My Film: 'Arthur Christmas' 25-11-11

Christmas Eve, 23:00 hours. A team of elf commandos target a town. They enter a house through windows, the catflap and – yes – the chimney. They drop the presents, chomp the mince pies and are gone. Christmas has been militarised. In Aardman's second CG feature, bumbling Santa Claus (Jim Broadbent) is a figurehead, while his eldest son, Steve (Hugh Laurie) – an espresso-slurping technocrat with a goatee in the shape of a fir tree – has taken the reins. Only the youngest Claus, Arthur, really cares about a merry Christmas, and when a present goes astray it's Arthur who makes it his mission to deliver it. The superb script comes wrapped in layers of meaning – inter-family strife, complacency and competitiveness – and underneath the Pixarish packaging it's just plain fun. A joyful, simple Christmas movie with a heartfelt message. (Taken from guardian.co.uk)

A cute film, but just not as good as previous Aardman films. It has nothing on my childhood favourite, Wallace and Gromit.

My Star Rating:

7/ 10 *

My Film: 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt 1 ' 20-11-11

The makers of this fourth film in the series based on Stephenie Meyer's vampire bestsellers follow the example of another lucrative franchise, the Harry Potter pictures, both in offering no helpful synopsis to newcomers and in filming the final novel in two parts. Breaking Dawn Part Two will be an explosive treatment of the vampiric Armageddon launched by the evil black-clad elders known as the Volturi, led by a grinning Michael Sheen. They figure briefly in Part One, the second time during the end credits as a curtain-raiser for next year's finale. Otherwise this part deals exclusively with matters matrimonial and obstetric as 18-year-old, small-town sheriff's daughter Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) from Washington State marries pale, ageless vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and surrenders her virginity on a honeymoon in Brazil. It turns out to be not a consummation devoutly to be wished, but a horror story realising every nightmare about wedding nights and pregnancy. It's a combination of On Chesil Beach and Rosemary's Baby written as an admonitory text for the Virginity Pledge Society under the aegis of a descendant of Bram Stoker. It raises more laughs at the back of the stalls than hairs on the back of the neck. Particularly ineffectual are the fights between the werewolves and the vampires, who do battle for Bella's soul in the Pacific Northwest.

The single memorable sequence occurs early on when Edward recalls an early lapse into lethal bloodsucking that occurred back in the 1930s when he saw Bride of Frankenstein and picked on the first of a series of murderers and other malefactors to kill. This is an in-joke celebrating the masterly biopic abo ut moviemaker James Whale that Breaking Dawn's Bill Condon directed a dozen years ago. It took its title, God and Monsters, from Bride of Frankenstein, the production of which it recreated. (Taken from guardian.co.uk)

Compared to the previous films, this was amazing. But it will never win an OSCAR.

My Star Rating:

8/ 10 *

My Film: 'Tower Heist' 12-11-11

Alan Alda is at his creepily dislikable best as a rich Wall Street figure whose lowliest employees seek revenge after he has swindled them out of their pensions and life savings. The movie takes half an hour to get going, the heist of the fraudster's hidden cash coincides with Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York, and it's all rather less fun than it might have been due to some poor timing. The crime's mastermind, Ben Stiller, is much funnier than the professional crook (Eddie Murphy) he hires to assist, and the Italian cinematographer Dante Spinotti does an excellent job on Manhattan in the fall. (Taken from guardian.co.uk)

Fun and enjoyable. I would happily watch it again!

My Star Rating:

8/ 10 *



My Film: 'Footloose' 25-10-11

The idea of an American town outlawing dancing was a stretch back in 1984, but in the intervening years, it's actually become more believable – which goes some way to justifying this remake. The setting is now the deep south but the basics are the same: city newcomer (Kenny Wormald) defies dance-hating rural preacher (Dennis Quaid) and romances his daughter. The dancing has come on, though, in both quality and variety. The movie's highlights are a bracing parking-lot crunk jam and a gymnastic solo to the White Stripes, though you also get country rehashes of Kenny Loggins and, er, line dancing. Scenes are clumsily bolted together, but what's most intriguing about Footloose is its message of community activism rather than youth rebellion. Instead of dropping out and forming a biker gang, our clean-living hero petitions the town council with a well-constructed argument. He's a rebel with a cause, and he's prepared to go through the correct channels to justify it. (Taken from guardian.co.uk)

Not as good as the original but boy is Kenny Wormald beautiful!

My Star Rating:

7/10 *

My Film: 'What's Your Number?' 13-10-11

It's very silly and cheesy, and the opening gag is unfortunately the same as the one that starts Bridesmaids, but there is something puppyishly likable in this romantic comedy starring Anna Faris desperate to snag a marriageable man, from the British director Mark Mylod. Faris is Ally, a young singleton who is fired from her job in marketing at the same time that she reads in Marie Claire that the number of men she has slept with – 20 – is about twice the national average, and that the higher a woman's number is, the less likely she is to get married. She wails: "I'm a jobless whore who's slept with 20 guys!" Keen not to increase that figure, and fascinated by the phenomenon whereby guys who were dorks in their teens blossom into presentable thirtysomethings, Ally sets out on the Hornbyesque mission of tracking down all her old boyfriends, to see if any one of them could be single, and husband material. But could she be secretly in love with the annoying-yet-sexy guy who lives next door, played by Chris Evans? Romcoms tend notoriously to be all rom and no com, but there is some fun here and some laughs in the standalone setpieces featuring Ally's appalling exes. A nice rental. (Taken from guardian.co.uk)


Cute but not brilliant. A good film to watch at a girly sleepover.

