You don’t need an enormous budget to make a great horror film, as The Blair Witch Project proved spectacularly upon release. Unfortunately, no amount of money in the world could have made The Hounds anything more than the festering dog turd it is, steaming horribly on the doormat of this celebrated genre…

Side Effects may cause drowsiness: Steven Soderbergh’s neo-noir cum psychological thriller is contagiously dreamy, until it evolves into a nightmare. It’s brilliant. If Soderbergh really is retiring, he’s certainly ended on a high. Side Effects encompasses some of the key themes he has explored throughout his career (it has the sex, it has the lies, it has the videotape) and forms a tribute to past cinema, channeling a Hitchcockian narrative, style and tone.

Seth Gordon’s directorial history is a mixed bag: he’s the man behind King of Kong the brilliant 2007 documentary about diehard video game fans but also the deeply disappointing, best forgotten, Four Christmases. Now he’s back with another mixed bag: Identity Thief. Part road movie, part buddy film, part goofball comedy, Identity Thief, manages to be an enjoyable example of all three – despite its unambitious premise and predictable plot.

If you’re an avid visitor to BFF, you would have no doubt taken a gander at this Monday’s Face/Off which featured the illustrious Barbra Streisand. After a 16 year stint away from the Hollywood scene (disturbed only shortly by a supporting role in Ben Stiller’s Meet the Fockers and Little Fockers) Babs is back on the big screen accompanied by the comedic talents of Seth Rogen. Let’s see how she did…

I have a headache. From the outset, Broken City had all the markings of a truly classic thriller: a stellar, academy-award recognized cast, a trailer that made it look gritty and intense and a premise that should have meant at least a few seat gripping moments and sharply veering twists. High hopes that amounted to a whole lot of nothing. Let the ranting begin…

Parker isn’t entertainingly bad like Crank or The Transporter 1 through 3. It’s just bad. Bad acting, bad plot, bad villains, bad heroes, and a bad-ass car.

Jason Statham is made of rage and speaks like he’s reading the instruction manual for setting up a Freeview box. Naturally neither of these things elevate Parker to the lofty heights of, say, The Mechanic; and make for the most mind-numbing 118 minutes of your life that you will never get back.

Do Elephants Pray? No. Or maybe yes. There aren’t actually any elephants praying in this film, but the question is debated. For a bit. In between a trippy journey of self-discovery and one man’s seemingly endless journey to bed a hot French chick. Seriously, there is something about the meaning of life explained somewhere in this movie; and if you can take your eyes off the stunning and enchanting leading lady Julie Dray for a couple of seconds; you’ll find it.

Ariel Vromen’s The Iceman sets out to chill and certainly succeeds. It is nothing but cold throughout, and I’m not just referring to Michael Shannon’s relentless, deadpan stare and unfeeling eyes. Genre fans will find a lot to love here.

The Attacks of 26/11 is not, I repeat NOT, a documentary; but a dramatisation of real attacks that happened in Mumbai in 2008. ‘Drama’ is the key word, here. Showy and histrionic; this film’s heart is in the right place; but it doesn’t quite manage to create the edge-of-your-seat terror one would expect from a film based on such horrific events.

Donnie Yen is Jet Li 15 years ago. A feat of martial arts engineering yet to be discovered by the mainstream masses. So when someone tells you to go check out the new film by Peter Ho-Sun Chan (the mastermind behind Bodyguards and Assassins and The Warlords) featuring Donnie Yen, you do so with a certain skip in your step. You don’t expect to come out the other side on a stumble, feeling just a little disappointed while still pleasantly surprised. Confused? Let me explain…