Big Hero 6

(PG) ★★★★

Director: Don Hall & Chris Williams.

Cast: (voices of) Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Daniel Henney, TJ Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr, Genesis Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, James Cromwell, Alan Tudyk.

Sometimes you just need a big goalie, not necessarily a good goalie.

DISNEY is on a roll with its computer animated films.

Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frozen have helped put the House of Mouse back on the animation map after more than a decade of so-so releases.

You can add the name Big Hero 6 to that Pixar-like run of excellent adventures, and while it you're at it you can put the name "Baymax" on the lengthy list of memorable and lovable Disney characters.

Based very, very loosely on a little-known Marvel comic, Big Hero 6 is the tale of Hiro Hamada (Potter), a 14-year-old robotics genius who lives in the quasi-futuristic city of San Fransokyo and spends most of his time gambling on (and winning) illegal streetbot fights.

His older brother Tadashi (Henney), concerned that Hiro is wasting his talents, introduces Hiro to the robotics lab where Tadashi works at university and gets the younger Hamada excited about using his skills for a greater purpose.

But when tragedy strikes, Hiro and his friends must team up to solve a mystery, catch a bad guy and save the day.

It may sound fairly formulaic and, as a superhero story, Big Hero 6 certainly hits all the notes we've come to expect from those kind of origin tales. However, there is much more to this film than hyper-powered individuals belting seven shades of snot out of each other.

At its heart, it's a story about grief and loss - there's an interesting juxtaposition between how the good guy and bad guy wander into the grey areas between right and wrong as they each struggle to deal with the death of a loved one. There's also a nice spin on the old "with great power comes great responsibility" line - in this case there's a bit of "with great intelligence comes great responsibility" thrown into the mix.

But as much as Big Hero 6 is a celebration of the mind (most of the main characters are self-confessed "nerds"), there is a lot of heart to go with the head. There are a couple of really sweet moments here, including some tearjerkers, and Hiro is a relatable and endearing (ahem) hero.

But the stand-out character is Baymax (Adsit), the inflatable robot built by Tadashi as a medical assistant, who serves as audience surrogate, comic relief, moral compass, straight man, action centrepiece, and even emotional core to the movie.

Whether he's taping up his punctures, losing power, doing karate, helping the sick and injured, or simply trying to walk around a room, Baymax is a scene-stealing sidekick who pretty much runs off with the whole movie.

In terms of family fun, Big Hero 6 is a real winner. There are laughs, great set-pieces, and deeper layers beneath the fast-moving bright colours to ensure this is ideal for all ages.

The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies

(M) ★★★

Director: Peter Jackson.

Cast: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom.

"And I say, let us all cut off our hands and replace them pointy objects, damn the consequences."

It's finally over. Thirteen years since Peter Jackson first took us to Middle Earth, his role as tour guide through Tolkien's fantastical lands has come to an end.

Because of this massive journey there and back again, The Battle Of The Five Armies is a film that not only follows on from the two previous (surprisingly solid) Hobbit movies, bringing that trilogy to its conclusion, but which also serves as a farewell to a six-film saga that's raked in almost $5 billion (and counting) at the box office and 17 Oscars.

It also serves as a lead-in to The Fellowship Of The Rings (The Hobbit is a prequel trilogy after all).

That's a lot to put onto the shoulders of one film, and The Battle Of The Five Armies unfortunately is not the momentous masterpiece required to meet these expectations and obligations, making it a slightly disappointing note to finish on.

But this is really only by comparison because let's face it - The Hobbit trilogy was always going to be measured against the feats of The Lord Of The Rings films, ie. The One Trilogy To Rule Them All, and The Battle Of The Five Armies must stand in the shadow of its predecessor's conclusion, The Return Of The King.

Taking all this into account, ...Five Armies falls short but still manages to be a rollicking good ride and a decent-enough farewell to the world of hobbits, orcs, elves and dwarves, mixing good humour and heart to balance the over-the-top ridiculousness that creeps in as Jackson and co attempt to meet the lofty duties thrust upon this closing chapter.

While the eponymous battle takes up the majority of the two-hours-plus running time, the film also concerns itself with Thorin (Armitage) descending into treasure-induced madness AKA "dragon sickness", Bard (Evans) assuming the mantle of Laketown leader, Gandalf (McKellan) dealing with the growing evil that is playing a hand in the battle and pointing towards the rise of Sauron, and the weird subplot of elf-dwarf love between Tauriel (Lilly) and Kili (Aidan Turner).

But really its all about the battle, which unfolds in an escalating series of set-pieces, charges, rallies, sacrifices, and last-ditch displays of bravery that are a largely impressive combination of special effects and solid performances.

The opening sequence, which sees Laketown set aflame by the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch), unfortunately sets the tone for the aforementioned over-the-top ridiculousness. It's only Jackson's knack for deftly sliding in a moment of comic relief that brings things back to (middle) earth, allowing the audience to settle back into the tone and groove of life in Tolkien's realm.

The biggest issue here is the very criticism levelled at Jackson since he announced Tolkien's slight children's book would be made into three films - there's not enough material to go around.

While he and fellow writers Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Guillermo del Toro stretched An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation Of Smaug comfortably, ...Five Armies almost reaches breaking point as the battle rages on and on (interestingly, ...Five Armies is the shortest Middle Earth movie to date).

This leaves us with a film that is only for the devoted Tolkienites. Beyond the battle itself, the padding includes plenty of nods to The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and information dug from Tolkien's lengthy appendices. If you've never seen any of these films, let alone the two previous Hobbit films, this movie is not for you.

For the fans, ...Five Armies will leave you with mixed feelings. It's a sad farewell to a wondrous world that is always worth visiting, but it's ultimately the weakest of the six films.

Exodus: Gods & Kings

(M) ★★★★

Director: Ridley Scott.

Cast: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn, John Turturro, Ben Kingsley, Sigourney Weaver.

Elton John's Oscars after-party was off its tits.

With the arrival of Noah and Exodus this year, it's tempting to see 2014 as the year of the biblical epic.

But two films doesn't count as a trend. However, it does give us an interesting point of comparison.

Whereas Darren Aronofksy took a largely secular route in his animal-packed ark, Ridley Scott mostly takes the Bible as gospel (pardon the pun) in his retelling of Moses leading the Hebrews out of slavery.

After an opening battle scene that's more like a chapter of Wilbur Smith than a verse of the Old Testament, we get to know Moses (Bale) and Ramesses II (Edgerton) - brothers in arms in the Egyptian military as well as princes of Egypt.

But Moses soon learns he is adopted and that his real mother was a Hebrew - a group of people enslaved by the Egyptians - causing friction between Moses and Ramesses II and leading to Moses being exiled.

After wandering through the desert, getting married and raising a son, Moses suffers a severe head injury, leading him to believe God has instructed him to return to Egypt, free the slaves and lead the hundreds of thousands of Hebrews home to the promised land of Canaan (Israel).

Unlike Aronofsky, who took the "this could have happened" approach with Noah, Scott revels in the grand myth-making of the Exodus story, seeing no need to find a rational explanation for what goes on, instead embracing the fantastical elements as if he was adapting Lord Of The Rings or Harry Potter (it's worth pointing out that the historical and archaeological consensus is that there is a distinct lack of evidence of the exodus actually happening).

With the full arsenal of computer wizardry at his disposal, Scott parts the Red Seas and unleashes an onslaught of plagues in suitably epic fashion. They are the dramatic and visual high points of the film - never before has the wrath of God been rendered so vividly and spectacularly.