My Star Rating:

7.5/ 10 *

My Film: 'JohnnyEnglish Reborn' 8-10-11

Reheated, anyway. Rowan Atkinson's Clouseau-Bond spoof is given another go-around, a very broad comedy turn that, like his Mr Bean character, is designed to do well in foreign markets and territories. Atkinson is the notoriously incompetent agent Johnny English, who for years has been living in a Tibetan monastery, achieving comedy transcendental enlightenment and zen acceptance of his career catastrophe since messing up a job in Mozambique. But spy chief Pamela Thornton (Gillian Anderson) brings him in from the cold for a special mission, tackling a dastardly international conspiracy to assassinate the Chinese premier. English finds himself in contact with CIA man Titus Fisher (Richard Schiff), breezy Brit spy Simon Ambrose (Dominic West) and beautiful special agent Kate Sumner, played dead-straight by Rosamund Pike. Many of the gags are good, and it goes out on a head-banging high note. But some ideas are undeveloped, such as the voice-controlled Rolls-Royce that can follow its owner around on command. And some bits, particularly Johnny English zooming around the London streets in a souped-up wheelchair, are just slapstick for the sake of it. This goes for a special poison drug that causes the victim to go into a "manic" phase – the excuse for some random, rubbery physical comedy from the man himself. One day we'll see a film that really harnesses Atkinson's mighty talent. This isn't it. (Taken from guardian.co.uk)

To be honest, I loved the original film but this one just failed to make me laugh.

My Star Rating:

6/ 10 *

My Film: 'Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy' 23-9-11

Director Tomas Alfredson came to prominence with Let the Right One In, a story about vampires, but his instinctive, even passionate sympathy for the undead was never better displayed than here. This is a skin-crawlingly atmospheric, uncompromisingly cerebral and austere account of John le Carré's cold war espionage novel, adapted for the screen by Peter Straughan and the late Bridget O'Connor. Gary Oldman plays the melancholy agent George Smiley, brought out of his humiliating retirement and charged with rooting out a Soviet mole in the upper reaches of the secret service.

Could it be Alleline (Toby Jones), Haydon (Colin Firth), Bland (Ciarán Hinds), Estherhase (David Dencik) – or someone else? Like Michael Corleone contemplating Fredo's duplicity, Smiley's face is a mask of icy determination. He is also suppressing emotional agony. One of these men has betrayed him personally.

When the BBC television adaptation with Alec Guinness was on the air in 1979, this was contemporary drama. Now it's a 70s period piece. Distance lends yet more disenchantment to the view. We are miles away from Bond glamour: defeating the clearly defined bad guy, getting the girl, and so on. This is an arena of shabby compromises enacted by anxious middle-aged men who feel, to quote Kathy Burke's research agent Connie Sachs, "seriously under-fucked". It is a tatty, nasty, shabby and stiflingly male world of beige and grey, seen through a dreary particulate haze – fag-ash and dandruff. The interiors and government offices are lit with a pallid, headachey glow. Every room looks like a morgue, and the corpses are walking around, filling out chits, wearing ill-fitting suits, having whispered conversations, giving and receiving bollockings and worrying about loyalty.

The movie brilliantly conjures up the heavy weather of Le Carré's spy game: it involves nothing like derring-do, but a ritual of humiliation and a ballet of shame in which the security services play their part in managing decline and managing denial, and the Brit spooks try to rebuild their reputation with the Americans – the only people with secrets worth keeping – in their calamitous post-Philby world. Alfredson shows how the profession of secrets meshes with sexual shame, heterosexual and homosexual: perhaps because married womanisers and in-the-closet gay men are good at pretence and doublethink, and perhaps because they yearn for a world which makes a virtue of deceit. In his visit to Moscow this week, David Cameron regaled his hosts with an ingenuous anecdote about being approached as a fresh-faced teenager during a Russian trip in his 1985 gap year. Two men encountered him on a beach, then took him to lunch, then dinner, and flatteringly asked him about politics. Cameron laughingly says it was a "KGB interview". Well, yes. But were they to collaborate on a film version, Le Carré and Alfredson might give us a clearer hint about the subtexts to this predatory encounter.

The somnambulist gloom of Tinker, Tailor is animated by two chillingly realised setpieces: in one, an agent named Prideaux (Mark Strong) is summoned by the spy-chief Control, played by John Hurt, and ordered to go to Budapest where he is to bring in a Hungarian general who wants to come over to the west and reveal the mole's identity. His initial meeting with a third party at a far-from-innocuous cafe takes place in circumstances crackling with unease, an almost Truman Show theatre of paranoia. A droplet of sweat from the waiter's brow lands on the table, like the first sign of a thunderstorm. The meeting ends in calamity, and is to trigger the forced resignation of Control and Smiley, an unjust humiliation they accept like the good chaps they are.

