Rating: MMMM

Review of ‘geezer’ director Guy Ritchie’s adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic character (and the world’s most famous detective) the inimitable Sherlock Holmes.

Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, Mark Strong, Kelly Reilly, Rachel McAdams
Running time: 128 mins

Rating: MM

Review of James Cameron’s uber-blockbuster and long anticipated space adventure epic, Avatar.

Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez
Running time: 162mins

To celebrate Halloween, The Crow suggests itself rather well as the perfect watch for the annual spook-fest, centred not only around death and resurrection but set on the night before Halloween, the hellishly named “Devil’s Night”.

Director: Alex Proyas
Starring: Brandon Lee, Ernie Hudson, Rochelle Davis, Anna Thomson
Running time: 97mins

Rating: MMMM

Review of extra-terrestrial sci-fi thriller District 9 produced by Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings) and directed by Neil Blomkamp

Director: Neil Blomkamp
Starring: Sharlto Copley, Vanessa Haywood, Jason Cope, Louis Minnaar, David James
Running time: 112 mins

Rating: MMMM

Review of Michael Mann’s ‘biopic’ of the notorious American criminal, John Dillinger.

Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, David Wenham, Stephen Dorff
Running time: 140 mins

Rating: MM

The first review originally written for Maz’s Movie Memorandum, of Michael Bay’s sequel to his 2007 summer box-office smash, Transformers.

Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia La Beouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro
Running Time: 150 mins

Having finally gotten round to watching Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler (2009) a couple of nights ago, I was left feeling mildly disappointed. Yes, Mickey Rourke is brilliant as Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, and yes the fight scenes are very realistic and yes the casting is excellent – BUT… I was left feeling rather disappointed by the film’s ending. Or maybe thats because those kind of finales are ten-a-penny at the moment. And I did see The Thing for the first time only recently, which has an ending that to me seems similar to The Wrestler. Its a shame, as the first 45 minutes were well paced and deftly handled.

Rating: MMM

Review of Push first published in a March 2009 issue Spark*, the newspaper of Reading University Students’ Union.

Director: Paul McGuigan
Starring: Chris Evans, Camilla Belle, Dakota Fanning, Djimon Hounsou
Running Time: 111 mins

Rating: MMM

Review of Bolt first published in a February 2009 issue Spark*, the newspaper of Reading University Students’ Union.

Director: Byron Howard, Chris Williams
Starring: (voices) John Travolta, Miley Cyrus
Running Time: 96mins

Rating: MMMM

Review of Twilight first published in January 2009 issue Spark*, the newspaper of Reading University Students’ Union.

Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, Nikki Reed
Running time: 122 mins