Reviews by Angus Wolfe Murray

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  World War Z (2013)

  Review preview for World War Z

  "Mother Nature is a serial killer," someone says, and it doesn't sound cheesy because the action smashes through the walls of scepticism and highjacks your logical mind

  A UN employee travels the world trying to find a solution to a zombie pandemic.
• 
  Belle (2013)

  Review preview for Belle

  Despite Gugu Mbatha-Raw's fine interpretation, the film feels predictable, as if it were fiction and not based on real events.

  The 18th century upbringing in aristocratic circles of the illegitimate mulatto daughter of the Lord Chief Justice of England's son
• 
  Oculus (2013)

  Review preview for Oculus

  The supernatural is not super for nothing. Poltergeists are play things compared to this lot.

  A woman tries to prove her brother is taking the rap for a murder committed by a supernatural phenomenon.
• 
  T.S. Spivet (2013)

  Review preview for T.S. Spivet

  The film becomes a road trip, avoiding many of the usual booby traps, although not all.

  A young scientist secretly leaves his family's ranch to travel across the country to receive a prize.
• 
  Grace Of Monaco (2014)

  Review preview for Grace Of Monaco

  Kidman is 47. She's an actress playing an actress, not a Catholic girl from Philly with all the enthusiasm of youth

  The story of former Hollywood star Grace Kelly's crisis of marriage and identity during a political dispute between Monaco's Prince Rainier III and France's Charles De Gaulle, and a looming French invasion of Monaco.
• 
  Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

  Review preview for Edge Of Tomorrow

  Cage gets killed over and over and comes back to the same place to start again. Bor-ing!

  A soldier fighting a war with aliens finds himself caught in a time loop of his last day in the battle and despite being killed over and over resurrects to save the world with the help of a tall girl in a leotard.
• 
  Legends Of Oz: Dorothy's Return (2013)

  Review preview for Legends Of Oz: Dorothy's Return

  It ranks in the higher echelons of the second division for the quality of its animation and vocal support

  Dorothy finds herself whisked back to Oz.
• 
  Fading Gigolo (2013)

  Review preview for Fading Gigolo

  The film is entertaining without being of any value whatsoever

  A bookseller persuades a florist to have a threesome for money in an Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of New York
• 
  Postman Pat: The Movie (2014)

  Review preview for Postman Pat: The Movie

  The clash of styles is painful to watch

  Beloved cartoon country postman enters TV reality talent contest
• 
  Godzilla (2014)

  Review preview for Godzilla

  The human content is as flat as a cat squished by the heel of one of the giant preying mantis

  Monsters from the deep confront each other and pesky US forces in a special effected fight to the death - in 3-D
• 
  Brick Mansions (2014)

  Review preview for Brick Mansions

  If you know (Luc) Besson's oeuvre, you know Brick Mansions.

  An undercover Detroit cop navigates a dangerous neighborhood that's surrounded by a containment wall with the help of an ex-con in order to bring down a crime lord and his plot to devastate the entire city.
• 
  Plastic (2014)

  Review preview for Plastic

  It looks like a made-for-TV-movie, with nothing cinematic, nothing original

  Student credit card scammers join forces with low rent street hustlers only to be blackmailed by heavy duty East European gangsters
• 
  Tarzan (2013)

  Review preview for Tarzan

  The plot proceeds along a familiar track with the imagination of a tree slug

  Me Tarzan, You Jane face the destructive power of a multinational energy company, searching for an alien meteorite in the jungle
• 
  Tracks (2013)

  Review preview for Tracks

  Visually the film has emotional qualities that contribute to the feeling of admiration for Robyn's quest

  Based on the true story of Robyn Davidson who in 1977 undertook an extraordinary solo trek across the harsh Australian outback.
• 
  Pompeii (2014)

  Review preview for Pompeii

  The film is about death, whether in the arena, or out

  A volcanic rebuke of Rome's corrupt society? Or an effects driven disaster movie with a romantic sub plot and gladiatorial massacres?
• 
  The Two Faces Of January (2014)

