Fast And Furious 7 (2015) 7/10

Starring : Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Dwayne Johnson,
Director : James Wan
Running Time : 138 mins

Deckard Shaw (Statham) is out for revenge against Dom (Diesel) and his crew, so Dom is forced to help out the CIA in trying to help steal a computer program which can track anyone via their electrical devices in return for their help in tracking down and capturing Shaw.

This over the top action caper was actually pretty fun. It acts as quite a nice ending to the series, especially as Paul Walker died during filming, but apparently there’s an eighth instalment in the works for 2017. I’m glad that the focus in the movie is taken away from Walker, as he was never much of an actor, though the relationships have become a little confusing, especially as this is the first movie to take place after Tokyo Drift, the third instalment.

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

The Double (2013) 8/10

Starring : Jesse Esienberg, Mia Wasikowska, Wallace Shawn, Yasmin Paige, Noah Taylor
Director : Richard Ayoade
Running Time : 93 mins

Simon James (Esienberg) is a quiet unassuming man who is constantly ignored by work, his peers, and Hannah (Wasikowska), the woman he loves. When his exact double shows up at work, calling himself James Simon (Esienberg). Simon decides to try to befriend him and learn from him as he is his exact opposite in terms of personality, but James starts to try to take over his life and Simon finds the little life he had slowly receding away from him.

Although not laugh out loud funny, this is an incredibly witty adaptation of the classic Dostoevsky novella of the same name. Esienberg does a surprisingly good job in the dual roles as both James and Simon, with the help of a supporting cast that are wonderfully introspective and oblivious to the goings on in the main protagonist’s life. Ayoade does a sterling job in the director’s chair, and his own dry sense of humour is prevalent throughout this movie.

You’ll like this if you liked : Submarine

Magic In The Moonlight (2014) 7/10

Starring : Eileen Atkins, Colin Firth, Marcia Gay Harden, Hamish Linklater, Simon McBurney, Emma Stone, Jacki Weaver
Director : Woody Allen
Running Time : 98 mins

Stanley Crawford (Firth) is a world renowned illusionist who performs under the guise of Wei Ling Soo. He is called upon for assistance by his friend Howard Burkan (McBurney) to debunk an apparent clairvoyant named Sophie Baker (Stone), who Howard says may be trying to swindle a wealthy American family out of their fortune. But when he witnesses her abilities, Stanley finds it difficult to prove that Sophie is the fraud she has been made out to be.

Woody Allen seems to have only one or two basic groups of characters for his movies, and although this is a fun premise with an expected yet enjoyable twist, it does fall flat in places by trying to be so much cleverer than it actually is. The acting is fine, and the twist with the con was good, but the bluff ending felt a little weak and poorly thought through. Allen fans will like this, but others might find is a little lazy for their liking.

You’ll like this if you liked : Midnight In Paris

Primer (2004) 7/10

Starring : Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya
Director : Shane Carruth
Running Time : 78 mins

A group of scientists working on a machine that will reduce an objects weight discover a side effect to the machine that sends the objects slowly back through time. Two of the scientists, Aaron (Carruth) and Abe (Sullivan) take it upon themselves to build a larger machine that they can use to test on themselves, and soon discover that what they have on their hands is a fully functional time machine!

This movie is filled with so much technological babble that many might switch off early on, especially when combined with the low budget filmography. But all things considered this is a great attempt at a sci-fi movie that doesn’t talk down to its audience, focuses more on the decision making process of the characters rather than the actual spectacle of travelling through time, and creates a very plausible version of time travel that has just enough side effects to create interesting problems for the characters that use it.

You’ll like this if you liked : Another Earth

Interstellar (2014) 7/10

Starring : Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine
Director : Christopher Nolan
Running Time : 170 mins

Former pilot Joseph Cooper (McConaughey) is convinced that the so-called ghost that is haunting his daughter’s room as unknown intelligence providing co-ordinates that lead them to s secret building housing what’s left of NASA. Copper is then invited to join the crew of the Endurance who plan to travel past Saturn to a wormhole that may hold the solution to humankind’s salvation.

