If you’re looking for movies to go and see over the Christmas period there’s something for everyone this year.

Starting 11 December, we kick off with my film of the year, “Where the Wild Things Are”, based on the best selling children’s book by Maurice Sendak. It tells the story of Max, who one evening plays around his home, “making mischief” in a wolf costume. As punishment, his mother sends him to bed without supper. In his room, a mysterious, wild forest and sea grows out of his imagination, and Max sails to the land of the Wild Things. This is an extremely heartwarming movie of how a young boy deals with his emotions through his adventures with the wild things. Release Date: 11 December 2009.

We also have the usual seasonal movie in the 3D animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol, based on the classic Charles Dickens story, with Scrooge being voiced by Jim Carey. Release Date: Out Now.

There’s also comedy in two British movies. Martin Freeman (The Office) stars in “Nativity” a comedy about a teacher who gets in over his head whilst in charge of putting on the schools nativity play. Release Date: Out Now.

Then the bad girls are to cause more mayhem in St Trinians: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold. Most of the original cast are back including Rupert Everett as Miss Fritten and the Doctor himself, David Tennant also joins the cast. This time the girls of St. Trinians are on the hunt for buried treasure after discovering headmistress Miss Fritton is related to a famous pirate. Release Date: 18 December.

Then after 10 years in the making we get James Cameron’s “Avatar” screening in 3D, or what has now been dubbed by the internet community “Dances with Smurfs”. Avatar’ tells the story of an ex-Marine who finds himself in a war-zone on an alien planet. Now an Avatar – a human mind in an alien body – the ex-Marine must fight for the survival of both himself and the planet’s inhabitants.

There’s high expectations for this but after a couple of trailers its looking like it isn’t the mind blowing film Cameron was promising. In fact it looks mediocre and the CGI pales in comparison to the likes of Transformers and Iron Man. This could either be great or a rather large of Christmas Turkey! Release Date: 16 December Advance Screenings, General Release: 17 December.

Finally, being released on Christmas day is Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” starring Robert Downey Jnr, Jude Law and Mark Strong. So far from the trailers and with an impressive cast this movie is looking like a lot of fun and hopefully should mark Ritchie’s return to form.

I’m really looking forward to seeing this, although I wont be missing my Christmas Avatar, I mean turkey in order to see it on release day. Release Date: 25 December.

Elf – 2003, directed by Jon Favreau, starring Will Ferrell and James Caan.

If you’re looking for a hilarious feel good Christmas movie, look no further than the classic Elf. Starring the always excellent James Caan and my favourite comedy actor Will Ferrell, Elf tells the story of Buddy (Ferrel), a human who is brought up by Santa’s Elves.

Our story starts on Christmas Eve, when Santa is delivering presents to an orphanage run by nuns. Whilst Santa is putting all the presents out, the baby Buddy spots a teddy bear in the sack and climbs in. Once back at the North Pole Santa’s elves discover Buddy and Papa Elf takes Buddy to bring up as his own.

Years pass and Buddy works happily with all the other Elves, until he overhears them complaining about him and the fact he doesn’t know he is human. The truth comes out and Papa Elf reveals to Buddy that his father is a business man (James Caan) in New York City who is unfortunately on the naughty list.

This is where Buddy’s adventure begins. He travels to New York, still dressed as an Elf to meet his biological father. We then get into the real comedy of the film, with all the scrapes Buddy gets into. These include being mistaken for a Christmas-gram, having his first date and helping his half brother win a snowball fight in Central Park. Ferrell is on form and plays this character so well, he always seems to bring out child-like qualities in a lot of his roles, which are endearing and absolutely hilarious.

Of course there’s the message of Christmas spirit and that whole feel good element, but the fact that it’s slightly tongue-in-cheek makes Elf stand out as a good Christmas family film. Especially compared to most of the usual over-sentimental cheesy Christmas flicks. Just a shame its being shown a little early as this would make the ideal movie to help rest your tummy after the usual trouser bursting Christmas dinner.

4.5/ 5 – highly recommended.

 Paranormal Activity:

Directed by Oren Peli

Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat and Mark Fredrichs

Paranormal Activity isn’t due out until around the 27th November but I was lucky enough to see it early, and can report it will be worth the wait!  This is another handheld camera style horror similar to Rec, Cloverfield and the movie that kicked off the genre in a big way - The Blair Witch Project.  

