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.
Just four new releases make it to the local screens during this period. There is a biopic about the jazz legend Chet Barker in Born to be Blue (15) and violent action with The Purge: Election Year (15). In addition we have comedy animation with Sausage Party (15) and the comedy drama War Dogs (15).
We have lost the films Ghostbusters; Kung Fu Panda 3 and The Secret Life of Pets. However the movies Alice Through the Looking Glass; Ice Age: Collision Course and The Jungle Book have made a return.
Family entertainment is well represented this period with Asterix: the Mansion of the Gods; Finding Dory; Get Squirrely ; Ice Age: Collision Course; Nine Lives; Pete’s Dragon; Swallows and Amazons; The Angry Birds Movie and The BFG. In addition the Dukes is offering an animation workshop on Tuesday 30th August in Stop Motions.
For adult comedy there is Bad Moms; David Brent: Life on the Road; Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates; Sausage Party and War Dogs.
Adult drama comes with Jason Bourne; Nerve; Now You See Me 2; The Purge: Election Year and the docudrama Sid and Nancy. In addition there is science fiction action on offer with Star Trek Beyond and Suicide Squad whereas horror comes with Lights Out.
High culture unfortunately does not feature during this weeks cinema.
Reviews
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Director: James Bobin
Certificate: PG
Cast includes: Johnny Depp, Alice Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska
Alice (Wasikowska) has spent three years travelling and has now
returned to London to contemplate her future. She uses a mirror to
return to Wonderland but find things are not well, and the Hatter is
more mad than ever. To aid him she must go back in time and face the
Jabberwocky. This is Disney’s sequel to the 2010 production of ‘Alice
in Wonderland’ and all the major characters from the original movie make
an appearance. The film is a visual feast, a lavish performance with a
star studded cast. However for this reviewer the whole seemed more
gloss than substance. It does not quite live up to the magic of the
original.
Finding Dory
Director: Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane
Certificate: U
Cast Includes: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill, Hayden Rolence
Pixar’s sequel to the 2003 movie ‘Finding Nemo’. Dory (DeGeneres), who
helped reunite Nemo (Rolence) with his father Marlin (Brooks) in the
first movie, has a flashback in which she remembers her own family. She
decides to look for them despite her problems with a faulty memory.
Marlin and Nemo agree to help and the three swim to California to start
the search. Dory is caught and held in a marine life institute aquarium
for shipping to Cleveland. However with the help of Hank (O’Neill),
the octopus she escapes back to the ocean and finds her parents Charlie
and Jenny. Now she has to come to the aid of Marlin and Nemo who are
also imprisoned in the institute aquarium. The movie is essentially the
same plot as the original, but provides impressive animation and
contains some emotional scenes. However this is ultimately a fun ‘happy
ever after’ sort of film that will delight people of all ages.
Ice Age: Collision Course
Director: Mike Thurmeier and Galen T Chu
Cast includes: Simon Pegg, Roy Romano, Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah, Hohn Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Chris Wedge
A computer animation family adventure film. This is the fifth
instalment in the Ice Age series and the sequel to Continental Drift.
Scratt (Wedge), the sabre toothed squirrel, activates an alien UFO in
his continued pursuit of the acorn. The craft propels Scratt into outer
space and thence causes a planetary collision resulting in the creation
of meteors that threaten to engulf the earth. Manny (Romero) the Wooly
Mammoth, Sid (Leguizamo) the sloth and Diego (Leary) the sabre toothed
tiger hatch a plan with the weasel Buck (Pegg) to save the earth. The
plot is quite unbelievable, but the resulting mayhem is as entertaining
as ever. New characters are introduced as the movie unfolds and the
film a worthy addition to the franchise. Whats not to like?
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
Director: Jake Szyanski
Certificate:15
Cast includes: Zac Efron, Adam DeVine, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Sugar Lyn Beard
Party loving brothers Mike (Devine) and Dave (Efron) are to attend the
wedding of their sister. However their parents insist on their bringing
respectable dates to the event who will keep them under control. The
brothers advertise on Craigslist and select waitresses Tatiana (Plaza)
and Alice (Kendrick) to accompany them, not realising the women are
wilder than themselves. There is just sufficient plot in this movie to
hold the whole thing together and we are entertained with nudity, sex,
drugs and outrageous behaviour. An equal opportunity comedy with
occasional hilarity.
Nerve
Director: Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost
Certificate: 15
Cast includes: Emma Roberts, Dave Franco
A science fiction crime thriller based on the 2012 novel of the same
name. High school senior Venus (Vee) Delmonico (Roberts) is coaxed into
being a player in the online reality game of Nerve. Participants can be
watchers who pay to watch and suggest dares, or players who accept the
dares and receive money if they succeed. Vee is paired with another
player Ian (Franco) and they are given challenges that become
increasingly dangerous. However it is not easy to leave the game once
you have started and the climax leads to a shootout. This is an
entertaining movie that gives insight into some the potential dangers to
which the internet could be used. An energetic thriller that will
appeal to teens.
Star Trek Beyond
Director: Justin Lin
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella
This is the thirteenth Star Trek movie and the third in the reboot
series. Kirk (Pine) takes the Enterprise on a rescue mission to the
planet Altamid. However the ship gets ambushed by a force working for
the power mad Krall (Elba). The Enterprise is destroyed and much of the
crew captured. It is up to Kirk, Scotty (Pegg), Spock (Quinto), Chekov
(Yelchin), McCoy (Urban) and a native fighter Jaylah (Boutella) to save
the day. They repair an early generation starfleet vessel that had
crashed on the planet and are able to pursue Krull. This is an action
packed film with impressive special effects and a good number of
impressive battles. The movie harks back to the early days of Star
Trek, retracing old ground. A must see film.
The Jungle Book
Director: Jon Favreau
Certificate: PG
Cast includes: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba
Based on Rudyard Kipling’s works, this is a reworking of a the
well known classic using live action and CGI. Mowgli (Sethi) is an
orphaned boy raised by a wolf and thence by Bagheera (Kingsley) a black
panther. Mowgli alienates the Bengal tiger Shere Khan (Elba) and so
must make his way to humankind for safety, meeting the well known
characters Baloo and Kaa on the way. Subsequently he returns to the
jungle to face Shere Khan. The movie is a good example a remake that
improves on the original. An excellent movie that will entertain all
ages.