Huo Yuan Jia

'Fearless' is based on the life of Chinese martial arts master Huo Yuanjia (1869-1910), the founder and spiritual guru of the Jin Wu Sports Federation. It is set during the late 1800s to early 1900s, a pivotal period in China's history, when the whole country is shrouded under increasing internal turmoil and the imminent threat of foreign invasion.

Jet LI announced that 'Fearless' would be his final martial artist movie, it will be interesting to see which root the actor will take after this film. If this is his last film sadly this is not the great swan song he would of hoped for.

The story of the founder of the modern martial art is an interesting one, but the film is on the wrong director’s hands, the script is sloppy, mixing very odd humour and drama to failed results. The action sets pieces are fine, the standouts include a fight high up above a town, also a frantic sword fight in a building between Li and an enemy.

Overall an ok action piece but lacking a directing flair, and won't last long in the memory.

Delta

The incestuous affair between a brother and sister create violent ruptures within a rural Danube community.

The film is beautifully shot, the setting and photography of the Hungarian wetlands of the Delta is stunning. 'Delta' is also note worthy of some truly striking film direction from director Kornél Mundruczó.

'Delta' is a film in which not much is said, and more is expressed few long pauses and long stares, so acting wise the film is on equal terms for all involved. Still the film lies with its leads as the brother and sister, and both actors pull off the difficult roles with confidence.

The problems lie in two pivotal moments one which is in the middle section of the film, the other being for the climax to the film. These two scenes are violent and misplaced. The first controversial scene has no place in the narrative and comes out of knowhere, the scene is based round a character which character arc is not plotted to be that evil and tips the film into another realm which is then not addressed again and therefore doesn’t drive the film forward. The second scene is an ending which is rushed and doesn’t make any real sense, only if the relationship of the brother and sister is being addressed.

Many people will struggle with the slow pacing of the film at times, although the running time is short. Still the two scenes mentioned do dent the film somewhat and the ultimately miss placed ending is both rushed and confusing. Still visually 'Delta' is stunning, and director Kornél Mundruczó is a force to watch out for, a director who knows how to shoot and film and direct his leads well, through a non verbal style of acting, and scene structure.

Tony

A thriller cantered on a serial killer in a rundown London suburb.

'Tony' is a sort of a hard edged Mike Leigh film meets 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer' of type, with rather slow unsatisfying results.

Peter Ferdindo gives an interesting promising performance as the titled serial killer, but sadly is not given enough in the script to fully flesh out his inner demons, and the problems he has with interacting with society.

There are good executed scenes here. The main stand out is a well structured scene involving the dismiss of a group of drug addicts, which is a well structured piece of cinema, with a nice mix of loner ramblings from Peter Ferdindo, and the pending danger of a man basically trying to interact with sociality and his obsection with murder, all brought to a head with grisly outcomes, and a nice point of view camera shot of the drug addict trapped in a room whilst Tony goes about his serial killer ways.

Problems lie with the fact that there is very little explanation also the reasons for the murders, nor is there any development of the lead which leaves both the character Tony and all that is going on around him some what stale.

Sadly the restrictions and pressures within the genre make for some rather silly conclusions to a film which is like its lead Tony, odd ball and doesn’t fit in with genre pieces of type.

17 Again

A guy whose life didn't quite turn out how he wanted it to and wishes he could go back to high school and change it. He wakes up one day and is seventeen again and gets the chance to rewrite his life.

The young heart throb Zac Efon of Disney Channels 'High School Musical' series fame, pressed all the right buttons for comedy and lightweight entertainment with the Disney Channels films, but is not convincing at bring the actors body he is jumping into that of Matthew Perry to life, none of Perry's mannerisms are really there and although Efon has comic timing and is a good young actor, you never feel it is Perry in Efon's body, ultimately this effects a number of key scenes.

