FILM: Jumanji - Welcome To the Jungle (dir: Jake Kasdan, 2017)

"Board games?  Who plays board games?"

Very much leaning on the original, this belated and semi-updated sequel has the fabled game adapting itself to a 1990s console game that is then unearthed by four modern-day stereotyped teenagers (i.e. geek, princess, jock, loner) in detention and sucks them into the game world just like Tron.  For a run-time of nearly two hours, the actual story is surprisingly thin, relying mostly on the enjoyable banter between four established stars (Johnson, Hart, Gillan, Black - all fine here) who play the teens' oppositional-character avatars in the game world. Location scenery looks great, the messages and resolution are simple but effective, and overall this take on Jumanji is innocuous and mildly entertaining.

FILM: Pitch Perfect 3 (dir: Trish Sie, 2017)

"Sir!  Step away from the Bella!"

Like the Twilight series, the purpose and content of the Pitch Perfect franchise makes little sense to anyone except teenage girls, and this third entry exists only owing to the previous film's alarming profitability and the less-than-artistic reason that the cast have such a great time making these movies.  This third episode again pretty much retreads previous ground - here, entertaining the troops is the excuse for a mini-tour of glamorous European cities - but it is slightly better than Pitch Perfect 2 as it has a frantic pace, a few funny lines and some self-mocking humour.  However, these elements serve to minimise the meagre individual character stories, instead relying on a barrage of scenes that play almost like sketches and a number of studio-smooth renditions of familiar pop hits to perk up proceedings.  The hapless commentators again steal the show, John Lithgow provides a truly bizarre Australian accent (via London's East End and South Africa), and Anna Kendrick reminds us why she is so adorably watchable. Plenty of behind-the-scenes and rehearsal footage peppers the end credits, and ultimately this third entry appears to be an adequate closer to this pop-phenomenon trilogy.

FILM: Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi IMAX 3D (dir: Rian Johnson, 2017)

"Happy beeps!"

A film of this length that has so much going on requires far more unpacking than this one-paragraph review, but suffice to say The Last Jedi starts with an absolute bang and is absolutely rollicking entertainment, and as expected the trailer played with expectations by means of clever editing and in the movie things certainly 'are not going to go the way you think'.  Rian Johnson - an edgier director with whom Lucasfilm stuck but who understands Star Wars yet is brave enough to make some very distinct choices here - gives the series some new visual ideas, some delightful throwaway humour, some unexpected character development that feels freshly ambivalent and a series of bold set pieces that absolutely deliver.  It is certainly darker (relatively) than Episode VII, but it is story-driven and puts the characters in situations where choices have consequences.  Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac deliver the strongest performances here, and Carrie Fisher is majestic in her final bitter-sweet appearance.  No doubt the diehards who complained that The Force Awakens stayed too close to A New Hope will now say this film is too modern and not light-fantasy enough, but these are precisely the two main reasons that make The Last Jedi not only interesting but also a franchise progression.  It would be nitpicking to say that one plot strand gets a bit familiarly Battlestar Galactica at points, and there is a bit of a mid-point lull, but overall The Last Jedi is genuinely entertaining, and whether or not Abrams continues in this new vein or reverts to safer ground for the trilogy-closer, the next film is left with real potential to explore this 'new' Star Wars universe.

VOD: Beach Rats (dir: Eliza Hittman, 2017)

"What year is this?"

Another of 2017's festival mainstays has many strengths but it is a fairly  unadventurous coming-of-age movie.  Writer/director Eliza Hittman scores well in both departments, with some strong use of framing to create relationships and  deliberate male objectification giving a grounded, credible feel to the movie as a whole.  Brit Harris Dickinson provides an intelligent performance as the conflicted and aimless teen at the heart of the movie, and Madeline Weinstein works well on screen as his budding girlfriend.  The central metaphor used to represent the passion and beautiful rage of teenhood leads to a bleakly blunt but affecting ending, and even if the movie hardly covers original territory, this one of the more considered and thoughtful indie efforts in this sub-genre.

FILM: The Man Who Invented Christmas (dir: Bharat Nalluri, 2017)

"I am the Ghost of Christmas Past!  Follow!"
"Not bloody likely...."

This enjoyable piece of whimsy manages to concoct a reasonable fiction of the creation of A Christmas Carol, presenting the  Dickens phenomenon as the 1840s equivalent of J.K. Rowling's modern-day Potter success (which of course the author was).  Desperate for a hit and for money to support his lavish new lifestyle and ever-expanding family, this film takes an interesting  Pirandello-style approach to the creative process and newly-emerging characters coming to life and challenging their writer as Dickens also comes to terms with his own past and looks to the future.  There are three main threads that are almost integrated effectively: Dickens the man and writer, his relationship with his father and of course the writing of one of his most-loved titles.  Dan Stevens proves yet again to be a wonderfully versatile and precise actor in the lead role, Christopher Plummer is cast magnificently as Scrooge (who challenges and hectors his creator in true character manner), Morfydd Clark does some lovely work as the author's patient wife, and a load of recognisable Brit character actors thesp away hammily.  Fans of Dickens, period films and, well, Christmas will enjoy this pleasant and well-made piece of light seasonal fayre.

FILM: Suburbicon (dir: George Clooney, 2017)

"It's a terrible, terrible tragedy."

There is a lot of quality work on display in Suburbicon, especially on the acting front, but overall the film has difficulty hanging together.  For the most part it is a very controlled and quite predictable film, with everything feeling very deliberately placed, and the slow burn approach means that when the momentum picks up towards the end it is almost too little too late.  A bigger issue is the crude mirroring of the main story with a horrifying parallel  escalating deliberate racism strand that is clearly meant to reflect the unravelling of the suburban ideal but the two aspects sit together uncomfortably.  The film seems to want to end with a powerful streak of dark humour but instead plays like an underpowered Joe Orton farce.  Noah Jupe gives a delightful performance as the young son caught up in an adult nightmare, and Oscar Isaac does some lovely character work in his brief scenes, but overall Suburbicon is not as strong as one would have expected.

