Donkey Punch

A donkey punch is a sexual practice which involves the penetrating partner punching the receiving partner in the back of the neck during intercourse to try and cause involuntary muscle spasms in an attempt to increase the intensity of the penetrating partner's orgasm. So there you have it, from the title of the film you know exactly what to expect, and that's sex and violence aplenty. This all comes about after three holidaymaking girls from Leeds meet four lads in a Spanish club and it’s not long before they take their party onto a luxury yacht. After consuming a vast amount of alcohol and a concoction of drugs, naturally, an orgy ensues – it is then aforementioned donkey punch is administered, with deadly consequences.

The film sets up rather well, the opening sequences are soaked in sunshine and are riveting despite the lack of likeability of the characters. The story is constructed seamlessly and when the horrific incident does eventually occur there is a chilling feasibility to the tale, after all isn't this what youths might do on holiday...drink, do drugs, have sex (just minus the touch of death mid-orgy). The relatively unknown cast are all competent, albeit hardly stretched (Tom Burke is particularly enjoyable as the odious Bluey), and after half an hour you're enjoying Olly Blackburn's edgy debut. However, the donkey punch does not only deliver Lisa (Sian Breckin) a killer blow, but it also delivers one to the film as it struggles for the remainder of it's running time.

As the boys make a series of bad decisions, starting with dumping the dead body in the ocean, everything seems almost too perfectly set up for a bloodbath, in stark contrast to the first act. Every plot point veers the narrative closer and closer to the inevitable violence and when it does erupt 'Donkey Punch' merely treads over familiar ground. Even the deaths are unimaginative and sometimes unintentionally amusing, there were too many times that I found myself laughing when I'm sure this wasn't the filmmakers' intentions. You can't even reserve too much sympathy for the victims, none are blameless so even the nicer amongst the bunch of 'slags, chavs and slimeballs' you won't shed a tear for.

Verdict: Starts well but gets lost when things look set to get tasty. Half of a good film only serves to highlight the steep decline, although both the cast and director show signs of greater potential.

WALL-E

It would take a brave man to stand up and argue that there is a greater animation studio than Pixar, over the past 12 years they have delivered nine feature films and on every single occasion have delivered a gem. Even the weaker outputs in their repertoire (most notably 2006's 'Cars') still stand up as fantastic films in comparison with those of their competitors. Every single one of their films has delivered financially and been embraced critically, therefore you may forgive the company for resting on their laurels and playing it safe, but not Pixar, they are risk takers and innovators. WALL-E presents their biggest risk to date, a sci-fi epic with an ecological subtext which is essentially a love story between two robots who do not speak. This is not a film you would expect a major studio to make, in an industry driven by revenues you sense that for any other studio the risk would be too big, but thank you Pixar, for what you have created with WALL-E is pure inspiration.

Andrew Stanton is the man at the helm this time around, his CV reads extremely well with screenplay writing credits on 'Toy Story', 'A Bug's Life', 'Toy Story 2', 'Monsters, Inc.' and 'Finding Nemo', and for all but 'Monsters, Inc.' he also came up with the story concept. To add to that he also directed 'Finding Nemo' (Pixar's best flick that didn’t feature Woody and Buzz), so yes it is pretty impressive and you sense that WALL-E might struggle to be in safer hands. Stanton, again responsible for the concept, writing and direction, tells the story of WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth Class) who is the last of his kind cleaning up Earth's un-recycled waste in the year 2815, 700 years after the humans left on executive starliners as the planet became uninhabitable. Our hero WALL-E is left with only a cockroach for company until EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) arrives and they embark on one of the greatest sci-fi/rom-com’s ever told.

The film is at it's best when on Earth, the animation is spectacular for a start but the real joy is watching WALL-E go about his day-to-day tasks of cleaning and collecting with his little cockroach friend. It is fascinating that so much character and personality is created in a little rusty robot that can only manage two or three words, he is without a doubt the cutest character Pixar have created to date. Ben Burtt deserves great credit for creating the sounds of WALL-E - he is of course famous for crafting the beeps of R2-D2 in those rubbish Star Wars films - they bring the little 'bot to life and are instrumental in the character's success. He is a fantastic creation as a robot and the animators make sure they capture every single one of his features for great comic effect in the child-friendly slapstick routines. WALL-E is certainly Pixar's cutest creation and this is clear from the get-go, but when EVE is introduced and our little hero becomes infatuated by her you simultaneously fall in love with WALL-E and want one for yourself.

