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.
There is little change in the cinema listings during this period, with
just one new release making it to local screens. This is the comedy
horror Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (15). Films The Intern and The Walk have both been pulled from the screens and it is likely that Sicario is coming to the end of its season. However we do see the return of the action movie Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.
Films coming soon include The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 due to be released in mid November and Star Wars: The Force Awakens coming in mid December.
There is a great selection of occult movies on at the moment with the fright filled Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, the stylish Crimson Peak and fantasy action with The Last Witch Hunter. For more day-to-day drama, James Bond in Spectre has been attracting good reviews, as has the science fiction adventure The Martian.
For great family entertainment there is Hotel Transylvania 2; Paper Planes; the loveable Minions and the prequel Pan.
High culture is rather scarce this week, with Macbeth being the only entry in this category.
Reviews
Crimson Peak
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Certificate: 15
Cast includes: Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska
The film opens in the 1900s with Edith Cushing (Wasikowska), an
aspiring novelist from a wealthy family, living in New York. She is
wooed by an English aristocrat Thomas Sharpe (Hiddleston) and Edith
subsequently marries him. Thomas takes her to his home Allerdale Hall, a
gothic mansion set on Crimson Peak, a mound of red clay. Here Edith
must live with her new husband and his sister Lucille (Chastain).
However Edith starts to uncover secrets within the house. This is a
glorious, stylistic, sumptuous, costume drama sort of of a horror movie,
though the film provides suspense rather than horror. A well made and
very watchable film.
Everest
Director: Baltasar Kormakur
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Robin Wright, Nasko Mori
A docudrama set in May 1996 when two expeditions tried to make it to
the peak of Mount Everest. However a blizzard resulted in the death of
eight climbers. The main emphasis is on the five climbers who perished
on the South face. This is a dramatic and moving film, best appreciated
in 3D to get the most of the scenery and the dizzying drops. The
mountain itself is the primary focus, with character development taking
second place, though there is much made of the trials of the climbers
and of the emotional distress of loved ones left behind. An
unsentimental movie which makes the viewer feel that he is part of the
expedition.
Minions
Director: Pierre Coffin, Kyle Balda
Certificate: U
Cast Includes: Sandra Bullock, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Jennifer Saunders.
The film is both a spin off and a prequel to the Despicable Me
franchise. The Minions have always existed on earth and the movie begins
by tracing their evolution. They have the purpose of serving the most
despicable of masters though not very successfully. The race finally
retired to the Antarctic where they fare badly. Hence Minions Kevin,
Stuart and Bob decide to seek a new master for their race to work for.
In a villain convention in Orlando they decide to serve the supervillain
Scarlet Overkill (Bullock) who is planning to overthrow the Queen of
England and the film, using skits and Musical numbers, follows this
plot. The Minions were the best part of the Despicable Me franchise and
so it is fitting that they have their own film. The movie is very
entertaining, inoffensive and funny and will delight all ages. However
this reviewer would have liked more minions and fewer supervillains.
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson
This is the fifth in the Mission Impossible series. The Impossible
Mission Force (IMF) has been disbanded. Ethan Hunt (Cruse) must
assemble a team and join forces with an ex British agent Iisa Faust
(Ferguson) in order to fight ‘The Syndicate’, a group who are mounting
terrorist attacks in order to bring about a new world order. This is
arguably the best action film of the year with plenty of special effects
and some violence. However the whole has a light hearted tone and
contains a good deal of humour. A witty and very entertaining movie.
Pan
Director: Joe Wright
Certificate: PG
Cast Includes: Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Amanda Seyfried, Kathy Burke, Garrett Hedlund
A prequel to the story of Peter Pan. Peter (Miller) is abandoned by
his mother and brought up in an orphanage run by Mother Barnabus
(Burke). He is captured by pirates and taken to the magical world of
Neverland where he is forced into slave labour by Bluebeard (Jackman).
Peter and his friend James Hook (Hedlund) manage to escape to the forest
where Peter befriends the fairy Tinker Bell. The fairies fight and
defeat the pirates and Hook becomes captain of the Jolly Roger ship. A
rather bland and somewhat contrived movie.
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension
Director: Gregory Plotkin
Certificate: 15
Cast includes: Chris Murray, Brit Shaw, Ivy George, Dan Gill
This is the sixth instalment in the Paranormal Activity series and it
opens with a scene from Paranormal Activity 3. Ryan Fleege (Murray)
moves into a new home in California along with his wife Emily (Shaw),
daughter Leila (George) and his brother Mike (Gill). The two brothers
discover a box of old VHS tapes filmed by a previous inhabitant of the
property, starring two girls Katie and Kristi. These girls start to
communicate with the current family by means of the TV set and various
supernatural phenomena manifest within the house. Ryan brings in a
priest to perform an exorcism, but things don’t go to plan, leading to
an unsettling conclusion.
Spectre
Director: Sam Mendes
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Christopher Waltz, Andrew Scott
The latest James Bond Movie. M engages in a political battle to keep
the secret service, in the light of a plan by Max Denbigh (Scott) to
replace the 00 program with computer surveillance. Bond meanwhile is
trying to locate Franz Oberhauser (Waltz), the suspected head of the
evil organisation ‘Spectre’. The movie starts in Mexico during the Day
of the dead celebrations and thence the action continues in London, Rome
and Morocco. There are numerous over the top action sequences, car
chases, a good assortment of scary villains and exotic love interest.
However amid this harshness, the movie contains a good level of humour.
Tension builds from the very start, though some of this starts to
dissipate as the film progresses. This is James Bond from the classic
mould and Daniel Craig delivers a great performance.
The Martian
Director: Ridley Scott
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig
A manned mission to the planet mars is aborted when the crew face a
huge sandstorm. However astronaut and botanist Mark Watney (Damon) is
left behind, presumed dead. Yet he lives and must now find a way to
survive and contact Earth in the hope that a rescue mission can be
mounted. The movie is based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Andy
Weir. This is a homage to the ingenuity of man in desperate
circumstances. The movie is visually effective, scientifically
accurate and is well seasoned with humour. An excellent film that has
received glowing reviews.