Oh Boy, this ill-judged mash-up is one hell of a mess to watch...
Hellboy 15 ★★★★★
On paper, this reboot of the once rather enjoyable Hellboy franchise runs for 120 minutes, but in the confines of the cinema this ill-judged mash-up of Arthurian legend, Scouseaccented giants and the almost inevitable sexy but evil sorceress feels much longer.
The American actor David Harbour, below right, steps into the role that Ron Perlman last played more than a decade ago and conspicuously fails to make the part his own, hampered by a wordy screenplay, endless explanations and a painful shortage of funny lines. Some dodgy visual effects don’t help either.
British director Neil Marshall sets the bulk of the action in the modern-day UK, where giants are laying bloody waste to the New Forest, and the longdismembered Nemue, aka The Blood Queen (Milla Jovovich) is waiting for someone to put her body parts back together so she can do very bad things.
Thank goodness Hellboy and his adopted ghoulhunting dad (Ian McShane) are around to help. Loud music and an awful lot of swearing fail to disguise the obvious shortcomings.
Mid90s 15 ★★★★★
Jonah Hill – he of Superbad and Wolf Of Wall Street fame – makes his debut here as a feature director and serves up a real surprise, albeit of the low-budget variety. Yes, this is funny, foul-mouthed and politically incorrect by 21st-century standards, but it’s beautifully acted by its young cast and has an infectious, low-key charm.
Set in LA in the decade of the title, it’s the story of Stevie (Sunny Suljic), a small 13-year-old who is regularly beaten up by his aggressive older brother (Lucas Hedges) and neglected by his mother (Katherine Waterston). So when he finds a gang of older, cooler skateboarding dudes, he thinks he’s found his place. But these guys smoke, drink, hang out with girls…
There are some creative illjudgments along the rites-of-passage way but a really good soundtrack eases the pain.
Wonder Park PG ★★★★★
This complete mess of a children’s cartoon is about a theme park that initially exists only within the imagination of a little girl, above, then gets built on a back-garden scale with the help of her friends, only (apparently magically) to become real, rusting and under threat from ‘chimpanzombies’ and ‘the darkness’. Even a voice cast that includes Tom Baker can’t save it.
Little 12A ★★★★★
Tina Gordon is fast becoming the queen of reworking old favourites. Having helped turn What Women Want into What Men Want, she’s back – this time directing as well as writing – turning Big on its head and coming up with, er, Little, which sees a bullying software boss (Regina Hall) returned to her 13-year-old body by a wandwielding child she’s upset. It could be funny – despite the efforts of Issa Rae as her PA – but it really isn’t. Matthew Bond