Reviews by Martin Gray

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Snoopy And Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie (2015)

  Review preview for Snoopy And Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie

  If you're a fan of the strips, there's nothing much new here, but that's part of the charm - seeing favourite sequences come to 'life'.

  The firm friends embark on a dual adventure.
• 
  American Horror Story: Asylum - The Complete Second Season (2012)

  Review preview for American Horror Story: Asylum - The Complete Second Season

  The ingredients are perfect for an over-the-top frightfest, as monsters of the inhuman and human variety fight for control of the hospital, and the residents' souls.

  A reporter looking for a scoop gets impounded with patients at a mental institution.
• 
  Song For Marion (2012)

  Review preview for Song For Marion

  Truth be told, I wept buckets.

  An elderly man struggles to deal with his terminally ill wife's desire to be part of her local choir.
• 
  The Woman In Black (2012)

  Review preview for The Woman In Black

  The slow-building tension of the stage play is still there, but the added narrative space sees room for for Grand Guignol shocks aplenty.

  Harry Potter and the Spooky Old House? Not quite. Out on re-issue.
• 
  The Green Hornet (2011)

  Review preview for The Green Hornet

  What we get insults the intelligence - no one would follow Britt Reid into a donut shop, never mind a life or death battle.

  After his father dies a man decides to fight crime.
• 
  Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief (2010)

  Review preview for Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief

  This is an entertaining time passer which should keep the kids happy.

  Teenage gods and monsters - classical, but not a classic
• 
  The Wolfman (2010)

  Review preview for The Wolfman

  The Wolfman is no one's definition of High Art, but it's great craft.

  Wolf bites man. Man bites everyone else.
• 
  Nativity! (2009)

  Review preview for Nativity!

  Martin Freeman is such a great actor that no matter how outlandish the film's events, it's grounded.

  Can a school's Christmas play succeed when it's directed by The Grinch?
• 
  The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

  Review preview for The Twilight Saga: New Moon

  If you're an emotional teenage girl, take a tissue. If you're not, take a cushion, for this is a film that lasts about three days. And a sickbag.

  Can love conquer all when your boyfriend's a vampire?
• 
  The Fourth Kind (2009)

  Review preview for The Fourth Kind

  An absorbing time passer.

  A widow gets close to the truth about alien abductions. Too close...
• 
  Fame (2009)

  Review preview for Fame

  To say the characterisation in Fame is cursory would be like calling Titanic short.

  It's not all glitter at the High School for the Performing Arts.
• 
  Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (2009)

  Review preview for Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

  Meatballs doesn't bother throwing much at the audience, it uses 3D technology mainly to add depth rather than extend the action outwards.

  Will a weather wonder spell the end of the world?
• 
  Orphan (2009)

  Review preview for Orphan

  Director Jaume Collet-Serra proves a master of pace, beginning slowly and ratcheting up the tension, rendering any part of the cinema seat other than the edge irrelevant.

  She was meant to complete their family; she may destroy it.
• 
  Bandslam (2009)

  Review preview for Bandslam

  What makes this film so good is writer/director Todd Graff, who coaxes terrific performances from his young cast and really makes you care about them and their silly teenage travails.

  High-minded school musical.
• 
  The Final Destination (2009)

  Review preview for The Final Destination

  I don't believe this is the end. We've not had Finally, Finaller or Finalest Destination yet

  Death has a design. And it's ever so repetitive.
• 
  The Haunting In Connecticut (2009)

  Review preview for The Haunting In Connecticut

  Elevated by sharp direction from Peter Cornwell in his feature debut.

  A family move into a house with a gory past and face a horrific future.
• 
  He's Just Not That Into You (2009)

  Review preview for He's Just Not That Into You

  A warm, wise and witty examination of male/female relations so grounded in the real that makes Sex and the City look as insightful as a stool softener TV ad.

  Love is all around, but saccharine's kept at bay.
• 
  Four Christmases (2008)

  Review preview for Four Christmases

  This is the time of year when I want buckets of forced sentiment with my overpriced cola, but this film felt cold despite the lack of snow

  A couple are forced to visit the relatives they hate over Christmas.
• 
  Dante's Cove: Season Three (2007)

  Review preview for Dante's Cove: Season Three

  The real power in the town of Dante's Cove is cheese... and if you're in the mood for campy smut, it's a pretty decent cheese.

  Schlock jock horror in the Caribbean.
• 
  Married Life (2007)

  Review preview for Married Life

  The feel of this film is sumptuous - convincingly recreated mid-century sets, an evocative soundtrack, gorgeous gowns for the women and smart suits for the guys.

  How do you avoid humiliating you wife with a divorce? Kill her.
• 
  Socket (2007)

  Review preview for Socket

  I know this sounds mean, but this is one of the worst films I've ever had to sit through.

  Bolt hits dolt, craves volts.
• 
  Made Of Honour (2008)

  Review preview for Made Of Honour

  If you're in the mood for a nicely crafted, well-acted, thoroughly entertaining time-filler featuring familiar faces who are well within their comfort zone, you could do far worse.

  Commitment- phobe realises who he wants - too late?
• 
  Poltergay (2006)

  Review preview for Poltergay

  A little gem... one of the best comedies around.