The lack of dialogue is barely noticeable - and what an achievement that is in a children's film - and furthermore when Fred Willard becomes the first live action actor in a Pixar film you barely bat an eyelid, such is the reality of the world Pixar has created. When things take an inter-galactic turn and heads towards the human spaceship, ‘The Axiom’, the film initially lulls slightly and you fear that the classic you were watching is gone for good. It never does really returns to the heights it was at on Earth until the very last scene but that is because the start is so good it’s almost impossible to match. The introduction of the humans works well but they lack the charisma that the WALL-E does and only when we get past the transition stage in the narrative and the focus comes back to the robots does the film regain it's footing and delivers a fantastic adventure for Wall-E and his amore, complete with unadulterated excitement and heartbreaking emotion.

The environmental undertones are controversial and unexpected for a mainstream children’s film. On the one hand you may commend it for teaching the young viewers of our responsibility to our planet to treat it well and the value of a good diet and exercise, on the other you may criticise it for scare-mongering and leftist ideas that are arguably too dark and cynical for children. The world that is portrayed is one in which a huge organisation (Buy 'N' Large) has taken over every service on the Earth and after the mess they have created becomes too much they abandon it for a luxurious life in space. In space humans have become obese de-generates who are too fat to walk or even eat anything that hasn't come from a straw. However, the deft touch that Stanton has applied to these topics is key - they are there for the audience if you want to take notice...if not just sit back and enjoy the cute little robot. There is of course also the hypocrisy of the huge company that is Disney (who now own Pixar), lecturing us on the dangers of big business and obesity while they are taking hundreds of millions of dollars by sitting children in front of a screen - and this should not be forgotten.

Whether you agree with the film's underlying message or not, it will not affect your enjoyment. WALL-E is a masterpiece which is not only a front runner for next year's Best Animated Feature at the Oscars but also for Best Picture - it really is that good. The piece possesses a fantastic charm throughout and successfully bridges the gap between entertaining children and entertaining adults. There are some hilarious moments, some touching moments and by the time you're done watching you won't have many aww's left in your system. It is tough to say whether this is Pixar's greatest film to date, it is certainly their greatest triumph in animation and innovation terms, but the behemoths that are the Toy Story films are still a force to be reckoned with. Regardless, it’s my new favourite and a film which I plan to see again and again, the DVD is on my Christmas list already!

Verdict: Magical! If Pixar keep raising the bar at this rate the possibilities are frightening. It definitely whets the appetite for the next two on the schedule - 'Up' and 'Toy Story 3'!

The Mist

It has taken eight months for 'The Mist' to descend onto British cinema screens since it debuted in America last November, and has already made it onto DVD stateside. So why have we been made to wait so long? Well it's fair to say that the US audience didn't really take to Frank Darabont's latest Stephen King adaptation, grossing only $25million, our friends across the pond struggling with it’s downbeat ending. The final scene is, well, it's not the cheeriest...in fact it may be one of the most heartbreaking, depressing and downright bleakest endings to a film in recent years. But don't let that put you off, after all, this is a horror movie, you wouldn't expect it to leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

Darabont's previous takes on King novels have included 'The Green Mile' and 'The Shawshank Redemption', not a bad track record. He saturated both of those pieces with an overriding sense of hope, 'The Mist' chews up that hope and spits back a cocktail of pessimism and despair. The film follows David Drayton (Thomas Jayne) and his young son Billy (Nathan Gamble) who are trapped in a local supermarket alongside members of their small-town community, when the titular mist surrounds the store. All matter of horrible creatures, great and small, begin to emerge from the mist in true B-movie style, the threat of the monsters becoming more real and more terrifying with each confrontation.