FILM: Daddy's Home 2 (dir: Sean Anders, 2017)

"Now you fixed it."

Going the same holidays route as the Bad Moms sequel, Daddy's Home 2 aims for the simplest and broadest of comedic strokes but it is a lot funnier than the first film.  The film dashes along at a terrifying pace, with a lot of the gags hitting the mark (if you are not expecting anything too lofty - the snow-clearing set piece is a standout).  The established effective chemistry between Ferrell and Wahlberg works again and shows even better timing than previously (the latter especially is strong here), and Gibson and Lithgow simply bring their experience and have a blast with their barely-sketched stereotypical characters.  The final act takes a seemingly odd turn but it all comes together to end with a most extraordinary rendition of a xmas pop classic, by which point you will either be swept along with the festive daftness of the whole enterprise or give up hope all together.  

FILM: Justice League IMAX 3D (dirs: Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon, 2017)

"Yeah, it looks expensive."

Justice League is a little lighter (visually and in respect of tone) than the dark and dismal Batman vs Superman, but as a film it does not gel, and not necessarily because of the split directorial circumstances.  With the WB determination to tighten the running time, the film feels extraordinarily empty, with an astonishingly simplistic (and sometimes oddly judged) storyline with a script that hardly sparkles, leaving a bunch of invulnerables having regular punch-ups and lots of CG/explosions that are quite unengaging.  Individually, the League members are fine - Affleck still makes for a good Batman, Gadot is again wonderful as Wonder Woman, Mamoa turns Aquaman into a musclebound bad-boy, Ray Fisher at least has some character progression to work with as Cyborg and Ezra Miller is good fun as The Flash, but together they still come across as a grumpy Avengers-lite.  The mid-credits scene  is a bit of comedic fluff, and the very end of the credits has a scene that sets up a future DCEU movie, but there clearly needs to be some creative re-tooling and change of direction to make these characters work together properly.

FILM: Murder On The Orient Express (dir: Kenneth Branagh, 2017)

"This is not a beach-side puzzle."

This 2017 version of the Agatha Christie classic maintains its period setting, and for anyone familiar with the material (including the famous 1970s movie) this is a handsomely-presented and well-performed piece that holds no surprises.  For newcomers, the clues are laid on surprisingly thickly and the solution signposted quite early on in a film which is dialogue-rich and surprisingly spritely.  Branagh makes some well-considered directorial choices, holding the camera on a character at points and occasionally using interesting shots and angles, and he performs well as Poirot, a little subdued but bearable compared with some interpretations.  The starry cast deliver well, with Josh Gad and Michelle Pfeiffer perhaps proving to be the most interesting.  Overall, this is a solid take that entertains but does little new.

FILM: Paddington 2 IMAX (dir: Paul King, 2017)

 CELEBRATING 200,000 VISITORS TO MY BLOG!

"This is perfect."

Lightning does strike twice, and this Paddington sequel is as good as the original film.  It has the same charm, joy and child-like delight that made the first movie so enjoyable - and perhaps even more so in the first half here -  but the warmth and creativity is also evident throughout (the pop-up book sequence early on is one of the loveliest sequences seen in recent film).  The animation and compositing of the central character is exemplary, there are plenty of recognisable Brit actors doing delightful work (Hugh Grant and Brendan Gleeson in particular are absolutely wonderful), and London again looks gorgeous and is used very effectively (as the treasure-hunt story involves key landmarks).  The ambitious final set-piece perhaps ends a little abruptly, but the actual ending is a real heartstrings-tugger, and the credits include an hilariously camp song-and-dance routine that is so over-the-top that it leaves this delightful film on a big smile.

VOD: The Untamed (La Region Salvaje) (dir: Amat Escalante, 2017)

"You can't escape everything."

This Mexican-international co-production has been a festival favourite, and it is both intriguing and oddly absorbing.  With echoes of Andrzej Zulawski's Possession, a tentacled creature comes to Earth via a meteorite and is kept at a couple's isolated rural home, telepathically attracting emotionally troubled people and delivering extreme sexual fulfilment, sometimes with severe consequences.    Following the sexually tangled relationship between volatile Angel, his wife Alex, her brother Fabian and the mysterious Veronica who enters their lives, the film has an hypnotically strange feel, through steady pacing, unexpected juxtaposition of extreme shot types and curiously-placed sound elements.  The creature scenes are brief but impactful and well-realised for the budget.  Not all questions are resolved, and The Untamed will not be to everyone's taste, but it is a curious and interesting experience overall.

FILM: A Bad Moms Christmas (dirs: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, 2017)

:

"It's Christmas?"

The first festive offering of 2017 (first week in November!) sees the Bad Moms team return in a sequel that rigidly retreads the template but with added 'mothers of the mothers' and Christmas trees.  Oddly, the Christmas theme is often abandoned in favour of straight mother-daughter relationship scenes, giving the film a slightly stop-start feel, but this sequel capitalises on what worked best in the first film: Kathryn Hahn's wild character is a hoot, Mila Kunis sells the material brilliantly, and the chemistry between the three leads is terrific.  In spite of the relentless stereotyping (male and female) and the material is again slight, there are more laughs this time round and Baranski, Hines and Sarandon bring their considerable experience into comedic play effectively (and a potential spin-off movie is set up into the bargain).   Continuity fans will have a field day with snow and hair, but as the film breezes merrily along,  subtlety and detail are hardly the point here.  It is fun, it is forgettable... it's Christmas!

