Reviews by Angus Wolfe Murray

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Black Sea (2014)

  Review preview for Black Sea

  Retains a tight grip on your imagination

  A skeleton crew in a decommissioned submarine launch a clandestine search for Nazi gold under Russian waters.
• 
  Son Of A Gun (2014)

  Review preview for Son Of A Gun

  It's a pity the plot doesn't offer more in the way of surprises

  Heist thriller about a tough young hoodlum who teams up with a ruthless con and finds himself attracted to a smart, street-savvy young woman.
• 
  Horrible Bosses 2 (2014)

  Review preview for Horrible Bosses 2

  There are no winners, only casualties

  Starting a business without bosses means that no one takes the blame when it goes belly up
• 
  Get On Up (2014)

  Review preview for Get On Up

  Only on stage does the fire blaze

  A chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.
• 
  The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)

  Review preview for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

  Jennifer Lawrence's expressions stretch from worried to confused

  Now the games are over, it's civil war in Part 1 of the final chapter
• 
  Life Of Riley (2014)

  Review preview for Life Of Riley

  The film is log jammed in a theatrical setting that doesn't exist

  A group of close friends discover that one of them only has a few months to live.
• 
  Ariane's Thread (2014)

  Review preview for Ariane's Thread

  What might have been a comic cliche with a cast of oddballs is so much more humane

  A woman alone on her birthday heads for adventure in Marseille.
• 
  Belle And Sebastian (2013)

  Review preview for Belle And Sebastian

  Succeeds in transposing its overt sentimentality into an exciting narrative

  The adventures of a boy, his grand-dad and a runaway dog in the French Alps during the German occupation
• 
  Wolfy, The Incredible Secret (2013)

  Review preview for Wolfy, The Incredible Secret

  Unique in humour, unique in form

  A young wolf and his best friend, a rabbit, go in search of his heritage in a country of carnivorous hunters
• 
  Leviathan (2014)

  Review preview for Leviathan

  The performances are powerful, unforgettable, like ice in the wind

  A car mechanic tries to defend his property with tragic consequences.
• 
  Say When (2014)

  Review preview for Say When

  Rom coms can damage your health

  Girl on the brink of a disastrous marriage escapes into the teenage world for life enhancing R&R
• 
  In The Courtyard (2014)

  Review preview for In The Courtyard

  Where is the plot? What is the hook?

  Life, cracked ceilings, friendship and despondency in a Parisian apartment block
• 
  9 Month Stretch (2013)

  Review preview for 9 Month Stretch

  You can do nothing but sit in a haze of expectation, waiting for the fun to ferment, which it does

  The lady judge is guilty of sexual discrepancy but what has the most hated criminal in France got to do with it?
• 
  24 Days (2014)

  Review preview for 24 Days

  Always there is tension.

  Drama based on the true story of a Parisian telephone seller who was kidnapped and tortured.
• 
  Horns (2013)

  Review preview for Horns

  The chiller/thriller mix doesn't set.

  A man sprouts horns after the mysterious death of his girlfriend.
• 
  Jimi: All Is By My Side (2013)

  Review preview for Jimi: All Is By My Side

  The film fails to fill those spaces between speculation and that other thing - truth

  The opening chapters of The Jimi Hendrix Story in London
• 
  This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

  Review preview for This Is Where I Leave You

  Nostalgia, soured by memory

  A middle class family spends a week together when dirty secrets, emotional dysfunction, naughty behavior and artificial breasts are revealed
• 
  Love, Rosie (2014)

  Review preview for Love, Rosie

  Rom coms are contagious. They make you feel nauseous and then you're sick

  Childhood sweethearts keep missing each other when they grow up
• 
  The Book Of Life (2014)

  Review preview for The Book Of Life

  Imagination breaches the boundaries of wonder

  A young man has to journey to the land of the dead and face his greatest fears.
• 
  The Judge (2014)

  Review preview for The Judge

  The film covers all the bases and yet fails to hit a home run

  Big city lawyer returns to his childhood home where his father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.
• 
  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

  Review preview for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

  The central plot is that old fave of the superhero genre - world domination

  The turtles battle to save New York from the evil plans of a billionaire scientist
• 
  The Rewrite (2014)

  Review preview for The Rewrite

  Don't expect enlightenment or character finesse

  Scriptwriter who can't sell his movie ideas to Hollywood ends up in a small town education facility as a teacher.
• 
  The Maze Runner (2014)

  Review preview for The Maze Runner

  The plot is bonkers, but that's what you expect from this kind of thing

  In some future age, beyond the Apocalypse, Thomas is deposited in a community of boys after his memory is erased, where escape is only possible through a dangerous maze.
• 
  The Babadook (2014)

  Review preview for The Babadook

  Jennifer Kent's film creates something original, even frightening

  A character in a pop up book haunts the nightscape of a six-year-old boy
• 
  What We Did On Our Holiday (2014)

  Review preview for What We Did On Our Holiday

  The humour is filtered through a storyline that keeps losing credibility

  A divorcing couple take their kids to Scotland for Grandpa's birthday where the children take matters into their own hands
• 
  The Equalizer (2014)

  Review preview for The Equalizer

  There isn't the hint of a joke, nor a memorable line and for the first 40 minutes the pace is stuck at Level Yawn

  A former commando comes out of retirement to rescue a teenage hooker from the Russian mafia in New York.
• 
  Wish I Was Here (2014)

  Review preview for Wish I Was Here

  The title is baffling, the film self indulgent, the message confusing and the raison d'etre dubious

  A thirtysomething family man wrestles with a few minor hindrances - like his disapproving father, an elusive God, and adult responsibility.
• 
  The Boxtrolls (2014)

  Review preview for The Boxtrolls

  Having set a scene of intriguing grotesquery the plot falls victim of its own invention

  A young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator.
• 
  The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)

  Review preview for The Hundred-Foot Journey

  Marinated in tradition.

