While Gru, the ex-supervillain is adjusting to family life and an attempted honest living in the jam business, a secret Arctic laboratory is stolen. The Anti-Villain League decides it needs an insider’s help and recruits Gru in the investigation. Together with the eccentric AVL agent, Lucy Wilde, Gru concludes that his prime suspect is the presumed dead supervillain, El Macho, whose his teenage son is also making the moves on his eldest daughter, Margo. Seemingly blinded by his over-protectiveness of his children and his growing mutual attraction to Lucy, Gru seems on the wrong track even as his minions are being quietly kidnapped en masse for some malevolent purpose.

Straight off the bat, this film made me laugh so hard throughout that I was actually crying…   So before I even talk about it, it’s a win!

Gru (Steve Carell), Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), the minions and the girls are back and now Gru is a totally legit business owner making jams and assorted jellies (none of which are even remotely edible according to the Minions)

This is when we meet Lucy (Kristen Wiig), a super secret agent for an agency that ONLY deals with the super villain crazy plans (like Gru stealing the moon in the first film).  Who then kidnaps Gru and a couple of the minions and takes them back to the super secret submarine base to meet Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan) (heehee, Bottom!), to try and get Gru to help them catch the supervillain that stole a secret formulae that turns even the meakest and mildest creatures, into crazy, indestructible Frankenstein like monsters.

At the same point, Gru’s girls, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Agnes (Elsie Fisher) and Edith (Dana Gaier) are trying to find Gru a girlfriend and a mother for themselves…  As are his neighbours, with varying, crazy results (some of which are so similar to dates I’ve had in real life, I think I might be the films muse)

Ok, as I already stated at the begining, this film was HILARIOUSLY funny, so this review is gonna be short and sweet

The 3D was excellent.  The laughs were many and varied and made for both kids AND adults.

The music was brilliant and catchy.

Watch it!

9/10

~Lone

A young itinerant worker is forced to confront his secret extraterrestrial heritage when Earth is invaded by members of his race.

Wow…   Just wow…

Seriously, THIS is the Superman film we’ve been waiting for!  Now the station staff know I’m not the biggest fan of the Dark Knight Trilogy (although yes, I will be going to watch the three film IMAX next month), but they, and Christopher Nolan‘s input shines through, grounding the film from the VERY Scifi start.  The direction by Zack Snyder is solid, the story by David S. Goyer shines, from start to finish.

In Man of Steel we actually get to see more of the life of Krypton than we EVER have before.  This is a test tube society, people are bred for specific roles in life, Warrior, Scientist, Diplomat… and the society has suffered because of it!

Krypton is a dying world, years of harvesting energy from the planets core depleting it and leading to a catastrophe.  Zor-El (played AMAZINGLY by Russell Crowe), tries to warn the ruling council, but knowing how it will turn out, he and his wife, Lara Vor-Ul (the incredibly beautiful Ayelet Zurer), give birth to the first (and last) son of Krypton to be born be natural means.  Whilst Zod (Michael Shannon), tries to stop the council by military coup, but ultimately fails and is banished to the Phantom Zone by the council.

This is an incredibly strong opening for the film, Crowe is on fine form (something I, and others, will be shocked by, considering his films of late have been, well, flat) as Jor-El and he steals the film up until the destruction of Krypton and beyond.

This, of course, leads us to Earth, 33 years later and an adult Clark Kent (Henry Cavill), hiding from the world and doing odd jobs here and there, having to move on when he uses his power for good and saving people in case he is found out and shunned.

We very soon get to meet Lois Lane (played brilliantly by Amy Adams), looking into an alien ship discovery.

Some excellent Smallville shout outs happen here, firstly we meet Dr. Emil Hamilton, played by West Wings Richard Schiff, however, the US Air Force technician helping him is played by Alessandro Juliani, who played Dr. Hamilton in the TV series (and yes, quite a few people in the cinema also recognised this when you heard the little giggles to see him)

From here on in, the films turns into a tour de force of just HOW powerful Kryptonians can be on Earth.  Not only Zod, but his small army aswell, ESPECIALLY his right hand lieutenant Faora-Ui (Antje Traue), who (with the help of some amazing CGI, takes down US soldiers with a combination of military martial arts, super speed and super strength.

We also meet US Colonel Nathan Hardy (Christopher Meloni), who goes by the codename Guardian throughout the film, in, what I am hoping, means we will (somehow) see the return of this character in a sequel as the Star Labs hero.  Here’s hoping!

The fight scenes between Superman and others, and all the destruction they bring, truly leap off the screen, and not just because of 3D (I watched the 2D screening), but because they are so strong and perfectly done.

JJ. Abrams can learn a lot from Zak Snyders use of lens flare aswell, what is in the film has a natural place and looks like its MEANT to be there!  The whole film looks beautiful throughout and I’d happily goto see the film again if I can.

