Review of 2007 in Cinema (Part 1) - 10 Turkeys for Christmas

In a year where many threequels and other films fell flat and disappointed, there were some which really stank. Here are 10 of the worst which it has been my misfortune to sit through this year - either for work or out of boredom or blind optimism.



10. Evan Almighty - the deeply unfunny follow up to Bruce, which not even Morgan Freeman's twinkling turn as the Almighty can lift.



9. Eragon - Jeremy Irons should have learnt to avoid dragon movies by now. Poorly written, poorly plotted and poorly acted.



8. Mr Bean's Holiday - Rowan Atkinson discovers France and loses his sense of humour



7. Rush Hour 3 - Another film moving to France with unhilarious results. A poor excuse for lacklustre Jackie Chan moves and inflicting more of Chris Tucker on us.



6. Employee of the Month - A film that labours under the belief that giving Jessica Simpson big ears equals humour.



5. Wild Hogs - Messers Travolta, Macey, Allen and Lawrence in mid-life crisis. A real mid-life crisis would be more enjoyable than this tosh.



4. Goya's Ghost - the director seems to enjoy inflicting various degradations on Natalie Portman and Javier Baardem gives us the worst Spanish accent by a Spanish actor ever committed to film.



3. Mr Woodcock - Billy Bob Thornton on auto-pilot in unfunny and borderline offensive comedy about bullying



2. Epic Movie - Further proof that the whole spoof genre has completely run out of steam - tired and unfunny. Plus, if you're going to spoof recent epics - the Chronicles of Narnia is far from the most obvious place to start.



1. Norbit - A film without a single redeeming feature. There should be a law against this sort of rubbish.














A Bad Year For:

The following need to seriously consider a change of agent:

Billy Bob Thornton: Mr Thornton is clearly a gifted guy, both as a comic and a dramatic actor, but this year he has given us the poor School for Scoundrels and the much worse Mr Woodcock. Must do better in 2008.


Thandie Newton - from awards and plaudits for the likes of Crash to playing Eddie Murphy's love interest in Norbit. Run Fatboy Run was at least an improvement and thats saying something.


Whilst Hugh Dancy needs to take care - following the bad werewolf flick Blood and Chocolate with turns in below par chick flicks Evening and The Jane Austen Book Club, admittedly being the best thing in them, but the gut is in desperate need of a decent action role, or at the very least a comedy.