Most people undoubtedly thought that “Rocky V” was the worst film in the “Rocky” series and I thought that but then I saw “Creed” and I realised that at least “Rocky V” had that fun street fight. “Creed” is a dull film that feels unworthy of being part of the “Rocky” series and the “Rocky” franchise has had its fair share of ups and downs.

In “Creed”, the son of Apollo Creed (Michael B. Jordan “Chronicle”) wants to follow in his father’s footsteps by becoming a professional boxer. Apollo Creed was the friend and rival of Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone “Rocky”, “First Blood”) so Creed’s son, Adonis, has an aging Balboa train him. It’s a pathetic excuse for a continuation of the franchise.

Stallone looks incredibly tired and bored in this film. Maybe he’s never been a particularly good actor yet he felt just right for the part of Rocky. However, in this film, he seems to have no enthusiasm for the role. Michael B. Jordan is quite frankly terrible. The other characters are appalling. Nobody in this film stands out in the same way that the characters did in the older “Rocky” films will larger than life individuals such as Mickey (Burgess Meredith “Rocky II”) and Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren “Rocky IV”).

No matter how bland “Rocky II” felt or how plainly stupid “Rocky V” seemed, the first six films all featured good training montages and good fights but you can’t even give “Creed” those two things. The best of the “Rocky” films such as “Rocky”, “Rocky IV” and “Rocky Balboa” aren’t cinema’s greatest moments but they certainly don’t feel far off when you’re sitting watching “Creed”. The best thing you can say about “Creed” is that it’s forgettable so hopefully its horrendous qualities will not be lingering in your mind for too long

“Crank” isn’t one of the best action films but it’s one of the most original action films in years. It is funny… in a sick and twisted way like a Quentin Tarantino film (e.g. “Pulp Fiction”), in fact I could easily see him doing this. “Crank” is non-stop insanity.

In “Crank”, hitman Chev Chelios (Jason Statham “The Transporter”, “Cellular”) is injected with poison that’ll kill him if his heart rate drops below a certain speed so Chev has to keep doing crazy stuff in order to survive long enough to get revenge. He takes loads of drugs, gets into fights and drives through a shopping centre and that’s all before even thirty minutes in.

Statham plays the loveably unlikeable Chev Chelios as he’s true scum but you can’t wait to see what he does next. Statham seems suited to the part quite well and his acting deserves some real praise here as he did the majority of the stunts in this film (at least the ones that are humanly possible) and it is hard to act this manic all the time but he pulls it off in a credible way. I also like the name, it sounds like a Nicolas Cage (“Raising Arizona”) character. The villains are dull and his girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart “Rat Race”) isn’t given a lot to do.

“Crank” needs tweaking here and there but it’s such an intense film with so many things I haven’t seen before that I have to recommend it. The highlights are the ending and it also a clever little trick where a subtitle is flipped. One thing I really wish “Crank” did is never have Chelios leave the scene (in “Chinatown”, Jake Gittes never leaves the scene). The movie is far from perfection but it is incredibly innovative with both the violence and humour.

I have never seen the “Cowboy Bebop” tv series so I probably am not the right demographic for “Cowboy Bebop: The Movie”. I was left very confused by this anime action flick and felt that it was taking itself way too seriously. Maybe everything will click for those familiar with the show.

Set on a futuristic Mars, “Cowboy Bebop” follows a cocky bounty hunter and his crew, who are on the trail of a terrorist after an explosion releases a deadly virus. With the fate of the world at stake, the secrets of this new weapon reveal a chilling conspiracy.

I did not care for the characters in this movie. I’m sure fans of the series will be know the main characters well but they did not leave a great impression on me with this film. The main hero, Spike Spiegel, feels so generic as we have seen his kind in so many films and tv shows. I particularly hated the villain. He clashes with the heroes so much that they almost feel as though they are from different movies. The heroes appear light-hearted but the bad guy is so bleak that I came away feeling very confused as to what exactly the filmmakers were going for. The animation is pretty good but not great.

I like some anime and I definitely have enjoyed some of the anime films out. Some talk about “Cowboy Bebop” as one of the best anime shows out there yet this movie does little to convince me of that. If you are a fan of the series then you probably are the right audience for this film but I think general audiences are going to be left as puzzled as I was. It’s not really a bad movie, I just did not see anything special here.

“Cop Out” is half a parody of buddy cop movies, half a romantic comedy, full of dirty jokes and about 90% of it is awful. That’s all thanks to director Kevin Smith (“Clerks”, “Mallrats”), who can’t even keep his own fans happy with this one. It’s just astoundingly bad throughout.

