The Green Hornet (2011)

I actually chose to watch this film even though like seemingly quite a lot of people something about Seth Rogen just puts me off, his voice performance in Paul was great but this is the only good thing I have heard him do. He just has this way of being annoying, which worked in this film as a he was supposed to be annoying. So your story is Seth Rogen is the son of a Paper Mogul, played by Tom Wilkinson they do not get on and he has to take over the paper when his father dies. He hooks up with Kato his fathers mechanic and they decide randomly to become crime fighters and ingratiate themselves with the bad guys so they can bring them down and using the newspaper they start their campaign of crime against the criminals.

Now as a premise it works quite nicely, the biggest flaws in this film is the humour does not work properly as there seems to be something missing. I think that it is the crossover between slapstick and intelligent and it fails to work. Also I did not believe the relationship between Seth Rogen and Jay Chou who plays Kato and when you throw Cameron Diaz in to the mix the chemistry is just not there between the trio. Christoph Waltz plays an excellent bad guy and with James Franco getting a cameo the cast of this film was actually really good, Edward James Olmos also shows off his chops as the editor of the paper.

Overall I had low expectations and they were barely met, this is a 2 star avoid unless you like Seth Rogen a lot. Will give him credit he does look like he has lost a bit of weight but his style just does not work for me at all in this film or any of the others I have seen him in.

A Lonely Place to Die (2011)

I went to see this Melissa George film without having seen the trailer or heard that much about it and I have to say that this makes for an interesting watching experience. Based upon the poster and basic information it is a mountaineering expedition in to the hills of Scotland, with Melissa Geroge, Ed Speleers, Alec Newman, Kate Magowan and Garry Sweeney as your intrepid mountaineers. Their plans are changed and they end up going in a slightly different direction due to the weather and things change in to a world of hurt.

I will not go any further than that as I think that discovering teh twists and turns of this film are a lot of fun. Overall if you think about the film to hard you can see decisions and ideas that you might do differently and think why did they not do this or that and that can be fun but can also make you question if the film is any good. I would say go along for the ride and enjoy the performances and the scenery and and while the film might not go in a direction you like or enjoy overall I think you will enjoy this film from Julian and Will Gilbey.

This film was a lot of film it will not be for everyone but if you enjoy character studies mixed with adventure then you will enjoy this film. I give this a solid 3 stars and would ask people to give it a chance.

Apollo 18 (2011)

I went to see the "Documentary" about why we did not go back to the Moon after Apollo 17. Yeah I like the fact that they push the fact that it is reality but really it gets boring when they continue pushing it as reality all the way to the end of advertising and the film, so sorry for spoilers if you thought that a revelation like this would be released on the big screen rather than as front page breaking news. It surprises me that people fall in to the trap of thinking that "Real" stories will be released on the big screen, it is fun marketing but really goes to far for me. This film does it in the standard way with teaser trailers and the "true story" about where the footage comes from and I am happy enough with this as a concept but it is depressing how stupid some people can be when NASA have to issue and announcement that Apollo 18 is not a documentary.

Anyway the story is a found footage story based upon 84 hours of material uploaded to the internet and then edited into the film in front of you. The story is around the 3 astronauts of the top secret Apollo 18 mission to the Moon to put down sensors and gather more samples and it is what they found on the Moon. Now it is hand held and fixed camera footage and it gets old quite quickly for a short film and the fact that the claim to have so much footage there are longs spells of not a lot happening. It preys on the claustrophobic nature of the capsule, and the fact that there is nowhere for them to go and getting home is difficult. I think that they do a fantastic job with the characters, making you care for them and feeling empathy when they feel the pressure and tension of the situation they find themselves in.

This is a very clever film, it takes an idea and pushes it as far as it can. The actors and way that the footage is put together is actually almost believable they make you think that in reality this is actually a possibility. I enjoyed it I rate this a good 3 stars and it is well worth a watch.

