“47 Ronin” is a highly-exaggerated version of one of Japan’s most famous legends, unless of course you believe giant monsters were roaming around back then. It wants to be both an authentic samurai film and a film filled with lots of monsters spawned by special effects and you can’t have it both ways.

In “47 Ronin”, a group of samurai without a master decide to go against orders and seek revenge for the death of their superior. If they are going to succeed they are going to need the help of outcast half breed Kai (Keanu Reeves “The Matrix”, “Johnny Mnemonic”) because using the skills he learned from demons as a child, he can defeat the magic surrounding the enemy.

Take virtually any movie starring Mr. Reeves and you’ll find he’s the gifted one, the one with a connection to demons/Hell and prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice and his character Kai is no different to the majority of characters he’s played so he becomes awfully predictable. The other characters aren’t terribly exciting. The special effects are dazzling but there is either too much of them or not enough of them. The combat in this movie is disappointing and there is a distinct lack of it.

“47 Ronin” itself is a half breed and it can’t decide which path to take and instead hops from one to the other whenever it feels like it. For several scenes you’ll get samurai just sat around and then you’ll get one where Reeves fights a witch turning into a dragon. In individual scenes it can entertain but as a whole package it falls short. It’s like asking for either water or orange juice and getting squash, it’s a combination of the two but it doesn’t work as well as one on their own. “47 Ronin” is not one to desperately be on the lookout for.

“30 Minutes Or Less” is a somewhat entertaining comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg (“The Social Network”, “Adventureland”). The movie’s plot seems like something that could only happen in the realm of fiction but it actually is very similar to an incident that happened in 2003. The filmmakers have denied using the real events as inspiration for this film but there seem to be too many coincidences for that to be believable.

A pizza delivery guy (Eisenberg) is kidnapped, has a bomb strapped to his chest and is tasked with robbing a bank by two amateurish crooks (Danny McBride “Your Highness”, Nick Swardson “The Benchwarmers”) that are hoping to hire a hitman (Michael Peña “Shooter”) to get some early inheritance money.

Eisenberg gives his usual awkward guy performance as Nick and he does a good job and is somewhat amusing. Danny McBride is also moderately amusing as Dwayne. Nick Swardson is not funny as Travis. I really did not care for Nick’s buddy Chet (Aziz Ansari “Epic”), who is painfully annoying. Almost every time this man speaks, it hinders the picture. Fred Ward is okay as Dwayne’s father. I did not really care for the hitman character. The other characters in the movie are not particularly funny.

“30 Minutes Or Less” does have some funny moments in it and I think the concept is actually pretty good. While it was far from perfect, I got some enjoyment from it. The film was directed by Ruben Fleischer, who also did “Zombieland” with Jesse Eisenberg and I can safely say that this is a much better film. If you really like goofy comedies involving car chases and a few crude gags then I suspect that you will have a good time with “30 Minutes Or Less”. To me, the movie is okay but I’m not quite convinced that I can recommend it.

“13 Going On 30” works on the same level as many other great romantic comedies such as “While You Were Sleeping” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary” as it has a wonderful innocent tone. The film is effectively a female version of “Big” but while I like that movie, I found this film to be more amusing and more endearing.

Jenna Rink is 13 and just wants to be popular and with the help of some ‘wishing dust’, becomes herself at age 30 (Jennifer Garner “Elektra”, “DareDevil”). She now works at the fashion magazine she read as a child and has an ice hockey star boyfriend but she’s lost touch with her old best friend (Mark Ruffalo “Spotlight”, “Avengers Assemble”).

Jennifer Garner is able to channel the same likeable personality as Sandra Bullock (“While You Were Sleeping”). Like Bullock, Garner is not just visually attractive but has a winning personality and she’s great fun to watch in this movie. Mark Ruffalo gives his usual understated performance but it works here and we don’t feel very sympathetic towards him for the way he’s been treated. Garner and Ruffalo work very well together and their chemistry is very good. The other characters are okay but they don’t really need to be anything special.

“13 Going On 30” is a silly and light-hearted movie but I am very fond of romantic comedies that can make it work because there are so many that do not work and become very tedious. So many romantic comedies fail to get us to care about the characters and their situations so it’s always great to see a movie that gets it right. There are lots of amusing scenes in here such as one where Jenna accidentally chats up the wrong person and the dance scene is pretty good too. Like “Groundhog Day”, this a romantic comedy with a little flavour of fantasy and it works wonderfully.

“13 Ghosts” is a cheesy horror film from 1960 that would later be remade as “Thir13en Ghosts” (the filmmakers of that movie most have felt it made it scarier to have a stupid stylised title). The original version is not really a good film but it does have some impressive special effects for its time and is also famous/infamous for its use of ‘Illusion-O’ (do a little research on that if you’re into gimmicks).

A poor family inherit a house but unfortunately for them, this is a haunted house. Despite the fact that the ghosts appear to have the potential to cause some real harm, the family decide to stick around. They discover a pair of goggles that allow them to see the ghosts.

The family are relatively dull but the fact they seem almost oblivious to the dangers they face is rather amusing. One of the family members includes the young Buck (Charles Herbert “The Fly”) and his calm attitude to seeing the ghost of a headless man is priceless. Also, watch out for Margaret Hamilton (“The Wizard of Oz”), who has fitting role. The ghosts in the film look rather remarkable considering the movie came out in 1960. The ghosts include a headless lion tamer, a lion and a weird firework-like thing.

It’s hard to recommend a movie like “13 Ghosts” but at the same time, it’s hard to criticise a film that’s so filled with light-hearted fun. Hardly anybody will find it scary, some may get a few laughs out of it (I’m probably in that camp) but I think most people will see this is as a really dated and fairly mundane horror picture. I hear the remake is not very good; I’ll have to see for myself yet I doubt it’ll be as cheerful as the original.

