Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson (“Ring Of Fire”, “Batman Forever”) stars in “Cyber Tracker”, a blatant rip-off of both “The Terminator” and “RoboCop”. This is a low-budget flick with nothing even remotely original about it.

Eric (Wilson) is a Secret Service agent, assigned to protect a Senator advocating the controversial use of robot law enforcement. However, he soon discovers that the entire robot law enforcement industry is a criminal enterprise and he himself becomes a target of the machines. If he hopes to survive, he must join forces with a rebel group to overthrow the tyrannical corporation that is increasingly seizing control of the federal government.

Don Wilson might be able to do some good kicking but he can’t act to save his life. He’s not even vaguely engaging as the film’s protagonist. Richard Norton (“Mr. Nice Guy”, “Magic Crystal”) plays the main henchman as he does an alright job. The fight between Wilson and Norton is probably the highlight of the movie. The robot cops look terrible and they are not remotely memorable. Terminator and RoboCop are both icons of cinema, when was the last time you heard anybody mention the robots from this movie? The other characters are boring and forgettable.

This is one of those films where everything looks cheap. The special effects are pretty terrible, the action sequence look underwhelming and as a sci-fi film, it does a real poor job of bringing you into its world. It’s not quite as bad “R.O.T.O.R.” (another “Terminator” clone) but that’s not much of a defence. “Cyber Tracker” is a cheesy and light-hearted movie so you might get some chuckles from just how corny it all looks and the fight scene between Wilson and Norton is mildly entertaining. However, this is a poor sci-fi/action flick and definitely not worth looking out for.

“Ninja Clash In The Land Of Snow” is the first film based on the terrific “Naruto” anime series. I really love the adventures of the young ninja warrior Naruto so it’s great to see him in his first big, feature-length film. With some very polished animation and lots of action, I’m sure this movie will be enjoyed by fellow “Naruto” enthusiasts.

Naruto and his team are hired to guard an actress, who is famous for playing a princess, as she shoots her new movie in the Land of Snow. However, it turns out that she really is a princess and a group of villains will stop at nothing to prevent her from ascending to throne and bringing peace and prosperity to her people.

I have a real soft spot for the antics of Naruto. I wish we got to see more of his teammates, Sakura and Sasuke. We do get to see Kakashi (Naruto’s teacher) get in on quite a lot of the action. The princess/actress character is okay but she could have been a little more interesting. The bad guys are really forgettable. The animation all the characters is really impressive and looks even better than in the show.

I think the plot could have been structured a little better and I think the bad guys could have definitely been better but “Ninja Clash In The Land Of Snow” makes up for its flaws with spectacular action and animation. I think fans will no doubt be delighted with what is on offer but I imagine many newcomers will be confused. They will not know the main characters so may find the lack of character development on show here rather frustrating. If you are a fan of the “Naruto” series then check this movie out, otherwise I’d start with the series.

“Legend of the Stone Of Gelel” is the second movie based on the hit anime series “Naruto”. I quite enjoyed “Ninja Clash In The Land Of Snow” and this one is almost as good. Those unfamiliar with “Naruto” are probably better off starting with the series though.

While on a mission to rescue a lost pet, Naruto his team encounter a mysterious young warrior. It leads to contact with powerful group with the desire to build a utopia. However, not all is at it first appears and Naruto and his fellow shinobi will need all their strength if they are to save the continent from a catastrophic event.

I really do like Naruto a lot as a character. Due to when this film takes place in the timeline of the series, do not expect to see Sasuke. Shikamaru and Sakura are okay as Naruto’s teammates. I also like the fact that Gaara appears in this movie and I wish he had a larger role. The villains in this movie are not terrific but they are more memorable than the ones in the first film. The other characters are all fine. I think that the animation on the characters is generally quite impressive.