Rio (2011)

So after playing Angry Birds Rio I finally watched the animated film about the Blue Macaws. Now this is another film that got the Orange sponsorship in British Cinemas and based upon my timing regime when it came on I went to the bathroom to make sure that I could get through the film in one sitting, what can I say weak bladder. So I had a preconception that they were simply in for sponsorship and this made me not really that fussed for the film when I got a chance to see it. You have your story which is Blu who is stolen from Rio, taken to the US where he is lost and then found by Linda a little girl who looked after him and raised him from a chick. He is found by a Brazilian bird lover who wants to take him to Rio to breed with Jewel the only female Macaw left in Brazil.

So basically you have 2 love stories between Blu, voiced by Jess Eisenberg and Jewel, voiced by Anne Hathaway and Linda, voiced by Leslie Mann and Dr Barbosa, voiced by Gracinha Leporcae and overall there is a lot of fun humour that ensues from a fish out of water. With your domesticated Americanised bird being reintroduced to his home country and the clash of cultures. I think that overall this is a visually attractive film with some stunning scenery and the colours and images are good to look at. The kids will love some of the jokes and the battle between Birds and monkeys and the bad bird Nigel, voiced by Jermaine Clement is actually a really good baddie I enjoyed it when he was involved in the story. With the voice cast of Jane Lynch, George Lopez, Wanda Sykes and Thomas F Wilson involved it was enjoyable fare.

This film is not to bad it is nothing that special and after one watch I do not really need to revisit this film, though I would not be against a re-watch. Overall if you enjoy animated films aimed at kids then you will enjoy this film a good 3 stars from me.

Final Destination 5 (2011)

So I went to see the latest in the long line of Final Destination sequels, it fell in to the trap last year when the stated that they were releasing THE Final Destination it sucked and to be honest after that film I was not that interested in seeing number 5, however when I saw the trailer which I reviewed here I thought a different take now that could be interesting. Now I have to say that they do not play this angle up quite as much as I thought they would but it made a nice conclusion to part of the story. Now I have to be honest and say that I love these films for the campyness and the tension when it is done right.

The story is your basic Final Destination plot with a cast of characters that you meet and then you see the disaster and the survival. Now the disaster is a bridge collapse and it is pretty cool actually they have some good impact scenes at this point the 3D was worth it for some good kill scenes but the CGI was god awful, why can they not get it right. Anyway I was not that bothered by the crap CGI as the deaths were pretty cool and I had a great time in the nearly empty theatre laughing my ass off.

Overall this is probably tied for my second favourite Final destination film with number 2 and behind number 1. The twist that they do at the end is awesome and when I saw it coming I was jumping up and down getting far to excited for a 33 year old man in the cinema alone. This is 4 stars for me I only bump it up as I came out with a really good feeling about the film and would actually go and see it again.

The 6th Day (2000)

So I watched the 6th Day again and loved it again, I think this is another film that falls into my guilty pleasure category. Arnold Schwarzenegger appears in this film twice so you get the double Arnold and it is about human cloning, the real story is a film that can make you think how would you cope if you met yourself and how would you react and feel. I understand that many people do not like the film I think that the biggest downside to people is the science and the believability levels are hard to get around.

Overall your basic story is that Arnold wakes up in a cab and then then some weird stuff happens to the point when he gets home and sees himself in his living room with his wife and the mind games begin with him trying to figure out what is happening and who the people trying to kill him are and what the hell is actually going on. You have 4 characters trying to kill him and the confusion envelopes him as he kills a couple but then sees them again. Now I can see some of the holes with clones remembering how they died even though the "simcard" is a save point in their lives. But I can see past all of that and love the X-Coptors that can be controlled and the action and gun play.

As a Guilty pleasure for me it is 4 stars and overall I would say switch the brain off at the door and you will have a pretty good time, these opinions are my own.

Conan The Barbarian (2011)

So I went to see Conan the Barbarian the remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger 1982 sword and sorcery epic character. Now as I have stated many times before I am not a fan of remakes I am very much why cannot we get some new ideas? However they might not be very good but at least they will be original. It does make me want to see the original films in the series and there is an element in the originals looking back that it is Arnold therefore they were great, which is not always the case. But I think that going back to those films Arnold's muscles are a character within the film and they are not present in the remake.

