Eleanor Reviews

***** After venturing out past night fall, Kubo finds himself hunted by the fearsome Moon King. Tasked with finding the magical suit of armour worn by his legendary father, he sets out on a fantastical adventure. The word 'artisan' is used all too frequently these days. Walk along a trendy high street, for example, and everything from coffee shops to bakeries and jewellers claim the prefix, and you have to wonder at how accurate the description is. In terms of Kubo and the Two Strings , however, the term is wholly justified. The work of exemplary craftsmen and women, this charming (at times terrifying!) tale of a young boy on a dangerous quest is a masterclass in artisanal practice, and it's a joy to behold. Using stop motion methods throughout, each frame represents the single snap of a shutter before the characters were ever-so-slightly moved to create a sense of seamless movement: when you observe the ruffles in Monkey's (Charlize Theron) fur the pur

*** For years, Thanos has planned to take control of the universe and all life within it. Determined to collect the six Infinity Stones, which will provide him with unimaginable power, he travels from planet to planet, wreaking havoc and devastation in his wake. Turning his attention to Earth, however, and he comes up against a formidable foe: the Avengers and their allies. It has, as the extended Marvel logo prefix informs us, been ten years since the beginning of the cinematic MCU. In that time, we've met a plethora of different characters, sat through hours of comic book action and stayed late for numerous post-credit scenes. We all have our favourites (who can forget the Team Tony versus Team Steve situation?), and it's introduced us to the most lovable villain of all time - Loki. In all, it's been a pretty impressive story arch of intertwining threads. Could the long-awaited culmination of all these different strands possibly live up to the expectation