
Running Time : 89 mins

It’s 1976, and lonely eight-year-old Mary Dinkle (Collette) lives in Mount Waverley, a small town in Melbourne Australia, where she dreams of a future where she is happily married and has lots of friends. One day she randomly chooses a name from a Manhattan phone book and writes a letter to Max Horovitz (Hoffman), a clinically obese forty-four-year-old New Yorker, in order to find out if American babies come from the same place Australian babies come from – the bottom of beer glasses. What follows is a long running correspondence that spans the decades to follow.

This is a cute movie that probably wouldn’t appeal to kids, but adults will love the sentiment of the piece. The innocence of both Mary and Max as they discuss their terribly lonely lives is both touching and funny, and the overall sadness of the movie is thankfully infused with enough humour to prevent this from being nothing but a tragic tale of loss.

You’ll like this if you liked : Corpse Bride

Arthur Christmas (2011) 7/10

Starring : James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Hugh Laurie
Director : Sarah Smith & Barry Cook
Running Time : 98 mins

When Santa (Broadbent) forgets to deliver a bicycle on Christmas Eve to a young girl, his eldest son Steve (Laurie) considers it to be an acceptable error considering how many children did get their presents, but Santa’s youngest son Arthur (McAvoy) takes it upon himself to deliver the gift personally by asking Grand-Santa (Nighy) to borrow his old sleigh.

This is a very cute movie that is perfect for Christmas day family viewing. The cast of well-known British actors do a perfect job of preventing this from being just another Christmas movie, and the animation is fresh and a joy to watch. The story itself is pretty basic, but it’s feel-good nature is something that both little kids and adults will enjoy.

You’ll like this if you liked : Wallace And Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit

The Santa Clause 3 : The Escape Clause (2006) 7/10

Starring : Tim Allen, Martin Short, Elizabeth Mitchell
Director : Michael Lembeck
Running Time : 88 mins

At the North Pole, Carol Calvin aka. Mrs Claus (Mitchell) is due to have a baby by her husband Scott aka Santa (Allen). The stress of her pregnancy, coupled with Christmas looming and his in-laws coming to visit, causes Scott no end of problems, and just when everything seems like it couldn’t get worse, Santa finds himself faced with potentially losing his Santa powers when Jack Frost (Short) fills in for him and tries to trick him into using the fabled escape clause that will mean he never became Santa in the first place.

It’s a bit annoying that Jack Frost is accused of upstaging Santa on his holiday – isn’t it Jesus’ holiday? Anyway, this movie is just a bit of fun, and actually giving Santa some proper adversity in this movie makes it a little more interesting than the previous instalment, although Jack Frost is a little more subtle than you’d expect.

You’ll like this if you liked : Jack Frost

Happy Feet Two (2011) 6/10

Starring : Elijah Wood, Alecia Moore, Hank Azaria
Director : George Miller
Running Time : 100 mins

Dancing penguin Mumble (Wood) is now fully grown and has a son of his own named Erik, but Erik doesn’t want to dance like the other penguins as he is embarrassed by how bad he is. Things get worse when Erik becomes fixated on The Mighty Sven (Azaria), an apparent penguin that can fly. As if things couldn’t get worse for Mumble, the penguins soon realise that their world is in peril from outside forces that are poised to destroy their home…

When this started I thought that this was going to be another rubbish kid’s movie where nothing happens, but eventually the plot kicked in and it was actually quite interesting, though not brilliant. Children will enjoy the various penguins and related characters, while grown ups will like the main plot with the so called Mighty Sven pretending to be a penguin. The only thing I really didn’t like was the bits with the krill, which felt like a rip-off of Ice Age.

You’ll like this if you liked : Surf’s Up

The Princess Diaries 2 : Royal Engagement (2004) 6/10

Starring : Anne Hathaway, Heather Matarazzo, John Rhys-Davies, Chris Pine, Callum Blue, Hector Elizondo, Julie Andrews
Director : Garry Marshall
Running Time : 114 mins

Princess Mia (Hathaway) of Genovia has just turned twenty-one and is now eligible to ascend the throne as queen, but the cunning Viscount Mabrey (Rhys-Davies) has found a loophole that means that if Mia doesn’t marry within thirty days, his nephew Nicholas Devereaux (Pine) can take the throne in Mia’s place. So Mia and her entourage set about trying to find a prince for the princess.

