“The Beginning” is set 600 years ago in Feudal Thailand and follows the frankly god-awful life of Tien who is forced into fighting to avenge the slaughter of his family. After being taken in and trained by a vicious group of bandit outlaws he becomes one of the most dangerous, accomplished and feared warriors in the land.

And yes that is the plot, give or take a couple of bits of double-crossing and lost love. It’s lucky that the martial arts sequences are so spectacular, though one in particular goes on for so long it teeters on the brink of ridiculousness, because the plot sure isn’t going to help this survive.

Burton’s Alice in Wonderland takes us on a journey that combines aspects of the original Disney film with aspects from Lewis Carroll’s books as Alice returns to ‘Underland’ in her teenage years to face her destiny.

Alice (Mia Wasikowska) needs an escape from the pressures of a high class engagement party where she is in the spot light and facing an unexpected marriage proposal from a ginger Lord with sensitive digestion, so she follows the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen) down a hole in a tree trunk and finds herself in the fantastical world from her childhood dreams.

Alice meets some strange and wonderful creatures in ‘Underland’ including Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee (Matt Lucas), The Dormouse (Barbara Windsor), the Blue Caterpillar (Alan Rickman), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) and of course the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp). They all assist her in realising who she really is and they guide her towards her fate of defeating the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and her Jabberwocky to return the crown and the power over the land to the White Queen (Anne Hathaway).

The cast for this film is fantastic but, there are two characters in particular that stand out amongst the rest. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are excellent as the Mad Hatter and the Red Queen; both shine in their roles and create enchanting performances that are a joy to watch. And they’re both mad to boot!

Tim Burton has let his imagination run wild and has put a firm stamp on this film with his reinventions of certain characters, the amazing aesthetics and the brilliant use of CGI. If anyone has possibly failed to sit up and notice Burton’s works before this then this film will surely do the trick.

In short, Alice in Wonderland is an excellent film which I would recommend to everyone. I just didn’t want it to end.

It’s contrived and obvious – and doesn’t deviate from that with any enormous surprises, but just keeps ploughing the rom-com genre. The two leads are pleasant and convincing enough but without some originality it’s difficult to be sold on the story, let alone the characters.

This really is one just for those who are either Rom-com completists or like the work of Bullock/Reynolds. Not my cup of tea.

In the end the festival took place in White Lake with nearly half a million people attending or at least trying to.

Ang Lee’s latest film Taking Woodstock tells the story of Elliot Tiber and how he brought the festival to his hometown. Played wonderfully by Demetri Martin, Elliot is finding his feet as an interior designer in Greenwich Village, and feeling at home with the burgeoning gay rights movement.

But he still feels duty bound to return each summer to help his parents failing El Monaco motel, run by his strident, outspoken Jewish Russion mother (Imelda Staunton) and fading father (Henry Goodman). In the summer of 1969 Elliot hears that the Woodstock festival is being chased out of town after town and sees an opportunity to offer his motel to the promoters and make some much-needed income.

Of course things begin to take on a life of their own as the Woodstock chaos and magic comes together to create a generation-defining experience that will change Elliot – and popular culture – forever.

Ang Lee has created a beautiful piece of cinema, as he not only tells Elliot’s story but also shows the importance of the events going on around him. Two hours has rarely gone by so fast.

Highly Recommended. Taking Woodstock is released this Friday 13th November 2009 in cinemas nationwide.

The Invention of Lying is about Mark Bellison, a man who is down on his luck as he finds himself out of a job, facing eviction from his home and unable to woo the girl of his dreams. He is almost ready to admit defeat when he discovers his hidden ability to lie in a world where people only ever tell the truth; this completely turns his life around but, is it really for the better?

The opening credits and the first sequence of this film are very strange and as the plot continues it all becomes a bit too silly; there are a few funny moments throughout but, nothing that really makes you want to laugh out loud, which is quite a disappointment. Gervais is ok as Mark Bellison but, none of the characters in the film are particularly gripping, which adds to the feeling that the film is a bit of a let down. The idea behind this film is really clever and it’s a real shame that it doesn’t quite hit the mark.

The Invention of Lying is the kind of film that is fine to watch if there’s nothing better on but, it’s definitely not one of this Autumns must see movies.

Don’t let this fool you though, as the initial promise soon falls well short of expectations. Surrogates has a great concept based of a successful graphic novel and is directed by Jonathan Mostow of Terminator 3 fame. The running time however is its largest downfall as plot holes quickly squash away any initial promise the film displays.

