The original movie “Escape From New York” wasn’t brilliant but it was enjoyable, however “Escape From L.A.” is a shameless rip-off of the first that basically amounts to a pointless sequel and more importantly a pointless film that should most likely be skipped.

In “Escape From L.A.”, the President’s daughter Utopia (A.J. Langer) has been brainwashed making her take a doomsday device to L.A., which after an earthquake has drifted away from the mainland of America and has become a place to send undesirables (exactly ike how New York is a prison in the first one). The government send in Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell “The Thing”) to retrieve the box and kill the President’s daughter before a war starts so as you can see it’s virtually identical to the original.

Kurt Russell is once again alright as Snake Plissken. I disagree with the statement that Plissken is one of the greatest film characters ever devised (something I’ve strangely heard quite a few times). Steve Buscemi (“Reservoir Dogs”), Cliff Robertson (“Spider-Man”) and Bruce Campbell (“Evil Dead”) all make appearances but fail to be anything special. The worst character is a hideous man/woman named Hershe that serves no real purpose whatsoever. Just like the original the film fails to succeed in the acting department.

“Escape From L.A.” may change details but it is the same film as “Escape From New York”, which is very surprising seen as it was done by the same director (John Carpenter “Halloween”). It’s not just bad because it is the same as the original but it’s because it just does everything weaker than “Escape From New York”. The movie lacks the clever craftsmanship of the first movie that depicts several forms of culture in the society of criminals but everything in this is a cheesy and as stupid as it comes but without actually being funny. Sure there are plenty of explosions and a hysterically idiotic ending but aside from that the film is a bomb.

“Escape From Alcatraz” is a rather enjoyable prison film starring Clint Eastwood (“Gran Torino”, “Sudden Impact”). This is a brutal picture about prison life with enough of Eastwood’s rough and tough charm to make it well worth a watch. The film also marked the fifth and final collaboration between Eastwood and director Don Siegel with their previous work including “Dirty Harry”.

Based on a true story, “Escape From Alcatraz” follows prisoner Frank Morris (Eastwood). Along with three other inmates, Morris tries to find a way to escape the infamous Alcatraz prison. He thinks he may have found a means of getting out but he will have to be mindful of the strict warden (Patrick McGoohan “Scanners”) that intends to maintain the prison’s record of no successful escapes.

Clint Eastwood is of course the perfect man for a movie like this; he has the perfect combination of toughness and wit to completely convince you that this is the sort-of man that would capable of getting out of Alcatraz. Patrick McGoohan is okay as the warden character. The other prisoners are all pretty good even though there are not really any that particularly stand out as anything special. Also, notice that the cast includes a young Fred Ward (“Tremors”) as one of the inmates.

“Escape From Alcatraz” is a suspenseful thriller with a great performance from Clint Eastwood. The film does have some disturbing moments including a scene where a distressed prisoner harms himself so just be aware that this is not a family film. Possibly my favourite line in the movie is where a guard says to Eastwood ‘Welcome to Alcatraz’ and then the lightning strikes. If you like prison movies or you are a fan of Clint Eastwood then “Escape From Alcatraz” is something you really need to see. I actually think most people will get some level of enjoyment from watching it.

“Ernest Saves Christmas” is an alright entry in the overly silly and generally not very good “Ernest” set of films as it focuses less on our good at heart moron and instead on its setting; Christmas.

“Ernest Saves Christmas” has Ernest P. Worrell as a taxi driver and after a blundering drop-off, he picks up probably the most interesting passenger he’ll ever pick up; Santa Claus himself (Douglas Seale “Aladdin”). Also, on the way he meets a bad attitude girl named Harmony (Noelle Parker “Look Who’s Talking Too”). Together these eccentric characters must help save Christmas and get Santa to find a replacement in the form of a children’s entertainer (Oliver Clark “A Star Is Born”). Santa has his reindeer come for a visit as brothers Chuck and Bobby (Gailard Sartain “Ernest Goes to Jail”, Bill Byrge “Ernest Scared Stupid”) must look after them.