VOD: Tales Of Halloween (dirs: Axelle Carolyn and others, 2015)

"Halloween is about to get real!"

Packing in ten short Halloween tales, this portmanteau is little more than simple, silly goofy fun, just like the Halloween holiday itself.  It is not as stylish or as successful as Trick 'r Treat, but it knows its audience and its genre very well and is eager to please, from straight-played urban-legends-styled cautionary tales to engagingly daft parodies of Friday the 13th and John Carpenter movies, and appearances from a host of genre favourites (Greg Grunberg, Lin Shaye, Stuart Gordon, John Landis, Adrienne Barbeau, etc).  Inevitably, some shorts are better than others but there is no real weak link, and there is plenty of (mostly physical) gloop and splatter for the gore fans.  With little scope for real development within each story, Tales Of Halloween therefore delivers basic but well-realised fun for horror fans.

VOD: The Bye Bye Man (dir: Stacy Title, 2017)

"It's a little creepy, right?"
"Nah.  Just cold."

Cherry-picking the best ideas from Candyman, It Follows and The Conjuring series, The Bye Bye Man manages to create a very uncompelling film.  The first half is extremely dull, as three very uninteresting college students rent an unfeasibly huge house and, well, strange things start to happen and a shady past is very slowly uncovered.   The second half livens up a little, but as there is little investment in the characters and the screenplay roves all over the place it is hard to maintain interest.  Carrie-Anne Moss also enters the fray occasionally and seemingly wanders in from a different movie altogether.  With odd pacing and a soundtrack that is not too successful, overall The Bye Bye Man proves to be considerably weaker than many of its contemporaries.

VOD: Cult Of Chucky (dir: Don Mancini, 2017)

"I was six.  My babysitter was murdered....along with my teacher and my case worker and thirty-seven other people over the years...that I'm aware of...."

The Chucky films have proved to be a resilient little franchise, retaining key players on and off screen, and this seventh entry is far better than should be expected and makes for a reasonably interesting film.  Picking up from Curse Of..., whose main character Nica has since been placed in a secure psychiatric institution, here the action follows Nica and her transfer to an isolated mid-security unit, eschewing the previous film's gothic-shadowiness for icy white/blue tones and a wintry backdrop that adds considerable aesthetic interest.  Inevitably, Chucky turns up to wreak some effective physical and CGI-created carnage - here the USP is that there can now be more than one Chucky - and the narrative takes in previous entries, from Jennifer Tilly/Tiffany to the original actor who played Andy (Alex Vincent) in the original movie.  This is very much a bottle story with a limited-number cast who mostly do well, led by another strong performance by Fiona Dourif, but there is a clear effort made all round to do more than just make a routine slasher-sequel.

FILM: Call Me By Your Name (dir: Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

"Is it better to speak or to die?"

In style, Call Me By Your Name is classic European arthouse.  Set in 1983 (everyone smokes, dial-up phones, New Romantic music, teenagers read books), this is a classic long hot summer setting in deserted rural Italy, all faded grandeur, swimming in lakes and dappled sunlight.  The burgeoning romance between a visiting confident 20-something student (another surprisingly nuanced turn by Armie Hammer) and the less-sure 17-year-old son (a wonderful emotionally open performance by Timothee Chalamet - just wait for the final lingering shot) develops steadily and convincingly.  The director controls the different elements beautifully, from purposeful framing to careful character development, and the steady pacing makes this a leisurely but enjoyable experience.  Call Me By Your Name comes heavily lauded from the festival circuit, and deservedly so.

FILM: Breathe (dir: Andy Serkis, 2017)

"That was different!"

The 'based on true events' biopic genre now feels well established, and Breathe ticks all the conventions boxes, right down to the footage of the real couple and the life updates at the end of the film.  In many ways, however, Breathe is almost less about a polio victim's battle to gain some sort of quality of life than it is a genuine (and, as the song says) true love story.  Andrew Garfield again proves to be a truly versatile actor, conveying positivity in the harshest of personal circumstances and often wordlessly (in a far more sincere way than Redmayne's acting exercises of The Theory Of Everything), and Claire Foy gives one of her best turns that is an exemplary character performance of devotion, defiance and love, with strong smaller supporting performances that catch the eye from Ed Speleers and Amit Shah.  Serkis also delivers very well with his first directorial effort, contrasting the natural vistas of Africa and Europe with the confines of hospitalisation, in particular a jawdropping scene in a German clinic.  With the surviving family's strong involvement, Breathe comes across less an airbrushed bit of Sunday-evening revisionism and more a truly life-affirming slice of positivity that is a testament to its two central performers.

FILM: Happy Death Day (dir: Christopher Landon, 2017)

"Looks like you've been here before..."

At first, Happy Death Day seemed to be another Blumhouse cheap-and-cheerful enterprise that does what it says on the tin - the horror version of Groundhog Day, of which is it is blissfully self-aware - but it turns out to have considerable charm and is very enjoyable.   From the looped opening of the Universal ident, this film knows exactly what it is doing, carried along by two delightfully engaging and well-placed lead performances by Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard and a format that effectively creates mini-movies which introduce the new generation of filmgoers to horror movie conventions and locations (the sorority house, the hospital, the bell tower, etc) and also allows horror fans the fun of spotting references, as classic movie themes are echoed and clichés are neatly skewered.  There is a good balance of humour and scares, with a thunderous soundtrack and some well-written dialogue, and whilst it is hardly groundbreaking, Happy Death Day is delivered with a deft light touch and is winningly engaging.

FILM: Jigsaw (aka Saw 8 - Legacy) (dirs: Michael and Peter Spierig, 2017)

"The game's simple.  The best ones are."