The plot sees us taken to an unnamed year in earth’s future where society now consists of people laying in bed controlling their robot selves. (Think of The Sims with a pulse). However, society’s flawless lifestyle is quickly disrupted by an unidentifiable criminal who possesses a gun that can kill not only the robot, but the humans controlling it as well.

This is when we get introduced to Bruce Willis in not so unfamiliar territory as a rogue cop by the name of Tom Greer, who quickly goes investigating into the crime. He quickly abandons his dashing, flawless and full haired surrogate in the process to mix it up with balding stubble and a bad attitude, much to the chagrin of his loved ones and peers. By this point it’s best to just sit back and enjoy the pretty colours as the films cohesion quickly unravels before your eyes. Characters motivations go completely unanswered as you’ll find yourself somewhat looking across to the person in the seat next to you with a quizzical look. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything. These scenes likely did exist; they’re just probably laying on the cutting room floor somewhere.

Lack of cohesion aside, Surrogates is not a massive failure. The action scenes are slick and effective, but it largely suffers from style over substance. Large portions of the film are very dialogue heavy and will likely spark some fruitful coffee shop discussion about where society is heading, but generally you’ll always likely come back to the fact that the plot quickly lost any semblance of structure to be taken seriously.

I’m unsure as to whether Mostow intended this to be the 1950’s style B movie it very closely resembles. If you go into it with that attitude then you may be pleasantly surprised. Bad timing may be against the film with audiences likely going to watch it after Sci-Fi blockbusters such as Star Trek and more recently District 9, so expectations may be slightly misplaced. However I would say Surrogates is still a rental at best. Hopefully the DVD release will see an uncut version with the plot tightened up.

Maybe this is the dilemma of the DVD distributor these days – with so much choice on digital TV, and on-demand television gaining ground, what is the selling point of the Box-set?

In the case of the Series 12 of the Simpsons DVD Boxset the selling point is the imaginative and detailed extras, as well as appealing to the Simpsons completists out there. You’ve got episode commentaries, deleted scenes, animation showcase and a whole lot more.

And then there are the 21 episodes – some great, some middling but worth a watch.

So it’s a good boxset, if you like that sort of thing.

Unfortunately this is no exception.  Dragonball Evolution tells of High School student Goku and his mysterious dragonball that he receives from his grandfather when he turns 18.  Despite being called a Dragonball and having the name Goku, apparently he is unaware that it might have powers!

Of course there are not only more Dragonballs out there – 7 in total – but there is also an evil adversary out to collect them all.  The wonderfully named Lord Piccolo kills Goku’s grandfather while trying to find the dragonball, setting Goku off on his mission to collect all 7 before Piccolo can get them all, seize control of the world and then destroy it – an act which makes the seizing control bit a tad pointless….

The cast isn’t too bad with Chow Yun Fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and James Marsters (Buffy, Angel) but the whole thing is only a little diverting and probably not worth the effort!

Orphan is about a couple who are looking to adopt an older child as an addition to their family after loosing their baby. At the orphanage they meet Esther, a 9-year-old girl originally from Russia who appears to be a very talented and intelligent girl who is a little bit different to the other children.

John and Kate decide to give Esther a chance and they take her home with them to join their young family. Everything seems to be perfect to begin with as Esther is sweet and polite but, strange things soon start to happen around her and Kate becomes suspicious. Kate tries to express her concerns to husband John but, he just can’t see things the same way until it’s too late.

The plot for this film is intriguing but, can be a little difficult to swallow in places. The opening sequence, for example, is very hard to watch and seems a bit insensitive and unnecessary, and there are sections throughout which are also unsettling. However, despite some of the horrible content, the film still keeps you tensely on the edge of your seat and wanting to know what happens next.

I wouldn’t recommend this film to most people as it is a little bit shocking and it should probably have a higher certificate than a 15 but, for those who do chose to see it, expect to leave the cinema very unsettled.

John Travolta stars as Ryder who has recently been let out of prison and is now the ringleader of the train hijack. Along with his gang of miscreants, he terrorises the passengers and demands a heavy ransom which has to reach him on time or he threatens to start shooting the people on the train.

An unsuspecting train dispatcher (Denzel Washington) finds his day taking a very unexpected twist as he has to quickly learn how to negotiate with terrorists while keeping the situation calm and the train passengers alive.

Pelham 123 is a really gripping film and John Travolta is perfect as the unhinged and humorous Ryder. The relationship between his character and Garber (played by Denzel Washington) is really interesting to watch as it develops over the course of the film. The film focuses mainly on these characters but, this doesn’t harm the plot at all as they are both well cast and have great chemistry, resulting in a great watch.