Views from the Void

The Hangover
Plot: Doug is about to get married, so for his stag do he takes his friends, Phil and Stu, along with his fiancees strange brother Alan, to Las Vegas for a stag do. The night starts off well with a celebratory drink on the roof of their hotel… ..
But the next morning they wake up, their room is trashed, there is a tiger in the bathroom, there is a baby in the cupboard, Stu has lost a tooth, Phil has a hospital tag on his arm and Doug is totally missing. And no-one can remember a thing about the night before.
They three have to piece together the clues to find out what happened during their stag night, find what happened to Doug and get him back in time for his wedding!
My thoughts: As a Red Darf fan this has striking similarities to the episode ‘Thanks for the Memory’ when the whole weekend disappeared, the jigsaw was completed and two legs were broken! This is a cleverly developed film although the plot is a little cliché at times. All the things you can expect to happen do happen. The clever thing about it is connecting the timeline together as the three friends try to puzzle over the events of the night before. Some leads end up to shocking (for the characters, but obvious to the viewer) events, but produce dead ends in the serach for Doug.
Basically this is a good fun film with an intelligent plot and many laughs! Definitely worth a watch this summer!
Best bit: When the cops finally catch up with the boys. And the tiger!
Score: 08/10

Drag me to Hell
Plot: When Christine Brown turns down Mrs Ganush’s request to extend her loan,Mrs Ganush curses with a Laima, a demon that taunts you for three days then (as the title suggests) drags you to hell. Christine, with the help of medium Rham and boyfriend Clay, has to find a way to lift the curse before the three days are up.
My thoughts: This is a dark ly comic horror and not to be taken seriously. This film had more scenes that made me go ‘eeurgh’ than any horror film I have seen. And not because of the use of horror, blood or gore. But because false teeth are gross! The first attack scene when the old Mrs Ganush (who is amazingly difficult to kill) attacks Christine, there is enough toothless slobbery sucking to make anyone turn away!
The plot itself is straight forward, and you may well see the twist coming a mile off (especially if you wondered why Clay put the coin in the envelope early on). There is of generic horror elements, some of which have a comic touch (I personally liked the goat), and it is worth watching just to see how Christine copes with the dilemma of whether to pass the curse on.
ON the whole it is a worthy comic horror movie to be taken with a pinch of salt… but please keep your teeth in!
Best bits: The attack in the car park, and the séance
Score: 7/10

Terminator Salvation
Plot: It’s 2018 and John Connor is leading the resistance against Skynet. They believe they have found a signal which can stop the machines from working. They need to test it and attack San Franisico’s main Skynet base, but young rebel, and future father of Connor, Kyle Reese ends up being held captice there. Can John rescue the boy before the attack, and can he trust the mysterious new arrival, Marcus Wright
My thoughts: Thanksfully the television showed T3 earlier in the week and I managed to bone up on some opf the plot. T3 was a bit camp and rubbish and in comparison this film is very good. In fact I really enjoyed it! The story is straight forward with few twists, but there is plenty of fast action and machine mashing, and the story connects well with the other previous films. There is even Arnie’s face (badly cgi’d) on the big T800 at the end!
ON the whole this is a fun,fast paced sci fi film which introduces the next ‘chapter’ of the terminator films.
Best bit: The action scene as Marcus tried to protect Kyle
Score: 7/10

X Men Origins: Wolverine
Plot: James Howlett (AKA Logan) and half brother Victor Creed survive through many years and wars doing what they do best. killing! After surviving a firing squad, Major Stryker offers them work on a mutant strike force ‘team X’. The questionable antics force Logan to leave the team and he heads off to lead a normal life with girlfriend Kayla. Six Years Later, Stryker returns to inform Logan that Victor is now killing off members of team X and offers him a way to defeat him; by giving him a skeleton of adamantine, which he agrees to after Victor kills Kayla. Stryker then double crosses Logan (now nicknamed Wolverine) so Logan hunts down Stryker and his laboratory, where they are experimenting on a new killer, Weapon XI.
My Thoughts: I am not sure my plot description does the film justice, as it appears to be a touch confusing, but the film does make sense. I was worried that the film will just be about Wolverine and how he began, but thankfully there is a great story and some great new mutant characters, such as Dukes and Gambit! The action is fast paced and thrilling, with some great fight scenes.
On the whole this film is a wonderful addition to the X-men universe.
Best Bit: The end fight scene with Creed and Weapon 11! Also the new characters are good fun: my favourite was Gambit and I hope to see him again.
Score: 9/10