Still the casting of Thomas Lennon as friend ED is fun, allot of the laughs come from his over the top performance, which brings original laughs to a film which copies allot from other body swapping movies like 'Big', 'Visa Versa' and even the masterpiece 'Back To The Future' which has an actual scene ripped from it. Zac Efon awakens and thinks he has been dreaming the whole body changing experience, then finds out his daughter in replacement to the mother in 'Back To The Future' is trying to hit it off with him. It does'nt stop with copied scenes there are a number of themes copied from the 'Back To The Future' original.

'17 Again' does have charm. Still as good as Zac Efon is, he is never quite convincing enough at portraying the personality of Matthew Perry. So as rewarding this new 'Big' for the 2000's is ultimately the problems lie in its young lead and the fact we have seen this all done before but better. We all know what happened to Tom Hanks after the hit of 'Big' can Zac Efon do the same?

Bolt

The canine star of a fictional sci-fi/action show that believes his powers are real embarks on a cross country trek to save his co-star from a threat he believes is just as real.

The latest Disney Studios animated action film has some fun action sequences and likeable characters, with the lead Bolt being the real cute star, that excels allot of charm. The voice artists do an ok job with John Travolta standing out from the bunch. Still as charming enough this film is, 'Bolt' is still Disney running on half cylinders, and with the likes of Pixar producing films such as 'UP' and 'Wall-e' in recent times 'Bolt' does'nt have the weight or emotion to really out last its hour and a half running time.

The film comes and goes with a nice feeling but within a couple of weeks will be forgettable to most.

Crossing Over

Immigrants from around the world enter Los Angeles every day, with hopeful visions of a better life, but little notion of what that life may cost. Their desperate scenarios test the humanity of immigration enforcement officers. "In Crossing Over," writer-director Wayne Kramer explores the allure of the American dream, and the reality that immigrants find--and create--in 21st century L.A.

There have been a number of films which use one theme and build story strands around that theme. Most recently the 2004 'Crash' and 'Traffic'. Sadly 'Crossing Over' doesn’t quite know what to do with the number of threads the film produces from a story that evolves around immigration in America. There are a total of at least five stories goings on in this film, and not one really gets the in depth comment it deserves. If there is a story it revolves round murder and not really connected to the main theme at all.

Harrison Ford is the lead but his story and performance is just underwhelming and at times the actor is reduced to a supporting role in a film that has no real lead story or role.

Everything drags along at a rather dull running time, which is a shame as there are good actors here and main of the performances are effective, who must have felt the film was an interesting premise, which it is, but a lazy direction, and dull set of characters never really raise the film to anything which it should have with the talented cast.

White Lightnin'

Jesco White uses tap dancing to keep his demons at bay. At the tender age of six, he started getting high by huffing gasoline and stolen lighter fluid. Growing up, Jesco often found himself shuffling between reform schools, work camps, and his home in West Virginia-until his father, famous mountain dancer D. Ray White, taught him how to tap.

The film is shot in black and white, this effect is used to great effect in 'White Lightnin'. The black and white is mixed with a very slight colour tint at times, notice the scene which Jesco confronts a group of bullies and the switch knife he is holding is blue and the rest of the shot in still in black and white. This gives the film an overall impressive cinematography feel.

Eward Hogg is fine as the lead, giving a convincing unhinged performance where you don't quite know when he will turn from a nice talented dancer to a violent individual. Also a special note must go to Owen Campbell who is impressive as the young Jesco. Sadly the only other character to get a worthy part is Carrie Fisher who is value for money as the the wife who abandons her family to party with the laudably unbalanced Hogg.

The odd ball quality is somewhat miss leading, with the film sometimes shooting off into madness, the closing section of the film a prime example of this. Also the narration can get a bit too dependent on telling the story. Still these are minor irritations to an otherwise interesting at times and individual piece of cinema.

Saw 6

Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw's grand scheme is finally understood.

The Saw franchise battles on into its sixth instalment. There are two possible reasons why this franchise is still going, one audiences just can't get enough of the now iconic horror icon Jigsaw, or two that Hollywood is in a state of 911 where Saw seems to be the only horror franchise out there, and can still be drained to make more money every Halloween, in the cinemas. If you look at some of the 1980's-90's horror franchises hardly any that made it past the third were still in the cinemas, most went straight to rental, examples the 'Hellraiser's' and 'Friday 13th' franchises. The only real exception to these rules were the 'Elm Street' series.

