FILM: Bumblebee (dir: Travis Knight, 2018)

"What the hell....??"

It does not take very long for this film to establish that it contains all the elements that make it work so much better than Bay's bombastic franchise outings, especially the bloated mess of The Last Knight.   From the opening dazzling battle for Cybertron, there is a clarity of narrative and storytelling and an open emotional simplicity that the previous films simply lack, ably presented through Christina Hodson's smart screenplay (with E.T. the obvious touchstone) and Travis Knight bringing the same degree of control, heart and precision that he demonstrated in Kubo.  What perhaps does surprise is Knight's excellent handling of the impressive action sequences, which again also benefit from streamlined use of characters and story.  Bumblebee will absolutely delight its main target audience - eight-year-old boys - but Steinfeld's spot-on performance will hopefully bring in more female viewers as well.  This film is unexpectedly satisfying, charming and entertaining, and it ably demonstrates that filmmakers do not have to completely abandon scale to find heart.

FILM: Mary Poppins Returns (dir: Rob Marshall, 2018)

"Mind you, it's not like they haven't done it before."

The original film is obviously a Disney treasure, so this belated 'return' has been handled very carefully indeed.  It is more of a companion piece than a sequel, as it resolutely refuses to make any concessions to modern cinema by remaining steadfastly old-fashioned, gentle and as delightful as its predecessor.  The charming songs absolutely hit the right tone, it fits perfectly alongside the previous film in terms of style, choreography and beats, and it is carried along by terrific lead performances from Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda.  The film ties in cleverly with ideas carried forward from the original, and the sympathetic design is also delightful (this is a London of gaslamp-lighters, fog and cobbled streets).  One scene actually made children in the audience cry - the excellent Ben Whishaw's understated grief that bursts out in one scene saw to that - but the ending is pure candy-coloured joy.  This is a far cry from the MCU, but Mary Poppins Returns is a very well-made throwback delight.

FILM: Aquaman IMAX 3D (dir: James Wan, 2018)

"It's a long story."

As the trailer suggested, Aquaman is built around huge special effects (some awe-inspiring, some oddly cartoon-like) and fulfils the reinvention of the character started in Batman v Superman and Justice League to good effect.  The fundamental DC issue remains, however: you can throw all the effects at the film that you could possibly want, but if at the end of the day the story is an identikit superhero narrative it strains patience somewhat.  There is also an over-reliance on underwater politics, oddly reminiscent of Dune, that slows down the film, but the action sequences are great, even if too many sincere dialogue scenes end abruptly with sub-aquatic soldiers blasting through a wall.  James Wan marshals everything very well as expected, the cast is generally good (Mamoa's swaggering take on the character is sufficiently engaging) but even the CGI battering cannot raise this film above being overly-familiar.

FILM: Mortal Engines IMAX 3D (dir: Christian Rivers, 2018)

"You're going to kill me?"
"For a little while."

Finally brought to the screen by the Peter Jackson squad, Mortal Engines delivers on the book's completely barmy premise by bringing giant moving cities to the big screen convincingly.  The visual scale and ambition of effects in this movie are colossal, extraordinary and hugely impressive, to the extent that in IMAX 3D they are quite overwhelming, with the thunderous score and noisy soundscape almost ear-shattering.  Whilst the story is fairly robust, the characters inevitably take a back seat to the FX, and for such an imaginative concept there are plenty of filmic nods to genre greats old (Frankenstein, Metropolis) and new (The Terminator, Independence Day and especially the fable staples of characters and the final act of A New Hope).  This is a film for which you can admire the spectacle rather than engage deeply.

FILM: Spider-Man - Into The Spider-Verse (dirs: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rotham, 2018)

"This is SO fresh!"

With little expectation, this film turns out to be one of the biggest surprises of 2018 and one of its strongest films.  By touching on a variety of elements of Spider-Man mythology from all the different media and eras, as well as bringing together a range of alternate-dimension versions of the character, the highly creative team has put together a movie that has bags of content and story, together with fantastic energy, wit and its own interesting visual style.  It is perhaps a shame that Miles Morales makes the big screen in animated rather than live-action form, but this is a fantastic film in which the character shines completely.  With the coolest of soundtracks, gags galore and a wealth of ideas, this is an impressive and hugely entertaining film.

FILM: Creed II (dir: Stephen Caple Jr, 2018)

"You can't say Creed without Drago, right?"

From the moment the Drago name appeared in the trailer, anticipation for this titanic clash was set high, and to a large extent this sequel does not disappoint.  If Creed was Rocky and Rocky II, the follow-up is essentially Rocky III and IV with the 80s commercial gloss stripped back. As has been common with Hollywood sequels over the last couple of years, father/son relationships and generations are the key issues here.  The film relies heavily on the franchise's mythology and iconography, which are used extremely well, but it does sometimes feel as if the fanboy-pleasing moments are rather calculated, which nevertheless does not stop them from being mightily effective.  Thankfully, Michael B. Jordan again carries the film successfully, proving himself to be a charismatic and sincere screen actor, Stallone impresses in his older/wiser character acting phase of his career, and whilst Dolph Lundgren's return as Drago (mentoring his formidable boxer son) gives him little to do but creates some strong franchise moments.  Indeed, young Drago's sheer physical presence makes every round fighting against Creed quite terrifying and thus absorbing to watch.  Missing director Coogler, Creed II may lack the freshness and inventiveness of its predecessor, and it feels mighty long for a film with such simplistic narrative beats and overall structure, but it is a good follow-up that engages dramatically and brings young Creed's story to a satisfying creative and character conclusion which really does not need to be taken further.

FILM: Ralph Breaks The Internet - Wreck-It Ralph 2 (dirs: Phil Johnston and Rich Moore, 2018)

"....an igloo made of pillows....a pigloo!"

