I guess I'd better 'fess up ((ndash)) I'm a huge Angelina Jolie fan. Even when she's bad, she's still hot! My second confession is that I'm also a fan of spy and thriller-type movies. The action and intrigue just draws you in when you see it on the big screen. I really like the idea that there are people out there like James Bond and the team from "Alias", just jumping on planes on a whim with their fake IDs and whiz-bang gadgets. It's definitely better than thinking about all of the boring bureaucracy and paperwork that seems to operate in our daily lives!

The story has its twists and turns as we try to work out who's good and who's bad. As a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is bound by her own honour and the allegiance she swore to her country, but her loyalty is tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy. At this point her choices are limited so Salt goes on the run. And really, what better plan could you have with all of those secret squirrel skills and years of experience as a covert operative to help you elude capture? Her efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives, as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues.

While this film makes it difficult to know who to believe, you should definitely believe me when I tell you that Salt is a must-see Film Group movie.

This movie is about vampires. Bad ones. They turn ugly when they go vampy and they certainly don't sparkle.

When newly-divorced Lucy (Dianne Wiest) moves her sons to her father's house in Santa Clara, California ((ndash)) "the murder capital of the world" ((ndash)) her teenage son, Michael (Patric), quickly falls in with the town's bad kids: a bike-riding, Jim Morrison-worshipping gang of blood-sucking vampires, led by David (Sutherland). Her younger son Sam (Haim ((ndash)) RIP) and his buddies, the Frog brothers (Feldman and Jamison Newlander), are the only ones who recognise the signs of vampirism in Michael ((ndash)) including an aversion to sunlight, lack of reflection and being able to fly ((ndash)) and they plot to battle the legions of the night before they take over the entire town.

This semester is great for those of my generation to reminisce about their youth, even if some of them are remakes (Karate Kid, A Nightmare on Elm St). But for this one we can look back at how young Kiefer Sutherland looked (and wonder why we thought he was hot) and wonder what happened to Jason Patric, who was the next big thing at the time. This movie makes for a nice contrast to the likes of Twilight, for those of us who feel we're above enjoying such tween nonsense. But when you think about it, perhaps this was the Twilight of our day. What does that say about the youth of today, or perhaps the youth of yesterday?

The Other Guys is the buddy cop film that doesn't get made. We always see the good cops. The cops who are bad-asses and good at their jobs. But what about the other cops? Well, Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson are the best, go-getter cops New York has to offer. Will Ferrell (surprisingly not typecast here) and Mark Wahlberg (in a great over the top role) are the no-getters, the do-nothing cops. But what happens when the no-getters stumble across what could be the biggest crime in the Big Apple?

The film starts out hitting all the marks. There are a lot of quick fire jokes thrown in and a good amount of tongue in cheek parodying of regular buddy cop films. There are some decent action scenes towards the end of the film, but the story slots into some standard plot fare around this time. You will also need to pay a reasonable amount of attention along the way as it gets a little more complicated towards the end. The stand out for me was Eva Mendes, who I felt delivered a lot more humour than the other guys [Ed ((ndash)) and I bet being the only hot chick in the film had nothing to do with her being the stand out]. Overall it's a fun night out which won't turn you off your doughnuts.

#2 Mad scientist in the world, Gru (Carell), has finally hatched the perfect plot to attain his ultimate dream ((ndash)) to take the #1 title from his arch-rival Vector (Segel). Armed with an enormous assortment of ridiculous sci-fi gadgetry and an army of little genetically altered popcorn creatures as his assistants, Gru is going to steal... THE MOON!

Alas, Gru's plans take a bit of a detour when three orphaned girls arrive on his doorstep and decide they want this funny looking fella to be their new dad. Says the tagline: 'Superbad. Superdad?'

Despicable Me is the debut feature from Illumination Entertainment, a new animation studio formed by the lead animators behind the Ice Age movies and Horton Hears a Who. Featuring a top shelf voice cast, it promises to be one of the funniest animated flicks this semester.