Speaking of the Almighty, God is portrayed in fascinating fashion. I won't spoil it but there are many discussions to be had focusing on how the Supreme Being is depicted in this film, including the non-spoilerific fact that Old Testament God was, it has to be said, kind of a jerk (and that might be putting it mildly).

The other highlight is the performances. Bale's Moses, like Russell Crowe's Noah, is portrayed in the grey areas between mad man and prophet, but Bale's typical intensity really takes it up a notch, helping make Moses a complex man dealing with something he doesn't fully understand (and which may indeed be largely in his head).

Equally impressive is Edgerton, in what is hopefully a break-out role for the Aussie actor. His pharaoh is stubborn, dismissive and slightly vainglorious, but Edgerton keeps it all in check, never resorting to chewing the scenery.

The other standard performances come from youngster Isaac Andrews and Aussie Mendelsohn, with the latter stealing his scenes as an incompetent Egyptian viceroy.

Exodus takes itself very seriously but manages to stay on the right side of melodrama, thus avoiding the ever-present danger of tipping into "accidental Life Of Brian" territory.

There may be a sensation that the film is all noise and no heart, that its CG extravaganzas overwhelm the bigger moral issues, but there is plenty of food for thought in this tale of fanaticism, desperation, fear, and the greater good.

It also happens to be Scott's best film since Gladiator.

Serena

(M) ★★

Director: Susanne Bier.

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Rhys Ifans, Toby Jones, David Dencik, Sean Harris, Ana Ularu.

"To be honest, dear, I'm just as unimpressed by this shit as you are."

ON paper, Serena looks like it should be great.

Cooper and Lawrence reuniting for the third time, Academy Award-winning Danish director Susanne Bier at the helm, with Ron Rash's best-selling novel as the source material - what could possibly go wrong?

The answer is "the script".

Set in 1929, the titular Serena is a headstrong yet haunted young woman (brought to life by Lawrence with her usual skill) who marries fledgling timber baron George Pemberton (Cooper) and quickly asserts herself as his business partner.

But their logging company's niche in Carolina's Smoky Mountains is under threat from some progressive locals keen to establish a national park, while their marriage has to deal with the bastard child Pemberton fathered just prior to meeting and marrying Serena.

There are subplots aplenty here as well - Pemberton's quest to hunt a panther, his relationship with his off-sider Buchanan (Dencik), the dangers of logging (shown occasionally in graphic detail), the unnecessary attentions of the local sheriff (Jones) - but so many of the film's ideas are either rushed, undercooked or overdone.

For example, the whirlwind romance between Serena and Pemberton is so whirlwind, more time is spent later in the film dedicated to Pemberton bathing Serena than is actually spent on showing us how and why they fell in love.

Then there's the mysterious figure of Galloway (Ifans), a tracker hired to help Pemberton in his quest to kill a panther. The role of Galloway and the panther in the story are as idiotic as Pemberton's passion for killing the endangered feline.

I've not read Rash's book, but reading the way reviewers describe it, it seems like a completely different story, one filled with menace, strong themes and equally strong characters (who sound like an unlikeable pack of mongrels). None of that comes through in the film. The characters are blandly likeable despite doing terrible things, there is a real lack of tension or menace even as the movie builds to its bloody climax, and so many motifs go unexplored.

The film leaves the impression of being either a novel mangled in the screenwriting process or a film interfered with in the editing process (there are even a couple of scenes that feel like they are in the wrong place, like they were forgotten about and thrown in at the wrong moment).

The ending is fairly bonkers too, as if it jetted in from another film - at one point a character actually says "you've got 24 hours before I call the judge" and suddenly you feel like you're in an '80s cop movie instead of a drama set in 1929.

Lawrence, Cooper, Jones, Dencik and Ifans do their best and are the saving grace of the film, particularly the lead couple, even if Cooper does occasionally seem like he's channelling Pacino or De Niro rather than trying to do his own thing.

The film also looks gorgeous, with the Czech Republic standing in for the logging towns of North Caroline, and there are a couple of nice moments where Bier lets a look tell a thousand words.

So much goes begging given the talent on offer here but instead we're left with a largely forgettable melodrama based on a book that sounds like it would be far more enjoyable.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

(M) ★★★★

Director: Francis Lawrence.

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Jeffrey Wright, Donald Sutherland.

Pictured: A typical American school outing.

Diving back into the dystopian world of Panem and its arrow-firing heroine Katniss Everdeen continues to be a heady and exhilarating experience.

Three films into the four-film series (book three of the trilogy is being adapted into two movies) and the comparisons to Korean film Battle Royale are far behind us.

No longer focused on its child-versus-child death matches, The Hunger Games spreads its wings in this powerful and political third instalment that not only shifts the focus to the dictatorial machinations that have been simmering in the background, but showcases why these young adult novels have been so highly revered. They deal with mature themes in an intelligent way that never speaks down to its intended adolescent audience, and if you thought the first two movies were dark, then brace yourselves because this a whole other shade of black.

Mockingjay - Part 1 tells of civil war and the power of propaganda - far more worthy subject matter for inquisitive teenage minds than love triangles involving sparkly vampires - and it doesn't pull any punches in the process. There are executions, massacres, torture, and fields of blackened corpses. This is no walk in the park.

Watching the previous two films is a prerequisite as this one dives straight into where we left off at the end of Catching Fire. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), having been whisked away to the supposedly uninhabited District 13, finds herself at the centre of a rebel uprising against the government of President Snow (Sutherland) based in the opulent Capitol City.

Reluctant at first to be used as the symbol of the rebellion, Katniss soon learns what has been going on - about the destruction of her home district, about the government's suppression tactics, and what has happened to her beloved Peeta (Hutcherson) - and realises she can't stand by while the lower classes are crushed beneath the military's boot heel.

It's heavy stuff that invokes everything from the American Civil War and socialist iconography to the influence of the modern media and the work of journalists in war zones. Director Francis Lawrence keeps everything moving at a good pace and gives all the key players at least one moment to shine.

His biggest problem is grappling with the film's high level of emotions, which feel way over-the-top at the start of the film because we're coming in cold.

There is no easing your way in on this - Mockingjay - Part 1 throws you headlong into the storm of feelings left behind from Catching Fire and you're expected to keep up. As such, this is for the fans and certainly not the place to start your passion for The Hunger Games.

None of this would work without great actors, which the series has a surplus of. Newcomer Moore is a welcome addition, Banks and Harrelson have reduced roles but chime in nicely, Hemsworth has his biggest part in the series to date, and the film is dedicated to the memory of Hoffman, who is as effortless as he always was.

And at the centre of it all is Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen - the film's beating heart, its moral compass, and its sharpened arrow. When I reviewed Catching Fire, I noted that future lists of the greatest movie heroines should read "1. Ripley, 2. Katniss Everdeen ...". I'm seriously considering bumping Everdeen to #1.

As with Catching Fire, Mockingjay - Part 1 finds a weird note to end on, as is always the case of a story part-told. It's a bittersweet and slightly unbalanced finale, but one that tantalises the tastebuds ahead of the big finale due out 12 months from now.

Let's Be Cops

(MA15+) ★★

Director: Luke Greenfield.

Cast: Damon Wayans Jr, Jake Johnson, Rob Riggle, Nina Dobrev, James D'Arcy, Keegan-Michael Key, Andy Garcia.

These cops are getting hard on crime, if you know what I mean, wink wink nudge nudge ah forget it.

MOVIES often make it seem like being a police officer would be awesome fun, what with all the donuts and shooting bad guys and being lauded as heroes.