“Cop Out” stars Bruce Willis (“The Sixth Sense”, “Die Hard”) and Tracy Morgan (“The Longest Yard”) as mismatched policemen Jimmy and Paul. Jimmy needs to pay for his daughter’s dream wedding and thus intends to sell a rare baseball card but after he’s mugged he find himself along with his partner caught in a situation featuring one of New York’s most notorious crime bosses.

Bruce Willis is an actor I have tremendous admiration for because he’s not just done action films but thrillers, horror, animation, comedies and sci-fis but “Cop Out” is definitely beneath him. Tracy Morgan is boring and even more annoying than Chris Tucker in the “Rush Hour” films. The worst character by far is an irritating burglar played by Seann William Scott (“Role Models”). The other characters are definitely unsatisfying. Kevin Smith is known for his punchy dialog but here, you almost feel like he must have been suffering from a case of amnesia.

“Cop Out” can’t even deliver as a parody as it takes a few wrong turns when reading the map. I even preferred “Loaded Weapon 1” (Willis has a cameo in that). “Cop Out” uses every cheap joke in the book while it uses basically a poor man’s equivalent of “Axel F” for background music. I saw Smith’s “Clerks” and you can take it or leave it in my books but compared to this, I definitely take “Clerks”. The film is all-round very cheap and just genuinely lacking in understanding of comedy but those who enjoy these dumb and dirty comedies might get a kick out of this. Let’s say a = good and b = bad, “Cop Out” is b³.

“Cop Land” is an entertaining crime drama and although I enjoyed it, I felt it had the potential to be significantly better given the film’s cast as it includes Sylvester Stallone (“First Blood”, “Cliffhanger”) and Robert De Niro (“Raging Bull”, “Taxi Driver”). This is a good movie but it could have been great.

Sheriff Freddy Heflin (Stallone) enforces the law in a peaceful suburban New Jersey community, which is populated with many New York City police officers. He slowly but surely comes to realise that the town is a front for the mob as he uncovers corruption with the help of an Internal Affairs investigator (De Niro).

Stallone gained some weight to help him portray one of his most realistic onscreen heroes. While he’s not terrific, Stallone gives a relatively strong performance. I enjoyed Robert De Niro’s performance but was disappointed by his lack of screen time and I felt he didn’t get enough scenes with Stallone. Harvey Keitel (“Reservoir Dogs”), Robert Patrick (“Terminator 2: Judgement Day”) and Ray Liotta (“Hannibal”) all appear in the movie and give good performances as some of the New York policemen that live in the town. I think Keitel is especially entertaining. Some of the characters do feel as if they either have too much or too little backstory.

“Cop Land” seems as though it should either be longer to give more information about the characters or somewhat shorter with a greater focus on fewer characters. This film is intelligent and features some enjoyable performances so I think I’m right in recommending it but I do feel as though this was a missed opportunity. The movie has received praise from many Stallone fans that see “Cop Land” as woefully underrated and I think with a clearer approach in terms of the storytelling, this could have been something really special.

“Coogan’s Bluff” is the surprisingly entertaining blueprint for what would become “Dirty Harry” as it stars Clint Eastwood, who famously portrayed Harry Callahan in the “Dirty Harry” series, in a similar role and it is directed by Don Siegel, who directed the first “Dirty Harry” outing. Although it has its flaws it features a tough guy action to make it a satisfying picture.

A disobedient Arizona deputy, named Coogan (Eastwood), has to travel to pick up a prisoner named James Ringerman (Don Shroud) and escort him back to Arizona but unfortunately Ringerman escapes with Coogan’s gun and now Coogan has been thrown off the case so if he wants to get this fugitive he is going to have to do without firepower and without a valid badge.

Coogan is one of the manliest of men as women can’t resist them and all men want to be just like him. What’s great about this character is we never see him kill anyone and the only time he has his gun out is at the very beginning of the film. The villain is very unmemorable. The other characters aren’t very good either and they’ll all be forgotten after you walk out of the movie.

There is a scene in this film with a wild party for drug takers and there is a massive projection on the wall of lots of things including nude women and a brief piece of footage from the movie “Tarantula”, which Eastwood had a small role in, which I found an amusing reference.  “Coogan’s Bluff” isn’t great entertainment and it lacks the realistic grit found in “Dirty Harry” (well the first one at least) and it isn’t as moving as some of Eastwood’s later movies but it certainly has a quirky charm to it that cannot be denied.

