Rob Carnevale

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists 3D

An enjoyable, if occassionally laboured, family animation from Aardman

27 Mar 2012

(U) 88min Aardman's Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists is the most ambitious undertaking yet from the Bristol-based clay-mation specialists but while often enjoyable it's not all plain sailing. The madcap story of a pirate captain, who…

American Pie: Reunion

The cast regroup for a fourth time, and still manage to raise some laughs

4 May 2012

The cast of American Pie may have matured since we last saw them nine years ago at Jim and Michelle’s wedding but their antics remain juvenile for this latest slice of raunchy comedy - and for the most part that’s a good thing. Written and…

Missing in action - Angelina Jolie interview

27 Nov 2008

Playing the real-life mother of a missing child in Clint Eastwood’s latest film was an emotionally fraught experience for Angelina Jolie, she tells Rob Carnevale

Battleship

Michael Bay-inspired blockbuster burdened by bog-standard plot and uneven tone

11 Apr 2012

(12A) 131mins Inspired by the Hasbro board-game, Battleship is part Michael Bay-inspired planet-trashing mayhem and part love letter to the US Navy, with whom director Peter Berg shares an intimate family history (his father was both a former Marine…

Streetdance 3D

12 May 2010

The creative team behind Streetdance has sought to put a different spin on the UK grime scene by portraying teens in a more positive light while paying homage to American dance films such as Footloose and Step Up. It’s a shame, then, that they chose to…

This Means War

Unsuccessful mash-up of the rom-com and spy action genres

1 Mar 2012

(12A) 97min McG attempts to satisfy both sexes in This Means War – a testosterone-driven action meets girl-pleasing rom-com, that ends up not being good in either genre, despite featuring two of the hottest young actors around (Tom Hardy and Chris…

Source Code

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan star in body-swapping thriller

18 Mar 2011

Duncan Jones’ dazzling debut Moon is, by any standard, a tough act to follow, but while sophomore effort Source Code can’t quite match up, it does ensure the director’s career remains on the right track. The film is an intriguing race-against-time…

Paul Bettany

27 Nov 2008

Paul Bettany has rediscovered the joy of acting. Over the coming months, he’ll be seen playing a racist peach farmer in America’s Deep South for The Secret Life of Bees and then a royal adviser and future prime minister to Emily Blunt’s queen in The…

21 Jump Street

Deceptively smart big screen revival of the once popular TV show, with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill

12 Mar 2012

(15)109min Taken at face value, 21 Jump Street is another mis-matched buddy cop outing that mixes elements from the original television series, Superbad coming-of-age values and the gung-ho rhetoric of Michael Bay's action movies. But there's a…

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

OTT second outing for Nicolas Cage's flaming-skulled anti-hero

17 Feb 2012

(12A) 95mins Nicolas Cage’s latest stab at lending Ghost Rider mainstream credibility suffers from the decision to employ Crank duo Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor as co-directors. For while certainly high on manic energy, Spirit of Vengeance lacks…

Safe House

Brutally slick but flawed action thriller starring Denzel Washtington and Ryan Reynolds

8 Feb 2012

(15) 115mins Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds make a formidable partnership in Daniel Espinosa's Safe House, a brutally slick, if flawed, action thriller.

Chalet Girl - Crowd-pleasing film marks arrival of Felicity Jones

Watchable despite sitcom-style humour and stereotypical characters

2 Mar 2011

(12A) 96min Felicity Jones is hitherto best known as the voice of Emma Carter on The Archers but by the end of 2011 she could well be regarded as one of Britain's most talented young movie stars. A winner at Sundance for indie drama Like Crazy…

Gnomeo & Juliet's British cast add charm despite pop culture references

Shrek 2 director's animation big on visual jokes but lacks standout sequence

2 Feb 2011

(U) 84min The idea of turning William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into an animated movie featuring gnomes sounds like a tragedy in its own right, but thanks to a star studded British voice cast and some fun visual jokes, Gnomeo & Juliet almost…

