REPO MEN - C

Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Live Schreiber
Repo Men has a nicely grounded vision for the near future, but this contrived sci-fi thriller is weakened by a soft moral code. Though most of the film is based on how violent repo man Jude Law supposedly grows a conscious after he becomes a hunted man, he seems to only care about innocents when it suits his needs.

MOVIE MATH: (The Island - The 6th Day)/Minority Report + Children of Men

SHUTTER ISLAND - B

Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley
Martin Scorsese’s gothic-asylum mystery-thriller grips you as a moody genre piece, with a potent atmosphere of dread, a suitably paranoid DiCaprio and enough twists to keep you engaged. It is also unfortunately a little too long, with too much back-story tagged on as a red herring.

MOVIE MATH: (Secret Window + Gothika) x (Bringing Out the Dead + The Departed)

ALICE IN WONDERLAND - C+

Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter
Cracked visionary Tim Burton seems like the ideal choice to helm an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s head-trip novel, but Alice in Wonderland is a gorgeous mess. There’s not enough to Alice as a character and way too much – it is chaos really – to everything else.

MOVIE MATH: (Disney's Alice in Wonderland + The Chronicles of Narnia) x Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

DATE NIGHT - B

Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg
The stars of TV’s The Office and 30 Rock make for an amusing and sympathetic pair with this fast-paced and relatively fresh comedy. Sure, the storyline strains credibility as it moves forward, but many of the small touches (particularly a flustered Steve Carell interacting with a shirtless Mark Wahlberg) are fun.

MOVIE MATH: (The 40-Year-Old Virgin + Baby Mama/Knocked Up) x Adventures in Babysitting

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID - C

Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Chloe Grace Moretz
Jeff Kinney’s best-selling Diary novels get an awkward live-action treatment with this tiresome look at the difficulties of middle school. Most of the characters are barely realized, ill-fitting caricatures, plus hero Greg all too often comes across as a selfish and whiny jerk.

MOVIE MATH: (Lucas + Malcolm in the Middle) - Angus + How to Eat Fried Worms

FURRY VENGEANCE - D+

Brendan Fraser, Brooke Shields, Ken Jeong
A slapstick stinker that makes Brendan Fraser’s George of the Jungle seem subtle by comparison, Furry Vengeance is like an unholy (and entirely unfunny) cross between Home Alone and Over the Hedge. The group of animals fighting to save their homes have about as much charm as a rabid beaver.

MOVIE MATH: [(Evan Almighty - The Bible) + Over the Hedge] x Home Alone + SQRT George of the Jungle

CLASH OF THE TITANS - C

Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes
Sure, they are a long way from the low-grade cheese of the 1981 original, but the effects in this mythological remake (particularly an encounter with Medusa) are surprisingly shoddy. Worse, the entire film builds to a showdown with the Kraken but the brief final battle is disappointing at best.

MOVIE MATH: (1981 Clash of the Titans - Jason and the Argonauts) + (Percy Jackson & The Olympians / Disney's Hercules)

THE LOSERS - B-

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba
An elite U.S. Special Forces crew track down the man who framed them in this fitfully fun action extravaganza. Most of the heroes (with the exception of a comic Chris Evans) are rather colourless and their big plan is too simplistic, but Jason Patric - seemingly in the midst of a little snit fit – is a hoot as a villainous C.I.A. operative.

MOVIE MATH:  The A-Team + SQRT (Green Zone + Kill Bill)

KICK-ASS - B

Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Nicolas Cage
Superheroes get turned on their heads with this bloody look at real-life superheroes that stands as both a parody and a tribute to the genre. Though some of the violence is excessive (and a little too cartoonish), director Matthew Vaughn mostly gets the tone right – a skilful combo of humour and pain (both physical and emotional).

MOVIE MATH: (Batman Begins + Spider-Man + Watchmen) x Defendor