Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Super sleuth...Jude Law..Robert Downey Jr....Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Since we last picked off from our old pal, Sherlock, he's been busy. As Watson says, "his web of conspiracy has expanded," as he's been tracing a series of bombings across Europe, and he's seeming traced it back to Professor James Moriarty (Mad Men's Jared Harris). As he enlists his newly-married pal, Dr Watson (again, played by Jude Law), he saves another one of Moriarty's intended victims, a gypsy called Sim (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo's Noomi Rapace.) The film crosses different continents as, Holmes tries to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Stephen Fry gets a small part as Sherlock's brother, Mycroft, a very different character from BBC One's Sherlock's Mark Gatiss. I think that Sim got much less speech than she should of and didn't really add much to the plot. Incredibly contrived, I think this second outing into the franchise manages to get away with it. 




3.5/5

Puss In Boots 3D

Fur will fly....Antonio Banderas....Puss In Boots.

This pleasant prequel to the Shrek saga is nice enough. It catches up with Puss, who is now a legendary bandit after being an orphan in a town to his surrogate mother, Imelda. He soon learns of some magic beans that Jack & Jill (Billy Bob Thornton & Amy Sedaris), have that can allow the user to plant a beanstalk just like the fairytale. Teaming up with his female counterpart, Kitty Softpaws (Salma Heyak) and his incredibly unreliable pal, Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) they search out to recover the beans, to get the magic eggs of the golden goose. It's funny, with lots of little cat jokes and the main characters are simple enough. Harmless in it's way, that's if your more of a cat person. I myself am.


3.5/5

Hugo - 3D

Hugo-a-go-go....Asa Butterfield..Jude Law...Hugo

Mark Kermode who writes for The Guardian often describes 3D as, "pointy pointy." He thinks that it's just things poking at you for no reason but Martin Scorcese's child-friendly film, Hugo, 'pokes' (ironically) that theory. It's a whirlwind adventure set in a Paris train station, it shows lonely orphan Hugo (Asa Butterfield), who's father (a Jude Law cameo, almost) perishes in a fire at a museum. Hugo fixes the clocks, as his job, while his reprobate uncle (Ray Winstone), who runs the clocks, techinically, spends his days drinking himself until his death. Soon Hugo befriends, friendly girl, Isabelle (Chloe Moretz). They have adventures in the station while trying to discover the mystery, of his father's final ongoing project, a mechanical man. They manage to evade the watchful eye of the stationmaster, played by Sacha Baron Cohen. I enjoy the sub-plot featuring, Richard Griffiths and Frances de la Tour. Ben Kingsley, comes in as Papa George, Isabelle's caring godfather, who is more than he reveals. The same can be said for Helen McCrory, who plays Mama Jeanne. Enjoyable stuff.


4/5

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1

Trampling on the vamp.....Kristen Stewart..Robert Pattison

The saga continues in the ever-lasting Twilight trilogy. In this edition, Bella and Edward (Stewart, Pattinson) decide to get married, which is fine enough, although the dialogue from Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen is horribly twee and "OMG." The film tends to have unnecessarily graphic scenes which gets on your nerves when you think, they could have missed this out. The love triangle between Edward, Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and Bella is hotting up now their married. Edward takes Bella to his mother's island (?) and they soon discover that Bella's pregnant. Again another question mark. Within a couple of weeks it looks as if this baby is a giant egg inside Bella's stomach because it's is bulging (!). As it is a two-parter, there are at least 15 different parts when you put on your coat, because you think it's about to end, then you think it's got half an hour left. It drags on, and it's stupid. But stupidly enjoyable. 






3.5/5

Arthur Christmas 3D

Is the figurehead, figure-dead?.......James McAvoy...Arthur Christmas

In this Aardman CGI family film, it sees Santa, not as a jolly man in a red coat, but a symbol, and icon. The only thing is, there are several people fighting for the title. The current 'Santa' (Jim Broadbent) is getting old, and has pretty much left, everything to his technocrat son, Steve Claus (voiced by Hugh Laurie) because he practically doesn't know the use of a light switch. Now here's the other Claus, the 'Lost Claus' as the cinema posters say, Arthur (voiced terrifically by James McAvoy,) who still considers Christmas a festive time of good will but it's now turned to one big slick militarised operation. Enter Grandsanta, (voiced by Bill Nighy), who is the cranky old coot, that was once Santa, he sits in his armchair, watching 'Christmas' happen. He probably gets the best lines in the whole film. After a mishap occurs and a little girl called Gwen's (Ramona Marquez) present isn't delivered, it's up to the clumsy Arthur and the sprightly little packaging elf, Bryony (Ashley Jenson) to deliver Gwen's back before Christmas morning. An enjoyable Christmas treat, with a fairly good message.






4/5

In Time

Twisting time...Vincent Kartheiser..Justin Timberlake...Amanda Seyfried

With an excellent plot device, this film doesn't live to it's full potential and at least 50 minutes of on-screen foot and car chases doesn't help. Set in the future, it shows that people don't age over 25 and money is time, items cost time, like one example is a coffee is 4 minutes. A very expensive hotel is 1 year. It sees Justin Timberlake receive a century of time from a mysterious man who kills himself and suddenly be transported into an adventure where he kidnaps a billionaire's daughter (Amanda Seyfried) and takes her on the run. It spends one hour of the movie showing Seyfried and Timberlake running around getting into car chases while being pursued by a 'Timekeeper' (Cillian Murphy.) They become vigilante Robin Hood-style criminals, giving illegal time to homeless people, small children, anyone in need of it. It drags on a bit, and there are too many plot holes, (in the thin sliver of plot that's there) but it's stupid. Enjoyably stupid.




3.5/5

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of The Unicorn - 3D

 Mo-cap magic...Jamie Bell..Andy Serkis...Tintin

I didn't know what to expect when I entered the cinema. With very mixed reviews from "amazing" to "poor," I knew I would come out thinking with the same opinion as one of these reviews. But the people who said this film was bad, have got it completely wrong. They review this movie as a film, so was I until I realised it was a really good Tintin adventure. Probably not that a good film, but a great plot and if you haven't read Tintin you may be at a loss. It shows Jamie Bell as the boy detective himself, suddenly being thrown into an adventure all about a sunken ship with treasure aboard. He meets Andy Serkis who plays Captain Haddock, who's insanely drunkenness is much more of an issue than in the books. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play the bumbling duo, Thompson and Thompson, their casting I think is due to Edgar Wright being on the writing team, he has worked with Pegg and Frost on a number of occasions. The Thompsons' don't get that much to do, although they have a little sub-plot of their own involving a pickpocket, (Tinker Tailor's Toby Young.) Daniel Craig plays a very Tintin-esque baddie, Sakharine, who has a very evil air to him, he even has a malicious hawk. The animation gives it, a nice touch and you can tell it's Steven Spielberg. He even throws in a funny little Jaws reference involving Tintin's trademark quiff. It's an Indiana Jones-style romp, but a very enjoyable romp. 




4/5