They Came Together (2014) 8/10

Starring : Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Ellie Kemper, Cobie Smulders, Noureen DeWulf, Jason Mantzoukas, Michael Ian Black
Director : David Wain
Running Time : 84 mins

When Joel (Rudd) and Molly (Poehler) meet, they hate each other in an old-fashioned rom com way, but when Molly discovers that the corporation that Joel works for are planning to put her out of business things get even worse until the inevitable happens.

This is an hilarious parody of romantic comedies, taking all the stereotypical set pieces and mixing them up in an unusual way. Rudd and Poehler work wonderfully together, and their story is told in a ‘When Harry Met Sally’ sort of fashion except with the main couple telling the story. There are some ridiculous moments that will have you thinking WTF, and some other moments that will feel familiar in a new and surprising way, and as for the ending, well it isn’t the typical one you’d be used to from a rom com.

You’ll like this if you liked : When Harry Met Sally

Looney Tunes : Rabbits Run (2015) 7/10

Starring : Jeff Bergman, Rachel Ramras, Jim Rash, Maurice LaMarche, Fred Armisen, Bob Bergen, Billy West, Damon Jones
Director : Jeff Siergey
Running Time : 75 mins

When Lola Bunny (Ramras) tries her hand at inventing her own range of perfume, she accidentally includes a rare flower which the government have been trying to get their hands on which has the ability to turn people invisible. Realising her life might be in danger, but not knowing why, she ends up on the run with unrelated cab driver Bugs Bunny (Bergman).

I actually enjoyed this Looney Tunes movie, the first in almost a decade. The plot was fun and gave lots of potential for laughs, though primarily this is more of a children’s movie than one targeted at both kids and adults alike. The musical numbers were generally fun, though I didn’t like the one with the two camp gophers or whatever they were supposed to be, and the story flowed like any other buddy road movie.

You’ll like this if you liked : Bolt

Get A Job (2016) 7/10

Starring : Miles Teller, Anna Kendrick, Brandon T Jackson, Nicholas Braun, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Marcia Gay Harden, Bryan Cranston
Director : Dylan Kidd
Running Time : 83 mins

Will Davis (Teller) and his girlfriend Jillian Stewart (Kendrick) have graduated college but can’t seem to find the perfect job, instead going from one job to another and discovering how terrible life in the work force can be. Meanwhile Will’s father Roger (Cranston) finds himself made redundant and discovers what life is like for a man in his fifties trying to compete with today’s youth for jobs.

This is a likeable enough comedy that doesn’t go too far in terms of slapstick. Instead the comedy revolves around how different age groups view the working world; the young as a chore and the old as a privilege. The performances are good on the whole from the ensemble cast of young actors (and a few more seasoned ones), but it would have been nice if they could have been given a bit more funny material to play with.

You’ll like this if you liked : 21 & Over

Hunky Dory (2011) 6/10

Starring : Minnie Driver, Kristian Gwilliam, Aneurin Barnard, Tom Rhy Harries, Adam Byrd, Danielle Branch, Kimberley Nixon, Kayleigh Bennett, Darren Evans
Director : Marc Evans
Running Time : 111 mins

Vivienne Mae (Driver) is a school drama teacher whose class find the teaching of Shakespeare irrelevant and old school as they would rather be listening to music and having sex so, to liven things up, she decides to incorporate modern music into the performance to make things a bit more modern for them.

This drama, set in the scorching English summer of 1976, isn’t the best or the most interesting. The performances tend to range from stale to over the top, and there isn’t really any cohesive plot. Still, fans of the music of the time will enjoy the flashbacks to days gone by and may even relish the idea of relviing how school life used to be if they happened to have been born around 1960.

You’ll like this if you liked : Hamlet 2

Superfast! (2015) 5/10

Starring : Alex Ashbaugh, Dale Pavinski, Lili Mirojnick, Andrea Navedo, Daniel Booko, Omar Chaparro
Director : Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer
Running Time : 100 mins

Rookie cop Lucas White (Ashbaugh) is sent undercover to infiltrate a gang of illegal street racers led by Vin Serento (Pavinski) who are suspected of working with renowned kingpin Juan Carlos de la Sol (Chaparro), but White soon starts to like his new criminal friends and is reluctant to turn them in.

This spoof of ‘The Fast And The Furious’ isn’t as terrible as some of the spoofs made by Friedberg & Seltzer. Thankfully they don’t thrown in too many irrelevant popular culture references like they did in the likes of ‘Epic Movie’ or ‘Disaster Movie’. Instead they’ve tried to follow the formula that ‘Airplane!’ did so well – take an existing movie and play the script for jokes. They tried this with ‘Vampires Suck’ and failed miserably, but here they do a little better. It’s still not laugh out loud funny, but it has its moments that aren’t completely cringeworthy.

