Reviews

OK where do I begin with this. Well firstly for those of you that don't know me personally I am a massive geek fanboy of comics, namely Marvel. I have anticipated a Marvel mash up of characters ever since the first Xmen movie hit our screen's in the late 90's. To have that dream finally come true with some of my favourite comic characters (Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man) I was wetting myself just watching the promo's and the lack lustre build up movies (Thor, Iron Man, Captain America & the really dire Incredible Hulk). Not since 1999 and the release of the first X-Men movie had I anticipated a Super Hero movie so much, so obviously the hype and level of expectation I had was very high. All the positive reviews & ground breaking box office takings were pointing at this movie being GREAT.

Good it is, Great it isn't quite there. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, easily one of the best super hero movies since X-Men First Class, X2 & The Dark Knight, but is it really better than these??? In fact is it even better than The Punisher (which I loved by the way). Well I ain't so sure. To begin with the movie brings the ensemble cast together really nicely, they all are fighting towards a common enemy. There isn't much need for a backstory to any of the audience as you are assumed to have watched the individual films before watching Avengers but even if you haven't it's not exactly rocket science (we all know Bruce Banner was hit with Gamma rays and turns green when he's mad). The story is pretty simple. The earth is threatened by another world forces led by Thor's half-brother , Loki and back on Earth, Nick Fury leader of Shield assembles the rag tagged bunch of super heroes we all know as The Avengers. Each Avenger gets good equal screen time which is another plus of the movie, even the not so super heroes like Hawkeye & Black Widow who are just glorified normal humans get a good amount of screen time, I'd say Hawkeye more than Black widow actually. But the whole movie is rather predictable. Now I know I shouldn't complain about this and it shouldn't really count as a negative towards this movie. 10 times out of 10 if you go to watch a super hero movie you know the good guys are going to prevail over the dark forces. It's just the route taken to defeat the enemies that got me a little annoyed. First the mind control of Hawkeye to trying to get the Bruce to turn into the Hulk on the Shield sky ship. All of it you could see coming a mile off and were kind of just waiting for these bits to end. When would the avengers rescue Hawkeye from his mental capture? When would Bruce turn green? If they kind of just sprung it on us instead of building up to it and spoon feeding us it could've been better All in all an enjoyable action movie with surprisingly funny bits mainly thanks to Downey Junior delivering his lines to aplomb Still looking forward to the sequel which should be better

Rise of the Planet of The Apes Lets begin by saying this is the 7th attempt at making an apes vs Humans film along with the ill fated TV & animated series. We all know the battle between Human kind & a super intelligent simian race has fascinated movie goers ever since 1963 when the French novelist Pierre Boulle wrote the book Monkey Planet. We've had great ups with the franchise and some downs, most of you thinking Tim Burton's 2001 rehash, but I actually liked it, I'm thinking more the 1970 Beneath the Planet of the Apes with the stupid Mutant human storyline ! Anyway Hollywood knows how to make money so one of the major studios backed quite unproven British Director, Rupert Wyatt to reboot the franchise and hopefully kick off its own monkey revolution with spin off sequels and merchandise.

Well I am happy to say he has succeeded. What they've done with the latest ape adventure is bring it back to the 21st century rather then a distant future. It makes it all a bit more believable with a huge pharmaceutical company trying to create a cure to Alzheimer's. With companies money men only interested in the financial rewards, whilst the scientist lead by James Franco concerned more for the humanitarian effect the cure could have. The only problem is to perfect the medicine they need to test it on animals who share the closest DNA to Humans. What are they? YOU GUESSED IT Monkeys, more specifically, Chimpanzees. Over 10 years of research has taken its toll on the chimpanzee population of the research facility and after an earlier setback with most of the primates being put down. The sensitive Will Rodman (Franco) enlists the help of his girlfriend (Freida Pinto) to rescue a baby chimp after his mother is put down. Unwittingly over the years Will discovers that the baby chimp now named Caesar ( a note to the original ape films) has been passed on the gene therapy from his mother and is a super intelligent chimp. Over the rest of the film we see Caser become a intelligent almost human like chimp with a wild animal primal side in trying to protect his "family" namely Will's Alzheimer effected dad (John Lithgow). Caesar ends up in a monkey sanctuary after being quarantined for attacking Will's neighbour. It's through his exposure to wild monkeys from apes to Orangatangs that Caesar realises the human treat him and his kind as animals and its actually his race that should fight the oppression upon them. He unleashes the same chemicals that made him super intelligent on his primate cousins in the sanctuary and all hell breaks loose across San Francisco. In the end this is a great adaptation of the original films and well worth a watch for original ape lovers to people new to the series Enjoy !

