FILM: Godzilla 3D IMAX (dir: Gareth Edwards, 2014)

"It's not the end of the world..."

Great start, abrupt end and one great big weakness, but the 2014 take on Godzilla is a considerable improvement on Emmerich's kiddie-level cartoonish disappointment.  The creatures are terrific, and Godzilla himself is restored to the huge, powerful and purposeful force of nature of old.  What the screenplay gets right is the nifty fusion of the original Toho nuclear-age positioning with post-9/11-Katrina American sensibilities; however, it is not so much a thinness of characterisation that early reviews have pointed to that is a real problem, but the fact that the fuzzily-written script gives the characters little on-screen engagement with events or indeed each other.  Cranston is great, Taylor-Johnson is not at his strongest in a soft role but is at least reliable, and Watanabe's character does little other than look constantly perplexed.  Edwards manages the hike up to mega-bucks budget strongly, and there are indeed flashes of the Monsters sensibility and creativity to be enjoyed, but the overall result lacks the consistent drive or cohesion to be truly great.  If, as Edwards has hinted, there could be a Destroy All Monsters-inspired sequel, this film at least serves as a good demonstration of the potential of the rebooted franchise.

FILM: Frank (dir: Lenny Abrahamson, 2014)

"You're just gonna have to go with this..."

If you bought into the delightful cult character of Frank Sidebottom back in the day, be warned that this film takes its tenuous links into much darker territory.  It is always interesting, occasionally hilarious and at times deliberately quirky, but the film undecidedly vacillates between championing independent free-thinking creativity and puncturing the pomposity of ridiculous self-indulgent artistic expression, before hurtling into an unsettling mix of mental illness and David Lynch in the final act.  Frank boasts a range of well-played oddball characters, from Fassbender's excellent physical central performance and Domhnall Gleeson as the budding songwriter drawn into this alternative band and lifestyle to well-drawn characters by Maggie Gyllenhaal and Scoot McNairy as other band-members. Perhaps more challenging than outright enjoyable, Frank is nevertheless entertaining.

FILM: Bad Neighbours (dir: Nicholas Stoller, 2014)

"See that 3D printer go!"

The USP here is the collision of frat-house and young-middle-aged-married-with kid comedy genres which works to a large extent.  As the new parents who find they have a fraternity moving in as neighbours, Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are clearly enjoying themselves, and as the lead frats Zac Efron and Dave Franco are clearly a cut above the usual actors cast in these generic roles, and their sparring makes the film an easy and entertaining watch.  There is some squandered potential here, as there are times when the musings on taking responsibility and moving on with life are sincere but do not feel quite developed enough at the expense of appealing to a younger demographic.  The film also boasts the cutest scene-stealing baby in the movies ever.

FILM: Pompeii 3D (dir: Paul W.S. Anderson, 2014)

"You dragged me from a perfectly adequate brothel for this?"

Anderson's take on the Pompeii story is basically TV's Spartacus via Dante's Peak, with inevitable disaster-hits nods to Titanic, Deep Impact and The Day After Tomorrow.  There is one wonderful arena-battle set piece, and the actual eruption/disaster sequences are ambitious if familiar, yet the budget is stretched thinly enough to make a lot of the CGI visuals unconvincing and unengaging.  Kit Harington and Emily Browning make for extremely lightweight Jack-and-Rose leads, a deadly combination with the film's comic-strip-level dialogue, and Kiefer Sutherland's arch cod-English thesping is one step from pantomime villain, but the mighty Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje provides some gravitas and Carrie-Anne Moss finds some humanity in a throwaway role.  For such an historic and awe-inspiring story, this is a surprisingly limp film to sit through.