So I have the problem I mentioned when I looked at the trailer, my thoughts you can see here. I cannot remember the original films that well so I am not that sure with the remake if they are ripping off the original or just taking the characters on a new story, I will look at that when I re-watch the originals. Now to the film, it is terrible, the acting was okay but the film and story was totally dull and pointless. They seem to have so much to fit in that it jumps all over the place, from the fact that in one scene it jumps from night to day with no real transition of time and the fact that I notice it shows me that I was not that enthralled with the film, also the fact that I wanted to see what time it was, showed me how  dull it was. And why should it be dull, big swords lots of blood and lots of boobs and still I did not care about it.

So the only good thing about this is that I am going to revisit the originals and see if they are better than the mess that I sat through in the cinema. This film is totally not worth viewing from the lead actress being really brave but screaming an awful lot to Conan being big but not Arnold a 1 star film that should be avoided, did not miss it being 2D rather than 3D would probably have been more annoying in 3D.

The Inbetweeners (2011)

I will be upfront and say that I have never seen any of the TV Series and know nothing about any of the characters but the Fiance wanted to see it as it appeals to her funny bone. The premise is that the main characters do not fit in even within their own families and they decide to go on holiday to the Greek island Malia. Firstly this film is almost the same as Kevin and Perry Go Large the out of place guys who are thick go on holiday and I wonder how it will turn out?

Now some of the jokes are hilarious the dance scene will go down in YouTube history when it comes out on DVD, having looked online this seems to be Neil played by Blake Harrison. A part from that and some other jokes the film is too cringe worthy for me, it is very much laugh at these people not with them and this is not the sort of comedy I appreciate as I simply feel bad fro them as I want them to succeed and every time you think they are winning the pull the Dumb and Dumber ending which is what made me hate that film, but that is a different review.

Overall if you like the series I am sure you will love the film and if you liked Kevin and Perry then this is for you, however it was not for me but a couple of the jokes were funny enough so 2 stars.

Conan The Barbarian (2011) Trailer

I get confused between the Arnold versions of the Barbarian and the Destroyer and cannot remember which film is which but I know that I enjoyed them both and when they decided to remake Conan the barbarian I was unsure how I felt about it as it is not one of my all time favourite films but I do enjoy them and I do think that they are taking remakes to far.

So the trailer shows us that there will be lots of sword and sorcery and this appeals to me however and this is good from the trailer you do not get to much of the story so when you get there it will be a pleasant surprise that is presuming that there is a story, hopefully they will just make their own story and we will not keep getting references to the original but it will be more based upon the comic book which I have never read rather than the films from the 80's.

I am actually going to see this film this afternoon at the cinema going to see it in 2D as to me 3D is totally dead and there are very few films I want to see in 3D any more.

UK Release Date - 24th August 2011

Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

Went to see the Western/Sci-Fi cross over film from John Faverou, starring Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde. There were some good Cameo's from Sam Rockwell and Clancy Brown, two actors who always make any film better. Now I am not a fan of Westerns but I love the Sci-Fi genre so was watching this film with a bit of trepidation as half of the premise was not for my tastes. This is actually a Western film with a Sci-Fi element, normally when a film has any element of Sci-Fi the film automatically gets classed in that genre as it is the strongest genre there is, as the simple premise of Sci-Fi is usually unbelievable and can take you out of a setting.

So you have Daniel Craig wakes up in the desert with a bracelet on his wrist and no idea who he is or where he is. Harrison Ford plays essentially the bad guy of the piece. His son Percy is an arrogant show off that gets away with everything simply because his Father is the richest man in the locality. Daniel Craig is like the lone drifter that wanders into town, and then the Aliens turn up. Now from this point onwards this is teh Sci-Fi film that I wanted, the Western element was good by my standards it was basic and simple and did not get to carried away. The characters trying to bring you back to the Western theme was a bit clunky especially the scene when Daniel Craig is coming out of the water and what he says to Olivia Wilde it feels very, oops lets remind everyone that this is the 1800's.

Overall I enjoyed this film the Western element is small enough and the Sci-Fi is strong enough that it maintained my interest so overall I give this 3 stars, worth watching especially if you like the action Sci-Fi films.