Despicable Me 2 (2013) 8/10

Starring : Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand
Director : Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud
Running Time : 95 mins

Retired villain Gru (Carrell) is called back into the world of villainy by a woman named Lucy (Wiig), an agent of the Anti Villain League, who suspect that here is a villain undercover in a local mall who wants to use a secret formula to turn otherwise docile creatures into mutant killing machines.

Although this started off incredibly slowly, this soon picked up the pace and really did its best to match the wit and charm of the original. It would be near impossible to make a sequel that could match the original, but with the romantic storyline and the flipping of Gru to a sort of hero makes this an imaginative follow up to the fantastic original.

You’ll like this if you liked : Cars 2

Psycho Beach Party (2000) 7/10

Starring : Lauren Ambrose, Thomas Gibson, Nicholas Brendan, Matt Keeslar, Charles Busch, Amy Adams, Kathleen Robertson
Director : Robert Lee King
Running Time : 96 mins

Florence Forrest (Ambrose), known to her beach friends as Chicklet, has a terrible secret that isn’t even known to herself. She suffers from split personality disorder, and at the least provocation one of her alter-egos can easily come to the fore, so when a series of bizarre killings take place in the community, it isn’t long before Chicklet is fingered as the number one suspect.

This is an odd movie, that manages to ridicule the beach movies of the fifties and sixties whilst simultaneously capturing them perfectly. The cast are extremely hokey, and you’d easily believe that they were all terrible actors if it wasn’t for the fact that there are so many familiar faces in the ensemble, most notably Amy Adams. If you can sit through this and not take it seriously, then you will probably find it to be an enjoyable little romp.

You’ll like this if you liked : Little Shop Of Horrors

Spring Breakers (2012) 5/10

Starring : Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, James Franco
Director : Harmony Korine
Running Time : 94 mins

When bored college girls Faith (Gomez), Candy (Hudgens), Brit (Benson) and Cotty (Korine) decide to rob a restaurant at gunpoint in order to fund their spring break vacation, but when their naughty antics get them a night in jail, they find themselves bailed out by local rapper Alien (Franco)

In spite of the comedy looking posters and kiddy friendly cast, this was far from funny and very un-kiddy friendly. There’s plenty of nudity from the outset, but what starts off promising soon becomes very dark and slightly disturbing as the girls almost randomly turn to crime and start dropping like flies. This is a great example of not judging a movie by its poster.

You’ll like this if you liked : Kids

Ticking Clock (2011) 6/10

Starring : Cuba Gooding Jr, Neal McDonough, Nicki Aycox
Director : Ernie Barbarash
Running Time : 101 mins

Reporter Louis Hicks (Gooding Jr) arrives at his girlfriend’s house and discovers she has been murdered and he quickly becomes the number one suspect. So he is forced to investigate the murder himself in order to prove his innocence and find the killer, a man named Keech (McDonough). His discovery of a journal kept by Keech leads him to believe that the killer has planned future murders, and that his reason for the killings is far more unlikely than he could ever have imagined.

In spite of having an original twist that, in spite of its basis in science fiction, really doesn’t delve into the realms of cause and effect, this is an interesting thriller. The fact that, when Hicks meets the young Keech, his life is still rubbish, kind of puts a dampener on the whole idea of travelling through time to fix your life. Coupled with some not-great acting, and you have a nice concept that has some pretty mediocre execution.

You’ll like this if you liked : The River Murders

Parker (2013) 6/10

Starring : Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Chiklis, Bobby Cannavale, Nick Nolte
Director : Taylor Hackford
Running Time : 119 mins

Honourable thief Parker (Statham) is left for dead by a gang of mobsters, but when he survives the attack he vows to take revenge on them. He discovers where they are located and uses estate agent Leslie Rogers (Lopez) to help him look around the area to discover their exact location.

This movie took a long time to get going in my opinion, with the introduction of Lopez almost an hour in. Statham isn’t particularly good in the title role, and the villains were pretty one-dimensional. Fans of standard thrillers would do better looking elsewhere for their thrills as this is something of a disappointing effort.

You’ll like this if you liked : Assassination Games

Van Wilder : Freshman Year (2009) 6/10

Starring : Jonathan Bennett, Kristin Cavallari, Kurt Fuller, Steve Talley
Director : Harvey Glazer
Running Time : 100 mins

In this prequel to the popular series, Van Wilder (Bennett) starts his first year at Coolidge College, discovering to his disgust that the entire campus is completely oppressed and lacks any sense of fun. So, in order to make life a little more bearable, and to snag the girl of his dreams Kaitlin Hayes (Cavallari), Van decides to make it his duty to turn things around.

