Battleship (Peter Berg, 2012)

Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) spent most of his life not trying, even after his Brother John (Alexander Skarsgard) forces him to join the Navy. But during a major naval war games event, which was to be his final mission, an Alien race invades and seals off the islands of hawaii, and wipes out any military within their forcefield. Now Hopper, along with his crew of a single destroyer vessel, have to put a stop to the alien threat, before the whole of earth can be destroyed.

Don't expect much from this film, because it doesn't offer anything. Honestly Battleship is probably the biggest example of a 'background noise' film I have ever seen. For starters, the concept is taken from the old battleship board game. Not sure what version of the game the film makers played as children, but I remember it a little differently. There is one small reference to the game in the story, and despite being the most interesting scene, it is very brief and pretty bizarre.

The rest of the film doesn't offer much else either in terms of entertainment. The story stinks of 'yay america' concepts: whether it is paraplegic soldiers fighting hulking aliens, retired veterans repairing an old battleship, or a Japanese ship being obliterated. The editing and special effects are all far over the top, and look as though they were copied straight out of transformers (I'm pretty certain i even heard the transformer sound to boot). Despite the cast being dotted with big faces (Liam Neeson for starters) most of them are ignored or given bit parts. The core cast revolves around Rihanna being a token black soldier woman, a Japanese man who is there for comic relief, and Kitsch playing John Carter all over again. Some of the action and battle scenes are interesting, but they are eclipsed or made ludicrous by everything else that's wrong with this film.

It isn't hard to guess why Battleship may have sunk at the box office.

Brave (Mark Andrews/Brenda Chapman/Steve Purcell, 2012)

In ancient times in the scottish highlands, the princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is having a hard time dealing with her Mother's (Emma Thompson) lessons and rules for being a princess. She crosses a line however when she arranges Merida's marriage to one of the three other neighbouring clans. Merida rejects the marriage proposals and runs away, only to come across an old Witch (Julie Walters) who gives Merida a spell to change her fate, but one that will have disastrous consequences.

Trust Pixar to come up with another thoroughly enjoyable animated feature. This film goes far beyond anything that the animation crews have come up with before, by incorporating beautiful replications of the Scottish highlands, and incredible Medieval locations in a stunning level of creativity. The character designs are terrific and the voice acting from the core cast is fantastic. The story is a little predictable (but this is a Disney film, what would you expect) and the plot almost feels a little rushed to the point where it ends without it feeling like you've spent much time watching the film. The editing can make the world of the film a little confusing, but given the plot of the story that almost feels intended.

Brave is by far one of the best Disney features to have come out in recent years. Beats the snot out of John Carter at any rate.

The Expendables 2 (Simon West, 2012)

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his team of elite, gun packing mercenaries are once again recruited by the mysterious Mr Church (Bruce Willis) for what seems like a simple collection job. But when one of his team his killed during the job, and the target stolen by the ruthless Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) the mission turns into one of revenge, that can only end when all the bad guys have been blown to smithereens.

Frankly speaking, this film is exactly what everyone was expecting - a rough idea of a story, followed by an hour and a half of explosions and people being shot to pieces. But it isn't fair that people still rip on this film because of that alone. It is wrong to judge this film as anything more than what it is - an hour of fun, over the top violence that is just meant to entertain for a bit. Accept this film as that and don't have expectations for anything more, and then it's possible to have a good time.

That being said, even when you drop your expectations of this film, there are a good few flaws to see. Obviously, there is little to expect from the story....actually there is a set up, and then explosions, that's about all. Most of the dialogue is based around the actors ripping on each other for the fact they are old: mostly this is good for a few laughs, but sometimes it comes off sounding either very bro-mantic or even a little gay (someone should have given the script a once over). The cast give the same level of performance as The Expendables, but the cast has been extended to drop Jet Li, give Schwarzenegger and Willis bigger parts, and even include Chuck Norris (who basically lives up to every chuck norris quote on the internet). The cinematography and editing are pretty good, but some of the long and wide shots are a bit fuzzy, again it couldn't have hurt to get a once over. And of course the action is the most redeeming quality of this film, giving you draw dropping excitement and just some bad ass stunts from every heart pounding second.

The Expendables 2 is exactly what one expects from its predecessor, and anyone who expects more will be sorely disappointed. Enjoy the film for the action and seeing the old action stars do their stuff and you are guaranteed a good time.

The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan, 2012)

8 years after the end of The Dark Knight, and Gotham city has come to an uneasy peace, with billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) hiding from public view. But a new threat is rising in Gotham's underground, as the criminal underlord Bane (Tom Hardy) is pushing a devastating plan that will bring Gotham to its knees. The Batman is needed once again, but even he is hard pressed to stand up to the might of Bane, and he will need all the help he can get if he is to stop the madman.

Honestly, since The Dark Knight I think I haven't been alone in expecting the sequel to not measure up. The second film was just too good. But now I can say without doubt that The Dark Knight Rises is easily as good if not more so than its predecessor (although they could've tried harder with the name). Every second is filled with 'edge of your seat' action and suspense, and every moment of this film is without question fantastic.