“10 Cloverfield Lane” is one of the most surprising movies I’ve ever seen. It’s surprising because I absolutely despised the original “Cloverfield” and this film was said to be set in the same universe as that mess but really, that’s just misleading. “10 Cloverfield Lane” has about as much to do with the original “Cloverfield” as any other movie.

In “10 Cloverfield Lane”, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead “Die Hard 4.0”) is in a car accident. She awakens inside a bunker with Howard (John Goodman “The Big Lebowski”, “The Flintstones”) and she’s told that there has been some kind of attack and it isn’t safe to go outside because the air is toxic. Michelle isn’t too convinced and also with them is Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), who also isn’t sure if everything Howard has told them is true.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead does a really good job as Michelle. The character has a real logical approach to this situation as she’s never really given the full facts and every revelation forces her to completely rethink everything. John Goodman is excellent as Howard. John Gallagher Jr. is okay as Emmett. Some of the interactions between the characters are truly intense and are handled rather well. The occasional bit of dialog doesn’t work but for the most part, everything is fine.

I will not spoil the movie but I will say that the I have mixed feelings about the ending. I think for the majority of the movie, this is a creative and engaging thriller that does a heck of a lot with very limited amount of space and a small cast. I must reiterate that this movie really has next to nothing to do with “Cloverfield” because it’s not a found footage movie, none of the characters are the same or anything like that and I think was a mistake to try to link the movies at all.

“3 Ninjas” is not an original film to say the least but for the most part it is reasonably entertaining, it’s a pity a few things come along a spoil what would be a decent kids’ film.

In “3 Ninjas”, three brothers named Rocky (Michael Treanor), Colt (Max Elliott Slade) and Tum Tum spend their summers with their ninja grandfather Mori Shintaro (Victor Wong “The Last Emperor”). Bad guys get involved with the family so it’s time to use all the ninja skills and “Home Alone” style traps imaginable in an overly goofy comedy that surprisingly features more cartoon sound effects than a cartoon as we see the good guys beat endless onslaughts of puny enemies, that are only there to fall over.

I like the three brothers as they do have some personality to them and while they’re not great they’re decent enough. The other kids are really rubbish though. The grandfather character is pretty dull and the stunt doubles are so obvious even a very young child could spot it is a different person. The worst part of the film though is the three surfing enthusiasts that are used to kidnap the children. They endlessly spout out absolutely nonsense such as “Totally rad” and “Dude”. It becomes very annoying and they’re just awful. They suck a lot of fun from the movie as they’re on the screen for such a long time. None of the adults impressed me at all.

“3 Ninjas” is surprisingly well paced at times with some good moments. It’s over the top and goofy fun and could have got a reasonable recommendation but the kidnappers are so pathetic that they remove lots of fun from the movie. The movie had a good balance of action and comedy for a children’s flick but then these three morons enter the scene and we can’t seem to lose them for a very long time. I’m sorry but I can’t say yes to a movie that features such an a terrible aspect for so long.

There is nothing particularly wrong with “3 Ninjas Kick Back” and I can imagine that lots of children would enjoy the picture but there is no real incentive to see it because there is nothing original in it and nothing do well enough to make it worth the watch, instead of heavily borrows from other films that came out not that long before it.

In “3 Ninjas Kick Back”, three ninja brothers Colt (Max Elliott Slade), Rocky (Sean Fox) and Tum Tum are preparing for a baseball tournament final when they have to journey to Japan to help the grandfather Mori Shintaro (Victor Wong “The Last Emperor”) as they think someone wants to steal a special dagger to help find a fortune in gold. It’s time to break-out those whacky ninja moves for some fight scenes that are much better than I anticipated.

The three children in it are far from horrible and actually do have some personality. They’re not the best child actors I’ve seen though. The grandfather character is really dull to say the least. There are three strange bad guys in it that are obvious rip-offs of the Three Stooges. It seems here that the kids have better acting skills than the bad guys, a classic mistake.

With a film like “3 Ninjas Kick Back” you simply have to ask yourself two questions: 1. Has this been done before? Yes. 2. Has this been done better? Yes. You’ll be happier watching “The Karate Kid” and “The Goonies” because it’s exactly the same but a bit better. Sure, there are some good things in this movie but with no originality and no perfection it just feels like a waste of time for people to sit through. Like I say though, I’m sure a young child would still appreciate it.

As you may recall, I did not really care for the original “The Fast and the Furious”. Now, we have “2 Fast 2 Furious”, a film with one of the dumbest titles I have ever seen. It’s pretty more of the same with heavy reliance on special effects during the racing scenes and almost a complete reliance on mean attitudes for the story and characters.

Former-cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker “Eight Below”) is caught by authorities after taking part in an illegal street race. He is recruited to help bust a dangerous Miami crime boss with the help of his old friend Roman (Tyrese Gibson “Baby Boy”, “Transformers”).

Paul Walker is just there and leaves no real impact whatsoever with his performance. Tyrese Gibson is just really annoying as Roman. The villain is so bland that even a scene in which he tortures a cop with a rat and blowtorch (you read that right) is underwhelming. Eva Mendes (“Hitch”, “The Other Guys”) is okay as an undercover cop but she does not have a great deal to do. Most of the other characters are fairly forgettable. They mainly just spout out dumb phrases as they speed around the streets in flash cars.

One of my big problems with the first movie was the use of lots of special effects during the racing scenes and that problem is just as present in this sequel. There are so many shots during the driving segments that were clearly made with a computer that the races look about as realistic as the podracing in “Star Wars”. The characters are not endearing and the story is just an excuse for a bunch of driving scenes. I just do not get why the “Fast and Furious” films are so popular but there is clearly an audience for them because they keep churning these movies out.