Warm Bodies (2013) 9/10

Starring : Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Analeigh Tipton, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, John Malkovich
Director : Jonathan Levine
Running Time : 98 mins

When an unusual zombie known simply as R (Hoult) kills a human named Perry (Franco), he takes on his memories and the love for his girlfriend Julie (Palmer) and decides to try and protect her from the rest of the zombie horde that roams the world. As Julie and R develop a close bond, R’s behaviour starts to infect some of the other zombies in the area and they start to regain some of their humanity.

I really enjoyed this zombie comedy that doesn’t try too hard to be funny but just naturally comes across as humorous. The characters are surprisingly lively in spite of the fact that many of them are zombies, and you really find yourself routing for the hero even though he’s a flesh eating monster. This is definitely one that you could watch over and over again.

You’ll like this if you liked : Fido

21 (2008) 7/10

Starring : Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Aaron Yoo, Laurence Fishburne
Director : Robert Luketic
Running Time : 118 mins

Ben Campbell (Sturgess) is a student at MIT, and when he realises he can’t afford the fees to complete his college degree, he leaps at the chance to make some money. Micky Rosa (Spacey), a lecturer at MIT, trains Ben and four other students in the art of counting cards, then takes them to Las Vegas to make a bundle on the tables.

Although the plot is completely unoriginal, this was still an entertaining yarn. It starts off slow, but soon builds up to the inevitable conclusion that the audience waits two hours for. Spacey is both laid back and sinister in his role, and it’s a shame that Sturgess is such an unspectacular actor or this could have been a truly great movie.

You’ll like this if you liked : Ocean's Twelve

The Guilt Trip (2012) 8/10

Starring : Barbra Streisand, Seth Rogen
Director : Anne Fletcher
Running Time : 96 mins

Wannabe inventor Andy Brewster (Rogan) discovers that his widowed mother Joyce (Streisand) had a boyfriend before his father and decides to track him down so that his mother will have something to take her mind off Andy’s lacking of any kind of romance. So, under the pretence that he wants her to come along on a business trip, he sets about organising the meeting. Unfortunately his mother has a nasty habit of interfering in other parts of his life too.

I wasn’t expecting much of this movie that basically feels like it is selling itself based on the two leads, but they do work wonderfully together. Though the plot is a little forced in places, such as the mother going to his business meetings when she could have stayed in the hotel or gone sight-seeing, there were some nice touches that made this a very watchable family movie.

You’ll like this if you liked : Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World

Endgame (2009) 7/10

Starring : William Hurt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jonny Lee Miller, Mark Strong, Clarke Peters
Director : Pete Travis
Running Time : 105 mins

British businessman Michael Young (Miller) organises talks involving noted columnist and professor Willie Esterhyse (Hurt) and African National Congress representative Thabo Mbeki (Ejiofor) that, if successful, would release Nelson Mandela (Peters) from prison and, consequently, begin the end of apartheid in South Africa.

Although this is pretty slow paced, and there is very little action, this is still an interesting movie that gives some insight into the treatment of Nelson Mandela while he was imprisoned. To be fair, this makes his treatment look pretty good, and aside from being under what amounts to house arrest, things could have looked worse. I’m not sure how accurate this account is, but it is still interesting to watch.

You’ll like this if you liked : Invictus

The Host (2013) 7/10

Starring : Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, Max Irons, William Hurt
Director : Andrew Niccol
Running Time : 126 mins

An alien race that implants their souls into human bodies has slowly taken over the planet, with only a few still managing to resist. When Melanie (Ronan) has her body taken over by an alien spirit called Wanda, she discovers that she can communicate with the invader, and they begin to work together to try and help out the resistance forces fighting against the invasion.

This is n interesting concept, but it doesn’t quite work as well as it could have. The performances are a little flat, though this could be attributed to the dead pan aliens, and the action is sometimes slow, but overall this is a reasonable sci-fi movie with some interesting ideas.

You’ll like this if you liked : Race To Witch Mountain

Jack Brooks : Monster Slayer (2007) 7/10

Starring : Trevor Matthews, Robert Englund, Daniel Kash
Director : Jon Knautz
Running Time : 86 mins

Ever since he witnessed the brutal killing of his entire family as a child at the hands of a demonic creature, Jack Brooks (Matthews) has suffered from anger issues, and no amount of therapy can stem his rage, but when his night class professor, Gordon Crowley (Englund) is transformed by an ancient curse into a bizarre creature of the night, Jack is forced to overcome his anger and try to

I was surprised that this wasn’t a terrible movie. It is actually a well-paced horror comedy that really focuses on the characters rather than delving straight in for the monsters and the violence, and uses old-fashioned (though sometimes terrible looking) make-up effects rather than CGI, and has clearly been inspired by such movies as The Evil Dead. Englund is fun to watch as he transforms throughout the movie, and the eponymous violent slacker played by Matthews somehow manages to be likeable as he punches people for no good reason. Worth watching, despite having a terrible title and pretty ropy make-up effects.