Thor Where do I start with this overly hyped messy Marvel hero story. Well he is one of the lesser known Marvel characters for the non fan boy geeks out there. But for most comic fans he is well known but mostly loved when part of the ensemble Avengers or Ultimates comic line. His own comic line of Thor (standalone) never sold well and was never really resonating well in the Marvel Universe on his own simply because we're talking about a super being with God like powers. The thing people love about the Marvel Universe especially comic fans and young kids is the believability factor. Spiderman walks the streets of New York, he's a teenage boy with problems other teenage boys can relate too. Iron man is a cocky business man with millions of dollars in wealth like a flash Bill gates & Steve Jobs rolled into one ! Even the far out characters in the Xmen you can relate with because they are treated differently due to their difference all be it massively magical mutations. But with Thor you need a Marvel loving audience to relate with viking costumes, Asgard & Yodenheim and the 9 realms. Make any sense? I bet not! I'm sorry but this sounds more like a cross between a bad Star Trek story and Lord of the Rings gone wrong! The best thing about Thor is when he is on Earth. I know we all have to learn about the origins of these characters. But the in this film we learn about Thor's world, Asgard, his relationship with his brother & father and the main realm they have a beef with, Yoddenheim. Most if it is unnecessary. They could have just continued the story from the point that Thor is banished to Earth for defying his father. Instead just as you get comfortable with Thor being like a fish out of water on earth and start enjoying the jokes of his clumsy mannerisms with the human people they take him back to Asgard where he becomes trapped ! BORING !! The best bits for me in this movie were the mentions of Bruce Banner, Tony Stark. Appearance of Hawkeye and the post credits scene with Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson again). I know I sound like a crazy angry fan boy geek gone mad. I understand all these movies like Iron Man 1 & 2 & Incredible Hulk and the soon to be released Captain America are there to setup The Avengers movie next year. But this movie could and should have been so more…..massive disappointment due to the story being central to the world of Asgaard. Watch it if you don't know much about Thor and ain't expecting anything but some action and a fantastically other world storyline + its definitely not for 3D so save yourself some money by just watching in 2D it was never made for 3D - Although the Captain America Trail in 3D looked amazing! HURRY UP AVENGERS !!!!

So I finally got there in the end. Ever since last year when I first heard about this movie my blood's been pumping and the sheer mention of the words "expendables", "Stallone", "Jet Li" or "Couture" have sent a shiver down my spine and got the Goosebumps raised.

It was hard to keep a level head and not be excited for a 30 year old man who grew up on old school action movies like Rambo, Die Hard, Predator, Universal Soldier and more recently Crank & Transporter. All these movies have a common theme and ingredient. Non stop action centred around a hero or hero(s), women unable to defend themselves and a pretty flimsy plot. Usually the main character has little emotional background or epic dialogue sequences. But what these movies do deliver is pure unadulterated action in bucket loads. Ingredients of Guns, violence, blood, profanity and a little sprinkle of sex usually only provided by a screaming half dressed lady ! it's what I grew up on and that is all I expected & wanted from The Expendables. In a day and age when action movies have become about deeply enriching plots and complex characters like The Bourne series (which I love), Matrix Trilogy, Inception or even The Dark Knight we can all see the way the genre is going. So I think Stallone has gathered the best he can with the tools he has. Mickey Rourke supplies the wise old man role and has a small hand full of scenes, Jason Staham, Stallone & Jet Lie probably share the most screen time together (more so Statham & Stallone) and this makes sense as its Stallone's movie and Statham & Li are the biggest names in the movie that are current action stars with actual big roles. Both have integral roles, Statham is like Stallone's right hand man and conscious. Jet Li is the comedy relief unfortunately his height and Chinese background is the butt of most the jokes. Randy Couture has little to do but does it well as does Terry Crews. Steve Austin & Eric Roberts were born to play villains and again deliver the big baddie in bucket loads. The two female characters in the movie (Statham's girl & Stallone's love interest) have one task to do, look pretty and helpless and they both do that perfectly with a bit of cleavage thrown in for good measure. One of the biggest surprises has to be the 53 year old Dolph Lungren who plays one of the expendables who goes AWOL, Gunnar. To be honest one of the big major gripes with this movie is the incomprehensible dialogue delivered by most the actors. You have actors like Jet Li & Dolph Lungren given quite a bit of dialogue when English was never their first language and then you have other brutes who just grunt and groan their lines including Stallone, Rourke & Steve Austin. By now I'm sure most of you know the plot. Bunch of mercenaries are hired to liberate a South American country from its evil dictator who in turn is actually controlled by a more evil American villain (Eric Roberts). Initially the leader of the mercenaries, Barney Ross aka Sly Stallone does a little recon of the country and he is entranced by a rather good looking local woman probably half his age ! anyway Statham & Sly just escape the island before their recon is finished and decide against taking the suicidal job of liberating this country. That is until Sly has a little chat with an EX-Expendable (another 80's star) Mickey Rourke. Who convinces him you should never leave a women in distress. So after returning to the island with his full expendables crew to rescue the girl and save a nation. We are led from one boy hood playground dream debate to another. UFC Vs wrestling who would win? well Couture Vs Stone Cold Steve Austin puts an end to that. There are funny comedic moments like when Austin has Stallone held prisoner and is questioning him "Who sent You?" Stallone replies "Your hairdresser" no doubt to tease the fact Austin has no hair, oh Stallone we can clearly see you were in charge of the dialogue ! Of course we all know what happens at the end, Stallone & his gang obviously save the island and the damsel in distress. As for the much talked about and much hyped scene between Stallone & Willis with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger well I'll save that to say its well worth the ticket price alone and is cinema gold. Many reviews have said about the whole movie the storyline is weak, the acting terrible, character development poor and the dialogue just plain stupid. An action movie should never be about the dialogue or character development. You don't go into an ice cream parlour and judge it by the Hot Chocolate they serve so why judge an Action movie against the criteria you would judge an Intricate Thriller. The Expendables isn't pretending to be The godfather or Seven Samurai or even Gran Torino so don't judge it by it. It's an Action Movie judge it against other Action movies. I even read Stallone is doing a terrible job of trying to be Clint Eastwood in being an actor come director. Come on please! When people deserve to die he doesn't just pump them full of lead he makes sure they feel pain with a blade or some other form of long suffering death, exactly what you want from an action movie. So if you want old school violence no CGI, No pretencions for Oscars & Awards and probably no repeat viewing apart from needing subtitle switched on then this is the S**T for you, I would have given it 9 if Segal, Snipes had made it in the picture, if Van Damme was in it it would have got 10 for sure! BRING ON THE SEQUEL IS WHAT I SAY!

