Fanboys and show-offs need restraining sometimes

Drive (Nicolas Winding refn)

A film that tries a little too hard to have its cake and bash the fuck out of it too - it wants to be both Michael Mann and Jim Thompson. Personally I think they are poles apart (the sheen of director Mann is somewhat at odds with the grubby immorality of pulp's greatest exponent Thompson) and I find it depressing that so many film-makers are more than happy to blur the distinction in the bid to be cool.

It still is a great piece of cinema - dialogue is spare and judicious; the camera loving the city. And there is exciting screen presence to behold. Carey Mulligan isn't given much to do beyond adore Gosling and/or look disappointed when expected, but she does do it effectively. And Albert Brooks should be commended in a part that, if it had been played by a bigger star, would have made things feel more showy and indulgent. As is he's incredible and terrifying.
But even Brooks is upstaged by Bryan Cranston totally stealing every scene he's in - Shannon is gruff, world weary, chain-smoking, grounded and a bit tragic. In Cranston's hands he is by far the most likable and interesting character.
However, everyone will tell you (and they won't be far off the mark) that this is the kid's film(Gosling's character is a man with no name and when he is referred to as the kid in the film it feels like a subtle joke on more than one level). But, as the fetishising of 'homme du jour' Gosling shows no signs of abating (thank the good Lord) far be it from me to comment too deeply on a film that loves his curves so much while still managing to uglify those of Christina Hendricks (saggy denim and cruelly dispatched in a somewhat thankless role).

Insidious (James Wan)

It's behind you!...  pity he didn't stay there  

The makers prove they know how to make a really scary film - things begin as a kind of homage to both The Haunting and The Exorcist as they expertly crank up the suspense so tight I thought I would crack my knuckles. I was more than a little impressed.
Then they throw it all away in gleeful horror fanboy abandon. I suppose I should have known better than to trust in 'the makers of Saw' - James Wan and Leigh Whannell (how old are these guys anyway???).
It all starts to go wrong when the 'ghost hunters' turn up and the sillier aspects of Poltergeist are evoked. But in a pastiche overload we get them all - we've already had The Haunting, The Omen, The Exorcist and Poltergeist, now we have Sam Raimi in all his obviousness, John Landis, Argento and even Jeepers Creepers?!
By the end of this mess I half expected the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters to appear!
Coming to Insidious, I didn't expect much really and so I was pleasantly surprised by the first 20 minutes or so of expertly wound tension. It's just a shame the elastic snapped so early. Still, If you thought Drag Me to Hell was the scariest film you've ever seen then you might enjoy this a lot. Long before the end I was feeling a tad deflated and was pining for the chills of Hill House.