  Review preview for The Two Faces Of January

  Patricia Highsmith on a low flame

  Death in Greece involves a fraudulent investment banker, a tour guide and a young wife. There are no certainties and nowhere to run.
• 
  Frank (2014)

  Review preview for Frank

  His attempt at satire digs too deep into the muddy waters of exaggeration

  Offbeat comedy about a wannabe musician who finds himself out of his depth when he joins an avant garde rock band led by the enigmatic Frank - a musical genius who hides himself inside a large fake head.
• 
  Locke (2013)

  Review preview for Locke

  It's like a suicide. And there's nothing to look at

  A man drives through the night, listening to mobile phone calls, as his life falls apart.
• 
  The Love Punch (2013)

  Review preview for The Love Punch

  You ache for Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn to show them how this is done

  Heist comedy.
• 
  Calvary (2014)

  Review preview for Calvary

  In Sligo, it seems, God is dead

  A priest finds himself under threat.
• 
  The Quiet Ones (2014)

  Review preview for The Quiet Ones

  The film is perverse and weird but the director doesn't know how to choreograph it for maximum effect

  A University physics professor assembles a team of students for an experiment upon a possessed girl
• 
  Rio 2 (2014)

  Review preview for Rio 2

  As the film sinks into a morass of sugary fizz a serious question bursts to the surface: are children really interested in emotional cohesion within communities?

  It's a jungle out there for Blu, Jewel and their three chicks (kids) after they leave Rio de Janeiro for the wilds of the Amazon...
• 
  Divergent (2014)

  Review preview for Divergent

  It's not war with an aggressor. It's war within.

  In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she's Divergent and won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late.
• 
  Noah (2014)

  Review preview for Noah

  Will go down in the history of religious adaptations as a disaster of Biblical proportions

  A man believes that he was chosen to build an ark to save the world's animals and end human cruelty.
• 
  Labor Day (2013)

  Review preview for Labor Day

  The tension rolls like thunder through your mind

  A depressed woman and her son find their lives changed by an encounter with a convict on the run.
• 
  About Last Night (2014)

  Review preview for About Last Night

  Relationships based on sex and infatuation are doomed

  Follow two couples as they journey from the bar to the bedroom and are eventually put to the test in the real world.
• 
  Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

  Review preview for Muppets Most Wanted

  Sack the writers, disarm the director and banish the gatecrashers. The Muppets aren't The Muppets anymore

  While on a grand world tour, The Muppets find themselves unwittingly involved in an European bank heist caper, headed by a look-alike frog and his dastardly sidekick.
• 
  Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

  Review preview for Dallas Buyers Club

  Uncompromising in every respect

  When a fast-living heterosexual redneck develops AIDS, he refuses to take it lying down, and in his struggle makes some unlikely friends.
• 
  Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

  Review preview for Captain America: The Winter Soldier

  Cinema is a visual medium and the directors of The Winter Soldier deserve recognition as master craftsmen

  Suspicion within S.H.I.E.L.D. complictes matters as our hero takes on a new enemy.
• 
  Salmon Fishing In The Yemen (2011)

  Review preview for Salmon Fishing In The Yemen

  The film ribs civil servants mercilessly and proves that rom-coms don't have to be brain dead

  When an idealistic sheikh persuades a fisheries expert to try and introduce salmon to the Yemen, the expert soon finds himself himself out of his depth, but love blossoms along the way.
• 
  The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

  Review preview for The Grand Budapest Hotel

  It makes you believe in the beauty and wonder of moving pictures again

  The adventures of a concierge and a lobby boy who becomes his friend.
• 
  August: Osage County (2013)

  Review preview for August: Osage County

  It is not a talkie so much as a shoutie

  A dysfunctional family comes together to deal with a crisis.
• 
  Escape From Planet Earth (2013)

  Review preview for Escape From Planet Earth

  The script encourages smiley faces and it's this, more than the storyline, that helps you love these little guys

  Astronaut Scorch Supernova from Baab finds himself caught in a trap when he responds to an SOS from The Dark Planet (Earth's nom-de-death)
• 
  Need For Speed (2014)

  Review preview for Need For Speed

  If the smell of exhaust nauseates you and the sight of skinny grown boys going all the way with macho machines makes you want to take up cycling, stand well back

  A street racer from upstate New York drives to California to compete against the man who sent him to jail.
• 
  300: Rise Of An Empire (2014)

  Review preview for 300: Rise Of An Empire

  David vs Goliath: The Rematch.

