For up to date local cinema links and day-by-day  listings of what’s showing on local screens every week visit the Virtual-Lancaster Cinema Page. Read on for the weekly round-up, and reviews.

A good period for new releases. There is comedy with Chef (15); comedy/romance with The Fault in our Stars (12A); an action mystery with 3 Days to Kill (12A) and the musical Jersey Boys (15).

We have lost the films A Million Ways to Die in the West and Bad Neighbours, but see the return of Captain America and the animation Tarzan Also we keep Muppets most Wanted after its return to the cinema last week.

Recommended viewing this week is the horror film Oculus with its emphasis on suspense and atmosphere over gore. Also of note is the eerie classic Under the Skin and the black and white portrayal of Nazi occupation in Rome Open City.

High culture is represented with Henry IV parts I and II and the opera Manon Lescaut.

Reviews

22 Jump Street

Director: Phil Lord and Chris Miller

Certificate: 15

Cast Includes: Jonah Hill, Peter Stormare, Channing Tatum, Amber Stevens, Ice Cube

The movie finds Police officers Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum)
working undercover at a local college to investigate supply of an
illegal drug. Actually the movie is a deliberate re-hash of the earlier
’21 Jump Street’, but this still makes it a zany comedy with humour
ranging from slapstick thought parody to the surreal. Well rated and
very enjoyable.

Belle

Director: Amma Asante

Certificate: 12A

Cast includes: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Emily Watson. Sarah Gadon, Matthew Goode, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Reid

Inspired by a painting and set in England in the eighteenth century,
Belle tells the story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Mbatha-Raw), an
illegitimate mixed race daughter of Admiral John Lindsay (Goode), She
and her cousin are raised by Lord Mansfield (Wilkinson) and his wife
(Watson) where both girls are groomed for marriage. Lord Mansfield
comes to finds himself presiding over a slavery case whereas Belle
becomes attracted to the aspiring lawyer John Davinier (Reid) who
awakens her social conscience. The movie benefits from a very strong
performance from Mbatha-Raw and it addresses issues of slavery and
social inequality via the medium of a period romance. A fine, enjoyable
and serious film.

Edge of Tomorrow

Director: Doug Liman

Certificate: 12A

Cast Includes: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Jonas Armstrong, Bill Paxton

In the near future aliens attack the earth and Major Cage (Cruise) is
killed in battle. However he becomes enveloped in a time loop in which
he repeatedly re-lives the combat and his death. However he learns
more with each incarnation and increasingly becomes a more formidable
solider. The film is based on the novel ‘All you Need is Kill’ by
Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and it is difficult to write a review that does not
refer to ‘Groundhog Day’. However the movie in not without moments of
dark comedy that adds to the entertainment.

Godzilla

Director: Gareth Edwards

Certificate: 12A

Cast Includes: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche

Godzilla rises again with an excellent cast and plenty of special
effects as cities are destroyed. Joe Brody (Cranston) is a physicist
who investigates the events at a Japanese nuclear facility where
Godzilla is accidentally released. It is his soldier son Ford
(Taylor-johnson) who battles the beast as it stalks San Francisco.
There is some excellent performances, especially from Cranston and the
director tells the story from a human viewpoint. Indeed we don’t get a
good glimpse of the monster till the latter half of the film. A
spectacular disaster movie and one of the best re-telling of the story
of Godzilla.

Jersey Boys

Director: Clint Eastwood

Certificate: 15

Cast Includes: Erich Bergen, Michael Lomenda, John Lloyd Young, Christopher Walken, Vincent Piazza

A film version of an award winning musical telling the story of the
formation of the rock group ‘The Four Seasons’. This in an entertaining
movie that succeeds in recreating the rock and roll era. The highs and
lows of the working class band members are explored against a backdrop
of fine musical accompaniments.

Maleficent

Director: Robert Stromberg

Certificate: PG

Cast Includes: Angelina Jolie, Miranda Richardson, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley

In part a re-telling of the tale of sleeping beauty but from the
point of view of the villain of the story, Maleficent (Jolie).
Maleficent was driven to evil following an act of betrayal which cost
her the ability to fly. She battles to save her shadowy forest kingdom
and plots revenge by placing a curse on the infant Aurora (Fanning),
daughter to the king. Aurora herself becomes caught in the conflict
between forest and human kingdoms. This is a rather dark fantasy for a
Disney film, but a great tale with powerful characters and impressive
special effect.

Muppets Most Wanted

Director: James Bobin

Certificate: U

Cast includes: Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, Tina Fey, Eric Jacobson, Steve Whitmire

A long awaited sequel to ‘The Muppets’ in which the entire Muppet
cast undertake a sell out world tour. However Constantine (a Kermit
lookalike and major criminal) and his right hand man Dominic (Gervais)
involve the Muppets in an international crime heist. The film is an
upbeat Disney musical comedy that will appeal to all ages and generates
plenty of laughs. An excellent film.

Oculus

Director: Mike Flanagan

Certificate: 15

Cast includes Karen Gillan, Rory Cochrane, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff

A son (Thwaites) murders his parents and spends ten years in custody.
On his release, he wants to put the past behind. However his sister
Kaylie (Gillan) is convinced the key to their parents death lies in a
malevolent antique mirror which used to hang in their parents home. She
discovers the mirror has a sinister history and tracks it down with a
view to studying it. However the mirror starts to work its evil again.
The story of the family history with the mirror is told in flashbacks
with action alternating between past and present. In this way the
suspense builds well as the ghostly visions start to predominate giving
an atmospheric horror movie.

The Fault in our Stars

Director: Josh Boone

Certificate: 12A

Cast Includes: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern, Nat Wolff, Mike Birbiglia, Willem Dafoe

A romance between Hazel (Woodley) and Gus (Elgort), teenagers who
have just months to live when they meet at a cancer support group. The
movie is based on the best selling novel by John Green and it is
predominantly aimed at a young adult audience. With an excellent
dialogue the film is a very moving love story that could easily leave
you in tears.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Director: Bryan Singer and Matthew Vaughn

Certificate: 12A

Cast Includes: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Patrick Stewart,
Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Ian McKellen, Peter Dinklage

The film starts in the year 2023 where a war has resulted in the near
destruction of all mutants. Trask (Dinklage), leader of Trask
Industries, had developed robot soldiers that can destroy mutants under
the Sentinel Program. The mutants send Wolverine (Jackman) back to the
year 1973 in order to stop Mystique (Lawrence) from killing Trask as it
was this death that resulted in the creation of the Sentinel Program.
This is a fine movie worthy of the X-Men franchise that will not
disappoint.