Evil Dead

Psycho, The Wicker Man, The Taking of Pelham 123 et al. The list of rubbish / pointless remakes is long and now continues to grow thanks to this reboot (yawn) of the Evil Dead franchise. Not much point comparing this to the original, suffice to say we have a cabin in the middle of nowhere, some teenagers who make dumb decisions and a whole lot of gore. It's a bit of a shame really as the film has a cracking start and is genuinely unnerving for a while. Before long however director Fede Alvarez throws subtlety into the misty woods and it becomes one long blood fest. Electric knife, crowbar, nail gun, chainsaw...you name it and no doubt at some point you'll find it used in this film. The main problem is though is that there's no real difference between something with such a historic flag bearing title as this and any standard torture-porn from the last ten years. Some humour amongst the carnage would have helped. This made a coin at the box office mind so maybe all you need these days is a decent marketing team and not much else? Rating: 5/10.

Oblivion

The Cruise is back, this time as (what else?) one of the last human beings on earth thanks to some alien naughtiness some sixty years previous. Cruise is Jack Harper, a repairman, who along with team mate Vika (Andrea Riseborough), maintain the huge power stations that have been developed on the nearly destroyed planet and which now help to support human life on a far away space station. It's all a bit more complex than that (the screenplay by director Joseph Kosinski, Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt is full of smart ideas), but the slow burning plot is best discovered as fresh as possible. Kosinski has stated that the film is an affectionate nod to the science fiction films that permeated 1970's cinema and you can't deny he hasn't failed to hit his target. However, as with a lot of those films, the sumptuous visuals can't distract from the fact that when it's all said and done what you're left with is nothing more than an existential muddle. On his day Cruise can really put in a performance, but he seems to have been stuck in the same style of acting for a while now and this is no different. On the plus side (despite the good natured skimping of ideas from other films) this still has a fresh feel to it in these days of franchise film after franchise film. Be warned though, the films signature phrase ("Are you an effective team?"), which was clearly meant to cross over into the cultural zeitgeist just gets more annoying the more times you hear it. Oh yeah, and Tom does some running. Rating: 7/10.

The Call

This film stars Halle Berry. Wait, come back! The lesser-spotted Brad Anderson returns to the directors chair with a surprisingly enjoyable kidnapping yarn involving Berry's 911 operator as she tries to locate the snatched from a car park Abigail Breslin before jittery psycho Michael Eklund can....well...best see for yourself. It's a straightforward premise which was originally planned as a TV series and whilst there are plenty of cracks on show (some of acting of the minor characters is woeful) this makes the most of it's small budget and has a number of genuine edge of the seat moments. A mis-step at the end aside this is solid most of the way through and the brief running time means things move along at a nimble pace. On the negative side a couple of moments of nasty violence aren't really called for and having the teenage Breslin unnecessarily spend the last third of the film in her bra is a bit queasy. Overall though Anderson's old school direction keeps the package together, though you may want to knock off a mark for Berry's shocking barnet. Rating: 8/10.

The Place Beyond The Pines

Derek Cianfrance reteams with his Blue Valentine star Ryan Gosling for this drama of father and son relationships told via the medium of bank robberies, police corruption and suspiciously convenient plotting. Gosling stars as a motorcycle stuntman who begins a side line in pilfering in order to help raise money to help his ex-lover raise their young son. Soon Gosling crosses paths with young cop Bradley Cooper and the film shoots (literally) off into an unexpected tangent. This has an old style feel to it and Cianfrance has learnt the lessons from Valentine with a much needed injection of pace on the editing front and some great one take shot scenes. Most credit should go to Sean Bobbitt though for his sumptuous cinematography which is nicely complimented by Mike Patton’s simple though haunting score. Though basically a film of two halves character concentration wise, the storyline is more of a triptych which needs belief to be suspended on a routine basis and the overall package is a bit too melodramatic. Overall a good film for the non-blockbuster crowd to enjoy. Ray Liotta does some snarling. Rating: 7/10.

You're Next

This has been on the shelf for a couple of years and, though it has its faults, it’s surprising it’s taken so long for a mainstream release as Adam Wingard’s film is perfect Friday night fodder. A wealthy couple invite their children and significant others to their secluded holiday home for a weekend and before long they find themselves under attack from a gang of masked assailants. The opening 20 minutes of the film are creepily effective but, as with most horror films, this loses its edge once the reveal has occurred. If you like your grue though you’re well served as there’s plenty of close ups of smashed skulls, cut throats and the search for this year’s winner of best use of a blender in a film award ends here. On the downside the comic moments fall very flat, most of the scares / deaths are telegraphed and the killers go from efficient practitioners of their art to bumbling buffoons. However, this still falls on the right side of the line as it doesn’t take itself too seriously and Sharni Vinson is good as the spunky Aussie heroine who (of course) just happens to be an expert in survival due to her upbringing in a camp in the outback. Rating: 7/10.

Trance

Despite being a disjointed rush job due to his involvement with the Olympics, Danny Boyle’s latest film has enough up its sleeve to warrant the attention, though personal enjoyment will probably rest on whether you think this disappears up its own fundament or not. This psychological thriller has James McAvoy as an art auctioneer who helps steal a painting but in doing do takes a blow to the head which renders him with amnesia and no idea where the stolen art has actually ended up. Miffed boss Vincent Cassell hires hypnotist Rosario Dawson to lever the info from him. The screenplay is twisty enough, though Boyle’s direction veers towards the garish at times. Also, if you want a film where a major plot revelation is revealed when a female shaves her, er, lady bits (no, really) then this is for you. For those looking for closure I can confirm that Dawson pouts around (again), Cassel does a lot of leering (again) and McAvoy gets beaten up (again and again). Rating: 6/10.

Dark Skies

Scott Stewart was the man behind Priest and Legion. Do I need to type any more than that? OK so the first half of Dark Skies isn’t too bad as a young family (Josh Hamilton and Keri Russell are the parents) start to experience strange phenomena in their house before more sinister and physical ailments manifest themselves. The structure of the film is disjointed throughout and this adds to a nice level of unease. However, it appears this was more luck than judgement from Stewart as, though the slow build up is well handled, the execution of the second half of the film is completely fumbled with the denouement too confusing to elicit any real scares. Things aren’t helped by the naming of the aliens as “The Greys” either. Could have been a decent little scarer, but overall it just comes across as a below par episode of The X-Files. Rating: 5/10.