Batman V Superman : Dawn Of Justice (2016) 6/10

Starring : Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot, Scoot McNairy
Director : Zack Synder
Running Time : 182 mins

With Superman (Cavill) considered too great a threat following his involvement in rescuing Lois Lane (Adams) from terrorists, Batman (Affleck) takes it upon himself to try and stop Superman due to his own hatred of those with super powers.

Although this was an entertaining enough movie, there was just too little substance to the plot. Even though there are a lot of things going on, the focus is given far too much to the fight scenes and not enough to the actual plot development. Fans of Superman and Batman might enjoy watching them fight, but the fact that the fight comes to an end because their mums have the same name (?) is a little anti-climactic. Personally I’d have preferred an amity that stemmed from something a little more substantial, like having to join forces to save the planet (which kind of happens, but nobody really cares by then). Plus one of the biggest villains in DC comics, Darkseid, is almost something of a one-note non-entity in this.

You’ll like this if you liked : X-Men : Apocalypse

Animal Attraction (2001) 7/10

Starring : Ashley Judd, Greg Kinnear, Hugh Jackman, Marisa Tomei, Ellen Barkin
Director : Tony Goldwyn
Running Time : 96 mins

Talk show producer Jane Goodale (Judd) thinks her life is pretty good until her boyfriend Ray (Kinnear) dumps her, so she decides to look into the behaviour of men and how they treat women, likening them to bulls due to their attraction to new cows. Under a fake identity, she begins publishing articles in the magazine her friend Liz (Tomei) works for, and soon becomes an overnight sensation.

This rom-com, also known as Someone Like You, was pretty standard for the time it was made and will no doubt appeal to those who loved this type of movie back then. Judd is pretty good in the lead, and Kinnear does a fine job as that betraying boyfriend. Plus it’s unusual to see Jackman back in his rom-com days when he only had one outing as Wolverine under his belt. But it’s probably Tomei and Barkin who are the most memorable in this, with Barkin playing the tough as nails boss who is also pretty vulnerable when it comes to her love life.

You’ll like this if you liked : Love And Other Disasters

Spectre (2015) 7/10

Starring : Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Bellucci, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris
Director : Sam Mendes
Running Time : 149 mins

James Bond (Craig) finds his job under threat when the Centre of National Security decide that MI6 might no longer be a relevant task force in the modern age and that there are plans to close them down. Regardless, Bond continues on a secret mission to uncover the truth about a criminal organisation named SPECTRE and learns some unsettling truths about the group.

In spite of it being fun seeing the old Blofeld and SPECTRE making a reappearance after so many years, this instalment could have been so much better. The story felt a little lazily written and could have easily been fleshed out and made far more substantial. The chemistry between Craig and Seydoux felt forced and unnatural, both because of the actors and the script itself (Dr Swann thinks Bond is responsible for her father’s death, so why does she fall for him so easily?). Fans of the franchise will either warm to this reimagining of Blofeld and SPECTRE, or by thoroughly annoyed that the writers couldn’t come up with new, original villains.

You’ll like this if you liked : Skyfall

Zootopia (2016) 8/10

Starring : Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate
Director : Byron Howard, Rich Moore & Jared Bush
Running Time : 109 mins

In Disney's 55th Animated Classic, Judy Hopps (Goodwin) is a rabbit who has wanted to be a cop all her life, but no rabbit has ever worked in law enforcement in her home city of Zootopia. When she investigates the disappearance of an otter, she is led to team-up with petty conman Nick Wilde (Bateman), a fox who was the last to see him, and the two start an investigation that leads to the discovery of a very sinister plot.

This movie is a fun mystery that also doubles as a positive message telling kids that they should follow their dreams and never give up on them. The characters are fun, the plot is well thought through, and the final conclusion, though predictable in many ways, is set up perfectly.

You’ll like this if you liked : Bolt

Before We Go (2014) 7/10

Starring : Chris Evans, Alice Eve, Scott Evans, Emma Fitzpatrick
Director : Chris Evans
Running Time : 96 mins

Street musician Nick Vaughan (Evans) sees a woman drop her phone, and runs after her to return it. The woman, Brooke Dalton (Eve), misses the last train of the night, and together they try to get her home before her husband does so she can retrieve a letter she left for him.

