I know this is meant to be Average Film Reviews and all but… as usual, January brings us here in Ireland (and the UK… and udoubtedly in many other countries) all those films that are likely to feature heavily in the awards season. That’s right. We’re on the Road to the Oscars™.

There’s five films for your consideration this weekend and, while I guess there’s a few that are pretty unlikely to be contenders, there is one that I reckon is going to feature prominantly. The film I’m highlighting this week is The King’s Speech.

So what’s The King’s Speech all about?

Now, I don’t know much about the British monarchy (or any monarchy for that matter) but King George VI only became King when his older brother, King Edward VIII, abdicated. He also had a stammer.

I guess on paper it doesn’t sound like a fascinating topic. The King’s Speech is not about the abdication or anything like that. It’s about his struggle with his stammer.

It’s also about character, and it stars a man who really is becoming one of my favourite character actors. If you saw my top 10 films of 2010 post then you’ll know why. Colin Firth simply is fantastic. And I’ve never seen Pride & Prejudice so I can assure you it’s nothing to do with any wet shirt competition entries.

I have seen this film so I know it’s good. In addition to Colin Firth, who I swear better win an Oscar this year, we have Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist who works with King George VI, and a surprisingly restrained Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen (again, I guess she is quite regal). Both excellent in their supporting roles but it’s Firth who shines as the troubled heir who has Responsibility thrust upon him.

If I’m being honest, this might not be everyone’s cup of tea. After all, it is a historical drama. I know that I, for one, would generally stay away from them. But, if you do want to see a great performances by a man who surely will be featuring in the Oscars for years to come, and a man who already has one then it’s definitely worth taking the time on it… It’s an excellent character study and while you might wonder how they can make a movie about some guy and his stammer interesting, just remember… They made an amazing one about a few computer folks inventing a website.

Other films releasing this week…

127 Hours – I know I was generally highlighting two films a week on this article but I thought I might start just doing one. We’ll see how it goes though, I kinda like giving people a choice.

If I was picking two this week then this is the other film I’d highlight. 127 Hours is the story of how Aron Ralston had to do the unimaginable. I don’t know if you remember Ralston from the early noughties. He’s the guy who, after becoming trapped by a boulder, found himself needing to cut his own arm off with a dull knife. Yeah… pretty nasty.

127 Hours sees his story get the Danny Boyle treatment. If you loved Slumdog Millionaire (as opposed to say, Trainspotting or 28 Day Later) then you really should give this one a look.

Hopefully you’re not too squeamish.

The Next Three Days – From Paul Haggis, the writer and director of Crash (the Oscar winning one, not the one that’s the only Cronenberg film I can’t abide by). Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks star in this film about the difficulties that can arise in a marriage when your wife’s been accused of murder. Or something along those lines anyway. I’m not a fan of Crowe.

Season of the Witch – I ain’t a fan of Nicolas Cage either.

Ah ok. He’s been pretty cool in some stuff. I really did think that he was good in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans. It’s just that you can never be really sure which Nicolas Cage is going to turn up.

I suspect this film may not star the Nic Cage I want to see. Plus, it’s from the director of Whiteout – I do not recommend watching it – and Swordfish – which I don’t recommend either. Anyway, yeah, Season of the Witch follows two men who come back from the Crusades to find their home towns ravaged by the Black Plague. There’s also a woman who’s being tried in court as a harbringer of death. I don’t know.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story – The poster for this flick really really reminded we of Cyrus. It might just be the colour schemes. It doesn’t sound like it anyway. In It’s Kind of a Funny Story, a clinically depressed teenager decides to check into an adult psychiatric facility. It looks like a quirky sensitive comedy. So. Could be good.

That’s it for this week, first one of the year down. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading and you know, if you have the time, and you feel like it… don’t forget to vote for Average Film Reviews in the 2011 Total Film Movie Blog Awards. Ah go on, it won’t hurt.

The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, Season of the Witch, The Next Three Days and It’s a Kind of Funny Story are all in Irish cinemas from today, 7th January 2011.

Anyway. First up this week, a film I really should have reviewed by now. Burlesque.

Unfortunately for me, and possibly you as well if you really are interested in my opinion, I haven’t had a lot of time recently. Holiday season and all that. I haven’t had an evening on my own at home since… well… it’s been probably almost two weeks at this stage. I’m really gonna try and get stuff done over Christmas though.

Course that’s just excuses, it’s got nothing to do with Burlesque.

As you will hear in the review, I was initially skeptical about Burlesque. The trailer looked awful to be honest. But… I love a good musical. I like, you know, X Factor and that kind of thing. And I do think Christina Aguilera has an amazing voice. I don’t know about her being an actress but I figured she was probably just playing some version of herself in this so… shouldn’t be too much of a stretch. Burlesque is basically one of those small-town-girl-moves-to-the-big-city-with-a-dream films. This little girl happens to have a set of pipes on her.

