Bolt – 2008 – Howard & Williams

An animation that seems suspiciously similar to Toy Story, but is nowhere near as good. A superhero dog thinks he’s really real, but after a trip to the big city he realises he’s really not. Then he has to save his leading lady, so is he really a hero? You’ll have to wait and see! 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

Wild Style – 1983 – Charlie Ahearn

I’m tentative when it comes to cult classics because they can be more disappointing than New Year’s celebrations. Wild Style is however, enjoyable; the acting is awful, but it has the effect of buttressing the street cred of the ramshackle street artists and the music alone makes it worth watching, JJ

Shake Hands with the Devil – 2007 – Roger Spottiswoode

Forget about Hotel Rwanda and Shooting Dogs. This documentary about the Rwandan killing fields, one of the most appalling chapters in modern history, contains some very disturbing images. If one’s ever shed tears over some stupid Bollywood movie, they should be ashamed of themselves. Omid Nikfarjam

Zombie Strippers! – 2008 – Jay Lee

Ping pong balls and flesh-eating strippers led by the infamous Jenna Jameson; that should be enough not to watch it. It opens with a humourous polemic against George Bush, misleading you into thinking that it’s going to be good, but ultimately ends up as a cloaked soft-porn movie. Brian Murray

Kids -1995 – Larry Clark

First time I saw Kids I thought ‘what a fucking pedestrian adolescence I had.’ The two main kids are like disciples of Gordon Gekko, except pussy is their holy grail and not profit. For sure it’s despondent, it’s dirty, and the characters are beyond reach. Maybe it’s just a slice of NYC. 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

Superbad – 2007 – Greg Mottola

A very funny high school movie with McLouvin, the greatest character since Stiffler. McLouvin is entrusted with the responsibility of buying the booze for a party with the jocks when a robbery of the booze shop turns his life from bad to superbad. Jonah Hill and Michael Cera make up a great pair of idiot geeks. Brian Murray

Tropic Thunder – 2008 – Ben Stiller

Ben Stiller’s latest comedy is a mixed bag of laughs and groans, pity it’s all a bit formulaic. A star studded cast is plonked in the middle of Vietnam, and have to act their way out of the jungle, while the script is being rewritten. Watch it for the hilarious opening trailers. JJ