Review: Machete

Dropping the fake scratches and bad cuts of Planet Terror, Robert Rodriguez comes closer to making the cult movie he pays tribute too, but Machete still suffers from trying to hard to be something its not.

Plenty of blood and boobs ensure Machete is always entertaining, but the cheesy dialogue and crap acting is just to knowing to make it memorable - you'll be ghard pressed to find anyone remembering this in a year, let alone 30.

Rodriguez seems to have missed the point of Grindhouse and even his earlier films that ended up being cult hits - they weren't trying to be cults at all, they all wanted to be mainstream films and tried to make the best of their limitations - both money and talent wise. Making his films worse than should be, ironically or not, is a waste of a talent as huge as Rodriguez's and hopefully its a phase he'll snap out of soon.

Review: I'm Still Here

In many ways I'm Still Here is just as muddled as Joaquin's infamous performance on Letterman, in that while this supposed documentary claims to be saying something about the media, you're never ever really quite sure exactly what that is at any point.

Still despite the rambling nature of the plot there's still plenty to enjoy here, the biggest laughs come when Phoenix comes into contact with other famous faces such as Ben Stiller and Puff Daddy, and only add to the questions that surround the film as you how many people were in on the joke as some reactions are too good to be true.

Review: Defendor

Watch the trailer and you'll expect a second-rate Kick Ass, but Defendor is a surprisingly touching movie about a man just trying to some good in the world.

True there are plenty of comedic moments to be found, especially as he chooses to goabout this dressed as a superhero daubed in shoe polish and sticky tape, but the relationship between Defendor and Kat Dennings' crack whore is what makes the movie works, giving it a heart instead of just being a succession of prat falls.

Not even getting a cinema release over here, Defendor deserves to be one of the word of mouth hits of the year on its DVD release.

Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Edgar Wright's visual flair, packing the screen full of references to all things geek culture makes sure that Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World flies along faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. The only downers being that its probably 10 minutes too long and any attempts to create drama fall a little flat as the repetitive storyline was never in danger of veering from the predictable ending

Highlights of the movie include Anna Kendrick showing she's the best thing to come from Twilight by far and an awesome soundtrack from Nigel Godrich.

Review: Black Dynamite

Forget Tarantino and Rodriguez's attempts to pay homage to the exploitation films of the 70s, Black Dynamite trumps those two Grindhouse tributes with ease.

Finding the middle ground between those two, it dials down the OTT stylings of Planet Terror - sure there's plenty to laugh at here, but many of the jokes are surprisingly subtle and don't get in the way of the straight kung-fu action plot, this ensures the joke doesn't wear thin and keeps you interested throughout the 90 minute runtime. Also Black Dynamite's slavish attention to detail usurps Death Proof where instead of a few fake scratches to the film seen in Tarantino's work, this really feels like a product of the 70s from the whole look and feel of the sets to the super funky soundtrack all adding to the experience.

Review: The Expendables

This all star action film is always watchable, but falls flat in one liners it needed to become the ultimate guilty pleasure movie - going to the trouble of casting Jason Statham as Lee Christmas and having no one shout 'Christmas is Coming!' reeks of missed opportunity.

If you excuse the pun, The Expendables could've done with Cranking up a bit for my tastes.

Review: Grown Ups

Sandler and Co. jump on the Couples Retreat bandwagon and make a really bad film whilst holidaying at the studios expense. Unlike its predecessor, Grown Ups barely tries to hide the fact its just a big jolly for those involved - there's only the flimsiest of plots to hold together the 90 minutes with a few pee and poo jokes thrown in alongside the air of general misogyny to masquerade as humour.