This sci-fi movie isn’t what you’d call action packed. It starts off incredibly slowly with what feels like an odd story about a haunted bedroom, then quickly moves into the whole NASA side of the tale. Once we’re in space, things slow down again, but the arrival of Matt Damon and an actual nemesis for the story brings it to life. The conclusion, with the explanation of the haunting, is incredibly weird and comes straight out of left field. It might not be for everyone, but it was likeable enough.

You’ll like this if you liked : Moon

Austenland (2013) 7/10

Starring : Keri Russell, JJ Feild, Brett McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, James Callis, Jane Seymour
Director : Jerusha Hess
Running Time : 97 mins

Jane Hayes (Russell) is fanatical about everything related to the world of Jane Austen, especially when it comes to Colin Firth’s portrayal of Mr Darcy. So, when she hears about an English resort with an Austen theme, she cashes in her life savings to make the trip of a lifetime.

On first inspection this might feel like a silly, flighty chick flick with little or no redeemable quality, but if you watch it with your tongue firmly in your cheek you might find that the over the top performances and silly situations are perfect for such a theme resort. If you’re like me, you will watch this almost to the end hoping that the obvious doesn’t happen, and although it does there is a point in the film where the conclusion stops being the obvious one. Girls will thoroughly enjoy this movie, and if they give it a chance boys might quite like it too.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Jane Austen Book Club

Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy (2014) 7/10

Starring : Frank Welker, Mindy Cohn, Grey DeLisle, Matthew Lillard
Director : Paul McEvoy
Running Time : 71 mins

In the twenty-second of the direct to video Scooby-Doo series, Velma (Cohn) inherits a castle in Transylvania, she explains to the gang that the property is cursed and that she doesn’t want it, but when the ghost of one of Velma’s ancestors shows up and destroys the mystery machine, the gang head to Transylvania to try to solve the mystery.

The plot for this instalment of the Scooby-Doo franchise isn’t the best, but it’s the background stories that keep it entertaining throughout: Fred’s vow to avenge the ‘death’ of the mystery machine, Daphne’s belief that she’s putting on weight, and Scooby and Shaggy suddenly finding courage all make this very watchable. On the whole it isn’t the best, but fans of the gang will enjoy their antics in any case.

You’ll like this if you liked : Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright

Iron Doors (2010) 6/10

Starring : Axel Wedekind, Rungano Nyoni
Director : Stephen Manuel
Running Time : 81 mins

A nameless man (Wedekind) wakes up to find himself trapped in a concrete room with no obvious means of escape. At first believing his imprisonment to be part of an elaborate April Fool prank, he soon realises that those that have entrapped him may not be friendly when days start to pass...

This starts off feeling like a standard horror / thriller movie that could have easily turned into another instalment of Saw or Hostel if not for the out of left field ending. This progresses slowly and keeps the pacing at a minimum, with very little character development (in fact, very little characters!), but the unexplained ending makes you have to rethink everything that has gone before, perhaps even look for clues as the conclusion of the movie by watching it again. Sadly I don’t think this movie was clever enough to sustain the mystery if I were to watch it again.

You’ll like this if you liked : The I Inside

Mortdecai (2015) 7/10

Starring : Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Oliva Munn, Jeff Goldblum, Paul Bettany
Director : David Koepp
Running Time : 107 mins

Art dealer and sometime thief Charlie Mortdecai (Depp) is asked Inspector Alistair Martland (McGregor) – a long time friend and rival for the affections of his wife Johanna (Paltrow) - to assist in the recovery of a stolen painting. Faced with terrible debt, Mortdecai agrees to assist in return for ten per cent of the paintings sale price. And so the duo find themselves on a round the world chase in search of those responsible for the theft.

It seems that many of those who reviewed this movie didn’t quite understand its history. Mortdecai is high brow comedy in a lowbrow form, and as such it’s slapstick nature and knowing nods is perfect for what it is. Depp is good in the lead, and Paltrow, McGregor and Bettany are wonderful in their support, and it’s just a shame that so many have frowned on this seventies pastiche of the mystery novels of the twenties and thirties.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Pink Panther

Captain Phillips (2013) 6/10

Starring : Tom Hanks, Catherine Keener, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M Ali, Michael Chernus
Director : Paul Greengrass
Running Time : 135 mins

Based on a true story, this movie tells the story of Captain Richard Phillips (Hanks) as he commands a container vessel which is delivering cargo to the coast of Africa. The ship is attacked by Somali pirates, and with no weaponry to fight them off Phillips is taken hostage as the pirates negotiate for an exorbitant amount of money.

