The Incredible Hulk

UK Release Date: 13th June 2008

Bruce Banner, a scientist on the run from the U.S. Government, must find a cure for the monster he emerges whenever he loses his temper. However, Banner then must fight a soldier whom unleashes himself as a threat stronger than he (www.imdb.com).

Director: Louis Leterrier (The Transporter, Unleashed, Transporter 2)

Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt

It boils down to this: what makes The Incredible Hulk incredible? Is it the newly appointed Edward Norton? Or love-interest Liv Tyler? Actually, it loses out on incredible credibility, as Norton's Bruce Banner chooses to flee rather than fight. He's a passive man on the run from the U.S. Army, looking for a cure. His ability to change in to a raging muscle-man is what they want.

TIH covers the origin story in the opening credits (sensible move, we've seen it before with Ang Lee's The Hulk). Banner's brute only surfaces when the army won't leave him be. Leave him alone they do not, as they crunch the middle act in to overdrive. Super-human military nut-job Tim Roth makes a cool central villain (the showdown is glorious). Tyler trades whimsical damsel for astute catalyst. It's our second helping on the lead-up to an Avengers movie. Leterrier's effort is a noble one, as Marvel know what direction they're heading. And did anyone think that Norton would make a fine Banner? I didn't see that one coming.

3.5/5

Iron Man 2

UK Release Date: 30th April 2010

With the world now aware of his identity as Iron Man, Tony Stark must contend with both his declining health and a vengeful mad man with ties to his father's legacy (www.imdb.com).

Director: Jon Favreau (Elf, Iron Man)

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Scarlet Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell

If you appreciated Jon Favreau's Iron Man, then you'll love IM2. There's not much new on show, but once had a taste of what Tony Stark has to offer, you'll know what to expect. Although Robert Downey Jr.'s character thrives as a philanthropist and making the world a better place, unrest broods in the background. Two villains occupy Stark's attention. The maniacal Ivan Vanko (Rourke), who disproves Stark's theory that every country in the world is far behind his technology, and Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), the CEO of a competing weapons/defence manufacturer. The one that sways heads is Scarlet Johansson, the Marvel Universe's much needed heroine (sorry Pepper).

Ultimately IM2 is only as strong as its hero, so pretty damn strong then. Having less superhero smash-ups and more human character development is attractive to comic-book fans and movie lovers.

3.5/5

Iron Man

UK Release Date: 2nd May 2008

After being held captive in an Afghan cave, an engineer creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil (www.imdb.com).

Director: Jon Favreau

Starring: Robert Downey  Jr., Kevin Bridges, Terence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow

Robert Downey Jr. is more than fitting as the rich, intelligent, swagger-man Tony Stark. Iron Man is just a suit, so Tony is just a person. He's not a superhero, he's a man thriving in decadence, an entrepreneur with personal gain. His business, Stark Industries, manufactures and sells weapons for war. It takes his kidnapping and subsequent three month imprisonment to realise the wrongs in his life. The suits helps him right his wrongs. Obadiah Stane, work partner and friend of Tony's Father, is against Tony's decisions. With his shiny, bald head, Bridges is a brooding, intimidating figure, taking some of that huge burden laid upon Downey to do so well. 

The finest aspect for me (and some may disagree) is director Jon Favreau's spends more time with the man than the suit. It's about the characters, and it pays to see some real heart in a Hollywood blockbuster.

4/5

Gone, Baby, Gone

UK Release Date: 6th June 2008

Two Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally (ww.imdb.com).

Director: Ben Affleck

Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris,

The Affleck Brothers have collaborated on a deeply political and morally moving story. Ben directs this morbid feast. Private investigators and romantic-partners Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan are on the look-out for a missing girl in Boston. Not much else is known, keeping us at a frustrating arm's length. Casey is an under-rated actor, juggling toughness with anxiety, the rights with wrongs. Gone, Baby, Gone will have us divided, scrupulously contemplating whether Affleck and Monaghan make the right decisions. Both Affleck's have heads spinning and temples aching. Boston has never looked so bleak and uninviting. Avoid watching if you're planning a trip there.

