The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Plot

New Moon is the sequel to the highly successful 2008 box office smash Twilight.

It centers around the effects of Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) leaving Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) after an incident with his family makes him realise that she may be better off without him.

Bella frequently sees Edward as a ghostly conscious trying to keep her out of harm.

But when Bella realises that Edward shows up when she is in danger, she goes looking for harm in order to see him.

Summary

Having watched the first Twilight film and being surprisingly impressed by it, I was more than willing to give New Moon a chance.

While Bella and Edward were the main driving force behind the success of the first film, I did think this sequel would suffer as Edward is missing for the great majority of the film.

But I feel the character of Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) adds an intriguing element to the film.

The whole story of will she get with Jacob or will Edward come back and rekindle his love for Bella was at first interesting, but that is all that seems to push the movie forward.

The storyline continues without any developments and I found it monotonous until the conclusion, when the pace of the film rapidly shifts into top gear.

Overall

If you are a fan of the series you will love this film and I am sure you will look forward to the third part.

But if you are new to the series or watching it casually then I would suggest you watch something else.

I got very bored and the movie struggled to hold my concentration.

Most films usually have a weak second installment and New Moon is no different.

Crunch Rating -

Terminator Salvation

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Plot

Set in 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man who has the unenviable task of leading the human resistance against the Terminators and Skynet.

But the future Connor was raised to believe is completely different to that his mother told him.

Part of this altered future is Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a man who doesn't know what day or year it is, his last memory is being on death row.

Connor must decide whether or not to trust Wright. As Skynet prepares its final assault, Connor and Marcus find themselves in the Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the secret behind the possible destruction of the human race.

Summary

I am a massive fan of the Terminator franchise, I was really looking forward to what direction this movie would take.

Kyle Reese's (Anton Yelchin) vision of the future from the first film, has changed widly from what we see in Terminator Salvation and I feel that is a good touch.

I enjoyed director MCG's (Charlies Angels: Full Throttle & We Are Marshall) vision of what the future was to look like.

The problem with the film is that the main plot line of the resistance fighting against Skynet is lost and becomes secondary to the story of Marcus Wright and his befriending of Reese.

The worst part about the film was that I cared more about Wright than the Connor character, that should not happen.

John Connor is the man who ties everything together. Sympathy and emotion is built for him in T:2 and dare I even say T:3, but not here.

This film lacked the connection with Connor and instead of being a guy who has lived through this before he seemed to be just a badass rebel.

Overall

It's a film that serves a purpose in the Terminator franchise, but only just.

I like the fact the ending opens up the possibility for a sequel, but I was left wondering what actually was achieved by Connor and Wright.

If it is a superb action flick with great effects you are looking for then by all means see this film.

If you are a fan of the series, then unfortunately this is not a worthy successor to the first two films.

Crunch Rating -

Star Trek

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Plot

Star Trek takes us right back to the beginning and shows how James T Kirk (Chris Pine) became captain.

After the death of his father, Kirk grows up to be a rebellious youth and has no direction in life.

Meanwhile Spock (Zachary Quinto) is fighting is Vulcan logic and his human emotions.

But there is trouble on the horizon as a Romulan from the future wants to destroy Spock.

Kirk and Spock reluctantly are forced together in order to save the galaxy.

Summary

Rebooting a franchise is never an easy job, but it does have it's share of success most notably the reinvention of James Bond and Batman.

Director J J Abrams (Lost & Mission Impossible III) has taken it upon himself to reinvent Star Trek and I think he has done a good job.

I am not a "Trekkie" and never have been, so I was reluctant to even give this film a try.

But I am glad I did because I really enjoyed it.

The action scenes were incredible and the audio of the S.S Enterprise coming in and out of warp was amazing, the audio team worked hard on making the sounds as real as possible and it definately paid off.

The characters were great, there was some really good casting even Simon Pegg in the role of Scotty was surprisingly very good.

I had heared a lot coming into this film of how Pine would fill the role of Captain Kirk but I feel he was superb, same has to be said for Quinto.

Both roles were filled superbly and I feel the casting for this film is one of it's strong points.

Overall

What this film has done is reinvent a relatively dull and dying franchise to a brand new audience.

I know Star Trek fans will probably not find this movie to their liking but as someone who is new to the series I found it a great installment.

