The Pretty One (2013) 8/10

Starring : Zoe Kazan, Jake M Johnson, Ron Livingston, John Carroll Lynch, Shae D’lyn, Frankie Shaw
Director : Jenee LaMarque
Running Time : 96 mins

Following a car crash that kills her identical twin sister, Laurel (Kazan) is mistaken for her more assertive, more attractive twin and decides not to correct her family when she starts to regain her memory. She heads away from the small town she’s lived in all her life and enters her sister’s world in the city, where for the first time she finds out what it’s like to have a real job and to be desired by men.

For some reason Zoe Kazan tends to be pretty awesome in most films she does. Like Ruby Sparks, this was a drama that somehow manages to be fun at the same time. Her portrayal of the twin pretending to be her sister is funny and charming, with some great screen chemistry between Kazan and Johnson. Together they work very well to bring the odd couple to life, with Johnson’s couldn’t care less attitude perfectly complimenting Kazan’s shyness, which comes across perfectly in this odd little tale about finding yourself.

You’ll like this if you liked : Ruby Sparks

The Boxtrolls (2014) 8/10

Starring : Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Elle Fanning, Ben Kingsley, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade
Director : Graham Annable & Anthony Stacchi
Running Time : 97 mins

An orphan known simply as Eggs (Hempstead-Wright) has been raised by a mysterious band of secretive creatures called Boxtrolls who hide from humanity by disguising themselves as boxes. When Eggs hears of a plot by an evil exterminator called Archibald Snatcher (Kingsley) to destroy all the Boxtrolls, Eggs must journey into the human world to explain the Boxtrolls position and save them from destruction with the help of a tough young girl called Winnie (Fanning).

This is such a fun movie, and though based on a book it still has that feeling of originality that so many animations these days seem to lack. It has that wonderful stop-motion feel of films such as Coraline and Frankenweenie that you can’t do justice to with one hundred per cent computer animation and the characters are so likeable that it’s hard to resist such a charming children’s tale.

You’ll like this if you liked : Coraline

How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (2003) 8/10

Starring : Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Kathryn Hahn, Annie Parisse, Adam Goldberg, Thomas Lennon, Michael Michele, Shalom Harlow, Robert Klein, Bebe Neuwirth
Director : Donald Petrie
Running Time : 116 mins

Magazine columnist Andie Anderson (Hudson) is asked by her boss to write an article about the bad things women do that drive men away and to date a guinea pig to see how he reacts. Unfortunately she chooses Ben Barry (McConaughey) who, in order to gain a promotion at work, has been challenged to make a woman fall in love with him.

This is a fun romantic comedy that sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. The two leads work well together (this wasn’t their last joint effort, either) and the supporting cast are great fun, especially Kathryn Hahn who is tremendous. It does get a little bitter-sweet towards the end, but there’s plenty of fun watching Hudson try to drive McConaughey away while he tries desperately to put up with her fake mood swings.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Ugly Truth

Mad Max : Fury Road (2015) 8/10

Starring : Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Josh Helman, Nathan Jones, Zoe Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
Director : George Miller
Running Time : 121 mins

In a future apocalyptic wasteland, a man named Max (Hardy) finds himself joining forces with Imperator Furiosa (Theron), a woman who is trying to help the sister wives of Immorten Joe (Keays-Byrne) escape to a place she calls the Green Place, all the while being pursued by the War Boys, who want Max for his blood and the wives to return to Joe.

I was actually surprised to find myself enjoying this movie. It started off a little shaky, and I admit I got a little confused with the stunted introduction of Max, but once the action started it didn’t really stop. Fans of fast paced action sequences will love this, and the sub plot of the kidnapped sister-wives being rescued by Imperator Furiosa made for a fun addition, especially as the girls actually seemed to have character instead of being flat dull victims.

You’ll like this if you liked : San Andreas

Fire With Fire (2012) 7/10

Starring : Josh Duhamel, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Vincent D’Onofrio
Director : David Barrett
Running Time : 98 mins

Firefighter Jeremy Coleman (Duhamel) witnesses a brutal murder during a convenience store hold up and is placed in witness protection when it is discovered that a powerful crime lord, David Hagan (D’Onofrio), was behind the murders. As he awaits his time to testify, his new identity becomes compromised, and Coleman is faced with a choice – keep running, or fight back.