4/5

Hail, Caesar!

UK Release Date: 4th March 2016

A Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio's stars in line (www.imdb.com).

Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men, True Grit, Inside Llewyn Davis)

Starring: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Raplh Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlet Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum

The weird and hugely wonderful Coen Brothers strike again with a movie that's as odd as it is dry. The movie focuses around film studio 'fixer' Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin). Any complication the studio has, he will suppress. Many burdens need tackling on this particular day; a star on their latest blockbuster goes, twin reporters working for different papers harass him, an insufferable actor who lacks talent, and an actress lacking romance. Brolin crosses the tees and dots the eyes, linking all the other film's participants into one erratic comedy. The dialogue flourishes, the farce entertains and the production's a blast to the past, with a few hidden easter eggs to boot.

4/5

Green Lantern

UK Release Date: 17th June 2011

Reckless test pilot Hal Jordan is granted an alien ring that bestows him with otherworldly powers that inducts him into an intergalactic police force, the Green Lantern Corps (www.imdb.com).

Director: Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, The Mask of Zorro, Casino Royale)

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Tim Robbins, Taika Waititi

Green Lantern deserves some credit. It tries, and it tries hard. Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) has his work cut out for him, his Green Lantern's completely outs-muscled by DC favourites Batman and Superman. He's chosen by the universe's greatest to represent Earth, tackling a bulbous headed professor (Peter Sarsgaard), a giant tentacle-looking creature, a romance with fellow pilot Blake Lively and some been-there-done-that daddy issues. This film only dapples in its plot points, but none quite gel. Harder to believe is Hal left on his Lal to save the world. TGL's leader Sinestro (Mark Strong) and his buddies are left out of what could have been an epic showdown. 

Some good scenes are amongst the mundane, and the CGI is terrific. Hal Jordan though, promptly suffers, left without an audience to care for him. The Green Lantern is good, but never coming out its superhero origin, romance, showdown-with-villain formula.

3/5

Dad's Army

UK Release Date: 5th February 2016

The Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon deal with a visiting female journalist and a German spy as World War II draws to its conclusion (www.imdb.com).

Director: Oliver Parker (St. Trinian's, Johnny English Reborn)

Starring: Toby Jones, Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Blake Harrison, Tom Courtenay, Daniel Mays

2016's Dad's Army movie is a big fat homage to the T.V. series, but painstakingly so. Silly, stupid and seriously not funny, Toby Jones' Captain Mainwaring and his team of blithering fools lead the Home Guard, too old or unfit for the front-line. There's a spy in their midst but they'e too loved-up with Catherine Zeta-Jones' provocative journalist to see past their noses, which is infuriating, as it depicts men in a flawed vision. Zeta-Jones looks terrific, Jones, Nighy and Gambon nail their roles but a lack of laughs and a long, drawn-out plot diminishes any interest in the plot. Dad's Army's for the fans, no one else. 

2/5

London Has Fallen

UK Release Date: 3rd March 2016

In London for the Prime Minister's funeral, Mike Banning discovers a plot to assassinate all the attending world leaders (www.imdb.com).

Director: Babak Najafi

Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Radha Mitchell, Melissa Leo, Colin Salmon

Major cliches and minor patriotism aside, London Has Fallen is a good gig. Agent Mike Banning (Butler) protects President Asher (Eckhart) during a state visit to London. All the world's leaders have come to mourn the loss of the Prime Minister. Little do they know that a plot is ripening to kill them all. Banning (present days answer to John McClane) must single-handedly take out the enemy and recuse the captured President. The British allies are made to look stupid (Arrow's Colin Salmon stares frequently at CCTV screens making horrible decisions) as Gerard waves his metaphorical starred spangled banner. Other participants are demoted to staring, gawping or dying. Butler's a one-man army, surrounded by acute action and dazzling set-pieces. 

Turn off that logic button in your head, LHF could be worse (the action is better, but the script is poorer). 

