I'm not doing Spider-man

Love and Distrust (2010)

Chosen by me from a fine selection at Poundworld. Oh yes.

Nothing even remotely like this is in the movie. My dvd case was different but no less mendacious.

A pretty ramshackle collection of short film, mostly dull though the Amy Adams one is rather annoying.
The only one that really stands out doesn't particularly fit the collections theme (it is in fact much more concerned about automobiles really) but is itself a collection of short(er) films and is breezy and funny, with a host of Hollywood in jokes (the quoted line is said by James Cameron) performed by some great actors (the wonderful Melissa Mccarthy graces the filmaday screens again)

you'll never see your daughter again

Butterfly on a Wheel (2007)

Chosen by Lauren Parker who had this to say 'I don't remember all that much about the film to be honest, Gerard Butler is handsome like always but for once he's not in a romcom or beating someone up. Despite the fact it has a interesting premise and a half decent twist it's only average at best but I must continue to impose Gerard Butler on you and the world!'

A rather dull, plodding thriller whose moderately interesting premise is scuppered by an overly obvious 'hidden' villain (it's certain the very moment someone gets handed a phone the only question is why? and that's answered in as moribund a way as possible) which negates any tension what-so-ever.
X-Files fans - Nicholas Lea pops up for a pointless one scene cameo (as the perpetrator is so clear his red herring function is almost of zero value).

This one night changes everything for me

The House of the Devil (2009)

Chosen by me from as I saw it at Poundworld

A conceptually clever and well observed film (more than just a period piece it wants to be seen as though it was actually made in the early '80s), it's rather neat but lacking.
It has an incredibly slow build with very little, save a somewhat abrupt death scene happening in it's first hour. It achieve some tension out of the sense of impending doom (it is called house of the devil after all and those repeated references to a lunar eclipse have not gone unnoticed) but it's last ten minutes feel rushed and underwhelming.
Tom Noonan is splendid bringing an interesting mix of excitement and worry (there's the slightest hint that he's not fully on board with the plan) that plays to his oddball strengths and creates a genuinely weird character.

Today we take the battle to them!

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

Chosen by me as I like to go to the cinema a lot.

Though in most respects a significant step up from the second Transformers movie, and after an interesting, clever opening re-framing the 1969 Moon landing, it is still almost completely worthless.
It spends a whole movie length of running time setting up a pointlessly complicated plot, running horrid 'comedy' bits with Witwicky's family (seriously why the hell are they in this?) and dropping zingers on a missing cast member (I'm no Megan Fox fan but her replacement could be a blow up sex doll for all Bay cares about females).
The action is marginally clearer than the last efforts but again the set pieces only really work in isolated five second moments. Strung together they become non-sensical and at times whole scenes seem missing (we go from Bumblebee rescuing two humans to suddenly having been captured with no linking material at all) despite the fact the film is fucking two and a half hours long.
It also seems intent on hiring people from shows and movies I really, really love (Alan Tudyk and Ken Jeong have extended but pointless roles, Scott Krinsky from Chuck pops up for a single gag) so I fully expect Simon Pegg to be in the next one.

If I wasn't a cop anymore, I would still go out with a gun and shoot people.

Bridesmaids (2011)

Chosen by me as I like to go to the cinema a lot.

A great cast do a lot to makes this a mostly fun, very bad mouthed comedy.
It is a touch too long and the redemptive arc of the main character doesn't really work (what exactly does she do except realise she's an arsehole?) but they are all very funny women and it's generally not far between good gags.
Melissa McCarthy, almost unrecognisable but last seen round the filmaday halls in Nine, is the stand-out but everyone gets their moment (if not exactly full arcs as Ellie Kemper and Wendi McLendon-Covey are basically forgotten about).

This is the survival mentality that drives the monster

Big man Japan (2007)

Chosen by me as it was offered free online

An odd, melancholy movie. This did the internet rounds a few years back for it's bizarre CGI fight sequences and baffling obtuse monsters (a head on a leg bounces around for some reason).
Shot for the most part in docu style and not immediately obvious as to what it is about (we hear the lead talk a lot about liking things that grow big on command before seeing his power).
It may stretch it's point of the main character being a sad pathetic loner a little too much but is an affecting and interesting take on Godzilla tropes.
It's ending (after the 'hero' kills his Grandad whilst running away from a bizarre Demon thing) is utterly mind boggling. Switching from CGI to trad. man in suit trashing cardboard city shenanigans it may have a political point to score (something about North Korea and the USA maybe?) but fucked if I know. It plays out  strange Ultraman pastiche that highlights the casual brutality of a lot of children's entertainment (they really lay into the poor monster/man in suit) that is clever and both funny and horrifying at the same time.
There's not much else out there quite like it - that's for sure.

uuuurrrgghhhhh*

Mutants (2009)

Chosen from a list of DVDs Victoria Charvill was giving away.

I have a horrid fear of people standing in or near roads in the movies. I get convinced they will be hit by a car. It doesn't matter what type of film it is. A comedy, a drama, a horror. It can sometimes be so distracting to me I can't concentrate on the scene, as I tense up and expect doom on wheels to come any second (it's also why I can't watch the Final Destination films now which play this feeling out to anything in shot). The way film controls the screen, with no peripheral vision just drives me crazy.
Mutants begins with a similar thing I find annoying - the survivor of a horrid event being hit by a suddenly appearing vehicle. A lazy nihilistic joke, that serves little purpose.
But once the film gets going it has a low key, quiet approach to the zombie apocalypse focussing on one couple until it's last act plays with the usual dull running around screaming and shooting for the most part.
Far better than a lot of it's ilk but still a bit second hand.