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.
We have two new releases during this period; the comedy Tammy (15) and science fiction with the fourth installment in the transformers franchise Transformers: Age of Extinction (12A).
We have lost the film 3 Days to Kill and it is likely this week will be the last chance to catch X-Men: Days of Future Past. However we see the return of Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return and The Other Woman.
High culture is represented by the opera Don Giovanni. Also there is a showing of Polanski’s classic Venus in Fur.
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.
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.
Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie
Director: Ben Kellett
Certificate: 15
Cast includes: Brendan O’Carroll
Agnes Brown (O’Carroll) is a market trader who finds her livelihood
under threat from a property developer. Supported by her family she
embarks on a crusade to save her stall. This is a movie adaption of the
well known and much loved BBC comedy and the film was extremely
successful in its opening weekend. This is a very capable comedy that
captures the spirit of the TV series.
Tammy
Director: Ben Falcone
Certificate: 15
Cast includes: Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Dan Aykroyd
In one awful day Tammy (McCarthy) has been fired from her job,
crashed her car and discovered her husbands fondness for a neighbour.
She needs to escape and thus joins her grandmother Pearl (Sarandon) in a
trip to see the Niagara Falls. McCarthy plays the working class slob
Tammy to perfection and her grandmother lusts after men and drink.
Hence the film is a road movie with all the ingredients of a first class
comedy. However the elements do not quite come together and the film
does not achieve its full potential.
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.
The Other Woman
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Certificate: 12A
Cast Includes: Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Kate Upton
Carley (Diaz) discovers that her boyfriend Mark (Coster-Waldau) is in
fact married. She accidentally meets his wife they become friends,
subsequently discovering Mark is also undertaking a third affair with
Amber (Upton). The three women plot their revenge. This is a rather
lightweight comedy, and a little light on laughs. Mildly amusing.
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.