Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) 8/10

Starring : Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, Kevin Spacey, Christoph Waltz
Director : Sean Anders
Running Time : 109 mins

Nick (Bateman), Kurt (Sudeikis), and Dale (Day) have quit their jobs and come up with a novel invention – the shower buddy – but need help from investors to raise the capital to get the manufacturing running. When they are screwed over by businessman Bert Hanson (Waltz), they come up with a scam to kidnap his son Rex (Pine) and hold him to ransom for the money they need to save their company. But Rex wants in on the deal, and soon things start going horribly wrong...

This is a worthy sequel to the 2011 original, bringing back the surviving characters are turning their lives upside down. Once agin, although they are planning on becoming their own bosses, they find control ripped away from them and the lengths they resort to are funny and well thought through by the writers. The addition of Waltz and Pine is very good, and personally I wanted to slap the two of them just as much as our heroes did.

You’ll like this if you liked : Weekend At Bernie’s

Iron Man : Rise Of Technivore (2013) 6/10

Starring : Norman Reedus, Matthew Mercer, Eric Bauza, Kate Higgins, James C Mathis III, Kari Wahlgren, Clare Grant, Troy Baker
Director : Hiroshi Hamazaki
Running Time : 89 mins

When Tony Stark (Mercer) launches a new satellite that can monitor all activity on Earth and prevent terrorist attacks, a technical genius named Ezekiel Stane (Bauza) launches an attack against Stark with his techno organic armour during the a satellite’s launch. Stark is blamed for the attack and finds himself on the run from SHIELD while trying to stop Stane and bring him to justice so he can clear his name.

In spite of some pretty impressive animation, courtesy of Japan’s Madhouse, this movie didn’t really have any soul. The pretty basic story line relies heavily on the visuals and little on the characters, and thanks to some deadpan deliveries this isn’t anything special. What little character development there is seems to be purely to further later plot points, such as Pepper wanting a vacation, and the amount of guest characters used seems to have been for nothing.

You’ll like this if you liked : Ghost In The Shell 2 : Innocence

300 : Rise Of An Empire (2014) 5/10

Starring : Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey, Hans Matheson, Callan Mulvey, David Wenham, Rodrigo Santoro
Director : Noam Murro
Running Time : 103 mins

The Persian Army, under the guidance of the God King Xerxes (Santoro), march on Athens, planning on invading all of Greece. With so much to lose, General Themistocles (Stapleton) is forced to form an alliance with Sparta in order to defend against the attack in the historical Battle of Marathon.

This is pretty much the same as the first movie, but with such a terrible script - filled with quotable one-liners that feel forced at every step – that it’s hard to concentrate on what is supposed to be happening. As if to compensate, the majority of the film is voiced-over by Lena Headey, most recently of Game Of Thrones fame, and feels as if even the director realised that something was missing and needed explaining. The fight scenes are okay, but really look like they are just imitating the first and far superior instalment, and the movie ends so abruptly it felt like the makers ran out of budget. My advice is to steer clear of this and just watch the original again.

You’ll like this if you liked : Clash Of The Titans

The Gift (2000) 8/10

Starring : Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi, Keanu Reeves, Katie Holmes, Greg Kinnear, Hilary Swank
Director : Sam Raimi
Running Time : 112 mins

Local clairvoyant and fortune reader Annie Wilson (Blanchett) is called upon to help when man-hungry local resident Jessica King (Holmes) goes missing. When she has a nightmare seeing Jessica’s body wrapped in chains, she tells the police that she is dead and in a pond somewhere in town. The body is discovered on the land of wife-beater Donnie Barksdale (Reeves) whose wife Valerie (Swank) is one of Annie’s clients, and he is tried for the murder, but in spite of Barksdale’s history, Annie suspects that he isn’t the real killer.