The notion for this movie is almost as worrying as Dumb And Dumberer : When Harry Met Lloyd. Doing a movie where not a single cast member from the original is involved is always risky, and this plays out more like one of the straight to video American Pie movies, even starring one of the Stifler family, but as far as things go this isn’t too bad, and if you like movies which you can watch while switching off your brain then this is definitely for you.

You’ll like this if you liked : American Pie Presents Beta House

Hope Springs (2012) 8/10

Starring : Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell
Director : David Frankel
Running Time : 100 mins

Kay Soames (Streep) and her husband Arnold (Jones) have been married for over thirty years, and as time has passed their relationship has become increasingly distant. When Kay discovers a marriage counselling book, she decides to book a visit to Hope Springs where the author of the book, Dr Bernie Feld (Carell), holds counselling sessions to help rescue failing marriages, but Arnold doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with their marriage and is against the idea of counselling.

This is a cute yet sad movie that really shows what good actors Streep and Jones are. I loved Jones oblivious view that nothing was wrong with their marriage, while Streep’s attempts to fix the marriage were both funny and heart-breaking. Fans of romance movies with a difference will enjoy this bitter-sweet love story for the older generation.

You’ll like this if you liked : It’s Complicated

Justice League : Crisis On Two Earths (2010) 7/10

Starring : William Baldwin, Mark Harmon, Chris Noth, Gina Torres, James Woods
Director : Sam Liu & Lauren Montgomery
Running Time : 76 mins

The Lex Luthor (Noth) from an alternate universe is forced to flee to our universe to escape from the evil Crime Syndicate. Once on our Earth, Luthor enlists the aid of the Justice League to help him defeat the Crime Syndicate, so he brings them over to his universe to confront the villains who plan on either taking over the world or destroying it!

Although this is a fun premise, and there’s plenty for fans of pretty much all of the Justice League, the voice talents just didn’t sound like they had their hearts set to do a great job. With previous DC Universe movies, like Wonder Woman or The Green Lantern, the voices really helped make the movie, but everyone in this sounds flat and uninspired. Watch it for the action and the animation, but don’t expect sparkling acting.

You’ll like this if you liked : Superman : Doomsday

Stoker (2013) 6/10

Starring : Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, David Alford, Matthew Goode
Director : Chan-wook Park
Running Time : 100 mins

Following the unexpected and sudden death of her father, India Stoker (Wasikowska) finds her life changing when her Uncle Charlie (Goode) arrives to live with her and her mother Evie (Kidman). She starts to suspect that Charlie has ulterior motives to his decision to move in with them as he starts a relationship with Evie, but finds herself more attracted by him than repelled.

This incredibly weird effort from first time writer Wentworth Miller – most famous for his lead acting role in Prison Break – leaves you guessing right up until the end, and even past that point. My main issue with this is the ending where, in my opinion, India takes on the role of Charlie and starts killing, but others have claimed they think Charlie never existed and that India was the killer all along. I prefer my theory, but everyone is entitled to the own conclusions.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Uninvited

Head Of State (2003) 6/10

Starring : Chris Rock, Bernie Mac, Dylan Baker, Nick Searcy, Lynn Whitfield, Robin Givens, Tamala Jones
Director : Chris Rock
Running Time : 96 mins

After appearing on TV after saving one of his constituents lives, small town alderman Mays Gilliam (Rock) is suddenly asked to run for President of the United States when his party’s front runner dies suddenly in a plane crash. As he starts to campaign for the presidency, he starts to realise that he may have been chosen because his party knew they couldn’t win, but his unique approach to government running starts to win over the general public.

This had its moments, but too m any of the jokes were about stereotypes. It’s a real shame, because I usually like Chris Rock, but the obvious humour mixed with the weird slapstick scenes with Robin Givens gave this an uncertain air that left me unsure about what the writers were trying to achieve. Is this a commentary on how black people are under-represented in society, how Americans hate the idea of a black president (even though they now have one), or just a poorly made satire? You decide.

You’ll like this if you liked : The New Guy

Tower Block (2012) 8/10

Starring : Sheridan Smith, Ralph Brown, Russell Tovey, Jack O’Connell
Director : Ronnie Thompson & James Nunn
Running Time : 91 mins

Several months after a teenager is brutally beaten to death in a tower block, the residents find themselves under attack from a mysterious sniper. As the residents start to get picked off one by one, they are forced to combine their efforts to find their way out of the building and try to stop the killer before they’re all dead.

