FILM: The Crazies (dir: Breck Eisner, 2010)

"Well, this may be the exception."

Two of the problems with being a fan of the horror genre are that you have to be incredibly forgiving of frequent glaring weaknesses in films, and that great horror movies are hugely outnumbered by at best workman-like dross. The 2010 version of The Crazies, however, is one of those rare American horror movies which comes along occasionally that is intelligent, convincing and does not pander to the low-brow teenage market at any point. With an almost complete focus on the townsfolk of Ogden Marsh and the military presence reduced to short and utterly brutal appearances in this version, the always-reliable Radha Mitchell and the excellent Timothy Olyphant make for a consistently compelling pair of leads, with a wonderful supporting performance from Joe Anderson as the Deputy Sheriff. Even though the general scenario of 'infected town isolated and destroyed' has become over-familiar over recent decades, The Crazies is uncompromising, relentless and hits the ground running. Conventional horror settings such as the mortuary and a barn full of farm implements are given a fresh, kinetic yet controlled spin here, and Eisner directs with real vision by using space and framing to great effect throughout. The lean and taut script also thankfully resists the temptation of giving characters throwaway one-liners (although there are plenty of opportunities) in reactions to events, which is the downfall of so many American horrors. The adventurous and beautifully-designed soundscape is also a treat. The second half does veer towards Idiot Plot occasionally, and there is an underlying sense of inevitability of the fate of the characters, but overall The Crazies is an excellently-constructed, consistently engaging and worthy film, which does something rare in watching American horror: it actually makes you feel for the characters.

FILM: The Wolfman (dir: Joe Johnston, 2010)

"I admire your noble intentions. You think you can save him...but you can't."

There is a very fine line between restrained and dull, and unfortunately the 2010 take on The Wolfman frequently veers towards the latter. The tortuous route this film took to get to the screen may be best evidenced in the unevenness of its realisation, with modern-day visual and aural styles competing with reverence to the period and the source material, often making the film look like Sleepy Hollow directed in the style of Blade. Universal's relatively extravagant budget for this version of one of the late-entry efforts in the studio's original horror cycle gives rise to rich set design and strong location work. Unlike Hammer's brightly-hued colour reboots of the Universal horror catalogue in the late 1950s/early 1960s, here the colour palette is flat and drained to almost black-and-white for the most part. Whilst neither particularly scary or horrific, The Wolfman plays as solid if rather unengaging drama. The underused Hugo Weaving lifts the piece as a wryly written Inspector Abbeline, whilst leads Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt convey objective earnestness rather than emotion. The limited and moderate transformation scenes lack the true human horror and pain seen in Rick Baker's similarly-orchestrated set pieces in An American Werewolf In London, but thankfully the CGI creations here are not of the poor quality seen in that film's Paris-set sequel. A modern-day credible reinvention of the werewolf legend may be possible (although Wes Craven's Cursed didn't quite hit the mark), but as a period-set piece, The Wolfman adds little to what has already been seen, resulting in a handsomely-mounted but ultimately rather pointless re-make.

FILM: Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief (dir: Chris Columbus, 2010)

"You're half-donkey?"

Harry Potter meets TV's Supernatural. The Percy Jackson movie is undemanding but entertaining, with lightweight dialogue and surprisingly full-on action sequences. Of course, it is NOTHING like Harry Potter (title character with unhappy life goes to a 'school' for 'special' children, with an older professor/mentor, different 'houses' for the students, goofy male and plucky female sidekicks, a blond-haired adversary....) We are in assured hands with fantasy/Harry Potter-experienced director Chris Columbus marshalling the generally pleasing special effects (Hades - the place and the character - being particularly impressive). A solid adult cast includes Uma Thurman reprising her Poison Ivy villainy as Medusa, Pierce Brosnan as a centaur (!) and Sean Bean, Kevin McKidd and Steve Coogan chewing the CGI-scenery with relish as lead gods in their brief screen time. The film rattles along and covers a number of locations to good effect, but occasionally script logic is sacrificed for pace (in particular, Percy's lack of grief at the 'loss' of his mother seems very strange). Christophe Beck provides an appropriately rousing score for this good-natured romp which tries its best to please throughout its two-hour run-time. As Percy Jackson, Logan Lerman proves reasonably competent in the lead role, but if Sony insist on inflicting Spiderman - The Acne Years upon us, on this evidence rumoured front-runner Lerman may prove to be an insipid Peter Parker.

DVD: Tranformers - Revenge Of The Fallen (dir: Michael Bay, 2009)

"You deserve better than this."