We all know the reality is far different and that these hard-working men and women have one of the toughest gigs there is.

But the reality of policing is about the furthest thing from the world of Let's Be Cops, an increasingly idiotic but sporadically humourous comedy about pretending to be policemen.

The faux fuzz are Justin (Wayans Jr) and Ryan (Johnson), two down-on-their-luck 30-year-olds who find that dressing up as boys in blue gives them a level of respect and self-confidence that has been lacking from their lives.

These two characters are the best thing in the film - better than the majority of the jokes, the entirety of the plot, and the terrible editing.

While the whole thing is a loose vehicle for the old "seize the day" theme, Justin and Ryan are more fleshed out and interesting than characters tend to be in these kind of trashy, forgettable comedies. Justin is rational yet cowardly, his talents as a video game designer held back by his lack of assertiveness, while Ryan is the directionless ex-jock, a victim of his own impulsiveness with his greatest accomplishments far behind them.

They're nothing new here, but at least in the hands of Johnson and Wayans Jr (both from TV comedy New Girl) and a semi-literate script Justin and Ryan seem like more than caricatures. The same can't be said for love interest Josie (Dobrev) or sadistic villain Mossi (D'Arcy), but Riggle, Garcia and Key lend good support.

All this helps keep you vaguely interested in a plot that quickly spirals into stupidity as the two pretend policemen find themselves increasingly caught up in their own lie, which starts to be believed by Russian mobsters (who want to kill them) and real police officers (who want to help them).

Given the efforts of Johnson and Wayans Jr, it's a shame the film isn't funnier and didn't have to rely on tired scenarios - women beating up a man, someone being sat on by a naked fat man, the obligatory drug-taking sequence - for what are unfortunately the funniest bits in the film.

Let's Be Cops ends up being mildly chuckle-worthy but inevitably forgettable because the biggest laughs feel like they've come from any of a hundred other pre-existing comedies.

Interstellar

(M) ★★★½

Director: Christopher Nolan.

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, David Gyasi, Wes Bentley, Michael Caine, Jessica Chastain, John Lithgow.

McConaughey took a wrong turn in the produce aisle.

FILM-MAKERS have long tried to predict the future.

One of the most intriguing of these sci-fi predictions is 2001: A Space Odyssey - a film that's now confusingly set in the past - and it is the obvious reference point for Christopher Nolan's own attempt at prophetic cinema.

Just as 2001 wanted to explore the possibilities of space and beyond, Interstellar aims to go to the final frontier and further, all the while exploring the nature of humanity and the unknowns of the universe.

Even the structures of the two films are similar, which makes it even harder to avoid these comparisons - it's impossible not to think of Interstellar as Nolan's Space Odyssey.

As such, this film is incredibly ambitious, even for the director who took us into a dream inside a dream inside a dream with relative ease. However, this might be a starbridge too far.

As fascinating and scientifically intriguing as it is, Interstellar asks a lot of the viewer in terms of endurance (it's almost three hours long) and whether you will buy into the plot twists that come with its cosmic destination. And after just one viewing it's not immediately obvious how successful it is.

The film spends the first hour on Earth sometime in the possibly not-too-distant future, where climate change has wiped out billions of people and ruined most of the world's crops, leaving the planet a dusty husk of its former self.

Among the farmers struggling to keep the world's mouths fed is Cooper (McConaughey), a former test pilot who turns to corn farming after the government shuts down non-essential programs, and while he still secretly yearns for the adventures of his youth, Cooper is mostly content to raise his two kids.

That is until some weird happenings in the family home inadvertently lead him into space as part of a mission to find a new home on a new planet in order to save what remains of humanity.

Obviously there are some major plot points removed from this synopsis, but you're better off not knowing them and just enjoying the surprises. Nolan's typical secrecy meant the trailers gave away little about this film in the lead up other than "McConaughey goes to space to save dusty world" and that's one thing of the key things Interstellar has going for it - it's a journey into the unknown for the characters and audience alike.

But is it an enjoyable one? That's the question you might find yourself asking as you walk out of the cinema after three bum-numbing hours.

Interstellar is definitely fascinating. It's filled with amazing ideas, stunning visuals, great performances, and what is apparently a level of scientific theory that's interesting if you're so inclined.

But after all this brain fodder and some genuinely awe-inspiring moments we finally reach the third act - and it's a long time coming - the story takes a turn that will either leave you tearing up your ticket or glued to your seat.

My initial reaction was the former but the more the film went on and the more I think about the film in the hours since watching it, the more I am willing to forgive it. Maybe. To be honest I'm still undecided.

And that's the general feeling I'm left with after seeing Interstellar - a sensation of indecision.

Large parts of the film are stunning, such as the depictions of blackholes, wormholes and space travel, but other bits are not so great, such as some of the dialogue, the lack of characterisation, and that plot twist. There are questions unanswered - some deliberately so but some seemingly ignored - and while this does make me want to watch it again to dig a little deeper into the film, its length is kind of off-putting. At the same time, the fact that I'm still thinking about it so much is probably a positive.

Interstellar is ambitious, perhaps overly so, and it's engaging and intriguing, perhaps at the expense of being truly entertaining. For now, the best I can say is that, yeah, it's pretty cool and particularly impressive on the big screen but not quite the five-star classic that Inception or 2001: A Space Odyssey is.

The Best Of Me

(M) ★½

Director: Michael Hoffman.

Cast: James Marsden, Michelle Monaghan, Luke Bracey, Liana Liberato, Gerald McRaney, Sebastian Arcelus, Sean Bridgers.

50 Shades of Grey - bringing people together since 2011.

The quality of a movie based on a Nicholas Sparks book is becoming as predictable as the posters promoting them.

Just as you can bet that the poster will probably feature two people inches from kissing as one of them caresses the other's face, it's equally likely the movie will be a pile of mushy romantic tripe peppered with terrible dialogue, hackneyed plots, and maybe even a weird twist in the tail.

These films have their fans - particularly the overrated love story of The Notebook - and do well at the box office, so maybe all critics are wrong when we continually give them terrible reviews.

But having sat through The Best Of Me, I would be amazed to hear even the most ardent Sparks fan defend it as anything more than rubbish.

The premise follows Dawson and Amanda, whose love burns brightly for a few heady months in 1992 until something happens - and this is the film's big slow-burn mystery - that tears them apart.

Twenty-one years later, Dawson and Amanda are reunited by the death of mutual friend Tuck (McRaney), rekindling old feelings, past mistakes, and the prospect of adultery given that Amanda is apparently unhappy marriaged.

As a youngster, Dawson is played by former Home & Away hunk Luke Bracey, who appears way too old to be a high school student and looks nothing like his supposed older version, played by James Marsden, which is jarring, but not a deal-breaker.

What's worse is Bracey's unconvincing chemistry with the bubbly Liana Liberato, which never really sells the idea that this is some kind of undying love that will endure despite two decades apart - more like it's the kind of high school fling that was bound to fizzle out as they got older and went to different colleges.

Furthermore, the plot involving a middle-aged man never getting over his first crush is presented as super-romantic but comes off in places as being super creepy. From the point of view of the grown-up Amanda (Monaghan), it's kind of sad and slightly wrong that despite having been married for a long time she still carries a torch for Dawson.

Being a thirty-something male, I am not the target audience for these Sparks adaptions and I can see how these are (and I'm broadly stereotyping film demographics here) intended as the female equivalent of the superhero genre - they're about fantastical situations, escapism and a kind of wish fulfilment. But if one demographic daydreams about being Iron Man or Spider-man and saving the world, the other demographic apparently (according to The Best Of Me) yearns to commit adultery with hunky men from the wrong side of the tracks who garden with their shirts off, can fix cars, and read books about physics and quantum mechanics. This may be true - I don't know, but it's what the film would have me believe.

