Rambo ; Rambo had some terrible reviews by the press stating it was too violent and gory, totally missing the point that the film is set in bloody war-torn Burma within all the genocide thats currently happening - OK, and its a Rambo sequel and you'd have to be retarded not to expect action.
Rambo doesn't initiate any of the violence without good cause, but when the reason's there the payback is awesome in every sense of the word. To many this sees the return of the violent action films made in the eighties, I honestly don't remember them being quite like this though. With the aid of digital effects and absolutely amazing sound (it really needs to be watched in a cinema with a decent sound system), the action looks and sounds incredibly real. Stallone does a fantastic job resurrecting John Rambo and at 61 still manages to run about and kick ass like he could in the glory days.
Rambo is currently my favourite Film of the Year.
The Bank Job ; This film is 'based' on a true robbery in London during the seventies. It stars Jason Statham and several other recognizable British faces. The film plays out like an ITV or BBC drama special, not truly outstanding for a feature length movie. The dialogue was absolutely awful together with some crappy Dick Van Dyke cockney accents, it became a bit of a comedy. Statham desperate to use his martial arts skills eventually gets to kick ass in one of the final scenes which seemed totally out of character.
Semi-Pro ; Here we have yet another Will Farrell sports comedy! Slated by the reviewers I entered the cinema with extremely low expectations but was pleasantly surprised. To be honest I think most of Will Farrell's movies get awful write ups but I usually enjoy them. While Semi-Pro won't stand out as one of Farrell's better comedies it certainly is packed with funny/crazy moments. Arrested Development's Will Arnett had some great scenes as one of the sports commentators, smoking/drinking/swearing all the time!
Vantage Point ; Vantage Point tells the story of an attempted assassination on the American presidents life whilst in Spain. The points of view from seven (I think!) different characters show angles of the moments leading up to and after the assassination, gaining various pieces of evidence together as the story unfolds towards the ultimate conclusion. Packed with several famous faces such as Sigourney Weaver, Matthew Fox, Forrest Whitaker and Dennis Quaid this gives a different approach to story telling. Each persons point of view gets its own mini film built around the same time period which can get a bit repetitive since some of the characters stories cross (after a few view points the audience started to groan, that made me laugh!). All in all its a pretty good film, if this site had the star rating system I originally intended it to have it would score a 7 out of 10.
