Apollo 18 (2011) Gonzalo López-Gallego

Something horrible lurks on the moon.

The plot:
Officially, Apollo 17 was the final mission to the moon for NASA but, in this 'found footage' movie, we see the reason that, even though Apollo 18 actually launched, nothing was ever revealed about it's mission.
Two astronauts arrive on the surface of the moon and, before very long at all, they begin to feel creeped out. Strange noises, odd video footage and, most disturbingly, unknown footprints in the lunar soil.
Following the path, the pair discover a Russian landing vessel and, within, signs of a struggle.
Exploration of the nearby area reveals a cosmonaut, dead, apparently by violent means.
Will the pair get off the surface?
Or will they meet the same end as their cold war rivals.

You know, found footage movies have every right to feel a bit 'last century,' yet this manages to engage from the off.
With a brief runtime that really serves a purpose, there is no time to waste on unnecessaries and, instead, the intensity soon begins to ratchet.
With some pretty cool visuals - the 'thing' inside the spacesuit is particularly frightening - and solid performances, this relies on genuine scares and stripped down sensibilities, and really delivers the goods.
Literally taking a long, hard running piss at the likes of Transfuckers 3, this is down to the bone movie making that packs a significant punch.
Liked it very much indeed.

4 out of 5

The Adjustment Bureau (2011) Dir: George Nolfi

Christ, this movie frustrated.
The plot: Matt Damon plays a politician running for office, quite successfully, until a college prank hits the media and his ratings take a nose dive. Preparing his runner up speech in the gents, he is surprised when a beautiful woman emerges from one of the cubicles and, quick as you can take your super-powered hat off, they are locked in a passionate kiss, before she vanishes from his life, apparently for good, with security hot on her heels. A chance meeting on the bus a little while later sets in motion a chain of events that will shatter his world, for their blossoming relationship has come to the attention of The Adjustment Bureau, a shadowy organisation, intent on keeping them apart.
But who are The Adjustment Bureau?
What do they want?
And why do they all look like characters out of a Raymond Chandler novel?
Based on a short by Philip K. Dick, this has all of the trappings of a classically cool paranoid sci-fi outing but, thrown in with the genre stuff, we have a weak as gerbil's piss romance between the two leads, a will they-won't they tug of love that would have embarrassed even Ross and Rachel.
Whilst the core sci-fi elements are great - doors used as portals, mind control, meddling with timelines - the huan interest angle sucks out the gravity so that at no point do you truly feel anyone is in any great peril, at no point do you even consider that our lovebirds won't end up together.
Too sentimental and syrupy for the nerd audience, too sci-fi for the sentimentalists, I suspect this will struggle to find a true fanbase. Sure, it will pull a few people in through Damon's presence alone, and the trailer is intriguing enough to get saps like me through the door (mainly as it doesn't hint at the freakin' love story aspect), this is being pitched as Bourne meets Inception and, trust me, this is way below the standard of either of those concepts.
Desperately average.

2 out of 5