I’m highlighting it because I thought it was great fun and I really enjoyed it but, by gods, I’m not recommending that everyone go see it. There are some great song & dance numbers and fantastic costumes but, if you’re the kind of person who thinks a strong plot or good dialogue is absolutely necessary for your enjoyment of a film then skip it – You’ll only be annoyed. For everyone else though, it’s a good ol’ romp and I won’t be surprised if at least one of the song will be up for Best Original Song at the Oscars. Expect to see cabaret, sorry, I mean burlesque, dancers twirling across the stage at the Kodak Theatre come February.

Second big film of the week is Disney’s TRON: Legacy.

It’s funny, the release of this film is leading to more than a few film reviewers (and let’s be honest, nerds) making one solemn and embarrasing confession… and I admit I am one.

Film fans, I must confess, I’ve never seen the original TRON.

I dunno why, it looks like my kind of film, I even have the DVD – 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition no less, I’ve just never got around to it. Well, I actually tried to watch it the night before I was going to see TRON: Legacy but I fell asleep after 1/2 an hour (it was 2am). I then tried to watch the last hour during lunch in work but I realised it was a region 1 DVD so no joy. And now that I’ve seen Legacy the need to see TRON is not as great. I will eventually though, I swear.

Anyway, so, everybody’s saying it but no-one really wants to say it because it’s kinda lazy… but TRON: Legacy has really spent the last few month gearing up to be this years Avatar. It’s an inescapable fact. But I guess what’s wrong with trying to emulate the highest grossing film in history right?

Like Avatar, TRON: Legacy is promising to be a visual feast. They even had a 23 minute preview a little while back to prove to us all that it would be a visual feast. Having seen it, I can assure you it is both a visual and aural (if you like that kind of thing) feast… I’d say a few more thing about Avatar and TRON: Legacy but since this ain’t the review though I’ll leave it there. I did a little feature on it recently so have a look here to read more about it.

Other films releasing this week…

Catfish – As I already mentioned, I’m desperate to not know too much about this indie documentary. All I know is that it’s supposed to be good and the beginning of the blurb on IMDb.com which says “In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel’s brother…”.

Ok, I know two other things. As I mentioned at the top, there’s some controversy over whether it’s a real or a fake documentary. And I also know it’s something to do with online. Which, obviously, I’m interested in. So I’m planning on seeing it on Tuesday, I’ll let you know on the ol’ twitter or facebook page if it’s worth a look. Till then I shall be looking away every time I see the word “Catfish” anywhere.

Unsurprisingly for a documentary, Catfish is on limited release. You can catch it in the IFI in Temple Bar or in Light House Cinema in Smithfield.

Actually… it feels a bit slack only talking about three films, I haven’t really given you much choice. So, here’s another for ya. The Christmas classic, It’s A Wonderful Life (1946), is screening in the IFI until at least Thursday, 2pm and 6.40pm. I’ve never seen it… I know, for shame, but I’m planning on popping along on Tuesday to rectify that issue. You can book tickets from the IFI bookings site here.

That’s it for this week. Hope you don’t spend all the week running around like mad things buying Christmas presents… try to get to the cinema at some point!

TRON: Legacy, Burlesque, Catfish and It’s A Wonderful Life are all in Irish cinemas from Friday 17th December 2010.

But I digress… like I said, loads of films out this week, loads! So I’d better get to it.

Unstoppable is the widest release this week. It’s the latest collaboration between director Tony Scott and Denzel Washington, who’ve previously worked together a good number of films before… from last year’s The Taking of Phelam 1,2,3 through Déjà Vu and Man on Fire all the way back to Crimson Tide in 1995.

The gist of the story is that there’s this un-manned train on the loose carrying a load of toxic chemicals and it’s going to derail in an innocent little town and kill a load of people unless Chris Pine (ohh… Chris Pine) and Denzel can stop it. Personally, I suspect “Unstoppable” may be a misnomer. But I haven’t seen it, so what do I know?

I also suspect that this film with be much like the last few Scott / Washington collaborations… in that Denzel will be the hard-ass who saves us all from Peril. Add in the fact that film is penned by, Mark Bomback, who is notable for writing Live Free or Die Hard, and I think you can pretty much guarantee that’s what’s gonna happen.

I have to admit, I wasn’t overly blown away by the trailer. That high contrast, over saturated grainy look wasn’t really working for me and all I could think was that it sounded an awful lot like this movie I saw late one night on one of those dodgy tv channels. No, not that sort of channel. One like SyFy… no, not those kinds of films of SyFy… It sounded an awful lot like Atomic Train. Now I’m not saying Unstoppable is a rip off… but… you’ve got to admit, aside from the fact that there’s no atomic weapons on the train, it sounds a lot like it. They also tell us that this is “inspired by a true story“. Ok. I’m sure it’s “inspired” by a lot of runaway train movies.