It’s always hard to judge this kind of movie, especially when you only have the events from one side of the story. Hanks is fine enough in this, though not Oscar worthy, and the supporting cast aren’t bad, but the pirates on the whole feel like they have been written in a very one-dimensional fashion which makes them almost irredeemable, where even the most hateful of villains should have some quality that you can like to hate about them other than being single-minded and focussed on one simple goal.

You’ll like this if you liked : Under Siege

Authors Anonymous (2014) 7/10

Starring : Kaley Cuoco, Chris Klein, Dennis Farina, Jonathan Bennett, Dylan Walsh, Teri Polo
Director : Ellie Kanner
Running Time : 93 mins

A group of struggling writers meet up regularly to help each other by critiquing their work and improving their writing, but when one of their number, Hannah Rinaldi (Cuoco), is offered a publishing deal which soon turns into a six figure movie deal, the rest of the group become increasingly envious and bitter.

This comedy is far from being of the laugh-out-loud variety, but it is still fun to watch the characters as they angrily resent their one time friend for her new found success. The change in opinions is expertly managed, and the irritation that this so-called literary genius doesn’t even know the most basic of authors just adds to the humour of the piece. This could, in some ways, have been better, perhaps by focussing on more of the characters for more of the time, but what we get is pretty good and on the whole carries a satisfactory conclusion.

You’ll like this if you liked : Young Adult

Hick (2011) 6/10

Starring : Chloe Grace Moretz, Eddie Redmayne, Ray McKinnon, Rory Culkin, Juliette Lewis, Blake Lively, Alec Baldwin
Director : Derick Martini
Running Time : 99 mins

Shortly after her thirteenth birthday, Luli McMullen (Moretz) decides to leave her home town of Nebraska and head to Las Vegas, after seeing an appealing advertisement on TV. She hitches a ride with Eddie Kreezer (Redmayne), a limping cowboy type, and she soon finds herself on a journey that will teach her about the real world and how dangerous a place it can be.

In spite of not really having any plot to speak of, this was an interesting movie that gave Moretz a well-deserved leading role, but the characters all felt a little too unlikely, what with everyone seeming to be a potential rapist or a nutcase, and the coincidences of the connections between the characters she meets was a little too far-fetched, considering the distances she was travelling, and I wasn’t a big fan of the ending which made it feel like her character had learned nothing on her journey.

You’ll like this if you liked : Freeway

Edge Of Tomorrow (2014) 8/10

Starring : Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Brendan Gleeson, Bill Paxton
Director : Doug Liman
Running Time : 114 mins

Major William Cage (Cruise) is reluctantly forced into combat when an invading alien race arrives on Earth. He is sent on a suicide mission with little or no training and is killed instantly, only to wake up earlier in the day. He finds himself caught in a time loop which sees him dying over and over, until he realises with the help of another soldier, Rita Vrataski (Blunt) that the reason why they have never been able to beat the aliens is because of the temporal anomaly in their blood which is what caused Cage to travel through time in the first place. Together they think they may have the answer to killing the aliens once and for all!

Considering Cruise was so boring in Oblivion, I didn’t have high hopes for this action movie, but I was surprised that it was actually really good. Cruise’s character is actually flawed, which makes a change for him, and is shown as something of a coward in teh opening of the movie. Obviously, as the day repeats, he becomes a far more worthy soldier, but it is the gradual improvement to his character that makes this so likeable and so imaginative.

You’ll like this if you liked : Looper

Dark Tide (2012) 5/10

Starring : Halle Berry, Olivier Martinez, Ralph Brown
Director : John Stockwell
Running Time : 114 mins

A year after a shark attack that killed a fellow diver, Kate Mathieson (Berry) is forced to return to taking people on shark tours, otherwise her business will fold. An offer to show around a wealthy businessman named Brady (Brown) puts her in business with her ex-boyfriend Jeff (Martinez), but danger looms when Brady insists on swimming with a Great White without a cage.

