Having recently seen Safe, starring Jason "Hit Me" Statham, as well as The Raid, the Indonesian movie that raises the bar on action movies by several metres, I think now is the time to consider what exactly an action movie is, and why their popularity is eternal.

You will be forgiven if you haven't noticed the recent dvd release of The Big Year, a film that also came and went at the cinema with no discernible ripple on the pond of public attention. Yet it is a textbook case of how badly Hollywood can get things wrong when it really tries.

And so, with a Mighty Bang!, the Superhero Season is upon us. Avengers Assemble - so called because you're deemed so stupid that you might think it's abut John Steed, who most of you under 30 have never heard of - cracks open the UK box office with £15 million, and the US will follow suit in a few days. And I couldn't care less.

You know me. Mr Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, never look back in nostalgia, the present is as good as better than the past (we're talking Cinema here, not the world in general). But eve my radiantly sunny and optimistic enthusiasm is occasionally challenged by Hollywood's tendency to behave in ways that defy the laws of sanity. This is one those moments.

The Hunger Games continues to cream the opposition, sweeping its way to $250 million in the USA in 2 weeks, and £5 million in the UK. It's a great big hit, and I'm very pleased. I encourage you to go and see it, if you haven't already. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Although the Twilight franchise hasn't quite expired, with Part Deux of the final film due in November, it already seems like yesterday's news, and there's a new contender that could just be the surprise hit of the next few months.