Rebel Without a Pause Button

The Inbetweeners TV series was a huge hit, both in terms of viewing figures and critical reception. It followed four socially awkward teenagers and their embarrassing and hilarious exploits in sixth form. The TV show was excellent mainly because it realistically portrayed British teens and their daily dilemmas. The writing was sharp and clever, the stereotypes of each character weren't over-exaggerated and, most importantly for a comedy, it was brilliantly funny. The Inbetweeners Movie (2011) was expected to attract fans of the series and few others. But to the surprise of everyone, it had the most successful opening weekend ever for a comedy in the UK. In total it made almost $88 million worldwide with $71 million from the UK. Interestingly, it only made $36,000 in the US. And again, it was very funny. The Inbetweeners 2 has been similarly successful, having the biggest UK opening weekend of the year, but is it as good as the first one? In a word, no. While...

The opening scenes of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes depict a civilization where apes are the superiors. They hunt in packs, communicate with sign language, build forts and have a clear hierarchy. These first moments set up the film perfectly, showing that the apes are perfectly capable of living a peaceful life without the human race. However, this picture of harmony is interrupted by a group of humans, led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke). After a tense stand off, the humans return to San Francisco, where the citizens are trying to rebuild their lives. Here we see the disastrous effect that the simian flu outbreak had on the human race, and the vast difference between the apes' progress and the human's regress. Tension between the humans and the apes rises as Malcolm and his family return to the forest to try and make peace. Caesar, the leader of the apes, whose story was first told in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), is shown as a powerful, wise figure and can be considere...

With DC comics recently announcing 9 new movies, with release dates covering 2016 to 2020 and the first being Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, the hype surrounding the superhero movie couldn't be greater. The Avengers 2 has recently finished filming and Ant-Man, Captain America 3, TMNT 2 and The Amazing Spider-Man 3 are all in varying stages of production. Many believe that the phenomenal success of Marvel's The Avengers (2012) was the beginning of the current boom in the genre, as it showed that these movies could still make a huge amount of money (The Avengers made over $1.5 billion worldwide!). Of course, there have been many mistakes made over the years. Catwoman (2004) is widely considered as one of the worst films ever made and the Fantastic Four movies (2005 and 2007) were very badly received (a reboot is already in production). However these films are now several years old and with recent success' like X-Men: Days of Future Past and Captain Ameri...