Underworld: Awakening (2012)

Let me start off by saying, I am an absolute die-hard fanboy of the Underworld series (except for Rise of the Lycans, that was terrible). Everything about this series excites me, whether it be Kate Beckinsale in her skin-tight, leather outfit or the never-ending war between the Vampires and Werewolves. Being a fanboy I expected something amazing, I left the cinema with a huge grin on my face.

Selene taking on the Mega-Lycan

Six months after the events of Underworld: Evolution, Selene and Michael are captured by the humans during "The Purge", an eradication of both Vampires and Lycans conducted by the humans. Twelve years after "The Purge", Selene is freed from her cryogenic prison in the lab of biotech company AntiGen. Once awakened, Selene begins searching for Michael, instead she finds her daughter, who has inherited both the Vampire/Lycan abilities from Michael and the Vampire/Corvinus abilities from Selene.

Kate Beckinsale carries the entire movie on her own without any trouble, after a five year absence from the Underworld series you would think Kate might struggle to capture the essence that made her character so captivating, however, she returns with her strongest portrayal of Selene to date. Honorable mentions go to Stephen Rea and Kris Holden-Reid as father/son Lycan duo.

Underworld: Awakening boasts plenty of action and gore along with the added factor of 3D, Awakening has gained points by not overusing the 3D effects, it was mainly used when a bullet would propel through a skull or when a grenade would explode.

Without giving anything else away I would like to say this movie has restored my faith in Vampire movies, a faith that the Twilight saga had almost destroyed. If you love action, gore, vampires, werewolves or you just like staring at a fine woman in skin-tight leather, this movie is for you.

Must see!

9/10

Cedar Rapids (2011)

During a quiet week of new releases I came across Cedar Rapids, plastered on the cover was Ed Helms' grinning face, Ed played Stu in The Hangover if you didn't already know that. Like most people, I grabbed it purely on the fact that Ed was in the film. Cedar Rapids wasn't the worst movie ever, but it wasn't the greatest either.

John C. Reilly in a scene from Cedar Rapids

Ed plays Tim Lippe, an insurance salesman whose life is passing him by, but after a turn of events Tim is sent to Cedar Rapids for the annual insurance convention. For Tim this is a huge deal, he has never left his small town of Brown Valley, as you can imagine he has very little idea of how the world works. Lucky for Tim he has the guidance of Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly), Ronald "Ronimal" Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) and Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Anne Heche).

Cedar Rapids travels along at a reasonable pace, the scenery is very dull and quiet, I can imagine it must feel that way for many people who visit these conventions often. While at the convention, Tim tries new things such as, drugs, sex with a married woman, skinny dipping, bribery and getting his arse kicked. Tim makes some new friends and realizes that the friends he had may not have been his friends at all.

There's nothing bad to say about the film yet there is nothing good, it wasn't boring but it wasn't exciting. Ed Helms did his best to give the character some flair and make it an enjoyable experience for the viewer, unfortunately, you can't do much with a shitty script. The best thing about the movie would be Dean Ziegler, his inappropriateness and his jokes gave me a few laughs.

All in all a pretty average movie, if you are impressed easily then this movie will be great for you, but for the rest of us, steer clear.

4/10