On The Road (2012) 6/10

Starring : Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Tom Sturridge, Alice Braga, Elisabeth Moss, Danny Morgan, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen
Director : Walter Salles
Running Time : 140 mins

With his career on the slide and his father recently deceased, failed writer Sal Paradise (Riley) decides to take a cross-country trip in search of something to motivate his work. With his friends Dean Moriarty (Hedlund) and Marylou (Stewart), the trio try to discover something new and fascinating that could inspire Sal’s writings.

I’ve never read the book on which this is based, but this movie was in my opinion incredibly boring. The acting was dull and without any kind of inspiration, and the story meandered in such a way that it was difficult to follow what the characters were trying to do, not that I cared - they were so unlikeable. If you’re like me, you’ll find your mind wandering while watching this, so to be honest I just wouldn’t bother unless you were a huge fan of the book and like this dated tripped-out kind of flick.

You’ll like this if you liked : Across The Universe

The Spectacular Now (2013) 8/10

Starring : Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson
Director : James Ponsoldt
Running Time : 96 mins

Teenager Sutter Keely (Teller) has no plans for his future and simply lives in the present with his girlfriend Cassidy (Larson), but when she breaks up with him he turns to alcohol to cope. After a drunken night he wakes up lying on someone’s lawn and meets Aimee Finecky (Woodley), a girl who is his complete opposite; driven, intelligent, and with a future. He decides to spend some time with Aimee, and they start hanging out, but he is unable to see how dating her just for a short while could affect her feelings in the future.

The characters in this movie actually do feel realistic, with Sutter’s inability to know when he is being hurtful due to his habit of living in the now. The story does meander a little, and I did think at one point that there would be no conclusion, but the blunt ending, although abrupt, does give some closure at least to how Sutter’s personality has developed through the movie thanks in part to Aimee.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Dead Leaves (2004) 7/10

Starring : Jaxon Lee, Amanda Winn-Lee, Hal Lubin
Director : Hiroyuki Imaishi
Running Time : 52 mins

After they wake up on Earth with no memory of prior events and strange super powers, Retro (Lee) and Pandy (Winn-Lee) go on a crime spree and end up on the moon-based penal colony Dead Leaves. There they discover their true identities and plan a mass jail break.

This Japanese cartoon doesn’t use the standard sort of animation you’d expect and instead looks like a Tank Girl comic book on drugs. This strange style is actually quite appealing and after a while, even though it gets more and more outlandish, you start not to notice. The characters are fun, and it’s just a shame that the run time is so short, as this feels like it ends before it really gets a chance to get started. A must for anyone who is a fan of kooky comic book stuff, like Love And Rockets or The Mask.

You’ll like this if you liked : Tank Girl

The Great Gatsby (2013) 6/10

Starring : Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton
Director : Baz Luhrmann
Running Time : 143 mins

Nick Carraway (Maguire) moves to Long Island where he starts to wonder about his curious reclusive neighbour Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio), a man few have ever seen in spite of his regular lavish parties. When he does meet Gatsby, he discovers the man is deeply in love with Carraway’s cousin Daisy Buchanan (Mulligan) and had moved to the area to be close to her and try to win her back from her domineering husband Tom (Edgerton).

The score in this movie did at times spoil the movie for me – it’s fine to take a modern song and give it a twenties twist, or vice versa, but the hip-hop moments felt silly to me; I wouldn’t have expected Noel Coward ditties in Boyz N The Hood!?! Visually the first half of the movie is strongest, but in terms of content and acting the second half wins hands-down (largely thanks to the lack of modern music spoiling the period setting). Where Luhrmann managed to keep style while having modern tunes in Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge, here he loses something along the way. This is worth watching if you’re not easily distracted and don’t mind being pulled out of the moment during musical scenes.

You’ll like this if you liked : Moulin Rouge

Ginger Snaps (2000) 8/10

Starring : Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle, Kris Lemche, Jesse Moss, Danielle Hampton, Mimi Rogers
Director : John Fawcett
Running Time : 104 mins

Sisters Ginger (Isabelle) and Brigitte (Perkins) are outcasts at school – and love things that way - but following an attack from a wild animal Ginger starts to act out of character, and when she starts developing body hair and a tail Brigitte starts to suspect that her sister is turning into a werewolf. With the help of local drug dealer Sam (Lemche) Brigitte tries to find a cure before Ginger’s transformation becomes irreversible.

I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed this movie already – it is one of my favourite guilty pleasure horror films. The story is like a cross between An American Werewolf In London and Carrie, with a bit of Species thrown in for good measure. The performances are faultlessly subtle and the action is paced in such a way that humour and horror are perfectly balanced with each other until the concluding action scenes where things turn to complete terror. A must see for any horror fan.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Faculty

The Lifeguard (2013) 7/10

Starring : Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, David Lambert, Amy Madigan
Director : Liz W Garcia
Running Time : 98 mins

Suffering from a bout of depression, New York reporter Leigh London (Bell) decides to move back to her home town in Connecticut and takes a job working for minimum wage as a lifeguard. She gets back in touch with her childhood friends Mel (Gummer) and Todd (Starr), but this lapse into her childhood ways leads her to start a relationship with Little Jason (Lambert), a troubled sixteen year-old.