This welcome sequel is a fast-paced candy-coloured charmer.  The storytelling is lean and sprints along, with zippy dialogue and ambitiously pleasing visual detail in the design.  John C. Reilly's excellent voice work makes Ralph a surprisingly endearing character, with Sarah Silverman providing strong support as his sidekick/best friend Vanellope and a host of recognisable star voices (including Jane Lynch, Gal Gadot, Alan Tudyk, Jack McBrayer and more) filling out the main cast to good effect.  At its heart, it delivers sweet and simple messages about friendship (and the internet!) for young children, but it is delivered with sufficient sass and energy to make this an enjoyable sequel.

VOD: The Christmas Chronicles (dir: Clay Kaytis, 2018)

"How do you think I can turn into coal dust, and leap from rooftop to rooftop?"
"...Pilates....?"

The big festive offering from Netflix tries to be all types of Christmas film - family, comedy, action, drama, even musical - and thus never manages to hit a consistent tone.  It very quickly pulls a big emotional punch, which pays off beautifully at the end of the film, but in between there is a fairly standard tale of a bickering older brother/younger sister pair of stowaways on Santa's sleigh which crashes, jeopardising Christmas, and their subsequent efforts to help to save the day.  Indeed, the pair of young actors are not easy to engage with at the start, but their performances seem to get better as the movie progresses, and the real selling point is of course the majesterial Kurt Russell as a cooler version of Santa, and he is indeed immensely entertaining in the role as expected.  Both the writing and CGI effects are variable, but there is enough festive dressing and narrative momentum to keep interest.  The Christmas Chronicles (deliberately?) even references festive favourites including Home Alone, Elf, The Santa Clause and Gremlins, and whilst the film is pleasant enough, it is unlikely to become a repeat Christmas classic like those movies.

FILM: Robin Hood (dir: Otto Bathurst, 2018)

"You don't have to like me."
"Good - because I don't."

This latest take on the Robin Hood legend is nowhere near as misjudged as Ritchie's King Arthur, but it is a rather odd mixed bag.  Some of the deliberately modern-inflected stylings work - the clothing, the visually-interesting steampunk version of Nottingham, and the score, for example - but others, e.g. the video-game action sequences and Robin's PTSD moment, feel less convincing.  The deepening of Robin's motivations makes for a more interesting narrative than most, more simplistic takes on the tale, but the political/religious machinations mean that the film takes an awfully long time telling it.  Egerton again charms effortlessly and is a good physical presence in the fight/action scenes, Foxx chews the scenery effectively, and Eve Hewson's Marian is given a fair amount to do, although she is the only notable female presence in the whole film.  It does boast two cracking set-pieces in the final act - an inventive horseback chase and the cleverly-staged final showdown - marking a reasonable end to an occasionally satisfying film.

FILM: Nativity Rocks! - This Ain't No Silent Night (dir: Debbie Isitt, 2018)

"Oh my God - there's ANOTHER one!"

The fourth entry in this peculiarly and uniquely British low-rent children's franchise is - astonishingly - the best of the weak sequels for three main reasons.  Firstly, the 'new' Mr Poppy (the previous unbearable incumbent's younger brother in story terms) is more engagingly child-like than annoyingly childish with better comic timing and presence; secondly, the unexpected tackling of big real-world themes such as parental absence, World War II and immigration give this film greater centre and relative dramatic heft; and thirdly, the musical finale - an actual Nativity of sorts this time - is more developed and better musically than previous efforts,  It is still, of course, cheap, ridiculous and utterly inexplicable - like pantomime - but, and I say this very quietly, I almost actually started to warm to it by the end!

FILM: Fantastic Beasts - The Crimes Of Grindelwald 3D (dir: David Yates, 2018)

"You might not want to watch this."

Considering the talent and experience involved in making this film, the outcome is a surprisingly and astonishingly dreary franchise-threatening second entry.  Although set design and realisation are absolutely magnificent to look at and the cast is mostly good (Law and Miller are great, Depp is deployed sparingly, Waterstone is criminally underused and Redmayne is still mis-cast and looks passively startled the whole time), the basic issue is that not a lot actually happens for most of the long film.  It is also difficult to warm to the characters, so that even the brief action sequences offer little in which to invest.  A frisson ran through the cinema audience when the Hogwarts sequences appeared, and the series would benefit clearly from further visits in the future.  This film is very much an exercise in treading water for the proposed five-film cycle, and perhaps a denser trilogy would have been a wiser proposition.  Nevertheless, the final twist does set up (hopefully) the next entry reasonably intriguingly.

FILM: The Grinch 3D 4DX (dirs: Yarrow Cheney and Scott Mosier, 2018)

"My eyes are burning!"

Illumination's 2018 take on the modern classic is cuter and somewhat less bizarre than the much-loved Ron Howard-directed live-action version, and this  very child-friendly take on the popular tale is sweet, slick and enjoyable.  The material is tailor-made for CGI animation, and both 3D and 4DX are utilised excellently if you see it in those formats.  Cumberbatch does fun voice work, and Max The Dog (The Grinch's pet/companion) got a great reaction from the audience.  Design and animation triumph here - the film is a gloriously detailed and vibrant red-and-green symphony against a snowy white backdrop, with a reasonably trim running time owing to the straightforward and smoothed-out telling of the tale Like Christmas itself, sometimes you just have to surrender yourself to the simple shiny sickly-sweet pleasures of the season and indeed this movie and enjoy it - even if it feels as if it has been released a month too early!  (The accompanying Minions short, Yellow Is the New Black, features a frantic prison break that is very entertaining).

VOD: Apostle (dir: Gareth Evans, 2018)

"Nothing in this world is pure."