Jim Varney (“Toy Story”, “Ernest Goes to Jail”) gives a lot of passion and at times while he isn’t funny you can sense he’s really trying. I absolute love it though when he impersonates other people including a stuck-up governor’s assistant and an old lady; I found it just laugh out loud funny. Douglas Seale is wonderful as Santa; he embodies the character perfectly and is truly one of the greatest onscreen Santas. Harmony is an interesting character as she starts off as a little brat but slowly you find there’s more to her and she actually goes through a lot of change, which I find very compelling in a movie. Oliver Clark is believable as the children’s entertainer named Joe, who is destined to become the new Santa. Chuck and Bobby are okay.

All-round although the film is very daft and quite twee at points, the movie does try to embody the spirit of Christmas and is a generally cheerful movie and I think some young children will think it’s okay.

It took years and years to make “Eraserhead” and it didn’t pay off. There’s a reason why “Star Wars” and “Metropolis” work so well, they feature fully-realised environments brimming with little details; “Eraserhead” is as empty as they come. A depressing film from David Lynch, who has disappointed me with his other work including the tv series “Twin Peaks” and his movie “Dune”.

“Eraserhead” tells the story (well sort-of tells a story) about a nervous fellow named Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) and his mutant baby. It’s done in black and white but and full of camera tricks yet if feels poorly executed and forced; it’s like a home movie wanting to be “2001: A Space Odyssey”.

I kind-of like Jack Nance as he stands there with bizarre hair and offers long pauses before every response his gives yet he feels more like something from a satire than from a movie like this. Everyone else is strange yet not in an endearing way but more in an off-putting sense. The characters are only used as tools to further distance the viewer from the film with the awkward dialog and performances. I felt that the mutant baby didn’t look all that impressive.

“Eraserhead” and other work by Lynch has been highly praised so maybe I’m missing something but his stuff always seems to be as unengaging as possible. Some abstract pictures really worked for me but I found this film to just be strange noises, long pauses, uninteresting characters and meaninglessness. “Eraserhead” offered one performance and one character that may have been good in a less serious film and that’s all that I can say positive about it. The movie is said to be like nightmare and it is but then I realised any nightmares I’ve ever had were still more coherent and more interesting than anything in “Eraserhead”.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (“Total Recall”, “Twins”) is back doing what he does best in “Eraser”. For this movie don’t bother putting your brain in gear for thought, just let it clicked into place as the action begins.

In “Eraser”, they try to deliver a smart plot about a witness relocation programme that is helping countless witnesses be safe in time for the trials where they will give their testimonies by faking their deaths and the people who do this are called ‘Erasers’. One Eraser, a U.S. marshal named John Kruger (Schwarzenegger) becomes suspicious of some of his co-workers after several odd events surrounding a case involving high-tech weapons that are about to be sold to terrorists around the globe.

Arnold Schwarzenegger does a good job as John Kruger. I can’t see anyone else being able to do this role as well as him because no one else can bust the bad guys with such violence and such goofiness like he can. Vanessa Williams (“Shaft”) stars as Kruger’s latest witness named Lee Cullen and she does an okay job. The bad guys and pretty much all the other characters aren’t too memorable but they’re not bad or anything. All-round I was relatively pleased with the characters in this movie.

“Eraser” doesn’t really succeed at giving us a smart plot but the action is so over the top and the film is so funny that you can’t help but enjoy. Don’t try to take it seriously and just appreciate the great action scenes, the great wit and the great fun it gives you. Although I enjoyed myself with “Eraser” it’s not one of the best Schwarzenegger movies (it’s a lot better than some of them though) as like I said it doesn’t really deliver the way it intends to with the plot and things like that and some of the effects look a little cheesy.

