Limitless

Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is a would-be author whose life is going nowhere. He's got writer's block, doesn't wash, lives in a penniless mess and his girlfriend has just dumped him. So when a friend introduces him to a revolutionary new drug that will help him to tap into his full potential he decides to give it a try.

Fresh, fast paced, original and thoroughly entertaining and by far the best thing Bradley Cooper has done, proving that he is quite capable of holding his own even in scenes with the legendary Robert De Niro.



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The Visitor

A widowed college professor travels to New York to attend a conference and finds a strange couple living in his apartment.

A simple story that embraces loneliness, sadness, laughter, heartbreak and ultimately frustration. Richard Jenkins portrays Walter, a college professor who has nothing to live for since the death of his wife. When he travels from his home in Connecticut to attend a conference he plans to stay at his New York apartment only to discover two illegal immigrants, Tarek and Zainab, living there. Walter befriends them and slowly discovers a way to bring joy back into his life. But when Tarek is arrested and on the brink of deportation, Walter and Tarek's mother find themselves fighting a cruel immigration system. This is ultimately a heartwarming film that highlights how immigrants are dealt with since 9/11. Although it seems to end quite abruptly, the film makes a point and leaves you with plenty to think about.

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Due Date

Father-to-be Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jnr) is forced to share a car with wannabe actor Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifiankis) on a road trip back to LA in order to be at the birth of his firstborn.

We all expected this movie to be absolute crap but it was surprisingly funny. Zach Galifianakis is hilarious. There are not many films that truly make us laugh out loud (we're kind of hard to please) but this really did. There were some funny lines that we still keep repeating to each other. Even the way Zach Galifianakis walked was funny. Go see - we command you.

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The Other Guys

Two mismatched detectives (mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell) take the opportunity to fill the shoes of the top two cops in New York after their untimely demise.

Director Adam Mackay and Will Ferrell pull it off yet again with this fun comedy. Bit of slap-stick, bit of satire, bit of idiot humour, action scenes - it's like a smorgasbord of laughter. Brilliantly funny.

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Zodiac

A San Francisco cartoonist, Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) turns amateur detective when he becomes obsessed with a serial killer known as the Zodiac.

A crime story that draws you into its web and leaves you with a satisfying feeling. At two and half hours long it hardly has a dull moment and when it reaches its inevitable conclusion you actually don't want it to end. The murder scenes are uncompromising and not for those with a weak disposition, after all the director of Zodiac (David Fincher) did do Fight Club.

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From Paris With Love

In Paris, James Reese (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) a young employee of the U.S. Embassy is sent to look after the insane and erratic American spy Charlie Wax (John Travolta) whose mission is to stop a terrorist attack.

Produced by Luc Besson this movie is packed with the most excessive and ludicrous gun fighting and violence that it is actually quite brilliant and one of the best action films we've seen in quite awhile. Totally love it and we hope there is a sequel, if only John Travolta can be bothered.

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Best lines:
James Reece: I'm not your driver. I'm your partner.
Charlie Wax: Yeah, you're the chess player. I read your file.
James Reece: You play?
Charlie Wax: Do I look like I play board games?

Eagle vs Shark

Two social misfits, Lily (Loren Horsley) and Jarrod (Jemaine Clement) become boyfriend and girlfriend after Lily - who works at a fast food outlet turns up univited at a party thrown by the boy she adores from afar, Jarrod, a nerd who works at a video games store. Impressed by her savant-like skills at a video game they embark on a romance. But Jarrod has more on his mind than love as he is honing his fighting skills to settle and old score with a school bully.

Although this has sometimes been referred to as New Zealand's answer to Napoleon Dynamite this was, in fact, released at the same time. Deadpan humour, quirky, eccentric and quite brilliantly acted this movie makes you laugh and yet empathise with the characters. It's quite simply a funny film with a really lovely story and we didn't want it to end.

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Shooter

Ex-army marksman, Bob Lee Swagger, is living in exile when he is persuaded back into action after learning of a plot to kill the president. But ultimately framed for the attempted assassination he goes on the run to catch the real killer and find out who has set him up.

Rambo meets Jason Bourne. Which means lots of heads and arms being shot off but with a good story to accompany the blood lust. Basically one man's struggle against a powerful and corrupt system bent on framing him for something he didn't do. Who could he trust? Hell. We didn't know. The movie made us feel as uncertain as Swagger did himself. It kept us guessing. Would he outsmart the bad guy as he stepped into one trap after another? A movie that involved it's viewer - always a good thing. It's sustains tension and kept us guessing. And we so wanted Swagger to come out on top.

Best line: "You can's shoot me, I'm a U.S. senator."
"Exactly."
pow!

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Inside Man

From a cell, Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) tells us he carried out the perfect bank robbery and invites the audience to watch how he did it. But while he was committing the crime he had to outsmart Detective Frazier (Denzel Washington) and just to throw a little something else into the mix, the bank's president had something in the safe deposit box he was eager to protect. Enter Madeleine White (Jodie Foster) a high-powered fixer or as we like to think of her role ' the token bitch.'

Not your run of the mill cops and robbers film. The plot was fast paced, smart and very clever. The only spoiler - Jodie Foster's role in it. It could have been played by any actor. As good as Jodie Foster is, somehow she didn't bring anything to this film. Nevertheless, we loved this movie for it's originality and are pleased to hear they are making a sequel.

