Eleanor Reviews

    ****   Unwittingly drawn into the Rebellion, Jyn Erso learns that her father has been building a weapon with the ability to destroy planets whole. Uniting with a rag-tag team, she sets out to find the plans for the Death Star.   There's usually a point during films when I, as a viewer, make up my mind whether I am going to enjoy the movie or not. With Rogue One , I was sold from that very first scene of the ships cruising in deep space. Reassured by how similar the aesthetics look to the original trilogy, I settled into a thoroughly enjoyable planet-hopping addition to the ubiquitous saga. Taking the reins from Daisy Ridley, Felicity Jones is our leading lady, playing wandering Jyn Erso. Initially unwilling to be a part of the Rebellion, Jyn's motivations take a turn when she receives a message from her long-lost father. A difficult role, both vulnerable and stubborn, Jones' Jyn soon develops into a decisive leader, partnered with battle-hardened Captain

**** Stopping over in New York in 1926, in his attempt to find new magical beasts to study, Newt Scamander inadvertently causes calamity when his suitcase is switched with that of a No-Maj (American for Muggle). It's a race against time to get his creatures back into the suitcase before they come to any harm...   A new age, a new city, a new central wizard with a  penchant for bad luck - Fantastic Beasts  is the story of a harmless magician swept up in a world of trouble when he arrives in New York city. As the central character, Eddie Redmayne is perfect. Awkward, gangly and uncertain, all he wants to do is dedicate his life to his array of animals, kept safely within his magical suitcase. Accompanied by a fellow hapless individual, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) the two make their way across town to track down the creatures who have escaped. At least, this is a part of the story - there is another, much darker tale being told in parallel to Scamander's escapades, which

  ***/**** (3.5 stars)   When Prince Seretse Khama falls in love with a working class white woman, Ruth Williams, the pair have little idea of the international implications of their union.   A little known story of a love that defied the odds at a time of immense political strife, A United Kingdom tells the tale of Prince Khama (David Oyelowo), heir to the throne in modern-day Botswana, and his wife, Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike), who leaves her home to travel to her husband's homeland. Perfectly capturing the racial discrimination and tyranny of British colonial rule, Amma Asante's latest is as much about love as it is about hatred, with the smug middle class white man (personified by Jack Davenport and Tom Felton) certainly coming off worse. Asante excels at portraying the unjust political system that is desperate to prevent Seretse and Ruth from being together, leaving the audience feeling enraged and disgusted at the injustices being depicted on screen. The fi

**** When twelve mysterious objects appear on the surface of the Earth, distinguished linguist Louise Banks is recruited to help investigate why they are here. What results is an experience far beyond language...   Like Denis Villeneuve's previous films, Sicario and Prisoners , Arrival throws ordinary people into a situation they never thought they would face, this time taking university doctor Louise Banks from her teaching job into a spaceship to interact with aliens. This may be the least 'realistic' of his films, and yet Arrival somehow manages to feel the most 'human', thanks to its roots in communication and emotion. Amy Adams in undoubtedly the heart and soul of the film, her face and very human reactions constantly being sought out by the camera and framed in the middle of the screen. It is a stripped down, restrained and understated performance, and yet Adams always manages to immerse us in the emotion of a situation. Jeremy Renner and Forest Whita

  ****   After his hands are all but destroyed in a car accident, talented neurosurgeon Doctor Strange travels to Nepal in search of healing. There he meets The Ancient One, who begins to teach him of  alternate universes and the terrible evil that threatens to destroy the world.   Another day, another superhero movie. Only Doctor Strange isn't your typical superhero film - it's more mind- and reality-bending than that. Focusing on the premise that there is more than just our universe, the film plays with different dimensions and layers of reality to create a multi-faceted story with some truly imaginative set pieces. Obviously, the visuals and premise can be called Inception- esque, and, of course, parallels can definitely be drawn between the two, but Doctor Strange inevitably feels more frothy than Christopher Nolan's philosophical study. That doesn't mean that Marvel's latest offering is anything less than spectacular, however. Supporting the realit