A lot of critics are comparing this Netflix film's central idea to The Wicker Man, but if you imagine Ben Wheatley directing a remake of Children Of the Corn you might start to get an idea of the bizarre delights on offer in Apostle.  This is a much quieter film than director Evans's brilliant The Raid movies, but at over two hours it takes its time to set up an isolated cult community in the early 1900s, reveal its secrets and then observe the whole situation fall apart in spectacular and bloody fashion.  Evans draws solid performances from his strong cast, but once again Dan Stevens carries the film with his committed and powerful character work as the brother charged with joining the community in order to rescue his sister who is held captive for a ransom.  The use of colour palette works effectively, the violence is sudden, sharp and spectacular (with one truly wince-inducing 'cleansing' scene) and Evans flits effortlessly between intimate and wide-cinematic shots.  The ominous ticking-clock motif on the score gets a little wearing but serves to highlight the ever-impending descent into madness.  Apostle will not be to everyone's taste - more cerebral horror films usually alienate a number of core genre fans - but in many ways it is both effective and interesting.

FILM: Slaughterhouse Rulez (dir: Crispian Mills, 2018)

"Don't get your hopes up."

Destined to be loved by very undiscerning teenage boys everywhere, Slaughterhouse Rulez is a comedy-horror featuring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, but this is definitely no Shaun Of The Dead.  Starting off with lazy  stereoptypes and pantomime performances aplenty, the film soon develops into a very generic and unadventurous creature-feature that mostly fails to surprise, engage or amuse, to the extent of deploying Nick Frost in yet another unfunny comedy-drug-dealer role and Michael Sheen in an unwieldy over-the-top performance as the headteacher.  There are long sections during which tumbleweeds roll across the auditorium, and it takes an age before the action really rolls out, but towards the end there are some limited but decent creature FX.  This is a simple, undemanding film that delivers very little.

FILM: The Nutcracker and The Four Realms 3D 4DX (dirs: Lasse Hallstrom and Joe Johnston, 2018)

"I LOVE Christmas......what's Christmas?"

Disney's lavish festive treat is the kind of family movie to be watched snuggled up on the sofa with a box of chocolates around Christmas time.  As a film, it falls somewhere between the recent Alice and Narnia movies: huge-scale fantasy, abundant SFX, sumptuous detail and a basic but effective emotional through-story.  Quite how much of Hallstrom's original shoot remains is unclear, but there is little indication of how the story might have changed.  Performances are variable, but there is good work by Mackenzie Foy as our feisty antagonist, Matthew Macfadyen gives a touching performance as the grieving father, Omid Djalili and Jack Whitehall are good value as comedy guards, and Keira Knightley is unexpectedly remarkable infectious fun as Sugar Plum.  A couple of token ballet sequences are staged very well, and whilst Nutcracker proves to be as substantial as a marshmallow, it is an acceptable Christmas entertainment.

FILM: The Hate U Give (dir: George Tillman Jr, 2018)

"Know your worth."

The sadly familiar story of this hit YA novel adaptation becomes a very powerful film, the events surrounding a white policeman unjustly killing a young black man being told through the eyes of 16-year-old Starr, played here in a powerhouse and utterly engaging performance by Amandla Stenberg.   Characters are set up well and the performances are admirable - note Regina Hall's superbly-judged presentation of Starr's mother - and once the initiating event happens the sense of urgency and threat keeps building.  The film creates many raw and affecting scenes, but one audacious and impressive point-making moment in the finale drew a collective gasp from the cinema audience.  Indeed, there is a genuine complexity to the presentation and handling of race issues here, including some thought-provoking reflection on white teenage appropriation of black culture through Starr's school friends.  There are a couple of moments where the film topples into melodrama, and the only real aspect that rings false is the clumsy cinematic use of cool bluish colour grading for the privileged school scenes and golden-dappled washes for Starr's home neighbourhood, but that is a minor gripe.  Of the YA genre, The Hate U Give is a very impressive piece of work.

FILM: Bohemian Rhapsody IMAX (dir: Bryan Singer, 2018)

.

"I think it has potential."

If you want the real detail of the Queen story, this film is not the place to look - seek out the excellent BBC4 documentaries.  In spite of its degree of superficiality and glossiness (the middle years and the relative failures get short shrift here), and the difficult production of this long-gestating project, the result is an extremely entertaining and well-made chronological trot through the Greatest Hits catalogue and the key moments of the band's heyday, culminating in a remarkable recreation of the seminal Live Aid performance (in spite of some horribly obvious greenscreening).  In some ways it plays like a bigger-budget Channel 5 biopic, but it is carried by the excellent concert/music sequences (very impressive in IMAX) and a very strong cast.   Rami Malek's turn as Mercury is revelatory, not only in the music performances but also in the dramatic scenes, and indeed the rest of the band members  are also strongly played by Joseph Mazzello (Timmy from Jurassic Park!), Gwilym Lee and Ben Hardy.  Lucy Boynton is a stand-out also as Freddie's long-standing companion.  Moments of self-deprecating humour work well, and the A.I.D.S. issue is handled with some sensitivity, but there are some problems evident: a couple of mawkishly-written scenes undermine their dramatic sincerity, and there is a real tension between telling The Freddie Mercury Story and The Queen Story, but as the two are so intertwined the shift in focus in the third act is understandable.  However, this film is principally about celebrating the music, and in that respect the film is a triumph.

FILM: Halloween (2018) (dir: David Gordon Green, 2018)

"...but tonight, there are so many different possibilities...."