There's definitely something fantastical about the whole thing - no one in real life talks like the people in The Best Of Me, and even the best efforts of Marsden and Monaghan (who surely have better things to do) can't make these words fly. Equally out-there is the ending, which admittedly isn't quite as insane as the finale to last year's Sparks adaptation Safe Haven but is still mind-bogglingly redundant and contrived.

There are themes about fate and destiny among it all, ideas about things happening for a reason, but they're as laughable as the villains in the film.

A couple of highlights mildly offset things - the film looks pretty, Tuck is a good character and nicely underplayed by McRaney, and there are a couple of nice moments amid the clichéd bits we've come to expect in almost every Sparks adaptation (kissing in the rain, swimming together, sleeping on the floor together).

These positives are not enough to recommend The Best Of Me, which unfortunately brought out the worst of me as a critic.

Fury

(MA15+) ★★★

Director: David Ayer.

Cast: Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Peña, Jon Bernthal, Jason Isaacs.

"I'd kiss you, but they won't allow that stuff in the army for at least another 60 years."

WAR is hell, and movie-makers love to remind us of this.

From early classic war movies such as All Quiet On The Western Front and The Big Parade through to recent efforts such as Lone Survivor and The Railway Man, the futility and brutality of war seems to have been shot from every imaginable angle.

So it's somewhat refreshing to ride along in the tank named Fury for a couple of hours and get a Sherman's eye-view of WWII's final months - a viewpoint rarely seen in war movies.

But Ayer's film still can't quite escape the "seen it all before" sensation that comes with the territory, and as the clichés start to pile up around Fury like dead Nazis, this tank runs out of gas.

Pitt stars as Sgt Collier, commander of the M4 Sherman tank, who has led his crew of Bible (LaBeouf), Gordo (Peña) and Grady (Bernthal) since the campaigns of North Africa.

When their fifth crew member is killed, new guy Norman (Lerman) is thrown into Fury and it's through his eyes we see the dehumanising effects and harsh realities of war.

From its opening shot recalling Lawrence Of Arabia through to its increasingly ludicrous Rambo-esque final showdown, Fury can't escape the tropes of the war film, such as the cruel-to-be-kind commander, the sacrifices and last stands, the Saving Private Ryan-like massacres, the "loss of innocence" moment, men devolving to animals, and the vain attempts to recapture civility. Even the cramped confines of the tank recall classic submarine drama Das Boot.

This isn't necessarily a criticism - more the reality of the genre - but in this film's case, there is an almost overwhelming collection of clichés, leading to a strong sense of deja vu and an air of predictability.

Where Fury really excels is when it tries to give us something different, which is during its fantastic and fascinating tank warfare scenes. War films have regularly run through the trenches and battlefields, consulted with the generals, taken on secret missions, sat in the cockpits of fighter planes, and disappeared beneath the waves in a sub, but riding inside the armoured hull of a Sherman gives the film a novel perspective. The way it handles its "first kill" moment also stands out.

The cast is also great. The under-rated LaBeouf, who seemed like he'd gone off the deep end in recent times, gives the film's stand-out performance as the tank crew's teary-eyed religious zealot, although Lerman (in his meatiest role to date) and the always excellent Pitt are also stellar. The cast chemistry is strong, even if we hardly get to know the characters.

But under the weight of its familiarity and its strangely over-the-top ending, Fury's weaknesses become all too obvious.

It remains somewhat memorable for its armour-plated manoeuvres but also oddly forgettable at the same time due to its reliance on tropes. Fury is destined to be remembered as "that so-so tank movie" rather than a modern classic of the war genre.

The Judge

(M) ★★★½

Director: David Dobkin.

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jeremy Strong, Billy Bob Thornton, Dax Shepard.

The Suit of the Year competition was on.

THERE'S nothing quite like a funeral to bring the family back together.

And if it's a funeral in a movie, that family reunion is bound to result in the airing of plenty of dirty laundry and a few skeletons falling out of the closets they were hidden in. It made up most of Death At A Funeral, we saw it recently in August: Osage County and it will be a central plot point in the upcoming This Is Where I Leave You, to name just three.

This overused trope also is the kick-off point for The Judge, where hotshot lawyer Hank Palmer (Downey Jr) returns home for the first time in 20 years to help bury his mother.

His homecoming reignites his troubled relationship with his father, local long-serving judge Joseph Palmer (Duvall), whose authoritative standing in his family is exemplified by the fact they all call him "Judge".

The relationship takes an interesting turn when Judge is arrested the day after the funeral for allegedly running down and killing a known felon, forcing Hank to step up and defend his dad in court.

If a lot of those ideas sound familiar it's because they are. The Judge has to fight hard to overcome the fact its a big old ball of clichés all rolled together.

The funeral bringing the family together for the airing of grievances, the high-flying former local returning home to confront his past, the father-and-son team needing to put their differences aside and work together for the good of the family, and even the courtroom becoming a place to mend emotional family hurts - they're all here, piled on top of each other as if they're the double-episode opener for a new TV show called Small Town Lawyer or something.

Even Downey Jr's character feels like a cliché, one that's becoming his stock-in-trade - the arrogant, sarcastic hotshot who secretly has a heart of gold could be describing his roles in the Iron Man movies, Chef, Due Date, and Sherlock Holmes - AKA almost every movie he's been in for the last five years.

Having said that, Downey Jr does that type of character incredibly well, and here he dials his performance up to 11, giving one of the best performances of his career.

It's his turn, particularly when he goes head-to-head with Duvall's grumpy patriarch, that elevates this movie. Thanks to the efforts of the two Roberts and their solid supporting cast, The Judge is better than it should be and transcends its numerous clichés and resulting melodrama.

The aforementioned performances are the only degree of subtlety about The Judge. For example, the opposing lawyer (Thornton) has a history with Hank Palmer and a pointless affectation involving a metal cup that clangs and opens violently. Then there's the storm that blows in to town at the peak of the father-son turmoil, only to disappear with no ramifications other than serving as some overly simple symbolism. And then there's the relationship between Hank and his ex (Farmiga), which picks up like the last 20 years never happened.

Dobkin, best known for directing comedies such as The Change-Up and Wedding Crashers, can't do much in the face of these script contrivances except let the cast do its thing. He handles the rare comedic moments nicely, which does help to defuse the excessive emotive moments.

Having said all that, the clichés and melodrama are reasonably inoffensive and overall the film is relatively enjoyable. Its biggest problem is that it's way too long at two hours and 20 minutes - whereas the 149 minutes of Gone Girl barely drags, the 140 minutes of The Judge definitely feels like more of a slog.

If not for Downey Jr and co, The Judge could be a seen-it-before waste of time, but their performances help illuminate the colour and heart in the story and overcome its shortcomings.

Gone Girl

(MA15+) ★★★★½

Director: David Fincher.

Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Tyler Perry, Patrick Fugit, Neil Patrick Harris.

"Sancho bought a message from The Fatman/Sorry, boys, to leave you high and dry..."

David Fincher loves a good mystery, and no one does a mystery quite like him.

Take the depraved killer thriller Seven, or the methodical search-for-a-psycho Zodiac, or the highly effective if ultimately redundant American remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - all three of these films have been not only intense whodunnits, but also mesmerising journeys to the dark side that unravel with equal amounts of dread and intrigue.

