Set one year after they allowed Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett) as The Falcon take credit for their last victory the turtles still live in their secret underground lair using reporter April O’Neil (Megan Fox) as their link to the world and she tips off The Turtles to the fact that the Foot Clan under the guidance of a scientist Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) are going to spring their foe in their previous outing The Shredder (Brian Tee) as he is being transported to a more secure facility along with two other prisoners Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) & Rocksteady (Stephen Farrelly) by corrections officer Casey Jones (Stephen Amell)

Once the Foot Clan attacks the convoy The Turtles intervene but Shredder escapes and meets up with alien warlord Krang (Brad Garrett) who gives Shredder a mutagen compound in exchange for some items he needs located. So it’s up to The Turtles with a little help from April & Casey to stop The Shredder who has now recruited Bebop & Rocksteady, and his Foot Clan from their plans to give Krang the items for his plan to take over the world.

I haven’t seen the 2014 Turtles movie so I don’t have a comparison to that film but what I did find with this movie is that the first fifteen minutes was full of unnecessary voice over exposition, the human characters were annoying and Splinter appears then disappears just as quickly so I was disappointed not to see the Yoda like figure I remember his being. The Turtles had some good action sequences, some good interaction with each other and the four brothers felt like they were all bringing something to the table to form a team but the rest of the cast were terrible with only Williams and Farrelly producing anything like the characters I remember.

Although there is a new director on board in Dave Green, with Michael Bay on board as a producer we still get a spattering of USA flags and fast car sequences as one would expect. Yes, some of the CGI laden action sequences are very good, there are a few funny moments and there’s a very thin thread about brotherhood, staying true to who you are and working together to achieve your goals but in all there’s not a lot here for adults so I’m sure it does exactly what it is designed to do, keep the kids entertained, highlight more merchandise and if that’s the goal then it’s onto a winner.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

With a clever play on words Race is a sports biography based around the achievements of the African American athlete Jesse Owens (Stephan James) in winning four gold medals at the Nazi propaganda driven 1936 Olympic games in Berlin. Dealing with both the Aryan superiority stance from Germany and the racism of the time in America this film starts with his college years in Ohio State University where he meets coach Larry Snyder (Jason Sudekis) who hones his talent and sets him on the road to eventual glory.

There are a number of subplots such as the filming of the games by German director Leni Riefenstahl and the battle between Jeremiah Mahoney (William Hurt) and Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons) around the potential boycotting of the games by American athletes which, while having a valid place in the tale only succeed in diverting away from the central tale and could have seen a little less screen time. on the other side some of the best moments in the movie which come towards the end of the movie particularly when Owens meets his eventual friend Carl Long (David Kross), a German long jump athlete who broke several ‘rules’ by treating Owens like he would any fellow competitor and even went so far as to celebrate with Owens afterwards, and it would have been nice to have seen additional focus put on this theme.

Overall Race does a good job of showing use the remarkable achievements of Owens but with the odd exception it doesn’t give us a good look at who Owens really was and what the man behind the success was really like, I already knew about his achievements before I watched this film and afterwards I still don’t think it has taught me an awful lot new so while the story and the acting are good it just feels a little flat for a movie that should invoke emotions like a really good sports movie should especially in the wake of the achievements of a legend of the track.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Set fourteen years alter the first movie and twelve years after the sequel this third installment of the franchise sees Calvin (Ice Cube) and his staff trying to save their premises in the South Side of Chicago from the ever increasing gang violence in the area where the shop was always viewed as a safe place where the troubles of the streets could be left behind so they decide to advertise via social media that for 48 hours they are asking the rival gangs in the area to call a truce and during this period all haircuts will be free.

This ties in nicely with the sub plot of Calvins son Jalen (Michael Rainey Jr) who is now a teenager and his friend Kenny (Diallo Thompson) being enticed towards the prospect of the power of local gang membership and he is rebelling against his father’s strict, no nonsense approach to parenting which leads to tension within the shop since both Calvins friend Rashad (Common) also works in the shop and feels that Calvin may be partially to blame for pushing their kids towards gang life. It is this thread which gives the movie it’s real focus as both actors do a fine job of portraying the tension and struggle of trying to keep their kids on the right side of the tracks despite the glittering lights and allure of the prospects on the other side, the rest of the movie feels like a snapshot between the light hearted comic moments, mainly from Eddie (Cedric The Entertainer) and bickering between employees over every day mundane items but it pulls the movie together to make it feel like a place of employment, which I assume is the purpose of the film.

Ice Cube was excellent as a man trying to balance his work life with looking out of his son and is struggling to cope with both, as stated above Common done a fine job as both friend and foil to Ice Cube and Cedric The Entertainer also shone with what he was given to work with as loud mouthed Eddie. The rest of the cast were fine but felt like they were background players to these two. Having not seen either of the first two movies some of the history of the franchise and character relationships may have been lost on me but overall the movie entertained if never excelling and I thought it was too comedic to be a drama and too dramatic to be a comedy so it felt a little lost in between.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

With more than a nod to the classic (and far, far superior) Michael Mann movie Heat and some leaning towards Antoine Fuquas, Training Day, Triple 9 is a tale of criminals and corrupt cops teaming up to commit a series of heists in order to steal items for the Russian mafia.

