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.