This is a pretty predictable sequel to the popular original movie, and if you manage to watch this and not predict who Mia gets together with then you are pretty feeble minded. I did prefer the original which had more of an innocence to it, whereas this basically embellishes on the fact that, even after five years, Mia is still a klutz. Fans of the original will like this, but it is pretty much a movie for teenage girls and few others will find anything to enjoy.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Prince And Me

Puss In Boots (2011) 7/10

Starring : Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris
Director : Chris Miller
Running Time : 91 mins

Puss (Banderas) is a fugitive, on the run from the law and desperately trying to clear his name by capturing criminals Jack (Thornton) and Jill (Sedaris), who stole the magic beans he is accused of taking. Whilst attempting to retrieve them, he is intercepted by cat burglar Kitty Softpaws (Hayek), who is working with Puss’s one-time childhood friend and now enemy Humpty Dumpty (Galifianakis). Together, the three of them try to stop the thieves, but Puss soon realises that Humpty’s new-found friendship may not be entirely what it seems…

Everyone’s favourite boot wearing cat returns in his own original movie. Set prior to the Shrek series, there is no pandering to the audience by featuring guest stars from the popular series; instead Banderas is given his own story with brand new characters who are just as good as those in Shrek. Fans of Shrek will love this, and fans of Puss will be ecstatic that he has finally been given his own movie.

You’ll like this if you liked : Shrek 2

Our Family Wedding (2010) 7/10

Starring : America Ferrera, Forest Whitaker, Carlos Mencia, Lance Gross
Director : Rick Famuyima
Running Time : 104 mins

Lucia Ramirez (Ferrera) and Marcus Boyd (Gross) have never met each other’s parents, so when they come home from college and announce that they are engaged to be married, their respective fathers – Brad (Whitaker) and Miguel (Mencia) – are less than happy, especially when they recognise each other from an incident earlier in the day, and they both do their best to put an end to their relationship.

This comedy is filled with racially-motivated humour, and most of the anger of the two fathers seems to come from their black and Hispanic backgrounds which does at times get in the way of the rest of the comedy. But, once you get past this, there are multiple levels of humour throughout the film and, even though a lot of the jokes are initially based on race, the characters aren’t necessarily racial stereotypes. This may not be the best, but it’s worth giving a go.

You’ll like this if you liked : Guess Who

The Thing (2011) 7/10

Starring : Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen
Director : Matthijs van W Campbell Jr
Running Time : 99 mins

At a remote Antarctic research facility, the discovery of a strange – possibly alien – space craft leads to some strange occurrences as people start to suspect that their colleagues may not be who they appear to be and violent deaths begin to happen at the hands of a shape-changing and malevolent force.

Everyone will instantly want to compare this to John Carpenter’s 1982 classic, but this just sets the movie up to fail. Making a remake of a remake (?) is probably not the wisest thing in the world to do; those involved here have managed to make a reasonable movie, though it is basically a facsimile of Carpenter’s work with a female lead thrown in. Worth checking out – I myself was worried that CGI effects might butcher this but the effects were okay.

You’ll like this if you liked : Whiteout

Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard (2009) 6/10

Starring : Freddie Highmore, Selena Gomez, Mia Farrow, Lou Reed
Director : Luc Beeson
Running Time : 94 mins

Arthur (Highmore) is a small boy with the ability to harmonize with trees, minerals and animals, but most importantly he can communicate with the Minimoys, a small tribe of creatures that live secretly in our world, so when he receives a message of distress on a grain of rice from Princess Selenia (Gomez), he shrinks down and re-enters their world but finds out too late that the message was a trap laid by the evil Maltazard (Reed).

Although the animation is a little bit better than the first movie, the story takes a lot longer to get going. Once it does though, this isn’t too bad a movie, but small children might have trouble coping with the first forty minutes before Arthur travels back into the world of the Minimoys.

You’ll like this if you liked : Ferngully : The Last Rainforest

The Big Year (2011) 7/10

Starring : Owen Wilson, Jack Black, Steve Martin
Director : David Frankel
Running Time :101 mins

Kenny Bostick (Wilson) is the current record holder for Birder of the Year with a total of 732 birds sighted within a year, but two wannabe bird watchers, Brad Harris (Black) and Stu Preissler (Martin), want nothing more than to beat that record. Unfortunately Bostick is hot on their tale and will stop at nothing to ensure he continues to hold his prestigious title.

You wouldn’t think that a movie about three bird watchers would actually be interesting, but this manages to stay engrossing from beginning to end. Black and Martin play the sympathetic characters well, while Wilson portrays the villain in a very underplayed way that at times makes us sympathise with him too, but once we get to the end we’ve realised he doesn’t deserve our sympathy. Even if you aren’t interested in bird watching, this is still a good tale of team work and how family should always come first.

