Because Everybody Else Has One

So, a non-Star-Wars related movie also comes out this week. Not that anyone cares - or, frankly, should care. It's rubbish. This review is also up at Channel 24 What it's about A slacker manager of the local office of a major corporation is told by his cold-hearted sister and boss that unless he pulls in an unreasonable amount of money by the end of the quarter, she will have no choice but to fire him and close down the branch. And, effective immediately, the office Christmas party is canceled. In a last ditch effort to save the branch, he enlists the help of his best friends and number two at the company to throw the biggest Christmas party ever in an effort to boost his employee's morale and maybe, just maybe, sign up a huge client who would singehandedly bring in enough money to save the branch. What we thought Jennifer Aniston has long ago proven to be the kiss of death for most major Hollywood comedies – and she certainly doesn't buck the tren...

Another seriously underwhelming week at the cinema... I have no earthly idea how Inside Out managed to get a theatrical release, when so many vastly superior and more obviously cinematic films go straight to DVD (especially if the film in question comes from the UK, oddly enough). It's not that it's a truly awful film, it's just so drearily by-the-numbers that there really is no need for it to exist at all. The plot, about an ex-con (played surprisingly competently by wrestler Paul "Triple H" Levesque) trying to go straight after a decade in prison only to get pulled back into his old life by an old friend, has been done to death and there is little in the way of invention, wit or real emotional potency to hold one's attention. It's really not surprising at all that is has been relegated to a small handful of random cinemas throughout the country as it's hard to believe that anyone would go out of their way to pay to watch this on the big screen...

By this point, reviewing the latest Harry Potter film is probably a total waste of time but I have a few words to say on that and (almost) all the other films that have been released over the last couple of weeks. First off, last week's films: Like I said, there probably is no point in reviewing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 because, while people who like Harry Potter will obviously be showing up in their droves for the finale, those who don't - yes, they exist - probably aren't going to drop in for the last half of the last installment. But, hey, I've always figured that people are like me and only really bother with reviews after they've seen the movies, so why not throw in my two cents worth? HP7b is, in a word, terrific. It falters very slightly at the end with an epilogue that is unnecessary here as it was in the book and Voldemort's eventual defeat is vaguely unsatisfying but, these minor flaws aside, this is a stellar climax to a ...