Anyway despite my reservations, I’m still probably going to go to this. I mean, runaway train? It’s gotta be a bit of a laugh. I’m sure they’ve worked their asses off to get the whole gamut of tension in there and yes, I do love Chris Pine so I’m sure it’ll be a reasonable hour and a half* of popcorn fun.

The American looks like a whole other kettle of fish altogether.

Starring George Clooney, this is Anton Corbijn second feature film,after the Ian Curtis biopic Control. I didn’t really rate Control at the time, click the link through to the review and you’ll know why, but it stayed with me and it did leave me wanting to see what Corbijn would do next. And here it is.

George Clooney plays a hitman who’s hiding out in the Italian countryside awaiting his last assignment. I’ve deliberately avoided learning any more about it since well… you always expect “hitman on his last assignment” films to go a certain way… so if it doesn’t I want to be surprised.

The one thing I have heard about it is that it’s not really the way the trailers would suggest. Apparently it’s not an action film at all but rather a measured character study. I like the idea. After Control I think Corbijn would do a good job with a film like that and at the very least, given Corbijn’s photography credentials it should look great.

Other films out this week.

Machete – I did a little preview of this one last week so you have a look at that and the trailers here.

London Boulevard – Feature film debut from director William Monaghan, an Oscar winner as the writer of Scorsese’s The Departed. To be honest from the trailer this looks like a bog standard Landahn gangster film… it stars Colin Farrell and a few of the usual suspects, Ray Winstone and Stephen Graham in particular stand out. Oh, Keira Knightley is in it as well… Not that the usual supects (and Knightley) is a bad thing. I like all of them but I’m a bit tired of crappy gangster films. I’m hopeful this one will be decent…

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest – final film from Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. I presume if you haven’t seen the first two then this one isn’t going to make a lot of sense.

My Afternoons with Margueritte (La tête en friche) – French comedy drama on limited release. Starring Gérard Depardieu as a illiterate man in his mid 50′s who befriends an older and well-read woman. Over the course of their afternoons together they discuss life, the universe and everything. I imagine. Reports are that this is a pleasant little film. Unusually for a limited release, this is playing in Movies@Dundrum and IMC Dun Laoghaire… and more usually, the Screen cinema off D’Olier St. and Cineworld on Parnell St.

Unstoppable, The American, London Boulevard, Machete, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest and My Afternoon with Marguerite are all on general release from Friday 26th November 2010.

* = Just looked that up, shorter than I thought, great!

I’m actually not going to be able to say much this week. I’m on a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 blackout. I was a big fan of the books when I first started reading them but… I never got around to reading the last book. As a result I have no idea how this all ends up. I’m worried that if I read anything at all about it it’ll be spoiled on me.

So, I literally can’t wait to see this film. I’ve already seen one or two things in twitter that I suspect I shouldn’t have and even on TV, just in passing, I’ve heard very small things I don’t want to know. I haven’t had a chance to see it yet but I’ll definitely be trying to see it at the earliest possible occasion. I have no idea if it’s going to be any good and I’m a bit worried about it being only a first half but it going to have to be done.

I was thinking about explaining a little bit about Harry Potter for those who may not be familar with the series… but I just can’t imagine there are people out there who wouldn’t know about it. Even if you have no interest and know hardly anything about it, I’d have to imagine you’d still know that it’s about a group of young magicians who are fighting evil. If you didn’t know that I’d be fascinated to hear where you’ve been for the last 13 years.

I should explain about not reading the last one though. Basically, when I tried to read the sixth book I just reckoned that it was far too long. And thus, badly edited… in the sense that it wasn’t. Even though I’d read all the others and loved them, I was completely defeated by the length of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The one thing that does worry me about this film is that it does seem a little long… 2 hours 20 odd minutes is quite a run time for a film that, being a “Part 1″, will undoubtedly end somewhat unsatisfyingly… Still I’m desperate to see it, I just don’t think I’ll be going to a showing after 7pm is all…

Ohh… so excited. I sincerely hope that no-one will try to spoil it on me here. Please don’t. I swear I’m going to see it as soon as possible.

Other films releasing this week…

Chico & Rita – Animated musical romance set in Cuba. Chico & Rita charts the love affair between a talented jazz pianist and beautiful singer, through ups and downs, fame and obscurity. I haven’t seen it and there’s only a 50/50 chance that I ever will but the trailer I saw looked like a sweeping romance set to the soundtrack or evocative Latin American music. Playing in the IFI and Light House in Dublin.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives – 2010 Cannes Palme d’Or winner. I’ve never seen a Thai film before. Maybe this will be the first… course I’ll have to wait till after I see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I’ve heard mixed reports about this one, I suppose “ponderous” can be a compliment or a curse depending on what else you combine it with. It apparently explores the last days of the titular character through dreams, apparitions and out of body experiences. Could be interesting, could be boring as hell. Also playing in the IFI and Light House cinema only.