You’ll like this if you liked : Rat Race

Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging (2008) 7/10

Starring : Georgia Groome, Aaron Johnson, Karen Taylor, Alan Davies
Director : Gurinder Chadha
Running Time : 101 mins

14 year old Georgia Nicolson (Groome) hates her life, until she meets new boy at school Robbie (Taylor-Johnson) and immediately falls for him. In order to try to get close to him, Georgia pretends that her pet cat Angus has gone missing so that Robbie will help her look for him, but just when things start to look like their improving for her, her dad Bob (Davies) announces that they’re all moving to New Zealand for his job.

This is a cute movie with some nice observational dialogue and some great performances from the young actors involved. The plot is a little confusing, as it comes from two different novels and tries to blend them together, but it works out well and the flow is pretty good one it gets going. A must for teenagers, and some grown-ups might enjoy it too.

You’ll like this if you liked : Mean Girls

Hugo (2011) 6/10

Starring : Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen
Director : Martin Scorsese
Running Time : 128 mins

Hugo Cabret (Butterfield) is an orphan who lives in the walls of a 1930s Parisian train station where he spends his time fixing the station clocks. When he discovers that the key to the automaton left to him by his father is missing its key, he ventures beyond the walls in search of it, meeting with a girl named Isabelle (Moretz), the god-daughter of local shopkeeper George Melies (Kingsley) while trying to avoid the attentions of the local station inspector (Cohen).

For such a highly praised movie, personally I wouldn’t say more than this was okay. The performances were fine for a kid’s movie, and the plot was cute, but the runtime was ridiculously long considering how basic the storyline is and I’d imagine most kids would tire of this pretty quickly. I’d call this a children’s movie that is aimed at adult sensibilities around childhood more than what modern children would actually enjoy.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Adventures Of Tintin

The American (2010) 6/10

Starring : George Clooney, Violante Pacido, Thekla Reuten
Director : Anton Corbijn
Running Time : 100 mins

When he is forced to kill his girlfriend in Sweden, assassin and master gun craftsman Jack (Clooney) vows that his next assignment will be his last before he retires for good, He travels to Italy where he starts a relationships with prostitute Clara (Pacido) and begins work constructing a gun intended for assassination by Belgian client Mathilde (Reuten), but the information he holds about his clients and his bosses might be more than his life’s worth.

Clooney isn’t a particularly sympathetic character in this slow paced action thriller, but eventually he redeems himself. The fact that he kills his own girlfriend basically to cover his own tracks isn’t the best character trait, but the fact that this preys on his mind for the remainder of the film is something, I suppose. Fans of nudity will love Violante Pacido as the prostitute gone good, but don’t expect too much excitement in the action department.

You’ll like this if you liked : Edge Of Darkness

50/50 (2011) 8/10

Starring : Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston
Director : Jonathan Levin
Running Time : 101 mins

When 27-year-old Adam Lerner (Gordon-Levitt) is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer, he discovers who is real friends are. His girlfriend Rachael (Howard) starts to feel uncomfortable with the situation following her initially promising reaction, and his best friend Kyle Hirons (Rogen) does his best to boost his spirits. But as Adam sees other cancer patients die around him, his starts to succumb to his own mortality…

Although the subject of the movie is a serious one, those involved have managed to maintain a light hearted approach to this movie and keep things upbeat while not ignoring the serious side of the subject matter. Gordon-Levitt is exceptional in the lead, managing to bring both comedy and drama to what for many could prove to be a difficult role to pull off.

You’ll like this if you liked : It’s Kind Of A Funny Story

The Company Men (2010) 6/10

Starring : Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones
Director : John Wells
Running Time : 105 mins

Bobby Walker (Affleck), Gene McClary (Jones) and Phil Woodward (Cooper) all work for the same company, and are all affected by the recession when their bosses decide to lay people off. They find that the work place can be a very competitive place, especially when your pay expectations are high or you a little older than the usual job applicant in a world that prejudices the old.

This is almost like watching Wall Street after everyone gets laid off, and the ridiculous career choices the characters make. Most of the guys in this stay unemployed, with Affleck getting a job as a builder, but it is their attitudes towards unemployment that is what this movie’s plot hinges on. It’s fun to see the characters either deflate completely or just explode for no reason as they are faced with losing their cushy lives, but it might have been nice if they didn’t all have such seemingly happy endings – not a single marriage fell apart, which seems unlikely.

You’ll like this if you liked : Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps

Midnight In Paris (2011) 7/10

Starring : Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Marion Cotillard
Director : Woody Allen
Running Time : 91 mins

While on holiday in Paris with his fiancée Inez (McAdams) and her parents, struggling writer Gil Pender (Wilson) goes out one night and discovers he is able to travel back in time to the 1920s, where he meets some of his all-time literary heroes who help him to get the inspiration he so sorely needs to help with his unpublished novel. Unfortunately he finds himself falling for as woman called Adriana (Cotillard), a 1920s lady that has dated some of the greatest artistes of all time.

