The Angels’ Share
15/15A, 101 mins ***
Like the look of the comic drama promised in the advertising for Ken Loach’s new film (the latest winner of the Jury prize in Cannes)? Be warned: its early scenes aren’t at all larky. They introduce a young working-class Glaswegian, Paul Brannigan’s Robbie, whose efforts to quit his violent past are hampered by those who want to beat him up. It’s quite a jolt from this tough realism to the cheerful later stages, in which Robbie’s bad luck disappears as he and his mates plan an elaborate theft of some super-expensive whisky. Whatever the thinking behind the film’s pitch, the heist yarn is entertaining in its simple way.
Avengers Assemble
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12A/12A, 142 mins ****
In the world of superhero films, Avengers Assemble is a big deal. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk, who were seen originally in Marvel Comics and recently in films of their own, are together in a movie for the first time. Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the evil brother of the Norse god Thor (Chris Hemsworth), sides with an alien race that wants to conquer earth — a threat that obliges all those heroes to come to the planet’s defence. Director and co-writer Joss Whedon most clearly lives up to his reputation for pop-cultural savvy.
Dark Shadows
12A/12A, 113 mins ***
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Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows sees Johnny Depp give his best performance in years as the once handsome, rich 18th-century lothario Barnabas Collins. Hislife is ruined when a witch, Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green), seeks revenge for having her heart broken. She kills his true love, Josette (Bella Heathcote), then turns him into a vampire. Two hundred years later, he finds himself in a small fishing town in Maine. He returns to his ancestral home, now occupied by dysfunctional descendants. The film has just enough fizz and fun to make it enjoyable.
The Dictator
15/16, 83 mins ****
With The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen makes a radical break with the comedic style of his past films. Gone is the con-man comedian, fooling celebrities and the public with fictional characters. As satire, The Dictator is neither as funny nor as intelligent as classics such as Dr Strangelove. But as old-fashioned comedy, it’s a treat.
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Men in Black 3
PG/PG, 105 mins ***
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, the third Men in Black movie tries hard to mix the familiarand the fresh. The story involves Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) and Agent J (Will Smith) hunting for a supervillain, “Boris the animal” (Jemaine Clement). This leads to Agent J doing a spot of time travel back to the 1960s, where he meets the young Agent K (Josh Brolin). The film has plenty of freaky insect-like aliens going splat, but they have less personality than in the first instalment, and the chief baddie is a bit of a bore. Gone, too, is the understated cool of the two leads. But Men in Black 3 has a greater emotional depth than the previous films, as it explores the relationship between the two agents. A fun and frantic offering — loyal fans will be delighted.
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Moonrise Kingdom
12A/12A, 94 mins ***
Moonrise Kingdom is the best film that Wes Anderson has made since Rushmore. It’s cute and charming, like a meal of delicious hors d’oeuvres, but Anderson agnostics may wonder: where’s the beef? It is set in 1965 — really the 1950s America of white picket fences and boy scouts. Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) and Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward), both 12, have fallen in love. They practise dancing, kissing and the rituals of domestic married life. They talk as if they’ve learnt to read via The New Yorker, not Jack and Jill. The young lovers go on the lam — leaving the adults (and stars including Ed Norton, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton) in the shade. Anderson hints at the sad world of these grown-ups, but doesn’t go much further.
The Turin Horse
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15/Club, 145 mins **
The Hungarian director Bela Tarr, 56, says this is his final film. If so, there’s no change in his method. The Turin Horse is a work of pure Bela-vision: a black-and-white film in which a bleak, mysterious and always windswept drama is observed in slow camera movements. Janos Derzi and Erika Bok play a father and daughter who live on a barren moor. Their daily routines are presented with a certain grandeur. Well before the end, however, the film’s emptiness makes it tedious.
Snow White and the Huntsman
12A/12A, 127 mins ****
Snow White and who? The seven dwarfs don’t get a look-in for the first hour of this exciting reworking by the new British director Rupert Sanders. Kristen Stewart is Snow White, on the run from her murderous stepmother(Charlize Theron, above). Still, she has two handsome hunks (the Thor star Chris Hemsworth and Sam Claflin) to protect her. The film keeps you surprised, the special effects have flair and Theron is a great baddy stepmum. Good job.
Top Cat: The Movie
U/G, 90 mins *
According to his theme song, Top Cat prizes dignity, so he can’t be happy about his treatment here at the hands of second-rate animators (directed by Alberto Mar). Their version of the old cartoons’ visual style lacks the charm of vintage Hanna-Barbera. The script is dull and TC no longer sounds like Sergeant Bilko. A travesty that will have you yearning for the ear plugs and blindfold our hero produced at the end of every TV episode.
The Raid
18/18, 101 mins ***
This Indonesian production directed by a Welshman, Gareth Evans, is disappointing. Starring Iko Uwais as a cop who fights his way into a hoodlum-infested tower block with several colleagues, and then has to fight his way out pretty much on his own, it grows monotonous in its series of hand-to-hand scraps.