Showing posts with label one star. Show all posts
Showing posts with label one star. Show all posts

Monday, 13 July 2015

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010): *



Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) has now asked for Bella Swan’s (Kristen Stewart) hand in marriage. However, Bella still has confused feelings over the ever-topless Jacob (Taylor Laurent), who is also in love with Bella. Bella’s life is once again in danger when an army of newly-born vampires is growing in Seattle, created by Victoria (now played Bryce Dallas Howard) to finally avenge her partner’s death. 

Saturday, 11 July 2015

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009): *



The Twilight Saga: New Moon returns us to Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart); to Bella’s disappointment she is still stuck at first base and a lowly mortal, despite constantly asking Edward to change her. When Bella is almost attacked by Jasper Cullen after getting a paper cut, Edward decides it would be safer for Bella to leave, taking the rest of the Cullens with him. Bella falls into a depressive state, to her father police Chief Charlie’s (Billy Burke) concern, which only her friend Jacob (Taylor Laurent) can pull her out of. But Jacob has his own problems and Bella is once again dragged into the supernatural world. 

Sunday, 31 May 2015

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013): *



Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters answers that oft-asked question, ‘What became of Hansel and Gretel when they were adults?’ When you kill one witch you might as well make a career out of it. Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) arrive in Augsburg, saving an innocent woman Mina (Pihla Viitala) from being burned at the stake by the harsh Sheriff Berringer (Peter Stormare). The siblings have been tasked by the mayor with retrieving several abducted children from a Grand Witch called Muriel (Famke Janssen). Muriel and her fellow witches are planning to perform a ritual during the next Blood Moon, which will grant the witches’ immunity to their major weakness – fire. Hansel and Gretel must save the children, kill the witches, discover the fate of their parents and get the girl or troll. 

Saturday, 23 May 2015

Spawn (1997): *



Assassin Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) is fired (literally) by his boss Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen) for reasons that are unclear, a reoccurring problem in Spawn. After waking up in Hell, Simmons is offered a deal by the Devil. If Simmons agrees to lead the Devil’s army when Armageddon comes, Simmons can return to Earth to see his fiancĂ©e Wanda (Theresa Randle) again. By the time Simmons has returned to Earth five years later and crispier, Wanda has already moved on and is now married to Simmons’s best friend Terry (D.B. Sweeney). Aggrieved, Simmons goes on a mission to get revenge on Wynn, who is currently in cahoots with the Devil to bring about world domination via bio-chemical weapons. Egged on by his demonic guide Clown (John Leguizamo), will Simmons embrace his revengeful role as Spawn or will he follow a different path?

Monday, 18 May 2015

Beastly (2011): *



Beastly, based on Alex Finn’s novel, is a modern retelling of the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast. Kyle (Alex Pettyfer), the arrogant superficial son of a famous news presenter, is campaigning to become president in his high school’s Green committee. Not out of concerns of the environment, but because it will look good on his college applications, which he states to his fellow students. Kyle wins the election on the basis of popularity and being handsome, angering the high school’s witch Kendra (Mary-Kate Oslen) into placing a curse on Kyle, changing his appearance. With only a year to find someone to say ‘I love you’ to break the curse, could the kind-hearted Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens) be the one to see the good underneath Kyle’s exterior? 

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

The Village (2004): *



In The Village, the villagers live a simple life, cooking, cleaning, gardening and raising livestock. Only trouble is they are troubled by the obliquely named ‘Those we don’t speak of’, the creatures who lurk in the woods bordering the village, held at bay by a truce to not enter each other’s lands. Despite this, two villagers Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix) and Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) express a desire to go into the woods, so they can buy medicine for the village. Complications arise when the creatures start to threaten the village, leaving behind dead livestock and marks on their houses. 

Monday, 16 March 2015

Hollow Man (2000): *



In this modern take on H.G. Well’s classic tale The Invisible Man, Dr Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) is the arrogant Twinkie-eating genius leading a team to create an invisibility serum and reversion serum. After ‘successful’ experiments on animals – because increased aggression is not a symptom to be concerned about at all – Sebastian decides to proceed to human experimentation, using himself as the first test subject. Turning invisible is easy for Sebastian, it’s the reversal process that proves to be tricky. Hollow Man proceeds to show the audience how giving a jealous megalomaniac invisibility is a very bad idea.

Monday, 2 February 2015

Law Abiding Citizen (2009): *



Revenge dramas often feature a victim of a miscarriage of justice, someone on a journey to bring their own justice to the wrongdoer. Clive Shelton (Gerard Butler) is such a character in Law Abiding Citizen, in pursuit of dishing out his own retribution to those who killed his wife and daughter. Clive is not content with the two men who committed the crime; he is also after his lawyer Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) and the local Justice Department, for being more concerned with high conviction rates than serving truth and justice.  With his assistant Sarah (Leslie Bibb), Nick has to find a way to end Clive’s series of murders. 

Sunday, 11 January 2015

Taken 3 (2015): *



‘I’m just tired of it all’ bemoaned Bryan Mills, played by Liam Neeson, towards the end of Taken 2 (2012), a sentiment shared by the many in the audience and Neeson himself – who stated in an interview with Empire in 2012 that it was highly unlikely there would be a Taken 3. Yet, here it is and it shares many of the problems of its predecessor Taken 2. This time around the plot is not sparked off by a kidnapping, but rather with the murder of Bryan’s ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen), left in his apartment to incriminate him. Bryan sets out to prove his innocence to the police, avenge Lenore and keep his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) safe.