The Halloween franchise is often derided for its sequels, but apart from the two Rob Zombie abominations and the hopeless eighth entry (Resurrection), the films are decent enough for low-budget horrors of their times.  So, two decades on from the acceptable Halloween H20: 20 Years Later we get this new entry which posits itself as a direct sequel to the original 1978 classic (ignoring all the other sequels), is released in cinemas in the actual Halloween month of October and - to this forty-year-long fan - is actually good.  There is plenty of fan-pleasing going on, referencing various movies in the franchise in large and subtle ways, but with the return of Jamie Lee Curtis in this iconic role and owning the screen in every scene, excellent use of old and new score and making Michael a brutal killing force again, the 2018 Halloween is in many ways a bold and surprisingly elegant horror film that is intent on prioritising story and character effectively. There is a real determination to put an actual drama on the screen as opposed to a conventional teen-stalk-and-slash (although the attacks and gore are full-on), and some real cinematic ambition is evident, from the extended controlled use of near-silence that creates wonderful tension in some scenes, to the juxtaposition of the orange-hued warmth of Halloween with a terrific tracking shot of Michael on a neighbourhood killing spree.  Admittedly, this film does not come close to the magnificent purity of Carpenter's original, and with three generations of Strode women jostling for story time the daughter and granddaughter could do with a little more development, but at the end of the day it is always about Laurie vs Michael, and overall this is an unusually well-written, ambitious, successful and enjoyable late-franchise horror film.

FILM: Goosebumps 2 - Haunted Halloween 4DX (dir: Ari Sandel, 2018)

"This is bad, guys.  This is really, really bad."

This disappointing sequel looks and feels more like an ambitious TV episode than a movie.  It seems to lean towards an even younger audience than the first fun film, and subsequently comes across as very simplistic and has little content with which to engage interest.  Whilst there is nothing essentially bad or wrong here, the whole film is simply underwhelming, the best part being the Gummi Bears attack sequence teased in the trailer.  Even Jack Black's return is fleeting and of no real impact or consequence in this sadly unmemorable film.

FILM: Bad Times At The El Royale (dir: Drew Goddard, 2018)

"Well, we are in a bit of a pickle here."

Starting like a classic film noir and ending like a Tarantino movie, Drew Goddard employs his pick-and-mix approach that made The Cabin In The Woods so refreshing and interesting and takes the viewer on quite a journey.  Set (mostly) in the late 1960s, and with a killer soundtrack, this is not so much slow-burn storytelling as gently-glowing-embers, as this tale of travellers thrown together at this peculiar hotel unfolds very, very carefully.  The cast is sublime - inevitably, this is the type of material that gives actors like Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges and (escaping from the 50 Shades nonsense) Dakota Fanning plenty to work with and to do terrific work, but also very notable are Cynthia Erivo as the working singer and Lewis Pullman as the jack-of-all-trades concierge who both are fantastic to watch here.  Sudden bursts of violence punctuate the almost languorous pacing (and you do begin to fear that a sandwich in the lobby vending machine will get its backstory told at some point), but the trade-offs come in the slow reveals and steady linking of seemingly disparate elements, mis-directions and of course the terrific dialogue and character work on display.  Looking beautiful, this is a long but rewarding film to savour and with which to have patience - taken on those terms, this is a very strong achievement all round.

FILM: Small Foot 3D (dirs: Karey Kirkpatrick and Joe Reiser, 2018)

"Never seen that before!"

Warner Animation delivers an utterly charming and very enjoyable animation with Small Foot, which is imbued with an enthusiastic daftness and real warmth of character.  The semi-musical form works well - the songs are very good - and the film manages to be not only funny but also a rather thoughtful political and social allegory.  Characters are established quickly and effectively, and the voice cast is great, led by a very funny Channing Tatum and James Corden delivering well as Migo the adventurous Yeti and Percy the TV naturalist respectively.  Animation is very strong, with lighting, use of colour and depth of 3D all excellent.  With big ticks in just about every box, Small Foot is definitely one of the stronger children's animations of recent times.

FILM: Johnny English Strikes Back (dir: David Kerr, 2018)

"Simple is my middle name."

It is apt to remember that the Johnny English character started off in a TV advert, as in this third film the few ideas on offer are stretched out painfully thinly to fill a feature film run time.  Occasionally a joke will wander in, often only to overstay its welcome by being pushed to the limit of endurance.  Atkinson does what he does, Ben Miller tries to humanise the enterprise in his reprised sidekick role, whilst Emma Thompson goes big and unsubtle in the Prime Minister role.  With nothing surprising on offer, and everything signposted well in advance, it is a matter of simply getting through to the end of this underwhelming third entry in an uneven franchise.

FILM: First Man IMAX (dir: Damien Chazelle, 2018)

"It'll be an adventure."

First Man starts with a terrifyingly immersive test flight in the early 1960s (especially in big, thunderous IMAX), followed by an equally horrifying personal tragedy, and thus these bold and uncompromising crash jumps in time and emotion set the scene for this utterly absorbing film that tells the story of the Americans' Space Race for the rest of the decade leading to the 1969 moon landing.  Like Whiplash and La La Land both showed, Chazelle is a brave director with a clear vision and moulds the filmic style to achieve his ends, and here the liberal use of close ups and POV shots gives the audience little room for distance or escape.   Ryan Gosling's main strength as an actor is in absolutely inhabiting a character and presenting every heartbeat on the screen unfalteringly, and in First Man he is outstanding as Neil Armstrong, an unassuming aerospace engineer whose profile rises with every step of the space programme.  Claire Foy also gives an equally emotionally honest portrayal of Armstrong's wife, especially with her portrayal of bringing up a family with the uncertainty of her husband staying alive, but there are so many strong performances to admire, including a career highlight from Jason Clarke.  Justin Hurwitz creates an intriguingly diverse score/soundscape that is pitched somewhere between Philip Glass and M83 and plays a significant role in the film's success.  First Man is far removed from the Hollywood gloss often applied to docudramas such as these, and the film truly delivers, from showing the powerful physical efforts of space launches to simple emotional moments, and making the point about what is important to us as the human race along the way.

FILM: A Star Is Born (dir: Bradley Cooper, 2018)

"Always remember us this way."