Having been wiped out by falling box office and the Paranormal Activity franchise in spite of a late return to form with the seventh movie The Final Chapter, John Kramer returns for Halloween 2107 with an efficient and effective entry in the Saw series.  Although the Saw movies lost their way somewhat after the excellent third film, this film is a more streamlined affair that pays more attention to balancing the police procedural scenes with the traps-and-torture strand.  There is also a clear effort to make the film look cinematic by opening out the police/exterior scenes in contrast with the usual claustrophobic five-people-trapped-in-a-maze routine.  The cast is committed and plays it straight, and the enjoyable timeline-twisting reveal works well in spite of being (very) heavily signposted.  In this series, the traps work best when the victims have to make real choices as opposed to being simply punished, and this element is played upon effectively for the most part here.  Overall, Jigsaw is a well-made and effective addition to the franchise that is not up there with the first three films but is enjoyable nonetheless.

FILM: Thor - Ragnarok IMAX 3D (dir: Taika Waititi, 2017)

"Why fight it?"

Ragnarok is the complete antithesis of the gloomy and dark The Dark World - it is a riotous romp that is hugely enjoyable from start to finish.  Waititi's style hits the mark, also finding an effective comic-book tone that is neither too lightweight nor too slavish and packing in a lot of content.  The emergence of Chris Hemsworth's wonderful comedic talent is mined to perfection here, but there are so many treats in this fast-paced and fleet-footed movie, from Karl Urban channelling Jason Statham, the Thor/Loki and Thor/Hulk banter and a reasonably menacing antagonist (which could still use more screen time) by Cate Blanchett, to some terrific action sequences (the ambitious arena smackdown is one of many exciting set pieces) and more.  Also impressive are the glorious use of scale and 3D plus Mark Mothersbaugh's striking score.  With its bold choice of director and a (slight) loosening up of the formula, Ragnarok is a confident and immensely entertaining addition to the MCU.  For Marvel addicts who like to sit through the end crawl, the mid-credits scene is presumably a set-up for the Infinity War movie, but the very-end scene is a fun but inessential throwaway for Jeff Goldblum's character.

FILM: Geostorm IMAX 3D (dir: Dean Devlin, 2017)

"Some holiday!"

...and this is after the re-shoots?  This much-delayed film follows in the shoes of Twister, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012 and San Andreas, and it is a slightly guilty pleasure to see the latest CGI wreak havoc on major cities every few years.  The money is on the screen (especially on the gorgeously detailed space-set scenes), because it certainly did not go on dialogue (which here almost elevates Armageddon to a Shakespearean level) or performances, although Geostorm contains one of Gerard Butler's most considered and effective turns.  The first two acts veer between dull and silly, with hard science sitting uncomfortably with complete nonsense, yet there is a sequence of scenes at the start of the final act that suddenly kicks into gear and is exciting for a while but falls back to unevenness towards the end.  A purposeful thriller could have been made out of this material, but instead Geostorm falls back on clichés and past successes all too easily and with less success.

FILM: The Snowman (dir: Tomas Alfredson, 2017)

"...but you can't force the pieces to fit."

The promising trailer leads to a rather disappointing movie.  Its obvious strength is the relentlessly cinematic wintry snowscapes, as alcoholic detective Harry Hole tracks down a personal serial killer case in Norway.  It aims for enigmatic and atmospheric but for the most part it is slow and dull, leading to a finale that seems to abandon geography, plot and timeframe and then ends rather abruptly.  Marco Beltrami's score is at times too melodramatic, whereas a cool synth score might have worked better, and some of the visual effects underwhelm jarringly.  The story shoehorns in fractured familial relationships that sit uncomfortably with the police procedural aspects, and whilst Michael Fassbender underplays to a degree, Rebecca Ferguson attempts to inject a bit of a spark with her performance.  The idea is good, but the execution here is just too lethargic to whip up much interest.

FILM: The Ritual (dir: David Bruckner, 2017)

"Thank you, Trip Advisor!"

To be reductive, The Ritual is a blokey Blair Witch without the shaky-cam, but it benefits enormously from a strong quartet of Brit actors led by the effectively-reliable Rafe Spall, and an effective back story that drives the friends' relationship and starts the film with a brutal and compelling initiating event.  It is a straightforward woods-based horror that does what it says on the tin and little more, but it does it well in all departments, although it would not bear or need a repeat viewing.

FILM: Blade Runner 2049 IMAX 3D (dir: Denis Villeneuve, 2017)

"You're special."

For me, anticipation and expectation for this film was perhaps even greater than for The Force Awakens, as the 1982 original is by far one of my all-time favourites and seeing a sequel was never expected.  Thankfully, Villeneuve has delivered a truly wonderful, beautiful movie.  As Harrison Ford has been saying on the press tour, a major factor was waiting for the right story, and this one certainly is strong as its links to the earlier story are cleverly meshed with this film's compelling central story.   The director's cool and controlled style works beautifully with the material and the glorious visuals - this is a contemplative and steady film for the most part that demands attention  over its long running time, but it is an experience to savour and in which to luxuriate.  Gosling is absolutely terrific in the lead role, and Ford does some great work with surprising developments to his character's story.  The soundtrack is not up to the original iconic Vangelis score, but the soundscapes work extremely well in context and are more than just a carbon copy.  The only real concern is with the very questionable and quite alarming gender politics, but this does not detract from what is a genuinely mesmerising, stunning and hugely satisfying achievement overall.

FILM: The Lego Ninjago Movie (dirs: Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan, 2017)

"Are you crossing your fingers?"
"That's physically impossible!"