This movie really skates over the whole statutory rape theme of this movie and focuses on the theme of Leigh trying to find meaning in her life. Granted, the age of consent in Connecticut is sixteen (apparently it’s so kids can be enlisted at that age), but that doesn’t make what Bell’s character did any more right. There will be those who focus heavily on this issue, but if you look at this movie in a way that it is simply about Leigh having what amounts to a mid-life crisis and trying to cope with it then this isn’t that bad a film, and the soundtrack is great!

You’ll like this if you liked : Garden State

The Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants (2005) 7/10

Starring : Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel
Director : Ken Kwapis
Running Time : 114 mins

Four lifelong friends, Carmen (Ferrera), Bridget (Lively), Lena (Bledel) and Tibby (Tamblyn), find a pair of jeans that amazingly fit them all. As they find themselves separated for the first time over summer break, they decide to share the jeans amongst themselves, as well as the stories of what has happened to them on their respective time away.

Even though the concept of this teen film is a little ropey, with the girls mailing a pair of jeans to each other all over the world, the stories within the main body of the film will no doubt appeal to young girls the world over who will enjoy the little dramas that effect each of the girls in turn. There are some funny moments, but largely this is a dramatic piece that seems to give all of the girls involved a memorable summer that I’m sure most of them would rather forget parts of.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Baby-Sitters Club

Reasonable Doubt (2014) 7/10

Starring : Dominic Cooper, Samuel L Jackson, Gloria Reuben, Ryan Robbins, Erin Karpluk, Dylan Taylor
Director : Peter P Croudins
Running Time : 92 mins

When hot shot district attorney Mitch Brockden (Cooper) flees the scene of a hit and run, he is shocked to see the victim on the news the next morning, having been discovered in the back of a van. Brockden takes the case as prosecution against Clinton Davis (Jackson), the owner of the van, but Davis gets off. That’s when Brockden starts to have doubts about how innocent David really is...

This was actually not that bad. The direction of the movie almost tricks the viewer into believing that the plot is entirely going to be about Cooper trying to frame Jackson for the hit and run so that he can get off scot free, but the twist in the tale really makes this an intriguing plot, but the execution could have been better, and the risk in Cooper’s actions could have been explored further to make this a truly exciting thriller.

You’ll like this if you liked : Lakeview Terrace

Katy Perry : Part Of Me (2012) 7/10

Starring : Katy Perry
Director : Dan Kutforth & Jane Lipitz
Running Time : 94 mins

This part-concert, part-documentary follows Katy Perry and her entourage as they travel on tour across America. Along the way we get to see her growing up with her uber-religious parents and see how she was limited in her choices as a child but overcame these limitations and became the pop singer we all now know and love, as well as seeing her fairy tale marriage to comedian Russell Brand fall apart.

Generally I enjoy Katy Perry’s music – it’s fun, sometimes clever and always bubbly feel-good stuff, so it’s sad when people hate her. Granted, this behind the scenes movie does at times feel a little fake and put-on, and the show itself is pretty childish looking, but this movie is aimed at fans of Katy, and people going into this should know what to expect. Plus there’s some hilarious looks at her early career as a Christian singer.

You’ll like this if you liked : Rock Of Ages

The Smurfs 2 (2013) 6/10

Starring : Hank Azaria, Neil Patrick Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Jayma Mays, Jonathan Winters, Christina Ricci, JB Smoove, Katy Perry
Director : Raja Gosnell
Running Time : 101 mins

Evil wizard Gargamel (Azaria) creates two new Smurf-like creatures called Naughties in the hope of using their Smurf-essence to boost his magical powers, but when he realises that he can only get the essence from a real Smurf he kidnaps Smurfette (Perry) in order to gain the secret of turning Naughties into Smurfs.

With the first of the live-action Smurf movies giving us a new look at the world of the Smurfs being thrust into the modern era, this pretty much treads over old ground. Although this time the focus is primarily on Smurfette and her relationship with the other Smurfs – considering she isn’t a real Smurf – this does little to expand on any of the characters personalities. Gargamel remains a walking stereotype – handled expertly by voice actor Hank Azaria – and the supporting cast of humans do little to add to the plot, instead giving a sub-plot about a hated step-father who turns out to be a good guy. I guess, in a way, this is a link to the whole Smurfette isn’t really related to the Smurfs but is still a good person storyline, but it didn’t feel that necessary to the whole plot, which is pretty much about acceptance. A nice moral tale for kids, but adults may get tired of the at times boring antics.

