Pitch Perfect 2
4/5
12A
2012's Pitch Perfect was a surprise hit, garnering acclaim from audiences the world over for its weird mix of kooky humour and its memorable remixes of popular songs. Plus, unlike other teen movies, it didn't pit the cool kids against everyone else – there was room for everyone in the all-singing, all-dancing, a ca-tastic movie.
Superfans have been crying out for a follow-up and thanks to actress, producer and first-time director, Elizabeth Banks, Pitch Perfect 2 is here. And it is a lot of fun. Banks has succeeded in capturing the spirit of the first movie and has added a whole lot more comedy to boot.
The one-liners roll from one scene to the next and it's packed with a lot of off-the-cuff remarks from Banks herself and the superb John Michael Higgins. The fantastic Anna Kendrick (Beca) steps back slightly and allows Rebel Wilson (Fat Amy) and Barden Bella newcomer Hailee Steinfeld (Emily) a little more of the spotlight. And in the odd moment where the movie . . .
Read Suzanne Keane's full review here
A Royal Night Out
3/5
12A
Starring: Sarah Gadon, Jack Reynor, Bel Powley, Emily Watson, Rupert Everett, Roger Allam, Ruth Sheen
Some wag once asked whether The Godfather was like watching This Is Spinal Tap for real-life Mafiosi. One wonders if the British monarchy would have similar feelings sitting through Julian Jarrold's A Royal Night Out, a Cinderellaesque race against time (there's even a broken shoe) that uses the old "inspired by true events" chestnut.
In this case the facts are that teenage princesses Elizabeth (played here by Gadon) and Margaret (Powley) really were given a pass from the Palace to join in the VE Night celebrations in London on May 8, 1945. They danced a conga in the Ritz, mixed with their subjects in Piccadilly and heard their father's speech from the other side of the railings on the Mall.
In Jarrold's parallel universe Margaret goes missing and there's a chance . . .
Read Harry Guerin's full review here
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
You can smell the petrol in the air and feel the acrid heat on your skin in George Miller's bravado reboot of his 1979 classic of punk film-making, Mad Max. Armed with a far bigger budget and a new cast, Miller lets loose in an unhinged actioner that really never lets up.
To borrow a phrase from the inestimable Julian Cope, this is the kind of carmageddon that will leave the kids from Fast and Furious gasping in its putrid wake.
Like its beloved predecessor, Mad Max: Fury Road combines eco-parable with dystopian future - the human race has gone feral as water and petrol run low - but where the new Mad Max is really very different is . . .
Read Alan Corr's full review here
Starring: Samuel L Jackson, Onni Tommila, Ray Stevenson, Victor Garber, Mehmet Kurtulus, Ted Levine, Felicity Huffman, Jim Broadbent
Ah yes, the opportunity for a rendezvous with your younger self. With big red titles like something from Guild or Medusa Home Video, helicopter shots galore, a thundering soundtrack and a survival pod straight out of Escape from New York, the ludicrous but likeable Big Game will return plenty to a misspent youth somewhere in time in the 1980s, when the seductive whirr of a VCR was the most exciting of sounds and you didn't know what you didn't know.
What you know now, however, is that for a truly powerful nostalgia high you need a script as strong as the premise - and that's where this actioner falls down.
Jackson plays a lame duck US President whose Air Force One is shot down in a Finnish mountain range en route to a summit in Helsinki. In the crash site wilderness is Oskari (Onni Tommila), a 13-year-old trying to make...
Starring: Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, Gabrielle Union, J.B. Smoove, Tracy Morgan, Anders Holm, Kevin Hart, DMX
As if to smack down every Hollywood cliché and offensive stereotype about black America, here’s freewheeling stand-up turned movie star Chris Rock with that rare thing - a smart and very likeable romantic comedy.
In a knowing self portrait, Rock plays Andre Allen, a stand-up turned movie star who’s made his name in a loo-la Lethal Weapon meets Beverly Hills Cop franchise called Hammy The Bear in which he . . .