  An Indian family move to France and open a curry house across the road from a Michelin-starred restaurant.
• 
  Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (2014)

  Review preview for Sin City: A Dame To Kill For

  You don't venture into this steaming snake pit without balls of steel

  The Senator's power may be challenged and the femme fatale's allure may be slipping but Old Town remains a dangerous place in the neon nightscape of the graphic novel
• 
  Into The Storm (2014)

  Review preview for Into The Storm

  The effects, my dear, will blow your mind and everything else still standing

  The worst twisters anyone can remember in a small American town. Bad weather, boring people, big winds. Where can they hide?
• 
  Before I Go To Sleep (2014)

  Review preview for Before I Go To Sleep

  Who do you trust?

  A woman wakes up each day with no memory of what has gone before
• 
  What If (2013)

  Review preview for What If

  The script is as flat as Monday morning

  Can friends be lovers? Is Toronto a better venue for romance than New York? What would Harry Potter do?
• 
  The Rover (2014)

  Review preview for The Rover

  Only the gun speaks

  In the near future, a man tracks the gang who stole his car across the outback, forcing the injured man they left behind to help him.
• 
  Hector And The Search for Happiness (2014)

  Review preview for Hector And The Search for Happiness

  The plot is pants down puerile

  A psychiatrist goes hunting for the secret of happiness.
• 
  The Expendables 3 (2014)

  Review preview for The Expendables 3

  You get what you pay for with a little bit of humour to lubricate the violence

  Action packed fire fight for these sell-by-dated mercenaries as they take on a ruthless international arms dealer
• 
  Free Birds (2013)

  Review preview for Free Birds

  The script is dangerously low on laughs and appears charmless

  Two turkeys from opposite sides of the tracks must put aside their differences and team up to travel back in time to change the course of history and get turkey off the holiday menu for good
• 
  Devil's Due (2014)

  Review preview for Devil's Due

  The performances are brave; the script is not

  Pregnancy spells something sinister for a newly wed couple.
• 
  Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

  Review preview for Inside Llewyn Davis

  Less is best

  One week in the life of a talented, failed singer/songwriter in Greenwich Village, New York, in the Sixties
• 
  Pride (2014)

  Review preview for Pride

  A feelgood parable of human nature's ability to extract the positive from a negative.

  A group of LGBT rights activists is determined to help the residents of a Welsh village who are struggling because of the 1984 miners' strikes.
• 
  God Help The Girl (2014)

  Review preview for God Help The Girl

  The film staggers from one embarrassment to the next.

  An anorexic girl in Glasgow has ambitions to become a singer/ songwriter
• 
  Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014)

  Review preview for Planes: Fire & Rescue

  Surprisingly for a cartoon aimed at pre-teens, this is about aging

  When Dusty learns that his engine is damaged and he may never race again, he joins a forest fire and rescue unit to be trained as a firefighter.
• 
  The Purge: Anarchy (2014)

  Review preview for The Purge: Anarchy

  Somewhere an interesting idea gets choked with blood and ends up like any other killer spree fearjerker

  Trying to stay alive on the one day of the year when murder is legal.
• 
  Earth To Echo (2014)

  Review preview for Earth To Echo

  Teenage confusion gives the film an unexpected conviction, coupled with its punk styled cinematography

  Three high school friends find a lost silver baby from another galaxy in the desert and try to help it before the authorities find out
• 
  The House Of Magic (2013)

  Review preview for The House Of Magic

  The charm levels are high

  An abandoned kitten finds refuge in a magician's house that is filled with talking animals and animated objects
• 
  Tammy (2014)

  Review preview for Tammy

  If this is the new slapstick, bring back the old

  After losing her job and learning that her husband has been unfaithful, a woman hits the road with her profane, hard-drinking grandmother.
• 
  Begin Again (2013)

  Review preview for Begin Again

  It feels right, it feels good, it feels as sweet as a summer's day

  A chance encounter between a disgraced music-business executive and a young singer-songwriter new to Manhattan turns into a promising collaboration between the two talents.
• 
  How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

  Review preview for How To Train Your Dragon 2

  There is no tension, no expectation of trouble. Happiness infuses the land

  Hiccup and his prehistoric friends fight the evil forces of a dastardly dragonnapper
• 
  Diana (2013)

  Review preview for Diana

  The film has been unfairly treated, just like the lady herself. Neither deserve it.

  A dramatisation of the last two years of the life of Princess Diana.
• 
  Snitch (2013)

  Review preview for Snitch

  The film is made with integrity. The action and stunts don't exceed the boundaries of possibility

  A father goes undercover for the DEA in exchange for the release of his wrongfully imprisoned son.