“Legend of the Stone Of Gelel” contains some really enjoyable action sequences. They are perhaps not quite as amazing as the ones in the first film but they are still are very good. I think this one has some reasonable villains and while the plot is a little clichéd, it’s actually not too bad. Fans of “Naruto” should have some fun with this movie but for everybody else, I’d strongly urge that you check out the series first so that you can familiarise yourself with the characters more. I guess the most significant problem with films based on long running anime shows is that you do ideally need to sink in the hours with the series first.

“Naruto: The Lost Story” is an O.V.A. based on the hit “Naruto” series. I’m a big fan of the series and this is a fun addition. Now, this is not one of the big, feature-length films that got released theatrically, this is just a little bonus for the fans. It works really well as it feels structured more like part of the show and does not try to cram to much in.

In this adventure, Naruto and his team are escorting a young man back to the secretive Waterfall Village. However, rogue ninjas have seized control of the village and are demanding that they are given a mysterious item that is the most treasured object in the village. Only Naruto and his friends can save the day.

If you are familiar with the series, you’ll be familiar with the main characters. The film mainly focuses on Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. Kakashi (Naruto’s teacher) only has a brief appearance. I think the makers were wise not to try and put in too many characters. When you go from a series that methodically fleshes out its characters, it’s sometimes a little overwhelming when you get a ton of new characters introduced in just one movie (and usually only appear in that one movie).

This is pretty short adventure that is basically just double the length of a regular episode. It gives us a nice adventure where the stakes are just high enough to get us invested but are not too ridiculous. Maybe the fancy animation and the big battles of the theatrical movies are more exciting but I found this to work better as an addition to the “Naruto” series. Essentially, I’m just a fan of the “Naruto” franchise in general. If you are like me then “The Lost Story” is worth checking out.

“Commando 2: The Black Money Trail” is the sequel to “Commando: A One Man Army”. This is an Indian martial arts flick with some impressive stunts but everything else is really disappointing. It’s way too talky at times and I found the plot to be really uninteresting.

Karan (Vidyut Jammwal “Force”) is an Indian commando tasked with locating stolen Indian money hidden in banks abroad. His journey will take him to places such as Malaysia and Thailand as he must retrieve the money to help the impoverished people of his homeland. He will have to solve the mysteries of the shadowy world of black money.

Vidyut Jammwal is clearly a talented martial artist. The stunt and fight choreography on display here is very good. He’s a man that has obviously studied the work of Jackie Chan (“Rumble In The Bronx”) and Tony Jaa (“Warrior King”). However, he’s just not as interesting in terms of his personality. He’s a little too slick at times. It’s like watching an Indian James Bond. The other characters are really dull. I particularly disliked a female protagonist that is obsessed with taking photos of herself and going shopping. A lot of the characters engage in detailed talk about Indian politics and it gets pretty boring.

This movie starts off with a great action sequence but then it just grinds to a halt. This film feels really long with lots of boring conversations about politics and finance. This stuff might be interesting in a political thriller but this is a martial arts movie and I’m here to watch fistfights. There is so much talking that you forget you are even watching an action film at times. If Vidyut Jammwal wants to be the Indian Jackie Chan then he needs to add some more personality to his performance and he needs to find a better script.

Sometimes there are just too many darn sequels to a film and we get tired of seeing the same thing again and again.

The worst offenders are definitely horror movies. You can lose count of the number of sequels to “The Amityville Horror”, “Hellraiser”, “A Nightmare On Elm Street”, “Halloween”, “Friday The 13th”, “Saw”, “Child’s Play”, “Paranormal Activity”, “Final Destination”, “Phantasm”, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and even “Leprechaun”. You may have wanted to watch people get tortured with ‘games’ by the sadistic Jigsaw killer in the first “Saw” but did you really want to watch that again and again and again. Seriously, the guy must be running out of Wille E. Coyote style traps.