This actually wasn’t that bad of a movie – just don’t expect lots of Bruce Willis. This is a Duhamel focussed flick which takes him from a hapless bystander to a vicious vengeance seeker in the space of an hour and a half. Fans of revenge movies will enjoy this, though the fact that the movie takes place over a long period seems to have bee n lost on many viewers who didn’t understand how he managed to become so good with a gun yet were happy to accept that Duhamel fell in love with Dawson in five minutes.

You’ll like this if you liked : Killshot

Paddington (2014) 8/10

Starring : Hugh Bonnevile, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Nicole Kidman, Ben Whishaw
Director : Paul King
Running Time : 96 mins

Following the destruction of his Peruvian home, a bear travels to London to find a new home with the explorer that was so friendly to his family many years before. He is temporarily taken in by the Brown family and named Paddington (Whishaw) after the station he was found in, and soon begins the search for the man who promised him a home.

I didn’t expect to enjoy this live action version of the popular bear story, what with having always remembered him as being a strange mix of stop-motion against standard animation, but this manages to be both touching and funny throughout. It is a little schmaltzy in places, specifically in the characterisation of Mrs Brown (Hawkins) who seems to think everything is wonderful, but overall it is a fun and exciting kids movie that children of all ages should enjoy.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Boxtrolls

The Ides Of March (2011) 7/10

Starring : Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei
Director : George Clooney
Running Time : 102 mins

Stephen Meyers (Gosling) works as a junior campaign manager for Governor Mike Morris (Clooney) and believes in the ideals of the American way, but when he meets a campaign intern, Molly Stearns (Clooney), who is secretly pregnant by Morris, he starts to question his ideals and beliefs, and begins to change his tactics when it comes to making his mark in the political circus.

This is a well paced and effective movie that cleverly shows how Meyers goes from idealistic political wannabe to a disillusioned man who ends up getting what he has always wanted through lying and deceit. Clooney is good as the dodgy politician, and Hoffman manages a sterling turn as the by the books campaign manager that ends up losing out by playing the game too well. Fans of political movies will enjoy this subtle thriller, and Clooney does a great job in his return to the directors chair.

You’ll like this if you liked : Michael Clayton

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

Into The Storm (2014) 6/10

Starring : Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh, Max Deacon, Nathan Kress, Alycia Debnam Carey
Director : Steven Quale
Running Time : 90 mins

A team of storm chasers find the mother lode when an unlikely number of tornadoes touchdown in the small town of Silverton. As the townsfolk run for cover to the nearest shelters, overconfident storm chasers risk their lives to get the best footage of the storm that they can, not caring who might get hurt in the process.

This was the slowest paced disaster movie I have ever seen. Granted, the special effects weren’t bad, and once things started getting sucked into the sky and dropped on people’s heads it wasn’t too bad, but the tedious introduction of characters that have no character just felt like a huge waste of time when we could have been watching things fly through the air!

You’ll like this if you liked : Sharknado

The Experiment (2010) 7/10

Starring : Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker, Cam Gigandet, Clifton Collins Jr, Ethan Cohn, Fisher Stevens
Director : Paul T Scheuring
Running Time : 97 mins

A random selection of men are offered $14,000 to take part in a two week experiment, where they are chosen either to be prisoners or guards in a prison mock up, in which they are expected to keep peace and order and under no circumstances to use violence, but as the guards start to get power hungry and psychologically torture their prisoners, things get extremely out of hand.

Not a bad movie, based on true events, but it’s a shame that the makers of this film decided to rely on violent scare tactics to get their message across when the true psychological trauma inflicted on those involved in the original Stanford prison experiment was so much more worrying. The very idea of people taking on the roles they’ve been assigned to such a degree that they start unconsciously acting like those they are portraying could lead to some very disturbing events indeed.

You’ll like this if you liked : Unthinkable

Penguins Of Madagascar (2014) 9/10

Starring : Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, Conrad Vernon, John Malkovich, Benedict Cumberbatch
Director : Eric Darnell & Simon J Smith
Running Time : 92 mins

The four Madagascar Penguins, Skipper (McGrath), Kowalski (Miller), Private (Knights) and Rico (Vernon) escape from the circus and break into Fort Knox to celebrate Private’s birthday. There they are kidnapped by the evil Doctor Octavius Brine (Malkovich) who turns out to be a vengeful octopus named Dave from their days in the zoo. He has a plan to stop people thinking that penguins are cute, and with the help of an animal led spy agency called the North Wind, the four penguins must stop Dave before he can put his plan into action.

