The Riddick franchise has always held style over substance and the filmmakers of the first edition, Pitch Black were quite adept at turning what was a low budget science fiction yarn into a big dollar money making machine. This latest edition looks marginally better than its predecessors but the emphasis is still on mood and not pinpoint detail.

The film also has a lot of humour (and not always intentional) at its core as Diesel’s dialogue is a succession of ultra cliché sound bites. You get to the point of almost trying to will Riddick to use regular speech but its to no avail as all that leaves his lips is badass speak.

While far from a challenging science fiction mind expansion experience the film does work quite well on a basic entertainment level. With the laughs equal to the groan out loud moments, Riddick provides a fun few hours with a certified big screen BAMF.

Rob Hudson
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The film starts out with a boat ride that would be helped by a shot of Dramamine as U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are sent to a hospital for the criminally insane located on an isolated island to investigate the disappearance of one of its patients. This sets off a chain of events that will push the already unstable Marshal to and over the edge.

The movie’s trailer to the contrary, the film is more of a psychological thriller than an outright horror story and from the first frame on things seems strange and edgy. The first strains of the film score are also abrasive and over stated as if the filmmaker wants you to not get comfortable. The events that unravel from there redefine the main characters and the viewer needs to pay attention.

If this film’s ultimate success is dependent on return patronage, it’s got the bases covered because a twist in the film’s ending will have you wanting to see the film again to examine all the clues that lead up to it. Scorsese has had an uneven run with his last few films and while Shutter Island is no classic, it’s still a lot of fun and takes some detecting from the audience to fully enjoy.

Rob Hudson
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Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) is an expert archer in King Richard The Lionheart’s army who becomes disillusioned with some of the things he was forced to do while in battle and when the King is killed, he and his cohorts escape France and return to England. The boys soon arrive in Nottingham, where Robin meets Lady Marian (Cate Blanchett) and joins the town’s battles.

The tale of Robin Hood is one of cinema’s most well used story lines and many films and even a few comedies have been made featuring these characters. In Scott’s version he ramps things up as only he can. The visuals are impressive, the green fields are impossibly vibrant and the battles are suitably intense, it’s with the films pacing that things get a little wobbly.

The first half of the film is quite engaging and when Lady Marian enters the scene, Blanchett fills the screen with her spunky portrayal. Her performance is the film’s saving grace. The romance between her and Robin feels rather quickly resolved and the film ends so abruptly that there is the feeling that a reel might have been missing. Weather this unsatisfying end was the results of test market driven cuts or time frame considerations, it robs the film of its chance to be much more entertaining.

Rob Hudson
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Jesse Eisenberg has never been better as Mark Zuckerberg, the man/boy who turned and burned most everyone he came in contact with while creating the Internet tsunami that is Facebook. Director David Fincher tones down some of his more overt mannerisms and gets things just right. Even Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker (the creator of Napster) delivers career-defining work.

It’s a sign of the level of film mastery that a subject with so little visual identity could be made into such a rich visual canvas. This is a film without flaws and one that fascinates to the last frame.

It would be wise to read up a bit on the subject, if your knowledge is light in regards to the creation and people behind Facebook. It will greatly enhance your viewing pleasure.

As a coda to the film, Zucerberg’s early partner and only apparent friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), the one he burned nonetheless has a reported personal wealth of over a billion dollars from the undisclosed sum settlement brokered in later half of the film.

Rob Hudson
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A little knowledge of that period of Formula 1 does however enhance some of the film’s emotional impact as the sport at that time was incredibly dangerous and killed its drivers with a gruesome regularity. This knowledge puts what is a sporting event into the realm of a real life or death battle.

The film’s main protagonists couldn’t have been any different as well. The British playboy driver James Hunt (played with an impressive verve by Chris Hemsworth) was a live fast and stuff the consequences alpha male type who ran head long into the world of Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl). Lauda was an exacting Austrian who was precise, organized and made his approach to sport a very calculated one. He also had none of Hunt’s innate charm.

The two locked into a titanic battle for that year’s driver’s championship and in a case of real life being far more unbelievable than anything the Hollywood scribes could make up endured incredible hardships. As a sports film, Rush is top notch but as a study of human nature and our ultimate capabilities, it is almost overwhelming.