You’ll like this if you liked : Garfield : A Tail Of Two Kitties

All-Star Superman (2011) 7/10

Starring : James Denton, Christina Hendricks, Anthony LaPaglia, Edward Asner, Obba Babatunde
Director : Sam Liu
Running Time : 77 mins

When Superman (Denton) rescues the crew of a spaceship heading into the sun, he receives a lethal dose of solar radiation that will eventually kill him. Realising that he doesn’t have long to live, he decides to make the most of the time he has left, starting with telling the truth to Lois Lane (Hendricks) about his secret identity and imbuing her with an element of his power for 24 hours using a super serum. But the serum is soon utilised for evil by Lex Luthor (LaPaglia), who plans to use it to take over the Earth

I loved the anime style animation of this movie, which also uses the artwork of Frank Quitely as a basis, giving this an appearance that really brings it in line with the comic book series on which it is based. Denton’s voice is a little flat and boring for my liking, and LaPaglia is a bit hammy, but overall this is a decent translation of a popular comic book story.

You’ll like this if you liked : Superman / Doomsday

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 (2013) 7/10

Starring : Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Will Forte, Andy Samberg, Benjamin Bratt, Neil Patrick Harris, Terry Crews, Kristen Schaal
Director : Cody Cameron & Kris Pearn
Running Time : 91 mins

Following the disaster that almost destroyed his home town, Flint Lockwood (Hader) and his friends are asked to evacuate so that the Live Corp Company can clean up. Flint is offered a job with Live Corp, and the opportunity to work with his childhood hero Chester V (Forte), but when he discovers that his machine is still running and is creating mutant food creatures, he journeys home to turn the machine off once and for all. He soon discovers that Chester V’s apparent humanitarian clean up may have a more selfish reason behind it.

Fans of the original will enjoy this, though the animation is a little cheap looking in comparison to other recent animated movies. The characters aren’t as fleshed out as I’d have hoped, but the mutant food creatures are pretty well thought through, with some very clever mutations based on the names of the foods and the animals they resemble. Kids will love this colourful sequel, and adults on the whole should find this entertaining enough.

You’ll like this if you liked : Space Chimps

Thanks For Sharing (2012) 8/10

Starring : Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Gad, Joely Richardson, Patrick Fugit, Alecia Moore
Director : Stuart Blumberg
Running Time : 113 mins

Three recovering sex addicts try to cope with the curveballs that life throws at them. Adam (Ruffalo) starts a relationship with Phoebe (Paltrow) after five years of celibacy, but she finds it difficult to deal with his way of life; Mike (Robbins) has to deal with the return of his son Danny (Fugit), finding it hard to believe that he has managed to overcome drug addiction without help; and Neil (Gad), who is new to recovery, finds things difficult as he tries to give up on porn, masturbation and other antisocial sexual proclivities with the help of fellow addict Dede (Moore).

Considering I hadn’t heard of this movie before, it was actually pretty good. The scenarios are actually pretty believable – apart from Josh Gad’s over-the-top obsession with porn which at times goes too far (namely the camera-on-the-shoe routine that loses him his job – but on the whole the characters are likeable, even in spite of their addictions, and make for some entertaining viewing.

You’ll like this if you liked : Don Jon

The Hunger Games : Catching Fire (2013) 7/10

Starring : Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland
Director : Francis Lawrence
Running Time : 147 mins

Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson) are forced to go on tour to promote the Hunger Games, but President Snow (Sutherland) is worries that her apparent defiance a year earlier may be rubbing off on the general public. In order to stop this, he enacts a right known as the Quarter Quell, by which the rules of the Games can be changed every twenty-five years, and he forces previous winners to take part in the games again.

This doesn’t have as much of the action of the first movie, with the beginning section primarily focussing on how the dictatorship under which the characters live is manipulating events to their own ends, but strangely this actually worked better for me. This proved that Suzanne Collins was willing to explore the characters and the world she’s writing about, and didn’t just rehash the first book. Granted, the ending is similar to the first instalment, with the Games under full flow, but the ending shows that those involved in the plot are far deeper characters than you might first imagine.

You’ll like this if you liked : Ender's Game

Women In Trouble (2009) 8/10

Starring : Carla Gugino, Connie Britton, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Marley Shelton, Adrianne Palicki, Simon Baker, Sarah Clarke
Director : Sebastian Gutierrez
Running Time : 96 mins

Adult movie star Elektra Luxx (Gugino) discovers she is pregnant, and whilst pondering what to do with the baby, she gets trapped in a lift with Doris (Britton), a woman who gave her child up to her sister when she was young. Meanwhile, Elektra’s latest co-star Holly (Palicki) is moping over her friend Bambi (Chriqui) forgetting her birthday - and the fact that she is in love with her - and therapist Maxine (Clarke) finds herself out on the tiles with Holly and Bambi when she discovers that her husband Travis (Baker) has been cheating on her.

This is a pretty funny movie with some obvious but still funny characters, with Palicki having some outstanding moments and some great ditzy lines. The interwoven story lines work extremely well and the fact that - regardless of their sexual preferences - all the character’s have trouble with their love lives makes this an easily accessible romp. Plus, don’t miss the scenes after the credits with Joseph Gordon-Levitt interviewing Elektra and Holly, it’s very good.