Add to this collection Gone Girl, another gut-clenching mystery that doesn't so much unravel but rather corkscrew its way through some delicious plot twists.

And while Fincher is the master of this, credit is also due to Gillian Flynn, adapting her own novel into a rivetingly kinked screenplay.

It centres on the disappearance and suspected murder of pretty Baltimore housewife Amy Dunne (Pike) and the increasing suspicion that her husband Nick (Affleck) may have been responsible.

The ensuing media circus and police investigation raise more and more questions, as Gone Girl becomes less about the who and more about the how and why.

Perhaps more interesting is what all these queries say about its many themes, such as the nature of marriage and our dreams and goals, and what happens when they don't go to plan, plus there's a disturbing insight into the power of the media and the potential darkness that exists behind the closed doors of a seemingly happy home.

Flynn's plotting that takes the cake, but it's Fincher's direction that bakes it to perfection. Even though much of the film takes place in the sunny outdoors of suburbia or similarly everyday settings, there's an ominous tone that Fincher invokes with ease.

He's ably assisted by regular scorers Trent Reznor and Atticus Finch, who turn in their most discordant soundtrack to date, which is predominantly good and aids the sense of dread but unfortunately threatens to overpower the dialogue at times.

It would all be for nought with the wrong cast. Fortunately, we have Affleck in career-best form, which some would say is damning him with faint praise, but if you've ever doubted Affleck's talents, this is the movie that will change your mind. His naturalistic but nuanced performance is Oscar-worthy.

As is Pike's, who deserves to graduate to the A-list with her multi-faceted turn as Amy. No longer will she be written about as a forgettable Bond girl in a terrible 007 film, unless it's to remind you how far she's come when she starts collecting awards for performance in Gone Girl.

Dickens, Coon and Fugit are also good, Perry adds some much-needed tension-relief, while Harris is the only weak link in what is a blissfully small role.

Aside from Harris and some occasional issues with the score, Gone Girl's only other downside is its length. For much of its two-and-a-half hours there is no sense that things are dragging on too long, and it's only late into the final act that you wonder where it's all going and how long it will take you to get there. Fortunately, a gob-smacking ending will leave you knowing it was all worthwhile.

Is Gone Girl on the same level as Fincher's flawless masterpieces such as Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac and The Social Network? Not quite, but it's damned close.

The Boxtrolls

(PG) ★★★★

Director: Graham Annable & Anthony Stacchi.

Cast: (voices of) Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Elle Fanning, Ben Kingsley, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan.

The Republican convention was in full swing.

Despite the onslaught of the digital era, the painstaking process of stop-motion filmmaking refuses to die, and thank goodness for that.

If stop motion animation had gone the way of the movie intermission, we would have missed out on such recent gems as Frankenweenie, The Pirates! Band Of Misfits, Fantastic Mr Fox, Mary & Max, Coraline, and ParaNorman - some of the best films of the last five years.

Laika, the production company behind the latter two, are responsible for The Boxtrolls, another brilliant addition to the list of modern stop-motion classics.

As with their previous two films, Laika has infused The Boxtrolls with a welcome layer of darkness amid the all-ages appeal. Based loosely on Alan Snow's book Here Be Monsters!, it follows the story of Eggs (voiced by Hempstead-Wright), a young boy who has been raised by the subterranean-dwelling Boxtrolls.

While the Boxtrolls are merely meek scavengers, they have been portrayed as baby-stealing cannibals by Archibald Snatcher (Kingsley), who heads up a team of troll exterminators and is waging his own war against the little monsters in the hopes of climbing the social ladder and become part of the ruling class.

It's up to Eggs and his new friend Winnie (Fanning) to save the Boxtrolls and reveal the truth about Snatcher.

There are some interesting ideas and fascinating themes at play here, but from a kid's-eye view it's an enjoyable tale about doing the right thing, helping others, and looking out for your family, peppered with funny pratfalls and slapstick, plus a few "yucky" bits that the young 'uns (and oldies) will likely find funny.

But a great kids' film should reveal extra layers as its audience ages, and The Boxtrolls has that in spades. Government wastefulness, the power of fear, racial prejudices, self-determination, non-nuclear families, and the nature of evil all get explored, and there are a number of very clever jokes that will sail over younger heads, including many from a pair of comically philosophical henchmen voiced by Frost and Ayoade.

They're just two names in a stellar voice cast. Kingsley's voicework is particularly outstanding, while youngsters Hempstead-Wright and Fanning lead the way well.

The look of the film is impressive. Set in the faux-British town of Cheesebridge, the film encompasses a mixture of Victorian-era, gothic and steampunk elements, but unlike some stop-motion movies, The Boxtrolls is not afraid to dabble with computer-generated elements to enhance its world, pushing the boundaries between the old and the new.

As a result there are some shots and techniques not commonly seen in these styles of movies and which expand on some of the intriguing tricks and effects achieved in Coraline and ParaNorman.

The script is also sharp, barely wasting a second, developing its characters in unexpected ways, and using plenty of symbolism to "show not tell" - it's intelligent filmmaking that never talks down to its audience, which means the film will keep on giving with future re-watches.

In short, it's the kind of film that's a joy whether you're 11 or 77.

Step Up: All In

(PG) ★★½

Director: Trish Sie.

Cast: Ryan Guzman, Briana Evigan, Adam Sevani, Stephen Jones, Izabella Miko, Chadd Smith.

No one could believe they were making a fifth Step Up film.

The Step Up series is now five films long - at the time of writing, that's as many movies as Die Hard, Dirty Harry, and Twilight.

Judging by this longevity, the franchise is evidently doing something right, and that something is dancing.

Throughout the series, which launched the career of Channing Tatum way back when it began in 2006, Step Up films have thrived on their truly stunning dance sequences, which have been consistently impressive and innovative.

The biggest drawback has been that when you remove the popping, locking, crunking and breaking from the equation, what is left is a level of melodrama, shorthanded plotting, and lame characterisation usually reserved for movies made for the Disney Channel.

Fans of the series don't care about that though. They'll just be happy to see lots of dancing and so many returning faces - Andie from #2, Camille from #1 and #3, Monster from #2 and #3, the Santiago twins from #3, Sean from #4, and that guy that does The Robot really, really well in #3 and #4.

These people, and then some, team up to form a crew called LMNTL (that's pronounced 'Elemental', not 'Lemon Tell' apparently), who enter Las Vegas dance competition The Vortex, which promises the winner a three-year residency in Vegas.

Sean (Guzman), who was the focal point of the last film, has set up LMNTL after falling out with his old Miami crew The Mob, so naturally The Mob will be competing against LMNTL in The Vortex at some point. And Sean doesn't get along with his new crewmate Andie (Evigan), so naturally they'll fall in love and learn to trust each other at some point.

This level of predictability has been ever-present in the Step Up series, where every plot is just a minor variation on the previous one and merely a vague excuse to unleash its trump card of killer dance routines. These movies are to teenage girls what shoot-'em-up action movies are to teenage boys - predictable plotting surrounding slight reasons for the actiony bits.

When the film puts on its dancing shoes, it wins. A "mad professor" themed sequence LMNTL uses as its entry submission for The Vortex is very cool, and the grand finale is a jaw-dropper, especially considering the film has managed to up the impressiveness with each preceding routine.

The stellar choreography and dance performances are almost enough to distract from the endless Vegas montages, the lame subplots that are resolved in two seconds, the unintentionally hilarious "villains", and "laughs" that fall flat on their faces.