I really enjoyed this, even more so because I wasn’t a huge fan of the last Madagascar movie. There’s plenty of fun and action to keep both children and adults entertained, there’s a plot that can actually be followed, and there’s some great character building for the penguins who up until now (in the movies at least) have only been secondary characters.

You’ll like this if you liked : Despicable Me

The Big Wedding (2013) 6/10

Starring : Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, Ben Barnes, Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams
Director : Justin Zackham
Running Time : 90 mins

Adopted Alejandro (Barnes) is getting married to Missy (Seyfried), but when his divorced adoptive parents Don (De Niro) and Ellie (Keaton) discover that he has invited his strict Catholic birth mother to the wedding, they have to pretend that they are still a married couple.

I’d heard this was absolutely terrible, but it could have been worse. There were some dodgy plotlines like the virginal Topher Grace falling in love with who is essentially his adopted brothers sister, the family discovering that it was Ellie and not Don who cheated first, and the return of Robin Williams as a priest / vicar (I’m still not sure which), but all in all it wasn’t that bad a movie if you can get past the unnecessarily slapstick carrying on.

You’ll like this if you liked : Licence To Wed

This Is Where I Leave You (2014) 6/10

Starring : Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll, Kathryn Hahn, Connie Britton, Timothy Olyphant, Dax Shepard, Jane Fonda
Director : Shawn Levy
Running Time : 103 mins

When their father dies, four siblings are forced to return to their home town for the funeral, where the secrets they’ve been trying to keep from their family soon come into the open, ranging from cheating spouses and divorces, to problems conceiving, while old rivalries and long forgotten arguments come back to haunt the now grown-up children.

This had potential, and when they mentioned sitting shiva, which would mean not leaving the house for days on end, I thought it would be a nice closed-room comedy filled with witty banter and intriguing back and forth discussions. Sadly this element of the plot soon went out the window and the characters were all over the place, blatantly ignoring the funereal instructions. There are some nice moments, but most of them are so simple it’s hard to find them as funny as they should have been.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Skeleton Twins

The Woman In Black (2012) 7/10

Starring : Daniel Radcliffe, Janet McTeer, Ciaran Hinds
Director : James Watkins
Running Time : 96 mins

Four years after his wife dies in childbirth, lawyer Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe) is given one final chance to prove himself by his bosses and is sent to a remote village to perform some standard legal services. Once there he is met by a cold welcome, and soon discovers that the village is haunted by the ghost of woman seeking revenge for the accidental drowning of her son.

This wasn’t a bad little gothic horror film, although most of the scares relied purely on extremely jumpy music that after a while did begin to get on my nerves. Radcliffe is pretty good in the lead – a far cry from Harry Potter as a lawyer and father – and manages to make both his fear and anguish believable to the audience from start to finish. If you like atmospheric horror films, they you could do a lot worse than this.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Others

The Wedding Ringer (2015) 7/10

Starring : Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting
Director : Jeremy Garelick
Running Time : 102 mins

Doug Harris (Gad) can’t believe he’s about to get married to Gretchen Palmer (Cuoco-Sweeting), who he considers to be way out of his league, but as their wedding quickly approaches he is faced with another dilemma – he doesn’t have any close friends he can use as groomsmen. So he hires Jimmy Callahan (Hart), a Best Man for hire who has the unenviable job of convincing Doug’s in-laws that he is one of his oldest friends.

From the trailers I didn’t expect to like this movie, but this was actually pretty funny, even though the main character wasn’t exactly likeable. Hart and Gad make an interesting pairing, and in spite of some predictable plot twists and some implausible romantic entanglements this is still fun to watch and reaches a satisfying conclusion that makes sense based on what has happened earlier in the film.

You’ll like this if you liked : I Love You, Man

Dom Hemingway (2013) 5/10

Starring : Jude Law, Richard E Grant, Demian Bichir, Emilia Clarke, Kerry Condon
Director : Richard Shepard
Running Time : 94 mins

Following a twelve year stint in jail, safe-cracker Dom Hemingway (Law) is released back into the community where, with the help of his best friend Dickie Black (Grant), he tracks down Ivan Fontaine (Bichir), his former boss who he refused to grass up to the cops. Demanding a payout for keeping silent, Hemingway is paid off by Fontaine but loses the money which is stolen by Fontaine’s girlfriend following a car accident. Hemingway then sets out to prove himself once more as the country’s best safe-cracker.