This movie was made on a budget of $15,000 and has been floating around having festival and very limited screenings since 2007. It’s only recently that the film has gained a wider release. It’s also worth noting that there are three different endings to this movie, although at present there are only two that have been used. The alternate endings are very different to each other, and can drastically change the film. The one I saw is the original ending that’s sent to potential distributors, so at the moment I’m not sure which will be attached to the theatrical release. Once you’ve seen Paranormal Activity, search for it on Wikipedia and you’ll find details of all three endings. You may also be able to find them on YouTube - which I’ll be checking out tonight.

The basic plot is about a couple who start experiencing a haunting in their home and decide to document it all on film. Although the spooky happenings are tame at first, we know something really bad is going to happen as like other films in this genre the usual “videotape found by police…” message appears at the beginning of the film.

Paranormal Activity is a little slow at first, but this is important as it really lets you get to know the two main characters really well. This helps draw you in to their world and what is to become their terror. Most of the happenings are at night, but luckily the camera has a convenient night vision mode. The couple also record sounds via a microphone attached to a laptop. They view the fresh footage each day and at first it’s just noises, but as the days progress they hear footsteps and the bedroom door opens and closes by itself . That, however,  is only just the beginning.  I don’t want to say much more plot wise as not to spoil it for you.

A lot of people think that this whole gonzo style movie genre should have run its course, but as with the recent Rec,  Paranormal Activity shows how well this can work with the right story, direction and pacing. What makes this work so well are the characters; we are shown their lives on film, you see them having fun, doing regular things and enjoying their lives at first. This connection helps get the fear across, especially as you do care what happens to them and feel a part of their world. The very clever timing of the really scary moments also helps, as they happen when you least expect it. Cleverly, there are other moments that build up to what should be a scary moment but then stops - making sure that the tension really builds, along with a slight sense of paranoia.

Its rare these days that a horror actually gets close to scaring me in any way shape or form, but I have to say this was very to close to doing just that. I thoroughly recommend this and also think its one of the best horrors of 2009. Go see Paranormal Activity when it’s released in November.

5/5 stars – Terrifying

This week, Lee’s been to see Saw VI. Assuming that he’s not chained to a radiator with only a hacksaw and a laughing puppet for company, his review should be up very soon.

For superhero fans it’s just getting better and better since Marvel comics have formed their own studio and any characters that aren’t presently licensed out to other film companies are in their complete control. What does this mean for comic fans and movie goers? Well this means we can see cameos, team ups and basically a more defined superhero universe just like in the comics.

Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk in 2008 were the first in this plan, in both films there were all manner of references to other Marvel heroes which included Captain America’s shield in Iron Man, Tony Stark (Iron Man) appearing in the Hulk and also interweaving both movies we had S.H.I.E.L.D. run by Nick Fury played by Samuel L Jackson. Speaking of which Jackson has signed a 9 movie deal with Marvel to continue to play Nick Fury, which will include cameos and also a Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. movie.

Image from Wikipedia

This is only the beginning as Marvel is building up to a huge film event in its next set of films:

In May 2010 Robert Downey Jnr is back as Tony Stark in Iron Man 2 which will also introduce us to The Black Widow and War Machine, this is to be followed in 2011 firstly around May with The Mighty Thor to be directed by Kenneth Branagh and featuring one of my favourite British actors Brian Blessed as Odin.

Then June/July of the same year we get The First Avenger: Captain America directed by Joe Johnston, I’m particularly looking forward to this one as Johnston has worked on some of the most influential and stylish movies ever made from the original Star Wars trilogy and Indiana Jones to The Rocketeer and October Sky.

This will be the final piece leading to 2012’s big event, no not the end of the world but The Avengers, Marvels greatest team of Superheroes! In this movie we will see standing shoulder to shoulder and smiting evil doers everywhere Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk and The Mighty Thor!

The film will also feature Nick fury and we may also see the Black Widow, War Machine and have cameos from other characters, which makes this one of the most exciting Marvel film projects to date.

Update:

Thor cast gets bigger! We already have Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Tom Hiddleston as Loki and the mighty Brian Blessed as Odin. Now rumored to be joining Branagh’s troupe are none other than Jude Law and Robert De Niro in yet undisclosed parts, this film is building huge momentum and could be one of the best adaptations to date as long as Branagh doesn’t get smited by the mighty Mjolnir!

Movie Review:

Doghouse: The battle of the sexes just got bloody…

Directed by Jake West.

Starring Danny Dyer, Stephen Graham, Noel Clarke.

Premise: A group of men head to a remote village to help one of their friends get over his divorce; when they get there, though, they discover that all the women have been infected with a virus that makes them man-hating cannibals (or as they are nicknamed, Zombirds).