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Flightplan

Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster), an aviation engineer, is flying back to the USA from Berlin bringing with her a coffin containing her husband's body, and her six year old daughter. Three hours into the flight, Kyle wakes up to discover her daughter is missing. The crew tell her she did not board with a child and must be suffering from psychological trauma caused by the tragic death of her husband. But Kyle knows otherwise and on a double-decker plane that she helped to design she finds she has to take matters into her own hands to find her child.

Edge of the seat thriller that held our attention from start to finish. We spent most of movie second guessing only to discover we were wrong. Jodie was brilliant but we were particularly impressed by Peter Sarsgaard who played the understanding air marshall. A really good movie that we highly recommend.

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Half Nelson

Inner City high school teacher Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) is a brilliant teacher, yet he spends his time outside school in a drug induced haze. He also coaches the girls basketball team and one of his young players - Drey - inadvertently catches him getting high after practice. As the story unfolds we delve into the lives of both Dan and Drey as they try to save each other from the consequences of their troubled lives.

Ryan Gosling's performance in this 2006 movie earned him an academy nomination. A slow burner, this movie has the feel of an Oscar winner (or something they would like, anyway.) It's emotionally moving in an understated way and you feel as if you've watched a really good movie at the end of it -- which you have!

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Wall-E

The future. Earth has been abandoned by mankind because it's just one great big rubbish tip due mostly to the waste from products sold by a multi-national company called Buy N Large. WALL -E is a garbage collecting robot who has been left to clean up the mess. He is all alone except for a little cockroach, until a reconnaissance robot called Eve is sent to earth to see if life is once again sustainable. WALL-E falls in love with Eve and shows her a little plant he has found amongst the rubbish. As she is programmed to do so Eve takes the plant and shuts down except for a bleep while she awaits collection. When the space ship returns, WALL-E follows Eve on board because he can't bear to be apart from her. For the first time he sees humans. Discovering the plant, the ship's captain announces to his passengers that they can go back to earth, but the ships computers have other ideas.

A delightful, magical movie of high quality that all the family will love. Little dialogue at first but it doesn't matter because we are skillfully drawn into the story and before we know it WALL-E has captured our hearts.
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Ghost Town

Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) isn't a people person - at all. After he "dies" for seven minutes during a routine colonoscopy he discovers he has the ability to see dead people. Dead people, chiefly Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), who need his help. Frank thinks he is still on earth because he needs to protect his wife, Gwen (Tea Leoni) from her new fiance Richard (Billy Campbell) and pesters Pincus until he helps him break them up.

We thought it was going to be an out and out comedy, with one gag after the other, but it turned out to be a sweet and gentle story about three people coming to terms with who they are in life - and death. We adored it. It was funny, moving and beautifully put together.

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Eagle Eye

Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBouef) is a loser with a super successful twin brother. When his twin dies, strange things start to happen to Jerry at a dizzying pace. Soon Jerry and a complete stranger, Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan) receive mysterious phone calls which throws them both together and pushes them both into ever increasing dangerous situations as they are chased across American by FBI Agent Thomas Morgan ( "musician" Billy Bob Thornton).

Eagle Eye was not on our list of must-see movies, but we are very glad we decided to watch it. This is an edge-of-your-seat thriller with an original script that holds your attention right to the end. The kind of movie that is so fast paced you are in danger of going into cardiac arrest. We loved it! A stampede of elephants could have raced across the room and we wouldn't have noticed.

We give it 4 elephants

Jet Li's Fearless (Huo Yuan Jia)

The true story of the Chinese martial arts master, Huo Yuan Jia. The founder of the Jin Wu Sports Federation.

Yeah, we know. Another Jet Li film. But we like him, okay?? Jet Li stars in this true story of the most famous fighter in all of China at the turn of the 20th century. Spectacular fight scenes and an absorbing story that highlights how the West affected the Chinese culture when it ploughed into China. Brilliantly acted with some very emotional scenes and amazing set pieces. This is a great film, despite the horrible haircuts! Humour aside, we highly recommend this film.

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Get Smart

Analyst Maxwell Smart dreams of becoming an agent for top secret organization CONTROL. When CONTROL is attacked by its nemesis KAOS and some of its agents are compromised, Smart is promoted to Agent 86 with a reluctant partner Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) and they set out to thwart KAOS plans for world domination.

We expect Steve Carell's 'Maxwell Smart' to be a hapless character. A loser who get's everything wrong. But he isn't. He's smart. Really smart. And, apart from a really good storyline, that is what makes this film so good. We laughed out loud and we want to see it again and that means for Saturday Night Bright - it's a great movie.

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Tropic Thunder

Action Comedy Movie

Plot:

A movie is being made in South-east Asia based on the memoirs of a Vietnam war hero. Over budget and behind schedule, the novice director decides to take the actors -- who are behaving like prima donnas -- into the jungle to get the movie shot and to make it more realistic. However, the cast are attacked by local drug dealers, but they are unaware that these are not actors and still think they're filming.

We love an all star cast and this movie has got them by the bucket load, from Ben Stiller to Tom Cruise. At last an original story and even better, one that pokes fun at Hollywood actors. We love the way it opens with a series of hilarious trailers that introduce the main cast members. Laugh out loud funny on occasions. Kudos to a barely recognisable Tom Cruise who provides some of the funniest moments in the film. And if we hadn't have seen him at the start, we would never have guessed that it was Robert Downey Jr playing Sgt. Osiris -- well deserving of that Oscar nomination. Love this movie. It's brilliant.

We give it Four elephants.