FILM: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (dir: David Yates, 2010)

"It's a long story......"

Deathly Hallows Part 1 is a marked improvement on the last episode, the low-key and dull Half-Blood Prince. This is the Harry Potter film that really shows how far the movie franchise has come since the early days. It is a dark film, but it is the consistently serious tone and performances that keep it engaging throughout, in spite of the episodic nature of the narrative and the tightly-controlled steady pace. Radcliffe, Watson and Grint rise to the challenge equally, with Grint now showing that he is capably equal to the other two leads. The sheer range of locations and situations covered gives this instalment a lot of visual and character opportunities which translate well to the screen, and the emotional and visual bleakness often makes this a film most definitely not suited to the younger end of the audience. Alexandre Desplat provides an excellent score. Deathly Hallows Part 1 is inevitably one long teaser for the finale, but it sets up the big finish in a very satisfying and coherent way - we can only hope that Part 2 will deliver the filmic goods.

DVD: Nativity! (dir: Debbie Isitt, 2009)

"Who can spell me Bethlehem?"

Cute children? Animals? Christmas? Putting all three elements together should make this low-budget Brit comedy unbearable, but Nativity! has a knowing script and winning performances that put it mostly on the right side of entertaining. It splits neatly into three acts: the film opens reasonably grounded in reality, then becomes rather desperate to increase the stakes in the mid-section and ends with the primary school's triumphant performance in the ruined Coventry Cathedral (!) which makes Glee seem like a fly-on-the-wall documentary. It uses the neat trick of contrasting Mr Shakespeare's private school extravaganzas with Mr Madden's more down-to-earth group of children, making this a heartwarming tale of triumph-over-adversity. Marc Wooton provides a bizarrely funny characterisation as Mr Poppy, Madden's sidekick teaching assistant, but it is Martin Freeman's excellent performance as Madden that gives the film its strength and true heart.

FILM: Skyline (dirs: Colin and Greg Strause, 2010)

REVIEW No. 100!

"Is it getting worse?"

It is two out of two for the Strause Brothers following Alien vs Predator: Requiem: terrific trailer, hugely disappointing movie. Skyline is a digital update of War Of the Worlds, with inevitable nods to Independence Day, the Alien franchise, Starship Troopers and Cloverfield. The fundamental problem with the film is the peculiarly dislikable characters who are forced to spout relentlessly appalling dialogue, with which even a capable actor such as top-billed Eric Balfour clearly struggles. There is a lot of genuine D-grade-soap acting in evidence, suggesting that the Strauses are much better at their day job, marshaling special effects rather than actors. A couple of scenes create genuine tension - the first rooftop sequence works particularly well, for example - but curious or uncontrolled shot choices often undermine the intention. For its budget, the effects are good and give the film strong visual appeal. The film does reach a suitably operatic and nihilistic end-point, but this is then followed by a staggering final sequence that is utterly, spectacularly and jaw-droppingly misguided and tops everything else the film has presented to that point. The Strauses are going to get a critical kicking for this film, but it is novice screenwriters Cordes and O'Donnell who are responsible for Skyline's biggest failings.

FILM: RED (dir: Robert Schwentke, 2010)

"Did you VACUUM?"

RED is enormous fun. The film reflects its comic-book origins very carefully, with a nicely-constructed narrative and a witty, breezy script that the actors clearly relish. It treads that very fine line between contemporary and retro stylings in use of camera and superb soundtrack in particular with great success, in a way that Knight & Day failed conspicuously. Bruce Willis seems born to play lead Frank Moses, ably demonstrating what a magnetic screen presence and precise actor he can be, with Mary-Louise Parker providing the strong contemporary 'straight' character to Willis's pensionable agent on the run. Malkovich's comedy turn is spot-on, and the excellent Freeman and Mirren are worthy but slightly under-used in this ensemble. RED is an unashamed fantasy that is slightly-overlong but beautifully played, wonderfully written and extremely entertaining, and credit must be given to director Schwentke for maintaining style and quality consistently.

FILM: Jackass 3D (dir: Jeff Tremaine, 2010)

"The police came in! Little miniature policemen!"

With the Jackass brand now ten years old, and four years since the sequel movie, nothing really changes with the return of the same team now looking older but definitely not wiser, thankfully. The formula stays the same, but the third movie feels more simple and unforced than the last one, and for the most part it is genuinely hilarious. Unlike Dirty Sanchez which simply aspires to nastiness, the joy of Jackass is the genuine sense of long-standing camaraderie and fun that comes across on screen, which invites the audience to be part of the gang with the shared reactions to what is happening. Surprisingly, the 3D element is not a significant component of the majority of the stunts, but it adds a sense of realism and immediacy that truly helps this real-life documentary-style film. With many laugh-out-loud moments and a high hit-rate, Jackass 3D is great fun and is going to make a perfect post-pub DVD in the months to come.

FILM: Due Date (dir: Todd Phillips, 2010)

"Life's weird, isn't it?"

Todd Phillips follows up the smash film The Hangover with this rather tepid and unsure mish-mash of comedy and drama. There are some good lines and entertaining visual gags, but there are also some rather mean-spirited and uncomfortable moments and shifts which emphasise the uncertain nature of the script. Downey Jr gives an expected excellent performance as always but his character is desperately unsympathetic, and Galifiankis - as his mis-matched road-trip companion - alternates awkwardly between being irritating and simply unlikable. Overall, Due Date is reasonably entertaining, but it never really takes off.