This powerhouse film sticks surprisingly closely to the 1950s and especially the 1970s versions, but at its heart it is an indestructible love story retold for each generation.  It has been made contemporary in effective ways and has some interesting tweaks on the older takes, and it has slightly less of the slickness of the classic 70s studio product to have a more grounded appeal.   Previously, A Star Is Born has been used to showcase its female stars; here, Bradley Cooper's superb directing skills and on-screen performance is the undoubted star, and he has clearly brought out a truly less self-indulgent performance from Lady Gaga - the couple work so well together here and give excellent performances.    The music and the concert sequences are terrific, and the inevitable ending is given a slightly late-signposted twist that is nevertheless still tearjerking, and the finale takes a bold and beautiful step at the very end of what will prove to be one of the best films of 2018.

FILM: Venom 3D 4DX (dir: Ruben Fleischer, 2018)

"What is wrong with me?"

If ever a movie defined the phrase 'all over the place', it would be this one.  At best it would appear that there is a good body-horror actioner somewhere in here, and there are plenty of moments to enjoy, but too much inconsistency makes it difficult to really engage with.  Some comedy moments are laugh-out-loud whilst others fall flat; the dialogue and storytelling are both largely unsubtle; there are a couple of cracking cinematic action sequences, yet also some flat TV-style presentation; the score is at best oddly eclectic, to be polite...and so on.  As second leads, Riz Ahmed and Michelle Williams are both somewhat wasted but do good work with the material, and Tom Hardy is nothing but enthusiastic and engaging and fits the role well.  There have been suggestions that this was downgraded from an American R to a PG-13 targeted rating, which if it is the case would explain the odd and sometimes neutered product we have here, which is nevertheless not the total car-crash that some critics have said.

FILM: Mile 22 (dir: Peter Berg, 2018)

"So, this is serious?"
"Oh, yes."

This well-worn concept (see 16 Blocks) is given a reasonably lively spin in this fourth Berg-Wahlberg collaboration,  Here a ghost Government squad has to transport a defector to an airstrip (hence the title) with a time limit, a countdowning self-destructing piece of software that will reveal the location of stolen radioactive materials, and a local team also after the defector all to contend with.  Depending on your point of view, Berg's rapid-fire huge-coverage style is either adrenalising or draining - here, it is tiringly relentless but thankfully the obstacles put in the ever-diminishing team's way is mostly fairly compelling.  Wahlberg presents an interesting and reasonably-played hyperactively intelligent action agent, Lauren Cohan commits fully to the action whilst saddled with an awkward divorce sub-plot, but both struggle to overcome the choppy editing style that leads to shouty quick-fire unsubtle performances in order to get their lines across.  The bonus for action fans is the wonderful Iko Uwais in his first major Hollywood film, with a couple of high-energy fight sequences which he does so well, especially one with him handcuffed to a hospital gurney.  Mile 22 is a breathless and very familiar tale with a good cast, so how much you enjoy it will really depend on how much of the director's style you can take.  The sequel-baiting ending is perhaps unnecessary and a bit presumptuous.

FILM: Night School (dir: Malcolm D. Lee, 2018)

"This is going to be a long semester..."

Previous films have shown that a little of Kevin Hart goes a long way, and here you get an awful lot of him.  Interestingly, he absolutely nails the more serious/dramatic beats, hinting at a potentially deeper film than ended up on screen.  However, Night School is largely undone by the curse of so many modern Hollywood comedies, namely a mostly weak and underwritten script which here included some jarringly misjudged moments.  With far too long on set-up, it seems to have been constructed as a series of set pieces which often fall short or go nowhere, with an astonishingly hurried ending as a result.  The film does however benefit from a potentially strong cast, with Tiffany Haddish an absolute comedic tour de force but who is underused here, and the wonderful Mary Lynn Rajskub proving for the most part that timing is everything even when the material is lame.  Instantly forgettable, Night School disappointingly lacks the freshness and sharpness that would make it stand up and stand out.

FILM: The Predator IMAX 3D (dir: Shane Black, 2018)

"Remember, gentlemen: they're lost, they're fast, and f**king you up is their idea of tourism!"

A number of critics seem to have been expecting something much sharper and witty from the pens of Shane Black and Fred Dekker, but The Predator is Black's self-proclaimed return to the films of his youth, and indeed what we get here is a lively (and sometimes very chaotic) big dumb action movie.  Like The Alien, there is little more that can actually be done with The Predator as a creature (although the Predators can actually use and translate language) that is essentially a killing machine, so here we have some new ideas thrown into the very standard mix (a boy with Asperger's, a kick-ass female scientist, an essentially unstable A-Team of sectioned war veterans, Predator dogs and a genetically-enhanced super-Predator).  Boyd Holbrook makes for a passable anti-hero who throws himself into the action wholeheartedly, and Olivia Munn holds her own in this uber-macho scenario.  Idiot Plot does make an appearance quite early on and hangs around for the rest of the movie, Henry Jackman's score is solid but contains some oddly ill-fitting superhero-type cues, and overall there is the occasional feel of a little snipping here and there to get a PG-13 rating.    This feels more like a Predator movie than the worthy but dour Predators; as long as you are looking for nothing more than a fun explosive action romp you will be satisfied.

FILM: Crazy Rich Asians (dir: Jon M. Chu, 2018)

"This is gold standard."

Following its major box-office success in the USA, Crazy Rich Asians proves to be an irresistibly and extremely entertaining contemporary romantic comedy.  It zips along with palpable sass and energy that is sustained right to the end, scoring a number of effective lines that had the cinema audience chuckling, but at its heart lies an utterly credible and charming central relationship, played delightfully by Constance Chu and Henry Golding.  The film ably overcomes usual unbelievable rom-com fantasy stylings by setting it upfront in the wildly rich upper echalons of Singapore society, providing a clear reason for the gorgeous and extravagant locations, clothes, cars and beautiful people on screen.  A number of subsidiary characters are surprisingly well fleshed out, notably including a sympathetically controlled performance by Gemma Chan, an engaging comedy turn from Awkwafina in the kooky best friend role, and as ever Michelle Yeoh's impeccable timing and delivery as the stern mother figure is knockout.  The fact that as a major Hollywood picture it has an all-Asian cast and has had massive mainstream success is noteworthy but more so, like Black Panther earlier this year, is to be celebrated for being a hugely enjoyable movie and a real leader in this often soft genre.