This starts off terribly slow – I was really worried this was going to be like the last Woody Allen movie I saw, Whatever Works – with no plot and endless Allen-esque ramblings. Thankfully this eventually develops an interesting plot, and the lead (Wilson) manages to remain likeable in spite of his dual (if not triple) relationships in what is basically a truncated rip off of the 90s sitcom, Goodnight, Sweetheart.

You’ll like this if you liked : How Do You Know

Nights In Rodanthe (2008) 6/10

Starring : Diane Lane, Richard Gere, Christopher Meloni
Director : George C Wolfe
Running Time : 97 mins

Adrienne Willis (Lane) is having troubles with her husband Jack (Meloni), so to give herself some space she agrees to run a friends inn for the weekend in Rodanthe, North Carolina. The only guest at the inn Dr Paul Flanner (Gere), a man who is trying to get in touch with his estranged husband, but when a storm is forecast the two find themselves trapped together and they start up an unexpected romance.

Yet another movie which starts off reasonably, gets all slushy and romantic, then has something horrible happen right out of left field that really makes it miserable. In spite of this, there are some okay moments that those who are really sappy will enjoy, although the romance between the two leads is a little quick off the bat. Don’t watch this if you want a cheerful movie.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Notebook

Real Steel (2011) 8/10

Starring : Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo
Director : Shawn Levy
Running Time : 127 mins

In the not too distant future, where robot fighting is a popular sport, struggling ex-boxer turned robot fighting promoter, Charlie Kenton (Jackman), spends all of his time trying to find a robot that can win him big. When his ex dies, he discovers he has an eleven-year-old son - Max (Goyo) – and the two of them start working together to rebuild a broken-down robot they found at a junk yard.

This is a fun movie which, although filled with futuristic robot action, is basically a story about the relationship between a man and his son. Jackman and Goyo have a great on-screen relationship, and even if you can’t be bothered with the story, there’s plenty of robot fisticuffs to keep you entertained. It’s a little long, but to be honest I didn’t even notice.

You’ll like this if you liked : Transformers

Dear John (2010) 6/10

Starring : Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins
Director : Lasse Hallstrom
Running Time : 107 mins

While home on leave from the army, John Tyree (Tatum) meets and falls for student Savannah Curtis (Seyfried). They manage to get past the fact that John is due to finish his tour of duty and has to go back off to war, and they write to each other all the time, but following the events of 9/11 John decides to reenlist when his tour of duty finishes, much to the frustration of Savannah.

This is a very slow going attempt at cashing in on recent sad romance movies such as Letters To Juliet, The Note Book, Remember Me or more recently The Vow. Personally I didn’t really like this – the characters were a little one-dimensional and the fact that John can’t choose between fighting for his country and being with the woman he loves, and that Savannah marries another man just because John's off fighting, doesn’t really say much for their relationship.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Notebook

Setup (2011) 4/10

Starring : Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson, Bruce Willis, Ryan Phillippe, James Remar
Director : Mike Gunther
Running Time : 85 mins

Following a big money robbery, Sonny (Jackson) is betrayed and left for dead by his friend Vincent Long (Phillippe). Planning his revenge, Sonny decides to team up with a local mob boss, Jack Biggs (Willis) in order to get his hands on the stolen money, but what Sonny doesn’t know is that Vincent betrayed his friends in order to stop his father William (Remar) from being killed in prison.

There’s some terrible acting in this revenge movie, where 50 Cent is made to look like a good guy by not killing his friends, even though his actions knowingly allow him to responsible for his dad’s death. But he gives the money to some woman he fancies, so he can’t be all that bad. What a load of shit.

You’ll like this if you liked : Armoured

The One (2001) 7/10

Starring : Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo, Jason Statham
Director : James Wong
Running Time : 84 mins

Gabriel Yulaw (Li), also known as Lawless, discovers that there are multiple universes with multiple versions of himself, and that if he kills them it makes him stronger. So he hijacks the police method of travelling between universes – quantum tunnelling - in order to kill all of his alternate versions until he is the only, all-powerful One remaining. But his last remaining target is police officer Gabe Law (Li), who has the same level of power as Yulaw.