I was really looking forward to this as I really loved Jake West’s lo budget horror Evil Aliens and am also a big fan of Danny Dyer, well I wasn’t disappointed! This horror comedy is a great ride from beginning to end and has some great comedy moments including – attacking a zombie with a toy lightsaber and three of the characters dressing in drag in order to fool the zombirds.  There is also a great visual gag for the character Banksy who turns up late and looks like he will come to the rescue, but with a bullseye on his t-shirt he may as well be wearing a red shirt in a Star Trek film!

It’s also good to see the quality of young British actors involved in this with Stephen Graham (This is England, The Damned United) and Noel Clarke (Dr Who, Kidulthood, Adulthood), who both give great performances - especially Stephen Graham. Danny Dyer plays his usual cheeky cockney Jack the Lad, although we do get to see another side when he is captured by an obese Zombird.  

This isn’t Oscar material but its damn fun and will no doubt become a cult classic for horror fans. In my opinion Doghouse is much better than the overrated Shaun of the Dead. Get some popcorn, beers and a few good mates, then sit back and enjoy – 4/5 stars highly recommended.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine:

Directed by Gavin Hood

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Kitsch

Well you should certainly save your money and buy some of those sale DVDs you’ve been meaning to buy instead of this atrocity of a superhero film. Wolverine is one of the most popular superheroes and to do a good movie for this character should’ve been a no-brainer. Somehow Fox and director Gavin Hood manage to make one of not just the worst, but most disappointing comic book films to date.

It starts well. The first 10 – 15 minutes cover Wolverine’s childhood, and the war montage through the ages was fantastic, but its not just downhill from there. It’s being rolled down the hill, stabbed in the back and dumped in a river by your own brother.

The story is terrible and tries to cram just about every mutant that it couldn’t fit in the three previous X-men movies. There’s over 13 famous mutants crammed in with no real development in character at all. The only reason they seem to be there is to try and please fans - which it doesn’t by a longshot! This movie is basically one action money shot scene after another. They aren’t badly done, but without any storytelling to hold the action together, this makes for a dull movie.  It also doesn’t quite fit with the other X-men movies, especially since during Wolverine’s short served membership with Team X he doesn’t do anything close to the horrible and nasty acts implied by Stryker in X2. The ending is also a complete disaster, ending in the worst plot cop out I’ve ever witnessed.  

For those who don’t know, Wolverine is supposed to lose his memories during the process of bonding Adamantium metal to his bones. Although this process happens in Origins: Wolverine, he doesn’t lose his memory. This is no doubt down to the fact that the movie would’ve ended around there and Fox wanted to make sure that the audience got to see his well known metal claws for half the film. Personally I could’ve handled the bone claws all the way through if the story was good. I do wonder if there is another cut of this movie that is more true to the character, as in the original trailers Wolverine asks that all his memories are erased just before the bonding process – and this isn’t in the released version. I also heard that they shot a quite a lot of new scenes 3 months before the release date, and that as usual Tom Rothman interfered. Predictably, as with most of Fox’s big franchises that Rothman sticks his oar into, it always ends in disappointment or disaster as he doesn’t care in the slightest about the core fan base or the characters.

The only good thing about this film are Hugh Jackman, who looks and feels just like Wolverine, but overshadowing him is Liev Schreiber as Sabertooth who makes sitting through this wreck of a movie just about bearable as he puts in a good performance as Wolverine’s long time nemesis.

0/5 stars not even worth a rental, avoid especially if you’re a Wolverine or X-Men fan.

Movie News:

Bryan Singer may be returning to the X-Men franchise. He has been quoted as saying he’s in talks with Fox at the moment. Will this mean an actual new X-Men movie though?  With Hugh Jackman already working on getting another Wolverine movie underway, it may be the case that they get Singer to direct this. Which I really hope happens after the truly terrible and trouble ridden X-men Origins: Wolverine, one of the worst superhero movies since Electra and Catwoman.

There’s a huge buzz at the moment in regards to the adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book Where the Wild Things Are. The film tells the story of Max, a rambunctious and sensitive boy who feels misunderstood at home and escapes to Where the Wild Things are. Directed by Spike Jonze and years in the making, this film is being hailed by critics as the best movie this year and one of the best children’s movies of all time. After viewing the trailers I can say that I’m actually really excited about this film and can’t wait for its December 11th release in the UK.

Woody and Buzz are back! Pixar are re-releasing both Toy Story 1 & 2 into our cinemas but this time in 3D, but that’s not the exciting bit! The re-releases are a prelude to June 2010, when we’ll finally get Toy Story 3 in glorious digital 3D. This time round Andy has grown up and the toys are sent to a local day care centre where they are misused by random children, Woody and Buzz get everyone together and hatch a plan to find a new owner to look after them. You can view the trailer here: Toy Story 3 trailer.