ATOMIC BLONDE

Cert 15 115mins Stars 3

This brash and sleazy Cold War action thriller is a lace and leather post punk party for lovers of fetishised violence.

It takes a salacious glee in it’s own stylishly dressed nastiness and is so busy being screamingly self aware and cool, its indifferent to your viewing pleasure.

After her kick ass turns in Mad Max: Fury Road and The Fate of the Furious, Charlize Theron is the ferocious kick ass queen of Hollywood.

Here she’s a female Jason Bourne in killer heels, suspenders and sunglasses, with an the inventive use for a rubber hose.

As top-level MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton she’s chasing a top secret list of operatives, an ‘atomic bomb’ of information also wanted by the Russians and Americans.

Theron’s in fine fighting form and we see a great deal of her form due to her frequent ice baths, which are evidently very cold indeed.

There’s a brutal terrifically well choreographed and prolonged fight which begins in a stairwell. Such a shame the rest of the film doesn’t come close for ambition or intensity.

A deliciously feral James McAvoy co-stars as MI6’s Berlin agent David Percival, and  Toby Jones and John Goodman don’t break a sweat as the suits back in London, and for what it’s worth, love interest Sofia Boutella is much better than she was in The Mummy.

Set to the backdrop of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, all the counter espionage seems somewhat moot.

Not that the script is interested in politics as such, it just uses the period setting as wallpaper and is a useful way for the scriptwriters to avoid having to deal with the internet.

Meanwhile the dialogue is functional and the humour is off target. Beneath the surface sheen and synth soundtrack there’s little to make us care about this Atomic Blonde, as it’s never sufficiently explosive or electrifying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

RAW

Cert 18 Stars 5

You’ll need nerves of steel to stomach this gut wrenching horror based around the initiation ceremony at a university for aspiring veterinarians.

It begins with buckets of offal are thrown over their heads, and that’s just the beginning of the grisly week long rite of passage.

New student Justine has her vegetarian tastes tested from the off as she’s plunged into a wild, violent and blood soaked journey of outrageous appetites.

Full of finger licking behaviour, this graphic, visceral and extraordinary film will have you gnawing your fingernails as you try to digest the meaty pleasures on offer.

 

STEP

Cert PG 84mins Stars 4

Jump straight into this inspirational coming of age documentary set in African American all girls high school.

Stepping is a form of choreographed dance, resembling a high tempo hip hop Haka performed by teenage Olympians.

In the impoverished area of Baltimore and to the backdrop of race riots sparked by the death of an African American man in police custody, a state school has set itself the ambitious target of having all its final year girls earning a place at university.

Our introduction to the girls is through their Step team, they’re trying to win a championship as well as push themselves academically.

The title also refers to the number of step siblings and parents on show, and the formidable hurdles of race, class and money the the students must clear in order to succeed.

Highly motivated and aspirational teachers channel the girls’ passion and determination into their ferocious routines, you’ll kick yourself if you miss this.

 

THE NUT JOB 2: NUTTY BY NATURE

Cert U 91mins Stars 1

It’s never a positive sign when reviews are embargoed until the day of release, as they were for this animated adventure.

The first movie was a solid win at the box office taking £94m on a £23m budget, and so here we are three years later with an unlooked for sequel to an unloved but reasonably successful movie.

An evil mayor has plans to turn the tranquil green oasis Liberty Park into a cash generating amusement park to line his own pockets. So reluctant hero Surly the squirrel rallies his friends to fend off the diggers.

The first was dim witted and this one aims for lowest common denominator in most departments.

However this does have Chinese megastar Jacki Chan voicing a ninja mouse, presumably parachuted in by the Chinese producers in order to market the film to their local audience.

This may be tolerable only if you’ve exhausted every other avenue of entertaining the kids during the holidays.

 

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS

Cert 12A 136mins Stars 3

Take a holiday trip to a city in space with this spectacular looking sci-fi adventure.

War is threatened when aliens kidnap a space police commander, so a pair of glamorous intergalactic agents blast off to save the universe.

It’s based on a 1970’s French comic which was one of the key influences of the original Star Wars, and everything feels very familiar.

However we’re never bored because there is always something glorious to look at. It’s a non-stop parade of dazzlingly beautiful aliens, spaceships and planets.

But even mad French director Luc Besson is so busy gawping like a tourist at the amazing sights, the story is lost in the rush to see what’s around the next corner.

After her astonishingly poor performances in last year’s superhero fiasco, Suicide Squad, model turned actress Cara Delevingne rescues her fledgling career with a terrifically smart, sexy and kick ass performance.

As Sergeant Laureline she has to carry the story due to her co-star being horrifically miscast.

This big budget blockbuster needs leading man swagger, such as Chris Pratt provides in Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy.

Instead we have Dane DeHaan, an intense actor well suited to small indie movies but is skill set is utterly wrong for the role of Major Valerian, and who lacks the authority required for the role.

Nor does DeHaan have a shred of romantic chemistry with Delevingne. Plus Valerian is noticeably more dim and less effective than his subordinate Laureline, but the script never sees this as a problem.

Popstar Rihanna makes a brief appearance as an adult entertainer, she has multiple costume changes and her stunt double does good work.

Clive Owen, Ethan Hawke, Rutger Hauer appear game for a laugh and for some reason jazz composer Herbie Hancock beams by as the Defence Minister.

The city of a thousand planets is a lovely looking place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to go back.

 

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

Cert 12A 133mins Stars 4

Marvel’s most popular superhero swings to ever greater heights in this wildly entertaining reboot.

Despite being the sixth Spider-Man film since 2002 and featuring yet another actor under the mask, this exuberant blast of summer fun is the best ever Spider-Man film.

