MrHlad

An action comedy that isn't and probably doesn't want to be action or funny. An hour and a half long borefest about girl friendship being the most important thing in the world featuring fights and shootouts on the level of Walker, Texas Ranger, hardly any humour and zero audiovisual ideas. Bad movie. And completely unnecessary.

Jean-François Richet sometimes rushes a bit too much, and at other times he needlessly stalemates in an attempt to squeeze in some of those "sort of artsy shots", but Vincent Cassel and his crew are fine badasses, Paris is wonderfully nasty, and it has a fine Dumasian adventure story feel. If Vidocq comes back with a sequel, I'll be happy.

A little Jules Verne, a little European comics, a lot of adventure and no songs or talking animals. Instead, some realistically touching and surprisingly gritty scenes. A very cool thing with a very cool heroine.

A very gritty and crazy romp in which Daniel Radcliffe fights against a bunch of crazy killers led by Samara Weaving. It's full of blood and black humour, but once it slows down a bit, it turns out that it actually has very little to offer in the non-action scenes.

Have you seen the trailer? You've seen everything. There's nothing extra in Bloodshot, and what little it does offer is pretty crappy. Vin Diesel tries his best, but he's playing the main character in a comic book movie with a woefully predictable story, uninteresting characters and unimaginative action scenes. It looks like a slightly overpriced pilot for some second-rate series that is pretty lacking in with, ideas, energy and basically anything that would make it worth watching. Diesel has stumbles again, but unlike, say, the similarly crappy The Last Witch Hunter, I don't even see anything with the potential to be interesting under a different director. A useless film.

It’s not “it”. Onward has the classic Pixar combination of humour, suspense, emotion and life truths delivered artfully and without pathos, but this time it's as if the studio didn't enjoy inventing the world. And yet, modern fantasy literally begged for someone to have a good go at it, like in Monsters Inc. We do get a few references to Dungeons and Dragons, but overall the new world is a lot less playful, witty and fun than what we're used to with Pixar. At the same time, it's just begging for the creators to have a go at it. If I'm going a little overboard, by the end of the film I had to make do with unicorns that act like rats. Everything else works as we're used to with Pixar, but that the studio would be lacking in audio-visual games and small jokes is something I didn't quite expect.

Leigh Whannell confirms in The Invisible Man that he is a director to be reckoned with as someone who knows the horror genre. But he's still a little short of the best. His new film should have been some twenty minutes shorter, but otherwise it's a not very original but excellently made thriller. Whannell spices up the tension, helped not a little by the excellent Elisabeth Moss, and in the more action-driven scenes he confirms the qualities already hinted at in Upgrade. He also plays fair with the viewer from the start and lays all his cards on the table surprisingly early, but that doesn't stop the rather uncomfortable atmosphere from working. Personally, The Invisible Man sat better with me in the moments where it took itself 100% seriously, because its reliance on atmosphere and a more mature approach to the material really makes it work in a way that most contemporary horror films dream of. But while the whole B-movie feel is perhaps a little too rushed and it reeks a bit of trying to spice things up at all costs, overall this is well above average stuff that shows horror fans that there are still talented directors out there who can tell even a hackneyed story in a way that doesn't bore you for two hours. Although, unfortunately, it probably won't be enough for a new genre classic.

This adventure classic starring a digital dog appeals with pretty pictures and a likeable animal hero. But unfortunately, the story runs forward unnecessarily fast and a lot of potentially interesting scenes don't work nearly as well as they should. A fine film. But it had the potential for more.

Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest creature in the universe, is hiding on Earth. Or rather, he was hiding, because after one screw-up, he's on the radar and both the military and the mad inventor Robotnik are after him. So Sonic and his human buddy Tom have to figure a way out. Based on the famous computer game franchise, the feature-length adventure is inoffensive and relaxed family entertainment, but it tries too hard to stick to the beaten track, and is ultimately set apart from the rest by the hero himself, who is incredibly likeable.

The lovable beggar boy Espen and the brave princess Kristin embark on a long and dangerous journey to a mysterious castle to find the water of life they need to save Kristin's parents and Espen's brothers. It's going to be a long journey filled with danger, humour, monsters and villains with a human face. And it's so much fun to watch. The Ash Lad: In Search of the Golden Castle is closer to an adventure film than a classic fairy tale, and with its impressive production design, awfully cool characters and fast pace, it will keep audiences of all ages entertained.