Considering the amount of money studios spend on their tentpole flicks, you’d think that they’d at least be able to come up with something entertaining each time. However history has told us that each summer brings a slew of movies that promise much and deliver little. The moment it was announced that Sony was rebooting Spider-man only a decade after Sam Raimi’s first arachnid flicks, the fanboys and Internet doom-mongers immediately decried the whole idea and decided on principle that the film was a middle-finger to fans and to be ignored.

While some saw Marc Webb coming on-board to direct as a sign of promise, others immediately decided his lack of experience with big budget movies spelled disaster. Well, all the naysayers and incessant prophets of pessimism had better eat their words (and hopefully find something better to do with their lives, such as wait until movies are actually made and then go watch them), as The Amazing Spider-man is great. [Read more...]

When I first saw the advert I thought, ‘Oh no, it’s Showgirls meets The Full Monty’, however I was perplexed somewhat that Oscar winning director Stephen Soderbegh was at the helm. He’s delivered some brilliant films over the years, including Traffic, Erin Brockovich and Solaris, although his work of recent has not been as impressive, namely Haywire and Contagion.

However, with Magic Mike, he has given us is a crowd pleasing, energetic, realistic behind-the-scenes look at the glamorous but shady lives of the stripping community, in a tight, well scripted gem of a movie. [Read more...]

It turns out Abraham Lincoln wasn’t just a lawyer who became the President of the United States and led the winning side in the Civil War – he actually did it all to battle the undead. Well, at least that’s what happens in this version of history.

As a child, Abe watches as a vampire sucks the life from his mother, an event which shapes his entire life, so that once he’s grown (into the form of Benjamin Walker), he wants nothing more than to kill the man responsible. After an attempt to shoot the vamp goes wrong – he’s not using the sort of ammunition that can kill bloodsuckers – he’s saved by Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper). Turns out Sturgess makes it his mission to destroy bad vampires, and trains Lincoln up to take on the undead. [Read more...]

I have a horrible feeling a lot of critics are going to rip into Rock Of Ages, but I for one loved it. While it has its problems, it made me smile about 30 seconds in and I was beaming when I came out. It’s silly, cheesy and sometimes verges on the ridiculous, but it’s also a hell of a lot of fun, with a plethora of hair metal hits being shoe-horned in, Glee-style (or Mamma Mia! style, if you prefer).

The plot (which to be honest there isn’t a huge amount of) follows Sherrie, who arrives in LA from Oklahoma full of dreams of making it big in the City of Angels. She’s barely off the bus when she bumps into Drew (Diego Boneta), who gets her a job at the famed club, The Bourbon Room. Soon Sherrie and Drew are falling in love, but as the big time beckons for Drew, the course of true love won’t run smooth. [Read more...]

After one of the biggest and most hyperbolic marketing campaigns ever, which did all but suggest that Ridley Scott’s return to sci-fi is a bigger deal than if Jesus returned, Prometheus is here. Ever since it was announced, there’s been a lot of talk about exactly how it’s related to Alien. Scott himself has distanced the film from his earlier effort, saying only that strands of ‘Alien DNA’ would be apparent and that it only becomes a prequel in the last few minutes.

Well, the truth is that this doesn’t just have ‘Alien DNA’, it’s a full-blown prequel. The reason for Scott distancing it is the same as it often is with marketing nowadays – the assumption the audience is stupid (which, to be honest, is often quite a fair assessment for a lot of cinemagoers). There aren’t any xenomorphs (well, pretty much), and so it appears Scott wants to make sure audiences aren’t expecting the iconic facehuggers and aliens and are then disappointed by their absence. [Read more...]

It has been 10 years since we last heard from the Men In Black. The successful film series has grossed over $1 billion worldwide at the box office, not to mention having vast DVD sales. Has the world forgotten MIB? Is it still relevant today when action/alien films are ten-a-penny? Well, this is a welcome return to the franchise – it delivers nothing new but fits like a comfortable pair of slippers and entertains nonetheless.

The film, like the previous two, is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and there is no need to introduce the familiar characters, although there are a few new ones to add into the mix. The plot starts off with Nicole Scherzinger helping free Boris the Animal (Jermaine Clement) from prison – this really is a rather pointless cameo in her movie debut, where she does nothing more than walk around in a rubber outfit holding a cake. [Read more...]

Dark Shadows has always been a somewhat problematic proposition for a film conversion, especially as it’s been brought to the screen by people who are obviously in love with the original US soap opera that ran between 1966 and 1971. The show ran for over 1,000 episodes and featured a vast array of characters and all sorts of different supernatural shenanigans. Those then needed to be distilled down to a single movie that’ll work for a generation who’ve never seen the show.

It’s a challenge that Dark Shadows only partially succeeds in, with the whole thing having the whiff of being filled things Johnny Depp and Tim Burton wanted to include, but which might have been better to have dispensed with. [Read more...]