Perhaps the most redeeming quality of this thriller/modern-day-fear is the fact that while Shyamalan may have helped pen the script he had little to do with it’s actual production. Instead, Devil opens as your fairly typical horror flick and stays that way until the end. Continue reading »

There have been a few police buddy films out this year, the most recent of which that comes to mind is the god-awful Cop-Out. So The Other Guys, starring Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferris, looked set to follow in the trend of crudely made films with a formulaic plot and humour only a dumbed-down American audience could find enjoyable. And for the most part that’s what it is, however there’s enough jokes within to begin to redeem it. Continue reading »

It’s been many years since I first picked up a controller and played Halo at a friends house. A short time later and I had my own Xbox, putting in more hours than could be considered healthy. Since then the Halo series has taken a sharp decline (in my own humble opinion). While Halo 3 was better than the others, none have captured the original Halo feeling. Bungie have tried very hard to go back to their roots with Reach before moving on to other licenses, and is easily their best shot at recapturing glory. Continue reading »

The marketers for this film played a very shrewd game. Take a cast people have almost exclusively seen in comedies, advertise it as a follow-on from their earlier work, then just sit back and watch the cash pour in. In case it’s not clear yet, Cyrus isn’t a comedy. It’s a dull tale of a son rejecting a new step-father. Where there could be comedy and originality it instead turns into hokum. Continue reading »

It’s been eight years since the original Resident Evil made the leap from videogame to big screen. And unfortunately the movie companies have decided there’s still money to be made. Afterlife, the fourth in the series, follows the same trails as those before it adding only the barest necessities. Oh and 3D. Lots and lots of 3D. Continue reading »

Grown Ups was a bit of a surprise. Here was another American comedy, following Cop-Out and Death at a Funeral, both of which were awful and so the same could be expected once more. Instead you end up with a film with enough originality to survive the cheesy jokes and corny slapstick long enough to be enjoyable to watch. Continue reading »

Exorcisms in films seem to be ten a penny these days with a new fright-fest popping up every week. I’m being over-dramatic, but it’s very hard for a horror film to come out these days with a unique twist and unfortunately The Last Exorcism follows a formulaic plot to the near end. Continue reading »

As some may know, I’m a geek who loves his gadgets. Nowhere is this more evident than in the living room where I currently have a HDTV, A/V receiver, Xbox 360, Mac Mini and a Drobo. Having backed up a large collection of DVDs and Blu-Rays to hard-disk I needed to find the best way of playing them in the comfort of a nice sofa. I’ve been through a range of boxes, OSs and systems but have found my perfect match in Plex/Nine. Continue reading »

Going from Scott Pilgrim to Dinner for Schmucks couldn’t have been a more pronounced change in humour. Here is a film that takes delight in exploiting those who are normally mocked, but never so brutally. And what’s worse, the film doesn’t attempt to redeem itself, not even with a stupid stand up speech towards the end. The worst thing about it is that it made me laugh and I felt bad because of it. Continue reading »

The fact that I can begin this review without a rant about Michael Cera should give you an idea of how much I enjoyed this film, more so than I had expected. This isn’t a film that will do well, most people will let it pass by and ultimately catch it on TV which is a shame as there is so much originality here it’s filled to bursting. Continue reading »