First, the good news: the second Transformers movie does not seem anywhere near as confusing or visually overwhelming on second viewing as it did in cinemas last Summer. It does remain clear, however, that the two-year turnaround to get a movie of this scale into cinemas relatively quickly was insufficient to iron out some of its deficiencies. The first half has a laughably over-serious and quite dull tone, particularly when compared to the self-effacing fun of Summer 2009's other big toy-inspired movie, G.I. JOE: The Rise Of COBRA. In the movie's second half, the storylining careers around wildly like a possessed toddler, with an increasingly irritating habit of pausing occasionally to try to explain what on earth is going on and barely succeeding. All of the lead (human) characters have very little to do except to move from one location to the next, and the introduction of Sam's college room-mate provides us with one of the most annoying characters of recent times. Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen is clearly written for eight-year-old boys, as evidenced by the crass dialogue and humour, leaving very little for everyone else in the audience apart from some astounding (but very inconsistent quality) CGI and some impressive sound design. The casual sexism, homophobia and racism (even the French are on the receiving end for some bizarre reason) demonstrates a lack of responsibility for its young target audience. A major problem is the long running time; it almost feels like whole seasons have changed since you started watching it. Of course the big set-pieces are impressively delivered on a huge scale, and the level of detail achieved together with some complicated 'camera' moves within shots featuring the giant robots and other visual effects are to be applauded. Michael Bay promises a smaller-scale third outing for the franchise (which we will believe when we see it), but that is to completely miss the point of the main weakness of Revenge Of The Fallen: the robots may provide the spectacle, but the humans provide the heart, and that focus is what will be needed to make the third Transformers movie a more satisfying experience.

DVD: Watchmen (dir: Zack Snyder, 2009)

"There's no need for violence!"

Every frame of Watchmen the movie is lovingly crafted, from the detailed design to the frequently prowling camera and adventurous shots which draw in the viewer at every opportunity. The narrative structure uses the long running time to unfold in a consistently fascinating way, revealing insights and adding depth to an impressive range of story threads and characters. At turns, Watchmen is graphically visceral, poetic and challenging, staying within the confines of comic-book conventions without ever sacrificing a true filmic sensibility. The mythical alternate-timeline is carefully created through visual and sound concepts and sustained effectively throughout. The ensemble cast is superb, and even Matthew Goode's sightly underplayed Ozymandius does not detract from the film as a whole. A wonderfully eclectic soundtrack provides spot-on support and entertainment as the movie shifts through the decades. On DVD as in the cinema, the emotional tone of the movie is cool and technical, yet it retains the capacity to shock and surprise when required. Watchmen was never going to be a box-office blockbuster, so its moderate financial success is a great testament to its lack of compromise to the source material and its audience, and it seems a great shame that another movie venture into the world of Watchmen seems unlikely at this point.

DVD: Feast II - Sloppy Seconds (dir: John Gulager, 2008)

"How does dissecting it make any sense?"

Sloppy Seconds? Sloppy film. I am a huge fan of the first Feast movie, which proved to be an unexpected treat - a taut, claustrophobic under-seige movie that trod a fine line between real horror and moments of comedy, with a credible mix of characters and some clever narrative shocks. The trailer for Feast II showed that lightning was not striking twice, but the resulting film hurtles between being interesting, incoherent, offensive, inventive and quite frankly unhinged. Once past a rather long introduction to all the (stock) characters, in the style of Smokin' Aces, the action then hits a brisk stride, opening out the bar/diner scenario of the first film to a full-on small-town field of action here and creating a greater range of situations and the crucial ability to separate characters. Unfortunately, with a lot of unforgiving daylight action, the men-in-monster-suits creatures are not convincing, although the attacks are suitably gruesome. In this entry in the franchise, everything seems to have been thrown in to please some element of the horror audience, from surprisingly realistic ultra-violence to gross-out bodily-functions gags. The attempt to link the events and characters of this film to the earlier one does occasionally work effectively, particularly in the early part of the film, although the narrative runs out of steam half-way through before picking up again for the outrageous finale. Feast II is gaining a reputation for a particular scene in the second half of the film involving a baby, which is not only beyond outrageous but is also utterly extraordinary to behold and not for the faint-hearted. Yet this scene is perhaps the key to Feast II - it is a low-budget mess, made with bags of enthusiasm but with sufficient polish and creativity to make it watchable, and with the clear intention of simply entertaining horror fans with very broad minds who applaud the intention rather than the execution. Still, it's not every day you get to see a gang of lesbian-biker-chicks battling a horde of carnivorous beasts.....such is the magic of the movies.

FILM: Avatar 3D (dir: James Cameron, 2009)

"It is hard to fill a cup that is already full up."

