Thor

Director:

Kenneth Branagh

Starring:

Chris Hemsworth

Anthony Hopkins

Natalie Portman

Stellan Skarsgard

Running Time:

119 minutes

3/5

Like most superhero films, it’s the old story of good versus evil, but here the boundaries are slightly blurred. Thor tells the ancient tale of, well, Thor. In order to prove himself he defies his father’s demands and wages war on the Frost Giants, this leads to his exile to Earth. There he tries to find his way back home, while in the meantime falls in love with Natalie Portman (well who wouldn’t) and learns a valuable lesson. He then returns to his own realm, just in time to save the day. The film can be slightly read as a metaphor for adolescence and can almost be called a coming of age story, where the boy defies his father only to learn afterwards that he was right all along. It over relies on CGI and the 3D is not used to its full potential. Although the story is predictable, it is entertaining as Hollywood blockbusters are and there is a surprise cameo from Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, who along with Chris Hemsworth will be reprising his role for next years The Avengers, let’s just hope it is better than this. 

Your Highness

Director:

David Gordon Green

Starring:

Danny McBride

James Franco

Natalie Portman

Zooey Deschanel

Running Time:

102 minutes

1/5

 It’s a shame when a movie, like Your Highness, has such a great cast (minus McBride) that is unable to perform due to such a terrible script. Basking in the success of Pineapple Express, director David Gordon Green is back trying to rework the stoner comedy, but this time with a D + D twist. McBride plays a bumbling prince sent on a quest to rescue his brother’s fiancé from an evil wizard, while also trying to seduce a mysterious female assassin, played by Portman. While the film does have a few funny moments, the humour is generally cheap and lacking the wit that was found in Pineapple Express, ending up being a stoned gamers perverted fantasy. You’re better off just watching the trailer as it has all the funny parts in and it will save you one hundred minutes of terrible acting and unforgivable dialogue.

Scream 4

Director:

Wes Craven

Starring:

Neve Campbell

Courteney Cox

David Arquette

Emma Roberts

Hayden Panettiere

Running time:

111 minutes

4/5

It’s rare for a franchise to be on its fourth film and still be half decent, but Scream 4 manages to be that and arguably as funny, witty and scary as the first. It has been 15 years since the original murders and Sidney returns to Woodsboro to promote her new book telling her version of the story, but while she is visiting a copycat killer goes after her and her remaining family. You’re probably thinking that this has all been done before in the second and third films and you’re right, but like it says in the tag line ‘new decade, new rules’ breaking all the conventions of the horror genre and setting its own. The death count is a lot higher than the any of the previous films, but with a generation brought up on torture porn like Saw you expect this. Over all the film is incredibly clichéd and over done but it’s Scream and you’ve got to love it for it.

Sucker Punch

Director: 

Zack Snyder

Starring:

Emily Browning

Abbie Cornish

Vanessa Hudgens

Jamie Chung

Running Time:

120 minutes

2/5

This year there appears to be a large number of comic books being made into movies and with Zack Snyder at the helm of this one we should be in for an enjoyable ride. Although I haven’t read the comic books, the plot of Sucker Punch seems to be a mess and at certain points in the movie I found boredom setting in. Sucker Punch is about a girl trying to escape from a mental asylum/brothel that she was wrongfully placed into after her mother’s death, to escape all the horrifying moments she imagines she’s elsewhere fighting dragons and robots. The acting by Browning and Cornish is adequate, but for Hudgens, who is merely an extra, I cannot be so lenient. It’s not all doom and gloom though as the cinematography and editing are outstanding, which you expect from the Watchmen Director. Overall I wasn’t impressed with the film and I think that it could have been better without all the imaginary scenes, that in my opinion where a waste of time.

Tomorrow When the War Began

Director:

Stuart Beattie

Starring:

Caitlin Stasey

Rachel Hurd-Wood

Lincoln Lewis

Colin Friels

Running Time:

104 Minutes

2/5

It’s almost impossible these days to make a teen movie without it being incredibly clique; unfortunately Tomorrow When the War Began is no exception, with its American high school stereotypes and cringe worthy dialogue that will make you laugh out loud in the cinema. Adapted from an award winning book series, it follows a group of small town Australian teenagers going camping into the outback, but when they return home they find that all their friends and family have been captured by a mysterious Asian army. Instead of running and hiding the ill-equipped teenagers wage war on the invading army and try to win back their home town. Just by reading the synopsis you can tell how ridiculous the movie is and it is not helped by its soap style acting, fronted by neighbours star Caitlin Stasey. Although the film is generally terrible it does have a lot of funny and equally thrilling moments which in the end makes it quite enjoyable, this is one of those movies where you just need to stop thinking for two hours and go with it.

Killing Bono

Director:

Nick Hamm

Starring:

Ben Barnes

Robert Sheehan

Pete Postlethwaite 

Krysten Ritter

Running time:

144 minutes

2.5/5

In most coming of age stories there is a deep moralistic message that shows its face towards the end and tries to persuade you to change the way you live your life. This is not the case for Killing Bono and is perhaps the reason why the film never really lifts off the ground. From the writer of The Commitments comes a true story about two brothers who grew up with the members of U2 trying to replicate their success, but only end up failing time after time. The best thing about the film is the array of young talented actors, who give the unlikable characters several hilarious moments. U2 fans may be disappointed though as the film only features one U2 song and problems with the narrative brings it down due to a few ridiculous subplots and the constant failure of the brothers turning into a rather annoying gimmick. Even though there are a lot of problems with the film, its worth seeing just for the great Pete Postlethwaite’s last ever performance.