WOW !! All i can say about this movie is WOW !! First off its a foreign language film to all English speakers, so for those of you not used to reading subtitles or those that don't understand French be prepared. Secondly its nothing like any Van Damme movie you've ever seen. If your expecting a pointless plot with rubbish action scenes and bad acting b prepared. There is little action and the movie actually centre's around a really good narrative and brilliant dialogue between the main characters. Van Damme plays himself and gets caught up in a bank heist. It reminds me a lot of The Inside Man with the atmosphere Spike Lee created in the bank similar to here. Van Damme is a revelation and if he had been acting and doing movies like this from the start or at least after Bloodsport then what can i say, the guy would be up there with Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise etc. In my eyes he is a superb actor really powerful and shows emotion never before seen by an action hero. We learn what makes Van Dame tick and what its like to be Van Damme, PLEASE WATCH THIS MOVIE for Van Damme fans and those that are not YOU WILL BECOME A FAN AFTER THIS MOVIE !

OK let's get the following out of the way, I'm a massive comic book fanboy, so yes this review will probably be a bit biased or harsh depending on the way you look at it. End of the day I think the people who appreciate the back-story & origin of a film together with the history of the main character will have higher expectations from the silver screen. So to begin with I LOVED THIS MOVIE, I always read up on reviews and take in as much info on a movie before going to see it, for some reason the hype of a movie always add's to the excitement. Well I was quite surprised with the widely panned and rather negative reviews aimed at Origins. It had a better write up then Wolverine's last adventure (X-Men III) but Origins is said to be no where near X2, well I'm going to be brave and say: I thought Xmen Origins was the best of the X-men franchise to date ! The reason, you have a central character everyone enjoys sharing screen time with and a great plot, the other X-men movies play their part because they add to the nostalgia and always keep you in the mindset that you know whats going to happen to your old chum, Logan. The story follows James Logan aka Wolverine & his half brother, Victor Creed aka Sabretooth over the years. The opening montage of them both in the credits over the various wars they both fought in is absolutely brilliant. The story then takes the turn of a revenge tale, first we learn of Wolverine's recruitment along with his brother into a hit squad assembled of other troubled mutants, then when Wolverine's blood lust has succumbed & he tires of all the killings he abandons his role within the team much to the disdain of both Creed & Stryker. With Wolverine losing his beloved due to his past affiliations with the shady government agency. Wolverine continues the movie rampaging through searching for his lovers killer or killers. Emotionally scarred from his lovers loss and unable to contain his rage we learn of the infamous procedure to add adamantium to our heroes skeleton and why he is so mentally troubled. From the moment he becomes one with the magical metal alloy Adamantium, Logan searches for his revenge slaying one enemy from the next…until he learns who is really behind the anarchy caused in his life. Two people responsible for Logan's troubles are Victor Creed who we already know about from the beginning then we slowly learn about the relationship Wolverine has with his old commander, William Stryker, who plays almost a farther figure to Wolverine & the rest of his rag/tag bunch of super-anti heroes he assembles (An almost elite hit squad would be a better name !). As wolverine fights battles with Victor as well as Stryker and his henchmen the story quickly progress's to a super climax leaving it open for a welcome sequel Many people and even well known critics have harped on the fact there are too many characters piled into the movie for commercial effect, but unlike Spiderman III which really did have character overkill. The extra's we're introduced too serve their purpose, with you never forgetting the central characters in this movie are Wolverine & Sabretooth. Gambit plays a welcome cameo and has his part in the story as does Cyclops, others like Emma Frost are a bit under used but still make a worthy point. The Blob & Wraith probably have more screen time then you'd expect but again make important performances for the story to progress. As for the most comical of the characters we're introduced to, Wade Wilson aka Deadpool, well I'll let you see the movie for that, lets just say he has his moment in the limelight and brilliantly played by Ryan Reynolds. Out of all the extra characters apart from Victor Creed, Stryker & possibly Silverfox (who is different to the comic version of Silverfox), Gambit has the most screen time and he has a decent storyline arc to the central character of Logan too. In fact the whole movie I was waiting for Gambit's appearance, when it finally did come I wasn't disappointed ! On the down side the movie is slightly too short with more time on the early years of the relationship between the two brothers (Victor & Logan) which could have padded it out a bit more, possibly a higher certification for the movie would have resulted in more carnage not child friendly fights we're witness too. But apart from that, which you can't blame 20th Century Fox for because all they can see is the $$$$$$$$$$ to be made !, the movie is great, definite repeat material and you have to stay till the end of the final credits for the usual Marvel treat they now add to all their movies For all you Wolverine fans…..Enjoy !