You’ll like this if you liked : Date Movie

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) 8/10

Starring : Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, Christopher Abbott, Billy Bob Thornton, Nicholas Braun
Director : Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
Running Time : 112 mins

Kim Baker (Fey) is offered a three-month assignment in Afghanistan to work as an on-camera reporter, but when she arrives in the war torn country she soon realises how unprepared she is for the job, finding herself surrounded by sexist colleagues and a culture she knows nothing about.

This comedy drama manages to be both whimsical and dark at the same time. By having Fey in the lead role we are lulled into a false sense of security where we believe nothing truly bad can happen but, as the movie progresses, increasingly horrible things happen to her character, from getting cheated on by her boyfriend right up to being involved in bombings and outright death. This is an interesting look at the life of a reporter working in a country plagued by warfare.

You’ll like this if you liked : Our Brand Is Crisis

Justice League : War (2014) 7/10

Starring : Sean Astin, Zach Callison, Christopher Gorham, Justin Kirk, Michelle Monaghan, Shemar Moore, Jason O’Mara, Alan Tudyk, Steve Blum
Director : Jay Oliva
Running Time : 80 mins

When Earth’s greatest super heroes discover that aliens have been secretly invading the planet in order to terraform it for the use of the evil Darkseid (Blum), they form an alliance and create the Justice League in order to the world as they know it from being destroyed.

Although not as good as the previous direct to video movie, ‘Justice League : The Flashpoint Paradox’, this is still a movie that ticks all the boxes in terms of character appearances. Pretty much all of the major DC characters are in this, and it looks like even those that aren’t are likely to show up in the ‘Justice League : Throne Of Atlantis’ follow-up of sorts. Fans of Batman. Superman, or any of the DC big hitters will love this movie which sees the creation of the Justice League for the very first time, though the recent ‘Batman / Superman’ movie does sort of spoil this cartoons effect by forcing viewers to compare this to a far inferior work.

You’ll like this if you liked : Superman & Batman : Apocalypse

Daddy’s Home (2015) 7/10

Starring : Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini, Thomas Haden Church, Scarlett Estevez, Owen Vaccaro, Bobby Cannavale
Director : Sean Anders
Running Time : 96 mins

Brad Whitaker (Ferrell) is the step-father to the children of his wife, Sara (Cardellini), and wants nothing more than for them to treat him like a real dad as he can’t have children of his own. When their biological father Dusty (Wahlberg) shows up again, Brad finds himself playing second fiddle until he finds out that there might be a chance he can have a child of his own with his wife, but this plan to solidify his place in the family is met with resistance from Dusty.

This isn’t the best screenplay written by Sean Anders (that would have to be a toss-up between Hot Tub Time Machine and She’s Out Of My League) but it still has some funny – albeit cringe worthy – moments. Wahlberg is perfect as the angry ex who tries to ruin things for Ferrell, though Ferrell himself is a little over the top at times playing the wussy second husband. Fans of Wahlberg and Ferrell in ‘The Other Guys’ will be happy to see them back together, though the setting is very, very different.

You’ll like this if you liked : Dirty Grandpa

Ghostbusters (2016) 6/10

Starring : Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Charles Dance, Michael Kenneth Williams, Chris Hemsworth
Director : Paul Feig
Running Time : 116 mins

When Erin Gilbert (Wiig) discovers that her one-time friend and ex-colleague Abby Yates (McCarthy) has republished the book they wrote together on the paranormal, she tries to stop her for fear the book will result in her losing her tenure, but when they witness an actual ghost together, they decide to go into business together to capture the increasing amount of spirits that have begun to manifest in New York City.

This was nowhere close to being as terrible as the trailers made it out to be, it just wasn’t the same kind of humour as the original Ghostbusters and felt more like a Scooby-Doo movie due to the colourful special effects and overall slapstick feel. The plot, though annoyingly flimsy and with a villain a child could have invented, was fine enough, though it would have been nice to actually have a villain of substance instead of a whiner who didn’t have any friends, and who yet has Godlike abilities when he becomes a ghost. The jokes were just hammered home too much; there was a nice visual joke where Hemsworth puts his finger through his glasses to scratch his nose, showing us that there’s no glass there, but this is then spoilt when it is pointed out by the rest of the cast. With the kind of humour that is signposted at every turn, this will appeal to young children unfamiliar with the franchise, but fans of the originals may be saddened by the turn the franchise has taken.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Haunted Mansion

Belle And Sebastien (2013) 8/10

Starring : Felix Bossuet, Tcheky Karyo, Margaux Chatelier, Dimitri Storoge, Andreas Pietschmann
Director : Nicolas Vanier
Running Time : 100 mins

In a small village near the French Alps during World War II, a young boy named Sebastien (Bossuet) befriends a wild dog that the rest of his village believe to be a savage beast that is slaughtering their sheep. He hides her and names her Belle, but soon the rest of the village sets out to hunt her down and kill her.