I’ve mentioned in previous reviews about my “tingle factor” for films and how I base my scoring of a film on how it makes me feel.

Avengers made me tingle and scored highly because of it.  Man of steel didn’t give me the tingles, it made me feel stronger, as a person, but thats because the character is meant to do that and Snyder brings that out brilliantly!  Superman is a shining beacon for all humanity to strive to be better, compared to Batman, who is there to instill fear in those that would do wrong, Superman brings the light to the world.

It’s clear we’re gearing upto, if not a full on Justice League movie, a live action Batman/Superman would be IMMENSE!  And with Zak Snyder, David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan at the helm, we could genuinely see a really good cinema takings scrap between Marvel and DC, something the fans want AND DESERVE!

This film LITERALLY flies!

9/10

~Lone

A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his father Cypher stranded on Earth, a millennium after events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help.

A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his father Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth, a millennium after events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must travel across earth to retrieve the beacon to signal for help.

After Earth starts strongly grabbing your attention with the main storyline straight away. This was a great way to start the film, as expectations of Jaden Smith sharing the screen with father Will was questionable.  The film strips that down straight away and throws you into the crash landing on Earth.

You learn quickly that the film is based around the relationship of father and son (a great movie release time around fathers day).  The bond between father and son grows throughout the film which was expected but still left you with the tingly feels throughout the film. I personally went into the film with preconceived ideas of Jaden and was pleasantly surprised by his performance in an action based storyline. Would it be as good without Will Smith – No, but the actual bond is conveyed well near the end of the film.

Although very serious there are a few golden moments and gag lines which break the tension and increase the likeability. Being jumpy at times the film kept you on your toes anticipating the new dangers which lurked in every corner of ‘Earth’.

Ok so the Techy side of things:

The scenario detailing lacked somewhat for me, almost seeming rushed. Although massively expansive and layers. The actual motion of the ‘New Earth’ wasn’t detailed enough for the technology of today.

For what looked liked a ‘Rainforest/ disturbed’ atmosphere you only really see two types of weather sunny and freezing. Although a short scene covers rain fall, I feel that an unstable atmosphere would kick up more weather fronts quicker and possibly multiple fronts within hours.

The monsters although very well animated, looked slightly pixelated, with no real intricate detailing on them.  A simple splash of imaginative colour could have changed this, in order to convey evolution which is described in the brief for ‘Earth’

A final thought:-

A great film which I would definitely buy the DvD and watch at home. I would watch it again at the cinema but would need to leave it a week or two in between.

A sequel, ‘After Earth 2’ is rumoured to be releasing in 2015.

7.5 / 10 – A definite watch needed here guys.

~Wiskets

The world is turned upside down as Flash wakes up devoid of his super powers in the all-new DC Universe Original Animated Movie.

After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

Ok, this review will include spoilers, if you haven’t watched it yet, DON’T READ THIS REVIEW!

Ok, let’s do this review a little differently…   The good points:

This film looks stunning, apart from Dredd last year, this is one of the few 3D movies that actually use 3D brilliantly and looks gorgeous.

The storyline is great, it has fun, humour, loads of action and oodles of good drama.

It’s Star Trek, and any good Star Trek, especially a movie, has to cover a sensitive topic going on in the world right now…  And this one covers terrorism

It uses LOTS of plot and character devices the various series bought up to drive the story, like Section 31, the shadowy Starfleet organisation that’s off the books.  Mr. Scott’s transbeaming equation that Spock Prime used in the last Star Trek film to get Scott and Kirk back onto the Enterprise.

Now the bad points…

I don’t like the reboots so far, I’m sorry I don’t.

There are so many things about both the reboot films that go completely against Star Trek canon.  Little things that could be overlooked if there wasn’t LOADS of them.

Like…

Why is the interior of the Enterprise like a huge power factory now, instead of the clean small rooms we are used to from the original series and the TNG series like TNG, DS9 and Voyager.  The rebooted Enterprise warp core is fecking huge and looks like a turbine, not the sleek, throbbing beast we are used to from the old universe.

Why is the Engineering deck so fricking huge?  Yes the warp core is 7 decks high, but why is it in the middle of a refinery?

The shuttlebay, why does it look like an aircraft hanger (which in theory it should) and not like the clean bay from the original universe?

The outside of the Enterprise, I don’t like it, I’m sorry, I really don’t…   I know this is a new alternate universe, but why change the design, even subtely?  Bring it upto date yes, but the DS9 episode, “Trials and Tribbleations” proved that a CGI’d original series Enterprise looked fantastic, the Constellation class Enterprise, considering it was designed and built in the 60’s is a beautiful design, why is the reboot version looking like a whale?!?