Starring Vigo Mortenson fresh from his success in the LOTR trilogy, this film casts him as the lead character in a strange but pleasantly unique storyline of a man with a checkered past which finally catches up to him. Ably supported by a great cast of actors Ed Harris & Maria Bello. The film begins with the audience learning about the main characters (Tom Stall) life style and his genuine love for his family. This is all thrown upside down when Tom is thrust upon society and labelled a "hero" for stopping a robbery and assault happen in his restaurant. But this event causes a chain reaction resulting in people from Tom's past catching up with him. The obvious denial by Tom to his beloved family of any kind of ill past in his history is quite illuminating to watch and his constant conflict with himself and his wife are great scenes to watch (played brilliantly by Maria Bello). The movie is a definite break from the norm and well worth watching. I would highly recommend it, David Cronenberg the director is known for his unique films (Existenz, Crash, The fly) so its not a surprise this has come from his stable.

A lot of good reviews and positive comments have been made about this movie. Unfortunately I don't think the movie lives up to most of them. Its difficult for me to review this movie without referring to the Hong Kong Super original which is a classic in its own right, Infernal Affairs. The Departed literally takes the exact same storyline and swaps the Chinese Triads with the Irish Boston underworld. The story revolves around to central characters Sullivan (played by the wooden Damon) & Costigan (the awesome Di Caprio) both are having there strings pulled, one by the gangster boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) and the other by the Police Departments undercover chief Quinnin (Martin Sheen). Both characters are effectively "rats" for the bad guys and good guys. The interesting part of the story is when the line between good & bad starts to become blurred and each undercover doesn't know where they stand. This part of the storyline was done with great impact and good characterisation in the Chinese original. As often happens with remakes, re-works or re imaginations upon an original, The Departed doesn't do this too well. In fact it tries to hard to adapt the storyline to suit the American audiences. By throwing in a love interest for both central characters to chase and also have characters like Mark Whalberg's comic police officer (although he does this really well). Its quite funny Scorsese is one of the greatest directors of all time and for him to take an existing storyline and take the good bits and copy them and leave out the excellent bits and replace them with mushy justifiable movie going fare is just a bit of a cop out. Don't get me wrong, for those of you who have never seen or heard of the original or never even knew The departed was even a remake they will probably love this film. But for those of us fortunate enough to have seen the great Infernal Affairs will think what have they done to my classic Hong Kong Thriller. Scorsese films usually have memorable scenes, but I can only think of a few, memorable lines are even more sparse. Where as his classic "Goodfellas" begins with a truly memorable line "As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a gangster". One trait Scorsese keeps from goodfellas, Casino, Gangs of New York is the use of a great soundtrack and The Departed doesn't disappoint with the Boston Irish Bagpipes used to aplomb. It maybe a bit "heavy Metal" but it works well with the theme. The huge collection of quality actors from Jack Nicholson, Ray Winstone, Mark Whalberg, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin all do well but none are a patch on Leonardo and they are all let down by the po faced Matt Damon and his unemotional turn as Sullivan, though it could be argued his character has been so drained of emotion his own life it just adds to the performance. Compared to most of the trash out in the cinemas right now namely "Borat", I'd give the Departed some time if you want to go to the cinema, but to wait for it on DVD isn't a bad thing either. Never thought I'd say that about a Scorsese film but its true.

If you want to see a great performance with a good but not great storyline and have no expectations in comparison to the original then you'll enjoy, what more can I say !

Spike Lee & Denzel Washington these two movie heavy weights have collaborated on numerous occasions (4 to be precise), the most powerful being Malcom X. Having loved that I had high hopes for this movie, and thankfully I was not in the slightest disappointed. In fact I'd even go as far as saying the movie exceeded my expectations. It has a fantastic cast, one of the strongest the director has ever had at his disposal. With the likes of Denzel, Jodie Foster & Willem Defoe plus Clive Owen its quite an achievement for the director to get such powerful performances from each of these actors.

Denzel plays the role of Detective Keith Frazer who is in charge of negotiating with Bank robbers lead by Clive Owen who have laid siege to a Manhattan Bank. The film follows the complex mind of a criminal in Owen and the thinking behind our heroes motives to save the day (Washington). There is some clever screenplay where the audience is shown flash forwards in the Movie of the 2 detectives interviewing each of the bank hostages. This also means the audience always know the outcome of the movie form the start, but the way Spike Lee uses this to his advantage is pure genius. He keeps enough twists in the story, always predictable but delightfully impressionable upon the overall storyline. The characters are all interwoven in a great storyline, Jodie Foster plays cold as ice bitch hired by the bank owner, who will do anything for her pay cheque and to satisfy her employers. Never being much of a fan of Miss Foster I was very surprised at her performance, but this could largely be contributed to the superb script & narrative handed to her.