The first point that needs to be spoken of is Bane, the new villain trying to fill Heath Ledger's shoes. The Joker was a fantastic villain and terrified audiences to the core, an unstoppable force of chaos and death. The Bane most people will remember is the one from Batman and Robin or the original cartoon series: a mexican wrestler with drugs to make him big and strong. A lot of people were worried that Bane couldn't be meet audience expectation, but thankfully he truly does. Bane is a whole new type of villain, and is just as good for different reasons as the Joker: he is more of a dominating force of power that is trying to destroy Batman utterly and Tom Hardy gives a mesmerising performance. Catwoman also makes an appearance (portrayed by Anne Hathaway) and she was a worrying idea for audiences too (given as our previous experiences with the character didn't leave us too hopeful). But, faith in Nolan, he created another great new character, given a solid grounding in realism and Hathaway brings the character to life.

Moving onto the rest of the film, the story is an epic that has to be seen to be believed. The only problem so far is that the focus seems to have shifted from the original cast members. Caine, Freeman even Oldman all have much smaller roles this time and all their usual levels of performance seemed to have dropped down a peg. Bale too seems to have slipped a notch, but at least he does more in this film. The story nows seems to focus of new comer Blake (Joseph Gorden-Levitt) and although it still has all the action and thrill of the previous Batman films, the lack of these cast members is all too noticeable. The cinematography, editing, pacing are all fantastic, but the shining jewel in this crown has got to be the musical score. There is a theme music that echoes in your mind for hours to come after watching the film and really brings all the power of the story to a head. The action and Nolan styled battles are all amazing, and Batman brings more and more bad-ass gadgets to the front.

All in all, The Dark Knight Rises may have its flaws, but it is still a fantastic story and a great end of the Nolan Batman series. Or is it?

Jeff who lives at Home (Jay and Mark Duplass, 2011)

Jeff (Jason Segel) is a drug addict who live in his mothers (Susan Sarandon) Basement. He believes that everything in life is connected, so when he receives a mistaken phone call, it sets him off on a wild journey that leads him to cross paths with his older brother Pat (Ed Helms) and agrees to help him tail his wife's unusual behaviour.

It is difficult to decide what to make of this film, because although it was incredibly good, I can't figure out why it was so good. Maybe it is the story, which is fantastic. The strange way Jeff leads his life of connections leads to a great journey on screen, and the way he plays off his jack-ass brother is terrific. But even so, the story is interjected with the strange side story of his mother and her office admirer, and this is too distracting from a story that is paced much to fast. Most of the humour in this film is very dry; it feels like it was meant to be funny, but really isn't. The acting is great, once again Segel takes centre stage but the rest of the cast aren't all that special. The cinematography is all hand held camera work, which I guess is good, it fits the story nicely, and the editing is good, just good.

But in spite of all this, Jeff who lives at Home is still a great film. It is a thoroughly enjoyable experience and really draws you in to have fun with every minute. If someone can figure out why, then please tell me, I've got no clue.

This Means War (McG, 2012)

Two CIA operatives, FDR Foster (Chris Pine) and Tuck (Tom Hardy) are partners and close friends who, after a failed operation, have some time on their hands. They both start dating, only to discover they are both dating the same girl (Reese Witherspoon). And although they try to stay friends, both are determined to win her over, by any means necessary. Even if that means putting half the CIA to work spying on her and working against the other.

This was a good rom com film, fairly enjoyable, but flawed in some important ways. Probably the biggest flaw is that, even though the story is supposed to make it hard to tell who Witherspoon is going to pick, the structure of the film sort of gives it away (trying not to spoiler, but it is something to consider). Other than that, it is just as I said - 'good', not great. The story is entertaining, it is an interesting take of the rom com, but it isn't given anything special. The cinematography and editing are both pretty basic, it does nothing exciting or interesting. The cast are the same, nothing outstanding from a core of all stars, although Witherspoons friend (Chelsea Handler) is probably the most interesting because all her lines were improvised, which led to some of the more interesting moments to watch. The action scenes are over far to quickly, and only half the comedy scenes are really funny, earning at least a dry chuckle.

This Means War, should probably be This means Snore, for all the excitement you get out of the film. A fun couple of hours of background noise.

21 Jump Street (Phil Lord/ Chris Miller, 2012)

Two former high school colleagues, nerdy Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and jock Jenko (Channing Tatum) are failing as police officers and get one last chance to redeem themselves by joining a special programme for officer to infiltrate high schools. Now Jenko and Schmidt have to go undercover to stop a dangerous new drug from destroying the lives of hundreds of kids. But with the two screwing up from day one, its anyone guess as to whether the dynamic doofus duo can stop the dealers before things go very, badly wrong.

Not a bad film, but room for improvement, but a great comedy, with plenty of hilarious antics. Of course most of the humour is either slapstick, based around cop film conventions or sexual in nature. The last in particular is taken too far once too often, and goes quickly from being funny to just wrong. But the other comedy methods are great for getting laughs.

However apart from that, there really isn't much going for 21 Jump Street. The story is not only simple and easier to read than a comic book, but it rushes through the first half of plot in 20 minutes and goes straight into a string of gags. The acting is pretty good, nothing special and not what you'd expect from an all star cast, although there are some shining moments and it is god to see Tatum doing something other than a hard core action film. Cinematography is basic and for the most part so is editing. There are some action moments in this film, but even those are mostly used as a set up to comedy punchlines.

21 Jump Street is a great film for a good laugh, but a crap film for anything else you might want or be expecting.