NEW RELEASES
5 Flights Up: Sweet, charming, if wholly unsubstantial, story about a long-married couple who decide to sell their flat. Understated performances from Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton are what attracts. *** TS
Inside Out: Beautifully animated return to form for Pixar, this story about 11-year-old Riley and the move to a new city teaches us we are emotional creatures in more ways than one. **** TS
Insidious: Chapter 3: A supernatural horror about a teenager being possessed by a dead spirit living in her apartment building. Deftly directed prequel with engaging characters and plenty of scares throughout. *** DT
True Story: Unsettling film about a disgraced journalist who befriends a convicted killer in the name of getting the story, this tries to question mankind’s fascination with true crime stories. *** TS
Wild Card: Jason Statham beats up mobster thugs in a well-lit Las Vegas, while trying to avoid a gambling addiction. Well-choreographed fight sequences and lots of crime, but very few thrills. ** TS
ON CIRCUIT
5 to 7: A heavily romanticised story about a would-be writer who embarks on an affair with an older woman that turns into a lesson about writing. *** TS
A Most Violent Year: This measured character study questions whether it is possible for a person to stick to the higher moral ground and never compromise while chasing the American Dream. **** TS
Avengers: Age of Ultron: Joss Whedon’s stamp is all over this comic book sequel with witty one-liners, frenetic action and an underlying sense of dread as the superheroes unleash a supervillain on the world. **** TS
Barely Lethal: Hailee Stenfield plays a teenage assassin who trades in her guns for school books when she enrols at the local high school. (Not reviewed)
Everly: This thinly plotted torture porn does nothing with Salma Hayek or director Joe Lynch’s dollops of style. HH WP
Far From the Madding Crowd: Tom Hardy’s book is turned into a film which explains the main character in a way the source material never made clear. Beautifully filmed and well acted. **** TS
Furious 7: This latest sequel is a sentimental last hurrah for Paul Walker, filled with fast cars and impossible stunts. *** TS
Get Hard: Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart are wasted on tired and offensive gags instead of allowed to take advantage of the comedy’s potential to break boundaries. ** WP
Hot Pursuit: Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara try to replicate the success of The Heat. (Not reviewed)
Infinitely Polar Bear: Opposite Zoe Saldana, Mark Ruffalo plays a bipolar father trying to care for two children while his wife goes away to school. *** HR
Jurassic World 3D: A fun, adrenalin-fuelled ride through a dinosaur theme park where the humans become the food. The loving references to the old films make up for continuity faults. *** TS
Little Chaos: Alan Rickman directs an understated Kate Winslet and a restrained Matthias Schoonaerts in a period drama about the design of the garden around the Versailles Palace in what was then the Paris countryside. *** TS
Mad Max: Fury Road: This bonkers, adrenaline-fuelled drive through an eerily beautiful dystopian desert is crammed full of impossible stunts and a welcome dose of female power. **** TS
Paul Blart Mall Cop 2: This unnecessary sequel makes the original look like an unheralded classic. What happens in Vegas, should have just stayed there. * HR
Pitch Perfect 2: Elizabeth Banks directs a perfectly pitched sequel with more Fat Amy Jokes, lots of music and a bit of a lesson about growing up and facing the world. **** TS
Poltergeist (3D): This reboot might offend purist, but it doesn’t stray too much from the original. It has a more modern approach, plenty of scares and a palatable dose of humour. *** DT
Serena: Director Susanne Bier gathers a stellar cast including Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Rhys Ifans, and then does nothing with them. HH WP
Seun: Director Darrell Roodt looks at conscription in the 80s for a sad but nostalgic look at what life was like back then. *** TS
Song One: This film’s earnest charm and Anne Hathaway aren’t quite enough to get it beyond the slight and very familiar storyline. *** WP
Spy: Fun and funny, this spy spoof is an excellent vehicle for the combo of actress Melissa McCarthy and director Paul Feig’s irreverent, broad yet still progressive comedy style. **** TS
Survivor: Milla Jovovich is a disgraced US State Department employee targeted as a terrorist, even though she isn’t one, and Pierce Brosnan is the assassin trying to kill her before she gets home. (Not reviewed)
The Forger: John Travolta and Christopher Plummer try to inject some characterisation into this half-baked heist movie which is short on drama and thrill. ** TS
The Guest: An intelligent, if a tad violent, thriller, this one is a good effort from genre director Adam Wingard. *** HR
The Rewrite: Hugh Grant does a credible Hugh Grant impression in a film about scriptwriting, which relies on Hollywood clichés to try to tell the non-Hollywood story. Go figure. ** TS
The Riot Club: Rich spoilt kids at Oxford behaving badly gives us a thinly veiled look at unentitled privilege without truly commenting on it. HH TS
Treurgrond: Darrell Roodt turns in a beautifully lensed film about South African farm murders which doesn’t tell us who the murderers are or why they do it. Multiple sub-plots are left dangling, but the film will find its audience. *** TS
Yellowbird: This animated cliché won’t fly with anyone over the age of six. ** HR