That’s it for this week… Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Chico and Rita and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives are all in Irish cinemas from Friday 19th November 2010.

The big film this week though is Skyline.

Unfortunately, I actually can’t tell you much about Skyline at all because I’ve been steadfastly avoiding all information about it. It looks like the kind of film I might really really like… or the kind of thing that might really really disappoint. So, either way I don’t really want to know anything about it.

What I have gleaned is this. There’s a group of people played by fairly unknown actors – aside from Dashiell from Sabrina, the Teenage Witch * – and they’re roaming around the place trying to survive an alien attack on Earth…. or something like that… Actually I have no idea. Alright, alright, I’ll go have a look at a trailer… or maybe the Wikipedia article.

Ok, I chickened out of the Wikipedia article because they have a tendency to tell you everything about a movie, but I did have a look at the latest trailer. Which definitely showed me more than I wanted to see but I guess it didn’t really shed much more light on the plot beyond what I’d already said in the last paragraph. So I guess I was right. Wah hey!

Anyway I will definitely be seeing this one on the big screen, the effects look cool. Course they should, the film is directed by a couple of special effects guys… Course that makes it a bit more likely that it’s going to really really disappoint. That and the fact that these guys directed AVPR: Alien vs. Predator – Requiem. Then again, for me, all I really needed to know is that it’s 92 minutes long – so can’t be that painful – , and that there are aliens in it. Whether it’s crap or not I’ll worry about after… Sure, my time is cheap.

Second up is We Are What We Are (or Somos Lo Que Hay)

This being a Mexican film about a family of cannibals, it’s on a limited release. It’s only showing in the Irish Film Institute, Cineworld on Parnell Street and Light House Cinema in Smithfield.

Actually, to say it’s a film about a family of cannibals is somewhat misleading. It kind of implies that “cannibals” is the operative word. It’s more of a coincidence to be honest. Basically it’s a film about a family. It’s almost a family drama, well… it is a family drama really. Kind of. It’s kind of a lot of things, but not enough of any.

I’m not gonna get into a review here because, well, I’m just supposed to be doing a round up. I guess it will suffice for me to say that I don’t really recommend We Are What We Are. The best I can say is that it looks pretty good, in a cinematography sense, and I wasn’t bored by it. I just didn’t think it was that good. I’m willing to hear disagreement on this though so if you’ve seen it and loved it let me know.

In one cinema this week we have Mammoth

I really wish I’d taken the time off to go to this press screening not the We Are What We Are one. Alas they only give very short notice on screenings so it’s hard to ask for the time off. Damn day job.

Anyway this is the latest film from Lukas Moodysson. You may remember him from such films as Lilya-4-ever – a good movie – and Together – a movie I’m almost 100% certain that I’ve seen but I don’t seem to have rated it on IMDb. So I can’t remember if I liked it or not… I feel like I did though. In my mind I think of him as a good director so I reckon this one could be worth having a look it.

This is Moodysson first English language film and it stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams – I’m so glad it turned out someone from Dawson’s Creek could act. At least it wasn’t a completely waste of time.

I gather Mammoth it’s something along the lines of Babel in that it’s about intersecting stories on a global scale. To be honest, the reviews haven’t been great, but I’d be willing to give Moodysson a chance. It is showing in The Screen cinema, Hawkins Street (just off D’Olier St.)

And finally, You Again. A G-rated family comedy.

Kristen Bell plays a geek who was bullied all through school by a classmate, Joanna. Now she’s all grown up and successful, naturally she is concerned when she discovers that her brother’s fiancée is the very same Joanna that taunted her. Features a decent cast of older Hollywood, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver and the inimitable Betty White

Personally, I can’t really see how this makes a family comedy, but hey, what do I know? I’m very unlikely to see it but I imagine it’s lighthearted fun. Well, lighthearted anyway. Without the “P” in front of the “G” I can’t imagine that they go too far into dealing with the obviously very real problem of bullying in schools. I presume it’s all handily wrapped in a bow and everyone lives happily ever after. Feel free to let me know if I’m wrong…

So that really is it for this week. Sorry about the mix-up last night, all the films are here now. Skyline, We Are What We Are, You Again and Mammoth are all in cinemas from Friday 12th November 2010.

* Course, you might know him better as Turk from Scrubs

I reckon I’ll make Due Date the first film I highlight this week. It come to us from the writing team and the director of last year’s “surprise smash hit comedy” The Hangover.