    ***** In the near future, humanity is on the brink of extinction thanks to a strange fungal disease which has turned the majority of the population into 'hungries' - zombies devoid of the ability to think or feel. Held in an army base, Melanie is thought to be mankind's last hope at finding a cure for the disease. But when the base is attacked, she and a small gang of human protectors must set out into the hostile world.   There are so many zombie films (and TV series) in the world, that to create a new story for the genre seemed somewhat impossible, and yet Mike Carey, in both his original text and adapted screenplay, appears to have managed it. In fact, I would argue that this is not a zombie movie at all, more a love story between a young girl, Melanie (played by newcomer Sennia Nanua) and the only person who has ever showed her kindness, her teacher Helen Justineau (Gemma Arterton). Escaping the army base after it comes under attack, this strange mother

    ****   Based on the top secret mission, Operation Anthropoid, Sean Ellis' eponymous film focuses on the assassination attempt of SS General Reinhard Heydrich, a man at the top of the Nazi hierarchy.   Well, readers, of course you would have expected me to go and see Anthropoid - I am a sucker for war films after all. However, what drew me to this film in particular was that I knew very little of the story surrounding the assassination attempt on Heydrich - indeed, I couldn't tell you the names or the circumstances of the people involved. Eager to boost my knowledge, I went along.   It is safe to say that this film is unerringly grim - there are so few moments of light relief, if any, that you leave the cinema feeling as though you have been bludgeoned for over two hours. That's not to say it isn't enjoyable in it's own way, if 'enjoyable' is remotely the right world. Focussing on two British-trained agents, Czech Jan Kubis (Jamie Dorna

    ****   DVD/Streaming release   Arriving in Brooklyn from Ireland in the 1950s, young woman Eilis Lacey finds herself suffering from crippling homesickness, until she meets Tony, an Italian plumber working in the city. Just as her life in America begins to make sense, tragedy strikes and she is forced to return home, where she meets handsome heir, Jim.   Having fully intended to see Brooklyn in the cinema, it was a real treat to be finally able to sit down and watch it. Feeling somewhat hungover and tired, I really wanted a warm hug of a film that wouldn't stretch me too far before bed, and that's exactly what I got. Brooklyn is an incredibly sweet film, with a series of beautiful performances and a story about love at its heart. Yes, I admit that I'm not very good at sitting through films about romance and all the rest of it, but when done well, as this film was, it's a great thing. Directed by John Crowley and featuring a screenplay by Nick Hornb

  *****   DVD/Streaming release   After a gruesome discovery at a home near the US/Mexican border, idealist FBI agent Kate volunteers to join a government task force and bring those responsible to justice.   'In Mexico, 'sicario' means 'hitman'. As these words fade from the screen at the very start of the film, there is already an unnerving sense of tension building - it is an excellent beginning, and one that perfectly sets up what is to follow. The opening section of the film is a particularly grim and gory one, which leaves you wanting to look away, but at the same time leaves you grossly fascinated at the barbarity of the situation, a feeling you will experience again and again throughout the film. Leading the acting pack is Emily Blunt as Kate Macer, a 'by the book' FBI agent who wants to put the man responsible for the deaths at the start of the film behind bars. She is a tight-lipped, no bullshit character and Blunt plays her with an

**** Snatched from her bed in the dead of night by a giant blowing dreams through bedroom windows, Sophie finds herself transported to the magical world of Giant Country where she becomes acquainted with her kidnapper, the BFG.   I was perhaps predisposed to enjoy the latest adaption of The BFG having been raised reading Roald Dahl's books and listening to the cassette tapes on long car journeys. I keenly remember the descriptions of the BFG's jars full of dreams and, of course, the disgusting snozzcumbers. In Steven Spielberg's latest big-screen release, this vibrant world is beautifully bought to life with loving care and attention to detail that is sure to make this film a classic for children and adults alike in the future.   Upon hearing that Mark Rylance had been chosen to pay the eponymous character, I was initially sceptical: I needn't have been. From the very first time you hear Rylance utter the BFG's characteristically confused language, y