In the past the Saw sequels hit rock bottom with the terrible Saw 3, but the series has somehow picked itself up, to be a passable if not great watch able set of films. Saw 6 is not as dumb as usual, the film attempts to take a knock at the state of the American privatised health service, who would have thought, this would of been the inspiration of the latest touture porn film.

The films are famous for their sick frantic, 'so you want to play a game' opening scenes, and 'Saw 6' has the sickest opening of any of the previous five films. The challenges/traps as a whole, which make up most of the films short running time are still sick and slick as always. The highlight here is with the merry go round challenge which makes you think, who you would spare from your work place ha-ha.

Still with news of a seventh, it is questionable how long saw can go on for. Not many people would of seen this film go pass the third to be fair, let alone six.

2012

An academic researcher leads a group of people in a fight to counteract the apocalyptic events that were predicted by the ancient Mayan calendar.

The end of the world. Film Director Roland Emmerich has got these films down to a T, from ‘Independence Day' to 'The Day After Tomorrow' all involve apocalyptic destruction every twenty to thirty minutes. Still 2012 can be seen as a step to far. The over the top laugh out loud action sequences are so silly and unbelievable, although entertaining to watch are just silly. A prime example is the escape from California via car and air plane, all exciting and you will be cheering at the screen, but to over the top. The film is possibly the ultimate disaster film.

The special effects for all this mayhem is ok and look impressive at times, but the whole actions set pieces are pretty much the same, escape and take off before everything below falls apart, for example this happens three times in the film.

Because the stakes are so high and the whole planet is falling apart, thousands of people are killed in massive swoops in some action sequences and the film just moves on, these scenes and consequences are just skimmed over.

The acting and characters are sadly forgettable with David Cusack stepping into a role which should of been played by the likes of Dennis Quaid. A role similar to the lead character played by Quaid in 'The Day After Tomorrow'. Although in the right film Cusack can act, the script is not strong enough for the actor to carry, and falls a long way short of Quaid's memorable character hero in 'The Day After Tomorrow'. 'The Day After Tomorrow' casting and characters worked, sadly 2012's characters are forgettable in comparison.

The film in the end is a check list of previous disaster movies, for action, plot and character development setups, tidal waves, burning buildings etc etc.

The Horsemen

A tender drama unfolds between a grieving father and a troubled teenage girl as they drive northbound along the quiet outback roads of Australia. What she doesn't know is that between stops, he is leaving behind a bloody trail of bodies in a revenge motivated killing spree.

Actor Peter Marshall as the grief sickened father gives a tender and good performance, some of the tenderest moments, come between the father and a young female hitchiker, which he picks up on his journey to track down the killers of his daughter, these scenes take the film out of its generic, gruesome revenge flick status.

Despite these nice enough moments the lasting impression is the torture porn style scenes, a style which started back with the horror film 'Hostel'. These style of films are popular and been done before and leaves a bad taste.

The overall layout of the violent torture scenes and the moments between the father and the hitchhiker are used as a break from each other. The problem lies with the fact that there is nothing in the middle to weight both elements together, you have violence then father and hitchiker moments, to an extent you either get one or the other, which ultimately leads not a not very enjoyable experience as a whole.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Doctor Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. An inveterate gambler, thousands of years ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr. Nick, in which he won immortality. Centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr. Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his daughter reached her 16th birthday, she would become the property of Mr Nick.

Terry Gilliam has never had an easy ride with making films. 'Brazil' is famous for the director falling out with the film studio, and right up to his previous film 'The Brother Grimm' also had issues with the studio over the production of the film. With his come back film 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus' the worse possible thing happened the death of the films lead, Heath Ledger. The director had a choice either abandon the picture or re-tweak, thankfully Gillam decided to carry on and finish the film, as he felt it is what Ledger would of wanted, the result is a dare I say it a better film, the film is enriched with what will now become legendary cameos of some of the biggest young actors around, Jonny Depp, Jude law and Colin Farrell.