The third Lego movie follows a now-established formula, meaning that it is a lively, colourful, noisy and fun affair but this time with added Asian pop-culture stylings that add interest.  Right from the opening sequence you can start ticking off the required elements, but the writing is tight and the voice cast does very enjoyable work.  Interestingly, the audience was split evenly between the very young and adults, with the children surprisingly captivated by it all and the grown-ups having a few laughs of their own at lines that went way over the heads of the little ones.  The current prevalent Hollywood theme of fathers-and-sons drives the narrative - essentially, it is Luke, Vader and Obi-Wan - but throws in a few moderate reflective moments amidst the mayhem.  This silly but reasonably entertaining enterprise does exactly what is expected, not forgetting that it is still an extended and blatant advertisement for toys.

FILM: Goodbye Christopher Robin (dir: Simon Curtis, 2017)

"That was...unexpected."

A family-friendly feature about the world-famous bear stories?  Nothing of the sort.  Goodbye Christopher Robin is a searing and scalpel-sharp exploration of parenthood, the class system, fiction versus reality, the futility of war and the impact of celebrity, the latter notably on the young (actual) Christopher Robin.  It is a beautifully-made film, with the period detail and pastoral Sussex realised wonderfully on screen, and a surprising amount of story/content is addressed.  The ever-watchable Domhnall Gleeson gives a masterclass in control and precision as war-damaged author A.A.Milne, Margot Robbie is exquisite as his society-loving wife albeit in a slightly underwritten character, and the wonderful Kelly Macdonald is a standout as the steadfast nanny.  Balancing nostalgic kicks and serious issues well, Goodbye Christopher Robin manages to be equally entertaining and thought-provoking.

FILM: Flatliners (dir: Niels Arden Oplev, 2017)

"See you later, Jesus!"

In spite of Kiefer Sutherland's presence, the 2017 Flatliners is pretty much a very straight-faced remake, proving to be a far less glossy romp than the original. It is efficient, and sound and editing are notably terrific, but as a whole the film does not really take off.  The actors fire up once the bland scene-setting passes, yet the second half becomes a fairly predictable narrative trudge towards the rather wimpy resolution.  The film is most secure when dealing with established horror tropes which it does well, so it is a shame that the thematic aspects of the story are not developed further and that more risks were taken with the material.

FILM: Home Again (dir: Hallie Meyers-Shyer, 2017)

"Am I one of those women who think their hobbies count as a profession?"

Writer/director Meyers-Shyer carries on the family business in treacly rom-coms with this ridiculously daft confection.  By creating a central character whose life struggles are minimal (and those problems that she has are treated with alarmingly perfunctorily carelessness), there is little in which the viewer can invest.  Little is credible, and dialogue-heavy sequences are easy to tune out of, but the two main saving graces are that it is shot sumptuously by veteran lenser Dean Cundey, and it is great to see Candice Bergen on the big screen again.  Witherspoon - an actress who really needs some strong dramatic material worthy of her talents - may be on a mission to create female-centric and female-empowered movies, but Home Again does little more than simply perpetuate the standard unrelatable romantic fantasy staple.

FILM: Kingsman The Golden Circle IMAX (dir: Matthew Vaughn, 2017)

"Like toast...but British!"

Kingsman The Golden Circle is a solid sequel to the unexpectedly loveable first film.  The story is tightly linked to the first film, but also makes some bold choices along the way.  Visually, it looks terrific (especially in IMAX), and the leads - Egerton, Strong, Firth - are all fine, and Julianne Moore makes for an acceptably mad villain.  It inevitably lacks the delightful street-boy vs. gentleman-spy arc of the first film, and it is surprising that more is not made of the fish-out-of-water scenario, or the U.S. characters, when the action moves to America.  Content feels a little thin for a running time of over two hours, but the action sequences are excellent - fast, imaginative and often pleasingly daft.  If the franchise gets its proposed trilogy closer, the series can now move forward with a fairly clean slate to really let loose, but for now, The Golden Circle, is an entertaining follow-up.

FILM: mother! (dir: Darren Aronofsky, 2017)

"Good luck."

mother! makes Black Swan look like Paddington.  You spend most of the film in a state of intrigued puzzlement at what seems to set itself up as a bizarre psycho-sexual home-invasion movie, a defining moment seems to clarify what it is about and when you think you 'get it' it becomes a bold and very clever movie indeed.  The final act is completely (and I mean completely) bonkers with one truly harrowing trademark Aronofsky moment, leading to a smart ending.  Aranovsky uses camera and sound to tell the story from Jennifer Lawrence's point of view most effectively, and Javier Bardem is beguilingly precise in his performance, whilst Michelle Pfeiffer clearly relishes having decent material and a great director.  There are plenty of red herrings and dead ends, with some bits that do not quite gel, and it is metaphors-a-go-go throughout that are mostly sledgehammer-subtle.  There is no question: mother! is a demanding, assaulting and patience-testing movie that will divide audiences hugely, but there are many rewards within that go with it.

FILM: American Assassin (dir: Michael Cuesta, 2017)

"By the way, I've heard good things about you.  I'm excited to see what you've got."

The dynamic trailer was promising, and the film turns out be quite reasonable.  The opening catalysing event is great and well put together, but the film then becomes a bit too talky and fragmented as we go down a well-worn 'rebellious recruit to a covert CIA group goes through training' routine.  The globe-trotting looks good on screen and the film is surprisingly light on action, even though the action sequences are frenetic and efficient.  This is Dylan O'Brien's John Wick (to an extent), and he literally throws himself into it to create a reasonably effective protagonist, with Michael Keaton reliable as his handler.   The money is spent on a high-stakes finale which delivers quite well, but overall American Assassin falls a little awkwardly between old-school spy thrillers and modern sub-Bourne action.

VOD: Mindhorn (dir: Sean Foley, 2017)

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY TO MY BLOG!

"All the world's a stage -"
"- No, it isn't!"