Although the special effects were hammy – mainly due to the use of ropes and pullies for the fight scenes which made people fly about in a far too unrealistic way – and the plot feels unoriginal, this is still a pretty fun-filled sci-fi movie. Li may not be the greatest actor, but come on, this is an action movie! You don’t need great actors if the fighting is fun and the plot is interesting. This is definitely worth watching if you love classic action fair.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Matrix

Harry Potter And the Deathly Hallows : Part 1 (2010) 8/10

Starring : Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes
Director : David Yates
Running Time : 146 mins

Harry (Radcliffe) and his friends find themselves on the run from the Ministry of Magic which is accusing any witch or wizard with even a hint of muggle blood of being a danger to magical society. The only way they can save their fellow witches and wizards from death is to find the Horcruxes that contain fragments of Lord Voldermort’s (Fiennes) soul and kill him once and for all.

This Harry Potter movie manages to mix the darkness of the late movies and the lightness of the early movies perfectly. The stand out sequence for me is where the three leads take on the guises of workers at the Ministry of Magic in order to infiltrate their headquarters to find one of the missing Horcruxes. Fans of the series will love this exceptional instalment, although the point where the movie ends didn’t feel quite right to me.

You’ll like this if you liked : Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

I Sell The Dead (2008) 7/10

Starring : Dominic Monaghan, Ron Perlman, Larry Fessenden
Director : Glenn McQuaid
Running Time : 82 mins

Faced with being beheaded for murder, grave-robber Arthur Blake (Monaghan) tells his life story to Father Francis Duffy (Perlman), explaining how he got into stealing corpses with his mentor Willie Grimes (Fessenden), and coming out with an almost unbelievable tale of aliens, immortality, and the undead.

I actually thought this was pretty good for a movie I’d never even heard of before. Monaghan and Fessenden are great in the lead roles, and the idea that Monaghan is telling the story to Perlman allows us to believe that what he is telling may not be entirely true. It isn’t until the final scene that we know for sure whether or not he is lying, and it’s definitely worth the wait.

You’ll like this if you liked : Burke And Hare

Source Code (2011) 7/10

Starring : Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Director : Duncan Jones
Running Time : 95 mins

Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) wakes upon a train in the body of school teacher Sean Fentress, and within eight minutes he is killed when the train blows up. He then wakes to find he is part of a government experiment to stop terrorism by sending people into victims to find evidence of the terrorist’s identity. Apparently there is no way for him to change the events that have already taken place, but when he falls for bomb-victim Christine Warren (Monaghan), he decides to do everything he can to save her.

Those who hated repetitive movies such as Groundhog Day and Déjà vu will despise this, but I thought it wasn’t too bad. The plot is interesting, and the performances are sound, and if you can look past the repetition – which, to be honest, isn’t that repetitive – you might find that this is actually a decent sci-fi romantic action movie.

You’ll like this if you liked : Deja Vu

Know Thy Enemy (2009) 3/10

Starring : Sheaun McKinney, Marlon Taylor, Jeremy Mitchell
Director : Lee Cipolla
Running Time : 85 mins

Nate “Nemesis”Harris (McKinney) has been dubbed the hottest rap artist in Miami, but secretly he doesn’t want to be a rapper – he only agreed to be a hard-core stereotypical hip-hop artist in order to get a record deal and some much sought after airplay. His publicists set about making him appear to be a typical rapper by faking a violent history for him, but when his fans demand to see some evidence of Nate’s true gangster nature, his bosses set his childhood friend Razor Ric (Taylor) against him to create a rap war.

Clearly this movie is aimed at people with low IQs, as the narrative really spells everything out for the viewer. I especially found the scene where Razor Ric tells his cronies that he is declaring war on Nemesis to be a prime example of this talking-down-to narrative. Fans of bad rap movies will like this, otherwise steer clear.

You’ll like this if you liked : 8 Mile

Albatross (2011) 7/10

Starring : Felicity Jones, Sebastian Koch, Julia Ormond, Jessica Brown Findlay
Director : Niall MacCormick
Running Time : 90 mins

Seventeen year old Beth Fischer (Jones) befriends a new girl in town, aspiring author Amelia Conan Doyle (Brown Findlay), but as Amelia starts to become more of a feature in the lives of Beth’s family, she starts an affair with Beth’s writer-father (Koch).

It’s nice that the two characters that have an affair actually have something in common, but the whole thing was still a mid-life crisis cry for help from the dad, and I did feel sorry for Beth, faced with the possibility of losing her dad and her new best friend while having to put up with her overbearing mother. I like that Amelia manages to turn things around and chooses her friend over her pretentious lover, and the ending where everything pretty much falls apart makes for a believable conclusion.