This is a likeable though unrealistic movie that allows Evans and Eve to bounce off each other for an hour and a half. Their interactions work on the whole, though the situations don’t quite feel real enough to me. The concluding scenes left a lot open to interpretation, and I liked that. It’s nice to see what could be classed as a romantic movie not have a definite romantic ending, but instead lets the viewer decide how things pan out for the protagonists.

You’ll like this if you liked : In Search Of A Midnight Kiss

Time Traveller (2015) 5/10

Starring : Josh Hartnett, Bipashu Basu, Tamsin Egerton
Director : Roland Joffe
Running Time : 110 mins

When marine archaeologist Jay Fennel (Hartnett) loses oxygen on a dive to save his wife Laura (Egerton), he lies in a coma dreaming of a past life in 18th Century India. There he recalls the life of James Stewart (Hartnett again), a Scottish captain who falls for an Indian woman named Tulaja (Basu), and his focus falls on a ring from the archaeological site that could make the difference between his life and his death.

This was such an odd movie it’s hard to describe what exactly was good and bad about it. The accents were gratingly bad, from Hartnett’s Scottish accent to Egerton’s American one, and there was nowhere near enough back and forth between the past and the present. Instead this felt like an historical movie about a doomed love that had been bookmarked with scenes from the present day to turn into a sci-fi movie of sorts.

You’ll like this if you liked : Upside Down

Allegiant (2016) 6/10

Starring : Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Zoe Kravitz, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Jeff Daniels
Director : Robert Schwentke
Running Time : 121 mins

Tris (Woodley) and Four (James) are forced to escape over the wall surrounding Chicago only to discover that things are almost as bad on the outside. The council know about the situation in Chicago but have done nothing to help, and that David (Daniels), the leader of the Bureau, has been keeping secrets from them.

Although the special effects have improved since the last movie, giving the characters a number of gadgets to play with, this seems to have been at the expense of any discernible plot line. I don’t actually remember any of this happening in the books, and part of me suspects that the majority of the story was made up to pad out the small amount of story from the final book in order to make an extra movie. There will be an element of relief when Ascendant is finally released, as I can feel that this series is actually ended, and hopefully it ends on a better note than the rest of the series.

You’ll like this if you liked : Maze Runner : The Scorch Trials

Justice League : The Flashpoint Paradox (2013) 8/10

Starring : Justin Chambers, C Thomas Howell, Michael B Jordan, Kevin McKidd
Director : Jay Oliva
Running Time : 82 mins

During a confrontation with Professor Zoom (Howell), The Flash (Chambers) finds himself whisked into a parallel world where everything is the same, only different. With the help of that world’s Batman, Thomas Wayne (McKidd), Flash tries to regain his lost powers so he can gain the speed to travel through time and change back whatever has caused his world to become a war stricken dystopia.

This was possibly the best DC animated movie so far. The story, though confusing at times, worked extremely well, and the characters were plausible in spite of some of their parallel choices. You really have to be a fan of time travel to enjoy this, and in spite of what some reviewers have mentioned there are explanations for why such a minor change could have such devastating effects on the time line. This was great fun, though a little overly violent for younger viewers.

You’ll like this if you liked : Justice League : Doom

The Intern (2015) 8/10

Starring : Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Anders Holm, JoJo Kushner, Andrew Rannells, Adam Devine, Zack Pearlman
Director : Nancy Meyers
Running Time : 122 mins

Ben Whittaker (De Niro) is a 70 something widower who decides that, in order to make his retirement more interesting, he should take an internship with a company looking for seniors to work with them. He is tasked with dealing with the boss of an online shopping site, Jules Ostin (Hathaway), who enjoys her freedom to work without answering to anyone, but as the days go by the two form an unusual friendship that leads Ben to becoming a pivotal part of Jules’s life.

