Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016) 8/10

Starring : Zac Efron, Anna Kendrick, Adam Devine, Aubrey Plaza, Stephen Root, Stephanie Faracy, Sugar Lyn Beard, Sam Richardson
Director : Jake Szymanski
Running Time : 99 mins

When their little sister Jeanie (Beard) announces she is getting married in Hawaii, Mike (Devine) and Dave (Efron) are challenged by their family not to ruin the occasion like they usually do and to bring dates to stop them acting out. So they advertise for the perfect dates online and meet Alice (Kendrick) and Tatiana (Plaza), two girls who seem perfect at first until their ulterior motives are revealed.

I actually really enjoyed this gross out comedy. It’s great to see decent comedy actors in the leads, and not just the male leads but the female leads too. I loved Plaza in Parks & Recreation, and Kendrick proves she can do comedy just as well as drama, but it’s Beard who manages to play understated comedy amongst all the over the top action, even though the scenes she’s involved in are often some of the most silly. Fans of classic slapstick will love this, although it does feature a lot of more modern visceral comedy too.

You’ll like this if you liked : Bad Neighbours 2

Nancy Drew (2007) 7/10

Starring : Emma Roberts, Josh Flitter, Max Thieriot, Rachael Leigh Cook, Tate Donovan, Marshall Bell, Laura Harring, Barry Bostwick
Director : Andrew Fleming
Running Time : 100 mins

Nancy Drew (Roberts) and her father Carson (Donovan) move to the West Coast where Mr Drew has a job. Nancy, who loves investigating mysteries, promises her dad she won’t do any crime solving while they’re away, but when she discovers that their new home once belonged to a murdered movie star, she can’t help herself and begins looking into her mysterious death.

This was actually quite a fun kids murder mystery. The homage to the old fashioned Carolyn Keen books is subtly played, and the jokes are delicately played rather than over the top. Roberts in likeable in the lead, showing an innocence in character completely absent in her more recent roles, and fans of the old Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books will love this modern adaptation.

You’ll like this if you liked : Holes

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : Out Of The Shadows (2016) 8/10

Starring : Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Laura Linney, Stephen Amell, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, Alan Ritchson, Brian Tee, Tyler Perry, Tony Shalhoub, Brad Garrett
Director : Dave Green
Running Time : 113 mins

Following the defeat of the evil Shredder (Tee), a defeat that the public don’t realise was thanks to them, the turtles find themselves in even more danger when they discover that a scientist named Baxter Stockman (Perry) is planning on helping Shredder escape prison. The escape goes wrong and Shredder is teleported to another dimension where he meets evil warlord Krang (Garrett) who decides to come to our dimension and take over the earth.

I actually thought this was better than the 2014 movie. Fans of the cartoon will enjoy the far more tongue in cheek approach in this, though Tyler Perry goes a little too far with the comedy (and yes, his character was originally black – it was the cartoon that got him wrong). The plot is a lot more coherent and the actors seem more at home this time around. Definitely worth watching, even if you didn’t think much of the last movie.

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

Zoolander 2 (2016) 8/10

Starring : Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Penelope Cruz, Will Ferrell
Director : Ben Stiller
Running Time : 102 mins

Following the death of his wife and the injury of his best friend Hansel (Wilson), Derek Zoolander (Stiller) retired from the modelling business and went into seclusion, but when a number of celebrities are murdered with their final expression resembling Zoolander’s trademark blue steel look, Fashion Interpol agent Valentina Valencia (Cruz) tracks him down to help solve the crimes.

This was not as good as the first movie – how could it be after fifteen years of anticipation – but there are still some funny moments. The conceit of the story was fun, and some of the jokes might have been obvious, like Hansel’s scarring, but they were still funny. There were jokes that didn’t work so well, though most of them were very good, especially the visual ones. Fans of the original might be a little disappointed, but there are worse comedies out there.

You’ll like this if you liked : Grimsby

Batman : Assault On Arkham (2014) 8/10

Starring : Kevin Conroy, Neal McDonough, Hynden Walch, Matthew Gray Gubler, Troy Baker, CCH Pounder
Director : Jay Oliva & Ethan Spaulding
Running Time : 76 mins

When the Riddler (Gubler) threatens to make public some vital information about a secret government organisation, Amanda Waller (Pounder) reforms the Suicide Squad to break into Arkham Asylum and have him killed, but the squad soon realise that the Riddler’s information might also be important to them too.

Okay, so this appears to be in some part the foundation for the Suicide Squad movie of 2016, although the story is a little different with a few different members in the squad. There are a lot of set pieces that link in with the new movie, but this is actually far more over the top and definitely more sexual. The characters are fun, the plot is actually pretty tight, and the twist close to the end really turns the story on its head.

You’ll like this if you liked : Superman / Batman : Public Enemies

American Ultra (2015) 8/10

Starring : Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, Connie Britton, Walton Goggins, John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman, Tony Hale
Director : Nima Nourizadeh
Running Time : 96 mins

Phobic loser Mike Howell (Eisenberg) has spent his whole life in a small town with his understanding girlfriend Phoebe Larson (Stewart), writing his comic books and getting stoned, until he discovers that he was once an experimental CIA killing machine who had his memory wiped and a fear of leaving his town put in place by operative Victoria Lasseter (Britton) in an attempt to protect him. Now he has to run for his life as the agency has located him and targeted him for termination.

This was actually a surprisingly fun action comedy – even Kristen Stewart was good in it. The cast, largely comprised of TV actors, manages to pace the changes in the action with expert ease, while allowing us to believe that Eisenberg is still a hopeless loser even when he’s demonstrating his CIA skills. Fans of tongue in cheek humour and well scripted character driven movies will love how this combines with all-out action sequences and crazy explosions.

You’ll like this if you liked : Super

Bad Neighbours 2 (2016) 7/10

Starring : Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ike Barinholtz, Kiersey Clemons, Dave Franco
Director : Nicholas Stoller
Running Time : 93 mins

Finally free of the fraternity that moved in next door to them, Mac Radner (Rogen) and his wife Kelly (Byrne) are horrified to learn that a sorority led by former frat boy Teddy Sanders (Efron) has moved into the house, causing even more trouble than the frat, but it isn’t long before the Radners join forces with Teddy to rid themselves of the sorority once and for all.

This movie is a little disjointed to start with, but when things get going it soon shows the same level of humour as the first movie. There still isn’t any real sympathy for the Radners as they attempt to get some peace and quiet, but it was fun to see how the characters have progressed in the two years between movies – in many cases they haven’t progressed at all.

You’ll like this if you liked : Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates

In A Dark Place (2006) 6/10

Starring : Leelee Sobieski, Tara Fitzgerald, Christian Olson, Gabrielle Adam, Graham Pountney
Director : Donato Rotunno
Running Time : 95 mins

After losing her job as an art teacher, Anna Veigh (Sobieski) is hired as a nanny to take care of two young children, the niece and nephew of a wealthy businessman. When she arrives at their estate, everything seems normal until she starts to realise that the children may have been molested by her predecessor, and that there may be evil spirits haunting them.

This is such an odd movie, I couldn’t tell if Sobieski was nuts or if there were genuine ghosts. Loosely based on Henry James classic short story, The Turn Of The Screw, this tries to trick us in a sense by not giving enough information for us to guess if the ghosts are real or if all the problems in the movie stem from the insanity of both Sobieski and the two children. Because this is so ambiguous, it’s hard to judge if it’s any good, and by over sexualising the lead it feels like the writers have failed to cleverly adapt the story to the screen by focusing too much on the sexual nature of the piece.

You’ll like this if you liked : Crimson Peak