FILM: The House With A Clock In Its Walls IMAX (dir: Eli Roth, 2018)

CELEBRATING 9 YEARS OF THIS BLOG!

"What's wrong with weird?"

Yes, an Eli Roth-directed children's film!  You could be mistaken for it being directed by Chris Columbus, however, as it is pitched somewhere between classic Amblin and Harry Potter.  In spite of the minor involvement of Jack-o'-lanterns, it is not a Halloween film as such but it would provide ideal spooky entertainment for children around the time, and no doubt will in years to come.  Jack Black and Cate Blanchett make a great pairing as the bickering friends/neighbours, and young Owen Vaccaro gives a pleasing performance as the bereaved boy sent to live with his uncle, who happens to be a warlock (or as the youngster puts it, a "boy-witch").  Themes of grief and resurrection might prove a little dark for younger children, but the mise-en-scene is finely and sumptuously detailed, the story is sensitive and reasonably well developed, and the effects work is done well in this pleasantly entertaining film that is squarely aimed at the children's market.

FILM: The Nun 4DX (dir: Corin Hardy, 2018)

"What's the opposite of a miracle, Father?"

The Conjuring franchise hardly seems like material to sustain a 'Universe', but this spin-off is another example of giving an unnecessary backstory to an incidental jump-scare idea from bigger movies.  It starts promisingly in an unexpectedly grounded manner, but once generic supernatural nonsense creeps in the film becomes a lot less interesting and engaging.  The setting of a near-abandoned Romanian nunnery in 1952 is both atmospheric and well-realised, the film is clearly directed with care and the three leads are solid enough (and the stunt casting of Taissa Farmiga - younger sister of the main franchise's Vera -  as the novice nun pays off interestingly.)  It all gets very silly in the second half, one expects an appearance by the kitchen sink in the finale, and it manages an effective tie-in to the main series, but overall this origin-story movie is unnecessary, quite thinly-written and adds little to the franchise as a whole.  The set-pieces are showy rather than tension-building, thus making The Nun oddly less scary than her previous short appearances in the franchise!

VOD: Tau (dir: Federico D'Alessandro, 2018)

"This is bad.  What are you doing?"

After an intriguingly neon-soaked future noir opening, this latest Netflix Original very quickly becomes an almost one-set bottle show, as a young woman is kidnapped and imprisoned in a hi-tech apartment and subjected to human/AI experimentation by a scientist desperate to make his ideas work in order to meet a boardroom deadline. The reliable Ed Skrein is clearly playing an intelligent academic character because he wears glasses and makes frequent entrances looking serious, Maika Monroe does her best with fairly routine material as the captive, and Gary Oldman gives possibly the most human performance as the voice of the AI Tau.  The movie feels very familiar, the many genre references from 2001 to Demon Seed and a fairly routine plod along predictable and repetitive narrative lines giving it a lack of freshness, in spite of some nice graphics and the occasional lively idea.  Once it finishes, however, it does not linger in the mind.

FILM: The Spy Who Dumped Me (dir: Susanna Fogel, 2018)

"I underestimated you."

For an end-of-Summer-dumping-ground release, The Spy Who Dumped Me comes as something of a surprise.  It is a lightweight and insubstantial comedy romp, but within that context it is well-made and plays out rather well on the screen.  As the two best friends who become embroiled in international espionage through an ex-boyfriend, Kunis and McKinnon are utterly reliable performers who have real chemistry and wring every drop out of a script that does its best to keep the momentum going.  The European-capital-hopping is enjoyable, and most surprising is the sharpness and slickness of the action/fight sequences.  This is not an essential movie, but it is much better than you expect it to be.

FILM: The Happytime Murders (dir: Brian Henson, 2018)

"Is Phil in?"

If a film is sold as an outrageous comedy, that is what the audience expects, and here The Happytime Murders sadly does not deliver, and it is certainly nowhere near as funny or subversive as Meet The Feebles or Team America.  Oddly enough, the parts that are played straight in terms of the police procedural and private investigator genres work effectively, with credit to good world-building in which people and puppets co-exist and to the puppeteers and their creations.  Plotting is negligible, and the brief flashes of genuine humour are not sustained.  The Happytime Murders is not wholly successful as either a serious or comedic film, and it thus falls awkwardly and disappointingly between the two.

FILM: Alpha IMAX 3D (dir: Albert Hughes, 2018)

 "Be patient."

Alpha is considerably more interesting and engaging than the trailers would have you believe, which comes a s a pleasant surprise.  One of the selling points is the use of fantastic Koyaanisqatsi-style natural vistas which looked amazing on an IMAX screen in 3D; smaller-screen viewing at home however  will also expose the simple 'journey' story, as a teen is left for dead on his first hunting expedition and tries to make his way back home, befriending an injured wolf along the way.  The rites-of-passage/boy-and-his-dog tropes are all present and correct, and Kodi Smit-McPhee gives a very strong performance in the lead role, but his various trials, the excellent cinematography and well-executed action sequences keep the attention.

VOD: Day Of The Dead - Bloodline (dir: Hector Hernandez Vicens, 2018)

"Just don't ever do that to me again!"