The film, mind you, does have a few floors. The pointless background to Denzel's character (girlfriend, relationship issues & brother in law problems) does not really add to much and could have been toned down. But the story is also peppered with light hearted comedy moments, especially when New York's finest are asked to solve a simple riddle which they do, but still end up arguing about it !! You'd expect any film by Spike Lee to touch on some racial issues, and he doesn't disappoint his fans including some post 9/11 and sexist undertones. The scene with the Sikh Hostage a highlight of this. He also manages to make New York which we have seen in many movies over time seem different every time you see it through the camera lens. Much how Michael Mann uses LA as his homage, Lee will always credit the Big Apple as his background. The film looks beautiful and plays even better.

I maybe biased as Spike Lee is one of my favourite directors of all time, but with an ensemble cast of actors, some of whom I ain't even a fan of (Foster), this movie really does a great job of executing a fine script originally intended for Ron Howard (of Apollo 13 fame) to direct. We can only thank god that never happened !! GO SEE IT

I've recently reviewed many movies which take someone else's story or idea and re-created in the directors own imagining, usually if you have the right director & cast along with an original screenplay you can get something like Oceans 11 (vastly superior to the original) other times things can go wrong even with a good director like Tim Burtons Planet of the Apes!

Sadly the case for King Kong is the latter, Peter Jackson is used to taking someone else's story and putting his touch on it, from his Lord of the Rings experience we know he can do it. But King Kong is NOT A Lord of the Rings. The entire movie runs at a lethargic pace, plodding from the main plot line of recruiting a cast & crew for Jack Black's character (a Director) to our heroine's love triangle played by Naomi Watts between her idol screenplay writer & the big ape. They don't even set foot on the island until about 1 hour & a half of the movie, and the whole trip to the island is like watching a cut down version of the Perfect Storm. When they finally do arrive on the island, its like we've suddenly switched on Starship Troopers, with the audience shown many battles between King Kong, the characters of the movie, dinosaurs, Big Bugs (ala Starship troopers) and the jungle itself.

The main character Ann Darrow (Watts) is a down on her luck actress who is persuaded to go on this boat trip to make it big in her career, her performance has to be said is quite poor but this maybe due to the poor dialogue she's given, but her calmness in front of the ape upon realising she's been captured is just too convenient for my liking. During his whole piece on the island we are meant to believe the stupid ape has soft spot for the leading lady as he grows more & more attached to her, but this is not well conveyed. I think people will feel he is more like a big kid who has lost his toy and wants it back, the Toy being the rather lame Mrs. Watts. I can only say the convincing acting comes from Jack Black as the un-relent us film Director looking to make a few bob on this mission to bring the Ape back to New York.

Another major problem I have with this movie is the big gaping hole they leave in this film in account of how Kong gets from the Island to New York, maybe the director thought it wasn't important, but showing us a ship stuck between two rocks and giant bats attacking people was important to see to the storyline. How they manage to get a 25 foot Ape onto the ship is not just interesting but I feel essential to the story as it would have allowed the audience to better understand the struggle Naomi Watts character was going through seeing this tortured beast who saved her life numerous times on the island, and it would have created more friction between her human & ape lovers. This was just a poor hole in the scrip and a bad decision by the director not to show this.

The scenes with the Ape in New York make a good action yarn but suggestions for this movie to receive accolades as a love story and "you should be crying at the end" are laughable, as you feel nothing for this big stupid CGI Ape except THANK GOD ITS FINALLY OVER

Peter Jackson should realise just because his last 3 movies were over 3 hours doesn't mean they all have to be, a poor re-make with a stuttering storyline lengthened unnecessarily. Watch Jurassic park you'll have more fun, if you want to see a romance just watch Sleepless in Seattle!!