The second setpiece takes place in Turkey, and involves the young hothead Ricki Tarr, played by Tom Hardy, the nearest thing this drama has to a Bond figure. Tarr is an other-ranks figure in his blue denim shirt, not a member of the Smiley officer class, spying on a louche military attache. Alfredson creates a tremendous Rear Window tableau of sex and violence in the distant lighted windows of grim apartment buildings. Romantically, in the middle of this bloodbath, Tarr is to fall in love with this man's beautiful wife Irina (Svetlana Khodchenkova), who is in a position to give him far more important intelligence than the man he is following. At a crucial stage in the proceedings, Tarr promises to help Smiley, but makes him give a vital promise in return, and the consequent betrayal colours the drama with yet more dishonesty and bad faith.

This Tinker Tailor is a weightless, slo-mo nightmare taking place in what looks like an aquarium filled with poison gas instead of water: I found it more gripping and involving than any crash-bang action picture, and it is anchored by Gary Oldman's tragic mandarin, a variation on Alec Guinness which transfers the emphasis away from George Smiley's wounded feelings to his cool capacity for unconcern in the face of violence, a hint of a daredevil past, long mummified by bureaucratic self-control and a schoolmasterly scorn for his victim's weakness and disloyalty, while seeing how easily any agent could give the wretched Judas kiss. What a treat this film is, and what an unexpected thrill. (Taken from guardian.co.uk)

Well worth a watch. It is smart and sophisticated.

 My Star Rating:

8.75/ 10 *

My Film: 'Jane Eyre' 14-9-11

Cool, temperate, finely wrought, this new adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is enclosed in a crinoline of intelligent good taste. Twenty-one-year-old Australian-born Mia Wasikowska gives a self-possessed performance in the leading role: her Jane addresses the audience and her employer with the same limpid, even gaze. Wasikowska carries off the bonnets and the middle-parting and fiercely self-deprecatory references to her own plainness as only a sensationally beautiful film star can. Her north country accent, incidentally, is far superior to Anne Hathaway's. But like many Hollywood stars for whom Britspeak is not the mother tongue, this is achieved with slowness and control.

The plot is configured in flashback form. Orphaned, cruelly treated as a child, beaten and humiliated, Jane has endured a brutal boarding school run with lavish Christian hypocrisy, and finally fetches up as a governess in Thornfield Hall, a remote house in the Yorkshire Peak District, teaching a precocious little French girl, a position that showcases Jane's fluent and idiomatic command of the language. But she is to be not the mistress but rather the pupil, of sorts, to the master of the house. This is the glowering, charismatic and secretly tortured Mr Rochester, that extraordinary creation who is ancestor of Daphne Du Maurier's Maxim De Winter and second cousin to Count Dracula.

Michael Fassbender plays Rochester with a measured, observant intensity which mirrors Wasikowska's Jane. He simmers and smoulders and sometimes grins like a very sexy alligator, but never does anything as banal as flirt. Fassbender's grumpy rebukes are stonewalled by Jane's proudly polite submission, a defence she also puts up against his scary avowals of affection. Wasikowska shows how Jane is suspicious of his gentleness and the emotions it unlocks within her. His teasing and raillery are perhaps romantically sincere, or perhaps it is all just the absent-minded petting and stroking he would give to a much-loved horse that he is nonetheless considering selling or shooting. And when Rochester arrogantly wants to know what her "tale of woe" is – because all governesses have one – Wasikowska coolly shows just how fatuous, condescending and misjudged Jane considers this remark to be. It is perhaps the moment at which she secures his respect, and all else follows from there.

In some ways, the very first encounter between Jane and Rochester, and their subsequent meeting when Jane finally realises who this man is, could be the most successful phase of their relationship. Jane is out walking in the woods; a mysterious man on horseback falls when his mount shies at the sight of her, a mishap that necessitates some physical proximity: she must put her arms around him and help him back to the horse. Later, in the house Rochester reveals himself to her and capriciously blames Jane for his injury. Fassbender and Wasikowska make this moment not a meet-cute, but a meet-fateful, a meet-important, and indeed a meet-erotic.

This meeting is paced exactly right, it seems to me. But I found the handling of two other famously dramatic episodes – the wedding scene and the Bertha Mason outcome – rather brisk, especially compared with the unhurried way the rest of the film dwells on the countryside, and Jane's extremely lonely and frustrated place in it. There are some wonderful images. Often, Jane's yearning and passion is dramatically displaced into the keening of a single violin in Dario Marianelli's orchestral score. But, to my eye, the wedding and the Bertha sequence, are taken at a jog, especially compared to the melodramatic emphasis that adaptations traditionally give to these moments.

Fukunaga and screenwriter Moira Buffini have undoubtedly done a really classy job with this Jane Eyre; I can't fault it, and yet I can't quite get excited about it either. Others might find its note of cerebral restraint the key factor that distinguishes it from all the other buttons-and-bows teatime drama versions of Jane Eyre, and this is certainly something to be welcomed. But I kept waiting for a blaze of emotion of between Jane and Rochester, and it somehow never quite came. The thunderstorms and downpours of the book, and the emotional tempest of the proposal scene itself: these are all faintly masked and muted.