3/5

The Town

UK Release Date: 24th September 2010

As he plans his next job, a longtime thief tries to balance his feelings for a bank manager connected to one of his earlier heists, as well as the FBI agent looking to bring him and his crew down (www.imdb.com).

Director: Ben Affleck (Gone, Baby, Gone)

Starring: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper

Certain aspects of The Town assimilate Michael Mann's Heat, as do most heist epics since its creation. Luckily enough for director/actor Ben Affleck and all on board there's plenty of new ideas that help the film stand on its own two feet. Heist expert Affleck and his crew, which consists, infiltrate a bank, kidnapping a member of staff in the process. Affleck's oddly infatuated with the kidnapped Rebecca Hall, who's unaware of who her kidnappers were. The Town follows his working life and personal life coming together. 

Affleck has scored as both director and actor, creating tension and feud with animosity. Affleck's is humble, the relationship with Hall is cast in romantic misery. Blake Lively's short but bitter cameo as a 'lady of the night', abusing our criminal-come-protagonist, only coming out her shell when FBI agent Jon Hamm muscles in. The person to watch out for is Jeremy Renner as Affleck's harrowing, temperamental partner-in-crime. The scene's he's in are jaw-clenching.

The Town's packs enough heat to keep my interest the whole way through. Well done, Ben Affleck. Gone, Baby, Gone wasn't a fluke.

4/5

Grimsby

UK Release Date: 24th February 2016

A new assignment forces a top spy to team up with his football hooligan brother (www.imdb.com).

Director: Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans, Now You See Me)

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong, Isla Fisher, Penelope Cruz, Rebel Wilson, Ian McShane

Grimsby, for all the cringeworthy-ness in the world, is funny. There's no consistency, some jokes are subtle, others are trivial. Sacha Baron Cohen's work is least of all full of surprises. We know it's going to be crass, misogynistic and outrageous. His latest character Nobby, a hooligan from Grimsby, spends his time in an England football shirt and flip-flops, annoying his straight-laced brother Sebastian (Mark Strong), who counters his stupidity with an uptight seriousness. Sebastian's an Mi5 agent whose latest assignment gets disrupted by Nobby. Grimsby is fun for sure, but tires quickly, the 83 minutes running time feeling longer than it should. 

2.5/5

Secret in Their Eyes

UK Release Date: 26th February 2016

A tight-knit team of rising investigators, along with their supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered (www.imdb.com).

Director: Billy Ray 

Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, Julia Robert, Michael Kelly, Dean Norris, Alfred Molina

Secret in Their Eyes is a remake of a well drawn out Argentinian film known as El secreto de sus ojos, so a lack of originality is apparent, but only to those who're aware of it. There's no happy-go-luck tune here; a dark, slow ambiance fits the plot, as ex-FBI agent Ray Kasten (Chiwetel Ejiofor) believes he's found the killer to a close work-friend's daughter. Julia Roberts is sensational as the grieving parent, her expressions more powerful than any dialogue written. SiTE could do with some fining on the editing front, as two timelines (the events after the murder/present day investigation) are a little muddled. As the pieces start to add up (Kidman and Ejiofor's romance however, does not) the endgame is clear but fails to peak when crime/thrillers should. Roberts and Ejiofor unequivocally make SiTE worth watching for their raw performances. 

3/5

Zoolander 2

UK Release Date: 6th Feb 2016

Derek and Hansel are lured into modeling again, in Rome, where they find themselves the target of a sinister conspiracy (www.imdb.com).

Director: Ben Stiller (Zoolander, Tropic Thunder, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) 

Starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Penelope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell

Wow, what happened here? Zoolander was silly, but utterly hilarious. Actor and director Ben Stiller has taken Z2 several steps too far, breaking that suspension of disbelief I like to rant about so much. Hansel and Derek (Wilson and Stiller respectively) are not funny, and it's embarrassing for all when they try. The audience at the Cineworld Crawley screening me and my fiancee attended were just as unimpressed as us, as awkwardness follows
 awkwardness. Zoolander's charity building collapses, killing his wife and injuring Hansel. After many years of living like a hermit, he's on the search for his son, and will hopefully revamp he career at the same time. The plot's all over the place, characters that should be funny (Ferrell and Wiig) are left to wither and die. I found myself playing 'spot the cameo' I laughed hard once in the 102 minutes running time, which isn't near enough for what's deemed a comedy.

