FILM: Batman v Superman Dawn Of Justice IMAX 3D (dir: Zack Snyder, 2016)

"Things fall."

As someone once said: why so serious?  Bookended by shots of coffins, Batman v Superman does not get much cheerier for the rest of its long running time.  In spite of being somewhat joyless and fun-free, this is a very good grand-scale blockbuster movie.  It is almost as if DC have sent out a mission statement - Marvel is for the kids, DC is for the grown-ups - making The Winter Soldier look like a light-hearted romp by comparison.   It has a very careful and well-constructed narrative, with characters and events purposely introduced and positioned, in spite of a mid-section wobble that plays very oddly (the victim of trimming for run-time?), and mostly well-written dialogue.  Particularly striking is the early 9/11-inflected re-telling of the Zod/Superman brawl from Man Of Steel from Bruce Wayne's perspective.  Affleck/Batman is absolutely terrific throughout,  Cavill/Superman is mostly good in spite of his 'serious' face still sometimes looking like severe puzzlement, and there are very strong supporting performances by Adams, Fishburne, Hunter and Lane.  Eisenberg paces Lex's descent into madness well from an already jittery and energetic starting point, and Gal Gadot is a real find as Wonder Woman, making her solo movie a real prospect at last.  Even the brief but smart introduction to other potential Justice League members intrigues.  Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL provide an excellent score, and the film looks absolutely wonderful in terms of both 3D and the ambitious visual effects.  Batman v Superman does feel very long, but if you do not mind a superhero movie being very grim indeed and thus quite distancing emotionally, there is a lot to admire in this superhero-clash 'Fight Night'.

FILM: 10 Cloverfield Lane (dir: Dan Trachtenberg, 2016)

"Are you being funny?"

The pre-title sequence of this unexpected side-quel is a masterful construction of images, pace and sound that engages straight away.  After a short period of wrong-footing - is this Cloverfield?  Hostel?  Misery? - the movie very quickly settles down into a well-written but standard people-in-a-bunker-with-an-apocalypse-outside genre entry.  Thus the film's success stands or falls on the cast, and with John Goodman (always seemingly just one step away from full-on crazy) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (another nuanced performance) in full flight there is little to worry about on the acting front.  Eventually, the actual Cloverfield link staggers in for a quite mad finale, which makes one wonder if this were an existing project retro-fitted for marketing purposes.  Nevertheless, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a solidly-made and well-performed movie overall.

FILM: The Divergent Series - Allegiant (dir: Robert Schwentke, 2016)

"What's an airport?"

The third entry in this daftest of franchises of the Post-Genetic-Apocalypse for Pretty People brings no improvement.  It takes a very long time telling very little, and it is a shame that as much attention was not paid to dialogue and content as is evident in the ambitious but mostly cheap-looking design and visual effects.  Theo James broods heroically and Miles Teller's comic timing surfaces on a couple of occasions, and at least it can be said that Elgort and Woodley have improved on-screen as the series has progressed.  However, in terms of ideas and execution, The Divergent Series makes The Hunger Games and Maze Runner films look like classics.

FILM: London Has Fallen (dir: Babak Najafi, 2016)

"F**k ME???? F**k YOU!!!!!!"

For UK audiences, this full-on assault on a very-familiar Central London rings uncomfortably plausible, except for the massively credulity-stretching extensive infiltration of police and homeland security!  Whereas Olympus Has Fallen was an lunk-headedly entertaining Die Hard-wanabee bottle show, the expansion to a large area of London relies more on silliness, but where this sequel scores is that once you get past some dreary set up, a five-minute assault on various world leaders at a handful of London landmarks up for destruction here is very attention-grabbing, and the subsequent kills, thrills and screenwriting are all mostly slick and efficient with some great stunts thrown in. There is some supremely low-rent CGI in the early stages of the attack on the city, and at times the final act is shot more like a good videogame, but overall the tone feels more consistent with this outing and the comedy lines more from friendly gallows banter than a need to shoehorn in conscious one-liners.  The unusually strong top-line cast gives the material some gravitas, and this is one of Butler's more effective and watchable performances.  Overall, London Has Fallen is another well-made but dopey action romp that draws in the viewer with its sheer energy.