Winningly confident, exciting and funny, it’s a web of wisecracks, stunts, and special effects, and is strung together by the gleeful performance of Brit actor, Tom Holland. 

Having developed super powers by being bitten by a radioactive spider, Peter Parker is a high school nerd by day and Spider-Man at night. He fearlessly confronts criminals yet is intimidated by the father of his date to the Homecoming prom.

Meanwhile Michael Keaton has a lot of fun as a super villain called The Vulture, much more than the actor ever did as Tim Burton’s Batman, back in – gulp – 1989.

The bad guy flies a set of mechanical wings created from the remnants of the alien attack on Earth seen in Marvel’s Avenger’s Assemble, back in 2012.

The script is faithful to the spirit of the comic but never slavish in attention to detail and gives a contemporary take on the character. It’s all the better for being happy to introduce key characters late on, or dispense with them entirely.

The tone owes a huge amount to the giddy vitality of the 1980’s teen films of John Hughes, most notably Ferris Bueller’s Day Off which is clearly referenced.

 

Sony have long owned the Spider-Man film rights but not the rights to other heroes in the Marvel universe. This co-production with Marvel Studios is a ‘Homecoming’ for Spider-Man as it allows him to become integrated into the adventures of other Marvel heroes such as Captain America and Iron Man.

This gives the web slinger a much needed fresh set of legs, and that of course is a whole lot of legs.

BABY DRIVER

Cert 15 113mins Stars 4

This exhilarating crime caper is so achingly cool and confident, I should be in it.

Sadly for me Hollywood has yet to knock on my door. So you’ll have to make do with Ansel Elgort as Baby, driver on bank jobs for Kevin Spacey’s sharp suited mob boss.

The young getaway driver looks like a young Han Solo with shades and earphones permanently attached. This allows for a stream of great tunes of every type, including Egyptian reggae.

Baby plans to do one last job before hitting the road with Lily James’s pretty waitress.

The thin tread of the plot is pimped to the max by the trademark zippy editing and knowing humour by Brit director Edgar Wright. He puts a fast spin for the heist movie the way he did with zombies movies in Shaun of the Dead. 

The dialogue pops, tires squeal and bullets fly as this non stop thrill ride delivers your new favourite soundtrack to the summer.

 

 

ALL EYEZ ON ME

Cert 15 139mins Stars 2

Rapper and actor Tupac Shakur was only 25 years old when he was murdered in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas strip, in 1996.

This meandering biopic sees Demetrius Shipp Jr. giving an energised performance as the singer and the musical sequences have considerable power. Knowing little about Tupac before the film, I was surprised when I recognised a couple of his tracks.

However you won’t learn anything here which isn’t on Tupac’s Wikipedia page and the script is basically a check list of his arrests, romances, and recordings.

And of course it features Tupac’s infamous friendship turned feud with New York rap star Biggie Smalls, AKA The Notorious B.I.G.

But it’s less compelling than last years Straight Outta Compton, which covers the same time period and many of same musicians and producers.

Having releases 9 albums when he was alive, Tupac has managed to release another 7 since. Which is some going. So someone somewhere is still cashing in on talent.

DESPICABLE ME 3

Cert U 90mins Stars 3

Funny man Steve Carell returns as the voice of despicable villain turned secret agent Gru, and gets into the groove of this bubble gum coloured animated sequel which has a heavy 1980’s influence.

It’s a typically fast paced affair but the madcap charm and invention of earlier episodes is diluted by a jaundiced pandering to parents, a piecemeal plot and a tendency to soap opera.

Plus the real stars have always been the little yellow minions, and would be better off continuing their own spin-off series. They have great moments but are unwisely elbowed aside in favour of a couple of new, less funny characters.

Gru and his family head off to the European backwater of Freedonia, where his long lost brother Dru, lives.

Meanwhile back in the US Balthazar Bratt is a mullet wearing, break dancing, super villain.

He was a 1980s child TV star who wants revenge on Hollywood for cancelling his show. His lair is littered with Rubik cubes and suchlike, while famous songs of the decade from Madonna and so on are crowbarred onto the soundtrack.

This is all a disappointingly cynical attempt to keep the parents and grandparents in the audience happy, while the comic violence entertains the kids. The minions fart jokes are far funnier than the warmed over nostalgia intended to keep me occupied.

With new characters added with every film, the script has a lot of juggling to do to keep everyone occupied, and it feels as if we’re watching a couple of different scripts less than seamlessly stitched together.

I was bored by the scenes where Gru worries about his job and his new wife frets about bonding with their three daughters.

With the Illumination studio developing new films such as mega hit movie Sing, this feels more a stale contractual obligation than a labour of love. And it’s as not as despicably great as previous films.

RISK

Cert 15 91mins Stars 3

This fly-on-the-wall documentary uses its remarkable degree of access to paint an  unflatteringly honest portrait of Julian Assange.

Revealing little we didn’t already know about the founder of whistle blowing website Wikileaks, it does show filmmaker Laura Poitras becoming increasingly disillusioned with her chosen subject.

It’s a great example of how a film sets out to explore a subject and finds itself changing during the course of its own making.

Filming began before and continued through Assange’s self imposed asylum in the embassy of Ecuador, in London. He’s there to avoid extradition to Sweden where he’s wanted for questioning in regards to a rape case.

He’s a royally arrogant, incredibly paranoid and startlingly unsympathetic character, whose colossal ego is stroked by the attendance of celebrities such as Lady Gaga.

Long before the end, Poitras is one of many who have fallen out with Assange but the fame junkie continues to allow her access. The poor Ecuadorians are welcome to him.