Ten years on from the peculiar reboot/remake/reimagining comes this Bulgarian-shot cheapie follow-up, set five years after the events of that film version.  After a perfunctory set-up establishing of the initiating event, Bloodline plays like a souped-up episode of The Walking Dead, but here Idiot Plot abounds astoundingly as every mistake possible to be made by the secure-bunker-dwelling proto-military crew and survivors unfolds predictably.  Nevertheless, the film is proficiently made and efficient, with suitably over-the-top squelch for gore fans, and there are a couple of interesting twists on the Bub character from Romero's 1985 classic, notably when the character first infiltrates the bunker and poses an Alien-esque lone zombie stalking threat, but making him a romantically-fixated semi-sentient creature really does not bear much scrutiny.  There are worse films out there riding on the end of this era's zombie wave, but revisit the Romero originals - even today they seem fresher and more imaginative than the relentless 'inspired by' films that have followed.

FILM: The Equalizer 2 (dir: Antoine Fuqua, 2018)

"There are two kinds of pain in this world: pain that hurts, pain that alters.  Today, you get to choose."

Like the first film, making it more than just a standard action movie, with proper characters, thoughtful cinematography and consideration of motivations, not only gives The Equalizer 2 a shade more depth than expected but again is also ridiculously drawn out and over-long.  The story takes a little time to settle as acts of random retribution re-establish the protagonist's modus operandi, but after that the central story is effective if a little simplistic.  The action beats are mostly brief and powerful, although the final cat-and-mouse sequence is stretched to the limit.  The ever-watchable Washington delivers again, and there is a very strong performance from Ashton Sanders (Moonlight) as the young neighbour Washington takes under his wing.  This is a decently-made action sequel, but its length and pacing may test the patience of some viewers.

FILM: The Festival (dir: Iain Morris, 2018)

"Glass houses, mate."

Proof that once again creative lightning does not strike twice, The Festival has been heavily touted as being from the creators of The Inbetweeners and whilst it falls very far short of that TV/film franchise's success, it does have its moments and it certainly improves as it goes along.  The film can do little more than deliver more or less exactly what you would expect, Joe Thomas has a slightly different hairstyle, the hair gel gag from There's Something About Mary is given an even grosser spin, there is an excruciating moment involving a nipple ring, and it veers uncontrollably between the almost authentic to the heavily staged.  If you are an undiscerning twelve-year-old boy, this will be the year's funniest and most aspirational movie - otherwise, it delivers the odd laugh but is hardly essential viewing.

FILM: Christopher Robin (dir: Marc Foster, 2018)

"Was it always this gloomy?"

The trailer teased the potentially magical mix of a grown-up Christopher Robin reuniting with his childhood toy pals, which the film offers but rather strangely.  This is a surprisingly dour film, not aided by the slightly washed-out colour palette and autumnal shooting, making the first half oddly lifeless and melancholy (although, one supposes, that is the point), but it perks up to an extent in the second half.  There is some occasional Paddington-style slapstick, and the use of locations and post-1945 settings are well created.   This movie's absolute triumph is the gloriously-rendered CG animals and the excellent voice cast - Jim Cummings reprises his delightful voice work as Pooh, and Brad Garrett's recognisable world-weary tones make for a perfect Eeyore.  McGregor is reliable as ever as Robin, but he feels a little miscast here; he does, however, nail the adult Robin's rediscovery of the joy of play and imagination in a couple of scenes.  Christopher Robin is a well-made film, beautifully shot and scored, but it may prove a bit joyless for nostalgic adults and rather grim for children.

VOD: Meet The Blacks (dir: Deon Taylor, 2016)

"It feels like we're in a goddam horror movie!  OK, now what's the rules?"

This sub-Wayans Brothers parody of The Purge is right down there with the hopeless Meet The Spartans.  Not only is The Purge too niche for a purposeful and recognisable level of material to parody, but also the general hysteria of the performances in this movie fails to cover the weak and repetitive material and profanity replaces anything approaching wit, even when it genuinely tries to approach racial issues.  There is very little in here that is even remotely funny, and it is a real chore to sit through - disappointing.

FILM: The Meg IMAX 3D (dir: Jon Turteltaub, 2018)

REVIEW No. 900!

"None of this was in the job description!"

In spite of the promotion's best efforts to convince us that The Meg would be a lightweight fun confection, the actual movie - for the most part - plays it straight and benefits as a result, even if it gives the whole proceedings a somewhat expected and familiar turn.  (A couple of hokey direct Jaws references do creep in at the start of the third act in particular and seem jarringly out of place - no prizes for guessing the name of the dog featured in the trailer).  It is a clear straightforward three-act film - a rescue mission, team vs Meg, the final showdown - and in its actual release form a disappointingly bloodless affair.  With a big-league budget, the effects are ambitious and polished for a movie of this type, giving the film a scope and level of detail usually reserved for blockbuster sci-fi, and enabling some decent set pieces.  Statham is a good fit for the lead character and he conveys some surprisingly genuine warmth for a typically one-note role.  Enjoyable but forgettable, The Meg feels like a classic compromise: make a relatively toothless PG-13 to aim for a wide market to recoup outlay, and avoid being a full-blooded thriller that would limit but satisfy the older audience and not justify the high budget.

VOD: Extinction (dir: Ben Young, 2018)

"I think you're looking in the wrong direction."

Another major studio movie picked up by Netflix means that this sci-fi-actioner looks CGI-shiny and has a solid lead in Michael Pena. Setting itself up as a played-straight alien invasion movie, with seemingly no other motivation than to destroy Earth's population, the brutality of the initial invasion comes across well, and indeed the action/attack scenes are staged and handled very well.  Pay close attention from the start, however; as the movie progresses there is a clever narrative shift that works very well.  Whilst there is nothing here that has not been done before, it is done effectively here,  the numerous genre influences are not particularly well-hidden but the movie looks good and plays efficiently.

FILM: Teen Titans Go! To The Movies (dirs: Aaron Horvath and Peter Rida Michail, 2018)

"A MOVIE!"