You’ll like this if you liked : Elektra Luxx

The Lego Movie (2014) 8/10

Starring : Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman
Director : Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Running Time : 101 mins

Emmett (Pratt) is a perfectly ordinary Lego man who accidentally discovers the Piece of Resistance, a mysterious item that prophesy says will be the only thing capable of stopping the Kragle, a super weapon that the evil Lord Business (Ferrell) plans on using to destroy the freedom of the Lego universe by suspending it in a state of permanent immobility.

Obviously the hype surrounding this movie has a lot to live up to, and in many ways it doesn’t, but if you look past the hype and just try to enjoy this as a children’s movie with an interesting moral message at the end then this is pretty good. It’s fun to watch the Lego characters interact, even if many people just see this as a 100 minute advertising campaign, and there’s plenty of visual gags along the way.

You’ll like this if you liked : Toy Story

Run For Your Wife (2012) 6/10

Starring : Danny Dyer, Denise Van Outen, Sarah Harding, Neil Morrissey
Director : Ray Cooney & John Luton
Running Time : 90 mins

When John Smith (Dyer) ends up in hospital after stopping a mugging and doesn’t come home, his wife Michelle (Van Outen) reports him missing. Unfortunately, so does hi wife Stephanie (Harding), and it isn’t long before John is forced to rope his neighbour Gary (Morrissey) into helping him cover up the fact that he’s been married to both of them for five years.

I loved the Carry On films, and if you replaced the cast with Sid James, Joan Sims, Barbara Windsor and Bernard Bresslaw respectively, this could easily have been one. Sadly this feels incredibly dated and, in spite of being filled with cameos from some of the biggest British comedy stars of the 60s, 70s and 80s, this is so cringe worthy that only a fan of old school British farce could possible find anything redeemable in this. With jokes like characters being called Dick and Fanny, and the police being worried about someone giving a wrong address rather than trying to catch crooks, this old fashioned farce has its moments but is largely car-crash TV.

You’ll like this if you liked : Carry On Loving

Jack The Giant Killer (2013) 5/10

Starring : Jane March, Jamie Atkins, Harry Dyer, Vicki Glover, Ben Cross
Director : Mark Atkins
Running Time : 88 mins

Jack (Atkins) discovers that his father Newald (Dyer) – who disappeared before he was born – has been trapped in a flying castle that appears once a year. For him, only 19 days have passed, when in reality it has been 19 years. But trouble looms when the two discover that, having killed the giant that lives in the castle, a host of prehistoric beasts are attempting to invade Earth.

The special effects and most of the acting in this movie are pretty bad, but I’ll be honest and say that I’ve seen worse. The plot is more original than I thought it would be and comes across like an episode of Doctor Who more than the fairy tale on which it is based. If you can get passed the hammy acting and terrible effects, then you might actually find something to enjoy in this family flick.

You’ll like this if you liked : Sharknado

Faces In The Crowd (2011) 7/10

Starring : Milla Jovovich, Julian McMahon, David Artakchi, Michael Shanks
Director : Julien Magnat
Running Time : 103 mins

When school teacher Anna Merchant (Jovovich) witnesses one of the murders committed by notorious serial killer Tear Jerk Jack, she is injured and suffers a blow to the head. This results in her developing a rare malady known as face blindness, and she finds she is unable to recognise even the face of her boyfriend Bryce (Shanks). To make matters worse, Tear Jerk Jack knows who she is, and she has no way of recognising him.

I wasn’t expecting much from this thriller – I was in fact expecting a horror movie, seeing as Jovovich is the star – but instead I was given a reasonably decent thriller that rests on the simple premise of a woman who is unable to recognise faces, including the face of a murderer. The performances aren’t the best, but the tension escalates at a decent pace, and the conclusion made sense which is always a plus.

You’ll like this if you liked : Gone

Saving Mr Banks (2013) 8/10

Starring : Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Colin Farrell
Director : John Lee Hancock
Running Time : 126 mins

When Walt Disney (Hanks) is begged by his daughters to make a movie of their favourite storybook character, Mary Poppins, Disney calls on author Pamela Travers (Thompson) to come to America and sign off on the script he has developed, but her love of her character leads her to dislike any changes that have been made and soon Disney finds Travers getting in the way of the film getting made.

This is a light-hearted look at not only the struggle to get Mary Poppins made into a film but also a look at the childhood of author PL Travers. Thompson (who coincidentally enough wrote the Poppins-esque Nanny McPhee) is perfect for the role of Travers, and trumps Hanks in every scene they are in together, and her blunt personality is both charming and disturbing as, like many children’s writers, she doesn’t really seem to like children very much. This is an enjoyable movie that manages to show how a simple children’s movie can soften anyone’s heart.

You’ll like this if you liked : Miss Potter

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Why Stop Now (2012) 7/10

Starring : Jesse Eisenberg, Melissa Leo, Tracy Morgan, Emma Rayne Lyle
Director : Phil Dorling & Ron Nyswaner
Running Time : 88 mins

Piano prodigy Eli Bloom (Eisenberg) wants nothing more than to get on with his life, but the drug habits of his mother Penny (Leo) have gotten in his way for too long so he decides to help her get into rehab so he can go off to music school. Unfortunately rehab won’t take her without a “dirty” urine sample, so Eli is forced to contact his mum’s drug dealer, Sprinkles (Morgan), and get her high before she can get clean.