I grew up having read the famous book, undoubtedly someone would one day try and convey this story upon the silver screen, it's actually a miracle it took them this long! Where do I start, its always hard taking someone's else imagination, work, story and moulding it into your own piece but people have done good jobs of this in the past "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory", "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy" & "Jurassic Park" to name a few books successfully turned into good movies. Also with such a entertaining book with detailed characters & good action scenes everything is in place for a good translation into a movie, unfortunately Andrew Adamson who directs this movie maybe thinks he can follow in his countrymen's footsteps (Peter Jackson also a famous Kiwi director) and although he did good with the Shrek Movies, it seems Mr. Adamson's skills lie in the animated movie industry as this film is diabolical from start to finish. Most of you will already know the story and premise of this famous story, 4 young children during World War II are evacuated to the countryside in rural England, from here the children stumble upon a cupboard in a strange professors huge house, upon entering the cupboard they arrive into a strange world, NARNIA. Their adventures in Narnia centre on saving the people from the evil rule of the White Witch who has plunged all of Narnia into eternal winter, with the help of Aslan the talking Lion they set about freeing Narnia. The problem with this movie is it seems VERY, VERY, VERY Rushed, where as LOTR spent years trying to recapture Tolkiens world of Middle earth, Narnia seems to have taken the blurb you get on the back of the book and created the film off that! The story is told at a frenetic pace and at 140 minutes long that's quite a feat, but even if they had made the movie longer and told the story better with these pathetic child actors in charge little could have been done to save this film. Peter the eldest and supposedly smartest of the bunch is totally unconvincing and his fight scenes are almost comedic, Little Lucy is just plain annoying rather then endearing & cute, Susan is very pompous more so then her character in the book and the one person who has the most material and characterization to play with fails miserably as a weedy unconvincing troubled young boy, Edmund, but at least he plays the cowardly part right. Liam Neeson provides the voice for Aslan and does his wise old man routine seen so successfully in Star Wars & more recently Batman, Mr. Tumnus played by James McAvoy from "Shameless" fame does well but the relationship between him & Lucy seems a bit too false, where as in the book it was well written. Tilda Swinton plays the White Witch the "bad guy" so to speak in this movie, and she does OK, but I think anyone could play this character as she has to look quite monotone & emotionless, almost wooden in her performance to pull it off, so stick a wig on Keanu Reeves and you'd get the right effect! The Beavers are by far the most entertaining characters along with the wolves but don't get nearly enough screen time, instead we're left looking at Peter holding a sword in an attack position looking like a complete donut for half the movie. My biggest gripe with this movie isn't how he hasn't made a good interpretation of the book, its the poor makeup & costume of some of the characters, the visual effects are excellent, CGI and all is good, but some of the creatures like the half horse half men, the Minotaur's (bull heads) and other creatures look like they are straight out of a TV serial that got cut after the first episode, just imagine watching the making of LOTR and seeing all the Orcs, Goblins, Uru-Kai's, Dwarfs & Elves masks made up by the crew that went horribly wrong and were thrown into the scrap heap, its almost like the Narnia crew snuck into this scrap heap and took what they could !

If you enjoyed the books, save yourself the torture, and read it again, or watch the old cartoon or old BBC TV series, this is so bad how Disney hopes to have started off a Lord of The Rings or Star Wars legacy is beyond me, this is more the start of something like Police Academy then anything else!

A combined directorial talent of the guy who brought us films like "From Dusk Till Dawn", "El Mariachi" & "Desperado" (Robert Rodriguez) together with the man who writes comics such as Batman: Year One & The Dark Knight (Frank Miller). You could expect some weird miss-match or a break through genre busting movie. Thankfully we get the latter with this movie.

I'm a huge comic book fan, but I never really liked Frank Millers work with Batman, but that maybe due to the fact I never really liked the Batman comics ! Having never read the Sin City material I didn't really know what to expect from the film, and from the opening scene which Robert Rodriguez used to seduce the other actors into signing onto his film you could tell your in for a special treat, each story is told like a separate short film but are all inter-twined within the film's framework through a central location, the local drinking establishment. The film is made up of three stories, each based off their respective separate comic books. The first story is based around Marv, played by Mickey Rourke, and his quest to seek vengeance for the murdered hooker he has been framed for. The second story is based around a character named Dwight, played by Clive Owen, who mistakenly is involved in killing a "hero" cop whose chosen the path of crime. The final story which concludes the film is focused on an honest cop named Hartigan, and his determination to protect a young girl.

The stories are told with such great screenplay, probably because each story seems to have been lifted straight off the comic book canvas, and the plot line itself may seem rather strange and geek boy, but my word does it work. In some ways it reminds me a lot of the bold attempt to bring Dick Tracy to the silver screen, but where that failed in so many departments, Sin City outshines and then some ! The dark humour is mixed with graphic violence not for those with a squeamish complex, definitely a ground breaking film and the digital filming, (actors were filmed against a green background and then later in the editing room the actual backdrops were added), adds a touch of real quality with the occasional use of colour not just thrown in for good measure but actually making a point Probably one for the testosterone fuelled young boys in all of us men, great visuals mixed with good looking babes, and a killer story line, literally !

Before I begin my dissection of this epic, let me just remind you the image Bollywood has in the west is 3 hour plus long movies with more songs & dance sequences then actual narrative or action and little storyline, if this is your image of Bollywood I strongly advise you to watch this film. A Historical epic based on true evens and real people, this really does break the mould of your typical Hindi movie. The story centres on events in 1857, during British Rule of India. Many historians believe the Indian Independence movement began here, almost 90 years before India actually received its independence from British rule. We begin the story be being introduced to the central character, Mangal Pandey (played brilliantly by Aamir Khan, a native sepoy (frontline British army soldier) working for the East India Company on behalf of the British Raj. He begins a strong friendship with his commanding British officer, William Gordon (played by Toby Stephans), by saving him an a war with Afghanistan. The story accelerates from here introducing us to the way of life the Sepoy lives, totally loyal to the companies regime, loosing their tradition and culture. When the Sepoy's are asked to use a new gun cartridge greased with the fat of cows & pigs (against the religions of both Hindu's & Muslims) they all face conflict within, do they go against their faith & heritage or carry on to follow the "companies" rules? When Gordon promise his friend Mangal that the cartridges will not damage his faith and are not greased with animal fat, Mangal believes him and trusts his friend but also warning if the facts are false and the rumour is true he will burn the entire company down to the ground ! You have to realise when your watching this spectacle these events really happened, and India was under the rule of the British who used over 300,000 native Indians in their armed regiments to control the Indian sub continent under an iron fist, and they promised to always have their best interests at heart. When the truth emerges about these controversial gun cartridges, Magal Pandey explodes and a mutiny begins within the ranks of the sepoys, the news spread fast. The movie has some romance too with Magal falling in love with a local prostitute hired to pleasure the British soldiers, and his friend Gordon even falls for an Indian girl. The movie is well shot and has good narrative, it may not be to everyone's cup of tea as this is not your standard bollywood or even Hollywood type film, and the music is definitely a plus point to me especially the title song "Mangal,a, Mangal, a, Mangal". Again this won't be to everyone's taste especially when the viewer is trying to sympathise with the plight of the Indian people only to see the characters burst into song and vibrant colours thrown everywhere, but this is Indian cinema so you have to get used to I, and I loved this aspect. Overall I don't think its the cross Atlantic film that bridges the gap between American & Indian films it wants to be, trying to please Indian & western audiences is difficult especially in a historical context, but it does a good job of being a serious entertainer and definitely gave me goosebumps and made me proud of my heritage.