This is an interesting dramatic crime thriller that uses the supernatural to further the action with minimal interference to the underlying plot of a murder mystery. Granted, the identity of the killer is pretty obvious, as are the reasons behind the murder, but there are some great performances (especially from Ribisis) and, as usual, Raimi lends his own unique brand of direction without going too over the top.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Ice Storm

3 Days To Kill (2014) 7/10

Starring : Kevin Costner, Amber Heard, Hailee Steinfeld, Connie Neilsen
Director : McG
Running Time : 123 mins

CIA agent Ethan Renner (Costner) is relieved of duty when he is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, and takes the opportunity to reconcile with his wife Christine (Neilsen) and daughter Zooey (Steinfeld), who he had previously been steering clear of to protect them from his dangerous job. But when is approached by a woman named Vivi (Heard) who offers him an experimental drug in exchange for his services, he decides to do one last job to try and gain some more time with his family before he dies.

I actually thought this was a reasonable action flick which, even with its predictable plot and obvious set pieces, still managed to deliver. I’m not sure if this was meant to be a comedy, but the light-hearted moments between father and daughter garnered a few good-humoured groans along the way, which was nicely balanced with some violent scenes that would make even the most diehard action fan nod with approval.

You’ll like this if you liked : Taken 2

42 (2013) 7/10

Starring : Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Nicole Beharie, Christopher Meloni, Andre Holland, Lucas Black, Hamish Linklater, Ryan Meriman
Director : Brian Helgeland
Running Time : 129 mins

It’s 1946 and baseball player Jackie Robinson (Boseman) is picked to play in the Major Leagues, becoming the first black player to do so, but faced with the racist attitudes of the time Jackie finds his life constantly under threat from those that don’t want blacks and whites to mix and he is challenged with trying to make a success of his career while many try to put him down.

The first half of this movie was something of a waste, but once Robinson gets to the Major Leagues and starts really suffering racial abuse in front of the crowds it really gets to be interesting and educational. Sadly, from what this portrays, Robinson doesn’t seem to know how to pick his fights, largely ignoring an overtly racist Alan Tudyk yet when one of his team mates says Jackie might have some friends who can put the team up for the night he goes ballistic. The sad fact is that Robinson isn’t given enough of a personality in this so-called biopic and, if he had been, then this would have made the movie more effective.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Blind Side

Transcendence (2014) 7/10

Starring : Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Cillian Murphy, Kate Mara, Cole Hauser, Morgan Freeman
Director : Wally Pfister
Running Time : 120 mins

Will Caster (Depp) has spent most of his life trying to develop an artificial intelligence that can possess both intelligence and emotion, and the controversy behind these ideas have made him both famous and notorious. When he is targeted by extremists that despise his concepts, he ends up being the source for his own experiments, diverting his own mind into one of his own experiments.

This is an okay movie, though it does go on a little longer than necessary. The story is simple and paced well, though it would have been nice to have a bit more emotion thrown in to make the artificial intelligence seem more human. I’m not saying this is a bad film; it does, after all, feel like it achieves what it set out to do, but it really needed a bit more everyman appeal for the AI storyline to work perfectly.

You’ll like this if you liked : RoboCop

Save The Date (2012) 6/10

Starring : Lizzy Caplan, Alison Brie, Martin Starr, Geoffrey Arend, Mark Webber, Melonie Diaz, Timothy Busfield
Director : Michael Mohan
Running Time : 97 mins

With her sister Beth (Brie) about to get married, Sarah (Caplan) finds her boyfriend Kevin (Arend) wants to do the same, but when he proposes she turns him down and they break up. It isn’t long before she finds herself in a rebound relationship with Jonathan (Webber), one of her customers at the book shop.

With the likes of Lizzy Caplan and Martin Starr featuring in this movie, I expected a laugh out loud romantic comedy, but realistically this is a little depressing and not very believable. The characters are not very likeable, andt he decisions they make are often strange and rarely realistic. Fans of dramas in which the characters do everything wrong will like this, but don’t expect the feel-good rom-com that I was hoping for.