Rob Hudson
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Now revisiting Robocop in 2014 is a plan fraught with risks and Brazilian born director/documentarian José Padilha hasn’t really helped matters by choosing some elements within the first version to revisit while casting aside others. His more moralistic take is interesting while his almost complete discarding of some of the eighties version’s most humorous elements (mainly the hilarious TV ads) have taken a lot of the fun out. Original director Paul Verhoeven’s biting social satire is sadly missing.

For those familiar with the first version, a spot the differences approach has its charms, while newbie’s are left with a somewhat familiar dynamic. One where big business and its leaders are corrupt and the plucky young upstarts are not. Most of the gray in this story line however is washed out. There are some arresting visual moments and some action scene that filmmakers in the eighties could only have dreamed about but they are used rather predictably here.

What we are left with is a film that looks of its time with current state of the art computer generated graphics instead of dodgy but endearing stop motion animation and a seriousness that drains a lot of the enjoyment out of the ride. It’s still worth seeing as the overriding story arc is one of interest but its chances of being remembered fondly in the decades to come are slim.

Rob Hudson
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The two dweebs have rented a huge RV after a visit to Comic Con and are in the midst of a road trip to visit all the cult friendly UFO locations in the western United States. They soon hook up with Paul and the craziness begins (sort of). For a film with such an unconventional premise, it quickly becomes a very conventional road movie.

This conventionality results is a story that is more human nature than Science Fiction and as such has some obvious lessons to impart. This approach however does supply a suitable storyline for a fish out of water tale; it’s not just Paul that is alien to his surrounds.

This film relies heavily on the charms of Pegg and Frost and while this isn’t their best writing and starring project (that is reserved for Shaun Of The Dead) it still has a good number of laughs. It is however a little off putting having such a recognizable voice as Rogen’s as its familiarity occasionally takes you out of the fantasy zone.

Rob Hudson
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Jeunet’s films always have a political edge (even if it’s just personal politics) and an opinion about the state of play and in Micmacs; he has the weapons industry firmly in his sights. Our main character Bazil (Dany Boon) has had his life drastically affected by the tools of the arms trade and decides to fight back.

The humour in this film is of a very psychical nature and a reasonable starting point of description would be the works of Charlie Chaplin. The film’s star Boon has that rubbery effervescence as well. The structure of the film is built around an elaborate sting operation that keeps you guessing the entire time. You’ll have a wonderful time trying to second-guess the action on screen.

If your aim when going to the cinema is to get lost in a world so impossibly cool it could only happen on the silver screen, then don’t miss Micmacs. Even if reality based films are your priority, it is still possible to get swept up in Jeunet’s wonderful world.

Rob Hudson
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The humour comes out most strongly when Becky become desperate to raise the show’s ratings and deal with the old school curmudgeon Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) who as a link to the real news reporting of the past stands firmly in the way of her plans. The reel where those plans come to fruition in the film’s funniest twenty minutes.

The film has strangely uneven pacing and sometimes lacks direction, so there are times when your interest wanes in the proceedings but then it will hit its stride and become very effective. These moments are directly proportional to its success in making you laugh.

It’s great to see another girl power film where a woman succeeds by being smart and hard working and McAdams is very charming on-screen. More the shame she is let down by the patchy script. All is not lost though and the film is worth a look especially for those hilarious middle moments.

Rob Hudson
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The story revolves around the government’s cover up of actual monsters that inhabit our planet. These monsters are eventually revealed to the public when the earth in invaded by aliens, who of course have ideas of world domination.

Setting the story in the world of CGI animation gives the filmmakers carte blanch to create and destroy what ever they want and this leads to some outstanding moments of mayhem including the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Many modern-day animated features find a fine balance between adult and youth entertainment and include enough adult innuendo to keep the parents happy while the young ones are blissfully unaware. Monsters vs Aliens keeps these risqué moments to a minimum and that lands the film more in the children’s only camp. It’s still a marvel to look at and the youth will certainly be riveted but as adult entertainment, it has slightly less to offer.

Rob Hudson
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