Daily Star

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MIKE WARD’S SMALL SCREEN

- GAME NIGHT (15) MONSTER FAMILY (PG)

„„„ AFTER Date Night and Keeping Up With The Joneses comes another patchy comedy about suburbanit­es getting sucked into a crime caper.

Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams are Max and Annie – a furiously competitiv­e married couple who inflict weekly charades and Monopoly sessions on their pals.

When Max’s more successful brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) tries to get in on the action with a murder mystery party at his plush bachelor pad, everyone is gobsmacked with the actors he’s hired to play two masked assailants. But they soon begin to wonder whether they were just too convincing when they bundled their host into a van and drove off into the night.

As the plot gets more convoluted the laughs dry up but sharp lines and great timing save the day.

Brit TV star Sharon Horgan makes a fine Hollywood debut while Billy Magnussen is on top form as her gormless date.

But the real winner is Jesse Plemons as the neighbour the couple try to avoid.

When the ginger star of TV’s Fargo can raise such a huge laugh by staring sadly at a bag of crisps, you wonder why they bothered with all the shootouts and car chases. marriage that almost seems to thrive on Gina’s condition, so when a corneal transplant restores her sight, their dynamic shifts, with Gina feeling empowered and James less than comfortabl­e. A so-so psychologi­cal thriller that ultimately, and frustratin­gly, loses its way. STRIKE: THE SILKWORM (15) (DVD) „„„ WHILE we wait for his latest gory story to conclude on BBC One this Sunday, here’s a chance to catch up with the previous case undertaken by private dick Cormoran Strike and his sidekick Robin (Tom Burke, Holliday Grainger), centred on the disappeara­nce of a controvers­ial author. „„ IF your kids really can’t wait for the new Hotel Transylvan­ia movie, this cheap knock-off should fill a gap.

Emma (voiced by Emily Watson) is a struggling bookseller cursed with an inattentiv­e, husband (Nick Frost), a precocious young son (Ethan Rouse) and a moody teenage daughter (Jessica Brown Finlay).

When the bickering New Yorkers dress up

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NEXT WEEK: Like A Panther. THE WEEK AFTER: Raider. for Halloween they are really cursed by Celia Imrie’s witch.

Now Emma is a vampire, hubby Frank is a flatulent monster, little Max is a werewolf and sulky Fay is a mummy.

To lift the spell, they have to get along during a series of adventures.

Younger children will enjoy the slapstick.

But by the time they face off with Jason Isaac’s Dracula, the lack of bite is screamingl­y apparent. Walk Tomb

 ??  ?? DASHING ’TACHE: Kenneth Branagh as sleuth Poirot
DASHING ’TACHE: Kenneth Branagh as sleuth Poirot
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A group of 1980s wrestlers climb back into the ring to save their local pub in Stephen Graham, Jason Flemyng and Stephen Tompkinson star. Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander ditches the hot pants to play a slightly grittier Lara Croft in video game reboot...
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