Angels and Demons
Plot: Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is back. The Pope has died and four Preferiti have been kidnapped by someone claiming to be Illuminati. They are going to kill one every hour and lay their bodies at altars around Rome and then blow up the Vatican using a stolen vial of AnitMatter. Can Longdon, with the help of Physicist Vittoria, follow the clues of the Illimunati before the anti matter explodes?
My Thoughts: I read the book after the Da Vinci Code Book, but found the book slower to get in to. The film also suffers from the same thing. It takes a while to get going. The action really only starts when they are follwing the path through Rome. In my mind, his book didn’t transfer to film so well (and I think they changed a few things, but it was a long time since I read the book). There are some nice action scenes, like the ‘Fire’ scene, but it never really hits any great crescendo and I didn’t get to feel much of a sense of danger from the threat.
It is still a good film, but I think the book was better.
Best Bit: The ‘Fire’ and ‘Water’ scenes.
Score: 7/10

Star Trek
Plot: Not to give too much away… new academy recruits Kirk, Spok, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov and ‘Bones’ board the brand new flagship ‘Enterprise’ as they try to stop the threat of a Rogue Romulan from the future… one with a grudge against Ambassador Spok! Let the adventure begin…
My Thoughts: To be honest I was expecting not to like this film as much as I did. I had heard that the new ‘Kirk’ was a bit arrogant and unlikeable, but I found him quite believable as the hero (and I didn’t dislike him). Sylar from Heroes makes a brilliant Spok and really added something to the role. In fact the entire crew were very well drawn and believeable… except for one thing that really annoyed me. And that was the Uhura/Spok thing. Where did that come from? I didn’t find that at all believable. And if you’re wondering why I didn’t list Scotty in the crew above, it’s because they pick him up a bit later. And Simon Pegg does a great job as Scotty- regardless of the accent , but my favourite character was Chekov- A manic mathematician with the inablility to say the letter V. The story is well delivered and the action is gripping right from the start. The script has enough for the old fans to enjoy but obviously gives scope for writers to begin afresh for future films (and I hope there are more)
On the whole it is a well written action adventure that really made me thirsty for more. If only they didn’t do the Uhura/ Spok thing.
Best Bit: Bones stows Kirk onto the Enterprise by giving him an injection, with some bizarre side effects
Score: 10/10 ( I was tempted to drop it down to 9 but I decided to turn a blind eye to the Uhura/Spok thing)

Ghosts of Girlfriends past
Plot: Connor Mead is a fashion photographer and a certifiedbachelor/ladies man. He gets invited to his brothers wedding, where he gets visited by the ghost of his uncle Wayne. The ghost tells him to expect visits from three ghosts overnight, the ghost og girlfriends past, present and future. Will they help him change his ways and realise that his only true love, Jenny, could be escaping him.
My thoughts: You may be mistaken to think that this is a subtle remake of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol’. But you’d be wrong! Because it is no way subtle! In fact at one point it, it makes fun of the fact.; when the ghosts have visited he opens the window and calls out to a young lad in the snow “What day is it today? Is it Christmas?”
The characters are one dimensional so as not to complicate the idea of the simple plot. The film is cheesy but not unpleasant and although the comedy is never laugh out loud funny, there isbound to be enough to put a smile on your face. The characters are paint by numbers characters, as if someone had a checklist of stereotypes to have in the film. Connors character is “over the top” batchelor-esque but I suppose this is to make the change more obvious at the end.
On the whole a pleasant comedy, but it had no real stand out moments. I was wishing for a scene stealer like Rupert Everett in ‘My Best friends Wedding’, but it never quite happened.
Best bits: The ghost of Christmas Past was quite funny. And the Weding cake disaster
Score: 6/10