Ah, I shouldn’t be sarcastic, The Hangover was a pretty decent laugh. Especially the photos at the end. I should probably watch it again. But anyway, yeah. Oh, I do think this trend of trying to market a film as “The funniest film since The Hangover!” is hilarious. It was only last year, so all you’re saying is that it’s the funniest film lately. Not really worth putting the posters is it?… anyway. I digress, as I am often wont to do.

So Due Date stars Zack Galifianakis, of The Hangover and Tru Calling (or am I the only person who watched that show?) and Robert Downey Jr., who I’m gonna call a true film star. When he’s on the screen you can’t help but watch him. He’s great. Though just to be clear, this isn’t some veiled way of saying I fancy him – I usually just come out and say that – I just think think he’s a great actor.

Basically Due Date is a road trip movie, Robert Downey Jr. plays Peter Highman, a man who just wants to get home to his pregnant wife who’s due to give birth. Unfortunately for him, a series of unlikely events occurs, he ends up on a road trip with aspiring actor, Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis), a man who um… is unpleasant to travel with. Am I that interested in a road trip film? Not really, but Downey Jr. and Galifianakis are funny funny people so I’m well on for spending an hour and a half or so in their company.

I gotta say, I didn’t want to mention Planes, Trains and Automobiles but you can’t really help but think of it. That said, director Todd Phillips does seem to just be interested in road trips… after all, he did direct… Road Trip. Besides, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a good film. Maybe Due Date will stave off a remake of that ’80s classic.

Next up, Jackass 3D. The Boys are Back. Ok, it’s not called The Boys are Back but it may as well be. Every time I hear mention of it I think of this so…

I did used to watch Jackass back in the day. Course I pretty much watched it for one reason and one reason only… You know how earlier I said I’d just come out and say it? Well I’ll say it now. I watched it for Johnny Knoxville. Yeah, I think he’s pretty great, and not in an acting sense…

That said, I’m sure many people watch it for Knoxville. He is the ringmaster after all. As long as he’s laughing it’s a-ok to watch people get smacked in the face, fall on their heads, get thrown into a pit of snakes, be up-ended by a bull, bitten by a dog, shot at by, well… all manner of things really and most of all, be in pain. And he laughs all the time.

So, if you enjoy that kind of thing then Jackass 3D is the movie for you this week. I mean what can I say to recommend this really? Everyone knows Jackass right, you like it or you don’t. I’m not going to intellectualise it but if you want to hear about some people who do then have a look at The Guardian’s interview with Knoxville. Maybe the whole Jackass thing is of “cultural significance”. Orm maybe if you hang around for long enough people will make excuses for you…

Anyway, I have already seen this and I thought it was brilliant. I’m still not entirely sure how they’re all still alive. Honestly, there’s definitely a couple of times that you think, “There’s no way he’s getting up”, but then you see Johnny Knoxville laughing… and you know everything will be a-ok.

Other films out this week…

Let Me In – I’m not entirely sure if this is a remake of the 2008 Swedish film Let The Right One In or an adaptation of the novel of the same name. I guess it could be a combination. Either way, it’s brought to us by Matt Reeves, the director of Cloverfield (but that really means nothing in this context) and stars Chloe Moretz (the little girl from Kick-Ass) and Kodi Smit-McPhee (the little boy from The Road.) So, creepy kids a-go-go.

Anyway, I’ve seen this one as well and I wasn’t overly impressed. Then again, I wasn’t that impressed with the Swedish film either and that appeared on many “Top films of the year” and even a few “Top films of the decade” lists. So, well, if I were you I wouldn’t bother… but it has been getting some decent reviews around the place and if you haven’t seen Let The Right One In then maybe you’ll like it.

Another Year – New film from acclaimed writer and director Mike Leigh. If I felt shame I’d be somewhat ashamed of the fact that I actually haven’t seen any of his films. Not one. I heard of him, after all, he’s been nominated for 6 Oscars, but I’ve just never been that interested in seeing any of his films.

I’m very interested in this one though. I don’t know why. It doesn’t really sound like my kind of film. It’s about an old married couple and their friends… so I guess it’s about relationships, growing old, that kind of thing. Mind you, I could be completely wrong, they’ve gone to lengths in the trailer to make sure that you can’t really tell what’s going on. Nice work, I’m sick of trailers that tell you everything. Maybe that’s why I want to see it. Also, I like Jim Broadbent and co-star Lesley Manville is currently being heavily tipped for an Oscar nomination from this so… Sounds like it should be good. I know it may not seem like it from some of my comments, but I do like to see good films from time to time too.

So that’s it for this week. Hopefully I’ll be organised enough during the week to get next week’s preview out on time… you’d never know.