In terms of characters, themes and emotional tone, Avatar is very much a James Cameron film, with frequent echoes of The Abyss, Aliens and (inevitably) Titanic. What is surprising is the lack of setting up - Avatar hits the ground running and is engaging right from the outset. Cameron's knack of crafting a narrative that constantly moves forward or intrigues is very evident here, making the running time feel comfortable rather than bloated. The richness, detail and immersive quality of the CGI and use of 3D is undeniably superb, and whilst it can never be utterly photorealistic (although this represents another leap forward) Avatar creates a fully-realised and credible world. The 'tree-hugger' moments are thankfully kept to the minimum, although Cameron is hardly subtle in getting his message across here. Careful and wholly successful casting (Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Giovanni Ribisi) in key roles gives the film dramatic weight, and whilst the actual plot is generally unremarkable, Avatar does provide a satisfying and fascinating journey for the viewer. For me, the only real weakness was James Horner's underwhelming score, but that came as no surprise and did not detract from the effectiveness of the film overall. Few films are ever likely to be developed and made on the level of budget and investment that Avatar enjoyed, but ultimately this is a tribute to James Cameron that he could craft a largely-CG film that cut through the negativity and once again showed the whole world what the cinema experience can give to the audience.

FILM: Where The Wild Things Are (dir: Spike Jonze, 2009)

"Looks like a Bob!"

For Warner Brothers, this must have been like a re-run of the Gremlins experience for them; the studio was expecting a nice, fluffy easily-marketable film for the kiddies, and instead got a frequently dark, occasionally distressing and often emotionally-confusing viewing experience. However, like Gremlins, Where The Wild Things Are is a delightful yet challenging film. It is clear from the very opening that this is not going to be an easy ride, as the emotional shifts are sudden and jarring, presumably intended to reflect a child's experience of the adult world. The move from the real world to Max's imaginary land is surprisingly seamless and credible, enahnced by the superb creature creations using physical costume and CGI-enhanced facial features. As Max is pronounced King and has to take the adult role for his child-like new friends, the weight of responsibilty and the narrative trajectories of the creatures' characters provide truly fascinating and engaging viewing, as well as food for thought. Young Max Records is surprisingly fresh and authentic in the lead role, with only a couple of moments failing to convince. Where The Wild Things Are is a very different, almost unique, movie, rather like its director who held out to create a very deliberate, demanding and successful film.

DVD: Terminator Salvation (dir: McG, 2009)

"We will not rest until all of it is destroyed."

The main reason that Terminator 3 and 4 (and to a degree the spin-off TV show) have been treated with generally flippant disregard is that they dared to exist without James Cameron at the helm. Rise Of The Machines did suffer by offering little that was new, in spite of some excellent lead performances (by the human characters rather than the Terminators) and its extraordinary nihilistic ending. Salvation, however, does offer a lot of new angles on the mythology, and the film impresses with interesting camerawork and surprisingly fluid direction by McG. The main difficulty that the movie has overall is that the set pieces work very well and are often truly spectacular, but the movie fails to hang together, coming across as too episodic to give it any real momentum towards a truly gripping climax that the film needed. Christian Bale provides a more militaristic take on John Connor, and whilst Bale is always credible and value-for-money, here he merely swings between growling and shouting. Sam Worthington proves to be the find here, although it is a great shame that his character's big narrative twist was given away in the trailer, as the element of surprise would have proved much more rewarding to the viewer (even though it is so very clearly signposted throughout). It was a bold move to bring the future action into daylight for the most part, and it gives the film a credible post-apocalypse setting. Although it pays lip-service to Cameron's 'philosophical' ideas that gave the first two movies their relative depth, as a summer blockbuster, Terminator Salvation is more than just big bangs and big robots (take note, Michael Bay). It looks as if Lionsgate has won the bidding war for the Terminator franchise - someone is probably writing Terminator vs Jigsaw right now - so it will be interesting to see if they do continue with McG's proposed trilogy.

DVD: Star Trek (dir: J.J.Abrams, 2009)

"I like this ship!"

It is to Paramount's credit that they finally had the guts to stop indulging the Next Generation actors and (almost) wipe the slate clean and start over with a budget that gave the movie franchise a fighting chance in today's market. Whilst Insurrection and even Nemesis were not necessarily bad films as such, they were more like average TV movies which had lost touch with the general movie-going public. Thankfully, the exuberance and spectacle of the 2009 re-boot remain intact on the small screen, making it a joy to revisit on DVD. Praise is due to Chris Pine and particularly Zachary Quinto as the new incarnations of Kirk and Spock, not for impersonating the 60s versions but for two finely-judged and detailed performances. Karl Urban nails Dr McCoy's demeanour from his first entrance, and the rest of the ensemble provide fine support, not just the crew members but solid performances by the likes of Ben Cross and Winona Ryder as Spock's parents and a brief but telling stint by Chris Hemsworth as Kirk's father in the truly stunning opening scenes. The special effects sequences are beautiful in scale and realisation, and Michael Giacchino's terrific score hits the mark every time. The time-travelling narrative excuse for the new timeline still doesn't quite convince, and the appearance of Leonard Nimoy seems fan-pleasing rather than necessary, but overall the shiny new Star Trek is hugely enjoyable. One can only hope that the inevitable (and now much anticipated) sequel will go into new territory, rather than go over old ground or already-used characters/villains.