Despicable Me (2010)

  Gru (Steve Carell) is the worlds greatest supervillain, until newcomer Vector (Jason Segel) comes into the scene and steals the world famous pyramids. Gru has to find a way to one up Vector and decides to steal the moon. There is one small complication though. Gru has found himself in possesion of three small orphan girls who all become quite keenly attached to him.

  This is the first animated feature from Illumination Entertainment and it hits nowhere near the benchmark Pixar and Dreamworks have set for the genre. Although the film has its funny moments and several celebrity cameo voices it lacked the story and the heart of films from rival studios. The animation, however, is very good and incredibly well though out. What distracted me a little was that a lot of the characters looked as if they were ripped from other places, with Vector looking very much like Mandark from the old Cartoon Network series "Dexter's Laboratory" and the bank owner is the spitting image of the boss from "Dilbert".

  Steve Carell forces out an almost passable Russian accent, but you have to figure, if the celebrity voice is un recognisable why bother getting a celebrity in in the first place? Other voice talent includes Russell Brand as the elderly and senile Dr Nefario, Will Arnett from TVs "Arrested Development" as a disgruntled bank worker and most strangely Julie Andrews with an equally forced Russian accent as Gru's Mother. The voice cast stand out for me was a brief cameo by Jack McBrayer from TVs "30 Rock" as an unfair carney.

   All in all, the film isn't horrible and will definitely be enjoyed by children and I'm sure parents will like the sentiment that comes in with the orphnn girls and Gru's new parental struggles.

  Rating: 3/5

  Max

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

  It's a normal day in New York City, that is until the Pelham 1:23 train is hijacked by a group of criminals helmed by Ryder (John Travolta). The situation is discovered by transit worker Walter Garber (Denzel Washington). He learns that Ryder is holding the passengers on the train ransom for ten million dollars to be delivered within the hour, if not, people will begin to die.

  This is your average ransom thriller. It has been done a million times before and often, quite a bit better than this. The story (based on a book) is quite predictable and the characters are all quite stereotypical, the deranged, psycopathic criminal, the calm, mild-mannered hero and slimeball police and goverment types. That having been said the performances are very good, especially from Travolta who I think plays an excellent bad guy.

  There are no major plot twists and the film is very straight-forward and jumps into the plot quicly. It's definitely a bit of a no-brainer, but entertaining enough to hold the audiences attention.

  Rating: 2.5/5

  Max

Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010)

  Based on the John Marsden novel of the same name, ‘Tomorrow, When the War Began’ is the story of seven Australian teens who decide to go camping for a week in the wilderness of the Aussie bushland. When they return they discover their houses abandoned and all power cut off. They soon find that their entire town has been taken hostage by an invading threatening force and they soon have to take matters into their own hands.
 
  I am a very big fan of the books (there are seven in the series), and as far as film adaptations go this was very close to spot-on. The Australian film industry proves we’re perfectly capable of blowing stuff up just as well as the big budget Hollywood films. The action sequences were pulled off with great expertise and gusto.

  I was surprised to see how well a bunch of kids from “Neighbours” and “Home and Away” can make their characters believable in what is essentially an action/war epic. Caitlin Stasey does a fantastic job carrying the film as Ellie. She seems very natural in the role as does Deniz Akdeniz who plays Homer, her criminally inclined, Greek best friend. There were a few weak links in the performances, but whether that was the actors’ fault or the writer’s is anyone’s guess. The dialogue often came across as unnatural and forced, filled with plenty of Australianisms just to remind international viewers of the origin of the film and story.


  Overall the film is very entertaining and all fans of the book should go and check it out.
 
  Rating: 3.5/5
 
  Max