Rocky still packs a punch... while Ralph still charms
Creed II 12A ★★★★
Three years ago, the excellent Creed breathed new life into a franchise many thought long dead and buried – the Rocky boxing movies. Sylvester Stallone was back as Rocky Balboa, coaching the son of his longdead rival, Apollo Creed, and we all had to get ‘ready to rumble’ all over again.
That sense of reunion continues in the almost equally enjoyable Creed II, with not just Dolph Lundgren – Creed’s hammer-fisted Soviet Nemesis from Rocky IV – making his return but Brigitte Nielsen, briefly Mrs Stallone, back in a cameo role as well.
Turns out Ivan Drago (a rather good Lundgren) has a towering muscle-bound son who’s itching to get into a ring with Rocky’s protégé, Adonis Creed (Michael B Jordan). What ensues is enjoyably rooted in sentiment and Rocky mythology, though it does drag a little between the brutal but brilliantly staged fight scenes.
Ralph Breaks The Internet ★★★★PG
The arrival of Wi-Fi at the Litwak Family Arcade Center belatedly opens up the world wide web to Ralph, Vanellope and the rest of the video games’ character gang from the original Wreck-It Ralph film (2013).
Which is just as well, as Vanellope’s old racing-car game, Sugar Rush, is soon damaged, and threatened with being turned off for good. The only hope is for Ralph (voiced by John C Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) to journey into the net to buy a second-hand steering wheel for the game from… what was it? E-buy? E-boy? Something like that.
The real-life name-checks are a little irritating and it’s a good 15 minutes too long, but the script is a step up from the original and helped by a brilliantly funny Disney princess scene that should amuse parents almost as much as their children.
Roma 15A ★★★
There’s big Oscar buzz around Alfonso Cuarón’s new movie, but what I’d like to know is what Netflix executives made of it when this austere, drama set in Seventies Mexico City landed in their inboxes. Told through the eyes of a live-in maid, it’s the apparently autobiographical and slowmoving story of a middleclass family enduring earthquakes, bad parking and marital separation.
Surviving Christmas With The Relatives 15A★★
With a fine cast of actors – Joely Richardson, Patricia Hodge and Sally Phillips among them – and a charming country house setting, Surviving Christmas With The Relatives looks like promising British Christmas comedy in the vein of Love Actually. Sadly, after an underwhelming hour or so, we discover it isn’t.
Mowgli 12A★★★
Andy Serkis’s sophomore film as a director is a mixed bag, with a starry voice-cast led by Christian Bale and Benedict Cumberbatch battling performancecapture animals that neither convince nor charm.
Matthew Bond