Eleanor Reviews

***/**** (3.5 stars) DVD Release After stealing a strange orb, Peter Quill finds himself at the centre of an intergalactic manhunt. After being thrown into prison, he and a small group of felons, battle against the odds to save the universe from Ronan the Accuser. The Marvel-verse is far more complex than I had ever realised. It turns out that Stan Lee has created an entire universe, full of characters, each with their own individual, and interlocking, stories. Guardians expands upon the world that we have become so familiar with thanks to the Avengers films, and makes it even more ludicrous and ridiculous than ever before. Peter Quill, or Star Lord, is a bounty hunter. Kidnapped from Earth as a child, and now living out his adult years in faraway constellations, he is the archetypal loveable rogue character, played with a great deal of affection by Chris Pratt. In a convoluted turn of events, Quill joins forces with Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista, gifted wit

**** DVD Release Two new recruits graduate into the Boston police force at the same time, only for one of them to be fast-tracked into a high-ranking position, whilst the other is forced to go deep undercover with an notorious gang, fronted by the infamous Costello, the police department’s top priority. Being the prolific director that he is, Scorsese has the pick of the A-list stars, so it is unsurprisingly that The Departed boasts a seriously impressive cast list. Leonardo DiCaprio leads the pack as Billy, a bright new recruit who is forced to go deep undercover in gang run by Jack Nicholson’s Costello. In the meantime, fellow trooper Sullivan (Matt Damon), a cop as bent as they come, works his way up the police hierarchy, overseen by the foul-mouthed Dignam (Mark Wahlberg), the exasperated Ellerby (Alec Baldwin), and the patient father-figured Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen). Oh, yes, and Ray Winstone turns up as Costello’s right-hand man. With such acting heavy-weigh

**/*** (2.5 stars) Resigned to an ordinary and unremarkable life, cleaner Jupiter Jones finds herself at the centre of a universal conflict. Being of the same genetic code as a member of the tyrannical Abrasax family, Jupiter is heir to a vast fortune and infinite power. However, the Abrasax brothers are none too keen on her reappearance, placing her in grave danger. When I wrote my review of Kingsman: The Secret Service , I commented that the writers must have been dabbling with some serious narcotics to have envisaged such a ridiculous film… However, it transpires that the drugs they were using were only half as strong as those The Wachowskis were taking when they devised the plot to Jupiter Ascending . It transpires that Earth is a part of a massive industry, overseen by the all-powerful Abrasax family, in particular the ruthless Balem Abrasax (Eddie Redmayne, pouting like Kiera Knightley and speaking as breathlessly as a chain smoker). With the emergence of the same gene

**** When fourteen-year-old boy-wonder, Hiro, is left Baymax, his brother’s inflatable healthcare assistant, an unlikely bond forms. Together, they aim to track down a terrible villain who is terrorising their city. ‘Big Hero 6’ is an excellent film, and not only for the audience that it is primarily aimed at. With fast-paced action set pieces, a keen attention to detail and a delightfully witty script, this is undoubtedly a very enjoyable cinema experience that both young children and their accompanying adults can indulge in. The animation is beautiful and totally immersive – the small nuances and constant movement occurring in the background make this seem like a living, breathing world that is excellent to behold. The fluidity of the animation when it comes to the microbots is definitely a highlight, as is the scene in which Baymax and Hiro take a flight over their city, each building stunningly realised. Perhaps I should be used to how complex and immersive animation i

**** One of the top veterans in a highly secretive spy agency recruits a young yob at the same time as a super-villain threatens to destroy humanity. I can only assume that the screenwriters were sniffing some serious narcotics when they came to sit down and write ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’. To say that it is completely bonkers and utterly mad would be something of an understatement: things start exploding pretty early on; Colin Firth is a gun-wielding secret service agent with some tasty karate moves; there’s a woman with knives on her prosthetic legs instead of feet; as well as a whole lot of swearing, violence and nice suits. From the opening shot of two agents swinging low over Afghanistan, you know you’re in for an entertaining and absolutely ludicrous time. Long-term readers will know that I am somewhat adverse to comedy, but I laughed almost consistently throughout, as well as exclaiming ‘oooh!’ at particularly gruesome parts, and then ‘NO!’ when one of the most