Physics…   Throughout ALL the series and movies, we’ve heard that going to warp IN a solar system is bad…   but both of the reboots have done this, all the ships going to warp in earth Orbit…

Ok, rants over, let’s go over the characters…

***EPIC SPOILER ALERT!!!***

Into Darkness is J.J. Abrams take on Wrath of Khan!

Sorry, it had to be said straight away

The reboot version of James T.Kirk (Chris Pine) is not the grounded hero that James T. Kirk Prime (William Shatner) was in the original series.  He’s In the captains chair too early, he’s too green and he is riding his natural luck and something is about to break.  And it does, in a way he is doing a great job, while in the centre seat, he has not lost a single member of crew to injury, etc. BUT, he doesn’t follow the rules.  Kirk Prime changed the rules in every situation to make it a win win, this Kirk knows how to, but he’s reacting to situations rather than analysing them and changing the game.

Reboot Spock (Zachary Quinto) is still suffering from the destruction of Vulcan, he is a bubbling mess ready to lay down his life to easily, compared to Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy) who is on hand to give some sage advice.  This is something that stands out in the movie aswell, Spock is in the position that he CAN second guess everything, as Spock Prime is available to discuss the situation, albeit grudgingly, but he has previous experience to make a more informed decision on.  But he and Kirk are not playing well, they are not jelling like Kirk Prime and Spock Prime did, because they were thrust together in battle rather than slowly through command like in the Prime universe.

Out of the secondary cast members, Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Bones (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), Scotty (Simon Pegg) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin), the only member of the secondary cast that is a lot different to the Prime universe is Uhura, she’s more ballsey than Uhura Prime (Nichelle Nichols), but this is easily accepted as the original series couldn’t do as much with the character due to the time it was made in and the society it was part of.  Now we can EASILY accept Spock and Uhura not only being a couple and fighting on screen (brilliantly played too), but kissing.   This is still talked about as being a watershed moment for the original series of Star Trek and the Shatner/Nichols kiss was the first interracial kiss on TV.

Simon Pegg gets to shine as Scotty this time, after not getting a lot of face time in the last movie.  He has that perfect mix that he can do both funny AND serious in the same scene and it feels totally natural.  He plays Scotty perfectly.

Karl Urban works well as Bones aswell, but this is a more action based version of McCoy than McCoy Prime (DeForest Kelley) who was older by the time he was part of the crew.  Remember, this McCoy is still a late thirty something in a crew of early twenties, he’s the bedrock and the stead fast voice for the younger crew, including the captain.

Chekov and Sulu are still slightly left in the wings in this film, they are the youngest of the bridge crew and their characters are still maturing into the story, just as they did in the Prime universe, we’ll see more of them in the new films I’m sure.

New faces John Harrison/Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) change the dynamic completely from the original series, or really Wrath of Khan…

Carol Marcus is a much younger version than we saw in Wrath of Khan, this is even before Kirk Prime and Marcus Prime got together to make their son David who helped create the genesis device.  But there is instant chemistry between the two characters.  Could we see this romance play out in the reboots?

Khan…  This is the most major change to this universe since the death of Kirks father at the beginning of the first film (remember, in the Prime universe, Kirks father was alive and was Kirks influence in not only joining Starfleet, but also Kirks inspiration to rise up the ranks and become the historic captain that changed the face of the Prime Federation)
The Botany Bay (although never named in this film) was instead found earlier by Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller) and Khan is pressed into joining Section 31 and using his enhanced skills and intellect to try and turn Starfleet into a military instead of an exploration force.  But in the process gives him the tools and knowledge that Khan Prime didn’t.  In Wrath of Khan, the Prime Enterprise crew used Khans lack of experience in starship command against him.  This Khan has not only got this experience, he’s designing weapons and super class starships…   (A definite, “WTF are you crazy?!?” Moment for the fans)

Khan Prime was dangerous, just because he was dangerous and imposing and he had a grudge against Kirk Prime.

This Khan has a grudge against the whole of Starfleet and he not only has Starfleets resources, but he designed most of them and is using those resources against them too.  Cumberbatch does an amazing job with Khan, the character is properly worrying now. There are moments that you are genuinely scared by him.

So, the story…   I already spoiled that this is The Wrath of Khan Reboot.  But its not just a reboot, its a juxtaposition.  There are even key moments of wrath of khan totally replayed in Into Darkness.   But some around turned 180, they are the same moment, but backward.  It’s very strange, it works, but some points although they work, feel wrong, just wrong…   “KHAAAAAAN!!!”

If you’re a fan you will enjoy it, but if you love Wrath of Khan, it will leave you feeling like there’s something a little wrong with the world that you can’t put your finger on.

If you’re a newbie to the Star Trek universe, its a fantastic movie that looks amazing and has a pretty good story.

8/10  A must see, but has issues for the die hard fans that will nit pick issues

~Lonesamurai