Moon (2009)

Director: Duncan Jones
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Matt Berry
Certificate: 15
Genre: Sci Fi, Drama
Awards: None

Moon is the first film of Duncan Jones and shows a very, very promising talent.
Sam Rockwell plays an astronaut working on the moon, with only a robot named GERTY (Spacey) for company. The loneliness and isolation of his job is coming to an end as he gets to go home in three weeks time. However, after an accident outside the truth starts to unravel.

The film relies completely on Rockwell as he gives one of the best performances of his career. The only character we see properly through the whole film, he pulls on our heartstrings and boggles our mind. Kevin Spacey is also brilliant as Sam's only companion
 who surprisingly differs from the usual evil robot cliché.

Moon is a great film that needs to be watched. The plot hasn't really been explained here as its twists are what makes it great. The film is a lonely one, with its lack of music adding to many of the key scenes. It's thought provoking, tragic and most of all gripping.

*****Brilliant

12 Years A Slave (2013)

Director: Steve McQueen
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Adepero Oduye, Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Liza J. Bennett, Sarah Paulson
Certificate: 15
Genre: Drama
Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Nyong'o), Best adapted screenplay

12 Years A Slave is by far one of the most powerful films of 2013. It tells the tale of Solomon Northup (Ejiofor), a free black man who is kidnapped and sold into slavery during the 1840s. As he spends more and more time as a slave, the less hope he has of getting back to his family.

As a slavery film, 12 years A Slave really has no equal. The sheer brutality of the time is put first and foremost. Whippings, rape and lynching are all prominent throughout the film and go on for an uncomfortably long time. A scene where Solomon is hung on a tree while everybody else just goes about their business is excruciating to watch.

Chiwetel Ejiofor carries the film as we see through his eyes. We feel his pain and his suffering which makes the climax extremely emotional. But there are many great performances to rival our main character. Cumberbatch's "nice" slave owner, Ford, may only be in the film briefly, but his character is becoming the most talked about as people debate on whether he was a villain or not, seeing as he still kept slaves. Brad Pitt makes a small appearance as a man who despises slavery. His speech on how it is all wrong does seem quite redundant as it comes almost at the end of the film. We've already been shown how bad it was, there is no reason to preach it too.

The main villains are all portrayed well too. Dano appears as one of Ford's employees who really takes a disliking of Solomon's intellect. Both of the slave owners' wives are also nothing but dislikable. Mistress Ford (Bennett) is detested for her ignorance while Mistress Epps (Paulson) is perhaps even worse than her husband with her absolute hate of some of the slaves.

The film, however, belongs to Michael Fassbender as Epps. His violent nature can turn at any time. He is the most startling character, the one you want to go away but of course he won't because, like Solomon, you are stuck with him.

12 Years A Slave is a modern classic but also a gruelling, harrowing film. Of the Oscar contenders I have seen, this is the most deserving and I hope it does go on to win best picture and the acting awards. This is a film to watch, if you can stomach it...

*****Brilliant

Riddick (2013)

Director: David Twohy
Starring: Vin Diesel, Matt Nable, Jordi Molla, Katie Sackhoff, Dave Baustista, Nolan Gerard Funk, Karl Urban
Certificate: 15
Genre: Sci Fi, Action
Awards: None

In the third instalment of the shaky Riddick series, our hero (Diesel) is no longer king of the universe and has been left on a dead planet. The film is then shown in three acts.

The first act is very reminiscent of a video game as Riddick meets various creatures and has to kill them or be killed himself. We also get the backstory of his fall from grace which unfortunately becomes the most boring part of the film. The segment's saviour is a dog Riddick raises as a puppy and becomes his companion through the desolate wasteland.

The second act features the arrival of mercenaries out to take Riddick's head. A various group of colourful characters set out to hunt him, but of course they underestimate their prey. The segment is what we all wanted to see and it does well as the characters are picked off one by one.

Finally Riddick teams up with the remaining mercs as the wet season arrives and the creatures of nightmare emerge from their caves. Among the mercs is the  grieving father of Jons from the first film who wants to know what happened to his son. The survival part of the film is the most like Pitch Black, but it is different enough for it to seem original.

The Riddick series has the same problem as Ice Age. The first film was great, but it didn't leave much room for a franchise. This means that the later instalments always feel too different from the original for it to match it. Although Riddick tries to be like Pitch Black, it's characters are by no means as great (passengers can always be more varied than mercenaries with guns). Some are underdeveloped while others we don't even notice.

On the other hand Riddick is a definite step up from Chronicles as we don't have a big mess of mythology being jammed down are throats. Riddick is best when he is low budget, and with a fourth sequel on its way, lets hope it stick to that.