Bollywood movies are an acquired taste, and though this isn't technically a bollywood movie with 70% of the dialogue in English, and less resonance to the viewer with no Indian roots it still is a good entertaining film worth watching as an alternative

Firstly lets get the niggly bits out, most review's you've read of this movie have probably been bad, and the main reason for this is the smugness and arrogance displayed by the cast in having a good time making the movie, you have Hollywood A-list celebrities who on their own can draw in millions, when you put them all in one room well expect a bit of laid back acting. But to be fair this is what i liked about the movie, its not trying to cover up its huge ensemble cast by giving them bit parts etc, i think each character is given fair screen time, and their persona's are developed further from the first movie, this time around instead of learning about Danny Ocean (clooney) and the way his mind works, we see a lot more from Rusty's (Brad Pitt's) point of view, with even an old flame thrown in for added measure. OK so the storyline is a bit ropey, with holes all overt he place, but what good heist movie isn't a bit far fetched? Again the gang are trying to pull off a major coup in stealing millions, but this time its to pay off their last victim, Benedict (Andy Garcia). There are plenty of laughs throughout, more so then the first one in fact, but there are also a few silly moments that border on ruining the movie. All in all Ocean's 12 is another one of those sequels that can't out do the original, but unlike some sequels that totally loose the plot (Die Hard 2, Speed 2, Batman & Robin the list goes on) Oceans 12 still has enough of the first one's panache & charm to make it enjoyable, 12 maybe not the NEW 11 as the poster's say but its better then the crap out their currently (son of mask, White Noise, Ring 2 etc)

Having grown up reading the original book by Roald Dahl, and seeing the 1970's film version many times, I was looking for that little bit of child nostalgia when I entered the screening for this. Tim Burton directs and he is no stranger to remakes, re-imaginations or re-works what ever you want to call them (Planet of The Apes anyone?). Luckily for us, whenever Burton gets together with his favourite leading man, Johnny Depp its usually a recipe for success. Chocolate factory you'll be relieved to learn is no different, living up to the expectations, exceeding in some quarters but falling short in others. I'm sure you all know of the story, down on his luck, poverty stricken young boy, Charlie Bucket dreams of winning one of 5 golden tickets Willi Wonka places in his candy bars, thus allowing the lucky recipient a full days tour of his factory. No one has been in or out of the factory for many years. The adventure on screen takes us through the very pages of the book but also add's some backs story to Wonka's slightly weird outlook on life, it gives him a history and that little bit of depth that maybe had been missing in the Gene Wilder version. A few crucial things are missed out though like Charlie being so sometime sickly sweet, by the fact he follows the rules and doesn't do anything but what Mr Wonka tells him, there is also a slightly more extended glass elevator bit towards the end. All in all these minor alterations blend in well with the already so familiar storyline. The demise of each child within the chocolate factory tour is built up to a great climax each time, the only slightly alarming thing is the rather chipmunk style songs the extremely small Oompa Loompa's sing, I preferred the 1970's version songs here. The Oompa Loompa's themselves are magically played by Deep Roy in double role, they are made extra small with computer wizardry and this just add's to this wacky race of little people. Many reviews will rave about the child actors, Veruca Salt & Violet are both played really nastily by their respective child actresses, and Charlie will get plaudits too, played by Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland). But personally I don't think he has as much meaty material as he could have had and he does a basic job of acting the sweet little kid, which I'm sure anyone could of. The real acting masterclass in this film is by miles Johnny Depp's magnificent performance of Willi Wonka, he plays the choclotier as if he was b to do so. The chocolate man's zany persona and troubled childhood becomes apparent through Depp's acting and the humour is magnified with his execution of the script. Depp has proved many times he can play off the wall characters (Blow, Jack Sparrow in Pirates of Caribbean), and this time he's done it again. Watch out for the constant banter between Depp and one of the kids Mike Teevee, Classic comedy moments! All in all the movie could have been a massive disappointment, and comparisons with the 70's version are going to happen regardless even though they are two different films of different era's and each stands alone on its own merits (one has better songs then the other, one has a better Willi Wonka then the other etc). But just enjoy this film for the great colourful grandeur scale sets, classic storyline and hilarious Depp performance of Wonka.

