Reviews by Angus Wolfe Murray

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Trainwreck (2015)

  Review preview for Trainwreck

  The humour is ugly, if indeed there is any, which is debatable

  A woman with a fear of commitment finds herself falling for a man who wants to settle down in a monogamous relationship.
• 
  The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

  Review preview for The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

  Car chases and retro dialogue clog up the machinery

  Napoleon Solo teams up with a KGB operative for a joint mission.
• 
  Mistress America (2015)

  Review preview for Mistress America

  A portrait of courage and confusion at an age when options are flying wild

  Two young women have unpredictable adventures in New York City and beyond.
• 
  Precinct Seven Five (2014)

  Review preview for Precinct Seven Five

  Oddly enough what is missing is tension

  The real-life story of dirty cops who worked alongside brutal drugs gangs in New York in the 1980s.
• 
  Cub (2014)

  Review preview for Cub

  Makes less sense the longer you stay with it

  A young boy heads to scout camp, certain he will encounter a monster - and he's right.
• 
  The Gift (2015)

  Review preview for The Gift

  The film is polished when it could have been sharp.

  An old acquaintance bearing gifts brings suspicion and fear into the lives of a successful couple recently moved to California
• 
  Hot Pursuit (2015)

  Review preview for Hot Pursuit

  Somewhere down the road the film dies and the director hasn't noticed

  A strict, by-the-book cop is assigned to protect the widow of a drug boss, who likes to live it up.
• 
  The Gallows (2015)

  Review preview for The Gallows

  There is only one word to describe this: "Ahhh!!!"

  Students find themselves under threat.
• 
  True Story (2015)

  Review preview for True Story

  Something happens in the courtroom that puts a hammer to the spanner

  A disgraced reporter gets involved in a cat and mouse game with an accused killer.
• 
  The Wonders (2014)

  Review preview for The Wonders

  Wisdom is quiet and the future a mystery

  Nothing will be the same at the end of this summer for Gelsomina and her three younger sisters.
• 
  The Overnight (2015)

  Review preview for The Overnight

  Resembles the first 15 minutes of a porn flick

  Young couple, new to L.A, are seduced by cool couple who enjoy sexual experimentation
• 
  The Longest Ride (2015)

  Review preview for The Longest Ride

  The script stuns you with its verbal observation of regular dullness

  After an automobile crash, the lives of a young couple intertwine with a much older man, as he reflects back on a past love.
• 
  Entourage (2015)

  Review preview for Entourage

  Incapable of breaking through the boobs and banter barrier.

  Movie star Vincent Chase, together with his boys Eric, Turtle, and Johnny, are back in business with super agent-turned-studio head Ari Gold on a risky project that will serve as Vince's directorial debut.
• 
  Danny Collins (2015)

  Review preview for Danny Collins

  This isn't a lecture about acting your age, nor is it an advert for Viagra. It's far more sentimental.

  An ageing rock star decides to mend his decadent ways and seek out the son he has never met
• 
  Man Up (2015)

  Review preview for Man Up

  Excruciating first date dialogue

  A blind-date mix-up could lead to love... Or not.
• 
  Tomorrowland: A World Beyond (2015)

  Review preview for Tomorrowland: A World Beyond

  The most infuriating Disney movie ever

  Time is a portal and apocalypse a staple of CGI-based futuristic movies, except you have to work hard to understand the significance of a tomboy and a pissed off inventor in the robotic new world of President Nix
• 
  Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

  Review preview for Pitch Perfect 2

  A college fanzine rub that doesn't leave a mark on your conciousness.

  The Bellas are disgraced at Lincoln Centre but return to (subjective) greatness in Amsterdam
• 
  A Royal Night Out (2015)

  Review preview for A Royal Night Out

  Lacks a sense of danger

  The royal princesses have a VE Day adventure.
• 
  Top Five (2014)

  Review preview for Top Five

  It hurts to watch

  A comedian wants to be taken seriously and so agrees to spend half a day with a New York Times journalist.
• 
  Two By Two (2015)

  Review preview for Two By Two

  The undersevens will love the characters and not search for deeper, darker meaning.

  Rejects from the ark discover new skills and friends after The Awesome Rains take Noah and the proper animals to a different life in God's own country
• 
  Samba (2014)

  Review preview for Samba

  The film has all the bullet points for audience approval and yet somehow falls short

  Samba migrated to France ten years ago from Senegal, and has since been plugging away at various lowly jobs...
• 
  Far From The Madding Crowd (2015)

  Review preview for Far From The Madding Crowd

  The pace is slower than a trot

  In Victorian England, the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak, a sheep farmer; Frank Troy, a reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood, a prosperous and mature bachelor.
• 
  The Good Lie (2014)

  Review preview for The Good Lie

  Feels as real as the sand under their feet

  Escape of Sudanese children from the devastation of civil war ends years later in the USA where fresh culture shocks await
• 
  Child 44 (2015)

  Review preview for Child 44

  The ingredients are here, jumbled up, too confusing to fit the restrictions of a single screenplay