It feels futile poking holes in the non-dancing moments or the wasted opportunites, such as a subplot about The Vortex competition being filmed for reality TV which is underused and proves inconsequential. The people who loved the previous films will probably turn up en masse to see this.

And realistically, it's all about the cool dance moves, which Step Up: All In has in spades.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

(M) ★★

Director: Jonathan Liebesman.

Cast: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, Tohoru Masamune, Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, (and the voices of) Johnny Knoxville and Tony Shalhoub.

One of these kids is doing their own thing.

It's hard to figure out what's the most annoying thing about this TMNT reboot.

Is it the ear-shattering sound design or the endlessly moving camera?

Is it what the animators have done to the turtles' faces or what plastic surgeons have done to Megan Fox's face over the years?

Or is it the fact that producer Michael Bay has added yet another treasured childhood cartoon memory to his back catalogue of crap films he's affiliated with?

The whole thing starts promisingly enough - during a nicely stylised introduction mutated rat sensei Splinter (voiced by Tony Shalhoub) narrates a brief introduction to the ninja turtles and their war against the evil Foot Clan.

From there it goes downhill pretty quickly as Fox takes centre stage as journalist April O'Neil. Not only is O'Neil in the running for the title of "worst movie journalist ever", but Fox can probably expect a Razzie nomination for worst actress when the anti-Oscars comes around.

While trying to crack a big story about the Foot Clan's nefarious plans, she accidentally uncovers the existence of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and soon finds herself embroiled in their efforts to save New York City from the evil Shredder and his foot soldiers.

It's not a total waste of time because in one sense this is the TMNT movie some fans have been waiting for. Gone are the cumbersome rubber suits of the original trilogy, which relied on clever editing to make Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo move like ninjas. In their place are strange, hyper-real-looking computer-generated turtles that take some getting used to, but which move and fight better than ever.

Their characterisation is spot on too and the film is at its best when the heroes in a half-shell are interacting - a brief humourous respite featuring the turtles killing time in an elevator is a great example of this.

The other highlight is the CGI, particularly during an insane downhill running battle featuring a runaway truck, a mini-avalanche, and electrified harpoons.

But with such impressive effects it's a shame Liebesman feels compelled to keep the camera constantly moving so we can't get a good look at things, most notably during a distracting fight in the sewers featuring Splinter and his turtles versus Shredder and his foot soldiers.

Obviously the idea of mutated adolescent amphibians with a knack for martial arts requires a fairly large suspension of disbelief, but this can't excuse the huge amount of frustrating plot contrivances and "what the" moments crammed in here.

O'Neil's connection with the turtles is a good example of this, as is the bad guys' ability to move so quickly from capturing the MacGuffin to executing their diabolical plan (this makes no sense out of context but trust me on this). Then there are the endless efforts to cram in every touchstone from the previous comics and cartoons, including a groan-worthy attempt to get the title of the film into the dialogue.

Managing the inherent goofiness of the concept behind these pizza-loving turtles and the current trend towards the "oh-so-serious" approach to all reboots and comic-book movies is a balancing act Liebesman and the multiple writers can't quite nail, particularly when Fox's O'Neil seems to have wandered in from a completely different movie.

The result is an annoying mess. A few memorable moments can't save it from the frustrating editing, a ridiculous script, and way too much Megan Fox and her bizarrely enhanced features.

Magic In The Moonlight

(PG) ★★

Director: Woody Allen.

Cast: Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Simon McBurney, Hamish Linklater, Eileen Atkins, Marcia Gay Harden, Jacki Weaver.

"Wait... where did I park my bulldozer?"

Even 46 films into his career as a director, Woody Allen still finds interesting subject matter.

It's part of the secret to his success. His knack for catching intriguing story ideas and his prolific nature (he still puts out at least one film every year and has done so since 1977's Annie Hall) means you never have to wait long for a triumph to make up for a misfire.

Speaking in those terms, Magic In The Moonlight is definitely a misfire, but at least it has some great concepts and an interesting conceit at its core.

Set between the wars in Southern France, it stars Firth as Stanley Crawford, a man known to the world as the master illusionist (and fake Chinaman) Wei Ling Soo.

After a show he bumps into old friend Howard (McBurney), who convinces Stanley to use his skills and cynicism to help debunk Sophie Baker (Stone), a young American proclaiming to have psychic powers and the ability to speak with the dead.

Sophie has ingratiated herself with the rich and influential Catledge family and Stanley is certain she must be a charlatan chasing the Catledge fortune, but upon meeting Sophie, Stanley finds himself questioning everything he knows.

As a set-up, it's fascinating, and the mysteries surrounding Sophie help maintain interest, even though the script is blunt and hurried, and the dialogue occasionally distractingly unnatural.

The battle of the minds between Sophie and Stanley is equally gripping, at least initially, and Stone and Firth are good, but again, it's undone by the script.

The flaws in the screenplay eventually win out over the potential of the premise and the talent. Despite being only 90-something minutes long, Magic In The Moonlight drags, and neither Stone nor Firth can save it as the rushed feeling of the first half gives way to an unnecessary slog in the second half.

But worst of all are the incongruous characters and their actions. Stanley's arrogance and mirthless intellectualism feels like it should be funnier and less of a caricature, while Sophie is equally shallow, showing little beyond her mystical abilities and opportunism.

This is all in spite of Stone's bubbly performance and Firth's excellent stiff upper Britishness, which aren't enough to overcome the unnecessary aspects of their characters and relationship.

Beautifully shot with gorgeous art design and featuring a good cast and a promising set-up, Magic In The Moonlight should be a dazzler, but instead it fizzles thanks to an undercooked script.

The Inbetweeners 2

(MA15+) ★★★

Director: Damon Beesley & Iain Morris.

Cast: Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley, Blake Harrison, Emily Berrington.

The day was hotter than Satan's ballbag.

When you're on a good thing stick to it - that's the motto of the makers of The Inbetweeners, which began as three seasons of British television before leaping to the big screen in 2011.

If you've seen any of the previous misadventures of Will, Simon, Jay and Neil then you'll know a) what you're in for and b) how much you'll probably love it.

Having run rampant in the Greek islands after finishing high school, this time the boys are up to more of the same in Australia.

Via a cleverly filmed introduction we learn Jay (Buckley) is supposedly living the high life in Sydney, leaving his down-on-their-luck mates keen for a pick-me-up holiday. Will (Bird) is hating his loner's existence at uni, Simon (Thomas) is struggling to deal with his worryingly clingy girlfriend, and Neil (Harrison) is, well, still Neil, ie. not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Heading Down Under provides the boys with plenty of opportunities for shenanigans and embarrassments, and the movie is gushing with gross-out gags, toilet humour and plenty of just-plain-wrongness.

Thankfully it's refreshingly light on with the Australianisms, except for Jay's hilarious koala-punching intro. While it can't resist slipping a couple of ocker bogans in there, The Inbetweeners 2 is more concerned with taking the mickey out of annoying backpackers as opposed to piling on the Aussie stereotypes. The "spiritual" tourists, dreadlocked campfire bongo players, and the hostel lifestyle are right in the firing line, as are "Pommie morons" who get lost in the outback.

Thankfully the interaction of the four leads is still great because it's an incredibly flimsy film otherwise. There are no lessons learnt, no character arcs and no deeper themes, which is welcome in a way due to the nature of Will, Simon, Jay and Neil and their states of arrested development, but it means the movie is pretty inconsequential.

The laughs are reasonably constant for the first hour at least and luckily what's left doesn't run on too long after that because the film runs out of petrol (quite literally) and collapses in an anti-climactic heap at the end.