You’ll like this if you liked : An Education

Cyrus (2010) 7/10

Starring : John C Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener
Director : Jay & Mark Duplass
Running Time : 88 mins

When he discovers that his ex-wife Jamie (Keener) is about to get remarried, John Kirkpatrick (Reilly) decides to finally try to move on. He meets Molly Fawcett (Tomei), a woman he thinks is perfect and could really help him move on from his previous relationship, but when he meets her clingy son Cyrus (Hill) he discovers that he might have to fight him for Molly’s attention.

This is a very subtle movie that doesn’t do anything too major to make John and Cyrus hate each other but manages to make the issue of their disliking each other pretty clear to the audience. Both Reilly and Hill play their roles perfectly and manage not to overact, as this could have quite easily spoilt the whole movie. Worth watching if you like comedies such as Juno and Little Miss Sunshine.

You’ll like this if you liked : Dan In Real Life

In Time (2011) 7/10

Starring : Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy
Director : Andrew Niccol
Running Time : 106 mins

In a world where everyone stops ageing at twenty-five but is forced to purchase additional time to continue living, Will Salas (Timberlake) finds himself accused of murder and is forced to go on the run - taking a young woman named Sylvia Weis (Seyfried) as a hostage - to prevent himself from losing what little life he has left to him.

This actually wasn’t half bad. I felt like a Philip K Dick story but is actually an original story by writer / director Andrew Niccol, which is rare in this day and age of remakes, sequels, and movies based on little known novels. Timberlake and Seyfried may not be that impressive in terms of acting skills in this, but the action and plotline really manage to push the story forward on their own.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Running Man

The Fourth Kind (2009) 7/10

Starring : Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Will Patton, Hakeem Kae-Kazim
Director : Olatunde Osunsanmi
Running Time : 98 mins

Psychiatrist Dr Abigail Tyler (Jovovich) starts to suspect there is something strange happening in her home town of Nome, Alaska when a number of her patients claim to have similar dreams involving owls. As she investigates, she suspects their dreams may be related to the death of her husband, Will, and that they may be a supressed memory of alien abduction.

This movie is set out as if it is a documentary about a true event, and manages to make this feel believable up to a point. The mix of alleged documentary footage and re-enactments does at times work well, but for me the intro and closing by Jovovich and director Olatunde Osunsanmi kind of spoiled the movie.

You’ll like this if you liked : Paranormal Activity 2

51 (2011) 6/10

Starring : Rachel Milner, Jason London, Bruce Boxleitner
Director : Jason Connery
Running Time : 90 mins

When public pressure forces the Air Force to be a bit more open about the infamous Area 51, the decide to allow a certain number of well-known reporters on to the base. Unfortunately, some of the long-term visitors at the base – alien creatures with various special abilities – uses the opportunity of the unusual visit to break free and aid his fellow captives in their escape.

This had TV movie written all over it, but to be fair it wasn’t that bad. The effects were ropey and the acting was hammy, but this is disaster stroke horror movie and that is to be expected. To be hones t this is just good, clean, badly-made fun that will entertain those who are fans of the usual stuff that is churned out by the SyFy channel.

You’ll like this if you liked : Deep Rising

Blue Crush (2002) 5/10

Starring : Kate Bosworth, Matthew Davis, Michelle Rodriguez
Director : John Stockwell
Running Time : 102 mins

Anne Marie Chadwick (Bosworth) loves nothing more than waking up early and catching some surf on her board – she loves this so much in fact that she uproots herself and moves to Hawaii with a group of friends, including best bud Eden (Rodriguez), so she can get more practice and possibly surf professionally. But when she meets Matt Tollman (Davis), she finds herself falling for him - and falling off her board - as their romance starts to interfere with her potential as a pro surfer.

This is a pretty bad movie that focuses more on showing scenes of surfing excellence than on actually writing a decent script or employing decent actors. It sometimes gets confusing as to what is a surf board and what is Kate Bosworth. Surf fans might find something worth watching here, as will fans of scantily clad bikini babes, but if you are looking for something with some substance then this won’t be for you.

You’ll like this if you liked : National Lampoon's Endless Bummer

The Adventures Of Tintin (2011) 7/10

Starring : Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg
Director : Steven Spielberg
Running Time : 107 mins

When young reporter Tintin (Bell) buys a model ship from a market stall, he finds himself on a fantastic adventure in search of a long lost ship called the Unicorn. Along the way he joins forces with Captain Haddock (Serkis), whose ancestor originally captained the Unicorn, and also finds himself under threat from the evil Sakharine (Craig).

This was a pretty faithful adaptation of the Herge comic book – with a few extra action sequences thrown in for good measure – but Spielberg fans might find it difficult to recognise his input. Fans of the books will enjoy this, but people who are expecting something visually impressive or comically fuelled will be disappointed by this story driven animation.