  A disgraced member of the military police investigates child murders from the Stalin era.
• 
  A Little Chaos (2014)

  Review preview for A Little Chaos

  Too niche to reach

  A landscape gardener is employed by King Louis XIV to transform the gardens at Versailles.
• 
  The Salvation (2014)

  Review preview for The Salvation

  War by any other name

  A man who kills his family's murderer faces the wrath of a violent gang - with nobody to help him.
• 
  The DUFF (2015)

  Review preview for The DUFF

  Being an individual is a declaration of sorts

  She's not ugly; she's a dress mess. This is high school politics for the Glee generation. You have to be strong to survive Prom rejection and cyber bullying.
• 
  While We're Young (2014)

  Review preview for While We're Young

  This is Woody Allen territory, except not as funny

  Middle aged angst in the documentary film world of New York
• 
  The Water Diviner (2014)

  Review preview for The Water Diviner

  Russell Crowe's commitment goes further than you might expect. He directs with conviction, taking risks that work for him - and for us

  True story of an Australian farmer's search for his sons on the battlefields of Gallipoli.
• 
  Get Hard (2015)

  Review preview for Get Hard

  When it's not in the cringe business the film may turn your stomach

  A financier hires his car washer to prepare him for the brutality of a jail sentence.
• 
  The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015)

  Review preview for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

  The pace is frantic, the characters entertaining and the CGI seagulls a squawk

  When a diabolical pirate steals the secret Krabby Patty formula, SpongeBob and his nemesis Plankton must team up in order to get it back.
• 
  Home (2015)

  Review preview for Home

  As a marketing devise for soundtrack sales it has possibilities

  A lonely alien makes friends with the last teenage girl on Earth.
• 
  The Gunman (2015)

  Review preview for The Gunman

  The story lacks originality

  An international hitman uncovers corruption amongst Western mercenaries in Africa
• 
  Run All Night (2015)

  Review preview for Run All Night

  Pain has a price

  Mob revenge thriller in New York's bloody streets
• 
  Suite Française (2014)

  Review preview for Suite Française

  The film looks right but feels strangely familiar

  During the early years of German occupation of France, romance blooms between Lucile Angellier, a French villager, and Bruno von Falk, a German officer.
• 
  The Dark Horse (2014)

  Review preview for The Dark Horse

  To be a winner you must believe

  A biopic about Genesis 'Gen' Potini, a chess champion who struggled with severe bipolar disorder.
• 
  Focus (2015)

  Review preview for Focus

  The plot lines run dead straight from cool to conformity

  Nicky is a seasoned master of misdirection who becomes romantically involved with novice con artist Jess.
• 
  Project Almanac (2014)

  Review preview for Project Almanac

  The film achieves so much more than you would imagine

  A group of teenagers build a time machine.
• 
  Cake (2014)

  Review preview for Cake

  The trouble is you don't care

  A woman becomes fascinated with the suicide of a woman in her support group.
• 
  The Duke Of Burgundy (2014)

  Review preview for The Duke Of Burgundy

  Humiliation is the name of the game

  The relationship of a couple in a sado-masochistic relationship comes under strain.
• 
  The Wedding Ringer (2015)

  Review preview for The Wedding Ringer

  Painfully unimaginative

  Two weeks shy of his wedding, a socially awkward guy enters into a charade by hiring the owner of a company that provides best men for grooms in need.
• 
  Love Is Strange (2014)

  Review preview for Love Is Strange

  Courageous and uncompromising

  The consequences of a gay marriage on family and friends.
• 
  Selma (2014)

  Review preview for Selma

  There are long stretches when nothing much happens

  Chronicle of Martin Luther King's campaign for equal voting rights.
• 
  Big Hero 6 (2014)

  Review preview for Big Hero 6

  A story of courage, conviction and physics in free fall

  A young inventor from Nerd School and an inflatable robot battle the terrible power of a deranged scientist
• 
  Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

  Review preview for Kingsman: The Secret Service

  What begins as an Ian Fleming piss take ends in a Kill Bill blood bath

  Learning to be an officer and a gentleman in Britain's finest privately owned secret service.
• 
  Exodus: Gods And Kings (2014)

  Review preview for Exodus: Gods And Kings

  Throw away The Bible and let's look at this thing afresh

  The story of Moses, the adopted orphan who becomes a prince of Egypt and leads the Hebrew slaves to freedom
• 
  Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb (2014)

  Review preview for Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb

  The special effects are truely magic

  The magic comes to London with Teddy, Attila, the neanderthals and Larry.
• 
  Get Santa (2014)

  Review preview for Get Santa

  The plot becomes tangled in its own loose ends

  Santa Claus is on the run.
• 
  St Vincent (2014)

  Review preview for St Vincent

  Bill Murray is acceptably crusty, but hardly huggable

  Crusty old guy makes friends with new neighbour's son
• 
  Penguins of Madagascar (2014)

  Review preview for Penguins of Madagascar

  The pace accelerates through 15 stages of excitement without stopping to refuel

  Four young penguins become embroiled in an animated power play between an evil octopus and a grey wolf.