Quantum of Solace – 2008 – Marc Foster

Take one clean shaven spy, two sultry chicks, endless car, plane and boat chases, mix in some exotic locations, vendettas, diminutive villains, public transport, touchscreen technology, the CIA, – and Canadian intelligence, who knew? – shake it all up and you have yourself another Bond installment. No classic, but it goes down okay. JJ

The Genius Club – 2006 – Timothy A. Chey

An intellectual thriller, debatably, about the greatest American brains gathered together to play a game with a nuke-wielding sociopath in order to save humanity, or at least the US. It does, however, deal with a lot of contemporary issues, while the “ostriches” of this world bury their heads in the sand. Brian Murray

Body of Lies – 2008 – Ridley Scott

Two CIA operatives (Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio) create an elaborate proxy terrorist organisation to ensnare a Bin-Laden like terror chief blowing up Europe. This is what the movie should have been entirely about, instead this subplot gets lost in a bombastic and muddled action thriller, that Scott get’s half right. JJ

Taken – 2008 – Pierre Morel

Liam Neeson is a dad on a mission to save his teenage daughter who is befriended by a cute French man, kidnapped by greasy haired Albanians, sold to a devious but polite capitalist and auctioned as a sex slave to gluttonous Arabs. Everyone in Paris speaks English; Liam Neeson kicks ass, just not so good at sprinting. JJ

Eagle Eye – 2008 – D.J. Caruso

Blend in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Terminator, and The Man Who Knew Too Much and you get the biggest lie Hollywood’s ever produced from the director and actor of Disturbia. The problem is they take themselves too seriously, or else it would be fun to watch! Omid Nikfarjam

The Lookout – 2007 – Scott Frank

High school jock Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) suffers memory loss and loses two of his best friends after ploughing his car into a combine harvester. Wracked with guilt and self pity his life is worthless. Redemption comes from an unlikely source. At best a supermarket ready meal type of movie. JJ

Diary of the Dead – 2007 – George A. Romero

With elements of Night of the Living Dead, and Dawn of the Dead one would expect DofD to be good. There’s plenty of suspense, and well written dialogue, for a zombie movie, but if you’ve seen the aforementioned movies then there is nothing to be gained from watching this. Brian Murray

Naked Beneath The Water – 2006 – Sean Cain

A terrible movie about the unreality of reality TV. Some cynical TV executives exploit stupid idiots to fake a serial killer murder reality-TV show. Along the way their plan backfires and they get killed. Terrible as a bag of chips marinated in water for a week. Brian Murray

The Dark Knight – 2008 – Christopher Nolan

Christian Bale as Batman, Heath Ledger as the Joker, Michael Caine as Alfred, Aaron Eckhart Harvey Dent/Two-Face; Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon, flawless. Maybe, maybe not, but a great action movie, with lovable rogues. Brian Murray

Having reinvented the Dark Knight with Batman Begins, director Christopher Nolan lets go of the reins somewhat with his follow up. Heath Ledger as the Joker is the definitive villain archetype. The action is excellent, when it comes, and while it is long it’s most definitely one you got to watch. JJ

In a word: overrated. The movie is well-produced; but the paltry subplots, laughable dialogue, and Batman’s voice (sounds like Freddy Kruger) are disappointing. Ledger was great but Oscar-worthy? There’s too much moralistic drivel to say this movie is really dark. Nonetheless, is a movie good just because it is dark? William Hilderbrandt

Lost Boys: The Tribe – 2008 – P.J. Pesce

This was never going to reach the expectations of the prequel. Angus Sutherland replaces his elder half brother as a vampire and Corey Feldman was convinced to reprise his role. All in all, matches Lost Boys in look and style. Not a cult classic like the first one, but not offensive. Brian Murray