The movies I've watched on Sky Movies HD over the last week:
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) - Pretty good, although not as good as I'd heard. When the lead spends most of the movie feeling sorry for himself the actor is walking a tightrope to stay the right side of annoying and keep the audience's sympathy. For me, Jason Segel mostly failed in that. Most of the amusement is supplied by Apatow regulars in supporting parts: Paul Rudd as a perpetually high surfing instructor, Jonah Hill as a waiter aspiring to be a musician, Kristen Wiig as a starstruck yoga instructor. Mila Kunis steals the show with a relaxed performance as a nice, down to earth girl - and she looks drop dead gorgeous in the film.
Dan in Real Life (2007) - Some good moments here and there, and a good lead performance from Steve Carell stretching his dramedy muscles, but overall the film is too twee, artificial, and mawkish.
The Happening (2008) - Ouch! Has a director who started out with as much promise as M. Night Shyamalan ever made a film quite as bad as this one? This is a failure on every level, with an embarrasingly bad lead performance from Mark Wahlberg. Hopefully it'll be The Last Airbender to the rescue for Shyamalan.
Charlie Wilson's War (2007) - A good, solid film with Hanks in fine form playing against type. Philip Seymour Hoffman steals the show, though. Look out for Rachel Nichols and Shiri Appleby as suitably sexy members of "Charlie's Angels".
Taken (2008) - A very entertaining old-fashioned, no frills action film. Jack Bauer wears Liam Neeson underoos.
Max Payne (2008) - I'd feel burned if I'd paid to see this theatrically or as a rental, but it's passable enough dumb fun entertainment on television. While Mila Kunis was the best thing about Forgetting Sarah Marshall, she's woefully miscast here (apart from Russian being her original native language).
Rambo (2008) - Not as good as Rocky Balboa, but pretty damn good nonetheless. Like Taken, this is a throwback to the kind of straightforward action films that were a staple of 80s cinema, only in this case with more blood. Much more blood! I mean, holy crap, there's a lot of bloodletting in this movie!
Bangkok Dangerous (2008) - I hadn't paid much attention to the reviews or publicity when this came out, but just from the bits and pieces I'd seen I was expecting a really hyped up, OTT action film. It's actually quite sedate and morose. It gets off to a rather poor start, but picks up a bit as it goes on. There's no real rooting interest, though.