What's going to matter most to fans is how often they laugh and how hard. The digs at Byron Bay hippy tourists are pretty good and some unfortunate incidents at a water park will certainly stick in the memory, so there's no doubting this will appease fans.

If you haven't seen any of The Inbetweeners, you're either missing out on some hilariously juvenile humour or you're probably enjoying the fact that you've been missing out on some puerile juvenile humour. Take your pick.

The Expendables 3

(M) ★★

Director: Patrick Hughes.

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Antonio Banderas, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Kelsey Grammer, Terry Crews, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell, Victor Ortiz, Jet Li.

Los Angeles just wasn't the tourist destination it used to be.

Look at how long that cast list is.

And look at some of those names - Rambo, Zorro, Mad Max, Blade, Indiana Jones, The Terminator.

It's weird seeing a line-up like that these days. In the '80s it would have meant you were about to watch The Greatest Action Movie In The History Of The Universe. But watching these people together on the screen in 2014 reminds you how cruel the passage of time can be and how far some have fallen since their 1980s glory days.

None have fallen further than Mel Gibson, who is the best thing in this movie.

Regardless of what he said or did in the past to earn his effective blackballing from Hollywood, there's no denying Mad Mel can act and seeing him as villain Conrad Stonebanks is a perverse delight.

Stonebanks is the trigger for this Expendable outing - he's supposed to be dead, but when head Expendable Barney Ross (Stallone) and his team spot Stonebanks alive and well in Somalia it leads them to pursue him across the globe on behalf of the CIA, who plan to put Stonebanks on trial at The Hague for war crimes.

There's also history between Ross and Stonebanks as they started The Expendables together, but Ross is not willing to risk his current team to bring him in and instead hires a bunch of newbies to do the dirty work (hence the low-wattage names of Lutz, Rousey, Powell and Ortiz in that lengthy cast list).

This last point ends up being one of the film's biggest downfalls. While physics and logic go out the window whenever you step into a darkened cinema to see an Expendables film, the idea of Ross sending a group of talented yet inexperienced kids on a suicide mission instead of his trusted (and frankly over the hill) teammates doesn't sit very well with him being the movie's good guy.

It also strips away one of the best aspects of these films to date, which has been the interaction of his endearing team of muscle-bound, machine gun-toting lugheads. With them out of the picture for most of the picture, we're left to watch a pack of nameless 20-somethings who we don't care about.

Things work best when the old hands are in the mix. New addition Banderas is a scene-stealer as the garrulous Galgo, Schwarzenegger gets some good lines (including the old favourite "get to the chopper!"), Grammer is great, Ford looks like he's having fun filling in for Bruce Willis, and Snipes' acting may be shaky but he also looks like he's having a blast, even getting in a joke about his recent stint in jail for tax evasion.

As mentioned, Gibson steals the show, and the film lights up whenever he's on screen, in much the same way as previous series villains Eric Roberts and Jean-Claude Van Damme. It makes you want to see him back on the big screen more, or to play more villains.

While it's great watching these familiar faces together again, The Expendables 3 lacks the spark of The Expendables 2, which is the best of the series. The second film was in on the joke, having taken itself too seriously first time around - these guys are predominantly past their prime and can't do the things they used to do, meaning their legends now cast longer shadows than their present-day action personas.

This made The Expendables 2 genuinely funny, in a laugh-with-it way. As line after line clunks to the ground, as the stunts get more impossible, and as the bravado becomes sillier, you're laughing at instead of with Expendables 3.

It's a shame. The cast is likeable, the stunt work is exemplary, and the wave of nostalgia brought on by seeing The Italian Stallion, The Austrian Oak, Mad Mel and Han Solo share scenes almost makes it all worthwhile.

For these reasons, it's hard to totally shoot down The Expendables 3. And even though this one's not very good, I'd still line-up to see The Expendables 4, which will probably star Jackie Chan, Michael Dudikoff, Steven Seagal, and Pierce Brosnan.

But yeah, this isn't very good.

The Trip To Italy

(M) ★★★½

Director: Michael Winterbottom.

Cast: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Rosie Fellner, Claire Keelan, Marta Barrio, Timothy Leach.

"Dear Diary, I can't help but feel like Coogan is looking over my shoulder constantly, reading everything I write."

Coogan and Brydon are back for another serve of good food, great locations and hilarious impersonations in this sequel to The Trip.

If you've seen the first one, you're already on board for this one because effectively The Trip To Italy is more of the same.

Winterbottom has taken the six episodes of season two of the TV series and boiled them down into a feature length film, in which Coogan and Brydon re-team to travel through Italy under the pretence of writing some more articles (or possibly a book) about the food and frivolities they enjoy, all the while listening to Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill (as it's the only CD they have with them).

Once again, the starring pair play fictionalised versions of themselves, with the main difference being that Brydon is the focus character this time - the ups and downs of his marriage and career provide the closest thing the film has to a narrative.

Through the examination of these stylised renderings of the leads, The Trip To Italy meditates on the nature of fame and ageing, but it doesn't delve too deep - the whole thing is really just a wonderful excuse to show off the Italian countryside and coastline while Coogan and Brydon bust out their impeccable impersonations.

Their Michael Caine impressions are a favourite, but we also get to hear their skills as Hugh Grant, Robert De Niro, Anthony Hopkins, Roger Moore, and Michael Parkinson, and it's hilarious.

The whole thing is a thin and flimsy travelogue but the banter between the pair make it better and far funnier than it has any right to be.

Monty Python Live (Mostly)

(MA15+) ★★★

Director: Aubrey Powell.

Cast: Eric Idle, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman.

There are no words.

A joke is never as funny the second time you hear it, yet somehow the humour of Monty Python still gets laughs, despite being roughly four decades old and everyone knowing every line, every nuance, and every punchline (or lack thereof).

It's testament to the ground-breaking talent of these Beatles Of Comedy that people still want to see those same sketches, and that fans have been clamouring for a reunion - any reunion - of the five surviving Pythons.

So it here it is - 10 shows live in London's O2 Arena, the first of which sold out in 43 seconds and the last of which has been filmed and beamed into cinemas around the world.

It's three hours of nostalgia-inducing hilarity, or, to be more accurate, it's more like one and a half hours of nostalgia-inducing hilarity by the time you take out the ostentatious dance sequences, the 15-minute intermission, the instrumental musical interludes, and the awkward final ovation.

Being there would have been a very different experience and the complex dance/musical numbers might have seemed more fitting and exciting, but on the big screen - when all you really want is the absurd humour - they just seem to break the flow of the production. Where are the innovative linking jokes that made Monty Python's Flying Circus such a revolutionary sketch show?

Obviously the dance numbers are stalling for time while sets are prepared and the five Pythons can get into the appropriate costumes, but some of them really drag on (particularly The Penis Song). Mind you, they do prevent the show from relying too much on old clips (although seeing a bit more of the late great Graham Chapman wouldn't have gone astray), which would have also felt like a bit of a rip-off.

These big production numbers are obviously the work of Eric Idle, who was responsible for the live show's staging and who has spent the past decade turning The Holy Grail and Life Of Brian into a Broadway musical and oratorio respectively. Some of them work wonderfully - a ballet version of Sit On My Face is suitably "Pythonesque" - but some don't - an extended number that merges the Nudge Nudge sketch into an intro for Blackmail feels tacky.

It's the sketches we want, and that's when this is at its best. The Spanish Inquisition, Dead Parrot, Exploding Penguin On The TV Set, Four Yorkshiremen, Crossdressing Judges, Argument Clinic - if these phrases mean anything to you then you'll be in stitches.