  They're here . . . and they're queer. The ghosts of Disco Past cause trouble for a young couple.
• 
  The Masseur (2005)

  Review preview for The Masseur

  Gaying by numbers.

  A masseur in the Phillippines tries to come to terms with his father's death.
• 
  Flight Of The Living Dead (2007)

  Review preview for Flight Of The Living Dead

  This has everything you could want from a film set in the air. Except originality.

  Zombies on a plane.
• 
  Perfect Stranger (2007)

  Review preview for Perfect Stranger

  It's not high art, but it's highly entertaining.

  A journalist goes undercover in search of a murderer.
• 
  Pink Narcissus (1971)

  Review preview for Pink Narcissus

  While interesting from a historical point of view... it's not a great watch.

  A young hustler fantasises about a world of matadors, sultans, centurians and bad decor.
• 
  Zodiac (2007)

  Review preview for Zodiac

  This is, for Fincher, dull stuff indeed.

  A cop, a reporter and a cartoonist become obsessed with a serial killer in 1970s San Francisco.
• 
  Shooter (2007)

  Review preview for Shooter

  That's not beer in the Marky Mark fridge, it's testosterone. And he's going to share it with you.

  A disgruntled ex-US marine fights a conspiracy at the heart of government. With guns. Big guns.
• 
  Premonition (2007)

  Review preview for Premonition

  There are two main problems with this film - firstly, you can see the emotional resolution coming a mile off, secondly, you're not actually sure what's happened by the end of play.

  A young mother wakes to find her newly dead husband is alive again. Was it a premonition?
• 
  The Skin Game (1931)

  Review preview for The Skin Game

  If you didn't know this was Hitchcock you'd be hard-pressed to guess, with little of his classic cinematic vocabulary in evidence.

  Morality tale of class and conscience sees aristos battle new money over land.
• 
  Night At The Museum (2006)

  Review preview for Night At The Museum

  There are a couple of pretty funny moments but for the most part director Shawn Levy's comedy struggles to raise a wry smile.

  Exhibits come alive in comic romp.
• 
  Deck The Halls (2006)

  Review preview for Deck The Halls

  This is no classic, it's formulaic stuff, but the quality performers prevent things getting to saccharine and preachy.

  Two neighbours fall out over who is the local king of Christmas in forgettable but fun seasonal family comedy.
• 
  Ultimate Avengers - The Movie (2006)

  Review preview for Ultimate Avengers - The Movie

  There's an intriguing storyline, plenty of action and characterisation to spare, well-conveyed by a cast mostly unknown to me.

  Animated super-hero adventure.
• 
  Superman Returns (2006)

  Review preview for Superman Returns

  A wonderful movie with a nice clear story, good good guys, bad bad guys, rather special effects . . . really, every department is on top form here.

  The Man of Steel returns to save lives - but can he salvage his own?
• 
  Rent (2005)

  Review preview for Rent

  One of Rent's better-known songs, Seasons of Love, tells us that a year is 525,600 minutes, but believe me, this film seemed an awful lot longer than that.

  Big-screen adaptation of the award-winning musical.
• 
  Eating Out (2004)

  Gay/straight comedy of errors.
• 
  Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh (1998)

  Review preview for Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh

  A gem for lovers of great show tunes.

  Celebration of 30 years of musical theatre, with Julie Andrews and a galaxy of stars.
• 
  Gash (2004)

  Review preview for Gash

  It's nice to see that someone has been paying attention in Film Studies.

  A step-by-step comedy guide to social realist film-making.
• Dysenchanted (2004)

  Happy endings take work.
• Shallow Ground (2004)

  Review preview for Shallow Ground

  We never know what's at stake for the characters, none of whom works as a sympathetic point of view protaganist.

  Bloody kids!
• 
  Fantastic Four (2005)

  Cosmic rays unleash four new super heroes on the box office.
• 
  White Noise (2005)

  Review preview for White Noise

  This is satisfying stuff, with a tense script that delivers the requisite amount of jumpy bits while hanging on to just enough reality to make the truly outlandish moments stand out.

  Keep that frequency clear... or you risk dead air.
• 
  Species (1995)

  Review preview for Species

  Predictability thy name is Species.

  A test-tube sci-fi girl grows up into a man-eating centrefold nymphomaniac.
• 
  Shade (2004)

  Review preview for Shade

  Slight but sweet.

  A boy comes to terms with his new baby sister.
• 
  It's A Casual Life (2003)

  Review preview for It's A Casual Life

  If there's a message to be had it's that outwardly respectable men can be violent tossers, but that's hardly a revelation.

  A footy hooligan reveals his motivations.
• 
  Dark Star (1974)

  Parody of early sci-fi epics, especially 2001: A Space Odyssey
• 
  National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)

  Review preview for National Lampoon's Animal House

  'Pedestrian' is too racy a word to describe it.

  Grandaddy of teen gross-out comedies takes a chainsaw to college frat house conformity.
• 
  Antichrist (2002)

  Review preview for Antichrist

  Don't think for one second you won't spot where this is going after five minutes.

  Boys plays dangerous games in a post-apocalyptic Polish quarry.
• 
  Nobody's Life (2002)

  Review preview for Nobody's Life

  The only real surprise is that the story follows such a predictable pattern. Some might call this tragedy; I call it lazy.

  Flying by deceit of his pants.