There are many brainless sci-fi films out there and I think “Equilibrium” managed to fool people into thinking it’s dumb. The film contains lots of fast-paced action sequences yet behind them is some surprisingly intelligent sci-fi. It’s no “Blade Runner” but it’s a lot better than a lot of people give it credit for.

Set in a fascist future where emotions are outlawed and suppressed by drugs, “Equilibrium” follows an uncompromising law enforcer by the name of John Preston (Christian Bale “The Prestige”, “Batman Begins”). He stops taking the ‘Prozium II’ drug and begins to feel emotion. Overwhelmed and unsure of what to do at first, he soon finds himself helping a resistance movement to help bring down the totalitarian regime.

Christian Bale is great as John Preston and this is a particularly interesting role as for a significant amount of time, he is without a shred of emotion. As the film continues, Bale manages to perfectly play a man wrestling with the existence of his emotions. Taye Diggs (“Chicago”) plays Preston’s partner, Brandt, and he does a good job. Sean Bean (“GoldenEye”), Sean Pertwee (“Event Horizon”), Emily Watson (“Red Dragon”) and William Fichtner (“Contact”) are all fairly forgettable. One of the best characters is Preston’s son, who provides some real tense moments.

The action scenes might be exciting but they are filmed rather poorly and there’s lots of fast editing. As you can tell, I didn’t care for the action scenes but most of the other stuff on offer here is entertaining. I was very impressed with Bale’s performance and I like the sinister world that the film creates. Avid fans of the sci-fi genre will no doubt recognise elements here from “Judge Dredd”, “The Matrix” and many other movies but “Equilibrium” is still able to create an entertaining experience.

“Envy” is a mediocre comedy starring Ben Stiller (“Meet The Parents”, “Zoolander”) and Jack Black (“Nacho Libre”, “Kung Fu Panda”). I think the film has been undeserving of a lot of the criticism hurled at it but that doesn’t make it a good movie. The film’s ideas don’t necessarily have a lot of potential and the execution is pretty much average throughout.

Tim (Stiller) and Nick (Black) are best friends, neighbours and colleagues but when Nick comes up with a crazy get rich quick scheme involving a spray to get rid of dog faeces (named ‘Vapoorise’), Tim dismisses the idea. Nick pursues his idea and becomes a multi-millionaire, leading to Tim becoming increasingly envious of Nick.

Ben Stiller is never especially funny and his performance in “Envy” does nothing to change that claim. Jack Black made me laugh in “Nacho Libre” but rarely manages to channel his talent to deliver the laughs. The chemistry between the two is okay but nothing special and that creates a relatively large problem for the movie as a whole. Rachel Weisz (“Constantine”) is actually fairly amusing as Tim’s wife, Debbie. I was disappointed by Christopher Walken (“Batman Returns”) because he is usually very good but the material just wasn’t there for him.

“Envy” opens with an awful disorientating shot that spins around the beds of Tim and Nick and that is not a good way to start the movie. Aside from that, there isn’t anything in here that’s particularly bad, it’s just lacking decent components. If you enjoy “Envy” then that’s fine but I think most people are going to struggle to find anything in here that really makes it worth their time. Fans of Stiller and Black will probably get a few laughs out of it but most people can probably cope missing out on this.

“Entrapment” is one of those films like “River Wild” and “Lake Placid” where you embrace its goofiness. The film is about daring heists and you don’t care how ridiculous the heists because the film doesn’t require you to care.

In “Entrapment”, Catherine Zeta-Jones (“The Mask Of Zorro”) is insurance agent by the name of Virginia Baker and she’s out to catch Robert MacDougal (Sean Connery “Goldfinger”, “Highlander”), who is a great art thief. The two then start working together on heists but nothing is as it seems. The two are playing each other while on the heists but it’s hard to tell which one is bluffing and which one isn’t.

