Film Reviews by Andy

First off, beware of some other reviews on here which contain some minor spoilers.

Not ground-breakingly original, Super 8 is a mutant hybrid of ET, Cloverfield, The Goonies, and District 9. I'm struggling to come up with a reason that this could be a bad thing. Given Spielberg's involvement, there is a tendency to get drawn into cringing American sentimentality, particularly in the slightly rushed denouement, but generally it's excellently paced, brilliantly noisy, has some entertaining set-pieces, a decent splash of humour and is excellent fun on the whole.

It's a kids' film essentially, but presented in a grown up manner without being patronising or condescending, much like the aforementioned ET and The Goonies. It's probably not as good as these two, but it's not trying to compete. Kids will love it, adults should get plenty out of it, as long as the weight of the world hasn't crushed their spirit so much that they've forgotten what it was like to be 12 years old and in a whole world of trouble.

The words of the Time Out review in the synopsis above are right, this film is extremely stylish. Style alone isn't enough of course and Solaris is a reasonable effort from Soderbergh although it's far from his best work. The tone is eerie and tense, and it borrows a lot from the likes of Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Event Horizon. Clooney turns in a decent performance and is well supported by the rest of the cast. Probably not the best of its genre but well worth a watch.

The credits should really tell you all you need to know here, Starring Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short, Directed by John Landis, Written by Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin and Randy Newman. Anybody with a passing knowledge of 80's American comedy will know exactly what this film is going to be like.

The jokes, gags and the slapstick are all non-stop with the three leads revelling in the freedom the roles allow. There is nothing big nor clever about anything in this film, but it's hilarious nevertheless. If you like anything from the filmographies of any of the people I've mentioned above, there's a good chance you'll have a ball with Three Amigos.

For most actors/directors, this film would be a career defining moment. For Eastwood though, this is just another magnificent addition to a staggering career. The film is a character piece and Eastwood's Kowalski is worthy of 2 hours of your time. His screen presence is second to none, the simple plot develops at a comfortable pace and the denouement is breathtaking. Eastwood's career has been long and distinguished and yet when it's finally reviewed, gems like this in his later years will go down as genuine highlights.

The premise of a grumpy, drunk, antagonistic super 'hero' is brilliantly conceived if only adequately realised here. This is a role that is well within Smith's abilities and as such it feels like a bit of a throwaway performance. This may be all that was required however in this nicely paced, humourous action film. It's light on gravitas but breezes effortlessly past, the biggest gripe being the Charlize Theron story thread which occupies the final act and feels almost like an afterthought. Despite the minor grumbles, it's quite good fun. The sort of film the mark of 3 out of 5 was made for.