Judi Dench provides robust support as the housekeeper, Mrs Fairfax; Simon McBurney is reliably creepy as the hateful schoolmaster Mr Brocklehurst and Sally Hawkins is very effective as Jane's heartless and duplicitous aunt, Mrs Reed. All these supporting players must, of course, resign themselves to being upstaged by the central love affair but, interestingly, Jamie Bell asserts himself as Jane's gallant protector St John Rivers. His screen presence is far from extinguished by Fassbender's mutton-chopped alpha-male: Bell's St John is a potent, if minor presence in the movie. Falling secretly in love, he is as delicate and proud a subordinate to Jane as Jane is to Rochester. This adaptation is balanced, crafted, beautifully acted, though for me without the thunderclap and lightning-bolt of passion. (Taken from guardian.co.uk)

My Star Rating:

9/10 *

My Film: 'Conan The Barbarian' 24-8-11

In a land of chaos and ruin, where limbs are lopped off and stumps spout blood, and memories have faded of the hoary Arnold Schwarzenegger films of old, the hour has come to wheel Robert E Howard's barbarian action hero back out of retirement. As played by Baywatch graduate Jason Momoa, Conan possesses "the heart of a king, the loyalty of a bloodhound" and the air of a peeved, preening surfer who can't find the beach. He's on a mission to save the ancient world and avenge his father's death, battling an evil warlock and his witchy daughter (Rose McGowan, having fun). But it's not all sorcery and swordplay. Along the way, Conan finds brief moments of respite, whether it be arm-wrestling his brawny buddy into chuckling submission or carousing with the sort of nubile slave girls who look as if they were abducted on their way to a swimwear photo-shoot. In this regard, the Conan upgrade is entirely in keeping with the spirit of the original pulp novels and comic-book spin-offs – all of which shone a similarly inquisitive light on those learned genre tenets of gore-porn and what scholars refer to as "teen-masturbatory erotica". Even so, Marcus Nispel's film is too relentlessly one note and too abidingly cheesy to stay the course. Here is a tale in which battle sequence spawns battle sequence and where the dialogue is rendered all-but unintelligible under the din of clashing steel and the screams of the mutilated. Towards the end, Conan finally finds the beach, only to be immediately accosted by a pack of whirling-dervish sand monsters. Bummer. (Taken from the guardian.co.uk)

My Star Rating:

4/10 *

My Film: 'The Inbetweeners movie' 21-8-11

They could have called it British Pie, but this TV sitcom spin-off updates the teen summer holiday formula surprisingly entertainingly, considering it doesn't subvert it one iota. Most of that entertainment value is at the expense of our four naive suburban teen heroes, who embark on a post-sixth form Mediterranean jaunt with impossibly high hopes. "It'll be like shooting clunge in a barrel," one of them delicately puts it, which proves to be far from the case – unless they make good with those four unfeasibly obliging and sympathetic girls they keep running into, but what are the chance of that? The gags come crude, fast and in a language the target audience will understand, and the worst of the humour is offset by some fond observation of British holiday rituals and the witty, preternaturally mature narration of Will (Simon Bird), the glasses-wearing intellectual of the gang. He's like a young David Mitchell trapped in an episode of Ibiza Uncovered. (taken from guardian.co.uk)

It funny as hell (:

My Star Rating:

9/ 10 *

My Film: 'Rise of the plnet of the Apes' 14-8-11

Don’t be fooled by the previews. This isn’t ‘Attack of the Killer Apes’ or ‘How the Humans Die.’ It's a tearful tale of one baby chimpanzee, Caesar. Born in a lab, Caesar’s genetic makeup has been altered. He is smart, fast, emotional, and so very confused. His tale from ‘pet’ to leader of a revolution is heartbreaking, but somehow triumphant.

John Lithgow pulls off ‘struggling and sick father’ so well, and Tom Felton, who's probably the final catalyst of the ape revolutionary, made me hate him…well, almost. The effects blew me away, and for a prequel, I highly recommend.

 

My Star Rating:

7/10 *

My Film: 'Mr Popper's Penguins' 13-7-11

This is a beautifully sweet and inoffensive children's comedy with Comedy legend, Jim Carrey.

It will never win an OSCAR or be known for it's brilliance but this film is calm and lovely and a damn good way to spend an afternoon. I enjoyed this film because it was sweet and ridiculously cute and it was rather heart-warming (cheesy, I know). There is very little to say on this film except if you have kids and you want to keep them entertained for an afternoon take them to see this adorable film with beautiful Penguins.

Understated. Sweet. Sunday afternoon film.

My Star Rating:

6/10 *

My Film: 'Captain America' 4-7-11

The first avenger and the final piece of the puzzle leading up to 2012's anticipated super team endeavour The Avengers, Captain America makes a solid effort with the final origin story behind the team. A scrawny military reject Steve Rogers is recruited to test a super soldier serum that will turn him into the iconic hero patriot with a purity and bravery that will help turn the tides of World War II. The all-American tale hits the mark but it isn't quite right, the story fails to flow and instead feels more like two short films forced together.

The main thing that I enjoyed about this film (apart from the rather attractive Chris Evans in Lycra *SWOON*) is the little pointers that connect this film to other Avenger films. Such as the introduction of Howard Stark, an inventor and genius and the father of Tony Stark (Iron Man). It is little touches like this along with Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role as Nick Fury, the director of the super-spy agency, S.H.I.E.L.D.