****Good

Surrogates (2009)

Director: Jonathan Mostow
Starring: Bruce Willis, Rosamund Pike, Radha Mitchell, Boris Kodjoe, James Cromwell, Ving Rhames
Certificate: 12
Genre: Sci Fi, Action
Awards: None

Surrogates is a techno-paranoia showing a future where everybody uses physical avatars to go about their daily life, leaving themselves at home and for a film that is so against that sort of thing, it doesn't seem to show many disadvantages. Yes, the girl you may have picked up could actually be an old man but really the avoidance of accidental death coupled with superhuman abilities doesn't really give a horrible impression of this new technology.

Bruce Willis plays a cop who lost his son and is now having problems with his wife as they only use their surrogates to interact with each other. The murder of the Surrogates' creator's son leads him through a case with twists and turns aplenty as he looks for a weapon that can kill people through the machine they are using.

Although Surrogates is a well made action film with enough intrigue to keep you interested. Its real problem is its views on technology. In a world where we all go from one black mirror to another, the paranoid view of technology we all want may alienate viewers. It's enjoyable but overall a bit preachy.

****Good

Now You See Me (2013)

Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Melanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine
Certificate: 12
Genre: Crime
Awards: None

Now You See Me follows the four horsemen, four magicians who have joined together to rob banks. Trying to stop them is FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Ruffalo) and Interpol agent Alma Drey (Laurent), but the magicians always seem to be one step ahead of them.

The problem with Now You See Me is that it relies too much on special effects rather than on actual magic. None of the magic is actually done by the actors as it is all done by computers.  But for anybody who has seen The Prestige,  that's not too important when there is a good story. Now You See Me has a captivating story, but the end is a let down rather than a twisting extravaganza.

The film is entertaining and very enjoyable when watching it, but afterwards you start to notice the creases in the cloth. However, it can still be praised for its acting and visual style but in the end it is disappointing.

***Okay

Megamind (2010)

Director: Tom McGrath
Starring: Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, David Cross, Jonah Hill, Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller
Certificate: PG
Genre: Animation, Superhero, Comedy
Awards: None

Megamind is a film about a super villain of the same name. For his entire life he has been battling the popular superhero Metro Man, never winning and becoming humiliated. When he does eventually kill Metro Man, Megind has nothing left to do. So he creates a new superhero, but of course that goes horribly wrong...

Megamind is a funny, enjoyable film. It just had the misfortune of being released at the same time as super villain animation Despicable Me which had minions. Megamind doesn't have minions. Yet the story is quite interesting and teaches the lesson of acceptance. The love story is handled well while the comedy is, of course, very funny with references to superhero films (Marlon Brando!) as well as creating its own jokes.

****Good

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug (2013)

Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Cate Blanchett, Stephen Fry, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Dean O'Gorman, Aiden Turner, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, Jed Brophy, Mark Hadlow, Adam Brown
Certificate: 12
Genre: Fantasy
Awards: None

So it's chapter two in The Hobbit trilogy and Blibo Gandalph and the dwarves still have to make it to the lonely mountains. This time the big bad villain spot is not Gollum, it is the terrifying Dragon Smaug (motion-capped by the brilliant Benedict Cumberbatch). Smaug is everything we have been waiting for and more. The immense size of him is stunning, but his best feature would have to be his voice. This villain is clever and calculating, and that is what makes him the most formidable foe in the film.

The other villains are all given bits to do. Gandalf (McKellen) has to sort out the necromancer (also Cumberbatch) while many Orc captains try and catch up with the dwarves. Legolas (Bloom) is also back and this time he is not so nice, having not met Gimli or Aragorn yet, but the nastiest elf award has to go to Lee Pace's  Thranduil, Legolas' father and king of the wood elves. He thinks of nothing but himself and has  a large dislike for dwarves.

Speaking of dwarves, there are still too many of them for each to be seen as an individual character. Some stand out of course, Balin (Stott), the kindly old one; Killi (Turner) the one who fancies the elf and Thorin (Armitage) the main one who really isn't that nice. The others all blend into one big bundle. I actually only just noticed one dwarf and thought he might have been absent during the first film.

Keeping all these weird and wonderful characters together, Martin Freeman is still absolutely perfect as Bilbo. It may be Thorin's quest, Gandalf's problem or the world at stake but the audience's main worry is Bilbo's safety.

The Desolation Of Smaug feels darker than An Unexpected Journey and the world is starting to resemble that of The Lord Of The Rings. Yet it is still more cartoon-like and I've come to embrace that. It was adapted from a children's book after all.

*****Brilliant