When this started I thought it was going to be just another annoying Brit flick filled with horrible people that you want to slap because of the dodgy mockney accents, but twenty minutes in things really kick into full flow. The characters are actually interesting – even the annoying ones – and no-one is above being shot by the sniper. This is a very tense thriller that keeps you guessing from start to finish.

You’ll like this if you liked : Phone Booth

The Iron Lady (2011) 8/10

Starring : Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Olivia Colman
Director : Phyllida Lloyd
Running Time : 105 mins

Former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher (Streep) struggles to come to terms with the death of her beloved husband Denis (Broadbent) as she looks back on the highs and lows of her life, moving from being a simple grocer’s daughter, to attending Oxford and eventually running for government.

Streep, as usual, is brilliant in this, lending both drama and humour to a role that many would find difficult to play without slipping into caricature. She and Broadbent are a wonderful double act, and between them they manage to make the Iron Lady seem less like a tyrant and more like an actual human being. Fans of Streep will love this performance, no matter how one-sided it may at times seem.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Queen

Admission (2013) 7/10

Starring : Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Michael Sheen, Wallace Shawn, Lily Tomlin, Nat Wolff
Director : Paul Weitz
Running Time : 107 mins

By-the-book Princeton admissions officer Portia Nathan (Fey) takes a trip to a prospective school to find students to enrol at Princeton to get them back into the number one slot for admissions, but when she runs into old schoolmate John Pressman (Rudd), he reveals that he believes that one of his students, Jeremiah (Wolff), is the baby she gave up for adoption when she was in high school.

This is a slow-paced, understated comedy that doesn’t try to garner rip-roaring laughs from the cast and rarely slips into slapstick. The story could quite easily have played as a drama, but the likeable characters, specifically Rudd and Tomlin, and of course Fey, make this a realistic but still entertaining comedy romance that, though predictable, remains an enjoyable watch.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Guilt Trip

Doctor Strange (2007) 7/10

Starring : Bryce Johnson, Paul Nakauchi, Kevin Michael Richardson, Michael Yama, Susan Spano, Jonathan Adams
Director : Patrick Archibald, Jay Oliva, Dick Sebast
Running Time : 77 mins

When medical research doctor Stephen Strange (Johnson) is involved in a terrible car accident, he loses the use of his hands, meaning the possible end of his medical career. Feeling suicidal, he tries to take his life, but is stopped by a man named Wong (Nakauchi), who suggests he travel to Tibet to seek the aid of the Ancient One (Yama). Instead, Strange finds himself being trained to become the next sorcerer supreme and enter a battle to the death with the evil Dormammu (Adams).

This is a very well developed story that very slowly leads us down the path that Doctor Strange followed to become sorcerer supreme. It’s pacing is good, but the problem is that I’ve never been a big fan of the doctor and find his comic books a little flat and dull. Still, this is better than any of his stories I’ve read, probably in part because it crams so much into an hour and a quarter, and the design for Dormammu is considerably better than that of the comics.

You’ll like this if you liked : Planet Hulk

To The Wonder (2012) 6/10

Starring : Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem
Director : Terrence Malick
Running Time : 114 mins

Amercian tourist Neil (Affleck) travels to Paris where he meets and falls in love with Ukrainian single mother Marina (Kurylenko). The two fall in love, and Neil invites Marina and her daughter back to the States to live with him, but it isn’t long before Neil’s job forces them to spend less and less time together and the two find themselves drifting into the arms of others.

It may be that I didn’t get what Malick was trying to achieve with this, but I didn’t really enjoy it. Visually this is a ten to watch, but the fact that there isn’t any real sympathy created toward any of the characters makes this, for me, a flat and unimaginative tale of holiday romance gone bad.

You’ll like this if you liked : Like Crazy

American High School (2009) 4/10

Starring : Jillian Murray, Talan Torriero, Aubrey O’Day, Nikki Ziering, Brian Drolet
Director : Sean Patrick Cannon
Running Time : 87 mins

Gwen Adams (Murray) is a high school girl who got married young to Holden Adams (Torriero). As the two contend with the negative reactions of their classmates, Holden finds it increasingly difficult to stay faithful while Gwen worries that she might be pregnant.

This is a weird movie that at some points is like a drama but then all of a sudden slips back into being a gross out sex comedy. This weird mix makes it hard to know what to think of this movie and personally, because the writer couldn’t decide whether this was a drama or a slapstick comedy, this severely suffered from a lack of direction. Jillian Murray was pretty good, but other than that this was pretty bad.

You’ll like this if you liked : American Virgin