In a tangled mess of relationships, Michael Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is the leader of the gang and is being strung along by Irina Vlaslov (Kate Winslet) the wife of a Russian mafia boss who was recently convicted of a crime, into committing heists since she has control over his child whose mother Elena (Gal Gadot) is Irina’s sister.

After the latest crime she withholds payment until after the next heist which causes trouble within the gang but when one of them is executed to show that Irina is not playing about they reluctantly accept the job however the required information is stored in a government facility so the gang decided that the only way they can get this done is to invoke a Triple 9 situation (officer down) which will get every cop in the city to respond and will buy them the time they need. Luckily one of the cops in the gang, Marcus Belmont (Anthony Mackie) has found the perfect candidate in his new partner Chris Allen (Casey Affleck)

There are some pluses in the movie with a lot of dark settings bringing a great feel of being deep in the underbelly of Atlanta to the screen and some of the action scenes are excellent. However this is negated by the very large plot holes we are expected to ignore in order to accept the gangs situation, for example Chris’ uncle Jeffrey Allen (Woody Harrelson) is leading the investigation into the gangs heists and they still pick Chris as the victim of the Triple 9? Also, the getaway driver Russell Welchs (Norman Reedus) brother Gabe (Aaron Paul) is a drug addict and an obvious liability to the gang, surely there are better options? These are just two that I can mention without spoiling the movie but there are more.

It’s this lack of believability which takes away from what has the potential to be a very good movie as the acting talent is excellent and, while the performances are not superb this is more down to the script than any fault in the actors as the action sequences are the films strongest point and it is when the dialogue becomes the focal point that the movie starts to lag. It’s still a good thriller which is very enjoyable but it could have been so much better.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

You know what you are getting when you watch a Sacha Baron Cohen movie, generally crude and offensive comedy with a thread of a movie premise behind it and this latest effort is no different as he brings us the tale of Nobby Butcher who, when growing up was inseparable from his brother but they were separated while going through the foster care system after their parents died 28 years earlier and is now a stereotypical working class Northerner while we learn that his brother Sebastian (Mark Strong) is a top level MI6 agent. When Nobby finds out that his brother will be attending a high profile charity event he manages to gain entry and messes up the whole mission leading to his brother having to go on the run. It’s then down to Nobby to assist Sebastian in clearing his name and dealing with the conspiracy which they uncover along the way.

What transpires is a predictable medley of gags about Nobby making Johnny English look like James Bond, the actions of the stereotypes of working class Britain, jokes about anatomical parts and one horrendous scene involving elephant sex!

Cohen seems to be on a downward spiral in terms of these comedy characters, Borat was good, but Bruno not so much, General Haffaz was poor and now Nobby is as bad if not worse and for a movie with such talent as Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane, Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson and Gabourey Sidibe its criminally unfunny. Did I giggle at some scenes? Of course I did. Was it a funny movie? Not at all. Even if you liked Borat or Ali G before that this has none of the clever humour of either of those characters and there are far better comedy movies that you could be spending your time watching.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4 Out Of 10

The Daughter is an Australian movie set in a small town where a local timber mill run by Henry Neilson (Geoffrey Rush) is the main source of employment and the life blood of the area so when the announcement is made that the mill is to close the whole town seems doomed. One member of the town effected is Oliver Finch (Ewen Leslie) who seems to have a reasonably happy life with his wife Charlotte (Miranda Otto), daughter Hedwig (Odessa Young) and father Walter (Sam Neill). Walter used to be a good friend of Henrys but they have fallen out over the years as life took them in different directions. Thrown into the mix is the marriage of Henry to his younger housekeeper Anna (Anna Torv) which brings his son Christian (Paul Schneider) back from the USA and in the same way that Henry and Walter are former friends so were Christian and Oliver but Christian is a troubled man who is struggling to keep his relationship together thanks to his ongoing struggle with alcoholism and when his partner decides not to join him in Australia he battles with his desire for heavy drinking sessions returns.

The pivotal point is initially Henry but slowly drifts towards Hedwig as we begin to learn more about the history of the small town. Cristian is struggling to keep to himself together as he deals with the combined breakdown of his relationship coupled with the memories of his mothers suicide which are re-awakened by his return, his unwillingness to accept his fathers new marriage and also the re-ignition of his friendship with Oliver. he then discovers a long hidden secret which will tear their worlds apart if revealed.

With some clever camerawork, particularly the over the shoulder shots which give added realism to the situation and some very clever use of symbolism through the form of a duck which is shot by Henry at the beginning of the movie, while this may sound like a strange statement the movie is an adaptation of a book called The Wild Duck.

It is a slow moving but intriguing film with good acting all around but made all the better by the performance of Young who conveys a superb acting range as the tale drags her in many different directions of emotional turmoil and it’s dark subject matter makes a nice change from the politically correct material that normally appears on our screen, but it’s a very enjoyable experience if you’re looking for something a little less mainstream

DJ Speaks Rating: 7 Out Of 10