The way the gap of Heath Ledger is created is every time Tony (Heath Ledger) enters the mirror into a fantasy world, one of the three actors takes his place, the new idea works very well, so much so that if you didn’t know of Ledgers death all would look normal.

The film will always be famous for the death of its lead, still Heath Ledgers swan song is not his greatest performance as people may hope, his legacy will be with his work in 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'The Dark Knight'. With The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Ledger is part of a good ensemble, including a fine performance from Christopher Plummer as Parnassus, also a great supporting role by Tom Waits as the devil, Waits hams his role up well, starring in a number of the most memorable scenes including, a cloud hoping scene, a mechanical Russian lady scene and a nice scene of Waits sun bathing is a murky river whilst smoking.

The films two young leads Lily Cole and Andrew Garland both hold their own against Ledger, Plummer and Waits. Also of course the added leads of Jonny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell, all three manage to take the spirit of Ledger brilliantly, but still adding each actors own acting style to the film. The Jonny Depp scene of Tony (Heath Ledger) talking about dead soles, that will never been forgotten is a very touching and poignant piece of script and acting. Overall these added scenes though the mirror and the fantasy world that Gilliam is famous for are highlights and really allow both director and actors run wild.

The film may not be Gillams best film, it follows the same floors as 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen' had, with at times having too many ideas for one film to handle, and can get a bit messy with visuals and story.

Still the vision, passion, and originality of the film are second to none and you won't see anything like this in 2009.

Creation

The story of Charles Darwin and his master-work "The Origin of Species". Creation tells of a global revolution played out the confines of a small English village; a passionate marriage torn apart by the most dangerous idea in history; and a theory saved from extinction by the logic of a child.

Director Jon Amiel turns a strong mostly English cast, and an interesting subject matter of one of the most scientific publishing pieces in the modern era into a rather slow, run of the mile family melodrama. The performances are stale, Paul Bettany normally an interesting performer is average as Darwin never really showing the acting skills which we are normally use to. Real life wife Jennifer Connelly is also rather flat and un interesting, managing to have the same expression thoughout the whole film, and only really comes together when she is interacting with Charles emotionally.

In all what should have been a tight study of Charles Darwin’s thoughts and process into the development of "The Origins of Species" is a slow burning drama that never really sparks into life. Despite some visual flourishes the film should have stuck with its central theme.

Harry Brown

An elderly ex-serviceman and widower looks to avenge his best friend's murder by doling out his own form of justice.

Harry Brown opens with a truly striking first ten minutes, a giddy array of shaky mobile phone footage of a young English gang followed by an un-forgettable act of violence which will shock. Although this does not quite set the tone of the film it does gives a wake up call to youth city violence.

The film has a good supporting cast from its mainly young leads, a nasty group with the well structured police integration scene showing how far verbal violence can shake an audience with both fear and dread. Still this is the Michael Caine show. It is rare for Mr Caine to get leads now days, the actor is one of the most famous English actors and is truly wonderful in the title role.

What is truly wonderful is the creation of the Harry Brown character from a loving old guy next door, including a highlighted tender scene of a one to one with a friend in his local pub after the death of his daughter, to transformation to a re-activated old solider to a killing machine, as Harry Brown takes vengeance for the death of a friend, out on the local young gang.

Violent, and a bit too much Hollywood styled 'Death Wish' in places Harry Brown' is still a thrilling, tough, and thought provoking British thriller. Well directed and a great central performance from its lead.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

When Flint Lockwood's latest contraption accidentally destroys the town square and rockets up into the clouds, he thinks his inventing career is over. Then something amazing happens as delicious cheeseburgers start raining from the sky. His machine actually works! But when people greedily ask for more and more food, the machine starts to run amok, unleashing spaghetti tornadoes and giant meatballs that threaten the world!

