Sure, it matched its $100 million budget in the box office but that can easily be attributed to its stars, the likes of Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Samuel L Jackson, Eva Mendes, Steve Coogan and Michael Keaton all appearing. A big billing will draw in the masses but considering the plethora of talent, The Other Guys falls short of the mark.

Ferrell and Wahlberg play “the other guys”, Detectives Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz. Gamble & Hoitz are two cops forced together after the latter accidentally shot baseball star Derek Jeter. Gamble admires the best cops on the force (Johnson and Jackson) and Hoitz aspires to be in their position: when an opportunity arises for them to step up Hoitz gets Gamble to reluctantly leave the comfort of his desk and take it, with inevitably disastrous consequences.

The dysfunctional partnership of Hoitz and Gamble is the foundations for many of the gags, Hoitz’ angry persona mismatched with Gamble’s calm, Prius-driving character with a dark past. As with any Ferrell-McKay film, there are moments of absurdity in both the characterisations and the plot events. They’re expected though, which perhaps is the cause of several of these moments falling flat. We’ve seen silly Will Ferrell in numerous films now so we’re not really surprised by some of his antics. That doesn’t mean the laughs that do come are cheap: some set-pieces in the film, including one involving the explosion of a building, plays perfectly to the “look how silly this all is” comedy that we’re grown accustomed to.

Fundamentally, you’re watching The Other Guys so you can laugh a lot. You’re not particularly fussed if the situations are absurd or the characters bizarre, you just want Will Ferrell to scream like a man-child and say something stupid. If you’re looking for something with a bit of substance, look past The Other Guys. There’s an attempt to add a layer of meaning to the story but this is by and by a lost cause.

Film:

Score Breakdown:
Sight and Sound
Acceptable, nothing special. The intro is well-designed and filmed.
Acting
Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L Jackson arguably steal the show. Huh...
Story
The Other Guys is a spoof film so the plot will inevitably have an air of genericness about it. The film never aspires to be unique though...
Entertainment Value
Will provide laughs and a bit of action-flick flair.

Overall
The Other Guys is an adequate buddy-cop spoof with multiple chuckle-inducing moments.

Andy’s off to college and this means Woody, Buzz and the gang will end up in the attic, a cosy place with old board games and toys. The loyalty to Andy remains strong, until Andy’s mother accidentally puts the gang out by the garbage. Never fear though, they escape and take refuge in a box filled with old toys intended to be donated to a nearby daycare centre called Sunnyside. Woody wants to return to Andy but the others want to stay at Sunnyside, since Andy won’t play with them anymore now that he’s grown up. Andy is every teenager watching the film; feel guilty and go and get your old toys from the attic.

Toy Story 3 wouldn’t be a Toy Story film without a whole bunch of shenanigans, some new toys and a wonderfully crafted adventure. Breathe in the nostalgia and feel right at home: it’s been a long wait for another Toy Story but the wait was worth it. The story third time around is emotionally driven and beautifully told, with some great laughs attached. Think of all the positive adjectives you can and pretty much all of them describe Toy Story 3, a film that encapsulates childlike innocence and makes everyone watching unilaterally become their inner child.

Toy Story 3 tops off the trilogy in superfluous style; many would argue it has made the Toy Story films the best trilogy in existence, with only the original Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings trilogies to match it for quality. When the film and indeed the series comes to a conclusion, the heartstrings are pulled and the realisation that a part of your childhood is coming to an end strikes home. Like Andy leaving his toys behind as he enters adulthood, you too finish watching Toy Story 3 and leave your childhood behind. The DVDs that should sit proudly in your film collection will hold the memories; make sure to take a trip down memory lane once in a while.

It’s sad to see the end of something so grand but Toy Story 3 is about as perfect a finale as you could have hoped for. Thank you Pixar.

Score Breakdown:
Sight and Sound
A sublime soundtrack and wonderful visuals. Probably a film worth seeing in 3D too.
Acting
The voice-work is pretty much faultless - if you want to see an exhibition of powerful emotion in animation, Toy Story 3 is the film to watch.
Story
The best of the three Toy Story films - adventure-filled and strikingly well told.
Entertainment Value
Pretty much no film this year will provide more entertainment value.

Overall
Anyone who doubted Pixar should hang their head in shame: Toy Story 3 will be the best animated film this year by a country mile.

Begin a chase as Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor and the rest of the CIA try to capture Salt as she runs around performing CQC on nameless soldiers and jumping on big vehicles. Who is Salt, you, the CIA and the marketing campaign ponder: is she a Russian spy or are her pleas of innocence the truth? That’s for me to know and you to find out.

