filmsExaminer

Children's fantasy adventure, adapted from a best-selling novel. About a young girl with a close relationship with her scientist father, she's on a journey to track him down after he's been experimenting with bending time and instant space travel, they call this 'Tessering' or some-such. 3 celestial beings help to find her father, they're called ... WHATSHERNAME, DOWECARE & WOTITS. There's some interesting 3d visuals, especially the flower scene but unfortunately the director fails to deliver a clear story, there's some engaging, emotional moments, but they are literally only moments. The complicated plot is hard to understand, especially towards the end. Parents (and some children) may need to prepare to be bored, especially towards the end. Aimed at a young audience, but not too young as there are some scary scenes. 3/10

Tense and gripping psychological thriller. The story of a woman (Claire Foy) who moves to a new state to rebuild her life after some traumatic stalking events. She still has some lingering feelings of insecurity so goes for counselling, this results in a short stay at a mental health clinic for observation. She wants to be released but is unable to, the clinic is running an insurance scam. While there she recognises one of the ward assistants is the stalker, we gradually believe he is her stalker who has taken up a job as a ward assistant. Basically he's up to his old tricks again, his aim is to live with his infatuation in the woods forever. All filmed in iPhone 7, to give a claustrophobic, personal diary feeling, which works to a point but also suffers some image quality for it. There is a satisfying ending. 8/10

Action adventure. Taraji P. Henson is an assassin (Mary) for one of two rival gangs, she completes a hit but feels regret for the youngster she makes into an orphan and takes him under her wing. The start is positive, looks like a retro 70's film, but almost immediately abandons that idea and quickly goes downhill. The action scenes are dull, the plot is formulaic, and the acting is wooden. For instance, the hit-woman's gunshot wounds magically seem to vanish, there are several gunfights where thousands of bullets are flying around but all miss, basically seen it all before. What starts well enough loses all potential. Looks like an amateur project. Go and see 'you were never really here' instead. 3/10

Don’t know what category – Rubbish! The first film was hardly any better so why make a sequel! The plot is a real mess, the film is unwatchable. I’m surprised that I stayed until the end! Poke out your eyes with hot pins would be more enjoyable! 1/10

Calvin Joyner is an accountant, his high school reunion is approaching, and he tries to make contact with some of his old schoolmates. An old pal, Bob Stone contacts him, he was previously known as Robbie Weirdicht. Calvin remembers that Bob was bullied at school and eventually left, they agree to meet and Calvin is surprised by how much Bob has changed. Bob needs Calvin’s help. It turns out that Bob is a CIA agent that is trying to find a person known as the Black Badger who is planning to sell information that in the wrong hands could be disastrous. They get into many slapstick situations with plenty of action, and humour along the way. Not great but not bad either, watch if nothing better on. 7/10

This is a video adaptation, an action adventure origin story. There are thrilling action sequences, a twist on a car chase but on bikes at the beginning, a ship wreck, an escape down some rapids sequence, it's pretty tense in places. Unfortunately the plot is a little lame and the dialogue is pretty poor, although it's probably perfect for the intended 12 year old audience. Alicia Vikander was the best thing about the film, she carries it throughout, almost all my 6/10 grade is for her contribution. I know the Lara Croft character normally carries 2 enormous guns and by golly we see them in the final sequence. I'm NOT a computer games geek, so I can't be sure if it's an accurate interpretation of the computer game it originates from. However, I can be sure there is a tomb and it gets raided in the style of 'Indiana Jones'. 6/10

A secret government agency assemble some of the most dangerous incarcerated super-villains to form a defensive task force, they are provided with the most powerful weaponry at the government's disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat a super villain, 'the Joker'. U.S. intelligence officer determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will pull off the mission to save the world from apocalypse. However, they realise that they weren't picked to get the job done, they were gathered for their obvious liability. So will they succeed or die trying! Not great but not bad either, watch if nothing better showing.  7/10

Film4 / BFI collaboration This is an art-house, violent, action, thriller with a beating soundtrack. Adapted from Jonathan Ames's novel of a broken and tormented ex-military vigilante played by Joaquin Phoenix, hired to rescue a girl from a sex ring. Gripping and dark, this is a different kind of action film. To begin with Phoenix's character resembles an icy Liam Neeson 'Taken' character, but slowly we see flashbacks that imply he had an abused childhood, the character and story skilfully develop to only ever be implied. But not only brutal violence, Phoenix also shows some emotional, tender moments when highlighting scenes involving his mother. I like dialogue heavy films, but Phoenix gives an intense performance of a character with very little to say. However, his actions and expressions speak volumes. The themes explored are: Revenge, torment, abuse, brutal violence, pedophilia and suicide. 9/10

This film is about 'Sarah' as she and her dad go to their lakeside retreat to pack things up inside because it is being sold. While there, her uncle also does some general maintenance. The uncle has to leave to get an electrician to check the wiring, but soon after he goes she starts hearing noises and seeing what she thinks are people inside the house. She and her dad are attacked by someone, or something, or ghostly presence and they end up in a fight for their lives. I'm not a huge horror fan and wasn't scared, pretty bored really, can't recommend. 4/10

In Atlanta and on business, architect Peter Highman is flying home to Los Angeles to see his wife Sarah for the imminent birth of their first child. However, traveling by plane no longer becomes an option when he and another passenger, aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay, are evicted from the plane. The eviction was caused by Ethan's social inappropriateness, due to being generally unaware. Peter ends up without money or his suitcase, and is forced to accept Ethan's offer of a shared car ride to Los Angeles, Ethan is desperately looking for his big acting break. For Peter, this partnership is one made in hell, but he feels he has no other choice. Peter obviously wants to take as direct and as quick a route as possible, while he is at Ethan's mercy as the person with the driver's license, car rental and money. They get into one misadventure after another on this trip. Not great but not bad either, watch if nothing better showing  6/10