It was a good film but seemed to drag on a bit, go and see it and try to be in awe of Hugo Weaving as the bad guy.

My Star Rating:

7/10 *

My Film: 'Horrible Bosses' 25-7-11

Meet Nick, Dale, and Kurt. Three friends who decide to kill their, um, horrible bosses.

Yes, they get arrested. Yes, someone’s boss dies. And, yes, Jamie Foxx is at his funny best! (What a sexy beast) This is not one of those movies where all the hilarious scenes show up in the previews. You will laugh at ev-er-y-thing Charlie Day does, says, thinks, looks, etc. No joke. Bateman plays a perfect Straight Man, and Sudeikis is a loveable man-slag.

It’s Office meets The Hangover. If you want a good laugh, then this film is perfect for you!

The combination of three comedy actors and some Hollywood greats makes this film ridiculously enjoyable. I went to see this with my best friend and she almost wet herself. That should be a good indication of how funny his film is.

My Star Rating:

8/10 *

My Film: 'Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows; Part 2' 17-7-11

WARNING! Spoilers!!!

The final instalment in a series that has been ten years running Deathly Hallows part two brings about the conclusion to a story that many have held close. Harry Potter has been a part of my life for the last 12 years and I am personally saddened by its eventual end. My childhood is over!

With the dark lord's army at his heels Harry must destroy the remaining Horcruxes to defeat Voldemort and bring peace to their world. Though Deathly Hallows provides a fine conclusion to the films, the grandeur of its action packed climax seems to falls short as key moments are passed over in a truncated rush. Overall a well acted showcase of talent, Hallows will please Potter fans, yet find the 'uninitiated' confused and lost.

The main issue that I had with this film was that they emphasised the death of Dobby the house elf  so much in the first part of the film yet in the second part, the deaths of Lupin, Tonks and Fred Weasley (well loved characters) went practically unnoticed.

Still not my favourite Potter film but it was a fantastic ending to a set of films that has gripped the world. Harry Potter for ever! (And for all of you who want to know, The Goblet of Fire is my favourite!)

My Star Rating:

9.5/10*

My Film: 'Larry Crowne' 5-7-11

Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts star in a shockingly bland and boring romantic comedy. Both Hanks and Roberts have been in some fantastic movies (Forest Gump, Pretty Woman) yet this one just didn't hit the spot. Tom Hanks directed a bland, lifeless, sexless and entirely wishy-washy autumn-years romcom – co-writing it with Nia Vardalos, whose box-office smash My Big Fat Greek Wedding he and his wife Rita Wilson shrewdly brought to the screen as producers in 2002. Hanks himself plays a straight-ahead nice guy who is downsized from his job in a big store; he takes an adult education course at the community college and finds himself falling for jaded lecturer Mercedes Tainot, a stunningly bad performance from Julia Roberts.

It lacked excitement and I contemplated just leaving until George Takei enters the film. He alone made this bearable.

Boring, not worth the money that most people paid to see it.

My Star Rating:

3/10 *

My Film: 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon ' 29-6-11

Iconic action director Michael Bay rolls out with his convoy of shape-shifting robots for the final chapter in the Transformers trilogy. A trilogy which personally, I don't like. This time we find our hero, Sam, being spoiled from the care of his successful wealthy new girlfriend while he is left unemployed and unappreciated despite having saved the planet twice. All of this turns around quickly after the Autobots receive word of a crashed ship from their old world hidden on the moon. Possibly the most engaging of the three films Dark Of the Moon holds together a messy plot while keeping up with the effects laden action and sub-par acting talent.

The best thing about this film? No Megan Fox! Supposedly the most beautiful woman alive. That may be true but she has the acting ability of toothpick! This film dragged on a bit but was far more interesting than the previous two.

My Star Rating:

6/10 *

My Film: 'Bridesmaids' 23-6-11

Go and see this film! Go on, stop reading this! Run to the cinema! Bridesmaids is th most hilarious film that I have
recent years. The girly version of the Wolfpack in the Hangover.

 A victim of circumstance the desperately single Annie finds herself in the position of maid of honour to her lifelong friends upcoming wedding despite the turmoil she faces in her own life. A entertaining change of pace Bridesmaids finds a solid balance between chick-flick and vulgar comedy that will be loved by both men and women. An uncommon feat in the recent years of the comedy genre.

Kristen Wiig s both vulnerable and feisty when she goes head to head against her rival, Helen (played by Rose Byrne) as the compete to control the Bridal party anseen at the cinema this year (:

From the distinguished comedic film-making team Judd Apatow and Paul Feig along with the up and coming and newly recognisable star Kristen Wiig comes the feminine rebuttal to the stereotypical raunchy bromances that have ruled the comedy scene in d events. This is cringeworthy comedy gold! With a brilliant collection of misfits as the supporting cast.

I have a confession to make, I saw this film three time in three days. Why are you till reading this? You should be on your way to the cinema! 