 

The Eagle

Director:

Kevin Macdonald

Starring:

Channing Tatum

Jamie Bell

Donald Sutherland

Mark Strong

Running Time:

114 Minutes

2/5

When you’re going to see a Roman historic epic you expect to see huge empires and choreographed sword fights, The Eagle has none, in fact the whole film is set in the Scottish wilderness and the battle scenes are an out of focus mass brawl. The film is set in 140 AD and tells the tale of a Roman officer (Tatum) venturing into North Britain with his slave (Bell) to recover a golden eagle that his father lost 20 years before. An overall good performance from Bell, but it’s hard to say the same for Tatum as he refuses to lose his American accent, the two actors do seem to have chemistry though and if the film is trying to give a message about two people from two very different background becoming friends, then it is lost amongst the gay undertones. The one positive thing about the film is the beautiful shots of the Scottish countryside, but this alone is not enough to save this slow placed film. 

Limitless

Director:

Neil Burger

Starring:

Bradley Cooper

Abbie Cornish

Robert De Niro

Running Time:

105 minutes

3.5/5

When I first saw the Limitless poster and realised that Bradley Cooper will be playing the protagonist it made me hesitate on whether or not it would be a good movie, but after viewing the film it was obvious that Cooper pulled it off and is capable of being in a fairly decent serious film. The protagonist in question is Eddie Morra, a struggling writer that is offered a pill which allows him to access 100% of his brain, this helps him to become the perfect version of himself, but things start to go wrong when the pills side effects kick in. The acting is not the only good thing about this film, although it is concrete evidence that Robert De Niro has lost it. The editing is outstanding and uses several different techniques for when Eddie is on the drug, including a zooming effect which baffled me. One problem I found is that the film seemed to end suddenly and didn’t really finish off the story, possibly leaving it open for a sequel, nevertheless the story is original and the film is exciting the whole way through.

Source Code

Director:

Duncan Jones

Cast:

Jake Gyllenhaal

Michelle Monaghan

Vera Farmiga

Jeffrey Wright

Running Time:

93 minutes

4.5/5

Duncan Jones, the son of David Bowie and director of 2009's critically acclaimed Moon, returns with his second feature length film Source Code. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal playing his usual charming hero self as Captain Colter Stevens, whom is connected to a program named the source code which allows a person to take over someone else's body in the last eight minutes of their life. Captain Stevens is connected to the program in order to find out who blew up a train outside of Chicago in order to stop a second attack. Cleverly written and brilliantly directed with obvious Hitchcockian influence, the film infact is such a thrilling ride that the sentimental ending that takes it a little off track wont bother you in the slightest. I'd be surprised if there is another film out this year as thrilling as this.

Submarine

Director: 

Richard Ayoade

Cast:

Craig Roberts

Yasmin Paige 

Sally Hawkins

Noah Taylor

Paddy Considine

Running time:

97 minutes

5/5

If I was only allowed to recommend one film from the year so far, this would be it. Submarine documents the coming of age story of Oliver Tate, who is trying to lose his virginity before he turns 16 and keep his parents from splitting up. Although this is Richard Ayoade's debut feature film it is incredibly cinematic, with its picturesque shots of rural Wales and the use of Super-8 mm film, there isn't much Ayoade is affraid to do. The only downside to this film is the first half is a little boring as it is merely an introduction to the characters and situation. The second half is where the characters start to come out and you really start to enjoy the film. Like a lot of coming of age stories not much happens, but despite of this it is hilarious and you would be an idiot not to like it.

Unknown

Director: 

Jaume Collet-Serra

Cast: 

Liam neeson

Diane Kruger

January Jones

Bruno Ganz

Running time:

113 minutes

 3/5

Liam Neeson returns for another action thriller playing that characters he seems to play a lot recently. Neeson plays Dr Martin Harris travelling with his wife to Berlin for a biotechnology summit, but ends up in a car accident and when he awakes from a four day coma finds out a mysterious man has stolen his identity. From the look of the trailer it comes across as just another action thriller and although it borrows from a lot of other films, it is actually quite good. It has everything you expect from this genre, such as car chases and fist fights, and there is even an adequate twist near the end. So although the film itself is very unoriginal, it sets out to do what it was meant to do and keep its audience on the edge of their seats throughout the movie.

Hall Pass

Director:
Bobby & Peter Farrelly

Cast:
Owen Wilson
Jason Sudeikis
Christina Applegate
Stephen Merchant

Running Time:
105 minutes


2/5



The Farrelly brothers are back with another gross out comedy about two sex obessed men whose wives give them a week off from marriage to do whatever they want without consequence, hoping it will make their marriages stronger at the end. Although the film has a good cast the characters are very unlikable, which is a problem for a film about people overcoming their problems; the men are selfish towards their wives and the women are hypocrites, doing in the end what they accused their husbands of doing. The movie does have a lot of laugh out loud moments, but the comedy is cheap and has all been done before. If you are looking for nothing more than unintelligent sex based humour then this is perfect for you.

Battle: Los Angeles

Director: 

Jonathan Liebesman

Cast:

Aaron Eckhart, 

Michelle Rodriguez, 

Neyo

Bridget Moynahan

Running time:

116 minutes

 2.5/5

If you're going to the cinema with the expectation of this being another mediocre alien invasion movie, then you're right. Battle LA has gone for a more realistic look then most alien invasion movies and the cgi is impressive to say the least; but even this doesn't help the drab plotline. Over the course of the film you follow a platoon of U.S marines lead by Aaron Eckhart trying to save civilians and get out of the infected area before it is bombed. Despite the cliched plot and script, the cinematography is impressive and gives you the feel that you are among the soldiers. Although the film is extremely pro-American, it is generally exciting and if you are the kind of person who loves movies packed with gun fights and explosions, don't hesistate on going to see it.