You’ll like this if you liked : Infestation

Life Of Pi (2012) 8/10

Starring : Suraj Sharma, Irfan Khan, Rafe Spall
Director : Ang Lee
Running Time : 127 mins

Pi Patel (Khan & Sharma) is asked by a writer (Spall) to tell him the story of his life. What transpires is the tale of a zoo-keeper’s son who is lost at sea with only a zebra, an orang-utan, a hyena and a tiger for company.

What starts as a simple tale of the life of a young Indian boy with the unfortunate name of Piscine soon turns into an unlikely and slightly not believable story of survival at sea. As we are lead to believe that Pi Patel manages to live on a life boat with a hungry tiger, we are conversely lead to believe that the story he tells may just be an analogy of what really transpired in his life. This is a surprisingly fun movie that also gives us something to think about at the end.

You’ll like this if you liked : Cast Away

Ultimate Avengers (2006) 6/10

Starring : Justin Gross, Grey DeLisle, Michael Massee, Marc Worden, Olivia D’Abo, Nan McNamara, Nolan North, Andre Ware, Dave Boat, Fred Tatasciore
Director : Curt Geda & Steven E Gordon
Running Time : 69 mins

Sixty years after he goes missing at sea, Captain America (Gross) is found and revived by SHIELD operatives who have been working on reporoducing the super solider serum that created him as they have discovered that an alien race called the Chitauri were behind the Nazis obsession with world domination and are now attacking in their own right. SHIELD operative Nick Fury (Ware) is then forced to implement Project Avenger – an initiative that will bring together a team of superheroes to fight the alien menace.

I expected this to be pretty good, and to be fair a lot of the content was used in the live action Avengers movie, but this was something of a disjointed mess. The fact that it has a runtime of just over an hour really doesn’t give enough time to introduce or flesh out many of the characters, with much of the focus being forced on Cap and The Hulk. True fans of the comics may enjoy this, but it really doesn’t work very well as a stand-alone movie without the sequel.

You’ll like this if you liked : Justice League : The New Frontier

A Good Day To Die Hard (2013) 7/10

Starring : Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Director : John Moore
Running Time : 99 mins

John McClane (Willis) travels to Russia to help out his estranged son, Jack (Courtney), who has been arrested and is set to go on trial. It isn’t long before he discovers that Jack is in fact working undercover for the CIA in the hopes of retrieving information from political prisoner Yuri Komarov (Koch), and the three find themselves on the run from high ranking Russian officials and their crooked henchmen.

I thought Die Hard 4.0 was over the top, but this went even further. I’m a huge fan of the Die Hard series, but inevitably they will start to go downhill. This was on a par with the last movie, and the introduction of yet another child for McClane really does start to raise the question as to the whereabouts of Bonnie Bedelia…

You’ll like this if you liked : Mission : Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Elephant White (2011) 6/10

Starring : Djimon Hounsou, Kevin Bacon, Jirantanin Pitakporntrakul
Director : Prachya Pinkaew
Running Time : 92 mins

Curtie Church (Hounsou) is a contract killer who is offered the chance to kill a man responsible for a large portion of the people trafficking in Bangkok. With the help of gun runner Jimmy The Brit (Bacon), Church plots to cause a war between two gangs of slave traders and engages the help of young prostitute Mae (Pitakporntrakul) to help free some of the enslaved girls.

This movie tries to be Leon but fails miserably. Neither Hounsou nor Bacon feel like they're making any effort to make this movie engrossing, and the fact that they had to call Bacon's character Jimmy The Brit shows just how Australian he sounded. Fans of assassin movies might find this a little lacklustre, and the twist at the end was uninspired and a little hokey.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Hit List

Pitch Perfect (2012) 8/10

Starring : Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Rebel Wilson, Adam Devine, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow
Director : Jason Moore
Running Time : 113 mins

College freshman Beca Mitchell (Kendrick) is convinced to sign up for the college all-girl a capella group the Barden Bellas when they are forced to come up with a new line-up following the previous year’s terrible performance. The only rule is that they are not to get involved with the boys who are members of their rival group the Treblemakers, but Beca has already started falling for Jesse Swanson (Astin) who has signed up with the group.

Where Glee was High-School Musical for grownups that secretly like High School Musical, this is Glee for grownups that secretly like Glee. All the stereotyped characters you’d expect in a teen comedy are there, and this really does try to harken back to the good old days of teen movies, even referencing The Breakfast Club which was probably made long before the birth of most of this movies target audience.

