January is the beginning of a fantastic year for films - in fact, it could easily be given the accolade as the best year for films ever! We see the return of Star Wars, Bond, Avengers, plus many more exciting projects. Here is our January edition of some films we not did cover as much as we would like to;

The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death
(1st January 2015, UK)

Set forty-years after the first Women in Black horror, starring Daniel Radcliffe - and now in World War Two era, a group of evacuated children must take residency in the haunted house – which awakens a dark and haunting inhabitant. It seems like a strong premise for Hammer productions, especially with Phoebe Fox and Helen McClory attached. But, sadly, it divulges in mere jump scares and flashes, rather than any real horror or genuine fright. Poor show.

Tak3n, aka Taken 3
(8th January 2015, UK)

Since the success of Taken (2009), Liam Neeson has lost most of his film integrity. Instead of heart-felt, decent films, he has left us Tak3n – a predictable, dire mess of lazy film-making – all with Neeson’s name attached to sell it big and far. This time around, Bryan Mills is accused of murdering his wife, so he must go on the run whilst trying to prove his innocence. With cliché, he must use his ‘particular set of skills’ to escape the tail of inspector, Forest Whitaker. Our advice? Watch Harrison Ford do the same thing in The Fugitive instead.

Into The Woods
(9th January 2015, UK)

Films like Into The Woods have proven that the amount of stars (actors) in a film, does not equate to the amount of rating stars critics award. Attached to director Rob Marshall’s half-animated, half-live-action for example, is an ensemble of; Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, and Chris Pine. Together, they forge a singing, plot-less mix of classic fairy-tales like Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel – which, whilst fantasy – is not fantastic.

Big Hero 6
(30th January 2015, UK)

The latest film is Disney’s cinematic machine, Big Hero 6, follows the special bond that develops between a plus-sized inflatable robot, called Baymax and a prodigy called Hiro Maranda. Shortly, they form a team of high-tech heroes to tackle other Baymax’s tuned for evil purposes and stop who is responsible for it. As much as it tries to be, this is not WALL-E in the sense of quality (or success). Alas, the creativity, humour and animated passion is enough for intended children audiences to enjoy.

Mortdecai
(23rd January 2015, UK)

Johnny Depp is known for portraying weird and wonderful roles over his seemingly impressive career - each different from before, covering a spectrum of unique characteristics. His latest film, Mortdecai; co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany and Ewan McGreggor is probably a step too far into weirdness however, as he plays a Mr Bean-like man of wealth who is thrown into the mix of angry Russians, the MI5, international terrorists and art dealers alike. It shares a few good laughs ... but that is it.