However, horror movies are not the only type of films where sequels get pumped out like there is no tomorrow. There were ten “Star Trek” films prior to the 2009 reboot. While some came out while there was no “Star Trek” on television, “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” through to “Star Trek: Nemesis” all came out while there was some form of “Star Trek” on television. Sometimes, there were even multiple “Star Trek” shows on. While none of the “Star Trek” films are truly terrible, it’s no wonder that audiences were finding it hard to keep up with all the “Star Trek” content out there.

Other franchises that have suffered from oversaturation include “Police Academy” and “Scary Movie”. While it is debatable whether or not the first entries in either of these series were good, most can agree that we did not need a ton of sequels. There were seven “Police Academy” films as well as two television series (a live-action one and an animated one). There were five instalments in the “Scary Movie” series and we also got a bunch of spin-off sequels including “Disaster Movie”, “Epic Movie” and “Superhero Movie” because apparently, we needed more rubbish with Leslie Nielsen (“The Naked Gun”) and the Wayans family.

Some blockbuster franchises suffer from the same problem. Did we beg for five Michael Bay “Transformers” movies? For some reasons these films still make a ton of money at the box-office despite everybody complaining about them so it looks like Michael Bay is set to give us more.

Also, I cannot leave without mentioning “The Fast and the Furious” films. Essentially, it’s like drugs for petrolheads and there have been eight films so far (nine if you include a spin-off). It seems watching bald men drive fast cars sells so we are unlikely to see the Sun set on this series for the foreseeable future.

Adam Sandler is the “Saturday Night Live” star that is now a byword for terrible comedy. Nowadays, Adam Sandler seems to embody all that is wrong with cinema but it was not always this way. For some reason, there was a time when the average person did not hate his work.

Adam Sandler of course made it big being on “Saturday Night Live”. Like many fellow cast members, he soon made the transition to making movies. While not everybody’s cup of tea, his first few films were hits. “Billy Madison”, “Happy Gilmore” and “Big Daddy” all made a lot of money at the box-office.

With tons of his movies coming out, it was not long before people got tired of his shtick. Most people were not overly impressed with “Little Nicky”, “Click” or “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry”. He also failed to branch out into other genres with the drama “Punch-Drunk Love” and the abysmal animated holiday film “Eight Crazy Nights”. Things got even worse though as Sandler kept making more films and seemed to get lazier. We got more generic romantic comedies such as “Just Go With It” and “Blended”. He even ended up making movies that just seemed like excuses for him and his buddies to go on holiday. His crowning achievement in awfulness was “Jack And Jill” where he plays dual roles and one of those roles requires him to dress as a woman. The movie even has the legendary Al Pacino (“Scarface”, “The Godfather”) fall in love with the female Adam Sandler.

Now, you can find Sandler’s new movies on Netflix. He’s no longer tormenting you from the big screen, he is going straight to your home to bring you pain and misery. Even at his best, Adam Sandler was never that great. His production company Happy Madison has also been responsible for comedic atrocities such as “The Master Of Disguise”, which helped end Dana Carvey’s career. While it’s frustrating that he is still able to get wads of cash to make movies, it seems like a form of justice to see a filmmaker so lazy get demoted.

Fans of martial arts cinema are likely to have heard of Tony Jaa. He’s a talented action star that made waves in the martial arts film scene with a couple of hit films in the mid-2000s. His amazing fighting skills and creative choreography certainly set him apart from a lot of rivals. Many predicted that he was going to be the successor to Jackie Chan (“Rumble In The Bronx”, “Project A”). However, Jaa has not yet achieved the same global superstar status as Chan.

Jaa’s first big movie was “Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior”, a film that many martial arts fans consider a classic. It showed Jaa’s fantastic Muay Thai fighting skills. Jaa’s film was so impressive that apparently, Steven Seagal (“Under Siege”) offered to shoot scenes with himself as Jaa’s mentor for any American release. Jaa continued to gain a reputation as an important player in the market with “Warrior King”. Again, his physical abilities were on full display.

