Review: Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows

The surprise success of the first Sherlock Holmes film meant that hopes were high going into this sequel, once again directed by Guy Ritchie and reuniting Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law as the super-sleuth and sidekick.

Sadly it's not just the increased number of Holmes Vision scenes that add to the feeling of deja-vu - the whole film suffers in comparison to the freshness found in the first outing, the action scenes and bromance banter between Holmes and Watson comes across a bit predictable and jaded in comparison.

It's a bit of shame to be so harsh on Sherlock Holmes 2, as its does seem as if everyone is trying and is far from the lazy cash-in that some feared the first would would be - A Game of Shadows is an apt title, as in the end this film suffers from the shadow cast from its first effort.

Review: Marvel Avengers Assemble

Avengers Assemble is the film Michael Bay thinks Transformers is - where in Bay's head he's made a film that features a team of superheroes coming together to save the world, that is full of action, laughs and a little something for the ladies - The Avengers actually manages to deliver on all these promises in spades.

That's not to say its perfect - the final battle feels like it goes on forever, mainly to make sure all six superheroes get the chance to shine in the fight to save the Earth from the scene-stealing Loki and his anonymous army of CGI monsters. But up until that point Joss Whedon deserves a great deal of credit for splitting scree-time between all six Avengers whilst keeping the plot moving on with pace and verve.

The script is the usual Marvel mix, with the amount of one-liners almost matching the number of punches thrown, but this manages to become funniest of the films so far by using the superheroes' powers to bring some great physical comedy to the table, with bodies flying all over the place like crash test dummies bringing some of the biggest laughs.

2012 looks set to be a bumper year for superhero movies with The Dark Knight Rises and the new Spider-Man film still to come, what Avengers Assemble has done is ensure the standard has been set pretty high already.

Review: Due Date

Due Date really is a terrible, terrible film. Most of what is meant to be funny just comes across as nasty for the most part. The redeeming feature about it was a bit of Neil Young and Band of Horses on the soundtrack.