There’s something not quite right about his movie. I’m only really a fan of movies where the hero is a villain if they are a loveable villain, but Hemingway to me is not very likeable at all. Law does his best with what passes for a witty script, but the wit and charm feel far too forced for my liking and make this movie drag out for far too long until it reaches its somewhat anti-climactic conclusion.

You’ll like this if you liked : Bronson

Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) (2014) 6/10

Starring : Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts
Director : Alejandro G Inarritu
Running Time : 120 mins

Riggan Thomson (Keaton) has been typecast as the superhero he played twenty years ago, but now he wants to prove he is more than just a man in a cape by producing his own Broadway show, but fate doesn’t seem to be favouring him as one of his leading men is taken out of the picture and he is forced to employ a new lead with only days before opening night.

This was an interesting movie that gives us a view of a failed actor trying to rise above and do something worthy with his skills, but for me it failed because of its inability to produce any truly likeable characters. I know there are movies like Sideways where you’re not supposed to like anyone, but with this I felt like we were supposed to be rooting for Keaton, and I didn’t feel the impulse. Granted there are some good performances, particularly Norton who I thought was very good, but all in all this felt piecemeal and not very well thought through.

You’ll like this if you liked : Adaptation.

Colombiana (2011) 6/10

Starring : Zoe Saldana, Jordi Molla, Lennie James, Amanda Stenberg, Michael Vartan, Cliff Curtis
Director : Olivier Megaton
Running Time : 104 mins

Following the murder of her parents as a child in Bogota, young Cataleya (Saldana) grows up wanting to nothing except exact vengeance upon their killer. After years of training by her uncle Emilio (Curtis), she soon become a highly skilled assassin and, after lots of practice, heads out in search of the mobster responsible for her parents death.

This is a pretty standard revenge movie, with the slightly dated twist being that the person seeking revenge is a woman. The storyline feels like it is simple enough to follow, but when you look at it closely there are a lot of things that don’t make sense, such as Cataleya’s belief that the FBI would know the location of the man who killed her family. This movie is okay on the surface as a pointless action flick, but if you think of it too deeply you may become disappointed.

You’ll like this if you liked : Hanna

Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014) 8/10

Starring : Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Ed Oxenbould, Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey
Director : Miguel Arteta
Running Time : 82 mins

Alexander (Oxenbould) leads a terrible life – not only is nobody coming to his birthday party, but pictures of him superimposed onto bikini models have surfaced on the internet. On the evening before his birthday, Alexander makes a wish that his family could understand what it would be like to have a terrible day, and it soon seems to him that his wish has come true...

This is a fun kids film, filled with slapstick moments that will keep the kids happy. On the whole the bad things that happen are pretty well thought through, and it feels a little like Licence To Drive when the car starts getting wrecked. I half expected this to turn into a fantasy movie when Alexander makes his wish, but thankfully things don't ever go in that direction. Don’t expect the humour to be too clever, but this is a likeable movie that has a satisfying conclusion and some reasonable performances from the cast.

You’ll like this if you liked : Imagine That

Iron Man & Hulk : Heroes United (2013) 6/10

Starring : Adrian Pasdar, Fred Tatasciore, Dee Bradley Baker, Robin Atkin Downes, David Kaye
Director : Eric Radomski & Leo Riley
Running Time : 72 mins

Iron Man (Pasdar) and the Hulk (Tatasciore) are forced to join forces when an evil being of electrical energy named Zzzax (Baker) is unleashed as a team of villainous Hydra agents use Hulk’s gamma energy to supercharge one of Iron Man’s inventions.

Fans of The Hulk and Iron Man should get a kick out of this straight to video animated movie, and I didn’t think it was that bad. It’s just I hated the animation. It was heavily computerised which really put me off, especially when some of the earlier efforts had more standard animation (some even had an anime style, which was great fun to watch). If you like the characters and can live with the animation style, then this is great fun, but the style was just too distracting for me to find it as enjoyable as it could have been.

You’ll like this if you liked : Ultimate Avengers

Life After Beth (2014) 7/10

Starring : Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan, John C Reilly, Molly Shannon, Cheryl Hines, Paul Reiser, Matthew Gray Gubler, Anna Kendrick
Director : Jeff Baena
Running Time : 89 mins

As Zach (DeHaan) tries to get over the death of his girlfriend Beth (Plaza), he thinks he sees her at her parents’ house. He soon discovers that Beth has come back from the dead as a sort of zombie, and he manages to continue their relationship from where they left off. But Beth’s increasingly erratic behaviour starts to cause Zach to wonder if her return from the dead has brought her back exactly as she was before.