With the perfect mix of action, excitement and intensity, Star Trek was a very solid and thoroughly entertaining movie that I would recommend to anyone.

Crunch Rating -

Bruno

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Plot

Bruno is the sequel to the highly successful 2007 film starring Sacha Baron Cohen.

This sequel focuses on Bruno, a gay charismatic TV presenter.

He is fired from his TV show in Austria and loses his celebrity status, in a bid to recapture his glory Bruno travels to Los Angeles.

He tries a number schemes to get his status back, with hilarious results.

Summary

There was something about Borat that made him connect with the audience. Maybe it was his charm and the fact that he just didn't understand the difference between his culture and that of a western country.

There just isn't the same connection with Bruno.

It feel like most of the jokes from Borat are rehashed here, which is a shame.

The storyline again feels like a rehash of the previous film with our main character having a disagreement with his agent.

Overall

Don't get me wrong there are some hilarious scenes in this movie and it is better than a lot of the comedies that have come out earlier this year.

If you go into this movie with your eyes open and just to enjoy it then you will have fun.

I was more than likely thinking it may end up being better than Borat, which realistically was never going to be the case.

Crunch Rating -

Jennifer's Body

Plot

Just to get this out of the way because I know the male audience will be dying to know.

There are NO nude scenes of Megan Fox in Jennifer's body.

Now that I have that out of the way let me get on with the review.

Fox plays Jennifer the super cool, high school babe that every girl wants to be and who every guy wants to be with.

Jennifer convinces her best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried) to come to a bar where a visiting band are playing.

During the evening Jennifer goes off with the band and becomes possessed.

What starts is a series of murder's in the small town and Needy believes that Jennifer could have something to do with the deaths.

Summary

I thought Fox was suited the role well, I truly believed that she was just interested in the boys at high school and that she was arrogant and egotistical.

Seyfried was a good choice as Needy she semed to be the perfect opposite Jennifer and the two characters played off each other well.

The death scenes lack tension, suspense and to be honest I really didn't care one bit who had just died.

Which when watching a horror film, the viewer should feel emotional when a death has occured.

Overall

Director Karyn Kusama tries to stay away from usual horror conventions which makes the film not scary and not even feel remotely like a horror film.

It gets confused, on the one hand the film shows the difficulties between adolescent teens and their friendships.

Then on the other it tries to be a typical American teen horror film using clever and witty dialogue, but with its main character just randomly killing people.

It's a strange combination and one that failed to hold my attention.

If you like teen movies that contain Fox acting as a man eater, some mild scares and a little bit of gore then this movie will appeal to you.

Crunch Rating -

Public Enemies

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Plot

Public Enemies is a true story set in the great depression of the 1930's.

It focuses on legendary gangster John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) who because of his bank robberies, quickly gets named as America's public enemy #1 by J.Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) and the FBI.

Dillinger with his ridiculously infectious charm manages to endear himself to almost everyone including the public who love his audacious jailbreaks and charismatic charm.

Not to mention the fact that the public have no sympathy for the banks that helped make the country in such a depressed state.

Hoover sends top FBI agent Melvin Purvis' (Christian Bale) to stop Dillinger.

Summary

Depp plays Dillinger brilliantly and director Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral) portrays his cocky and arrogant nature well on screen.

Bale as Purvis' is equally brilliant as the straight-laced cop intent on catching Dillinger.

One thing that is so good about Mann's previous films is the character development he shows, in this film there really was no character development.

Being a true story this film should educate the audience about the main characters, I still do not really know anything about Dillinger or Purvis.

The attention to the period detail in this film is incredible and there are a couple of really good, intense and realistic gun shoot-out scenes.

Highlighted more should have been the cat and mouse aspect of the film. While it is intriguing to see when Purvis will get his man, more could have been done to highten the drama of his impending capture.

Overall

It is so refreshing to see Johnny Depp play a character that is not crazy, weird, or a pirate. Reminding us all what a damn fine actor he is when given a suitable role.

Public Enemies has some magnificent acting and showcases two of Hollywood's biggest leading stars in Christian Bale and Depp, but I feel they never are really allowed to expand on the script they are given.

The action scenes are very well done and it does feel like as an audience you are right in the thick of the gun shoot outs.

Crunch Rating -