Mindhorn is a very British comedy in the vein of Alan Partridge, but it is nowhere near as accomplished as the Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa movie.  The cast play it suitably straight, Julian Barratt does a very good job of creating the self-absorbed and deluded ex-TV detective drawn into an actual murder case, and the 80s stylings are carefully referenced and recreated.  The film occasionally raises a smile, but it is such a gentle and thinly-written exercise that it leaves a fairly muted impression overall.

FILM: IT 4DX (dir: Andy Muschietti, 2017)

"Ain't nothing like a little fear to make a paper man crumble."

It becomes clear right from the outset that this new adaptation of the Steven King classic is very strong and artfully made, and it comes as a very pleasant surprise to find that this standard is maintained throughout the movie.  The 2017 IT is by far one of the best King film adaptations, largely because it is faithful to the source material but with sensible refinements for the big screen, but also it genuinely sounds and feels like Steven King (which is certainly not always the case in adaptations of his work).  This 'childhood' section of the novel is here set in the 1980s (when the novel was first published), which gives it that essential nostalgia feel that was a feature of the classic King novels and also enables some great fun references, from the fun use of NKOTB to the bathroom fountain-of-blood puberty metaphor that echoes the first Elm Street movie.  Direction and editing are creative and tight as a drum, sound placement and score are excellent, and the young cast is excellent, led by an impressive and truly engaging central performance by Jaeden Lieberher.  The Pennywise here is perhaps less villainous than Tim Curry's version but more creepily unpredictable.  As with most modern horror films, it is not particularly scary, but what the film evokes wonderfully is an enveloping sense of dread and the true horror of issues such as bullying, grief and physical/sexual/mental abuse.  This is a robust, thoughtfully-made and immensely enjoyable movie - it can only be hoped that audiences respond strongly enough for the 'second chapter' (set 27 years later when the now-adult gang return to Derry to defeat Pennywise's next reign of terror) to be made, preferably with Muschietti returning as director.

VOD: Guardians (dir: Sarik Andreasyan, 2017)

"So, I have two weeks to search the entire Soviet world to assemble a team of superheroes, a team to stop a supervillain?"

Following its lively and interesting action-filled trailer, Russia's answer to The Avengers/X-Men movies turns out to be more Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. than the MCU.  An interesting but frenetic story-setting opening involving scientists, super-solders, etc. is followed by a lengthy, er, assembling of the team of superheroes (a Sue Storm-alike, The Hulk-but-as-a-bear, a Flash/Nightcrawler with cool swords, and the one who can mind-control bits of rock) and a reasonably lively showdown at the end.  It looks a lot cheaper than it probably was and the CGI is not always effective, but there are some ambitious effects - the CGI works particularly well on Khan's introduction and the Ostankino Tower sequences.  Compared to Hollywood's extravaganzas, Guardians seems like a very tame and laboured affair, and the mostly serious acting style can feel mis-matched, but there is genuine attempt to create something of scale and appropriately of the genre.

FILM: The Hitman's Bodyguard (dir: Patrick Hughes, 2017)

"It's my job to keep you out of harm's way."
"Motherf***er, I AM harm's way!"

This remarkably daft enterprise is essentially a throwback buddy action/comedy which apparently had a late retooling from a somewhat harder and straighter script, and it struggles to maintain its less serious tone/style over the relentlessly long runtime.  Atli Örvarsson's soundtrack is the one element that has the right edge of pastiche that the actual film often lacks, and Salma Hayek is terrific but under-used as Jackson's foul-mouthed ultra-aggressive wife, otherwise Samuel L Jackson is reliably badass with the mediocre material and Ryan Reynolds, well, is, and there are a small number of competent action sequences.  There are moments when the style gels and flies, particularly in the final act, but there are also plenty of times when it misses the mark, making The Hitman's Bodyguard a moderate but disposable experience.

FILM: American Made (dir: Doug Liman, 2017)

"You trust me?"
"NO!"

The duality of this film is interesting.  On the one hand, it generates a dazzling rise-and-fall 'true' story of Barry Seal playing off South American druglords and the CIA to his own profit, and on the other it is clearly an acutely Hollywood-ised treatment of events, most notably with the lead casting of Tom Cruise (giving a truly effective performance that ranks amongst his best in an ideal role) as the anti-hero.  The period (late 1970s/early 80s) is evoked well through attention to detail and the slightly grainy over-saturated use of colour, and the storytelling is whip-sharp through an array of on-screen techniques and brisk pacing that mirrors the snowballing situation, right down to the well-chosen soundtrack - the choice of tune that accompanies the montage when the scale of the money flooding in becomes impossibly insane will raise a smile.  The story is very much of the you-couldn't-make-it-up variety with the harsh edges well and truly smoothed off, but it is told with such verve, confidence and wit that makes American Made a hugely engaging and entertaining ride.

FILM: Logan Lucky (dir: Steven Soderbergh, 2017)

"Oh, this is going to be good."

On the surface Logan Lucky is a somewhat slight heist tale, but being Soderbergh, it is wonderfully constructed through tight focus on character and storytelling that makes it very satisfying.  Another take on ordinary people in small-town America, the film takes a careful and somewhat leisurely amble through the set-up, but the pay-offs are well worth it and the amusing lines and gags very enjoyable.  The minutiae of character and delivery of dialogue make the film so engaging and watchable, in particular Channing Tatum (charming), Adam Driver (hilariously droll), Daniel Craig (magnetic) and Riley Keough (genuine).  It says something of the quality of the production that actors of the calibre of Hilary Swank, Katie Holmes and Katherine Waterston are content with very minor roles.  This understated film offers much to enjoy to many levels.

VOD: The Belko Experiment (dir: Greg McLean, 2017)

"Like I didn't already feel trapped in this job..."

