I have to say, I wasn’t expecting a great deal from When in Rome, a romantic comedy featuring Kristen Bell, who I found to be rather uninteresting in the more adult comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Despite my reservations, When in Rome does have its merits – although it doesn’t re-invent the wheel by any stretch of the imagination.

Marriage for many is a test that often ends up a bumpy ride. Rekindling the weakening spark usually requires significant effort, and many are lazy in their attempt; for fear of change – to routine, or as people. In Date Night it seems two of Hollywood’s funniest people aren’t exempt. If Steve Carell and Tina Fey are reliant on the titular concept to keep the sunshine and lollipops in their (fictional) relationship, then what hope have the rest of us got? The film suggests not much – their bumpy ride is extreme and brings only the slightest source of comfort.

It seems that ‘cougars’ are now the hottest fashion – if you’re an older single woman, flaunt what you’ve got and the young boys will come running. While for the majority it’s a ‘score’ of sorts (women landing the younger man and the man landing a woman who’s, shall we say, experienced), when family gets involved drama ensues. And that’s the premise of The Rebound, where age difference may not be the overriding focus but the most underlying one.

You would be forgiven for expecting a lot of sharp comedy from Grant Heslov’s The Men Who Stare at Goats. The plot contains an interesting mix of elements that should act as seeds for engaging, thematic humour. Unfortunately, the film restricts itself to a few moments of hilarity, leaving the rest of the story to become ‘quirky’ and rather average. It is by no means bad, of course, but rather a case of what ‘could have been’ that becomes the disappointment in the end.

Magic is a fascinating art form because it plays with our need to discover the illusion, whilst feeding our desire for it to be real supernatural power. Neil Burger’s The Illusionist takes this desire and runs with it, constructing a world where the audience is asked to question whether events in the film are mystical or trickery. The same technique was used in Christopher Nolan’s thriller The Prestige with great success. Unfortunately, The Illusionist provides a less stimulating experience, falling short of the rewarding turn of events in Nolan’s film. However, Burger’s movie still executes an intriguing plot with a decent cast and a strong visual and aural atmosphere.

Whoever made the Nine trailer deserves an award, what an amazing teaser! Unfortunately most of the film doesn’t live up to any expectations of Rob Marshall or the plethora of high calibre actors within the film. Adapted from the stage musical of the same name which was based on Fellini’s 8 ½.

Some might argue that Rob Marshall in his previous musical Chicago, actually took something big and made it better. However second time around it doesn’t seem like Nine is really capitalising on its huge potential and previous history.

Arriving late in an apocalypse-obsessed year of film, the action-centric animated flick 9 is a gloomy survival story that treads all too familiar ground with its mechanical narrative and shallow characters. But boy does it look pretty!

The brains behind the project is animator/director Shane Acker, whose 11-minute short of the same name deservingly earned him an Academy Award nomination in 2005 and can now be watched in-full on YouTube (spoilers abound). It didn’t win Acker the Oscar, but it did catch the eye of Tim Burton (Sweeny Todd, Edward Scissorhands) and Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Wanted) who then went on to produce this feature length adaptation with Acker at the helm. Clocking in at a measly 79 minutes, I’m being generous by calling this a feature length film, as the primary difference between this remake and Acker’s original short is that you now have to pay $14 to see it.

The art of keeping up appearances through both lying and telling the truth has been explored in various Hollywood films over time. Strangely enough, Jim Carrey comes to mind – he’s involved himself on both sides (think The Truman Show and Liar Liar). But when one of Hollywood’s newer funny-men introduces himself to the ‘lie’ sub-genre in a film concerning the invention of the lie, it appears to be a fresh idea full of possibilities. Englishman Ricky Gervais is no doubt a witty guy, and while his characters all seem to be immersed in small bubbles he often makes it work. But it’s when the story goes pear-shaped then the character can’t hold it together, and this is the major flaw of The Invention of Lying. It’s comfortable, but not confident in bursting out of its bubble.