You’ll like this if you liked : Sideways

Endless Love (2014) 6/10

Starring : Alex Pettyfer, Gabriella Wilde, Bruce Greenwood, Joely Richardson, Robert Patrick, Rhys Wakefield, Dayo Okeniyi
Director : Shana Feste
Running Time : 105 mins

David Elliot (Pettyfer) has had a crush on Jade Butterfield (Wilde) – a friendless and distant young woman – since the first time he saw her, but it isn’t until graduation from high school that he decides to try to speak to her. Jade has ambitions of becoming a doctor, while David’s ambitions are less exotic. The two soon start a romantic relationship, but Jade’s father Hugh (Greenwood) does not approve of their love...

This remake of the novel by Scott Spencer suffers from being a little too safe. Having not read the book, I can only go by what the author says about it, citing it as more of an anti-romance on how obsession can ruin lives, yet this is played as a straight romance with parents trying to get in the way. The only villain in the whole movie seems to be Greenwood, whereas Pettyfer should have been obsessively over the top, and he doesn’t even start the fire that burnt down the house! Personally this movie is a waste of time that doesn’t even seem to use the source material for character development or plot.

You’ll like this if you liked : Water For Elephants

The Wedding Video (2012) 8/10

Starring : Rufus Hound, Lucy Punch, Robert Webb, Matt Berry, Michelle Gomez, Miriam Margolyes, Harriet Walter
Director : Nigel Cole
Running Time : 94 mins

Tim (Webb) and Saskia (Punch) are getting married, and Tim wants his brother Raif (Hound) to be his best man. Raif decides that the perfect gift will be to film the entire affair from his arrival back in the UK up until the event itself, but when he realises that his brother is marrying the most rebellious girl at his old school and that - although her mother Alex (Walter) has married into money - deep down Saskia hasn’t really changed, the two start spending an increasing amount of time together...

This was a surprisingly likeable and well paced comedy, with Hound and Punch making an interesting double-act, and Webb being something of a background addition to the tale. Fans of rom-coms will like this, and its unconventional romance is expertly handled right up until the ending, which is the only real suffering of the piece as it felt too convenient and didn’t have nearly enough anger or emotion in it.

You’ll like this if you liked : I Give It A Year

Not Another Happy Ending (2013) 6/10

Starring : Karen Gillan, Stanley Weber, Amy Manson, Ian De Caestecker
Director : John McKay
Running Time : 98 mins

Jane Lockhart (Gillan) is devastated when she finds that her publisher Tom Duval (Weber) has changed the title of her first published novel, but the joy of being published soon takes its toll and she develops writers block. Realising that the only way to unblock her is to make her miserable again, Duval endeavours to do whatever he can to upset her, but soon finds himself falling in love.

This could have been so much better if the characters had been even slightly more engaging. Gillan does her best to keep the movie engrossing, but the script itself is just a little too weak to make me care about what is happening, and the imaginary friend isn’t played upon anywhere near as much as I’d have hoped. Coupled with the fact that the romantic interests are incredibly unlikely and unlikeable, and you have a pretty mediocre movie. My honest opinion would be to skip this and watch Ruby Sparks instead.

You’ll like this if you liked : Tortoise In Love

Outsourced (2006) 8/10

Starring : Josh Hamilton, Ayesha Dharker, Asif Basra
Director : John Jeffcoat
Running Time : 99 mins

When the Seattle based novelty company Todd (Hamilton) works for decides to move its base of operations to India, he is sent over to help train the new staff that will replace his American counterparts. He soon finds himself thrown into a world he doesn’t quite understand, and finds himself falling for Indian employee Asha (Dharker), even though she is already engaged to another man.

