Short movie reviews.

 

The Inbetweeners makes the transition from the small screen to the big the screen and unlike many other TV shows turned movies it retains what is most important - character. After another inspiring speech by Mr Gilbert (Greg Davis) to mark the end of school four friends Jay (James Buckley), Simon (Joe Thomas) Neil (Blake Harrison) and Will (Simon Bird) all decide to go on holiday to Malia (in Greece) for sand, sea, sex, booze, more sex and more booze.

After the massive success of the TV show the program was crying out for a movie and the success has transferred to the big screen (the film made 13 million within a week in the UK alone). The Inbetweeners Movie is one of the best comedies of year as it is hugely enjoyable and uproariously funny but it's not one for the easily offended (women are seen as sex objects). This is also not one for those who do not like the TV show or have never seen the original TV show but for those that have seen the TV show will almost be guaranteed to enjoy the film. While the TV episodes were funnier, due to the shorter running time, the film still has plenty of gross out laughs, but amongst the nudity and gross-out gags is a heart as Jay overcomes his embarrassment of being seen with a rather large girl but he soon comes to realise he does love her.

It's great fun to watch Jay lie about all the sex he has had, Neil take a liking to a woman rather older than he is, Simon moan endlessly about Carly, and Will's geeky charm win people over. For fans of the series The Inbetweeners is perfect, but if you are not a fan it's best to stay well away. Let us just hope it does not turn into another American Pie.

4/5.

 

From director Christopher Nolan (Batman, Inception) comes a hugely complex and original story in the shape of Memento. Memento stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby who after an accident suffers from Anterograde Amnesia (an inability to create new memories). Leonard attempts to find the man who raped and murdered his wife with the help of Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Teddy (Joe Pantoliano). Nolan tells the story in a unique and mesmerising fashion, the story is not told in any chronological order but in a series of flashbacks that gives us an impression that we are divulging into our own unreliable memories. Memento is loosely based on Chris Nolan's brother Jonathan's short story Memento Mori with Nolan changing an average and forgettable ending into an unforgettable one. Featuring an engaging, heartfelt and superb performance by Guy Pearce and impressive supporting performances from Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano, plus Nolan's quite brilliant storytelling turns Memento into Nolan's best film to date. Memento is a modern classic and is completely unmissable for Nolan and film fans alike. Here Nolan promised much and with the likes of Batman and Inception Nolan has delivered and is now one of the finest directors of his generation.

4.5/5

Very few Stephen King adaptations are as good as the likes of The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption and Misery, though Brain De Palma's Carrie does come close. 1408 is yet another King adaptation but one that quickly runs out of steam. 1408 concerns Mike Enslin (John Cusack) who writes books about the paranormal, after a tip off he visits the Dolphin Hotel in New York and, despite the manager's (Samuel L. Jackson) attempts, stays in a room with a very dark history. Things quickly turn bad as Mike's life is in danger. 1408 has a quite interesting premise but the finished product never matches the promise that it had. It starts off fine with a number of small and minor incidents that rack up the tension but when the room's paranormal activities become stronger and more surreal the movie loses the tension it once had and if truth be told becomes a bit of a bore. Credit must go to director Mikael Håfström for avoiding a movie that is reliant on jump scares but one that uses physiological tension; it's a shame that this physiological tension was not nearly as strong as it should have been.

2/5.