For up to date local cinema links and day-by-day listings every week visit the Virtual-Lancaster Cinema Page. Read on for the weekly round-up, and reviews.
There are two new releases during this period. Action/Adventure with Sabotage (15) and comedy with Bad Neighbours (15).
The following films are no longer being screened in our region: Divergent, Frozen, The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Quiet Ones. Also this period is likely to be the last chance to catch Muppets Most Wanted, The Love Punch and Noah. However we see the welcome return of Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy and, for one day only, The Book Thief.
If you are looking for high culture, there is a screening of The National Theatre Live: King Lear and NT Encore: King Lear.
Reviews
Bad Neighbours
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Certificate: 15
Cast Includes: Seth Rogen, Jake Johnson, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne
Released as ‘Neighbors’ outside the UK, this is a comedy about Mac
Radner (Rogen), his wife Kelly (Byrne) and young baby and the disruption
they face when a college fraternity led by Teddy (Efron) moves in next
door. Initially relations between the neighbours are not too bad but
increasingly the frat boys work to ruin their family life and the
Radner’s give as good as they get. The film is a bawdy comedy as the
tit-for-tat acts of sabotage escalate to hilarious (and possibly
offensive) effect. One of the better Frat house comedies.
Mr Peabody & Sherman
Director: Rob Minkoff
Certificate: U
Cast Includes: Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter
A DreamWorks comedy animation. Mr Peabody is a dog, but this does
not stop him being an inventor, scientist, sportsman and general genius.
Accompanied by his boy Sherman, the duo use their WABAC time machine
in order to impress Sherman’s friend Penny. However during their
adventures meeting famous characters of history,they accidentally rip a
hole in the Universe. As a result they must repair history in order to
save the future. A great yarn and appealing family movie. There is
little here to offend the youngest of children, and some of the jokes
will entertain an older audience.
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.
Noah
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Russell Crowe, Emma Watson, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins
A movie based on the biblical story of Noah and the flood, but it
takes quite a bit of artistic license. Crowe and Watson as Noah and Ila
respectively give excellent performances and this is epic movie which
very much goes its own way. With stunning effects and some surreal
sequences this is a very entertaining film.
Pompeii
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Kit Harington, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Lucas, Jared Harris, Kiefer Sutherland, Emily Browning
The year is 79AD and the backdrop of the movie is the epic eruption
of Mount Vesuvius. Mile (Harington), a gladiator strives to save the
love of his life Cassia (Browning) who is betrothed to Corvus
(Sutherland) a corrupt Roman Senator. This is a film that is hard not
to like as it ‘ticks all the boxes’ portraying poor boy/rich girl
romance with action combat set in a disaster movie incorporating
spectacular special effects.
Sabotage
Director: David Ayer
Certificate: 15
Cast includes: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terrence Howard, Joe Manganiello, Josh Holloway, Mireille Enos
John ‘Breacher’ Wharton (Schwarzenegger) leads a special drug
enforcement team, all with equally outlandish nick-names, to raid a
drugs cartel. However a large sum of money goes missing and there is
suspicion of internal corruption. The members of the drug enforcement
team find themselves targeted and start to be killed. There is no
shortage of gore and bad language in this movie, though perhaps it is a
little lighter on action then previous Schwarzenegger films, having just
one major shootout piece. The film however supplies suspense as we
learn what became of the missing ten million dollars. A star cast and
one of Schwarzenegger’s better films.
The Book Thief
Director: Brian Percival
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Sophie Nelisse, Geoffrey Rush, Roger Allam, Emily Watson
The film is based in World War II Germany and tells the story of
Liesel (Nelisse) a young girl sent to live with a foster family after
family problems. She copes by stealing books to read and this enables
her to become close with her foster father and with Max, a Jewish boy
hiding in their basement. The film does not make any comments on the
horrors of Nazi Germany, it simply provides a backdrop for what is
essentially a love story, and during the film we have Death providing
the narration. The acting is acceptable but the characters are not
totally believable.
The Love Punch
Director: Joel Hopkins
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Pierce Brosnan, Emma Thompson, Tuppence Middleton, Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie
Richard and Kate (Brosnan and Thompson) are a divorced couple who hit
financial hard times as Richard is facing bankruptcy as a result of a
corporation wiping out his company’s pension fund. Vincent, the
villainous boss of the corporation, has used these proceeds to buy a
diamond necklace for his own bride. Richard and Kate, along with
friends Jerry and Penelope (Spall and Imrie) decide to get revenge by
stealing the necklace and using this to replenish the retirement fund.
This is a comedy with big name stars set in an exotic location. The
humour seems a little contrived at times but in all it works well to
make a genuinely funny and entertaining movie.
Transcendence
Director: Wally Pfister
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Rebecca Hall, Kate Mara, Paul Bettany
Dr Will Caster (Depp), a brilliant scientist in the field of
researching artificial intelligence, is creating a sentient computer
called PINN. However anti-technology extremists embark on a series of
of attacks against the artificial intelligence community and Dr Caster
is one of the casualties. In order to survive he digitises and loads
his consciousness into the computer. Here he starts a quest for
knowledge and for power that seems unstoppable. The film is well
produced and visually appealing. However the characters come across as
rather wooden and the topics examined in this film have already been
explored in earlier science fiction movies.