This likeable romantic comedy makes for some fun viewing with the culture shock being the main focus for the majority of the humour, which manages to be very subdued where it could easily have turned into outright slapstick and racial stereotyping. Hamilton’s performance is a little flat at first, but he comes into his own in the scenes he shares with Dharker which makes their romance seem even more plausible and keeps the viewer ever more drawn in by the proceeds.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Other End Of The Line

A New York Winter’s Tale (2014) 7/10

Starring : Colin Farrell, Jessica Brown Findlay, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt, Russell Crowe
Director : Akiva Goldsman
Running Time : 118 mins

A thief named Peter Lake (Farrell) is found abandoned as a child and raised by a demon called Pearly Soames (Crowe). As he tries to escape his life with the demon, he attempts to rob a house and meets Beverly Penn (Brown Findlay), an heiress who is dying from consumption. The two fall in love, but Beverly soon dies and Peter is left alone but miraculously becomes immortal...

This is a likeable enough movie if you can just accept all the fantasy aspects, which many viewers seem reluctant to do. If they had been more glaring, or if the setting had been an alien world or in the future, people would have thought better of the romance of sorts. The plot is complex and at times a little convoluted, and some of the ideas feel a little childish, but this is a modern fairy tale so what more would you expect.

You’ll like this if you liked : Upside Down

Rush (2013) 8/10

Starring : Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara
Director : Ron Howard
Running Time : 123 mins

Formula 1 race car drivers Niki Lauda (Bruhl) and James Hunt (Hemsworth) find themselves competing against each other in the public eye as they use their distinctive styles and personalities to try and win the 1976 Formula One World Championship. As they openly challenge their rivals, they secretly develop a well-earned respect for each other, but their competitiveness soon ends in one of them getting seriously injured.

This is an intriguing biopic that will no doubt have all petrol heads drooling in their laps as they witness tow of the greats of Formula 1 competing against each other on the big screen. Both Bruhl and Hemsworth are pretty much perfect as Lauda and Hunt respectively, and the balance of drama and race car driving is evenly matched. Fans of Formula 1 will love this, and those who simply enjoy a good old fashioned movie about rivalry will like this too.

You’ll like this if you liked : The World’s Fastest Indian

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) 8/10

Starring : Ralph Fiennes, F Murray Abraham, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Tony Revolori
Director : Wes Anderson
Running Time : 100 mins

M Gustave (Fiennes) is something of a womaniser who specialises in seducing older ladies whilst working at his European hotel that caters to the very rich, but when his latest lady love (Swinton) dies and leaves him a fortune, he must enlist the help of newly appointed lobby boy Zero (Revolori) to clear his name in her death and obtain him his fortune.

I always sit down to watch a Wes Anderson movie and expect the worst, even though I am rarely rewarded with a terrible film. This is a fun romp that, although you might imagine it to be a series of disjointed tales from first glance, possesses a fluid story line and a natural focus. Fiennes is great in the lead, and I thoroughly enjoyed his ambiguous character who manages to confuse the viewer by never truly revealing his motivations throughout the film.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Royal Tenenbaums

Kermit’s Swamp Years (2002) 7/10

Starring : Steve Whitmore, Bill Barretta, Joey Mazzarino, Cree Summer, William Bookston, John Hostetter, Kelly Collins Lintz
Director : David Gumpel
Running Time : 79 mins

Kermit the frog (Whitmore) thinks back to when he was twelve years old and living in a swamp; a time when he and his friends Croaker (Barretta) and Goggles (Mazzarino) decided to venture forth from the swamp in search of adventure, and find themselves kidnapped and sent to a high school for the purpose of dissection.

Fans of the Muppets might be disappointed to learn that Kermit is the only recognisable Muppet in evidence in this straight –to-video kids film, but that doesn’t diminish it any (in spite of a certain CGi Muppet that will remain nameless). The Muppet dog is this looks awesome and, if it wasn’t for the Muppet-like handling of the mouth movements, it could almost be mistaken for the real thing. Some children might get a little bored by the slow story (which is eerily reminiscent of Finding Nemo AND was made first) but overall this is a fun kids film that should keep them quiet for a little while.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Adventures Of Elmo In Grouchland