Although not the most original comedy-dramas to have come out of the states in recent years, this does do a good job of showing how having to deal with a dysfunctional family can cause someone to become just as dysfunctional without even realising. The acting isn’t as bad as I expected, what with Tracy Morgan being present, and the flow of the film runs well and comes to a natural conclusion.

You’ll like this if you liked : It’s Kind Of A Funny Story

Turbo (2013) 7/10

Starring : Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Luis Guzman, Samuel L Jackson
Director : David Soren
Running Time : 97 mins

Turbo (Reynolds) is a snail that dreams of competing as an Indy 500 racer – a dream that seems farfetched until a freak accident imbues Turbo with the abilities of a race car, including super speed! He is captured by snail-racing enthusiast Tito (Pena) who soon discovers just how fast Turbo is, and decides to enter him in the Indy 500 to race against actual cars.

I wasn’t expecting much from this, theorising it was just another overhyped piece of rubbish from Dreamworks who have been pretty hit and miss in recent years, but I actually thought it was pretty entertaining. Granted, none of the voice talents were anything special, and the idea doesn’t feel that original (basically taking the characteristic of something and reversing it has been done before, even as recently as Planes), but the story worked pretty well, and the overall message is a fun and informative one for kids, showing them that they should never give up on their dreams, no matter how farfecthed.

You’ll like this if you liked : Racing Stripes

Universal Soldier : Regeneration (2009) 6/10

Starring : Andrei “The Pit Bull” Arlovski, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mike Pyle, Garry Cooper, Corey Johnson, Emily Joyce, Kerry Shale
Director : John Hyams
Running Time : 97 mins

When a group of terrorists steal the information needed to create their own UniSols, former experimental soldier Luc Devereaux (Van Damme) is brought out of rehabilitation to go and fight the unyielding killing machine (Arlovski) and rescue his hostages, but when he discovers that there are in fact two UniSol’s, and the other is his old enemy Andrew Scott (Lundgren). Devereaux realises that things just got personal.

Why people don’t aim for the head is beyond me. The guy’s wearing what is clearly a bulletproof vest and the soldiers still shoot him in the torso! Still, fans of the Universal Soldier franchise should enjoy this action sequel, though it does ignore some of the story line that has gone before and instead makes up its own timeline of events to suit the needs of the script, and Arlovski fits in well with his lack of personality and his unusual tactic of repeatedly pounding people in the face – hardly efficient use of a soldier...

You’ll like this if you liked : Terminator Salvation

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) 7/10

Starring : Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field
Director : Marc Webb
Running Time : 142 mins

As Peter Parker (Garfield) continues to investigate what happened to his parents, he finds himself – in his guise as The Amazing Spider-Man – pitted against a new villain, an electrician named Max Dillon (Foxx) who gains super powers and calls himself Electro. Peter soon discovers that Electro is yet another result of the sinister workings of Oscorp, and that there may be more villains heading his way as he tries to deal with more personal tragedy...

In many ways this wasn’t as good as the 2012 movie, what with this having too many potential super villains going on (if you just include characters I counted six, if you include costumes, many more) , but it is still a fun comic book romp that doesn’t pull any punches. Fans of the comics will inevitably feel torn by the poor portrayal of some of the characters and the expertly rendered moments pulled almost directly from the comics.

You’ll like this if you liked : Batman Returns

Stargate : The Ark Of Truth (2008) 7/10

Starring : Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Michael Shanks, Beau Bridges, Claudia Black, Currie Graham, Morena Baccarin, Tim Guinee, Julian Sands
Director : Robert C Cooper
Running Time : 98 mins

SG-1 are forced to travel into dangerous Ori controlled space to retrieve a fabled artefact known as The Ark Of Truth which may hold the answer to finally defeating their enemy. But things go from bad to worse when they are attacked by a group of evil replicating killing machines called Replicators...

Spinning off from the insanely popular TV show which ran for a decade, this movie in some ways tries to help bring closure to the show, which was cancelled a year earlier. Basically this will only really appeal to fans of the show, and new viewers may have ten years of questions that will undoubtedly go unanswered without first watching the show. Having said that, the storyline is pretty much stand-alone and, once you get to grips with the characteristics of the characters, things are pretty easy to follow and filled with exposition.

You’ll like this if you liked : Serenity

Elysium (2013) 8/10

Starring : Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga
Director : Neil Blomkamp
Running Time : 110 mins

When Max Da Costa (Damon) is contaminated in a radiation accident, he is given five days to live. In order to receive the treatment he needs to extend his life, he must travel to Elysium, a utopian space station that houses the richest members of society. So he makes a deal with some criminals to highjack some top secret data in return for a ticket to Elysium so he can live.

As far as science fiction action movies go, this was one of the better ones I’ve seen in recent years. It’s nice to have a character whose motivations are selfish, even though Max is also helping out a little girl, and Kruger getting his face reconstructed was a particular highlight for me. Fans of old school action flicks will get a kick out of this, and it helps that there’s a plot to follow and a suitable upbeat ending.

