FILM: Rio 2 (dir: Carlos Saldanha, 2014)

"Deja vu, Blu."

The sequel inverts the original film's scenario, here starting in Rio but quickly moving to the Amazon.  However, the character-driven action of the first film is replaced here with weak family sit-com, and it even manages to shoe-horn in a Quidditch-like aerial football match, presumably in reference to the 2014 World Cup.  Most of the supporting characters are disappointingly sidelined, even Blu's nemesis, although there can be little real threat from a camp cockatoo antagonist called Nigel who gives an unsubtle rendition of I Will Survive.  Aside from the inventive capoeira turtles, there are very few laughs to be found, but the apparent USP of the franchise (i.e. riotous colour and movement) remains intact.  Even with an inevitable eco-friendly story strand tagged on - which suddenly becomes the focus for the final act - this somewhat uneven and unfocused follow-up will distract the little ones with its pretty moving colours but offers little of substance to everyone else.

FILM: The Other Woman (dir: Nick Cassavetes, 2014)

"Where are you going?"
"I don't know."

Although hardly a statement of female empowerment when the three leads refer to themselves as "the lawyer, the wife and the boobs", The Other Woman is a reasonably snappy but featherlight female-driven comedy that manages to entertain reasonably well.  Leslie Mann - when not delivering in hysterical-pace mode - creates some lovely moments as the wronged wife, Cameron Diaz shows she still has star quality and is the consummate comedy professional, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau shows some surprising lightness of touch as the philandering husband.  It all becomes less inspired as it goes along (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun on the soundtrack, the 'his toothbrush in the toilet bowl' routine, and even an American Pie diarrhoea scene), but the inevitable confrontation scene pays off quite nicely. The Other Woman is certainly not original or demanding fare, but it is well-made, well-played and efficiently delivered.

FILM: Blended (dir: Frank Coraci, 2014)

"You just scared a zebra strip into my underpants!"

As long as there are undiscerning 12-year-old American boys, there will be an audience for Adam Sandler movies.  Starting off with a deliciously disastrous blind date, our hate-at-first-sight couple wind the weary path to romance as their two families 'incredibly' find themselves on the same holiday to South Africa.  Aside from some inevitable racial stereotyping - Terry Crews, what were you thinking? - and dated double-entendres, Sandler is actually quite subdued and there is a reasonable sweetness at the heart of this very basic movie.  There are some weak child performances, and the film clearly lacks some script and technical polish, and its long running time reflects its frequently casual pacing, but by the end it delivers some feel-good factor and Drew Barrymore is as charming as ever.

FILM: The Two Faces Of January (dir: Hossein Amini, 2014)

"I bet you wish you'd never met us."

This 1960s-set Mediterranean jaunt, from Patricia Highsmith's novel, looks great and strives for a repeat of the Mr Ripley vibe but falls short, thanks largely to by-the-numbers filmic techniques and plotting that drain any real sense of tension or surprise.  Essentially a three-hander, Viggo Mortensen unravels nicely, Kirsten Dunst plays his wife with pleasing maturity and nuance, and Oscar Isaac is solid if a little too restrained as the shady American tour guide with whom the couple hook up in Greece.  The relentlessly sedate pace and tone make The Two Faces Of January pleasant to look at but not particularly engaging overall.

FILM: X-Men Days Of Future Past 3D (dir: Bryan Singer, 2014)

"Your best is enough - trust me."

Days Of Future Past is a rare beast - an intelligent and very well-handled superhero blockbuster.  Bryan Singer returns to the X-cinema-world back on form, directing with clear confidence, energy and control, all of which Superman Returns definitely lacked.  After a startlingly lively opening, this film is by turns thoughtful,  thought-provoking, dynamic, moving and witty.  Indeed, the time travel/fish-out-of-water scenario plays as well as the best scenes of Star Trek IV.  There is a lot of plot and characters to get through, but it never feels rushed, owing to impressively tight plotting and more than enough well-delivered character beats.  McAvoy and Hoult stand out here, Evan Peters makes a strong Quicksilver (his Time In A Bottle sequence is a standout), but the whole ensemble delivers a high level of sincerity and commitment.  The considerable budget pays off with hugely impressive VFX that not only are visually enjoyable but also support the scale and high stakes of the story.  The final scenes are both fan-pleasing and joyous if you have stuck with the cinematic franchise since the Millennium, with the prospect of a Singer-led Apocalypse a truly exciting prospect.

FILM: The Grand Budapest Hotel (dir: Wes Anderson, 2014)

"She was dynamite in the sack."
"She was 84....!"
"I've had older."

Inevitably, The Grand Budapest Hotel is typical Wes Anderson: quirky, directed and designed to within an inch of its life, and more concerned about the power and control of narrative than emotion.  Yet it is also perhaps one of Anderson's most completely realised and enjoyable films, with moments of playfulness and pathos that come across as genuine rather than forced.  There is much to enjoy in the visual delights offered by the film, both technical and in its stunningly-used locations, and Ralph Feinnes and Tony Revolori are wonderful as the central concierge and lobby-boy double act.  To see cinematic staples such as the will reading, the art heist and the prison break given the Anderson touch and emerge with wit and vigour is a very pleasant surprise, as is the ending that satisfies, characters, story and indeed the viewer.

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

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

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

FILM: Frank (dir: Lenny Abrahamson, 2014)

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

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

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

"See that 3D printer go!"

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

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

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

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