Darian

This is the wrong way, in my opinion, to approach sci-fi. Superficially it does well, in terms of creating the appropriate mood and atmosphere, and it has some interesting gadgets. But good sci-fi should primarily aim to provoke thought, so I think it's usually bad news when there is an overabundance of mindless action--here, the action just takes centre place. Worse, the choreography is nothing to go wow at. In terms of performance, Beckinsale is at the top of her game, while Farrell and Biel are just clumsy.

While Sam Raimi's earlier version was more poignant, I think I prefer this latest incarnation in terms of the cast, choreography, and overall production.

BATTLESHIP is a bit like JJ Abram's STAR TREK and a bit like Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS, except that it is better than both of those films combined (it's more exciting, the explosions are handled with more finesse, and Brooklyn Decker is 3 times hotter than Megan Fox.) Only Decker's and Rihanna's stilted acting detracts a little from the overall excellence of the film, which works on so many levels. It is also ingenious how the writers managed to link it to the Hasbro game, and tie everything together nicely. I expected this movie to ****, but it turned out to be one the best films I have ever watched on the big screen.

The dialogue is ridiculous, but if you don't take the film too seriously--and it doesn't go all out to encourage you to--then you might find it's good entertainment.

What could have been a series of exhilarating death-matches is, instead, a tedious melodrama. I REALLY don't appreciate the pointless shaky-cam thing. No review of THG would be complete without a comparison to 2000's "Battle Royale"; taking the respective budgets into account and hence disregarding THG's higher production values, I declare BR to be a far superior film, in terms of both entertainment as well as social commentary.

The story--and the way it's told--is somewhat interesting, but ultimately for a ghost story, one expects it to be a little more thrilling. Script: 6/10 Cinematography: 6/10 Sound: 5/10 Acting: 5/10 Production: 4/10

Although the story is simplistic and cliched, and the funny bits are lame, the film makes up for it with its technical competence and high production values.

Jason Statham is one half Jet Li and one half Bruce Willis, but the sum of the parts don't equal the whole. Plot is implausible, action sequences so-so. Bonus: the Chinese being spoken in this movie is painfully funny (but on average, more painful than funny.)

Kristen Stewart is unconvincing in her role as Snow White, in terms of both acting and appearance (fairer than the Charlize Theron? Yeah right.) This film is nowhere near as epic as it pretends to be.

Visually competent., "The Raven" aspires towards high art but in terms of being an effective mystery, it sometimes moves too fast for a modern audience--unfamiliar with the setting--to catch up. It is not helped by a slack-jawed Cusack enunciating his lines with less than perfect clarity. Inconstant tension and a weak resolution ensure that the film fails to realise its ambition.

Likely to end up as a cult classic. The high point of the film is Guy Pearce's acting. The low point of the film is probably the CG, which looks too much like CG. Everything else is just about mediocre.

Horror and humour can go well together, because they share an essential element: surprise--which is what this film is somewhat lacking in. It's a potentially good film, but ultimately ends up being not sexy, funny, or scary enough. If the point of this film was to make a statement, it's not one that ends with an exclamation mark. Also, to those for whom this matters: plot holes abound.