The first hour of this movie is really fun, with DeHaan thinking Beth faked her own death, and then their weird relationship together and how Beth reacts to things, but it takes a decided left turn and turns into a full on zombie movie at roughly the hour mark. I guess there was no other direction for this to go in, and the writers and cast handle the transition well, but people who are expecting a standard comedy might be surprised to see that this is quite a gory horror, though the gore is very much tongue in cheek.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Voices

Far From Heaven (2002) 7/10

Starring : Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis
Director : Todd Haynes
Running Time : 107 mins

Fifties housewife Cathy Whitaker (Moore) finds her life thrown into disarray when she catches her husband Frank (Quaid) in his office kissing a man! As she struggles to come to terms with this, she begins a friendship with Raymond Deagan (Haysbert), a black man who works as a gardener. Cathy and Frank try to save their marriage by taking trips together and by Frank going to therapy, but Frank’s homosexuality and Cathy’s growing love for Raymond seem to get in the way of any hope for their marriage.

It’s funny that the reaction to the possibility that Cathy is seeing a black man seems worse than Frank being gay. Less than sixty years later, neither of these issues is really that big a deal, but the writers give us a view of mid-century American society that you wouldn’t often see portrayed on screen (at least not before Mad Men). This is melodrama through and through, with some strong performances from Moore and Quaid, and fans of this kind of drama will find little to fault here, but this is at times a little too hammy.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Hours

Residue (2015) 6/10

Starring : Natalia Tena, Iwan Rheon, Jamie Draven, Danny Webb, Franz Drameh, Adrian Schiller
Director : Alex Garcia Lopez
Running Time : 103 mins

Following an explosion in an area of London, quarantine zones have been erected to keep people away, but photojournalist Jennifer Preston (Tena) decides to investigate by going into the quarantine zone. What she discovers is a deadly paranormal phenomenon that could have the potential to wipe out mankind if someone doesn’t act quickly...

For something that is such a good idea, this was almost hopelessly mismanaged by everyone involved. It almost comes across like the horror movie Shutter, just not as creepy. It might be that this is based off a TV mini-series that makes it feel so disjointed (I haven’t seen the mini-series so it might even be simply a cut down version with 30 minutes cut here and there) but whatever it is this great idea could have been done so much better if there was a bit more characterisation and a little less focus throughout on the government conspiracy.

You’ll like this if you liked : Shutter

Delivery Man (2013) 7/10

Starring : Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, Cobie Smulders
Director : Ken Scott
Running Time : 105 mins

Childish and unreliable David Wozniak (Vaughn) receives a visit from a lawyer informing him that the sperm he donated twenty years ago to make some extra cash has been used to father over 500 children, and that over 100 of the children want to know who their father is. Due to confidentiality laws, the kids are trying to go through the courts to overthrow the ruling, and it looks like a distinct possibility that they could win. So, having taken a peek at some of the files on his children, reluctant father David decides to visit some of the children to see if he wants to get to know them in return.

Few people probably realise this, but this movie was actually a remake of a Canadian movie made only a few years earlier called Starbuck. Quite why this was remade so quickly is anybody’s guess – perhaps it was suggested that a bigger star might sell the story to the masses and make more money. In any case, this was a likeable movie with some interesting ideas, though it does fall short of its expectations at times, with some of the children being pretty stupid at not guessing who Vaughn really is when he approaches them.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Switch

Someone Marry Barry (2014) 8/10

Starring : Tyler Labine, Damon Wayans Jr, Lucy Punch, Hayes MacArthur, Thomas Middleditch
Director : Rob Pearlstein
Running Time : 88 mins

Three friends have grown sick and tired of their annoying friend Barry (Labine), so they decide to try and marry him off by purchasing a mail order bride for him. This doesn’t work out, but he meets Melanie (Punch), an English girl who is every bit as annoying and abrasive as Barry is. Now they are faced with having two Barry’s in their group, and decide to make the ultimate decision in terms of friendship.

This may not have been the most high brow or complex of comedies but I really liked it. Labine and Punch were wonderful as the happy couple, and the supporting cast of characters playing Barry’s friends manage to bring their own stories into the mix and show just how terrible they are even without Barry’s influence. In spite of the fact that the characters are over the top and at times ridiculous, they are instantly identifiable and you can immediately see how they are going to develop as the movie progresses.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Wedding Video