Review: Capitalism - A Love Story

Maybe it was because it painted the NHS as idyllic paradise of health care (just one look at the coverage of Stafford Hospital this week will prove otherwise), but Sicko and the self-congratulatory Slacker Uprising (or should that be Sicko-phantic?) seemed to find Michael Moore going off the boil - Capitalism: A Love Story reverses that trend making a strong argument for how the capitalism system has badly let down the American public.

Using the usual Moore techniques the film discovers some shocking stories, especially how companies attempt to profit of their workforces deaths and how corrupt judges gained from incarcerating kids for minor offences - but the big stunts the Moore has become famous for don't really hit the spot here and in the end just boil down to him harassing security guards while the CEOs and bankers he paints as criminals probably didn't even know he was there.

Review: Sherlock Holmes

Much like Iron Man, also starring Robert Downey Jr. - Sherlock Holmes came from out of nowhere to exceed both Box Office and critical expectations after its Boxing Day release.

I couldn't quite believe all the reviews saying what good fun it was (would you in a world where Empire gives Terminator Salvation 4 stars!), so I finally plucked up the courage to give it a go and can now state for the record,

It's really good fun - doesn't take itself too seriously like a lot of modern action blockbusters do, but also has a great Victorian look and a visual flair to it that proves that Guy Ritchie does know what he's doing behind the camera (though I would say the slo-mo bits were a little too Lock, Stock for me)

Robert Downey Jr is reliably great but credit must also go to Jude Law for being good for the first time in ages, going one-liner to one liner with Downey Jr in a plot that makes 2 hours fly by and still manages to lay the seeds for what will be a highly anticipated sequel.

Review: Food Inc.

The likes of the Chicken Out campaign here in the UK means that some of the revelations in Food Inc aren't as shocking to us as they are to the American audience - that said, there's still plenty of food for thought here (oh yes, I went there) and does a good of showing you why its worth paying a little more for better quality and just how much crap is in a lot of modern processed food.

Review: Gentlemen Broncos

Watch just a couple of minutes of this and you can quickly see why this tanked and never even reached many US cinemas - which is a terrible shame as the film itself had a lot of potential.

Jemaine Clement is the only thing decent in the film and you'd save yourself some money by just going to the viral ronaldchevalier.com for excerpts from his audiobooks and general words of wisdom.

For those still wanting a spoof of the dodgy Sci-fi are best of watching South Park's awesome take on the genre in Major Boobage.

Review: Youth in Revolt

There's a few good comic moments to be found in Youth in Revolt, mostly when Fred Willard is on screen - but those expecting a load of laughs from Michael Cera riffing on his geeky persona as bad boy François Dillinger will be left sorely disappointed from a film that isn't dark enough to be a black comedy or bawdy stand up the rest of the Frat Pack films of recent years.

Review: Whip It

Its full of clichés, but that doesn't stop Whip it from being surprisingly good fun - though at close to 2 hours I could've done without the slightly pointless love interest business to end up with a leaner, tighter film.

Review: The Informant!

If Up In the Air is Clooney doing Danny Ocean as a corporate downsizer, then The Informant! is Matt Damon revisiting the guise of the bumbling gambling official he played briefly in Ocean's Eleven and trying to do his own con of a lifetime.

The film itself is far too quirky at times, with a Damon's silly asides providing laughs but the silly score ruining the mood of the piece. The film would be much better as The Informant, without the stupid touches like the exclamation mark to spoil what was an interesting story.

Review: Avatar

In the end the film James Cameron has been waiting the best part of 30 years to make boils down a 3 hour version of Pocahontas with giant Smurfs.