Jackass 3D, Due Date, Another Year and Let Me In are all in Irish cinemas from Friday 5th November 2010.

So, first up, the one that I’ve seen. The Social Network.

Because I was feeling organised that week, I have actually written a review so you can go on over and have a look at that if you are so inclined. It’s here

If, like me though, you don’t like reading too much about a film before seeing it, even though my review is spoiler free, I’ll tell you a bit more about it here…

Ostensibly, The Social Network is about the founding of Facebook and the subsequent fall out over who invented what, when and how much, or what, they actually did. In practice though, the fact that they are talking about Facebook is pretty irrelevent… so, if you’re worried about that then don’t be.

There really are only two things you really need to know about this film. First of all it’s directed by David Fincher, of Fight Club, The Game and Se7en fame. Excellent director, Seven held the spot as my favourite film for a good few years.

The second thing you need to know is that it’s Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay. This man is responsible for some of the best dialogue I’ve ever heard and some of the best TV I’ve ever see, he wrote The West Wing.

This is all high praise I know, but I really do think you should see this movie. Now, it’s not that loads happens in it, there’s no car chases or explosions, but it is an extremely well crafted piece of drama… So if you’re up for that, get yourself a ticket and head on down. It’s playing in almost every cinema around the country, including the likes of the more arthouse cinemas like the IFI and Light House.

Despicable Me is a new 3D kid’s adventure film from the writer of Horton Hears A Who!.

At the heart of our story is Gru, formerly the world’s number one supervillian and now looking to regain his throne. He adopts three little girls to use them in his dastardly plot but will he be able to shield himself from their innocent natures and carry out his plan? Probably not I guess.

The main reason I’m into the film is because I love those little minions. They’re so cute. Yes, it’s true, I will go to a film just because of that. G-d help me if they decide to make a movie about this, I’d be there twice on opening night.

Anyway, the minions have really been at the heart of the marketing campaign for this film and, for me, it has worked. I have no idea what they have to do with anything but I want to find out. Undoubtedly after seeing it I’ll want to buy 5 of them. But I’m sure they’re not all that this film has going for it. It came out in the US a while ago and reports seem to be good – presumably there must be something more to it than the little fellas. Also it has Steve Carell, I like him, so that’s nice.

Lastly we have Vampires Suck.

I’m sure you won’t be shocked to hear that this film comes to us from the people who brought you such err… films… as Disaster Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie and Meet The Spartans. Their names are Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. In case you haven’t yet guessed, this one is a spoof of the Twilight series.

I’ve never any of Friedberg and Seltzer’s films. I never want to see any of their films. I have however enjoyed reading reviews of their films. I particularly liked this quote from the Meet The Spartans review by Josh Levin in Slate magazine.

“This was the worst movie I’ve ever seen, so bad that I hesitate to label it a “movie” and thus reflect shame upon the entire medium of film. Friedberg and Seltzer do not practice the same craft as P.T. Anderson, David Cronenberg, Michael Bay, Kevin Costner, the Zucker Brothers, the Wayans Brothers, Uwe Boll, any dad who takes shaky home movies on a camping trip, or a bear who turns on a video camera by accident while trying to eat it. They are not filmmakers. They are evildoers, charlatans, symbols of Western civilization’s decline under the weight of too many pop culture references.“

I’m almost tempted to watch one just to see what the fuss is about. I probably won’t though, I value my eyes too much. It probably is worth mention though that, despite all the negative reviews, Friedberg and Seltzer’s films are commercially successful. I don’t know what says really.

As far as I can tell, pretty much the only thing this film has going for it is Ken Jeong. He only ever seems to be in films for a few minutes but he’s always funny in them. Still. There’s no way I’m going to see this.

So that’s all the new films, hope you enjoy the rest of the week. Talk to you again soon.

The Social Network, Despicable Me and Vampires Suck are all on general release in Irish cinemas from Friday 15th October 2010.

The big movie this week is Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

23 years ago Oliver Stone co-wrote and directed Wall Street. That film gave Michael Douglas an Oscar for Best Actor and, for many, brought to the fore the crass excess of the ’80s.

No wonder then, given the times we live in, Oliver Stone has chosen to revisit the bankers of Wall Street to tell us a bit more about excess.

This isn’t a review so I’m not going to go on about what I thought of this film. Let’s just say I never want to see it again. It has got some decent reviews around the place though so if you liked the original and you think you’d be interested in a relationship / financial / family / moral drama then be my guest.