However, Jaa’s career has not been so great. The “Ong-Bak” sequels received a mixed reception. Some of his other films such as “Triple Threat” and “Skin Trade” failed to generate any buzz except among the hardcore martial arts film fans. However, Jaa has landed himself small roles in Hollywood’s “Furious 7” and “xXx: Return Of Xander Cage”.

His career looks hopeful with roles in the upcoming “Monster Hunter” alongside Milla Jovovich (“Resident Evil”) and “Jiu Jitsu” with Nicolas Cage (“The Rock”). Here’s hoping that Jaa will finally become as widely recognised in Europe and America as he is in Asia.

You may have heard of “Napoleon Dynamite”, some people think it is a hysterical film while others are left confused by it. I’m certainly in the latter category. It’s a weird, uneventful and unpleasant film that feels as if it wants to be the next “The Big Lebowski” but it never quite makes it.

“Napoleon Dynamite” tells the tale of a bizarre teen named Napoleon Dynamite (John Heder “Blades Of Glory”). Napoleon doesn’t really do much and nobody else around him does much. He quickly moves from one scene to another without anything really happening, watching him get something thrown at his face is probably the most stimulating thing you’ll see in the entire picture.

Napoleon Dynamite delivers lines such as ‘This is pretty much the worst video ever’ and I am not far off agreeing with him. The character is a nothingness. He is sort of like a Beavis and Butt-Head in terms of the way his voice sounds and in terms of the antisocial atmosphere he creates. The other characters are equally disappointing, they’re only more tolerable because we spend less time with them. Everybody in the film has a tendency to just sit there and stare and this is often during interactions with one another, the awkwardness becomes unbearable.

“Napoleon Dynamite” feels almost like a sketch film at times but very often, the setups are weak and the punchlines are non-existent. I don’t know why a film such as “The Big Lebowski” kept me entertained and “Napoleon Dynamite” did not but you can feel the difference, at least I think so. There was something about “The Big Lebowski” that made it work and something about “Napoleon Dynamite” that made it fall apart. I did not enjoy “Napoleon Dynamite” but maybe you will because the divide is huge. I think it’s weird how some films can unite and split us and “Napoleon Dynamite” is weird regardless.

“Naked Lunch” is certainly one of the weirdest films I’ve ever seen. It’s sort of like “Total Recall” but a lot more disgusting and way more convoluted. I don’t really know whether this film from David Cronenberg (“Videodrome”), which serves as a sort of biography of author William S. Burroughs, is good or not but I’ll go with good because I like its style.

Set in the 1950s, “Naked Lunch” is about an exterminator by the name of William Lee (Peter Weller “RoboCop”, “Screamers”) and he’s addicting to ‘bug powder’. It is the very stuff he’s meant to use to kill insects. After accidentally shooting his wife, he finds himself involved in a conspiracy orchestrated by giant bugs in a place called ‘Interzone’ in North Africa.

William Lee is basically meant to be William S. Burroughs and from what I hear, a lot of the stuff here is taken from his actual life. Burroughs was an exterminator, he accidentally shot his wife, he was a drug addict and he did spend time in North Africa. Peter Weller plays the role well; you can totally see that this guy is out of it as he seems to look truly lifeless even when he encounters giant talking bugs. The giant talking bugs look disgusting and they communicate using their area for waste disposal making them even more disgusting, I suppose it works because bugs are disgusting. The way some are half-typewriters is definitely original and all-round, there has been some great efforts by the special effects and costume departments.

I didn’t really care for the film’s ending and I thought the scenes that dealt with sexual preferences seemed to distract a little from the other aspects of the film but apparently, they reflect Burroughs’ life. It’s a film that works whether you’re viewing the strange events as real or merely in the mind, this makes it just like “The Shining”. I like the 1950s style, I like the creativity of the creatures, the score is terrific, I think Peter Weller is great but I was left a little disappointed by what it all amounts to.