You’ll like this if you liked : Total Recall

Pirates Of The Caribbean : On Stranger Tides (2011) 7/10

Starring : Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane
Director : Rob Marshall
Running Time : 137 mins

Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) discovers that someone has been impersonating him in order to cobble together a pirate crew. He soon discovers that the impersonator is Angelica Teach (Cruz), an old flame who forces him aboard the ship of Blackbeard (McShane) and on a journey in search of the fountain of youth and immortality.

In spite of hearing some terrible reviews of the fourth Pirates movie, I actually thought it was pretty good. Granted the plot felt like it had been lifted from an Indiana Jones movie, but the story was sound and proved that you can have Jack Sparrow without the need for Bloom and Knightley. Fans of the original exploits of Captain Jack will like this instalment that keeps him centre stage for the full proceedings.

You’ll like this if you liked : Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

The Internship (2013) 8/10

Starring : Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne
Director : Shawn Levy
Running Time : 126 mins

When Billy McMahon (Vaughn) and Nick Campbell (Wilson) discover that the sales company they work for has closed down, they find themselves thrown back into the job market whilst in their forties. So Billy comes up with the idea of faking college qualifications and applying for an internship at Google – a long-shot, but worth a try. When they are accepted on the internship, they receive a rude awakening of how unfair and unjust the life of as college graduate can be.

This is an old school comedy that works reasonably well considering just how long it is. Vaughn and Wilson, as usual, make a fun team, and the supporting cats are great as the Google nerds. The moral to the story feels a little too late for my liking, and there should have been some earlier notice of the wrong doings of the other teams – they still could have kept the baddies in the lead – but, if you ignore all the swearing, this is an accessible and funny comedy that delivers.

You’ll like this if you liked : Accepted

Mud (2012) 7/10

Starring : Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shepard
Director : Jeff Nichols
Running Time : 131 mins

Ellis (Sheridan) and his friend Neckbone (Lofland) discover a boat suspended from the branches of a tree and decide to lay claim to it. When they discover that a man named Mud (McConaughey) has been living in it, they confront him on the beach and come to an agreement – they can have the boat if they help him get supplies from town. When they find out he is a convict on the run for killing a man who hurt his girlfriend Juniper (Witherspoon), they decide to help him repair the boat so he can make his escape in it.

Loosely based on Tom Sawyer, this movie does a great job of paralleling the lives of Mud and Ellis, and it is quite scary towards the end when what happened to Mud when he was younger seems to be happening to Ellis. The ambiguity of Mud’s innocence is never put into question, so we never have him lying to the boys that are helping him, though he does use tricky words to get things his own way. Fans of Mark Twain should enjoy this, but it isn’t brilliant.

You’ll like this if you liked : Stand By Me

Lovelace (2013) 7/10

Starring : Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Sharon Stone, Robert Patrick, Juno Temple
Director : Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman
Running Time : 93 mins

Linda Boreman (Seyfried) finds herself coerced by her abusive husband Chuck Traynor (Sarsgaard) into featuring in a blue movie, and when the movie becomes a huge commercial success she finds herself in the limelight as a star in her own right, but when she decides she doesn’t want to make any more porn films her husband starts forcing her into doing even less agreeable things.

If you want to see Amanda Seyfried with her boobs out, then this is the movie for you. This effortlessly goes from tongue in cheek humour to serious drama with hardly a seem in sight, and for those who haven’t seen the film this talks about, this is a nice plot description without having to watch the movie itself. The performances are reasonable, but I wasn’t a fan of the back-and-forth direction which annoyingly relied on writing “six months later” up on screen to explain that time periods had changed.

You’ll like this if you liked : Boogie Nights

Next Avengers : Heroes Of Tomorrow (2008) 6/10

Starring : Noah C Crawford, Brenna O’Brien, Aidan Drummond, Dempsey M Pappion, Adrian Petriw, Tom Kane
Director : Jay Oliva
Running Time : 79 mins

The Avengers have been wiped out by the evil robot Ultron (Kane), and their children have been taken into hiding by Tony Stark aka. Iron Man (Kane). When the kids accidentally activate the Iron Avengers, robot versions of the originals created by Stark, the robots head off in search of Ultron and inadvertently alert Ultron to the kids’ location.

This is quite different to the other Marvel animated movies, and it feels like it has been designed primarily for kids whereas the other movies seemed to target a far wider audience. Because the characters aren’t that familiar, other than the obvious ones, it takes some time to get used to them, and as a result this isn’t the best of the Marvel movies. However, young children will enjoy the silly kids running around fighting robots.

You’ll like this if you liked : Astro Boy

Alan Partridge : Alpha Papa (2013) 8/10

Starring : Steve Coogan, Colm Meaney, Felicity Montagu, Anna Maxwell Martin, Darren Boyd
Director : Declan Lowney
Running Time : 91 mins

When Radio Norwich is taken over and rebranded as Shape FM, radio DJ Alan Partridge (Coogan) worries that he is going to lose his job, so he sabotages his colleague Pat Farrell (Meaney). On the night of the new launch, Pat lays siege to the staff after being sacked, and Alan is sent in by police to try and diffuse the situation. Unfortunately, in a way, Alan agrees with Pat’s standpoint.