Yes, it is Battle Royale in an office block (with a dash of The Cabin In The Woods thrown in), but this film is a slick and efficient old-school horror/thriller with suitably squishy physical gore effects.  A little dark humour occasionally strays in - and a little more would have been welcome - but for the most part it is played admirably straight and works within its own terms.  The fun with these bottle narratives is always guessing the order in which characters will be offed, and the characters are sufficiently set up to make it reasonably interesting, even if the final showdown is hardly a surprise.  There is nothing especially new here, but it is delivered with verve and confidence and as a simple popcorn movie is entertaining enough.

FILM: Detroit (dir: Kathryn Bigelow, 2017)

"This is your home!"

Detroit is unquestionably a challenging, demanding and at times distressing film.  It is carefully researched and very cleverly constructed in Mark Boal's script, throwing the viewer straight into the start of the 1967 Detroit riots and then gradually focusing in on one famous case for the bulk of the movie.  Bigelow once again puts the viewer right in the middle of the action and marshals the different elements superbly, as a chain of staggering injustices and bad decisions unfurl with brutal and unflinching consequences.  The film is strewn with great performances, from excellent young Brits Will Poulter (as a racist cop, delivering one of the nastiest screen characters in recent times) and John Boyega (as the pragmatic security guard) to a sympathetic turn from Anthony Mackie as a war veteran and a real emotional journey with Algee Smith's superb portrayal of a singer whose dreams are shattered by the events in the film.  It could be argued that the central police raid sequence drags a little and is slightly repetitive (although its importance to the film is vital), and there is little that surprises in the presentation of the courtroom drama section, but these are very minor niggles.  The ending feels very right and is a suitably haunting conclusion to this powerful and supremely well-made film.

FILM: Girls Trip (dir: Malcolm D. Lee, 2017)

"Used but not broken."

Channelling The Hangover, Bridesmaids and Mamma Mia!, this female twist on the group-of-old-friends-reunited-for-a-wild-weekend story is surprisingly entertaining.  It exists in that alternate reality of female comedy-drama wish-fulfilment movies in which the women are impossibly glamorous, men are either feckless cheats, sex-objects or a perfect romantic hero, and not a shred of it is believable apart from one key factor: the friendship between the four women.  Using similar character archetypes to the recent Ghostbusters reboot but with far more successful and enjoyable chemistry, the canny casting of four terrifically talented actresses (Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Tiffany Haddish) makes the film work and elevates the material.  The musical/concert interludes add little, and the serious scenes are more soap opera than drama, but the film bowls along on the interplay of the four leads, loads of energy and (barely) enough raucous humour to be good, lightweight fun.

FILM: The Dark Tower 4DX (dir: Nikolaj Arcel, 2017)

REVIEW No. 800!

"Go to Hell!"
"Been there."

Finally, a big screen version of Stephen King's magnum opus makes it into cinemas after various false starts, and it is a slightly odd film.  It has all the ingredients to work successfully, yet it never really catches fire, even with a fairly spirited final act.  Clearly distilled into a surprisingly brief 95 minutes  from part of King's sprawling tale, it does feel familiarly Stephen King, yet in movie terms it suffers two notable issues.  Firstly, the characters are very thinly drawn, even though Matthew McConaughey finds a malevolent stillness in the Man In Black, Idris Elba brings an appropriate world-weary gravitas to The Gunslinger (and is fun in the fish-out-of-water scenes on Earth in a Thor-like way), and even young Tom Taylor (yes, from TV's Doctor Foster) is acceptable as the psychic-powered Jake.  Secondly, as a 12A, it really does not securely target an audience: too violent for the children, too male-centric and with a slightly young protagonist for today's YA audience  (which it very often feels it is pitching along the lines of The Mortal Instruments and Divergent, but without the romantic angle), and too bland for adults.  The blending of western and fantasy tropes works visually, and yet often there is very little that could not be seen in an episode of TV's Stargate.  With a pared-back storyline, thin characters and a moderate budget, this take on The Dark Tower works but in a limited way, yet it does world-build appropriately for the follow-up that we might not get to see, if early American box-office indications are anything to go by.

VOD: Swiss Army Man (dirs: Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, 2016)

"That's funny.  That's really funny."

You will know quite early on if this is a film for you, and it is certainly a film wherein you simply have to accept what is thrown at you and go along for the ride.  It is essentially a two-hander, in which castaway Hank (Paul Dano) spots Manny's washed-up corpse (Daniel Radcliffe) just as his attempt to hang himself fails, and we then follow their journey back to home and the girl Hank loves.  This is a sad, bittersweet tale that is not afraid to explore darker human spaces (such as loneliness and isolation) but it also profound, charming, creative and funny.  The actors do a terrific job, with Dano creating a very human and fragile figure and Radcliffe conveying with real detail and nuance the increasingly (re-)animated corpse's awakening and journey through life's stages, with a genuine rapport and relationship developed as well as some wonderful physical comedy/slapstick by both.   This quirky oddball story is at once unique and also universal in its themes, and it is a real triumph for The Daniels.

FILM: Annabelle - Creation (dir: David F. Sandberg, 2017)

"A sin is a sin, no matter the context."

Unlike the limp prequel to The Conjuring, Annabelle, this prequel-to-the-prequel at least makes a bit of an effort.  This is a remarkably long film to tell very little actual story (which also does not make a jot of sense), and as a result there are a lot of inessential scare scenes and standard horror set-pieces to fill the running time.  Annabelle - Creation is a useful film with which to play genre conventions bingo - it throws in everything from a dumb-waiter to a well, especially in a story-changing central scene where so many clichés are chucked at the viewer in the hope that it energises the film.  The non-descript group of orphans who end up at a tragic toymaker and his wife's secluded home mostly fail to engage, but just about everything (including the 'creation' revelations) are saved for a relatively lively but still silly final act, and credit is due for the effective and audacious way it ties this film to its predecessor, but overall it is as scary as a jug of custard.  According to the marketing, there is now The Conjuring Universe - on the evidence so far, it is hardly Marvel!