Steven Seagal (“Under Siege”, “Hard To Kill”) stars in “Contract To Kill”, a lukewarm espionage action flick. It’s not exactly good but it is definitely watchable and noticeably better than other recent Seagal films such as “Code Of Honour” and “Mercenary: Absolution”.

C.I.A. and D.E.A. operative John Harmon (Seagal) finds his services in demand when it is believed that a deal between Mexican drug cartels and Islamic extremist groups will lead to Muslim terrorists being smuggled into the United States to carry out devastating attacks. In order to prevent this from happening, Harmon and his elite team travel to Istanbul to locate the individuals forging an alliance.

Like most of his recent films, Seagal looks like he does not really want to be there. He does very little in terms of action so do not expect a particularly physical performance from him. One embarrassing scene has him make love to an attractive young spy. The other members of Seagal’s team are okay. One of them pilots a small drone that the team use for surveillance. The other one is really just there for Seagal to sleep with. The villains are actually quite good for this type of film. There’s a mixture of Mexican gangsters and Muslim terrorists.

I was impressed by the plot and by the espionage elements of “Contract To Kill”. The movie surely deserves no awards but it is refreshing to see Seagal in a film where it at least feels like some people involved in the project cared about what they were doing. If you have been disappointed by his other recent films, “Contract To Kill” may be a somewhat pleasant surprise for fans of the martial artist. Those that do not care for him are unlikely to get much from a viewing of “Contract To Kill”.

“Contagion” takes what should be an interesting concept about a disease spreading across the world and somehow manages to make unbearable as the film has no idea what to be and how to address its audience.

“Contagion” is, as I’ve already said, about a disease spreading across the world and it seems like nothing can stop it. It follows several characters including a father (Matt Damon “The Bourne Identity”, “Good Will Hunting”) and his teenage daughter; his wife was one of the first to be exposed to the disease. Jude Law (“Sherlock Holmes”) plays a blogger, who stars in a reasonable amount of the film. Laurence Fishburne (“The Matrix”) plays the head of the C.D.C., Gwyneth Paltrow (“Iron Man”) briefly plays Damon’s character Mitch’s severely ill wife and several other famous faces make unmemorable appearances as various characters, which have little to no depth as the CDC try and save the world from this new threat.

None of the actors or actresses’ performances are in anyway memorable. They all give a mediocre at best portrayals of their poorly written characters. In fact, I think the film would have been better if the acting was bad because it was been at least something to remember from this genuinely poor film.

From beginning to end I didn’t feel any emotion. I was hoping for some scares or some thrills or even some interesting characters but I got nothing. The movie’s concept of spreading disease every time you touch something is an absolutely terrifying thought but the execution is so half-hearted it loses any and every aspect or fear. The movie may have a big budget and lots of big names but that’s all. It seems the movie is good on the outside but there’s a poor script that contains no moments of suspense, excitement or emotion and the film feels very uncertain of what it wants to be as it blunders into the unknown.

“Contact” is a movie directed by a man I have a lot of admiration for: Robert Zemeckis (“Forrest Gump”, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”). It isn’t as fun as “Independence Day” or “Stargate” because it is more believable and it works alright… until we get to the scene with the alien.

In “Contact”, Jodie Foster (“The Silence of the Lambs”, “Panic Room”) is scientist Eleanor Arroway, who spends her time listening to radio communications from outer space. When she finally discovers something the whole world gathers round to see her make ‘contact’ with the aliens. It takes a while to get going but then I enjoyed the large portion of the film before it decided to feature a totally unnecessary scene.

Jodie Foster gives an average performance here; she just doesn’t seem right for the role. I haven’t anything wrong with a female in the part or anything like that (in fact I think that’s what this film requires) but I think someone along the lines of Sigourney Weaver (“Ghostbusters”) would’ve been better. Matthew McConaughey (“A Time To Kill”), Tom Skerritt (“Top Gun”) and John Hurt (“The Elephant Man”) are all quite good here but they’re not given a lot to do. I would have liked to have seen more of them.

“Contact” has an interesting opening scene, is a bit dull for a while, really picks itself up and then shows us some awful-looking sequence with an alien; the conclusion of the film is fine but would work loads better if the dreaded scene was cut. The film is partially about faith and they defy this notion by having the scene in there in the first place. The rest of the film looks really good but the alien piece looks tacky and is completely worthless. I have a real love for the two films I mentioned Zemeckis has made but “Contact” is so flawed that despite its great level of realism throughout lots of it.