Trapped, afraid and confused, the shoppers wander towards 'Lord of the Flies' territory as human nature's less favourable aspects come to the fore and we are forced to ask ourselves: Is the greater danger posed by the beasts outside, or the beasts within? Granted this is not the first time that this avenue has been explored, but when done as well as it is here, it rarely fails to raise many important issues and questions about the darker side of the human condition. This is personified by the deeply religious Mrs Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden), her fundamentalist beliefs and crazed rants slowly but surely gain her supporters amongst the wayward flock of shoppers. At times you may question such a deranged character but Harden's portrayal is fantastically intense nonetheless.

Such patent digs at organised religion however and exceptionally thinly-veiled digs at the Bush administration that are peppered throughout the script are shortcomings that needlessly divert attention away from a gripping horror story that otherwise rarely relents in pace and terror. There seems little need for such subtext and the lack of subtlety in it’s deliverance at times grows thoroughly exasperating. Apart from that the film excels and you can barely believe that it was received so badly by the US public. Sorry America, but you got it badly wrong on this occasion. The final five minutes are worth the extra eight-month wait alone, let's hope that we can show it the appreciation that it deserves.

Verdict: A fantastic example of mainstream horror on a smaller budget and the latest on the ever-growing list of successful Stephen King big-screen adaptations.

Hancock

Albeit rather clichéd and horribly over-pitched in it's marketing campaign, 'Hancock' is not your average superhero movie. It has its darker elements, it has its more comedic moments, it focuses on character far more than most and forgoes the lengthy final fight sequence that ordinarily typifies the genre. Will Smith is John Hancock, a down-and-out drunk with anger management problems and super-human powers, however he has no idea where he got them from or any idea how to use them responsibly. It is only when he meets PR consultant Ray (Jason Bateman) and his wife Mary (Charlize Theron) that he begins to realise that it might be time to improve his image and turn his life around.

Will Smith is a very rare entity, an actor who almost guarantees box-office success yet also providing performances that make the Academy sit up and take notice. At first glance, Hancock may not have seemed one of the most enticing of Hollywood's outputs this summer, but when one realises that it is Smith at the helm then all that changes - such is the likeability and staunch proficiency that he yields. It is tough to imagine anyone else playing John Hancock once you have seen Smith's portrayal, and nigh on impossible to imagine anyone playing him any better. He finely balances the drunken, bitter and sarcastic Hancock with the more dependable hero he will inevitably become, whilst hints of the earlier (arguably more interesting) side of Hancock's personality remain throughout.

Wry humour perpetually crackles through Hancock's crude dialogue; whether it be his interaction with children, criminals, cops or his supporting cast - Theron and Bateman. Scenes between Bateman and Smith particularly sparkle, their mismatch relationship is established early and works an absolute treat. Bateman's role is reminiscent of his character in Arrested Development, Michael Bluth, imbued with an awkward naivety and will to do good, so hats off to the casting director for their choice here. Theron is initially slightly less convincing as Bateman's wife who is less than thrilled to meet Hancock, but as the story unwinds she improves vastly as the script and plot gives her potential to do so (answering any questions as to her earlier performance along the way).

'Hancock' is thoroughly grounded in the real world, far more than any other superhero movie to date, and the only point when this aspect actually lets the film down is in the villain department. There is no Green Goblin here, no Joker, Magneto or even a Lex Luther...all we are given is a few thugs and a bank robber with ideas above his station. For some, this may ruin the film as there is no obligatory half-hour, city-destroying, climactic sequence between the hero and his nemesis, for others (myself included) this may be a welcome change. Instead we have a carefully structured plot, slowly revealing the truth behind who Hancock is what he must do to make the transition to archetypal hero. The back-story to Hancock is fascinating and the twist in the tale propels the story into its final act just as you may be beginning to wonder whether it has run out of steam.

What could have been a parody/farce similar to 'My Super Ex-Girlfriend' has been transformed into a thoroughly entertaining watch via a script with fresh ideas and top-notch performances. Where some will criticise it for fraying the edges between being a lightweight action-comedy and a more orthodox superhero flick, I would praise it for blending these two facets superbly and maintaining its edge of originality. The closing sequences may be a bit of an anti-climax, but this, thankfully, is not enough to knock Hancock off his stride.

Verdict: Possibly mis-marketed and as a result of which Hancock will surprise you - in a good way. Will Smith, yet again, does not disappoint.