VOD: Annabelle (dir: John R. Leonetti, 2014)

"Crazy people do crazy things, ma'am!"

To say that this spin-off from The Conjuring is a slow-burner does not even begin to cover how dull and tedious most of it is to watch.  There are only so many times you can hear floorboards creak, see doors close themselves and lights flicker, to the extent that you wish our anodyne couple at the centre of it all would just call in some competent tradespeople to fix things rather than the kindly but gullible old priest. Alfree Woodard, as expected, provides a quiet and restrained dignity to her role as the bookstore owner who befriends the couple, but Annabelle Wallis and Ward Horton are simply restrained and make little impact.  After a lively opening, there is some fun to be had ticking off the genre greats - Poltergeist, The Omen, Rosemary's Baby, The Amityville Horror and so on - but there is little else to keep interest as it grinds its way to the join-the-dots-to-the-original ending.

FILM: Overdrive (dir: Antonio Negret, 2017)

"How stupid do you think I am?"

This lightweight heist movie leans more towards the Oceans and The Transporter franchises than Fast & Furious, although the influence of all three is strongly felt, centring on stealing wildly expensive classic cars (which do look magnificent here) rather than muscle cars in the gorgeous-looking South of France.  After a few rounds of actor musical chairs the lead car-thief stepbrothers are played by Scott Eastwood (American, older, steely and brooding) and Freddie Thorp (British, younger, cocky and mouthy), who have a easy charm and wear leather jackets and flutter eyelashes adequately.  There are some decent car stunts, the villains are cartoon-like and give little real sense of threat in a very simple story, and Idiot Plot runs riot in the third act, papered over with a decent chase sequence and three very well-staged stunt gags.  Overdrive is competent and just a notch above direct-to-DVD fare but is rather forgettable.

FILM: The Nut Job 2 - Nutty By Nature (dir: Cal Brunker, 2017)

"This doesn't look good."
"Why don't you just sing a song about it?"

For the most part, The Nut Job 2 is a fairly average mid-range children's animation with a typical 'cute furry animals' habitat in peril' and cast of fairly anonymous creatures.  Occasionally, there are bouts of manic energy that show off some good animation, and flashes of self-awareness through nods to classic WB cartoon shorts tropes and even anime, as well as skewering its own genre, but this a mostly a pedestrian and familiar affair.

FILM: Atomic Blonde 4DX (dir: David Leitch, 2017)

"I didn't come here to collect postcards."

Cool seems to be the operative word for this film, from the wintry end-of-the Cold War Berlin setting and the grey/blue-tinted stylings to the ice-cold spy of the title, a character who is completely owned here by a committed Charlize Theron.  Able support comes from a strong supporting cast, including James McAvoy (great character work here), Toby Jones and John Goodman. There seems to be a real effort made to integrate the grounded bone-crunching action (often in unflinching medium/close up shots) with the story, which falls somewhere between a serious John le Carre political thriller and a full-on action fest.   Atomic Blonde has a killer 80s indie/synthpop hits soundtrack, Leitch's increasingly trademark quirky and interesting use of camera, and overall makes for an entertaining if somewhat unsurprising and disposable thriller.

VOD: Fences (dir: Denzel Washington, 2017)

"The world changin', and you can't even see it."

Fences treads a very fine line between film and theatre, with this very faithful adaptation of his own play by August Wilson and featuring the main recent Broadway cast, resulting in a phenomenal piece of work.  It is dialogue-rich and rarely moves beyond the confines of the family home, making it not only a challenging and demanding film that will put off popcorn-viewers but also an intense and intimate experience that features many moments of searing emotional honesty.  It is without question a phenomenal acting tour de force by Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, and Jovan Adepo also impresses as their teenage son.  The pace of dialogue is rewardingly exhausting, Washington's direction is unfussy and enables full focus on character.  Fences is a significant and admirable achievement.

VOD: Handsome Devil (dir: John Butler, 2017)

"Now you know another chord!"

This little Irish indie is utterly charming.  It covers a lot of familiar coming-of-age tropes yet feels fresh, with great direction, sharp writing, bags of energy and winning performances from its young leads (Fionn O'Shea as the bullied misfit Ned, and Nicholas Galitzine as the troubled rugby star) as the mismatched roommates at boarding school.  The stereotyped teachers jar slightly but pay off eventually, saved by a typically nuanced performance from Andrew Scott as the inevitably-inspirational new English teacher.  The soundtrack is a wonderful mix of classic hits and a sublime score by John McPhillips, and even though the ending is utterly predictable, it is filmed and conveyed with such joyous punch-in-the-air feelgoodness that it leaves you with a real smile on your face.

FILM: Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets 4DX 3D (dir: Luc Besson, 2017)

"Sit back, relax and enjoy the show."

Luc Besson's dream project is an eye-wateringly expensive grand space opera that certainly delivers on scale and spectacle but the content has little depth, and therefore it succeeds as a hyper-kinetic and eyeball-searing romp with its comic-book origins clear in its stylings and characters.  At over two hours it is overlong for the story it tells, but the huge visuals and action set-pieces work well.  Dane DeHaan and Carla Delevingne work hard but lack the essential chemistry needed for the romantic sparring, hampered by dialogue that at times does not deliver which also afflicts the film as a whole (especially in the control room scenes).  The influential comic series means that a lot of the film's design and story bears references to  the Star Wars and Avatar universes, although the wildly creative ideas on display here are never less than interesting.  Its box office underperformance may be partly due to the less-than-marketable casting and its uncompromising genre approach, but viewed on its own terms Valerian makes for an acceptable sci-fi actioner.