*** Three years into a five year Deep Space mission, and mundanity has set in on board the USS Enterprise. After docking at York Town, Captain Kirk is charged with the mission of rescuing a small team of scientists stranded on a nearby planet, but all is not as it appears to be... I shall be honest from the outset and admit that the latest installment in the rebooted franchise is undoubtedly the weakest of the three. From the very first scene, which sees Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) negotiating a peace treaty, the script (co-written by Simon Pegg, who also stars) feels unbelievably clunky, without any of the wit and snappy exchanges we have been treated to in the previous two. The banter between Spock and Kirk is all but gone, with only Bones (a scene-stealing Karl Urban) providing the sharp comments and sparky phrases. However, even Bones' role has changed, from cynical wise-cracker to philosophical speaker, telling Spock that 'the fear of death is what keeps us

***** Determined to woo the mysterious girl he sees loitering outside his new school, a young boy decides to create a band with his fellow classmates.   A little way into John Carney's latest, one of the boys suggests that the band's newest song should be 'happy-sad', and indeed there is no greater way to describe Sing Street than 'happy-sad'. Heartfelt, packed with laughs but also undercut with realist bittersweet tones, this 'coming of age' story of a teenager growing up in economically deprived 1980s Ireland will tug at your heart string as much as it will make you laugh.   The central premise of a 'down on his luck' teenager attempting to woo the 'girl next door' has undoubtedly been done before, and yet writer and director John Carney manages to bring something new and fun to the proceedings. By choosing a cast of mainly new young actors, Carney creates a film that captures the difficult, yet often funny, period of bein

***/**** (3.5 stars) In the spring of 1914, four young people spent their holidays in the scenic landscape of Derbyshire: Vera Brittain, her brother, Edward, and his two friends, Victor Richardson and Roland Leighton. Mere months later their lives would be torn apart by the First World War...   It's not often you get a war story shown from a woman's perspective, let alone a First World War tale, so saturated is that period by brilliant male writers. However, when Vera Brittain's novel Testament of Youth was published, it became the voice of a generation. Detailing the plights of the women who had to stay at home, waiting for news of loved ones, whilst also examining how women became involved in the war effort, it highlighted a side of war that hadn't been seen before.   In terms of translating Brittain's text from book to screen, director James Kent does a solid job, capturing the despair of women who could only look on from the side lines as their br

***** After a mission in Lagos goes wrong, the Avengers are faced with political intervention from the UN, who want to put restraints on their actions. The Anti-Hero Registration Act drives a rift between Captain America and Iron Man, meaning the other Avengers are forced to pick sides...   After the damp squib that was Captain America: The First Avenger , it was a massive surprise when the successor, The Winter Soldier turned out not only to be a great Marvel film, but a great addition to the spy-thriller genre as a whole. Whilst The Avengers: Age of Ultron failed to live up to hype, it is with great pleasure that I can say that Civil War takes us back to the quality writing and filmmaking of The Winter Soldier and Iron Man 3 . Indeed, this is something of a masterclass in how to write such a multi-strand script. With so many characters now vying for screen time, you would imagine that some would become sidelined and made almost irrelevant, and yet that doesn't happen -

**** Eddie has always dreamed of going to the Olympics, but when he is dropped from the skiing team, it looks as though his ambition will never be. Determined to go to Calgary and be Great Britain's first ski jumper in nearly sixty years, he sets about teaching himself the tricks of the trade.   When was the last time you smiled a big, goofy smile in the cinema? A proper grin? If it is a cinematic masterpiece you're looking for,  Eddie the Eagle is not the film for you, but if you're looking for something heart-warming, good-natured and unashamedly feel good, you'd be hard pressed to find a better alternative to Dexter Fletcher's latest. As proven by his last film, Sunshine on Leith , Fletcher is someone who looks for hope and joy, even when the odds might be stacked against you, and never were the odds more against anyone than Michael 'Eddie' Edwards, a plasterer's son who wanted to be an Olympian. Taking on the eponymous character is Taron Eg

**** On the run from the authorities and the pseudo-cultish community they used to call home, father Roy Tomlin and his sickening son, Alton, are in a race against time to reach a mysterious location in the heartland of the United States. For Alton is no ordinary boy; gifted with unexplainable capabilities that have made him a target.   How refreshing it is to see a sci-fi film that doesn't have a single superhero or alien in it. How refreshing it is to have a film that doesn't conclude with a city being decimated as comic book characters punch seven bells out of one another whilst civilians run screaming from the carnage. The antidote to all these tropes is Jeff Nichols' latest, Midnight Special , a film that is less about the powers that the child possesses, but more about the close relationship between the father and son.   The film opens with Roy Tomlin (Michael Shannon) and Alton (Jaeden Lieberher) already on the run from The Ranch, a cult-like community