2/5

How to Be Single

UK Release Date: 19th February 2016

There's a right way to be single, a wrong way to be single, and then...there's Alice. And Robin. Lucy. Meg. Tom. David. New York City is full of lonely hearts seeking the right match, be it a love connection, a hook-up, or something in the middle (www.imdb.com).

Director: Christian Ditter (Love, Rosie)

Starring: Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann, Alison Brie, Anders Holm, Damon Wayans Jr.

How to Be Single should be named How Not to Be Single. Not that it's material is bad, because it's very good indeed. However, it may give off the wrong impression to its younger audience. Dakota Johnson makes some very rash decisions, not knowing who she wants to be with, and where she wants to be. Her newest, closest chum Rebel Wilson hits life hard. Her opinion of a good night is ending up in a strangers house, having many sexual encounters and not remembering much of them. Leslie Mann is the older sister to Johnson, an independent woman with a younger love-interest rattling her cage. And then there's the weird Alison Brie, the egotistic Anders Holm, and the family man Marlon Wayans Jr. These are characters picked out fresh from the stereotype's pool. Gags are thrown in, coming mainly from the outrageous Wilson (no surprises there). Apart from its misleading title, manages to make us chuckle, if not smile. Most women (and men) out there will fall for the adorable baby that Mann has to briefly look after in a very early, very memorable scene. It will be hard to contain yourselves.

3/5

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

UK Release Date: 29th April 2009

A look at Wolverine's early life, in particular his time with the government squad Team X and the impact it will have on his later years (www.imdb.com).

Director: Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Rendition, Ender's Game)

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kirsch, Will.i.am, Lynn Collins

This origins film in the X-Men universe doesn't stand up well against the others, even compared to The Last Stand, and even with Hugh Jackman kicking ass and looking buff. Wolverine (Jackman) enters an experiment to become even stronger, and defeat his 'sworn brother' Creed (Liev Schreiber), who's on a rampage, killing the mutants that were once close to him. Creed's intentions and motifs aren't plain to see. The mutants that lack blades coming out their knuckles hugely lack character, so comic favourites Gambit (Kirsch) and Deadpool (Reynolds) are ruined. They're pawns to draw us in and take our money. I'd say don't bother with this and go straight to First Class, it's (a lot) better than XMOW by a long shot. And don't get me started on the CGI.

2/5

X-Men: The Last Stand

UK Release Date: 25th May 2006

When a cure is found to treat mutations, lines are drawn amongst the X-Men, led by Professor Charles Xavier, and the Brotherhood, a band of powerful mutants organised under Xavier's former ally, Magneto.

Director: Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, Rush Hour 2, Red Dragon) 

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ben Foster, Anna Paquin, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Ellen Page, Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn, Shawn Ashmore, Vinnie Jones

Bryan Singer should have never declined The Last Stand. The reigns went to Brett Ratner, who's taken us on a severe rollercoaster of emotions. Now having watched this more than once, I can safely say I feel warmer towards it, knowing full well what takes place, and to be honest, it's not all that bad. TLS doesn't stand up to X2, but it has big guts with a battle to end all battles. The government are giving mutants a 'choice', by providing an antidote to cure them of their powers. Whilst some mutants accept this bargain, others refuse and unite against this 'threat'. Stuck in the middle are the X-Men, who have Jean Grey to contend with. Her powers are too strong for her to handle. Her alter-ego Phoenix threatens to destroy everything. The Last Stand is both riveting and insanely annoying, because it dare do what other superhero films (or most of films for that matter) do not. The aggravation comes from certain events being brushed swiftly under the carpet. The end show-down more than makes up for the haphazard middle section, so it does not end on such a sour note. 

3/5