Will Ferrell is Brad Whitaker, a good hearted but wimpy man who is step father to two kids from his wife Sarahs (Linda Cardellini) previous marriage, although his colour by numbers approach to parenthood is not winning him any brownie points. His mundane lifestyle is thrown into disarray when Sarahs ex-husband Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) arrives back on the scene, much to the delight of the children. Dustys seat of the pants view on life is the polar opposite of Brads and thus the movies premise is set and Sarah and the kids generally sink down into the background as the back and forth game of emotional tennis is played out, with Dusty the emotional bully who constantly knocks back any attempt Brad may make to come out on top.

Wahlberg and Ferrell have shown that they can do comedy and their chemistry does shine through on a small number of occasions but they are brought back into banality very quickly by the weak plot. The highlight of the movie is the injection of Thomas Haden Church as Hannibal Buress, Ferrells boss at the radio station and his snippets of life advice coupled with Ferrells deadpan responses are signs of what could have been and perhaps basing a movie around ‘The Panda’ radio station owner is a good film waiting to happen.

Ferrell and Adam McKay have brought us some comedic gems like Anchorman, Step Brothers and, another venture with Wahlberg, The Other Guys and script writer Brian Burns has penned many episodes of hit series Entourage so on paper it should have worked, but perhaps it’s a case of too many cooks which makes this fall flat, right to the ending that pokes towards a sequel which hopefully never sees the light of day. It’s not that there are not some good comedy moments in the movie but they’ve all been done before and if this had of been accompanied by A Happy Madison production screen then I would not have been surprised.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4 Out Of 10

Eye in the sky is a political thriller about the combined efforts of the UK, US and Kenyan governments to capture three extremist members of the Al Shabaab group who are all on the five most wanted terrorists in the Eastern Africa region, that are meeting in a house in the city of Nairobi. This force is being driven by Lt. Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) from her base in Sussex, England. Assisted by two drone pilots, 2nd Lieutenant Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) and Airman first class, Carrie Gershon (Phoebe Fox) who control the proceedings from Nevada, while Lieutenant General Frank Benson (Alan Rickman) oversees the mission from a political point of view in London with members of the UK government as witnesses.

As the situation develops it turns from a simple recon mission with a view to capture into a shoot to kill mission as the surveillance shows that the extremists are arming two suicide bombers so what ensues is a political game to gain the authorisation to use a Hellfire missile in a civilian area, while dealing with the moralistic issues of acceptable collateral damage and loss of innocent life.

The fact that the movie is told in real time and jumps from location to location keep the tension high, and the political passing of the buck and unwillingness to make a major decision and to keep referring the decision up, borders on comical attimes so you find yourself getting sucked into the movie which director Gavin Hood must be given credit for as the concept and plot sound like they would be more suited to a novel rather than the big screen, yet it works well as a film.

Both Rickman (sadly in his last appearance on screen) and in particular Mirren owned the screen when they appeared and Mirrens calm demeanour masking here sheer determination toward the mission bordered on scary at times. Given that the mission is a UK based operating but the missile is being fired by the US army it does portray the UK as a little set in the bureaucracy of politics where the US seem to have their affairs more in order, which is humerously shown in a scene where the US secretary of state is interrupted in the middle of a ping pong game in China.

The moral and ethical questions are handled well, and the movie does humanise the collateral damage in a way that viewers will be divided as to what the right course of action is. The technology is scary and while the movie mentions that some of the surveillance methods used in the movie are still only in development it does bring to the fore just how progressive military technology has become and how detached from the fighting on the ground some elements of modern warfare is and it was good to see the realism of the questions being posed such as ‘What if this footage ends up on the Internet’ and ‘What type of propaganda can be spun from this incident’.

The movie is not without its plot hole gaps and it does focus on the powers that be rather than on the local Kenyan field agents who are putting themselves right in the firing line but I still found myself enjoying the movie and it you are a fan of slow burner, political thrillers then there’s enough here for you to enjoy this movie.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

Based on the classic fairy tale this is a re-working of the tale and stars Kristen Stewart as Snow White who has been imprisoned in her home by her step mother Ravenna (Charlize Theron), since she murdered Snow White’s father, as she has been advised by her magic mirror that Snow White will grow up to be even fairer that she is.