The film twists and turns, keeping you guessing; a welcome refrain from cripplingly predictable action films that lead to inevitable conclusions. I think what makes Salt different and ultimately refreshing is that despite the average plot and sometimes weak acting the plot has no foreseeable conclusion. There’s no bad guy sitting in an egg-shaped chair with an eyebrow raised, stroking a white cat: there are some slightly sinister-looking Russians who are accompanied by moody lighting, but aside from them you’re never really sure who you’re supposed to be rooting for until the end.

Despite the plot being stupidly nonsensical at time, the lack of CGI antics and a stronger reliance of stunt work keep the pacing energetic and the audience enthralled enough to forgive gaping plot holes and a generally derisory series of events. Phillip Noyce keeps things short and sweet, the film wrapping up in under 90 minutes; plenty is crammed into that time but any longer and you’d have time to think about the absurdity of it all…

I’d rather have an unpredictable, over the top and fast-paced action than a dull, run-of-the-mill action film that keeps the plot firmly grounded. We all like a bit of absurdity in our action flicks, or The A-Team wouldn’t have done well at the box-office…

Score Breakdown:
Sight and Sound
The camera-work and score keep the pace necessarily high. A few bits of camera trickery are well implemented.
Acting
Generally generic, with rare spells of raw emotion sneaking through.
Story
Stupidly compelling - it's a silly but entertaining story
Entertainment Value
High-octane, lots of action, Angelina Jolie running around looking intentionally sexy. The plot twists add to the entertainment factor.

Overall
A surprisingly good action film, in a 'I was expecting this to be awful' kind of way. Worth a watch.

The plot of ‘A Crack in Time’ follows directly on from that of ‘Tools of Destruction’ and ‘Quest for Booty’ with Ratchet now searching the universe for XJ-0461, better known as Clank, who was abducted by the Zoni at the conclusions of ‘Tools of Destruction’. Clank is also keeping busy. The Zoni took him to the ‘Great Clock’ which is located at the centre of the universe (give or take 50 feet). This clock is entrusted to Clank by his father, Orvus, and is the time-keeper of the universe.

The game really does pull at the heartstrings

The progress of each character occurs simultaneously, with familiar faces making reoccurring appearances in what has become a tradition for the series. Towards the latter half of the twelve to sixteen hour gaming experience the story becomes rather predictable. Though, the game can be somewhat forgiven as the main protagonists show a level of character depth never before displayed in the series.

The game play is wonderful, with the players having to combine platforming, shooting and puzzle solving to clock ‘A Crack in Time’. Ratchet largely dominates the platforming and shooting elements of the game, with Clank’s puzzle solving bolstered by elements of time manipulation. The soundtrack on offer is simply on another level to everything I’ve experienced previously. The voice actors are on top form throughout, conveying the emotion of each character with a level of realism the likes of which are incredibly rare for a video game. Each planet hosts an excellent soundtrack which fits seamlessly with their beautiful aesthetics, allowing the strong design elements to shine at their fullest.

Ratchet's new HoverBoots are a great substitute for Clank

As per tradition, the series holds a large amount of added features which boost the overall enjoyment for the player. These include several weapons being customisable in aesthetics and effect as well as the reappearance, and improvement, of the arena, grind rails, HoverBoots and many more popular features.

However, the game does have its downsides. The newly introduced free roaming in space is a welcomed addition, but the two dimensional movement feels rather clumsy and the camera can be difficult to work with at times. The player is also expected to capture Zoni throughout. These provide advancements to Ratchet’s ship which are compulsory to continue with the story. Though this isn’t particularly difficult, it does feel as if it were inserted to simply add length to the game, rather than improve the experience for the player. There is also the lack of online capabilities, which in itself would have helped to increase the games life-span, especially if it were implemented in the arena sections.

To sum up, what Insomniac Games have created here is yet another wonderful game that sits at the forefront of this magnificent series. The downsides are few and far between and the overall package has been polished to their usual sky-scraping standard. The strong story, backed up by excellent graphics and a superb soundtrack, have all combined effortlessly to create what is the best game of this series to date.

Score Breakdown:
Gameplay
Still as solid as ever, although a little weak when free-roaming in space.
Sound
Fantastic accompanying soundtrack with brilliant voicework to match.
Graphics
Visually stronger than the other next-gen Ratchet & Clank games. The individual planets in the free-roam sections are wonderfully designed.
Longevity
As a single-player only title, A Crack in Time won't last more than 12 hours. A respectable single-player length, but still...

Overall
The best game in the Ratchet & Clank series to date. Shame there's no multiplayer mode...