theOneliner.com: Handling the Truth

Another delay for which we must apologies. Regularity is not our strong suit. We will add more fibre and prunes to our diet. We drop the bomb on The Hunger Games, The Cold Light of Day, Moonrise Kingdom, This Must Be The Place, Dark Shadows, The Dictator, The Avengers, The Raid, and Prometheus.

The Hunger Games is being lined up for the Harry Potter franchise treatment, and it's off to a pretty reasonable start. There's some pretty effective build up to the titular bloodsport, and even if the execution of that there game isn't quite up to the same standard it's a pretty good start.

The Cold Light of Day is perhaps the most generic, mediocre thriller I've seen, and really the only notable thing about it is the mystery of how such a banal script attracted such a talented cast, who do little to elevate the material.

Moonrise Kingdom is Wes Anderson back at his finest, with a wonderfully charming cast backing up a tale of teenage love. While it's obviously still a Anderson film, some of the whimsy has been reined in that makes it easier to connect with his characters. Perhaps his best film.

This Must Be The Place is amazingly weird and stars Sean Penn, but despite that it's pretty damn good.

Dark Shadows sees a vampire Johnny Depp dug up after a two hundred year dirt-nap to find a very different world and his family falling on hard times due to the influence of the witch who cursed him so. Sold as a comedy, it's relying far more on the dramatic conflict between these two to carry the film. It's not brilliant.

The Dictator is more of the usual Sasha Baron Cohen schtick, with him attempting to reclaim his rightful dictatorship of the country his uncle Ben Kingsley has usurped. Pushing the edges of bad taste, there's enough hits to make it worth a look for Cohen fans, but there's nothing much you haven't seen before.

The Avengers is as good a comic-book hero film that I've seen of late, with Joss Whedon pulling out a great ensemble performance that helps raise the film above the plot, which barely passes muster. The talented cast make this a greatly enjoyable spectacle.

The Raid is as good an action film as I've seen of late. Tremendous action, brilliant displays of martial arts and innovative fight scenes and bone-crunching outcomes make this absolutely riotous. Essential viewing for any action fan.

Prometheus is a return for Ridley Scott to the Aliens franchise, although he seems to have rather missed the point in our view. Half ponderous metaphysical exploration of humanity's origin, half rudimentary Alien remake, there's enough spectacle on display to mildly recommend it, but it's doing a poor job of answering its own questions.

That is all for now. We'll be back sometime soon, so until then keep your nose clean and if you can't be good, be lucky.