The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Dr. Watson and Mr. Holmes are reunited in this film... oh wait that is not the case until further reincarnations of the characters. The Unexpected Journey of Bilbo Baggins continues in Peter Jackson's next installment of The Hobbit. If you were left wondering at the end of the first film how Mr. Jackson was going to drag this out into three films, the movie does provide you with the answer. Other than that and the introduction of Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug, the film serve no other purpose as it acts as a boring bridge to the grand finale of the battle against the dragon. Throw in some unnecessary twists to the plot by the director, we are left with a rather staid, head scratcher of a film. But if one could suspend their knowledge of the Tolkien novel, you could force yourself to be slightly entertained by the movie.

Rating: * *

Elizabethtown

A well-made Cameron Crowe film - cant crow (sic!) about its brilliant script or intelligent camera work - but being an ex-rock journalist, you can be assured of some good music being swung into the script. For Orlando Bloom's character: its part self-discovery (loses millions of $ in a shoe fiasco and contemplates suicide), part family crisis (father dies, to cremate or not?), part romance (Kirsten Dunst saves him from death?). Bloom does a reasonable job making it a fairly good watch actually.

Rating: * * +

Haven

Slickly made movie about how a few characters in Cayman Island get caught in a mix of deceit, hatred and money laundering. The story draws various characters together - a father who is desperately trying to make his money white but unaware of the middle man's intentions, while his daughter gets involved with the local sleaze. In the meantime, a hardworking fisher boy loses his love & face to racial issues and is desperate to do something. Though the Island is well captured in camera and reasonably scripted, there is something amiss which makes it rather ordinary.

Rating: * *