 My Star Rating:

9/10 *

My Film: 'The Green Lantern' 22-6-11

Fan expectations are high for this beloved comic-turned-movie. Ryan Reynolds is Hal Jordan, hot shot pilot and unexpected hero. A brunette Blake Lively (known for her role in Gossip Girl) is his wingman/boss and Peter Sarsgaard is Hector, a lovable but easily corrupted brainiac. Green Lantern relies heavily on CG (including Reynolds in a digitally created green suit) as the Lanterns rely heavily on the power of imagination. Tons of mythology is thrown at you but the script and director Martin Campbell utilize Ryan’s dry wit to make it entertaining and good summer fun. Now, I have finished chatting about the technical and geek mumbo jumbo, how about my opinion?

It wasn't awful, it just dragged on for what seemed like 5 hours and very little actually happened. He became a green lantern, beat a bad guy and got the girl. There was no depth to the story. If you are a fan of comic book films then see it! It is by far not as bad as The Green Hornet or X-Men: Origins, Wolvernine! Oh and a piece of advice, stick around for the first part of the credits for the sequel set-up.

My Star Rating:

6.75/ 10 *

My Film: 'Bad Teacher' 17-6-11

A high-school satire that is reasonably funny, though far from sure how badass it really wants to be. Cameron Diaz plays Elizabeth, a teacher who doesn't care at all about her job: she is a fading sex bomb, permanently hungover or stoned, entirely indifferent to her pupils' education and interested only in snagging a well-off husband. Things heat up when a new and apparently rich teacher called Scott, played by Justin Timberlake, appears on the scene and a duel for his affections commences between Elizabeth and goody-two-shoes teacher Amy Squirrel, played by Lucy Punch. It is a good film, although Cameron Diaz isn't that comical. She gives the part everything she's got; she's good, and really no other casting was possible, but somehow I'm not sure she's a comedy natural. My personal highlight was seeing Justin Timberlake in Geek Chic. Cardigans, glasses and beautifully nerdy.

 

My Star Rating:

6.5/10 *

My Film: 'Kung Fu Panda 2' 16-6-11

While the story is not quite as good as the first film, Kung Fu Panda 2 is still a highly enjoyable mash up of comedy and kung fu.  The animation is fantastic throughout, with some truly artistic sequences that are a pleasure to behold.  The original characters are developed through interesting backstories and the new characters are imaginative and compelling. I especially liked the idea of an evil peacock, voiced by Gary Oldman, I don’t think I’ve seen that before. Plus this one includes rather cute footage of Po as a baby.

Good fun all round.

My Star Rating:

8/10 *

My Film: 'X-Men: First Class' 1-6-11

I love this film! Just thought that I would get that out there, brilliant. It is up there wit the King's speech for films that I adored this year. Although, I do not think that I would of enjoyed it so much had I not been an X-Men fan anyway, I can understand why it has not been brilliantly received by critics if they aren't fans of the gang of mutants.

This film is of course made better by the actors, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy who both produce brilliant performances but the standout performance comes from one of my all time favourite actors, Michael Fassbender. Such a sexy man...! I adore him in every role that I have seen him in including, Inglourious Basterds and Fish Tank. It is lovely to see him play a lead character in such a big film, I believe that this film could change his career forever. His performance as the brooding Erik (Magneto) is terrific and is beautifully balanced out by McAvoy who play Charles (Professor X), a well educated and kind man.

Okay I had better stop before it seems that I am turning into a stalker...

This film was brilliant as a prequel and although it was a whole new cast, it still felt the same. Usually when a new cast is involved, a film flounders but this is not the case, the new faces give the character a hidden depth. That's not to say that there are no original characters, there is a cameo from an original cast member! I won't spoil the surprise but it only makes the film better.

A Must for any fan of X-Men!

My Star Rating:

8.9/10 *

My Film: 'The Hangover: Part 2' 28-5-11

The 'wolf-pack' returns intact and ready though reluctant for another go. This time its our uptight voice of reason's turn as Stu plans to marry the woman of his dreams in her native country Thailand.. Despite their hopes for another night of debauchery the group settles for a beers on the beach, what could go wrong with that? If you were a fan of part one you will know just about everything to expect from this film as The Hangover Part II takes the same situations, jokes, and twists and rolls them into a lazily rehashed recreation of the original.

Expect cruder jokes, more sex and a lot of those aching belly Laughs as once again, Zach Galifianakis steals the show with a bunch of witty comments and ignorant yet hilarious phrases. This is the sort of film that you could quote, much like Judd Apatow's 'Step Brothers'.

I personally, preferred this one to the original although they are very similar. The second film replaces the lap dancer's baby with a drug mule monkey (: Funny and fascinating...

My Star Rating:

8.25/10 *

My Film: 'Thor' 19-5-11

Marvel calls down the thunder with the next film along the road to their anticipated superhero mash-up but will the mighty Thor ride the whirlwind? Cast out from his home in the realm of Asgard (I believe that this is how you spell it) the arrogant battle hungry son of Odin is left powerless in the strange land of mortal men where he must fight to regain his power and overcome his exile and save his home planet. Every superhero needs a good back-story and one of Earth's mightiest heroes is no exception to that. Thor puts together a solid introduction to the worlds left unexplored by other Marvel properties in an surprisingly entertaining fashion. It differs in that it doesn't over do the idea of 'superhero', it doesn't run up and smack you around the face. 

