Thor

The latest in the Avengers series is Thor and it is one of the more accessible despite being about a legendary Norse god cast out of his own realm and banished to Earth.
Aussie Chris Hemsworth plays the ample bodied Thor who must learn humility and other attributes of a ruler after his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins kicks him out of Asgard for starting a war.
His brother Loki (Tom Hiddleson) assumes the throne when Odin falls ill and, after being overlooked all his life as heir, sets out to fulfil his own agenda.
On Earth, Thor is discovered by Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) who is studying strange occurrences in the sky. Thor's arrival is one such occurrence.

If you enjoy the Avenger movies to date - Iron Man, Incredible Hulk etc, then this is your cup of tea.
Like a lot of 'origin' movies, it feels like Thor is a bit short because we have to get through the context before we get to the guts of the movie. But the back story is interesting in itself. I also enjoyed seeing the bonus scene from Iron Man 2 fit into the story nicely too.
It's a movie I feel like I need to see again, which is a good sign I enjoyed it. Next up in the series is Captain America then it is on to The Avengers next year.
An 8 out of 10, and stick through the credits for an important extra scene.

Fast & Furious 5

Say what you like about the franchise but it pretends to be nothing more than a bit of fun and action and fast cars.
Welcome to Fast & Furious 5 and easily the most entertaining of the five films.
Probably not the best, I think that has to go to the original.
Fast 5 as it is known in the USA brings together major and minor characters from all the movies to date (that was a masterstroke by the way) as Dom (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) attempt to take down the ruler of underground Rio.
They are fugitives, though, as they were wrongly accused of killing three police officers so the FBI has dispatched Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) to round them up and put them away.
Of course Mia (Jordana Brewster) is there and is now pregnant while we are reacquainted with Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Ludacris) from 2 Fast 2 Furious and Han (Sung Kang) from Tokyo Drift).
And, of course again, there are hot cars and hotter chicks.

Some fantastic action comedy and completely ridiculous chase scenes ensue as they try to outrun Hobbs and take down Reyes (Joaquim de Alimeda) at the same time.

I'm not really 'into' cars as such but for some reason I really dig these movies. I don't know what it is. They are just really entertaining and largely mindless fun.

So if you are a fan of the series you are going to have a ball. If you aren't then why are you bothering to watch it?

One word of warning. If you stick around during the credits there is a bonus scene. Having seen it I'm not sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. You'll know what I mean, and you might be looking back at the fourth movie afterwards as well. An 8 out of 10.

Scream 4

I'm a huge fan of the original Scream trilogy and it was with some excitement, and a little nervousness, that I approached Scream 4 . But I had nothing to be concerned about. With Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven involved and the stars of the franchise returning this is a winner. It's 10 years since Scream 3 and Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has moved on from the events in Woodsboro and is the author of a book detailing how she came 'out of the darkness'.

She's back in town touring with the book when two teenagers are knocked off by the ghostfaced killer. We learn that Dewey Riley (David Arquette) is now the sheriff and is married to Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox - talk about art imitating life) who is no longer a reporter and is struggling to write a new book. There's a host of teenage characters here and it really is an interesting mix. Neve Campbell looks sensational while age has caught up with her Scream regular co-stars quite noticeably. This all doesn't matter. While Scream poked fun at the horror genre, Scream 4 now has a crack at the remake, or reboot, as we are seeing these days and it is done very cleverly. There is no way you can't enjoy Scream 4 if you were a fan of the original and its sequels. There's also a few cool cameos for good measure. Very well made, witty and funny - and easily an 8 out of 10 - and a nice way to bring an end to the series.

Something special

I was fortunate enough to be at Randwick today to see a truly super racehorse, Black Caviar, make a very good field of sprinters look second rate. 12 starts for 12 wins, unbelievable. It was a very special day. There have been some awesome moments at Randwick over the years I have been going there - Octagonal in 1996, Lonhro's farewell, Takeover Target's big wins including the TJ Smith. It's hard to say whether Black Caviar tops those moments, which were all special in their own times, but she is nothing short of a champion.