Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

This latest take on the Spider-Man origin story takes a darker and grittier tone than the recent trilogy of Raimi films - and although its still a world away from Batman-levels of blackness, the more realistic feel does its best to blow away any cobwebs still left after the dreadful Spider-Man 3 and Tobey Macquire's best Saturday Night Fever audition.

New lead Andrew Garfield quickly convinces as the superhero-to-be, tetchy and twitchy enough to convince as geek Peter Parker, but charismatic enough to make you believe you he'd actually have a chance with someone like Emma Stone - its no surprise the real life couple have great chemistry and Stone's Stacy is helped by being more than someone just to be rescued at the end.

However its Martin Sheen who is the real star of the show as Parker's Uncle Ben, popping up at the right moments to give the film a gravitas much like Michael Caine's Alfred and the standard does drop noticeably as Sheen's scenes come to an end - Rhys Ifans does a sound job as the villain, but doesn't have too much to work with as Sony have saved the bigger name bad guys for the inevitable sequels that will follow.

The Spider-Man origin story is a well-worn tale, but this reboot does enough things different and enough things well to make sure it comfortably exceed expectations.

Review: Katy Perry - Part Of Me

During this documentary/concert film following Katy Perry's California Dreams 2011 Tour, it's pointed out at several times that the singer is far from a record company puppet and that Perry oversees all aspects of what goes on when on the road - you quickly get the feeling that control extended to this film as at no point during Part Of Me does anyone having anything negative to say about Katy, shown as the devoted idol to her millions of Katycats and devoted wife trying her best to save her marriage to Russell Brand.

Yet only during the home-video tributes from fans about what an inspiration Katy is does this end up being as lame as it sounds, thanks to Perry having an interesting story to tell about her struggle to make it big against her ultra-religious upbringing and record company politics holding her back for years, alongside the slow break up of her marriage keeping your interest throughout and making sure that backstage segments don't all blur into one.

Concert footage is kept to montages and the odd number here and there, so anyone looking for the live experience will be disappointed - and whilst those who hate Perry's pop won't have their minds changed, there's enough of interest for those on the fence to mean that this is a film not just for the fans.

Review: Prometheus

It's tempting to put Prometheus in with the rest of Ridley Scott's recent work where the impressive visuals have often outshone some pretty weak scripts - and whilst that's true to a certain extent with this Alien prequel, there's enough ideas and excitement to be found beneath its pretty exterior to make this more than worthy of your time.

The cast is reliably excellent, Fassbender gives the standout performance as an O'Toole obsessed android that will change the way you look at Wall-E from now on, but Noomi Rapace as proto-Ripley Elizabeth Shaw and Charlize Theron as ambiguous villain Vickers are also worthy of praise.

On the downside, minor quibbles would be a few too many crew members are there seemingly just to die (I don't think that's a spoiler for an Alien film?) and the big orchestral score doesn't really fit into the mood of the franchise for me - but the biggest problems come in the film's final third, featuring an unsatisfying end that only really tees-up more prequels to bridge the gap with the 1979 original and an over-reliance on big CGI effects to create tension and terror - the original being the case in point for how less is more.

Those flaws aside, Prometheus is still a welcome addition to the post-Inception line of intelligent blockbusters that don't seek to insult the audiences intelligence.

Review: Rock Of Ages

Despite its star-studded cast, Rock Of Ages can't hold a candle (or should that be a lighter?) to the Broadway and West End musical from which this has been remade.

Where the movie mostly disappoints is in the performances from Tom Cruise and Russell Brand, two castings that looked ingenious on paper but turn out to be massive letdowns. Cruise bizarrely plays rocker Stacie Jaxx as a drug-damaged mumbling mystic instead of the cross between Les Grossman and Axl Rose we all hoped for, severely cutting down on laughs as a result. Brand should be able to play this kind of role in his sleep, but decides to adopt a bad Brummie accent and drop most of the shtick that made his turns as Aldous Snow in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek so entertaining.

In fact the whole film seems to take its self to seriously, where the stage version embraced the cheesy nature of musicals and 80s cock rock, the films script lack of humour and dearth of any actual jokes throughout makes you think the producers have mistook what made Rock of Ages entertaining in the first place, making the love story more prominent when the fact that the plot was a bit rubbish was a joke to be mocked not maintained.

The Taking of Pelham 123

It's kind of apt that a film with 123 in its title is such by the numbers fare - Denzel Washington appears to be phoning it in teaming up with director Tony Scott once again, who feels like the wrong choice behind the camera, whose visual style of his recent work sits uneasy with mood needed for a tense hostage thriller and seemingly unable to resist blowing up a load of police cars half way through for no real reason.

The film might've been more successful with someone stronger to go up against Denzel, but John Travolta's performance instead just makes you wish they'd managed to get hold of Nicolas Cage to deliver one of his more mental performances as the train-jacker.

Review: Blitz

Anyone waiting for the potential Luther movie might find 2011 effort Blitz has enough things goings for it to tide them over, as it has the same stylish, but ultimately silly sense of fun present in the BBC TV series.

Jason Statham may not have the charisma of the former Stringer Bell in the lead role - he's better doing the talking with his fists and Blitz doesn't quite have enough action to match up to his previous films, but a strong support cast of the likes of Paddy Considine, Aiden Gillen and David Morrissey do most of the actual acting between Statham's one-liners as the by any means necessary detective Brant.

It really should be total rubbish, but somehow it ends up being incredibly entertaining, like most Statham films.

Review: The Guard

The Guard's plot may be a tad predictable, but thanks to a script packed full of outrageous one-liners alongside some poignant bitter-sweet moments, it overcomes these problems with ease to end up a highly entertaining movie.

Directed by John Michael McDonagh, the film comes close to matching up to his brother's In Brugges, but odd couple cops Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson don't quite have the same chemistry the Irishman shared with Colin Farrell as hitmen hiding out in Belgium.

As a result, you could argue The Guard features a stronger performance from Gleeson, having to carry a weaker story almost on his own - though look out for Mark Strong in a frustratingly small turn as one of the erudite English drug-smuggler who steals all the scenes he's in.

Comparisons to In Brugges are unavoidable and the basic story does make it feel like a b-side to his brother's work, but the comedy is more broader and the warmer feel to proceedings could actually take it out of that films shadows and make it work with a much wider audience.