That, of course, is the problem with the film. Honestly, how can you have a relationship / finance / family / moral drama? It really just doesn’t know what it wants to be…

I apologise for the shortness of this highlight this week but I really can’t bring myself to really recommend it. Think of this more as a service announcement…

…But enough about fat cat bankers, let’s talk about drug dealers. Mr. Nice is the dramatisation of Howard Marks autobiography of the same name

For those who don’t know, and haven’t yet clicked the link and read the Wikipedia article. Howard Marks was, at one point, one of the biggest hash dealers in the world. It’s claimed that at one point he controlled 10% of the world’s trade in hash. Not bad from a young fella from a little town in Wales.

The film follows his story from when he was accepted to Balliol College, Oxford till his time in jail many years later. It’s kind of interesting if, like me, you’d never heard of Howard Marks, it’s pretty much just a linear telling of the story. Rhys Ifans plays the role of Marks, apparenly he’s a good friend of Marks and it’s definitely a role he seems to be comfortable playing.

It didn’t grip me, but like I said, considering it’s probably (mostly) true, it is kind of an interesting story.

Other films coming out this week…

Life As We Know It – Romantic comedy/drama starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. When their best friends die, Holly and Eric, hitherto uninvolved, find themselves as the defacto parents of a little girl. Sounds like a bit of a morbid premise to me, but who knows, could be funny. I like Duhamel…

The Death and Life Of Charlie St Cloud – Zac Efron decides to flex his acting chops in this romantic drama with an afterlife twist.

Restrepo – War documentary, a crew spends 12 months with a single platoon in on of the most strategically located (and hence, dangerous) valleys in Afghanistan. This is supposed to be a really good. War films aren’t usually my thing but it looks like this might be the best film of the week. Showing exclusively in the Irish Film Institute in Dublin.

That’s all folks.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Mr. Nice, Charlie St. Cloud, Life as We Know It and Restrepo are in cinemas from Friday 8th October 2010.

The main one that I want to you all to go to this week is Buried.

You can have a quick look over at the feature I’ve done to have a look at the trailer and get a sense of what it’s all about.

Basically it’s Ryan Reynolds in a box for 90 odd minutes. This is really excellent film-making. An actor, director and cinematographer have come together to make a riveting and intense piece of work… but I just know there are people out there who aren’t going to take it seriously because it’s Ryan Reynolds. Leave your preconceptions at the door people. They aren’t welcome here.

I should mention the whole claustrophobia thing, I’m not claustrophobic at all and I don’t suffer from any particular fear of being buried alive so I didn’t feel affected by any of that. Listening to Mark Kermode talk about it though, it seems that it could be a bit of a problem for some people. So err… bear that in mind.

That said, I was a wreck coming out of Buried. It’s a difficult movie so make sure you’re in the mood for a bit of relentless tension.

Back to the Future is back!

I was 5 years old when BTTF came out originally and I never got a chance to see it in the cinema. Even if I had, I’d probably barely remember it. Actually who knows, I might have seen it and just forgotten.

Anyway, the fact that you can now go see it in a cinema near you is a reason for great joy. Back to the Future, and its two sequels, are absolute classics. Smart, funny, sophisticated, good looking, you will be all these things if you go and see this film. And if you haven’t seen BTTF before… I’m not going to chastise you… I want to… but, since this is a joyous day I’m just going to say, get thee to the cinema and appreciate the greatness that is Back To The Future.

Then go buy the DVDs/BDs and watch them all.

Oh, if you’re wondering why it’s back in cinemas, it’s something to do with remastering the originals and putting them out on blu-ray at the end of the month. Apparently it’s looks as pristine as the day it was shot. Or something like that. Maybe it’s not remastering, I don’t know what the film term for it is… but you know what I mean right? The BDs will also have loads of new extras and stuff so everything a fan of the films could need. Yay!

Other films releasing this week…

Made in Dagenham – From the director of Calendar Girls comes the story of the 1968 walk out by female workers in the Ford assembly plant in Dagenham over the matter of equal pay. This protest was instrumental in the setting up of the Equal Pay Act of 1970 in the UK. I’m sure it’s a fascinating and very worthy story, but it’s just not my style.

Takers – Action crime thriller about a gang of bank robbers who find their plans interrupted by a tough-as-nails detective. Starring Matt Dillon (I like him), Hayden Christensen (err, not so much), Zoe Salanda (ok) and Chris Brown (really?). Sounds like a bog standard heist gone wrong film tbh.

Buried, Back to the Future, Made in Dagenham and Takers are all in cinemas from Friday 1st October 2010.

But that was last week and this is now. There’s nothing on this week that’s really jumped out at me but I’ve picked the two big ones that I’m most likely to see… Well actually I’m probably only really likely to see one of them; but the second seems so curious that I wanted to highlight it anyway.

First up, The Town.

I’ve never particularly had a problem with Ben Affleck. He seems like a nice enough guy and having watched him answer the questions for boards.ie at The Town’s premiere in The Savoy the other night, I’m thinking, he probably is a nice guy. Then I watched about 15-20 mins of Jersey Girl last night. Maybe some of that flack he gets is justified.

