Review: Monsters University is scarily good fun

It's enough to bring HCTV back to life! That's right, Monsters University is exactly how a sequel-prequel should be done and sits right up there on that most-of-the-time unreachable shelf of cinematic orgasms that did it better than the last time they were at it. It's sat in-between Toy Story 2 and, of course, Spider-man 2. Without a doubt, it's a better movie than Monsters Inc. And, if that statement is making you scream disapprovingly at your PC (or, indeed, mobile device) that's fab! You're giving the monsters exactly what they're after!

Review: Wreck-It Ralph is gaming's 'Toy Story'

Wreck-It Ralph will flood your heart with warm and mushy emotions akin to those Toy Story unexpectedly shoved in your face back in the 90s. The idea is also basically the same as Toy Story, just set in a digital world. Of course, it doesn't make scientific sense. Toys may very well spring to life somehow or another when our backs are turned - that's magic! - but video game characters certainly don't wonder to and fro through electrical wires sprawled out across an arcade floor. We know how electricity works, duh! Nonetheless, it's a fun-filled romp, sprinkled with references to famous games (a personal favourite is the MGS exclamation mark) and even featuring characters from a few of them! It's a recipe for success, however it just doesn't feel like it's as good as it could have been. The question is why...?

Review: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D

  Warning: Blood splattered spoilers - in 2D! 

This latest Texas Chainsaw adaptation/sequel/reboot in a long line of adaptations/sequels/reboots is horrific, but not in the way you'd expect. It's so shockingly empty and uneventful, so dull and so bland, so predictable and remorselessly unaffected by any sort of desire to put out something new or in any way imaginative or - and here's the ultimate flaw - scary. Basically, it's a brainless excuse to shower a 3D-goggle wearing audience with masses of blood and gore that's so unrealistic it's laughable, so why the hell John Lussenhop felt the need to put so much of it in is unfathomable.

How long from iPod to iRobot?

Most smart-phone savvy consumers were unimpressed with Apple's latest iPhone - the iPhone 5. Let's be honest, we all expected something a bit more creative, especially since Samsung are quickly catching up in terms of popularity and inventiveness. Some might say everybody needs to shut up and remember we were all playing snake in black and white on a Nokia 3210 little more than 10 years ago, but while bearing that in mind remember that, very soon, we're going to need something really quite big to happen technologically if we're to be in the same shoes as Will Smith in i, Robot (hopefully minus all the death and destruction) come the year 2035.

Podcast #7 - 3D pigeons, OAPs, one boob & the Titanic

Here comes yet another fabulously free podcast from Roo & Will for HCTV - the 7th so far, in fact! You can find the back catalogue on our Podomatic page by clicking here, or by using the link in the side bar! Be sure to 'subscribe with iTunes' too so that it's all synced perfectly with your iPod! Never again will you have to sit or stand in silence and looking sad on the way to work - with HCTV's podcasts you'll be laughing all the way!

This time around you'll find out if Will has the time and the money to visit the biggest screens cinema has to offer, if Titanic makes us feel old, how many boobs you're allowed in a 12A and whether or not it's best to buy a box set. And, here's a fun little game: A many number of ambulances pass during the recording of this podcast, so tell us on Twitter how many you heard!

Podcast #6 - Thorpe Park

It's that time again! Roo & Will have put together another brand new podcast for you to listen to whenever you're on your way to work, cleaning the house, using the toilet, doing the ironing, cooking, eating, reading, cycling, bowling, painting, shaving, fishing or having sex!

This week there's a big question, and it's 'where exactly can you wear your contact lenses'? Can you be flung about at Thorpe Park and keep hold of them? Roo & Will crack open a bag of Twiglets to discuss the matter as well as many other issues to do with the UK's biggest thrill - Thorpe Park. Dodgy nuts and bolts, men in fleeces and snake queues. Click play below or go and have a butcher's at the previous installments by clicking on the link in the sidebar that'll take you to HCTV's Podomatic page!

Shouldn't have gone to Specsavers

The following video will have you learning why movie-goers need to ensure they get the correct prescription for their glasses! We've got to wear two pairs and feel like we're in the science labs at school whenever we see a 3D movie - so we may as well do it right! Specsavers is not the place to go if you're after things that are done right, here's why...

 

Review: Spider-man's almost amazing reboot

 Warning: A significant amount of spidey-spoilers included* 

It's quite brave for a film to label itself and its main character as 'amazing', but 'The Amazing Spider-man' did and - is it as amazing as it thinks it is? No. It isn't. A more appropriate title would have been 'The Pretty Enjoyable But Nothing Special Spider-man'. In many ways, it's miles better than the original version, but there are also plenty of moments that don't sit right. It's stuck between living up to its 'amazing' title and being a film you'd simply rather watch when it's shown on ITV in about 10 years time, split in two halves by the 10 o'clock news.