Cleese and Palin are still as great as ever and put everything into their performances while Gilliam seems over the moon about being on stage and his enthusiasm is infectious. Sadly Jones seems a little lost and befuddled by it all, while Idle seems more interested in getting the 15,000-strong audience to singalong when he's playing guitar.

The sketches are predominantly great. Some new material wouldn't have gone astray (a video post-script to The Galaxy Song is a rare and hilarious addition), which makes the bits when they go off-script or mess up welcome and endearing. Cleese and Palin taking their time to get through the Dead Parrot and Cheese Shop sketches is a definite highlight.

Like most reunions, Monty Python Live (Mostly) is good at reminding you how great these guys were, with 'were' being the key word. It's unmissable in one sense because it's the only reunion we're going to get, and the warm fuzzy feeling of seeing the Python team re-staging these classic sketches or singing Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life makes it well worth seeing.

Keep your expectations low, and you'll be transported back to their glory days. Then go home and watch the TV show and listen to the albums, and all will be right with the world.

Guardians Of The Galaxy

(M) ★★★★

Director: James Gunn.

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel.

"Who is Keyser Soze?"

WHILE comic book powerhouse DC were dithering about rebooting Superman and Batman yet again rather than daring to do something different, its rival Marvel looked at its vast roster of characters and said, "whatever - let's make a superhero movie starring a tree and a talking raccoon".

Almost every article about Guardians Of The Galaxy has called it "a gamble". Marvel's film-making arm has taken its fair share of risks in setting up its Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) - Iron Man wasn't exactly a household name, The Hulk was rebooted not long after the Ang Lee debacle, Captain America had to overcome perceptions of being a mere jingoistic flag-waver, and Thor's mixture of Norse myth, faux-Shakespearean dialogue and hammer-throwing was seen as unwieldy.

Even with all that in mind, taking the little-known Guardians Of The Galaxy to the big screen was seen as a bridge too far.

But, as with pretty much everything it has done, Marvel has gambled and won with this comedic space opera. Sci-fi hasn't been this fun since Star Wars and it hasn't been this funny since Galaxy Quest.

The premise isn't ground-breaking - a Usual Suspects-style gang of criminals pool their talents to take on a bigger baddie who is after a powerful weapon they have stolen.

What makes Guardians Of The Galaxy cool is that said criminals are a quirky bunch. There's the human thief Peter Quill aka Starlord (Pratt) whose most prized possession is a Walkman, the tree-like Groot (Diesel), a raccoon named Rocket (Cooper), a literal-minded mountain of muscle called Drax The Destroyer (Bautista), and a green-skinned assassin with trust issues named Gamora (Saldana).

The performances are top notch. Pratt, in just one film, has leapt from wacky supporting character to the A-list with an endearing and funny turn as Quill, who comes across as a goofier Han Solo. As expected Rocket and Groot steal the show, but the big surprise is wrestler-turned-actor Bautista, whose Drax is unknowingly hilarious and a real highlight of the film.

With such a set-up, Guardians Of The Galaxy's brilliantly succeeds in not taking itself too seriously, except when it needs too.

The perfect example of this can be found in the first five minutes. The opening scene poignantly sets up Quill's relationship with his mother, but immediately follows that by introducing the film's irreverent nature with a sequence that introduces Quill and his beloved Walkman.

The Tarantino-esque soundtrack he's listening to is a good example of how clever Guardians Of The Galaxy is. Not only do we get to watch spaceship shoot-outs and visit alien worlds accompanied by the smooth sounds of Marvin Gaye, The Runaways, David Bowie, The Jackson 5, and 10CC, but the music is part of the story and a clever plot device.

With its timely bad language, a hilarious Kevin Bacon reference, Groot's three-word vocabulary ("I am Groot"), and a very funny dig at the "stirring speech" cliché, this film is shaping up to be the funniest of the year. It even uses its post-credit sequence as a joke, although one likely to go over the heads of all but the nerdiest of Marvel fans.

Underneath the gags however, Guardians Of The Galaxy uses its MacGuffin-centric plot to address themes of friendship and loss, giving its five Guardians just enough development and baggage to make us care about them and their growing bond.

The biggest criticism of the film is the way it delivers some of its important information such as character backstories or details about the galaxy. There's always going to be a fair amount of necessary exposition in this type of movie, but the script feels a little bit clunky at times, such as when a new character arrives and immediately spouts their motivations and background seemingly unprompted.

Despite this, Guardians Of The Galaxy is pleasingly restrained in its world-building. It hints at so much more that is going on its galaxy but doesn't get bogged down in it, nor does it labour over connections to the pre-existing Marvel Cinematic Universe - aside from The Other and Thanos (who were seen in The Avengers) and The Collector (who popped up in Thor 2's post-credit sequence), this is a stand-alone property that doesn't require watching the previous nine MCU movies.

Overall, Guardians Of The Galaxy is just downright enjoyable. It's the kind of movie that makes you wish you were a kid again, because you know that if you'd seen it at the right age it would have definitely become your favourite movie of all time.

Lucy

(MA15+) ★★★

Director: Luc Besson.

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Amr Waked.

"Would you like to hear some stories about penguins?"

Let's get the obvious out of the way first - the idea that humans use only 10 per cent of their brains is a myth.

And while it might be untrue, it certainly makes for an interesting plot device, as seen already in Neil Burger's 2011 film Limitless.

In Lucy, French writer-director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Leon aka The Professional) takes the same idea and goes totally nuts with it - whereas Bradley Cooper's character in Limitless used his increased mental capacity to write a novel, clean his apartment, and get rich on the stock market, Scarlett Johansson's Lucy uses it to develop telekinesis and telepathy, and inevitably explore the very furthest reaches of time and space.

As a result, despite sharing a plot springboard, Lucy is far more extreme than Limitless. While Limitless was a murder-mystery, Lucy is essentially an action movie with some pseudo-science and psychobabble thrown in, mostly via the gravitas-adding voice of Morgan Freeman, who plays a scientist who specialises in mental capacity.

These sci-fi touches make this Besson's answer to The Matrix. He uses the 10 per cent myth as a launch pad for examining life, the universe and everything in between a thrilling car chase, some John Woo-style slow-mo shoot-outs, and some impressive CG effects.

The deeper themes are a mix of the profound and the bonkers, and make up part of the reason why Lucy is destined for cult classic status.

It certainly has all the ingredients for becoming an underground fanboy favourite - the big ideas, the cool action sequences, some innovative moments we've never seen before (in particular a non-fight with a hallway full of goons, and a climactic mental journey through space and time), and a certain wonkiness that stops it being truly excellent.

Those imperfections include a few weird and nonsensical moments such as the unnecessary editing of stock footage into the first act, a near-total lack of character development, and the decision for Johansson to play the titular Lucy like she's some kind of robot, which puts her at arm's length from the audience.

This portrayal, while it makes total sense in the context of the film, is pretty weird (which again helps with the cult classic thing) and leaves the film with the emotional depth of a broken iPhone. Admittedly it's a good performance from Johansson but a strange one nonetheless.

But then again Lucy is a strange film. It's certainly the best thing Besson's directed since The Fifth Element and has far more intellectual edge and intrigue to it than most of the stuff he's been writing and producing over the past decade, but ultimately Lucy feels a bit like a cheap thrill masquerading as a philosophical discussion.

PS. I feel obliged to point out there are a few gory surgical-type moments which made the woman in front of me hide her eyes a couple of times, so consider yourself warned if you have a weak constitution.