It certainly was better than the Green Hornet so that has to be worth something doesn't it?

A fast film with a super sexy cast including the stunning Natalie Portman, the beautiful and Arian, Chris Hemsworth of Home and Away fame. They are held up by performance from the most beautiful looking man that I have seen for some time, Tom Hiddleston, Hollywood icon, Antony Hopkins and Stellan Skarsgård.

I thoroughly  enjoyed this film and for once, the 3D effects were good rather than pointless.

My Star Rating:

7.5/10 *

My Film: 'Pirates of the Caribbean:On stranger tides' 18-5-11

Jack Sparrow – sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) is back in Disney’s fourth instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The nimble pirate finds himself once again without his beloved ship, The Black Pearl and in search of a supernatural treasure. This time it is The Fountain of Youth, but of course he is not the only interested party. Jack is up against his thought to be forgotten lover Angelica (Cruz) and her father the infamous Black Beard (McShane), as well as his old nemesis Captain Barbossa (Rush)… And so the quest begins.

As a film on it's own, the film is brilliant but it seems cut off from the original trilogy with just three characters returning. As a huge fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise I was somewhat disappointed by it but on the other hand I was thrilled to have a film dedicated to my favourite character in film, Captain Jack Sparrow.

The mermaids were brilliant, half Disney princess and half monster! But I will keep my lips sealed for anyone who hasn't seen the new Pirates film...*ZIPPPP*

Go and See, even if you aren't a hardcore lover of the franchise. Be warned my rating may be biased because of my undying love for the films and a certain Mr Depp.

Oh and P.S. Mr Depp, please bring the costume, the make-up and the hat and report to my house. Please? As they say in Wayne's world, SCHWING!!

My Star Rating:

9/10 *

My Film: 'Water for Elephants' 14-5-11

This colourful romantic melodrama gives the brooding Robert Pattinson a break from his customary vampire roles as that traditional figure, the Depression-era drifter, in this case a veterinary student who's had to drop out of college after his parents' deaths and finds himself working as a roustabout on a second-rate travelling circus. He's appointed resident vet and elephant handler by the menacingly bonhomous boss (the charismatic Christoph Waltz from Inglourious Basterds), who toys with him sadistically. He falls for the boss's young, dissatisfied wife (Reece Witherspoon), and there are echoes of such classic noir movies as The Postman Always Rings Twice and Gilda. No circus films ends without a spectacular scene in which the animals are let loose, the train crashes or the big top catches fire, and this one is not an exception.

It's not a bad film, but I can honestly say that the book is better than it. See it and be warned you may need a hankie or two.

My Star Rating:

8/10 * 

My Film: 'Arthur' 30-4-11

Brand is excellent in this remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore classic as the playboy millionaire. And the script is undoubtedly embellished by Brand, not suitable for anyone else. The film is light hearted and full of fun. First timer Jason Winer does a great job at the helm and brings some of that Modern Family magic to the big screen.  However, it’s not that hard to imagine that our cousins across the Atlantic might not enjoy Brand’s whimsy as much as a British audience. Nonetheless, Arthur is a great tale of excess, debauchery and kind heartedness. Both Russell Brand and Helen Mirren are brilliant with some rather obvious and brilliant chemistry. It is well worth a look.

My Star Rating:

7/10 *

My Film: 'Scream 4' 15-4-11

Ten years after Scream 3, Wes Craven returns to the franchise where the characters seem to know more about what makes a good, scary horror film than the director does.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, webcams, torture porn and phone apps are all quickly name checked to show how up to date this movie is; it's a help as the fashions, hairstyles and slang haven't changed one bit since the first film. There is even a Joshua Tree-era U2 poster on a teen's wall and Neve Campbell doesn't appear to have aged a day.

Lots of people slated this film for its high profile cast and for being a remake but I do have to admit, I loved it! Reuniting Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette was brilliant in yet another sequel! this film did, however entertain me more than Scream 2 and 3 but it lacked that tongue in cheek from the original and best Scream.

It isn't likely to scare you but it is rather entertaining, I would recommend it lovers of cheesy horror films.

My Star Rating:

7/10 *

My Film: 'Red Riding Hood' 15-4-11

The classic "little" has been removed from the original title, and director Catherine Hardwicke has put a pubertal spin on the old folk tale, making it dark, psychological and sexy.

Once upon a time, a small girl in a red cloak scurried through the dark forest to deliver pastries to her worryingly lupine-looking grandma. Now the girl in question is Valerie, played by Amanda Seyfried, a so called 'babe', who lives in a quaintly imagined medieval European village, most likely German, menaced by a werewolf that lives in the outlying forest. She is in love with sexy bad boy Peter played by practically unknown, Shiloh Fernandez but promised in marriage to equally dishy posh Henry played by Martina Cole's The Runaway star, Max Irons, who is supposed to be rich, and yet seems to have the somewhat pleb job of ironmonger, presumably to show us his sweaty pecs. I am not going to lie to you, my adoring public but I fancy Max Irons. He is a beautiful specimen of a man, son of the ex heartthrob and Hollywood heavyweight, Jeremy Irons. Whilst watching this film, I had to stop myself from screaming at the screen when Valarie ignored this handsome Prince. Henry... Call Me!