The name of this movie got me confused – the Alpha Papa referring to Alan’s initials used during the siege and having nothing to do with him being a great dad. Once I got passed that confusion, this is a really good British comedy that keeps the jokes and the action coming thick and fast. Fans of Alan Partridge will love this latest instalment, but people unfamiliar with him should still find this a very funny movie.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Parole Officer

The Paperboy (2012) 6/10

Starring : Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack
Director : Lee Daniels
Running Time : 107 mins

Miami reporter Ward Jansen (McConaughey) returns to his home town to investigate a racially motivated murder apparently committed by a man named Hillary Van Wetter (Cusack), taking his brother Jack (Efron) on as his driver for the investigation, but when Jack becomes involved with Charlotte Bless (Kidman), the fiancée of Van Wetter, things get a little personal for everyone involved.

I’m not quite sure how necessary all the sex scenes were to the storyline, but clearly the writer thought they were. None of the characters are very likeable, and the investigation is disjointed and difficult to follow, what with there being little or no explanation as to how they came up with the witnesses to question. The performances are forced and stilted, although parts of the ending (for me) were satisfying, but the open ended-ness of the piece really left me feeling like I’d been cheated out of a resolution.

You’ll like this if you liked : Monster's Ball

Gravity (2013) 7/10

Starring : Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris
Director : Alfonso Cuaron
Running Time : 91 mins

Medical engineer Dr Ryan Stone (Bullock) is on her first mission with NASA, installing some much needed medical equipment on a space station. When some space debris hits their shuttle, destroying it, she and retiring astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney) find themselves stranded in space with only each other for comfort and little hope of rescue or survival.

This movie pretty much kicks off straight away with the action, giving little time to get to know the main characters. Thankfully we have 90 minutes of them floating around in space together to give us some idea of what kind of people they are. The effects are impressive and almost 100% CGI, but luckily this doesn’t detract too much from the story which is nail-biting stuff. This is a definite must for disaster movie fans.

You’ll like this if you liked : Moon

The Help (2011) 8/10

Starring : Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Ahna O’Reilly, Allison Janney, Anna Camp
Director : Tate Taylor
Running Time : 147 mins

In 1960s Mississippi, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Stone) returns from college determined to become a writer. Taking a job writing a help column for housewives, she starts talking with one of her friend’s housemaids, Aibileen Clark (Davis), and comes up with the idea of writing a book taken from a black maid’s perspective on how they are treated by their white employers.

This entertaining and enlightening perspective on how black maids were treated in the American South of the 1960s – as well as their views on their employers – makes a dramatic yet humorous movie. The performances are understated and wonderful to watch, with my only gripe being the ending which to me didn’t really give much closure to the characters. I guess this leant more realism to the piece, but it was sad not finding out what happened to the various characters involved.

You’ll like this if you liked : Saving Mr Banks

Veronica Mars (2014) 8/10

Starring : Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Krysten Ritter, Ryan Hansen, Francis Capra, Percy Daggs III, Gaby Hoffman, Chris Lowell, Tina Majorino, Jerry O’Connell, Martin Starr, Jamie Lee Curtis, Enrico Colantoni
Director : Rob Thomas
Running Time : 108 mins

Seven years after teenage detective Veronica Mars (Bell) left her home town of Neptune, California, she finds herself lured back to her high school’s ten year reunion when her ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls (Dohring) is accused of killing his current girlfriend. Veronica starts investigating the truth about the murder, and discovers that the killing goes back to an incident back in high school that resulted in another student’s death.

Fans of the show that ran in the mid to late naughties will love seeing their favourite characters back, this time on the big screen. The main problem is that many of them don’t get enough screen time, mainly due to how vast the cast was in the show. Thankfully, Veronica hasn’t changed much in her almost a decade of absence, and is still the nosy little sleuth we all knew and loved. Those new to the character shouldn’t have too much of a problem getting up to speed, as there is something of a recap in the opening credits, but this is well and truly made for the fan base.

You’ll like this if you liked : Nancy Drew

The Company You Keep (2012) 7/10

Starring : Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Sam Elliott, Jackie Evancho, Brendan Gleeson, Terrence Howard, Richard Jenkins, Anna Kendrick, Brit Marling, Stanley Tucci, Nick Nolte, Chris Cooper, Susan Sarandon
Director : Robert Redford
Running Time : 118 mins

Lawyer Jim Grant (Redford) finds his life in danger when reporter Ben Shepard (LaBeouf) unwittingly reveals Grant’s true identity as underground militant Nick Sloan to the world. Sloan then goes on the run, trying desperately to clear his name before the FBI catch up with him.