This is typical of a Nancy Myers movie in that, in many ways, nothing profound really happens throughout the duration of the movie. Characters discover themselves and become more rounded individuals, but other than that there is little direction plot wise. That’s not to say it isn’t a good movie, far from it. What we have here is a knowing comedy that takes multiple generations and mixes them together in a believable fashion that keeps what little action there is entertaining and fun. Throw in some spot on performances from the leads and you have yourself an engaging comedy that doesn’t ever fall into slapstick or farce.

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

Ride Along 2 (2016) 6/10

Starring : Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter, Benjamin Bratt, Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong
Director : Tim Story
Running Time : 102 mins

James Peyton (Cube) is persuaded by his sister Angela (Sumpter) to take her fiancée Ben Barber (Hart) to investigate a drug dealer in Miami, but he secretly hopes to use the case to prove Ben doesn’t have what it takes to be a detective.

This wasn’t as much fun as the original, mainly because it no longer felt as original (how original can a buddy cop movie really be?). It also suffered from having a ridiculously inappropriate soundtrack; hip hop music filled with swearing that’s bleeped out because of the PG13 rating? What were they thinking? Ice Cube felt ill at ease in this, as if he wished he were somewhere else, and most of the performances were pretty wooden at time. Jeong and Hart try to keep things light, but it’s not easy for them with such a so-so script. Worth watching if you liked the original, but it’s not an instant classic.

You’ll like this if you liked : 21 Jump Street

Frankie And Alice (2010) 7/10

Starring : Halle Berry, Stellan Skarsgard, Phylicia Rashad, Chandra Wilson
Director : Geoffrey Sax
Running Time : 100 mins

Frankie Murdoch (Berry) is a go-go dancer in 1970s Los Angeles. Following an incident where she blacks out and assaults a bartender, she discovers that she suffers from multiple personality disorder and, with the help of a psychiatrist, Dr Oz (Skarsgard), she begins a journey to discover what caused this break and how she can try to get back to normal.

In spite of the fact this had almost no publicity outside of the US, and took five years to get released on DVD in the UK, this actually wasn’t that bad, and was doubly surprised to see Berry was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance (though snubbed at the Oscars). I didn’t know what to expect when I started watching it, and was worried it was going to be a nonsense drama about a stripper and her struggles, but when the surprising twist happened and it turned out she suffered from dissociative identity disorder, I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

You’ll like this if you liked : Identity

Scooby-Doo! And Kiss :Rock And Roll Mystery (2015) 7/10

Starring : Frank Welker, Mindy Cohn, Grey Griffin, Matthew Lillard, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer, Tommy Thayer
Director : Spike Brandt & Tony Cervone
Running Time : 75 mins

In the twenty-fourth of the direct to video Scooby-Doo series, Scooby (Welker) and the gang travel to Kiss World, a theme park modelled after their favourite band, Kiss. There they discover that the park is haunted by the Crimson Witch (voiced by NCIS star Pauley Perrette), who plans on summoning The Destroyer from the parallel world of Kissteria.

This was an odd Scooby mystery as, at least for a time in the movie, the viewer is led to believe that what is happening is for real. When there’s the revelation that it was all a mass hallucination, it feels like a bit of a cop-out, but it doesn’t stop the movie from being fun. Fans of Kiss will love the music, and also the fact that the band provide their own voices and make fun of themselves. Overall this is a solid instalment, though it does at times feel like it’s purely a marketing ploy (though they joke about this too).

You’ll like this if you liked : Scooby-Doo! Wrestlemania Mystery

Pandemic (2016) 6/10

Starring : Rachel Nichols, Alfie Allen, Missi Pyle, Mekhi Phifer
Director : John Suits
Running Time : 92 mins

A group of doctors and soldiers search for survivors of a worldwide pandemic which turns people into flesh eating cannibals that are fully aware of their actions.

I didn’t hold much hope for this movie, which attempts to be one hundred per cent filmed through the characters POV, and when the point of view filming basically collapses part way through the movie I become incredibly annoyed. This could have been good if the characters were less wooden, and even when the writers try to give character to the cast it fails miserably. The rating I’ve given to this movie is for the concept, which is a good idea if it had have worked, but sadly it seems that laziness crept in with the director who seems to have chosen to take shortcuts rather than try to think how to shoot a scene and still keep it POV.

You’ll like this if you liked : 28 Weeks Later