The Hunger Games

Another trilogy....Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is another trilogy following in the footsteps of the hugely popular Twilight series. It manages to keep the audience entertained for it's a two and a quarter length and make us want to see it's two sequels immediately. Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen, a character very unlike Kristen Stewart's bland Bella Swan. Courageous and kind-hearted she puts a huge amount of character into Katniss and acts it very well. She lives in a futuristic dystopian sc-fi world called Panem, which rules under President Snow's (a slightly under-used Donald Sutherland) iron fist. It has twelve "district's" and every year they have a "pageant" called The Hunger Games where two people are selected from each district to compete with others in a televised battle to the death. Obviously Katniss is one of the "tribute's" from her District and her male companion is Peeta Mellark (played rather well by Josh Hutcherson). Together they travel to compete in the games. It's hugely entertaining and Elizabeth Banks plays a great Effie Trinket with Woody Harrelson chipping in as Peeta and Katniss' mentor. It's length plays to it's weaknesses and the music tells you when to cry and whoop. What looks to be an enjoyable series. 


4/5

The Decoy Bride

To wed or to not wed...David Tennant...Kelly Macdonald..The Decoy Bride

The combination of Sally Philip's hilarious script and Kelly Macdonald and David Tennat's great performances makes a very good rom-com about a 'decoy bride.' It makes fun of the rural-ness of Scottish islands and their communities and gives hilarity too. When Katie (Macdonald) arrives home to Hegg, a remote Hebrides island, she doesn't expect to be asked to stand in for famous movie actress Lara Tyler, played by Alice Eve. After a mix-up with wedding certificates, Katie and Lara's husband-to-be end up married. It has several great lines, including Tony Roper as the island reverend saying, "when God created time, he made lots of it and when he created twine, he made balls of it." Ridiculously OTT and sad at parts, The Decoy Bride is a perfect British rom-com. 






4/5

Wanderlust

Hippy flick..Paul Rudd...Jennifer Aniston..Justin Theroux

It's not often that you find a comedy with Jennifer Aniston where she isn't playing a single, successful woman or a woman in a marriage she hates. As a friend said, "you wouldn't find her playing a single, alcoholic mother of one on a council estate." Surprisingly she's in a functioning relationship with Paul Rudd as her husband. Wanderlust is a culture-clash comedy that is crude and excessive but funny all the same. When George (Rudd) and Linda (Aniston) buy a "microloft" in New York, they realize it was a mistake and to top things off, George loses his job the following week and Linda fails to pitch a docu-drama to HBO about penguins with cancer. Deciding to head to Atlanta where George's grotesque brother lies in wait, a manufactor of Porta-Loos to construction sites, they take a detour to a bed and breakfast hotel that turns out to be a hippy commune. Led by an acid-destroyed Alan Alda and irritating "guru-shaman" Seth (Justin Theroux), they try to leave but are soon captivated by the whole free-spirit community. Wanderlust is crude with all the hippy cliches in the book, but somehow it manages to squeeze 98 minutes of entertainment for the audience. The highlights being of course, Ken Marino and Michaela Watkins as Rick and Marisa, George's brother and sister-in-law. 




3/5

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

OAP's abroad...Judi Dench...Celia Imrie..The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Following the format, of older people going to India, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel doesn't live up to it's expectations. It follows a bunch of pensioners, carrying on the usual stereotypes, as they travel to Jaipur, after being enticed by an advert for the hotel on "the interweb." Maggie Smith plays a Cockney racist, a nice steer-away from the Downton Abbey Duchess, Judi Dench is the melancholic widow. Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton play a very incompatible couple, while Ronald Pickup and Celia Imrie chip in as the pair looking for love. Then there's Tom Wilkinson, who harbours a secret that he has never let out - until this film of course. They arrive in India to discover that the hotel is dilapidated, and the advert was Photoshopped by fast-talking Sonny (Dev Patel), who owns the hotel, trying to make it a success to show his mother how successful he can be. Judi Dench's character Evelyn manages to get an unconvincing job in Jaipur advising a call centre on how to talk to Brits. Bill Nighy wanders off a lot and you don't really not what happens. Tom Wilkinson's story is the only watchable one, it's basically him revisiting childhood memories with consequences that I would say, but then it'd spoil the film. Some parts are enjoyable but it doesn't really live up to what I expected.




3/5

The Woman In Black

Ghostbuster Potter....Daniel Radcliffe..The Woman In Black

Poor Daniel Radcliffe. Being cast as the main character in one of the biggest-selling  franchises ever, means you are constantly referred to as Harry Potter. Surprisingly, after the first twenty minutes of this film, you forgot whom he's being typecast as and see Daniel Radcliffe as a real actor. This is his first baby-step towards a career in acting. It's set in the Edwardian era, where young Arthur Kipps, a solicitor sets out to look at the documents of a deceased Alice Drablow. He meets Ciarán Hinds playing Samuel Daily, a local landowner, the only other big name in the film. Arthur then travels to Eel Marsh House to examine the deceased widow's documents, where he meets the titular ghost. It replaces gore for chills. It gives the audience a shock but fails to back a real punch as a ghost story. I recently read the Susan Hill novel it's based on and the film is nothing like the book. It's quite enjoyable, but seems to be treading in it's own footprints a lot of the time. If you like ghostly horror films, you'll like this thriller.




3/5

The Muppets

Puppetry magic...Miss Piggy..Kermit..The Muppets

There's is something, surprisingly charming about this revival movie of the classic puppet television show. I'm not sure wither it's the celebrity cameos or the Muppet's themselves' genuine charm, but something in this film really makes you feel pretty good. It's set a good few years after the last movie, Muppet Treasure Island, and all of the Muppet's are living their own lives. It features around a strange Muppet-look-alike called Walter, whom is the Muppet's biggest fan. He believes his is part of The Muppets as he looks so similar to them. So he, and his brother, Gary (Jason Segel) and his girlfriend, Amy Adams. I sort of felt that Adams was underused. The trio travel to LA, to the original Muppet studios where they discover, an evil oil baron (Chris Cooper) is going to bulldoze the studio to drill for oil. So enlisting Kermit The Frog, they travel to find the rest of the gang. The best bits are when they find each Muppet in their own new life. Fozzie Bear, is at a Reno hotel, singing promotional songs, Gonzo is a wealthy plumbing businessman, and Miss Piggy has slipped into the editor's seat at Paris Vogue. It's hilarious, but some of the songs feel a bit irritating. The celebrity cameos are great - Jack Black playing a large role, Neil Patrick Harris, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Alan Arkin, and Emily Blunt playing Miss P's receptionist (a homage to her evil assistant role in The Devil Wears Prada.) I'd recommend it to anyone, any age. A complete 'phenomenal' of a film - get it?






5/5

Man On A Ledge

Self-explanatory...Sam Worthington..Man On A Ledge

It's an interesting concept - a man on a ledge - will he jump, won't he? This film grasps the concept but doesn't really work with it. It's edgy, suspenseful, and ridiculous but enjoyable all the same. Sam Worthington plays an ex-cop Nick Cassidy, wrongly accused of pinching a diamond off tycoon, David Englander (Ed Harris). Pretending to be a "jumper" he gets New York's attention while his younger brother, Joey and his street-wise girlfriend (Jamie Bell and Genesis Rodriguez) try and steal the diamond to prove that Nick never stole it in the first place. While all this unconvincing pandemonium occurs, the negotiator (Elizabeth Banks), tries to convince Nick not to jump. It's very confusing, but fun stuff. Ed Burns chips in as a friend of Bank's. As they say, "suspend your disbelief" when viewing this film.




3.5/5