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

Casino Jack (2010) 7/10

Starring : Kevin Spacey, Barry Pepper, Kelly Preston, Jon Lovitz, Rachelle Lefevre
Director : George Hickenlooper
Running Time : 104 mins

Jack Abramoff (Spacey) is a high flying lobbyist that uses his influence to organise things so that he and his friends Michael Scanlon (Pepper) can invest money in an off-shore casino, but when they are found out they quickly lose favour with everyone they have ever been involved with, and their attempts to sort out the situation just makes things worse.

This is a fun movie that really gives Spacey a chance to shine. Pepper is also good in his supporting role, and brings some overplayed drama to the film. The story plays out well and manages to pace itself almost perfectly, but some of the “dream sequences” seemed a little unnecessary, as were the characteristics of Abramoff and Scanlon to constantly quote movies.

You’ll like this if you liked : Rogue Trader

The Lorax (2012) 7/10

Starring : Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Betty White
Director : Chris Renaud & Kyle Balda
Running Time : 83 mins

Twelve year-old Ted (Efron) wants nothing more than to win the heart of the girl of his dreams, Audrey (Swift), so he decides to fulfil her greatest wish – to have a real tree of her own, but in the city of Thneed-ville trees no longer exist. Ted’s Grammy Norma (White) tells him of a man called The Once-ler (Helms) who tells him the story of how he was responsible for the disappearance of all the trees and how he was punished for his actions by The Lorax (DeVito), who speaks for the trees.

Fans of Seuss will enjoy this musical tale of ecology and big business and how they affect each other. This is one of the rare Seuss stories that actually has a narrative and, as such, translates well to the screen. The characters are colourful and lively, and I enjoyed the additional idea of Ted wanting to impress a girl by getting her a tree, something that wasn't in the original book.

You’ll like this if you liked : Horton Hears A Who

5150 Elms Way (2009) 8/10

Starring : Marc-Andre Grondin, Normand D’Amour, Sonia Vachon
Director : Eric Tessier
Running Time : 111 mins

When Yannick Berube (Grondin) falls off his bike, he sees a taxi parked outside 5150 Elms Way so knocks on the door and ask for a lift home. As the owner of the taxi, Jacques Beaulieu (D’Amour), answers a phone call, Yannick helps himself to the sink to wash some of the blood off his wounds and discovers a man tied up in a room. Yannick is in turned held captive and he soon discovers that Beaulieu is in fact a serial killer, killing those he thinks are evil and stealing the bodies of those he deems good in order to create the ultimate life-size chess set.

This is an impressive thriller that’s only failing in my eyes is that nobody has dubbed it into English. The cast are likeable and manage to keep the movie suspenseful and pace the revelation of the chess set perfectly. Fans of psychological movies will love the development of the Yannick character who almost starts to bond with Beaulieu as they progress in their chess games.

You’ll like this if you liked : Sinister

Larry Crowne (2011) 6/10

Starring : Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Bryan Cranston, Cedric The Entertainer, Taraji P Henson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Director : Tom Hanks
Running Time : 99 mins

When he is let go from his team leader job because he doesn’t have a college degree, Larry Crowne (Hanks) decides to go take some classes at a local college where he starts to find himself falling for his public-speaking lecturer Mercedes Tainot (Roberts), a woman whose passion for the job has all but completely left her.

This was a pretty weak, self-serving movie that had little heart and even less character. The relationship between Hanks and Roberts made no sense, his cast of colourful friends were lacking in any kind of personality or character progression, and as for the end credits? I almost threw up. Granted, this would have been okay if it was a TV movie or was on TV on a Sunday afternoon, but for a big budget Hollywood movie I expected more.

You’ll like this if you liked : Last Chance Harvey

Cassandra’s Dream (2007) 6/10

Starring : Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Sally Hawkins, Hayley Atwell, Tom Wilkinson
Director : Woody Allen
Running Time : 109 mins

Brothers Ian (McGregor) and Terry (Farrell) have money troubles, so when their rich Uncle Howard (Wilkinson) offers them money in return for a favour they jump at the chance. But when they discover that Howard wants them to kill off one of his former business associates, they are faced with a moral dilemma about what they should do.

Aside from the Larry David fronted disaster Whatever Works, this is possibly the worst Woody Allen movie I’ve seen. The casting is poor (using a Scot and a Paddy to play London brothers? Idiot!) and the plot is slapdash with little or no substance. This could have been a lot better, and the plot is far from original, and it seems that Allen may well have hit an all time low in his career with this.

You’ll like this if you liked : Match Point