  Greek general Themistokles leads the charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy.
• 
  Ride Along (2014)

  Review preview for Ride Along

  There's no subtlety here. Follow the dots.

  Fast-talking security guard joins his future brother-in-law on a 24-hour patrol of Atlanta in order to prove himself worthy of marrying the cop's sister.
• 
  Non-Stop (2014)

  Review preview for Non-Stop

  It rocks the chocks and never allows tension to slacken for a second

  Blackmail and murder on a long haul transatlantic flight with 150 passengers on board
• 
  A New York Winter's Tale (2014)

  Review preview for A New York Winter's Tale

  It would be difficult to exaggerate the piffling absurdity of this film

  A fantasy romance between an Irish burglar and an ill heiress with violent interruptions from Lucifer's gangster henchmen.
• 
  The Book Thief (2013)

  Review preview for The Book Thief

  The film gives a good impression of what it must have been like for ordinary people out of the firing line during the last years of the Third Reich

  A girl in Second World War Germany steals books and shares them with others.
• 
  Stalingrad (2013)

  Review preview for Stalingrad

  It looks great, which means it looks terrible - in a real way

  A band of Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army
• 
  Cuban Fury (2014)

  Review preview for Cuban Fury

  Nick Frost's limited comedic talent cannot stretch to a faux South American dance devil with fire in his heels.

  A former salsa star attempts a comeback.
• 
  The Monuments Men (2014)

  Review preview for The Monuments Men

  The film becomes a mixture of Dad's Army and The Cockleshell Heroes (without the cockleshells).

  A Second World War platoon are given the job of rescuing artwork form Nazi thieves.
• 
  All Is Lost (2013)

  Review preview for All Is Lost

  One man in a boat is too serious for jokes

  One man must battle to survive after his boat sinks in the ocean.
• 
  RoboCop (2014)

  Review preview for RoboCop

  The presence of B-list actors adds nothing to a script that was DOA before passing Go

  When a police officer is critically injured he is brought back to life as a cyborg and celebrated as the future of law enforcement.
• 
  Tinkerbell And The Pirate Fairy (2014)

  Review preview for Tinkerbell And The Pirate Fairy

  Rather than churn out a fourth grade cheapo product, the creative crew have sold no one short

  An adventurous fairy leaves Pixie Hollow and returns a year later as captain of a pirate ship
• 
  The Invisible Woman (2013)

  Review preview for The Invisible Woman

  The film suffers from a profusion of good taste

  Adaptation of Claire Tomalin’s 1992 biography, which brought Charles Dickens' secret 13-year affair with a young actress to light.
• 
  Nebraska (2013)

  Review preview for Nebraska

  Despite a languid start the film is life affirming and often extremely funny

  An alcoholic father and his resentful son travel cross-country together to collect big sweepstake winnings.
• 
  The Lego Movie (2014)

  Review preview for The Lego Movie

  The pace is frantic, the colours electrifying and the storyline zippedy-who-dah

  A Lego man joins a quest to save the universe.
• 
  Mr Peabody & Sherman (2014)

  Review preview for Mr Peabody & Sherman

  There's nothing stale, nor been-there about this animated pooch's fizzy brainstorms

  A genius dog and his adopted son have time travelling adventures with hilarious animated results
• 
  12 Years A Slave (2013)

  Review preview for 12 Years A Slave

  If there is a flaw in this beautifully made film it is the relentless nature of evil

  A free black man is abducted and sold into slavery.