Thing is though, I haven’t really seen many of his films… so really I have nothing to base my opinion of him on at all, aside from that boards.ie video. From what I gather though, his first feature length directorial effort, Gone Baby Gone was pretty good. Course, I’ll be the judge of that, when I ever get around to seeing it, but it definitely warms me to the idea of watching this film.

The Town is based on a 2004 novel but Chuck Hogan called Prince of Thieves: A Novel. It’s a crime thriller based in and around Charlestown, a neighbourhood in Boston

Having not seen the film yet and not really wanting to know that much about the plot I’ll just say that… given the rave reports from people who have seen it, the fact that I’m enjoying the ol’ crime dramas lately (this film falls into a little Boston crime subgenre that’s sprung up lately and includes The Departed) and because Jeremy Renner is in it (I really like Jeremy Renner). I reckon this is one that’s worth a look this week.

Second this week is the odd one I was talking about… The Hole.

I saw a trailer for The Hole in the cinema a little while back. Don’t know what I was watching… but I remember being slightly confused. I can’t remember if I was at something like Toy Story 3 thinking “Isn’t this trailer a little scary for a kids film?” or if I was at something like Piranha thinking “It’s this trailer a little kiddy for a horror film?” but either way, it was weird That said, I didn’t pay that much attention to it. I thought it looked a bit like Jumanji and while Jumanji might be a great film for all I know, I really have no interest in watching it.

Then the Irish Film Classification Office ratings came out and The Hole got a 15A. A 15A? Just to give you an idea, The Town got a 15A, Devil has a 15A, The Expendables has a 15A. The A-Team has a 12A…. what kind of a kids films is this?

Turns out the director is Joe Dante. The man who directed probably the greatest kids horror film Gremlins. Makes a little bit more sense now. He also directed the original Piranha film from 1978, so maybe it was actually before Piranha 3D that I saw The Hole trailer.

But kids horror was all well and good back in the ’80s, when kids where allowed to be scared. These days… I just don’t know what they’re gonna get away with. The fact that it’s a 15A is encouraging, to a certain degree, so if you’re curious I’d imagine it’s worth a look… but there’s something about that that also makes me a little depressed. If it really is a kids horror and if it does strike a good balance between the younger interest and the scare factor, then it’s kind of sad that 13-15 year olds won’t get to go and see this by themselves and make it that classic scary cinema experience.

Maybe that’s just me though.

Other films releasing this week…

Pyjama Girls – Pyjama Girls actually came out last week but it’s getting a wider release into Cineworld and Vue Liffey Valley this week so I thought I would mention it. This Irish documentary follows the lives of a couple of specimens of that social subculture, Pyjama girls. You know the type, girls who go out around the town dressed in their pyjamas the whole time.

I like the sound of this film, I don’t really have an issue with people dressing in pyjamas. I mean ok, yes, I think it’s a little strange… but I don’t really like to draw conclusions about people based on the way they dress. If I did that then I’d have to accept people doing the same to me and lordi know what conclusions that would lead people to… This film focuses on two girls in particular, Lauren and Tara, and their friendship, their circumstances and yes hopefully, why they choose to dress the way they do. I do hope I get to catch this one.

Eat Pray Love – The biggest opening film of the week and not one that I am hoping to see. Julia Roberts eats herself happy around Italy, Bali and India. I don’t think so.

Worlds Greatest Dad – I’m kinda curious about this one but given that it’s only showing in one screen in Cineworld and I have to fit in Devil, The Social Network and possibly Godfather in the cinemas this week, I probably won’t get to this before it disappears. It’s written and directed by American comedian Bobcat Goldthwait (cool name huh?) and stars Robin Williams. I have a lot of respect for Robin Williams and the critics reviews for this are good so… could be worth looking at it you haven’t anything else on?

Enter the Void – Gasper Noé returns to features for his first film since 2002′s Irréversible. I kinda hated that film but I also kinda respected… though I don’t remember why… So, if I thought I could watch it again without suffering terrible motion sickness, I might. Word on the street is that Enter The Void is quite the psychedelic trip… but I’ve also seen on the posters that it may also induce motion sickness, which personally I think is a cheap-ass device to make people uncomfortable (or at least that’s what I thought of its use in Irréversible) so I’ll probably end up staying away from this one, as interesting as Gasper Noé is.

So that’s it for this week folks and apologies again for missing last week. Though, if you had been listening to Phantom 105.2′s Cinerama on 17th September, then you would have heard me talking briefly about some of the bigger releases last week…

The Town, The Hole, Pyjama Girls, Eat Pray Love, World’s Greatest Dad and Enter The Void are all in cinemas from 24th September 2010.