You’ll like this if you liked : Legend Of The Guardians : The Owles Of Ga’Hoole

Vampires Suck (2010) 2/10

Starring : Jenn Proske, Matt Lanter, Chris Riggi, Diedrich Bader
Director : Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer
Running Time : 80 mins

When Becca Crane (Proske) moves to a new town with her dad, the Sheriff (Bader), she falls for high school loner Edward Sullen (Lanter). She soon discovers that Edward is a sparkling vampire, and he life is forever changed and put in permanent danger from other vampires that want her dead.

Basically this is a remake of Twilight with more sexual references and lots more scenes of people falling over. Friedberg and Seltzer need to get a new job, because their parody movies are getting even worse. Fans of their previous work might even find this unpalatable as it makes little or no effort to come up with original jokes and really hurts the comedy industry with its lacklustre approach to movie making.

You’ll like this if you liked : Meet The Spartans

Drive (2011) 7/10

Starring : Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman
Director : Nicolas Winding Refn
Running Time : 99 mins

A nameless Hollywood stunt-driver (Gosling), who is trying to get away from his dodgy past as a getaway driver, is working as a car mechanic when he falls for his neighbour Irene (Mulligan), whose husband is in jail. As he is faced with being implicated in his boss’s gangland-funded race team, he also has to deal with Irene’s husband who is fresh out of prison.

This movie took a while to get going, but the performances, especially from Gosling, were solid and compelling. Although the storyline was, in my opinion, a little weak, the handling of the subject matter was done subtly and smoothly, and managed to make a heroic figure out of a character who is basically a violent thug.

You’ll like this if you liked : Eastern Promises

He Was A Quiet Man (2007) 8/10

Starring : Christian Slater, Elisha Cuthbert, William H Macy
Director : Frank A Cappello
Running Time : 96 mins

Bob Maconel (Slater) dreams of nothing more than going into work with a gun and shooting all of his horrible colleagues, but when another colleague beats him to it, he shoots the colleague and is dubbed a hero by his surviving work mates. He gets a promotion and his own office, but the girl of his dreams, Venessa Parks (Cuthbert). Who was paralysed during the gun-play, asks him to end her misery.

Slater is fantastic in this under rated movie that really manages to showcase his skills as a character actor. Cuthbert also does well in her role as a recently disabled woman trying to cope with the changes in her life, but the ending - which, if you pay attention and find all the clues makes perfect sense – is pretty confusing. Thankfully the makers don’t explain everything outright so different people might get a differing message from this intriguing drama.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Assassination Of Richard Nixon

Weekender (2011) 5/10

Starring : Jack O’Connell, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Emily Barclay
Director : Karl Golden
Running Time : 90 mins

It’s 1990, and flatmates Dylan (O’Connell) and Matt (Lloyd-Hughes) want to cash in on the underground rave scene. They slowly start to ascend through the ranks of party promoters and soon find themselves travelling to Ibiza and Amsterdam to promote nights out, but as their success increases, they find themselves falling into an increasingly murkier world that puts a strain on their friendship as they get blackmailed and threatened from all directions.

There’s a certain type of viewer who might enjoy this, and I guess I’m not amongst them. There’s random drug-taking and nudity which might interest some people, and there is a semblance of progression to the plot, but it was just too glorifying for my liking, and I didn’t like any of the characters.

You’ll like this if you liked : It's All Gone Pete Tong

Tomorrow When The War Began (2010) 8/10

Starring : Caitlin Stasey, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Lincoln Lewis, Deniz Akdeniz, Phoebe Tonkin, Chris Pang, Ashleigh Cummings, Andrew Ryan
Director : Stuart Beattie
Running Time : 100 mins

After they return from a camping trip, a group of Australian teenagers discover that their town has been invaded by a foreign power and their families have been taken captive. The world is at war, and this disparate group of teenagers will stop at nothing to protect their country and prevent their enemy from taking over. So together they decide to fight against them and do whatever it takes to get their town back.

This is a well scripted movie with plenty of action and characters you can actually believe in. The acting is solid, people don’t die just for the sake of killing them off, and the believable characters really help to empathise with the situation. Fans of military movies will like this, but so will fans of character driven narrative.

You’ll like this if you liked : Red Dawn

The Guard (2011) 8/10

Starring : Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong
Director : John Michael McDonagh
Running Time : 93 mins

Small town Irish police sergeant Gerry Boyle (Gleeson) is teamed up with FBI agent Wendell Everett (Cheadle) to help track down an international drug-smuggling ring – unfortunately he has no interest in the case until one of his fellow coppers goes missing and he starts to suspect that the smugglers may have in fact killed him.

