Inception

Was I dreaming or was that the best movie of the year. Watched it down in Hasselt and they put in a break in the middle. I hate breaks in the middle but it's a long movie so I appreciate the loo break.

Don't want to tell you too much as I may give it away, but the story is compelling, the acting spot on and the effects stunning. The tension towards the end is real edge of the seat stuff.

Definitely one to see on the big screen and a solid 4 out of 5.

Kick Ass

Kick Ass did kick some ass. I was a little worried that it might be a little corny or cheesy, but it was well done. Funny and sad at moments, with plenty of action and lots of bad language.

All the acting was great, particularly Nick Cage's Big Daddy. Some great music as well (was that banana splits?) and what, according to my friend was a tribute to Call of Duty. All you FPS players will recognise the sequence immediately.

I have to admit that although I am a comics fan, I had not read the books, so wasn't expecting anything and maybe that helped. And I certainly don't want to give anything away either, so I won't tell you how it turned out. But I will recommend that you do go and see it. Just not in the UGC Antwerp, which is really looking a bit run down these days, but still charges you silly prices to get in, buy a snack, and go for a pee.

Up in the air

Finally thought I had found a movie that both me and the missus would enjoy. Looked quite humourous from the trailer. Unfortunately the trailer was just about the whole movie.

The ten minute long title sequence at the start was the first warning. There are a couple of funny moments and some eye candy - George Clooney for the ladies and Vera Farmiga for the blokes. And while it's well-acted on the whole, just about nothing happens for the entire duration of the movie. It's so boring that one of my friends actually walked out.

Really disappointed. 1 out of 5

Avatar 3D

Dear god, my eyes!

Well it was even more visually stunning in 3D than in 2D. Well, for eveyone except my brother. But that's more down to the fact that he's pretty much blind in one eye.

And speaking of blind, I now have a 3D hangover and hope that my eyes return to normal within the next week or so.

In summary: 3D is great, but painful.

Avatar

I just saw it, admittedly only in 2D, but was totally blown away by the special effects. Got to give credit to Mr Cameron, he raised the bar with this. I will probably try to see it again in 3D just to get the full effect.

He certainly packed a lot into two and a half hours and I sure enjoyed it. BUT.

Yeah, you knew that was coming. Well, for a start the humans were just a little one sided for me. Either too goody, goody or just plain bad. Meh, maybe their personality quirks ended up on the cutting room floor but it was just a little too black and white, which is quite an achievement considering the glorious colours of the forest at night.

Also, there were just a few too many cliches:

- the nasty corp (Aliens - although I guess this one could have been deliberate. If so, kudos to you Mr Cameron)
- the whole indians versus cowboys, err aliens vs marines (I've heard it called Dances with wolves with a happy ending)
- the cavalry charge (Polish lancers vs Panzers, Charge of the light brigade). Even I know not to charge machine guns, meh.

Maybe all these things were fresh and great ideas when he wrote it, but they were just a little jaded for 2010. Or maybe that's just me.

I'll give it 4 stars out of 5 as I believe it really needs to be seen on the big screen and ideally in 3D (I'll let you know if I do go back). But those little niggles kept it from getting that extra star.