Film Review: Cowboys & Aliens

Disappointingly tedious. Overlong passages where nothing happens, and no obvious storylines or mysteries to keep you in suspense while you're waiting (and waiting) for something to happen. Unfortunately there's barely a chuckle either as it takes its preposterous premise rather seriously.
It's mostly a western, but even the scifi elements are over-familiar. The Cloverfield alien blueprint is back (yawn), and their spaceships just look like spare ribs.
It's not a complete disaster. Daniel Craig is especially good and there's a twist you might not see coming (not a particularly good one though). It's not quite Twilight boring, but gets there at times. Not what you'd expect from the director of Iron Man.

Film Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

As someone with only a passing knowledge of the original movie(s)- mostly thanks to that Simpsons episode- this came as a complete surprise. It speeds along almost as though it's showing you highlights, and yet you don't feel like you're missing anything.

Andy Serkis achieves CGI gold yet again as protagonist chimp Caesar, acting everybody off the screen. The camerawork, visual effects, and shots of San Francisco are breathtaking.

The only let-down is the human cast. Their characters never achieve even one dimension; James Franco is back to Oscar-host dreadful, Frieda Pinto just gets to look beautiful (though succeeds supremely), Tom "Draco Malfoy" Felton is quite successfully typecast as a sneering bully, but his American accent is painful.

You might think you have seen everything in the trailer, but they've kept the biggest revelation a secret. The cinema audience's reaction alone was worth the ticket price.

Review: Super 8

Lots of acclaim for this one, but I think I'm missing something. It didn't resonate emotionally with me, despite its resorting to blatant emotional manipulation at the end (the bollocks with the locket).
On the positive side, it looks great (although the lens flare is distractingly overdone), the child cast are superb, and there are some great jump-out-of-your-seat moments. But that's about it.
The back story about the grieving/ feuding parents is just dull. When the film-within-a-film (a kids' zombie flick) is more engrossing than the film itself, you know something's wrong.
I've heard claims of similarities to E.T. (how dare they) and Goonies (okay, at least it's not THAT bad), but the only thing it (frequently) reminded me of was Cloverfield, remade by pretty much the same people- but not as well. Even the monster is pretty much the same, just with the head of Gene Hackman's character from Antz.
It's worth seeing, but don't expect the classic that reviews may lead you to believe.