Although a little short on action, this wasn’t a bad little thriller, with one hell of a star-studded cast. The story has some nice twists and turns, and Redford and LaBeouf do their best to keep things interesting. It does have something of a Hollywood ending – it would have been nice if things hadn’t been so black and white in the end – but the investigation into Redford by LaBeouf’s character is really what maintains the story throughout the duration.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Fugitive

The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (2013) 8/10

Starring : Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Shirley MacLaine, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, Sean Penn
Director : Ben Stiller
Running Time : 115 mins

When his job as a negative assets manager at Life magazine is brought under threat due to a once-in-sixteen years error that sees him losing an important photo negative, daydreamer Walter Mitty (Stiller) decides to leave his boring life behind and go on a round the world journey to find the photographer Sean O’Connell (Penn) and try to get a copy of the negative back.

Very loosely based on the short story by James Thurber, this updated adaptation probably has more in comparison with the 1947 movie of the same name than with the source material. Stiller tries his best to be likeable, which is only really achieved because Adam Scott manages to be so unlikeable, and the situations that Mitty gets himself into are so outlandish that they should keep the movie entertaining, but I actually found that the best moments were the scenes set firmly in reality where characters are simply talking amongst themselves and subtly telling us what kind of person they really are.

You’ll like this if you liked : Life Of Pi

Scooby-Doo! Music Of The Vampire (2011) 7/10

Starring : Frank Welker, Mindy Cohn, Grey DeLisle, Matthew Lillard
Director : David Block
Running Time : 76 mins

In the seventeenth of the direct to video Scooby-Doo series, Velma Dinkley (Cohn) decides the gang need a break from mystery solving, so takes them to a vampire fan convention. Unfortunately a real life vampire that has been preserved in a glass coffin escapes while a group of his worshippers kidnap Daphne (DeLisle) to present to him as a sacrifice.

Most of the stories I’d heard about the musical Scooby-Doo movie involved just how terrible it was, so I was expecting a non-stop musical extravaganza that had no storyline to speak of and that made no sense. This, however, was pretty similar to previous instalments, albeit with additional musical numbers, but the story was just as good as other ones and did on the most part avoid music as a replacement for good story telling.

You’ll like this if you liked : Scooby-Doo And The Legend Of The Vampire

About Time (2013) 8/10

Starring : Domnhall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Lydia Wilson, Lindsay Duncan
Director : Richard Curtis
Running Time : 124 mins

On his 21st birthday, Tim Lake (Gleeson) is informed by his father (Nighy) that he has inherited the ability to travel back in time within his own lifetime. Realising that he can’t use this power for financial gain, he decides to use it to find a girlfriend. He soon meets Mary (McAdams), an American working in London for a publishing company, and he starts reliving their moments together until he can get them perfect.

The moment where Tim meets Mary in the restaurant run by blind people could have lasted so much longer, with Tim trying to get Harry’s play just right while still meeting Mary. It’s a shame he wasted that moment as it’s a great first meeting story, and instead he gets the creepy party moment as their first meeting, where he basically just hooks up with her. This is classic Curtis fair, with the strangely poor yet middle-class setting and the comedy of errors moments, but this is much more of a drama than, say, Love Actually or Notting Hill, and though the moral of the story seems to be that life is worth living just once and that you can’t get everything perfect, this isn’t explicitly spelled out. Just think, if he couldn’t travel through time, Tim’s life would have been pretty much the same.

You’ll like this if you liked : Click

Promised Land (2012) 8/10

Starring : Matt Damon, Frances McDormand, John Krasinski, Hal Holbrook
Director : Gus Van Sant
Running Time : 107 mins

Gas salespeople Steve Butler (Damon) and Sue Thomason (McDormand) arrive in a small rural town in the hope of getting the permission of the locals to allow them to drill on their land, but when local teacher Frank Yates (Holbrook) convinces the town that they need to hold a vote on the decision, Steve and Sue find their job a lot more difficult, and when eco fighter Dustin Noble (Krasinski) arrives in town and starts to stir up trouble, that difficulty becomes a near impossibility.

This was actually a reasonably entertaining movie with one hell of a twist in the end. Damon and McDormand make an interesting pairing and keep the drama light for the duration of the film, and Krasinski makes an interesting nemesis for them, what with him being the seemingly good guy of the piece, yet our focus is on the bad guys.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Company Men

The Lone Ranger (2013) 7/10

Starring : Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, William Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson
Director : Gore Verbinski
Running Time : 150 mins

A young boy is told the tale of John Reid (Hammer) – the Lone Ranger – by an elderly Tonto (Depp), and explains how they met and joined forces to track down Butch Cavendish (Fichtner), the man responsible for the death of John Reid’s brother, a fellow Texas Ranger, and their plan to rescue his widow Rebecca (Wilson) from the clutches of Latham Cole (Wilkinson), a man who plans to use a proposed railroad combined with a stolen silver mine to become the most powerful man in the West.

Despite some terrible reviews, this wasn’t that bad a movie. It was far too long, and in spite of the Disney name this wasn’t really aimed at children, but the drama and action is mixed with some comedy to make this pretty entertaining, and the train chase is well worth waiting two hours for.

You’ll like this if you liked : Back To The Future Part III