Suckerpunch is the latest offering from Zack Snyder, director of 300 and Watchmen. If you’ve seen either of them, then you know what to expect: Things exploding in slow motion. Whizzing bullets just missing the derrière of a young girl, yet coyly lifting the hem of her skirt as it flies by. Which is also in slow motion. Such things are what adolescent dreams are made of.

So, to the plot, to speak of: Suckerpunch tells the story of a young girl, Babydoll (Emily Browning) locked away in a 1950s mental institution against her will. While she is physically imprisoned, her mind is free to roam, and roam it does, in an incredible dreamscape populated by dragons, samurai, WW II trenches, and more.

But Babydoll is not a passive dreamer. She wants to make a break for freedom, and convinces four other girls – the outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone), the street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), the fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung) and the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish)—to band together and try to escape their terrible fate at the hands of their captors, Blue (Oscar Isaac), Madam Gorski (Carla Gugino) and the High Roller (Jon Hamm).

Can they make their way through this explodey, high octane nightmare to emerge at the other end? You’ll just have to go along and find out, as Sucker punch is released 24th March in most cinemas Australia-wide.

Visit the website at: http://suckerpunchmovie.warnerbros.com

If you are itching to find out the answers to these questions then I suggest you check out the new film Pandorum.

Directed by Christian Alvart, and produced by the team behind the Resident Evil films, Pandorum is a new sci-fi horror film that will leave you queezing and squirming in your seat.

The definition of pandorum is when the mind breaks down into madness deep in outer space.

In sort, that is the backbone of the new feature film.

The basic plot involves two astronauts who wake up in a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft.

Everything is pitch black and the only sound they can hear is the creaking of the machine they are in.

They cannot remember a thing, or how they got there, and the only way out is through a dark and narrow airshaft.

As the pair tries to escape they begin to uncover the shocking reality that the survival of mankind hinges on their actions.

Starring Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Norman Reedus, the film is a frightening story that definitely warrants its R-rating across the country.

In summary, Pandorum is a good movie with an interesting plot. It is good to see films like this take the risk in trying something different and even though it was not executed as well as it could have, it gets a tick from me.

Pandorum is screening now across the nation.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PItZ-qr9jG8

Dear John has done just this and is 2010s first real love drama about a young couple who fall in love with each other over a spring break.

Starring Channing Tatum, who is appearing in his first major film since The Fighter, and Amand Seyfrie, the movie begins with the two main characters meeting on a sunny afternoon on the beach.

We are introduced to John Tyree (Tatum), a young soldier from the Army Special Forces, who is enjoying a few weeks leave when he finds an instant attraction to Savannah Lynn Curtis, a college student also on spring break.

The two spend the remainder of their holidays together and quickly form an addictive love for each other.

All of a sudden, John must return to the war and abandon his spring fling, much to the heartache of Savannah.

In an attempt to never forget each other, the two exchange letter for the next year until they eventually reunite.

While it may be just another corny, emotional love movie about two teenagers with little life experience, it actually does a great job of captivating the viewers with the love story.

Where the movie does let itself down, is that the story is really hard to believe, and the initial love the pair form was just too fast to be convincingly digested.

It also fails to explore any other sub plot and solely relies on the love affair to carry it.

Dear John is out now around most cinemas in Australia.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3nA9AG1AWk

Precious is one of these films. With the likes of Avatar, The Hurt Locker and Invictus stealing the limelight, the Lee Daniels release has managed to go by under the radar in recent months.

Set in Harlem in the 80s, Precious is the story of Claireece Precious Jones, a sixteen-year-old African-American girl born into a life of pain.

For starters, she is pregnant for the second time by her drug-addicted father. Her life at home is made a nightmare by her abusive mother, a poisonously angry woman who scars her emotionally and physically.

School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks even though she cannot read or write.

The inspiring story of Precious is that while she may sometimes be down, she is never out. Her story speaks of a courageous woman who overcomes adversity to reach greater heights.

Threatened with expulsion, Precious is offered the chance to transfer to an alternative school, a move that will lead on a journey from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination.

There are few movies which leave an everlasting scar on your memory, and Precious is one of these films… for the right reasons.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5FYahzVU44

In terms of Oscar betting for the film of the year, it is a two horse race between both movies, but if you ask the public, the winner is a no brainer with Avatar taking the cake.

But, I like to think otherwise.

The Hurt Locker is a movie made from the script of Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded with a bomb squad.

The movie is predominantly about members of the US Army who tour together and contend with defusing bombs, the threat of insurgency, and the tension that develops among them.

The film was shot in the Middle East, largely Jordan, making for a great visual experience and one that allows the viewers to really relate to the events they are witnessing.

Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty all star in the movie, and take up roles as bomb specialists serving their country.

The major plot climaxes near the end when, with only two days left on their tour, two members of the team are called in to assist in a situation where a man was forced to wander into a military checkpoint with a time-bomb strapped to his chest.

The pair can neither remove the bomb nor disarm it in time, and is forced to flee before the bomb goes off.

Without spoiling the end, The Hurt Locker finishes in an explosive bang and really does deliver viewers an action packed experience definitely worth seeing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhQdJTlo5NI

9/10

Now you can add The Road to that list.

The new film is written by the brains behind the successful No Country for Old Men and directed by the highly rated Australian John Hillcoat.

The basic plot of the film resolves around an apocalyptic event that kills off all living existence on the planet earth, well, almost all.

A father and son combo manage to survive the tragic event and embark on a journey to nowhere.

Along their adventures where they hope to find warmth, salvation and human companionship, they find much more.

Firstly they have to fight off the cannibals extremists who have been living off the flesh of survivors since the doomsday hit.

Then they have to come to grips with the fact that the world they once loved will never be the same again.

The Road boasts a star studded line up, including the likes of Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce, Molly Parker and Michael K. Williams to name a few.

While many will be cautious of watching the film purely because of its blockbuster status fear not, there is much more to the film than just heroics, devastations and drama.

There is also the story of a father and son who build an unbreakable relationship through adversity.

The Road is worth a look at your local cinema when it is released next week.