'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' is the wackiest animation of 2009. Where 'UP' won over with its big heart, and 'Coralline' with technique wonder, 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs' is just out there silliness, with great food destroying set pieces, a number of inspiring film in jokes and lovely visuals. Including a jelly and ice cream set of scenes which are just beautiful. Another plus are the inspiring set of voice overs including a standout from MR T as the local policemen.

'Cloudy' gets caught up too much with what’s visually on screen, sometimes hurting the story and characters at times, still the animated adventure is one of the most original and exciting and clever animated features to come out in a number of years.

Surrogates

People are living their lives remotely from the safety of their own homes via robotic surrogates, sexy, physically perfect mechanical representations of themselves. It’s an ideal world where crime, pain, fear and consequences don’t exist.

Director Jonathan Mostow follow up to I-Robot has a similar feel to his Will Smith Sc-Fi, with robots taking centre stage. The idea of surrogates replacing an alternative older more appearance, and social sensitive human society is a good one. Still the central story is tiresome, and the feeling of been there done that, is too evident. Surprising the films second side story of the Bruce Willies character Tom trying to get his wife to become more at peace with her human body over the robot surrogate, is touching and has more heart than the generic sc-fi formula story taking centre stage.

Surrogates is ok, and come alive with some well staged if to brief action set pieces. Still the pacing of the film is an issue, the film never really hitting full stride. Mostow has done much better in the Sc-Fi department before, with the far superior I-Robot.

Ben X

Ben is different and his life is a universe all unto itself. He has Asperger Syndrome, a mild form of autism that prevents normal communication, and while he is a courageous hero—Ben X—in the fantasy on-line gaming world that consumes him, in his daily life Ben is tormented by bullies and ignored by apathetic teachers.

The film makers of 'Ben X' have attempted to cover on film an important social illness, with a high style form of film making, which is although affective and reflective at times, lacks depth or interest in the long run.

The problems with this film are layed in the first half an hour, leaving the viewer thrust rated, the film keep building and building, including a film style of a too camera series of interviews, with some expressing emotional performances, all leading to a promised big reveal. But this reveal never delivers anything interesting in between. Once the big reveal in the film happens the film is flipped on its head and exposed with a completely unbelievable twist, everything before it is somehow is now underplayed and undermined.

Sex Drive

American teenager Ian brings his friends along on a road trip from Chicago toKnoxville to lose his virginity with a girl he met online.

Its hard to believe the 'American Pie' comedies began some 11 years ago. The legacy of these films are still going strong, for the teen market films in the naughtiest, 'Sex Drive' takes allot of its influences from these genre watermark pictures.

'Sex Drive’ is mostly crude and lewd, some of it works, and some of it is just childish rubbish, with the latter being in the higher bracket, with more misses and hits. Still when it hits it hits very well.

The standouts scenes mostly involve the doughnut costume, the final over the top scene is very funny and is worth the wait. Also worth nothing is a funny cameo from Seth Green as an Amish mechanic, also a funny side line character from James Marsden as lan's brother.

When this film is funny it is sniggering laugh out loud funny like a little school boy, when it is crude it is wince look away bad.

Death Sentence

Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) is a mild-mannered executive with a perfect life, until one gruesome night he witnesses something that changes him forever. Transformed by grief, Hume eventually comes to the disturbing conclusion that no length is too great when protecting his family.

A Revenge film at its heart, 'Death Sentence' is full on in action, violence and a number of intense performances. Kevin Bacon has always one of the most underrated actors though out his career, and is on good form here. Also a mention should go to a John Goodman in a very usual but effective piece of casing, and he almost steals the show from Bacon.

'Death Sentence' is a very grim film, still this is a well made picture, including an impressive and exciting well constructed foot chase and an impress developed opening act.

Comparisons are going to be made between this film and 'Death Wish' and more recently Jodie fosters 'Brave One', 'Death Sentence' is actually better than both of these films. 

Still the film strays from believability, and we have seen the final act of the film a dozen times before, shame director James Wan didn’t spice the film up a bit in this section and produce a more original slant on the ending. 

Overall a well made film that packs quite a wallop.