This was my first experience of the Teen Titans, and once you have seen the team riding time tricycles and witnessed a space-dolphin-unicorn, it is difficult to know what to think.  Best described (possibly) as a meta-anime-musical-superhero movie, taking wannabe teenage versions of lesser superheroes and sidekicks and giving it an overtly-knowing spin results in a lot of amusing self-aware banter and ideas on the superhero genre and Hollywood itself, and the lo-fi stylings coupled with off-the-wall moments is bizarrely entertaining.  It is inconsistent, e-numbered-kinetic, completely silly and therefore oddly and curiously enjoyable.

FILM: Hotel Transylvania 3 - A Monster Vacation (dir: Genndy Tartakovsky, 2018)

"Would you like to see my parts?"

This reasonably charming children's animation franchise goes on holiday for its third outing, and thus loses part of the fun of the previous films, i.e. using and skewering genre conventions for a young audience.  It is closer in tone and style to the meandering second film rather than the madcap first movie, but it is nonetheless colourful, occasionally energetic and has some nice moments of oddball humour even if overall it does not always have the momentum hoped for.

FILM: Mission: Impossible - Fallout (dir: Christopher McQuarrie, 2018)

"Hope is not a strategy."
"You must be new!"

Fallout is a direct development from the excellent fifth entry in this maturing franchise, and it is unquestionably a terrific Hollywood blockbuster action-thriller that actually delivers on the action and is genuinely thrilling.  All the expected components work just fine - Cruise's commitment, top-notch death-defying action sequences, strong cast - but for a movie of this type it is also directed and lensed with care and real quality.  With the careful bringing together of elements and characters from the previous movies, there are real choices with consequences on the immediate and world-stage levels, and the stunning set pieces are only hinted at in the already-impressive trailer.  Fallout juggles character, action and intrigue most effectively to create an immensely satisfying and enjoyable action-thriller that is compelling and impressive.

FILM: Ant-Man And The Wasp 3D 4DX (dir: Peyton Reed, 2018)

 "It makes me want to knit you a sweater!"

The first Ant-Man movie was a pleasing, fun movie that was never a top-league Marvel movie, but Ant-Man's stature has grown (literally) in subsequent MCU appearances.  The second outing makes the wise move of promoting The Wasp to shared top billing, but a lot of what made the first film work well is evident here: the comedy smarts, the relationships and a less pompous tone than some Marvel movies.  Evangeline Lilly is the easy stand-out here, giving a really strong performance and establishing the Wasp in her own right, and the rest of the cast works effortlessly.  Here, Marvel's weak-villains curse works in favour of shining the focus more interestingly on the protagonists.  The film's saviour is also, of course, the wonderful FX work, from the whiplash size-changing gags to the seamless integration.  The basic story itself is pitifully thin, but there is a lot of fun to be had along the way.  The film is set before Avengers - Infinity War, but wait for the mid-credits scene that brings it up-to-date very powerfully.

VOD: Deep Blue Sea 2 (dir: Darin Scott, 2018)

"This is bad.  This is really bad."

Nearly two decades on from the daftly enjoyable B-movie antics of the original (cinema) film, this pale, cheaply-mounted re-tread disappoints.  .  The single new plot development idea involving the shark attackers is mostly squandered through repetitive and limply-realised sequences, as the effects budget is clearly saved and employed for certain sequences.  Overall, this is a slow, thinly-drawn movie and the no-name cast offers little of interest.

VOD: Insidious - The Last Key (dir: Adam Robitel, 2018)

"I don't have memories from that place.  I have scars."

The core Blumhouse crew deliver the fourth Insidious film with all that the fans require: moments of audience attention misdirection, some cacophonous sound design, some effective creepy moments and of course some industrial strength jump scares (one very early one is very strong).  The ace up the sleeve of The Last Key is the total focus on Lin Shaye's character Elise, with an extremely well-delivered prologue of her childhood of abuse and burgeoning powers, and her subsequent return to the house many years later that forms most of the movie.  All of this provides the excellent Shaye with strong material, emotional context and a real chance to demonstrate her skills.  Although the film is mostly one of the more effective narratively in the series, it does have moments where it goes of the rails, particularly towards the end, but overall The Last Key ties in with the overall mythology effortlessly and is one of the stronger films in this moderate franchise.

FILM: Skyscraper (dir: Rawson Marshall Thurber, 2018)

"I thought that couldn't happen."

Of course it is easy to say that Skyscraper is a contemporary mash-up of The Towering Inferno and Die Hard - which it is - but this traditional disaster movie plays it surprisingly straight and with an enjoyably relentless pace.  The top-notch special effects are seamless and spectacular, creating a couple of genuine moments of tension and the inevitable stomach-churning vertigo-inducing camera moves, and whilst there is very little here that we have not seen before, it is delivered with  purpose and momentum which maintain interest.  This is probably Dwayne Johnson's better performance out of his recent run, and Neve Campbell is effective support as his wife who actually gets a couple of action sequences of her own.  As disposable big screen entertainment goes, this is well-made and acceptable but instantly forgettable.

FILM: Incredibles 2 3D (dir: Brad Bird, 2018)

"I'm perfectly fine."

From the start, the long-awaited Incredibles sequel demonstrates a real sense of control, storytelling and thought.  Yet another blunt meditation on family, parenthood, gender and relationships, this film sticks very closely to what made the first outing so beloved: effective characters, recognisable family situations and the superb retro stylings, the latter demonstrated in the gorgeous rich mise-en-scene which also demonstrates the development of CGI animation in the intervening years.  Action sequences are brisk and superbly executed, serving the story well, and the whole enterprise is underpinned by a delightful Michael Giacchino score.  Whilst less dazzling than the extraordinary Coco, Incredibles 2 is a warm, assured and very entertaining movie, and the accompanying short - Bao - is yet another winner.