I had many thoughts before seeing this movie, the universal reviews I had read on this film had led to great expectations and some serious hype, this was being touted as the best Batman film yet, a tall order on the superb Tim Burton 1989 Batman. But I still had a good feeling about the film, with a cast line-up of Gary Oldman, Liam Neesom, Morgan Freeman, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson and of course Sir Michael Caine, plus the film is directed by Christopher Nolan (of Memento & Insomnia fame). So what more could you ask. Thankfully most of the hype is true and the brilliant ingredients and blend of experienced actors to the story make for one of the best comic book character films ever, me being a large comic fan, but never really a batman fan, I was thrilled to find the movie actually was about Batman rather then the "comic" villains the other 4 Batman films decided to orientate around (Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Two Face, Mr Freeze). This movie spends the first hour or so developing the Bruce Wayne Character to an extent where you realise he has no choice but to go on a vigilante mission on his own wearing the Black Bat suit he does and fighting crime, Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne/Batman like he was born to do so, his brooding figure and face of torment is clear in almost every scene, this is no Clark Kent boy wonder or Peter Parker troubled web slinging teenager, this is the story of billionaire bachelor struggling with his inner demons since the death of his parents which he blames himself for and wants to seek vengeance. Thrown into the tormented Wayne's life is the love interest played by Katie Holmes, a villain (the Scarecrow) who is just a stooge for a bigger menace, and the ending is left with a brimful glee for us all as it leave's the film nicely laid up for a sequel. People may find the back story to why Bruce becomes Batman a bit dragging and at 2 hours 20 minutes even I thought the movie could have been pegged back a bit, but apart from this and a few lack lustre action scenes, the movie is top draw.

Over the past few years Spielberg has come out with A.I, Catch Me if you can, Minority Report and The Terminal, none of these are really vintage Spielberg (Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan) and as for War of the Worlds well it sits some where in between this list. As a film that strikes terror and fear into the viewer it succeeds in part, well at least the first hour does. But then Mr Spielberg decides to go into the fantasy land he exposed us to towards the second part of A.I, which just blows apart all the hard work used to build up the atmosphere in the first part, and the story spirals out of control from this point and ends abruptly ! The story centres around a troubled family, Ray (Tom Cruise) is a divorced father with an estranged teenage son and a 10 year old daughter he never even knew was allergic to peanuts ! As the kids are dropped off with Ray for the weekend the film exposes us to Ray's strained relationship with his kids, but before we're able to say "what a bad father he is" all hell breaks loose and the streets of New Jersey begin ripping up beneath our families feet.

From here on Ray takes charge and takes his kids and flees the town, whilst watching innocent people being vaporised in his rear view mirror. All Ray wants to do is keep his kids safe, this is where the film does a very commendable job, you really believe Ray wants to make up for all the years of bad fathering and neglect he's put these kids through and if he can do one thing its at least keep them safe.

The terror of the earth being attacked by Aliens is not a new theme (Independence Day, Men in Black) but rarely is it explored for the "fear" point of view, and the widespread panic and evacuations of the cities is filmed really well, I was really enjoying watching the panic stricken people creating such a manic atmosphere up until we're introduced to a troubled new character who has little justification to the story (Tim Robbins), then we are suddenly almost rushed into being introduced to the aliens and their reason for invading the planet. From the scene where Tim Robbins character is introduced to where Ray takes down one of the Alien's Tripod machines the film feels rushed, unexplained and looses all the suspense and thriller aspect Spielberg had done so well to create in the first part.

It really does the job of leaving a bitter after taste in your mouth, Tom Cruise can't be blamed, he does his best with an inadequate plot line, Dakota Fanning as the terrified daughter plays it well and really hooks you in with her performance, its not the worst movie of the year, but it certainly ain't the "summer Blockbuster" we were all expecting.

People are always weary of foreign films, if you've seen some you enjoy them, if you haven't your not really ready to try them. Well to introduce you to the Asian extreme cinema world, Battle Royale comes highly recommended. The story centre's around an island, where a school class are kidnapped and sent too, their they are each given a weapon and supplies with the sole instruction to KILL THEIR CLASS MATES in order to be released in 3 days time, if they refuse to participate they will be KILLED, if more then one classmate survives after 3 days they will be all KILLED, if they walk into any "danger" area within the island they will be KILLED, a hell of a lot of killing mixed in with explosive collars, knifes, guns, bombs, bows & arrows you name it this film has got it in abundance As a fan of the comics as well as the books I have to say the film lived up to all my expectations and then some. The central character Shuya Nanahara is developed slowly but surely throughout the film, and his plight and struggle with the "BR Act" is extraordinary told. The viewer can never know who is going to be killed or who is going to survive something to Kinji Fukasaku's credit. Kitano "Beat" Takashi plays a crazed teacher with finesse, and the movie goes through to explain why the government has been forced to pass the Battle Royale Act, due to out of control teenagers, supposedly in the not too distant future.........sounds a bit surreal! While your girlfriend/mum/sister/friend may be put of from the sound of the brutal non-stop violence I swear that this film only carries out violence for the sake of graphical entertainment, and the shock horror of it all is to get your emotions all out of shape and take you on a journey with the class, through the island to see just one stand & survive and be allowed to walk away free Who will it be?