It's Kind of a Funny Story

Impressive exploration of mental health doesn’t compromise its indie values

23 Dec 2010

(12A) 101min Having impressed with Half Nelson and Sugar, indie stalwarts Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden complete a commendable hat trick with It’s Kind Of A Funny Story. Based on the novel by Ned Vizzini, the film follows suicidal 16-year-old Craig…

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

23 Jul 2009

The sixth instalment in the Harry Potter franchise suffers from as many growing pains as its young wizards. While Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince does venture into darker, more adult areas than its predecessors it also injects more humour and…

The Lucky One

Unconvincing, one-dimensional drama starring Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling

17 Apr 2012

(12A) 101mins The latest adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel is as schmaltzy as ever but also hopelessly contrived and unconvincing. Stretching credibility from the start, Zac Efron stars as a US Marine who comes across a photo of an unknown blonde…

Wrath of the Titans

Sloppy sequel with poorly defined characters, starring Sam Worthington and Liam Neeson

2 Apr 2012

From its flimsy concept to its similarly sloppy use of post-conversion 3D, Wrath of the Titans is a sequel that fails to improve on the original in any way. Set 10 years after the events of Clash of the Titans, this pointless follow-up invents a…

Man on a Ledge

Well paced, high concept thriller starring Sam Worthington, Jamie Bell and Elizabeth Banks

23 Jan 2012

(12A) 102mins Sam Worthington’s latest is an occasionally tense but mostly silly thriller that at least realises its own absurdities. The Hollywood debut of former documentary filmmaker Asger Leth (Ghosts of Cité Soleil), the film follows a…

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Solid crowd pleaser despite disappointing villain and some dodgy CGI

12 Dec 2011

(12A, 132mins) Pixar director Brad Bird makes the leap from animation to live action in spectacular fashion with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, a frequently awe-inspiring entry into the franchise. As he did with The Incredibles and…

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Expertly mixes intelligence and spectacle to hugely impressive effect

9 Aug 2011

(12A) 106min After the folly that was Tim Burton’s remake of Planet of the Apes in 2001 many questioned the wisdom of trying to breathe new life into the franchise when this prequel was first announced. But Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of…

Super 8

JJ Abrams sci-fi a loving homage to the way blockbusters used to be

29 Jul 2011

(12A) 112min Lost creator JJ Abrams’ Super 8 may be heavily inspired by the early films of Steven Spielberg but if you’re going to borrow from someone, why not make it a master? It’s a science fiction adventure that harks back to the…

Trust

David Schwimmer’s powerful movie should resonate with every parent and teenager in some way

18 Jul 2011

A hard-hitting look at the dangers posed by internet predators, as witnessed by a family whose lives are torn apart by the grooming and eventual rape of their teenage daughter, the film stems from Schwimmer’s decade-long involvement with Santa Monica’s…

Zookeeper

Kevin James stars in woefully bad family rom-com

13 Jul 2011

(PG) 101min Part rom-com, part Doctor Dolittle style family comedy, Zookeeper, starring lardarse comic actor Kevin James (The Dilemma, Grown Ups), is a wholly unsatisfactory experience for all but the most juvenile minds. The latest offering from…

Thor

It’s hammer time! Kenneth Branagh's Thor has a theatrical charm

20 Apr 2011

(12A) 130min Kenneth Branagh may have seemed like an unlikely choice to direct Marvel's Thor but he pulls it off with considerable style to kick-start the summer in fun fashion. By no means perfect, and inferior to both Christopher Nolan's genre…

The Adjustment Bureau

Philip K Dick-inspired sci-fi thriller starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt

2 Mar 2011

The work of Philip K Dick has inspired some of cinema’s great sci-fi films, from Blade Runner to Minority Report via Total Recall. The Adjustment Bureau, which is derived from one of the author’s short stories, doesn’t quite measure up to the former or…