This movie takes so long to get to the shark attacks. Fair enough if you want to build suspension, but at least have something going on while we’re waiting. The tension between Berry and her ex isn’t enough to keep me interested for the build-up, and it’s almost 90 minutes before anything even remotely exciting happens (ignoring the opening attack scene). It doesn’t help that Berry is terrible in this, and the supporting cast aren’t much better. Avoid this unless you really, really, really, REALLY like sharks – the shark sequences are pretty good.

You’ll like this if you liked : Open Water

Walk Of Shame (2014) 7/10

Starring : Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden, Gillian Jacobs, Sarah Wright Olsen
Director : Steven Brill
Running Time : 94 mins

Meghan Miles (Banks) works as a reporter at a local television station, so when she is offered an interview to work at a network station she is very excited, until she hears that the network are looking at someone else for the role. She decides to get drunk with her friends and ends up staying the night with Gordon (Marsden), a guy she’s just met. The next morning she receives a call asking her in for an interview but her car has been towed and she ends up wandering the streets trying to get to the station.

It’s surprising that this didn’t get a release in the UK as it is a lot of fun. Banks plays the lost and confused reporter wonderfully, and all the cases of mistaken identity, ranging from people thinking she’s a hooker to a drug dealer, are actually played quite well, albeit in a slapstick tongue in cheek fashion. Some might mind the movie a little sexist, especially as Banks gets offered the job because the network think she isn’t squeaky clean anymore, but if you can get by all the sexist undertones (let’s be fair, they’re the bedrock of the movie) then you might find this a fun poke at how women are viewed by the media.

You’ll like this if you liked : Sex Tape

My Dog Skip (2000) 6/10

Starring : Frankie Muniz, Diane Lane, Luke Wilson, Kevin Bacon
Director : Jay Russell
Running Time : 96 mins

Looking back on his childhood, Willie Morris (Muniz) reflects on how his life had been changed before and after he received a pet dog named Skip during the 1940s. Prior to this his only friend was local sporting hero Dink Jenkins (Wilson), who has been sent off to fight in the war, and through the help of his loveable dog, Willie manages to befriend everyone in town.

Although not as funny as I expected, this is a likeable movie that uses the loveability of animals to tug at our heartstrings but, even though it is based on a true story, this is a little weak in actual story where it concerns the dog. This is really the story of a friendship between a young boy and a shell-shocked vet and how their friendship changed due to the horrors of war, cleverly disguised as a kid’s movie. Worth watching, but not the best animal related movie I’ve ever seen.

You’ll like this if you liked : Shiloh

Chappie (2015) 9/10

Starring : Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Ninja, Yo-Landi Visser, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver
Director : Neil Blomkamp
Running Time : 121 mins

Deon Wilson (Patel) works for the company who manufacture police robots, and wants nothing more than to prove that he can create a robot that can learn and be self aware. When he manages to create the drive that will enable his dream to come true, he steals a damaged robot to test it out, but the robot is stolen by a trio of thieves who plan to use the mechanoid they dub Chappie (Copley) in order to pull off a bank heist.

There are two sorts of people; those who think Chappie is a badly acted rip-off of Short Circuit and RoboCop, and those that thought it was harmless fun that gave an important message. I fall into the latter camp, and I really enjoyed the old-school feel of this movie. Just because the acting was bad from some of those involved didn’t ruin the film – if anything it made the characters feel a little more real and gave an extra layer of thought to the story as a whole.

You’ll like this if you liked : Short Circuit

Riddick (2013) 7/10

Starring : Vin Diesel, Jordi Molla, Matt Noble, Katee Sackhoff
Director : David Twohy
Running Time : 127 mins

Riddick (Diesel) is stranded on a remote abandoned planet, which is only inhabited by wild dog like creatures and mud demons. After spending a while healing from his injuries, he resorts to setting off his emergency beacon to seek help, attracting the attention of two orbiting ships. He makes them an offer – leave on one of the ships together, leaving him the other to escape on, or die horribly at his hands.

I hated The Chronicles Of Riddick. It was over the top, looked too expensive for what it was, it was slow, and nothing really happened. It was nothing like Pitch Black which was slow in a well-paced sort of way and had a coherent storyline, and Riddick is similar in this vein. Diesel may not be the best character actor, and the supporting cast might be almost entirely absent for half the film, but the action is well done and even the dog character who could have easily been annoying served a vital purpose to the plot.

You’ll like this if you liked : John Carter