This is an action adventure, concerns a long, out of control freight train, with braking problems, heading toward a city. The only people on-board are a veteran engineer and a young conductor. They realise that they are the only hope of preventing a catastrophe. Not great but not bad either, watch if nothing better showing  5/10

In 2003, Harvard undergraduate and computer programming genius Mark Zuckerberg has a big idea and starts developing a communication revolution. The idea quickly spreads beyond the university to become the global social network we now know to be Facebook. Mark becomes very wealth, very quickly, picks up friends along the way but also as many enemies. I very much enjoyed this film and recommend. 8/10

Prince Albert must ascend the throne but he has a terrible stutter, his wife realises that the country needs him to be able to communicate effectively, so she hires Lionel Logue, an Australian actor and speech therapist to help him. An extraordinary friendship develops as Logue uses unconventional means to teach the monarch how to overcome his speech impediment and speak with confidence.      I very much enjoyed this film and recommend. (was awarded Best Picture Oscar) 10/10           

127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next 127 hours Aron examines his life and finally discovers he has the courage to chop off his trapped arm and escape the canyon. Not great but not bad either, watch if nothing better showing.  6/10               

Comedy action adventure, stars David Oyelowo as Harold, he is an honest man working for a pharmaceutical company which makes legal cannabis tablets. But it turns out that the company is also working with a drugs cartel in Mexico. Harold takes a trip with his bosses to Mexico to smooth out a few things. Harold decides to fake his own kidnapping so the company can claim on the insurance after learning his job may be for the chop, of course he wants a cut. Unfortunately all the funniest clips were in there trailer, therefore I hardly laughed since I'd already seen all the best jokes. It gets better towards the end, almost everyone dies, and Harold gets a new identity, moves, opens "Harry's Bar". Film finishes at that point. I can't really recommend this shambles of a film. 5/10

A spy mystery thriller, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Egerton, who both play convincing secret agents. JLAW initially plays a world class Russian ballerina but who suffers a career changing injury while performing, and is recruited into a Russian spy school by her creepy uncle. She follows a very tough training regime and learns to use her body as a weapon of seduction. Her first mission is tracking a CIA agent who has valuable information about corruption in the Russian government. They grow a friendship but we're never sure if they truly trust each-other, or if there's an element of double crossing. Everything is kept at an authentic low profile in the manner of 'Tinker Tailor Solder Spy'. There's no 'James Bond' action, or gadgets. However, the twisty plot maintains high tension, the suspense is deep, and the violence is brutal, so much so that some scenes are hard to watch. The themes are espionage, seduction, psychological drama, vulnerab

A dialogue heavy coming of age drama about a free spirited teenage girl, who prefers to be known as 'Lady Bird' growing up in Sacramento. Set in 2002, we follow the girl's life as she studies and clashes with her mother over almost anything and everything, they have a strange hate / hate relationship that I couldn't really fathom, the emotional scenes are where they interact but mostly fail to connect. The themes are conflict, friendship, family, friction, social classes, and homophobia. I really enjoyed and was engaged throughout. Recommended. 8/10

Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake. Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to destroy her. 9/10

This revolves around a competitive couple who host a weekly game night with friends, but without the creepy cop neighbour!. One evening we see three couples arrive and the host's older successful brother, each couple have their own back story and great chemistry with each other and in the group. All goes well and the brother decides to host his own murder mystery night next time at his lavish 'Tony Stark' type pad. But this time something goes violently wrong, it turns out real kidnappers arrive (not actors) and he's abducted. The group need to rescue him, and so the adventure begins. At this point we're not sure what's real and what's the game, we see plenty of twists as the plot develops. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this film, it's really funny with some laugh out loud moments and lots of chuckles, whereas so many recent so called comedies have been disappointing, such as 'Girl's Trip', 'Bad Moms' and 'Saus

A biopic, based on unbelievable but true events in 1994. A dark (comedy in places) about a young child from an unwholesome white-trash background, who is introduced to skating and pushed very hard to succeed by her mother, grows up to train for the Olympics, later we see the knee-capping 'incident' and a little beyond. American figure skater, Tonya Harding became famous for being the first American woman to complete a triple 'spinney thing' in competition, but also was involved with one of the most amazing scandals in sporting history. She was allegedly associated with an ill-conceived, poorly executed knee-capping of her closest rival and fellow Olympic competitor Nancy Kerrigan that spiralled out of control. The film follows what made Tonya Harding who she was (the best technical skater at the time). The frequent abuse from her mother and husband, her rise to the Olympics and how it finally fell apart. The film is made in a documentary style, there are intervie

Starring the best of British acting royalty - Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, Joanna Lumley, Celia Imrie & John Sessions. On the eve of retirement a middle class, snobby woman (Staunton) discovers her husband (Sessions) had been having an affair with her best friend for the last five years. She goes to live with her free spirited sister (Imrie) in her run-down council flat, re-takes up dancing, meets a barge owner (Spall), also a dancer, and after a charity flash-mob dance that is filmed goes viral the group are invited to dance in Rome. One of the many plots involves the barge owner's severely demented wife, who was being cared for but doesn't even recognise him anymore, this was where I thought it might become 'the film', however it moved quickly on. There were so many interweaving plot threads that it was difficult to focus on any one in particular. Staunton eventually returns to her husband but soon decides this was a bad move, at the end she chases Spall back