Catherine Zeta-Jones has a few great scenes where she elegantly moves her way through a room filled with lasers, one is a practice and then one is the real thing. All-round she’s gives a good performance. Connery is also really good as MacDougal. The chemistry between the two is interesting but I have mixed feelings about how the relationship plays out. The other characters are very intriguing but you’re too busy focused on the main stars to care about anybody else in the film and the movie knows that.

“Entrapment” isn’t high art like what its stars are trying to steal but it is a very fun picture. There’s a great deal of action and excitement but thankfully the film knows that it doesn’t need lots of violence to make those scenes enjoyable. The films are in some ways like many of the “James Bond” pictures, which is of course what Mr. Connery is best known for. It’s a playful film and I think those that dismiss films like this don’t have a sense of humour when it comes to action films. “Entrapment” is extremely silly but you have to like it for that.

“Enter The Dragon” was not the first martial arts film but it was the first to bring the genre into the mainstream. It’s a great film starring Bruce Lee (“The Big Boss”, “The Way of the Dragon”) and that’s something that can’t be said for his other pictures as despite the outstanding fight scenes, his earlier films always felt like an endurance test between the fight scenes but “Enter The Dragon” is stylish and fun.

In “Enter The Dragon”, Lee stars as a martial artist and spy that has to infiltrate an island ruled by a crazy villain. It’s sort-of as close as you get to a martial arts version of “James Bond” as Lee takes on a small army’s worth of henchmen in order to save the day.

Bruce Lee is not the greatest actor and that’s clear here but his martial arts skills are incredible and that has never been clearer than in “Enter The Dragon”. Jim Kelly (“Black Belt Jones”) and John Saxon (“Joe Kidd”) are also pretty entertaining as the other major characters. The villain is pretty entertaining; he does seem like he is right out of a “James Bond” film with his evil island lair reminding me of the likes of Dr. No and Scaramanga. Watch out for Jackie Chan (“Rush Hour”) as an extra.

“Enter The Dragon” has a scene where a guy punches through a board of wood and Lee tells him ‘Boards don’t hit back’ and then he proceeds to batter the guy and it’s that stylish approach that makes “Enter The Dragon” great. Lee’s earlier efforts always felt like they were poorly funded and they also were filled with dull characters and poor comedy so “Enter The Dragon” is a significant improvement. The end fight scene is particularly memorable and well-choreographed with its uses of literally thousands of mirrors.

“Enemy of the State” is another movie where an innocent person is being chased in the same vein as “The Fugitive” and “Chain Reaction”. It’s an intense film with some very good performances and it’s the first film directed by Tony Scott (“Top Gun”) I’ve liked.

In this film, Will Smith (“Men In Black”, “I Am Legend”) stars as a lawyer named Robert Dean, who unknowingly finds himself in the middle of a large conspiracy theory and a ruthless N.S.A. boss (Jon Voight “Mission: Impossible”) doesn’t care what it takes to get the situation under control. Dean needs help and maybe the only person who can help him is off-the-grid ex-N.S.A. worker Edward Lyle (Gene Hackman “Superman II”).

I think Will Smith works really well here as Robert Dean as he has the right level of humour and seriousness. Smith also appears to be very good when it comes to the action sequences, which prove to be very entertaining. Gene Hackman is also very good as Edward Lyle and he also delivers the balance of comedy and drama. The duo work well together. I also really like the sort-of bad guy if you will, played well by Jon Voight. My only real problem with the casting is there is no charismatic individual chasing Smith like Tommy Lee Jones did in “The Fugitive” (and “U.S. Marshals” and “Double Jeopardy”).

“Enemy of the State” gives us an intriguing look at how surveillance technology works but at the same time it remembers it is a blockbuster movie and delivers the goods. “Enemy of the State” perhaps isn’t quite as good as something like “The Fugitive” but it’s also an improvement over some of the other movies following the same formula. It packs just enough star power and just enough high-tech gizmos and action scenes for this to be a more than competent thriller.