June 2009 Archives

Cleaner Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams) convinces her sister Norah (Emily Blunt) to join her in a crime scene clean-up business to make some fast money.

This light-hearted movie with a slightly dark humoured edge is in cinemas from Friday the 26th of June.

Because having 'the last' in any title makes it instantly sound cool and have teenagers wanting to flock and watch it.

Despite the somewhat over used latter-end of the film title, first impressions from the trailer are quite positive.

The film follows a half-human, half-vampire schoolgirl named Saya who works for the Japanese government hunting down and slaying vampires. Set just after WWII, Saya is send undercover to a military school to find a student who is a vampire in disguise.

Blood: The Last Vampire is in cimemas now.

If you did not grow up in the eighties or have a family of young children at that time then you will likely feel as alien to this movie as the characters are themselves compared to the original TV cartoon series.

For those unfamiliar with these old toons and the modern movies, Transformers focuses around a group of giant alien robots who can change shape into vehicles. As silly as the concept sounds the formula has spawned a multi-million dollar franchise for over two decades.

In the first Transformers (2007) a good group of robots known as the Autobots arrive on Earth to locate a mysterious life-giving cube known as the All Spark. Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) and his girlfriend Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) become the unwitting owners of one of the autobots (Bumblebee) when he is disguised as a car. But to find the All Spark they end up fighting a group of evil robots known as the Decepticons.

The second installment catches up with Sam two years later as he is about to embark on his move to college. But on arriving he discovers an odd piece of rock in his belongings.
Looking into the piece, Sam effectively downloads ancient knowledge of the Transformers.

Not long afterwards the Decepticons return to Earth with reinforcements, hell bent on revenge over the destruction of the All Spark in the previous movie.

The CGI in the film is stunning, especially when you consider the amount of detail on each character. If you have kids they will love the effects as much as the fight scenes (which five-year-old doesn't want to see giant alien robots beating chunks out of one another?). And there's enough of a human element as well as jokes to keep the adults happy throughout.

The sixth movie adaptation of JK Rowlings popular children's series, Harry Potter arrives on the big screen this July. You can see a trailer for the new movie below.

Johnny Depp stars as John Dillinger, one of America's most notorious bank robbers. Based loosely on a true story, this 1930's romp with fast cars, guns and bank raids is out in cinemas from the 3rd of July.

Christian Bale returns for what he hopes will be another summer blockbuster (although we doubt it ourselves) after last year's runaway hit, Batman: the Dark Knight.

But if you have seen both films you will be forgiven for getting the impression that Terminator Salvation is a futuristic version of the latter film given Bale's inability to change acting personas.

Like Keanu Reeves, Christian Bale seems to give the same broody, glum and often wooden performance in every film role he plays and playing John Connor is no exception.

This movie is the first in the series not to feature Arnold Schwarzeneggarand none of the cast from the third installment. This will likely be an instant turn-off point for diehard fans of the first two movies.

Terminator Salvation skips ahead to 2018, after machines have rebelled against mankind and for some very generic, (if slightly pointless reason) are trying to kill every last person on the planet. Spurred on by the evil Skynet software programme, it is up to John Connor (Christian Bale) to lead the human resistance against the killer machines.

If you have not seen the original movie, a man by the name of Kyle Reece travels back in time to protect John's mum in the 1980's from a terminator who has also gone back in time to kill her (Kyle subsequently becomes John's father).

In the latest editiion John Connor is out trying to find his-father-to-be, who is captured by the machines, as well as destroying Skynet. He is joined by Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a man with no memory on his quest. But Marcus harbours a dark secret.

The CGI and explosions in the film keep an otherwise repetitive and often dull plot punctuated by poor acting going. And just when you thought the Terminator series had come full circle you will groan at the prospect that the makers are planning to make another one.