MrHlad

A routine action comedy for the whole family with a Christmas atmosphere. Everyone does what the audience expects to see, it's entertaining for the two hours or so, and then it disappears. The Rock and Chris Evans have virtually zero chemistry, the visual effects are not good, and if it weren't for the solid make-up effects and a couple of interesting Santa Claus secret service ideas, it would be hard to find anything truly interesting about Red One.

Karel is a reporter who arrives secretly in Prague from the Middle East to catch his girlfriend in infidelity, just when a civil war breaks out in the Middle East city of Kambur, and he's supposed to be right there. Now he's got to broadcast from the kitchen, lie to his listeners and still sort things out with his girlfriend. Unfortunately, instead of a smart satire, this ends up being a folksy comedy in which the characters do whatever they want and their motivations change scene by scene, everyone yells at each other, and it looks like a sitcom from twenty years ago.

This animated trip into the world of Transformers takes place on the planet Cybertron, where a conspiracy is about to be uncovered, leading to a war that will force Optimus and Megatron to choose sides. Visually quite drab, the show is narratively simple and, as far as humour goes, it’s childishly annoying. But action-wise, it's pretty packed, enough to get little boys and hopefully adult fans excited- though probably only the really big fans. For Transformers One to be a really good movie, it would have to be a little smarter and a lot better looking.

Halle Berry and her sons are hiding in the middle of the woods from an evil that can hide behind any tree. But it gets a little more complicated than that, as danger can come from elsewhere. Alexandre Aja delivers a fairly atmospheric horror film with some fine scares and a chilling atmosphere, but it is tripped up by a screenplay that tries to play it on all sides and keep the audience guessing for so long that it becomes tiresome.

In a world where anyone can be turned into a beauty, something unfair is going on. Tally must decide whether to join the ranks of those who have made themselves pretty or fight for truth and freedom. Or something. Uglies is a boring, pretty ugly and mostly stupid movie that tries to ride the wave of young adult dystopias, but not only does it not come up with new stuff, it also does the old stuff pretty poorly. There's no reason to watch it.

The Daltons have met the handsome Paddy and his wife on holiday and now visit them one day at their country estate. But it soon becomes clear that something is not right. And leaving won't be easy at all. Speak No Evil is a gripping and suspenseful psychological thriller that isn't afraid to open up interesting themes, but unfortunately slips into B-movie waters towards the end.

Eric and Shelly were in love, but then they were murdered. But Eric gets a chance to come back from the dead to take revenge on those who took everything from him. And a little bit of the audience, too. The remake of The Crow is a visually inoffensive, if a little cheesy, film with decent bloody action at the end. Unfortunately, it also comes with extremely unlikeable characters, a dysfunctional romantic storyline and an atmosphere teetering on the edge of ridiculousness. A misstep, and Rupert Sanders clearly has no understanding of the strength of the comic book source material and Alex Proyas' thirty year old film.

After the excellent trailers, it wasn't hard to become excited for Alien: Romulus, but there was still a little red light in my head. It subtly reminded me that behind the camera was Fede Álvarez, a man who certainly has a lot of talent, but not for the horror genre. I suffered through his Evil Dead, and Don’t Breathe was fine at best. And unfortunately, I should have listened to that red light, because while Romulus has its merits, it disappoints in the most fundamental way, it doesn't work as a genre film. Alien: Romulus looks great, and I enjoyed the analog computers, the grey metals, the industrial atmosphere full of hissing pipes, likewise with unexpectedly good actors and interesting characters who behaved surprisingly smart. But that’s not enough when Álvarez can't build a scary atmosphere and his scares are dull and uninteresting. Part of the problem is that this is more a game of referencing and quoting old films, leaving little room for the new. As a result, it's a nice fanservice from someone who knows how it should look, sound and work, but he just can't quite put it together into a workable horror film. Álvarez may be a good producer with an interesting vision, but unfortunately he's not a good director or executor.

A vault full of mysterious alien technology is hidden on Pandora, a planet that is also home to gangs, bounty hunters and a host of monsters. A band of peculiar heroes are determined to find the treasure, even with the galaxy's greatest villain breathing down their necks. Yeah, and it's pretty boring, too. The attempt at a new Guardians of the Galaxy comes  with uninteresting characters, mediocre action and it’s unimaginative in every way.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And Deadpool, unlike the rest of the MCU, isn't broken, so he's doing what he did last time and audiences enjoy it. The combination of gleeful violence, juvenile slapstick and solid directorial craftsmanship is spiced-up with the return of Wolverine, the great chemistry between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman and a throwback to the days of Fox comics. But anyone expecting the third Deadpool to bring any major changes to the MCU will be disappointed. A proper Deadpool comic book movie with Logan as a bonus. Nothing more, nothing less.