This is actually a very entertaining, light-hearted thriller with Gleeson performing wonderfully in the lead role and Cheadle taking something of a back seat to him. The script – though over-laden with swearing – is fresh and realistic, while the storyline is intriguing nad makes for great viewing. A must for any fan of the modern thriller genre.

You’ll like this if you liked : Fargo

Faster (2010) 7/10

Starring : Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Oliver Jackson-Cohen
Director : George Tillman Jr
Running Time : 98 mins

Following a decade long stint in prison, ex-con James Cullen (Johnson) decides to track down the people responsible for his brother’s death and kill them all. As he drives across the country, tracking down his victims, he is pursued by detective Slade Humphires (Thornton) who is trying to stop him and a hitman (Jackson-Cohen) who is trying to take him down.

Although this sounds like a Segal movie and feels like a Statham movie, this is actually pretty good stuff. The Kill Bill-esque story line works effectively and it has enough twists to keep itself interesting from start to finish, with Johnson putting in a worthy performance as the lead. A must for any action fan, even though it does get predictable at times.

You’ll like this if you liked : Kill Bill : Volume One

Super 8 (2011) 8/10

Starring : Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills
Director : JJ Abrams
Running Time : 112 mins

It’s 1979, and while Joe Lamb (Courtney) and his friends are making a zombie movie on their super 8 camera, they witness a train crash that almost gets them all killed. But this crash was no accident, and when the army roles into town they all soon realise that the military are trying to cover something up – something big.

This is a great movie that harkens back to the movies of the 80s such as The Goonies and Explorers that focus more on the characters than the action, but still give enough thrills to entertain even the most hardened viewer. The plot is solid, the characters are fun and the sub-plots are interesting and really make you feel for the characters. Anyone who loved Spielberg movies from the 70s and 80s will really enjoy this movie.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Goonies

After.Life (2009) 6/10

Starring : Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson, Justin Long
Director : Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo
Running Time : 103 mins

Following a terrible car accident, Anna Taylor (Ricci) wakes up in a funeral home where she is informed by an apparently psychic funeral director, Eliot Duncan (Neeson), that she has died. She appears to be trapped in the home, and finds herself having to face the fact that she is no longer alive, but her boyfriend Paul Coleman (Long) suspects that something it going on at the home and decides to investigate.

This is a tricky movie that is probably too ambiguous for its own good. The concept of whether or not Ricci is dead is a tricky one to achieve, and in many ways the double-bluff ending goes towards spoiling this effect, though if you look at it as a potential triple bluff ending then the effect is just as workable. There is a little too much filler in this movie which could have been shorter, but fans of Ricci will enjoy seeing her with her kit off.

You’ll like this if you liked : Awake

Bad Teacher (2011) 6/10

Starring : Cameron Diaz, Lucy Punch, Jason Segel, Justin Timberlake
Director : Jake Kasdan
Running Time : 89 mins

Unorthodox school teacher Elizabeth Halsey (Diaz) wants nothing more than to marry her meal-ticket and then quit her hateful job, so she sets her sights on new teacher Scott Delacorte (Timberlake) - whose family come from money - but find herself faced with competition from fellow school teacher Amy Squirrel (Punch), as well as having to deal with the persistent advances of gym teacher Russell Gettis (Segal).

This could have been better, but was still reasonably entertaining. Diaz manages to play the terrible teacher perfectly, and the rest of the cast were pretty good, but there could have been a lot more put in to focussing on the school children, a few of whom are left with no real closure to their storylines.

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

Scooby-Doo! In Where’s My Mummy? (2005) 7/10

Starring : Frank Welker, Casey Kasem, Mindy Cohn, Grey DeLisle
Director : Joe Sichta
Running Time : 75 mins

In the ninth of the direct to video Scooby-Doo series, Scooby-Doo (Welker) and the gang travel to Egypt for a surprise visit to see their friend Velma Dinkley (Cohn), who is in Egypt helping to repair the Sphinx. When they encounter a group of scientists who are exploring Cleopatra’s tomb, an evil spirit is apparently unleashed and Velma is transformed into a statue!

Finally the Scooby-Doo movies seem to be finding their stride again. The mystery isn’t one of the best, but the peril and danger for small kids is much more evident, especially with Velma getting cursed by the mummy and turned to stone. It’s great the Warner Brothers hasn’t gone with the flow and turned to computer animation – I still love standard animation and Scooby-Doo looks perfect with this kind of approach.

You’ll like this if you liked : Scooby-Doo And The Alien Invaders