This brought back memories of the cartoon series of the same name from my childhood. This has a lot more focus on the war, putting emphasis on the French resistance as they try to sneak people across the border under the noses of the German occupying forces. But on the most basic level this is a story of a boy and his dog and their love for each other, something that is expertly woven into this tale of judging books by their covers.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

Point Break (2015) 6/10

Starring : Edgar Ramirez, Luke Bracey, Ray Winstone, Teresa Palmer, Matias Varela
Director : Ericson Core
Running Time : 115 mins

Extreme sports enthusiast turned FBI agent Johnny Utah (Bracey) is tasked with infiltrating a gang of extreme sports athletes who are suspected of being criminals who are pulling off heists as they attempt to complete the fabled Ozaki 8, a series of ordeals which are designed to honour nature itself.

I was pleasantly surprised that the people remaking this cult guilty pleasure classic had made an effort to update and even attempt to improve on the plot from the original movie, but clearly the casting director didn’t realise that this movie required actors who could act. The movie, in spite of its action packed sequences, falls flat due to bland characters and almost emotionless drama. Fans of the original will cry with despair when they see this, but don’t get me wrong, the action sequences do help a little as does the additional plot of the Ozaki 8.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Fast And The Furious

The Nice Guys (2016) 9/10

Starring : Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Yaya DaCosta, Keith David, Beau Knapp, Kim Basinger
Director : Shane Black
Running Time : 112 mins

Private Investigators Jackson Healy (Crowe) and Holland March (Gosling) find themselves working together on the case of a murdered porn actress when it becomes increasingly clear that her death was somehow related to a missing porn film that apparently had a very unsubtle subtext to the story.

This was one of the funniest action comedies I’ve seen in a very long time. Gosling and Crowe work beautifully together, with Rice playing a Nancy Drew style daughter to Gosling. The plot has its holes, mainly to do with times and places being inaccurate for 1977, but it kept me laughing throughout, from the sleep deprived hallucinations in the car to Gosling’s homage to Abbott and Costello. Anyone who loves buddy movies or action movies should definitely add this little gem to their watch list, it’s a definite must see.

You’ll like this if you liked : Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

The Theory Of Everything (2014) 7/10

Starring : Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, David Thewlis
Director : James Marsh
Running Time : 124 mins

While attending Cambridge University in the 1960s, Stephen Hawking (Redmayne) meets and falls in love with his future wife, Jane Wilde (Jones). Their relationship blossoms as he lazily continues through his courses, but when he is diagnosed with motor neurone disease and given only two years to live, he suddenly begins to buckle down and becomes one of the world’s most famous scientific minds.

This was an interesting movie, showing details of Hawking’s life that I hadn’t been familiar with before. The acting is superb from Redmayne who plays Hawking to a tee without turning it into an offensive imitation, though the remainder of the cast are pretty plain and ordinary in comparison. There isn’t that much excitement in the movie, which goes without saying really, and the timeline of events does get confusing at times, but all in all this is a well developed tale about how Hawking rose to the challenge of his disease and defied the odds by surviving more than fifty years past his expected time of death.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Imitation Game

Results (2015) 6/10

Starring : Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribisi, Brooklyn Decker, Anthony Michael Hall, Constance Zimmer
Director : Andrew Bujalski
Running Time : 105 mins

Personal trainer Kat (Smulders) begins training a wealthy new client and recent divorcee named Danny (Corrigan) who starts to fall for her, while Kat’s boss Trevor (Pearce) continues to pine for their lost relationship together.

This movie is something of a muddle. For the first half it feels like the story is about Kat and Danny, and how their professional relationship falls apart, but then Trevor, who up until a point feels like a secondary character, takes a front seat and the movie is suddenly about him and Kat, if not mostly about him and his struggles to expand his business. There are some likeable moments, and the characters are fun in an exaggerated way, but the lack of both cohesion and direction makes this fall short of what it could easily have been.

You’ll like this if you liked : Drinking Buddies