Snow White manages to escape her prison after tricking the Queens brother and aide Finn and stealing his key. The Queen hires a local huntsman (Chris Hemsworth doing his best William Wallace impression) to help her but once he finds her he is betrayed by the Queen and instead assists Snow White. Meanwhile, word gets out of Snow Whites existence and her brother William (Sam Claflin) who initially escaped from the castle during the fight between the King’s and Queen’s troops, is also trying to locate her so he joins the group of mercenary’s that Finn is gathering to track Snow White. What good is a Snow White tale without her dwarves and when these are encountered they take Snow White to Fairyland, a place which is untainted by the Queens evil.

The movie caused controversy at the time as the dwarf characters were portrayed by actual dwarf actors who had the faces of the other actors, such as Bob Hoskins, super imposed onto their faces through the use of CGI, and while it looks good there was no need for this other than to try and get more of a draw at the box office.

Overall its very hit and miss, the action scenes are generally good and put CGI to good use, with the exception of Theron who plays the Queen with aplomb, the acting is average at best and the story line and the character development is weak as at time it feels like yet another Twilight knock off piece. Both The Queens and Snow Whites powers seem to switch on and off as the plot requires which has the effect of making the story confusing as there are times when their powers could resolve a situation but they don’t use them so you’re left puzzled as to the logic used. It’s a decent movie but it feels like a bit a lost opportunity.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Super violent movie shown from a first person point of view (through the eyes of the star, for those of you who do not play video games) using GoPro cameras, which is a novel idea but can be a bit off putting when things get frenetic. Henry wakes up as he is being rebuilt by his wife Estelle (Haley Bennett) but it is not long before Henry is forced into action despite not being 100% complete as Akan (Danila Kozlovsky), a villain straight out of the original Die hard movie, arrives and he wants to create an army of super soldiers starting with Henry but Estelle and Henry, briefly, escape from Akan’s reaches by taking an escape pod off his laboratory……escape pod you say? Yes, this laboratory is stationed above the clouds for some reason and in general that just set the tone for the whole movie, it is over the top, the plot is silly and some of the dialogue is awful but this is offset buy the levels of action and in particular the stunt work which is top notch as Henry rampages his way around Moscow chasing Akan and his goons down.

A big shout out to Sharlto Copley who plays Jimmy who acts as a guide to both ourselves and Henry through his mission and he plays the role with such a high level of exaggerated exuberance that he almost becomes the centre of attention and is the only character in the movie who is given any real development.

It’s not a movie for the feint of heart as the violence levels are cranked up to the maximum and there are various scenes which show very interesting uses for everyday items to incapacitate people and if I mention that there’s a dance number towards the end of the film I may be able to get across just how absurd some of the elements in this movie are but if you can get past the obvious flaws, don’t over analyse things and take the movie for what it is then there’s a decent action movie which deserves credit for daring to try something different.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Midnight Special is one of a dying breed of movies in so far as it sets up a plot but does not fill the dialogue with exposition, there are no voice overs and it respects the intelligence of the viewer and let’s you make up your own mind as to what is occurring with only small snippets of hints towards the developing plot at the end of which, again you are not spoon fed an ending, it’s up to you to decide how you take it.

The movie starts in a hotel room with Roy (Michael Shannon) & Lucas (Joel Egerton) watching a news report of a developing manhunt for a missing child. We are then shown Alton (Jaeden Lieberher) who is in the room with them and it is soon apparent that these are the men at the center of the manhunt. There is also a religious group who are speaking about the abduction of the child as the FBI arrive to search their compound so it becomes apparent that there is more to this story than just a simple kidnapping. That’s all you get and it’s enough to peak your interest and pull you in.

Director Jeff Nichols expertly leads you along answering the questions that are building in your head but raising new ones all the time to keep you on your toes. The moments of silence are perfectly placed as they allow you gather your thoughts before the next sequence begins and there is so much in the tone of the movie with threads of faith, loyalty and sacrifice which he handles superbly. The main cast of Egerton, Lieberher, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver and in particular Shannon all add to the tale with a believable genuinely that makes this feel less like a movie and more of an event and what could have been a run of the mill film in lesser hands has been turned into a classic sci-fi/thriller with echoes of the classics of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s era.

I recommend that you see this as soon as possible with as little knowledge of the movie so that you can enjoy what is sure to become one of the most memorable, and for my worth, best movies of recent years.

DJ Speaks Rating: 8 Out Of 10