***** Shortly after moving into a new high-rise building on the edge of town, Dr. Robert Laing finds that his fellow residents are at war with each other, the world and, most importantly, the building itself.   I wonder if 'High-Rise' is not so much a film, but an art installation - a towering, feature-length exhibition, but an art installation nonetheless. Powered by Ben Wheatley's dynamic vision and Amy Jump's brilliant screenplay of a book that was meant to be 'unfilmable', we have here a piece of art that is truly excellent. Each shot is framed like a painting, beautifully indicative of the madness to follow, with characters often being shunted to the side of the shot so that the audience can gain sight of the space of the building. Each character is an enigma - there is very little expression of feeling in this cold world - and yet utterly beguiling and transfixing. So strange are the people in the high-rise that even when all is grim and depra

*** DVD Release Swept off her feet by the charming Thomas Sharpe, naïve Edith returns to his family home with his sinister sister in tow. But this is no ordinary home: this is Allerdale Hall, an ancient building seated on top of a red clay mine, and it soon becomes apparent that the house, and Edith's new relatives, aren't as they appear.   Well, where to begin? Whilst the poster and trailer promise a dark, scary, sexy Gothic romance to leave you quivering in your seat, the film itself is a very empty vessel, being all premise and no content. To begin, the ghosts just aren't scary. We see the first one not two minutes into the film, which rather destroys the tension for the rest of the movie as we already know what they look like. The ghosts themselves are more skeletal figures than paranormal apparitions, and certainly lack any of the 'horror' aspect you'd hope for in a film of this ilk. Secondly, it is not nearly 'sexy' enough. If you look

***/**** (3.5 stars) A day in the life of Eddie Mannix, a fixer for the Hollywood film studios, Capitol Pictures. When you see a film written by the Coens, there are certain things you expect: satirical bite; witty dialogue; fast-talking characters; and a good deal of film stars. 'Hail, Caesar!' has all these factors... and yet, whilst their past films have been, arguably, social studies of America, their latest outing feels all surface and no substance. Maybe that is entirely intentional, it being a film about a film studio in which Communists kidnap the main star, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) and try to teach him about the corrupt nature of American culture, but it just felt empty to me.   That isn't to say I didn't enjoy it, however - I just wanted more! As you are probably aware, I am somewhat adverse to comedy, and yet I did find myself chuckling along with the film, from Channing Tatum's overly dramatic dancer to the scene in which four religio

** DVD Release As Britain prepares for the Second World War to end just after the stroke of midnight, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret persuade the King and Queen to let them join in the celebrations.   I suppose the premise is quite an interesting one: two Princesses escaping their sheltered lives for one evening to experience the life of their citizens as the War comes to an end. A nice idea, but poorly executed. Whilst the cast (Sarah Gadon and Bel Powley) as Elizabeth and Margaret respectfully, do their best with the plummy accents and clichéd 'oh, how awful' turns of phrase, the film lacks momentum and any clear structure, merely moving from set piece to set piece without any discernible wit or intrigue. What could have been an interesting comment on society at the time descends into shallow caricature scenarios, that even Emily Watson and Rupert Everett, as the King and Queen, can't rescue.   This is a deeply flawed film. Aside from the televisuality

**** The Bennet sisters don't just have to balls, clothes and potential husbands to worry about: there's a zombie apocalypse coming and the world will require their warrior skills before they can settle down to wedded bliss.   First off, I would just like to say that I just assumed that this would be a 12A rated film, so when I sat in the cinema and the BBFC 15 rating come up on screen, I was actually quite surprised. Yes, I had expected some gore, but mostly I'd expected a film aimed at the YA cinema audience in the absence of Katniss... How wrong I was! This is a brilliant gore-fest, with rotting zombies popping up here, there and everywhere and causing mass panic, leading to excellently choreographed action scenes that are immensely enjoyable to watch. And it's funny too, with the wit of Jane Austen's original novel shining through, even as her heroines stab their way through hoards of the Undead in their petticoats. It's essentially a cast of very