Gary Oldman plays the priest-cum-beast-catcher who comes to the village when the werewolf runs amok. He tells the villagers that this terrible creature is one of them transformed: the beast within! But to the suspicion of one and all, Valerie discovers that she can actually communicate with the werewolf. She's a bit of a wolf whisperer. And of course, she's kind of attracted to this menacing, romantic outsider. But how to update the basic, climactic events of the Red Riding Hood tale? The whole "gobbling up" thing can of course only translate into sex, but in true Twilighty style, the film has a tense need to refrain from going all the way. A roll in the hay, during a village celebration, appears ambiguously to end in Valerie not actually having sex.

This film is, of course, far too cool to give us a wolf with a comedy frilly hat on its head, doing the comedy old-lady voice, with the duvet pulled demurely up to its neck. Hardwicke does actually use the famous "what-big-teeth-you-have" dialogue but in an ironic sort of way, and even flirts unconvincingly with the idea that Julie Christie's gran is the wolf. But we all know that it would just be to obvious.

Sex. Sex. Sex. But lacks depth, watch it once but not a 'buy on dvd' sort of film.

My Star Rating:

7.5/10 *

My Film: 'Winnie The Pooh' 15-4-11

The comeback of old-style hand-drawing at Disney under the watchful eye of Pixar's John Lasseter continues with a snuggly Winnie The Pooh touchingly faithful to Walt's original 1960s cartoons as much as AA Milne's stories.

I loved the simplicity of this film as it transported me back to my childhood. Pooh sets off with a rumble in his tummy, distracted by doomy old Eeyore who has lost his tail and, later, Christopher Robin vanishes, presumed kidnapped by the "Backson" beast. Despite Pooh sounding ever so slightly like Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire, a rather good film I might add, the utmost homage is paid to the original. I adored the added extra of Pooh wondering through the pages of the book and knocking letters off.

A good old nostalgia moment for me. Watch it and unleash your inner child. But be warned, there are some rather questionable mini cartoons at the beginning of the film. Don't say that you weren't warned.

My Star Rating:

7/10 *

My Film: 'Your Highness' 14-5-11

Your Highness. An absolutely brilliant parody of the typical historical 'epics'. From the director of the very brilliant Pineapple Express, the stoner comedy, comes Your Highness. The mythological piss take.

Relentless in his silliness, defiant in his determination never to let the sword of bad taste sleep in his hand, Danny McBride leads the cast in an immature broad comedy calculated to outrage those nose-wrinklers of a peevish and fastidious disposition. Basically ye olde medievale prequele to the stoner comedy Pineapple Express, featuring American actors doing a modified dudespeak in outrageous cod-Brit accents. Awful much? McBride plays Prince Thadeous, a ne'er-do-well minor royal who must step up and be a man when he joins a quest led by his noble elder brother Prince Fabeous, played by Oscar nominated James Franco and warrior queen Isabel, another Oscar nominee, Natalie Portman. Well, this cheerful film has no ambitions other than to deliver laughs, and that it does however crude they are.

My Star Rating:

6/10 *

My Film: 'Source Code' 10-4-11

Inception creator, Christopher Nolan’s gift for combining puzzling narratives with pulse-racing action and insane visual effects has rightly crowned him the king of all puzzling films. Yet if Source Code is anything to go by, he could have a challenge on his hands.

His competition? One Duncan Jones, whose gripping follow-up to lunar puzzler Moon mirrors the seismic jump Nolan made between his monochrome 1998 indie Following and 2000’s brilliant Memento and should likewise propel Jones into the Hollywood big-leagues. Which t be honest, is well deserved from a man who was forced to live with the name Zowie Bowie... deary me. If nothing else, it should speedily free him from the ‘son of David Bowie’ tag that dogged him when Moon surfaced two years ago, even if its hero – Colter Stevens, a US helicopter pilot in Afghanistan mysteriously separated from the rest of his unit – does bear uncanny similarities with a certain Major Tom. Ground control to Major Tom (:

I am a massive fan of his film 2009 film, Moon and even decided to write my coursework on it; it is by far my favourite science fiction film EVER. And I did not think he that he would be able to out do it. How wrong I was. It was fast paced, brilliantly filmed and kept me on my toes. I suppose that it does kind of help that it stars the ever beautiful Jake Gyllenhaal.

My Star Rating:

8/10 *

My Film: 'Sucker Punch' 7-4-11

If you have seen them and thought Zack Snyder’s previous films, among them 300 and Watchmen, were over the top, in your face cliché– they have nothing on Sucker Punch. It consisted of a group of girls wearing very little clothing and shooting at zombies and dragons.

His first movie to be based on original material rather than a comic book which was the case with Watchmen and 300 and presumably named after the sensation of stupidity in this ridiculous, militantly stupid orgy of guns, knives and explosions that recalls reminds me of Shutter island, kill bill and Tomb raider, if I am honest.  However, I should of hated this obviously 'lad' film but I did like it. I liked the darkness of it of it to be honest, I did however, find it far to dark to have it certified as a 12A.

It is worth a watch but I don't think I will buy it on dvd.

My Star Rating:

6/10 *