Love & Friendship (2016)
Genre: Comedy/drama
Certification: 15
Duration: 92 minutes
Directed by: Whit Stillman
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, Tom Bennett, Stephen Fry, Lochlann O’Mearáin, Morfydd Clark
Eden Leisure Group

Love and Friendship is based on Jane Austen’s unfinished epistolary novel, Lady Susan, which she wrote in 1793 when she was around 20, and remained unpublished until after her death.

Director Whit Stillman (Barcelona, The Last Days of Disco) has seemingly done a fantastic job as critics are full of praise for him.

Set in the 1790s, the beautiful widow Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) seeks refuge with her in-laws as rumours about her scandalous private life circulate through polite society. While staying at the Churchill estate, she decides to find a husband for herself and a future for her eligible but reluctant daughter, Frederica (Morfydd Clark).

In doing so, she attracts a lot of attention from the opposite sex: from the rich Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett), the young and handsome Reginald Decourcy (Xavier Samuel) and the charming, but married Lord Manwaring (Lochlann O’Mearáin), complicating matters enormously. Along the way, she confides in her friend Alicia Johnson (Chloë Sevigny).

After a series of dramatic turns, Lady Susan finally risks destruction when her jealous rival, Lady Lucy Manwaring (Jenn Murray), arrives in London to make a shocking revelation.

Many critics believe the film has exceeded all expectations. The critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes describes the film as “a thoroughly delightful period drama”.

Peter Traver of The Rolling Stone Magazine also praised the film. He said: “The first time I saw Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship I fell head over heels. And like anything you love at first sight, you want to see it again – not just to get closer but to put it to the test. Love & Friendship passes with flying colours.”

And A.O. Scott of The New York Times wrote: “Love & Friendship is a reminder that Austen was not only a brilliant architect of screen-friendly plots but also a very funny writer.”

So it will come as no surprise that the film has smashed the box office sales despite its rather small budget of $3 million. Since the world premiere at The Sundance Film Festival in January 2016, the costume drama has garnered $11 million in box office sales.

Ratings
IMDB: 7.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 99%
Empire Magazine: 5 stars

Tale Of Tales (2015)
Genre: Fantasy horror
Certification: 15
Duration: 134 minutes
Directed by: Matteo Garrone
Starring: Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, John C. Reilly
Eden Leisure Group

Italian director Matteo Garrone, whose Gomorrah was one of the most successful Italian films of the last decade, returns with his first film in English.

Tale of Tales is based on three dark fairy tales taken from Giambattista Basile’s Pentamerone, which was originally published in 1634. The film follows three separate fairy tale stories and cleverly interweaves them. Expect cliff-hanger moments, shadowy locations and grimy sets.

Salma Hayek is the star of the first story, playing a queen who is so desperate to conceive a child that she sends her husband (John C. Reilly) on the dangerous quest to find the leviathan organ which she believes will help cure her fertility problem.

The King of Highhills (Toby Jones) becomes obsessed with a pet flea, neglecting his devoted daughter in the process.

While in the neighbouring kingdom two sisters use a magic spell to please their fornicating libertine king (Vincent Cassel).

The film has received very positive reviews. Among other comments, Stephanie Zacharek of Time wrote: “There are doubtless hundreds of hidden archetypal complexities in Tale of Tales – but to bask in its weird, warped beauty is pleasure enough.”

The $14.5 million budget film competed for the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. It won best design and best cinema-tography, among others, at Italy’s most prestigious film awards, the David di Donatello Awards.

Ratings
IMDB: 6.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Empire Magazine: 3 stars

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows (2016)
Genre: Action
Certification: 12A
Duration: 96 minutes
Directed by: Dave Green
Starring: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Laura Linney, Stephen Amell, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Tyler Perry, Tony Shalhoub
KRS Releasing Ltd

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is the sequel to the 2014 hit film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Expectations were high but the film made a disappointing debut at the US box office with €35.3 million.

The pizza-munching Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo and Raphael return to face bigger, badder villains alongside April O’Neil (Megan Fox), Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett) and a newcomer: the hockey-masked vigilante Casey Jones (Stephen Amell). After supervillain Shredder (Brian Tee) escapes custody, he joins forces with a mad scientist (Tyler Perry) and others with a plan to take over the world. The turtles prepare to take on Shredder and his new crew but find themselves up against an even greater evil: the notorious Krang.

The film, directed by Dave Green, has received mixed reviews, with most critics, however, saying that it is better than its predecessor and that it is a faithful adaptation of the cartoon series. Yet be ready for some dumb fun as The Guardian’s Wendy Ide warns: “Kids will respond to the film, but the relentless dumb exuberance is unlikely to win many adult fans.”

Ratings
IMDB: 6.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 34%
Empire Magazine: 2 stars

Top Cat Begins (2015)
Genre: Animation
Certification: U
Duration: 89 minutes
Directed by: Andrés Couturier
Voices of: Jason Harris, David Hoffman, Chris Edgerly
KRS Releasing Ltd

Top Cat Begins purports to be a prequel to the Hanna-Barbera animated TV series, on which it is based, and to the 2011 film, Top Cat: The Movie.

The storyline, in fact, tells the adventure of how the famous feline created his infamous Manhattan alley cats gang. It stars the voice talent of Jason Harris, who had featured in the first film, and Chris Edgerly (Happy Feet).

The Indian-Mexican computer-generated production has received generally negative reviews with many critics commenting on the cheap animation and writing.

The Mirror film critic David Edwards wrote: “The animationis as cheap as the first part, released here in 2012, the jokes are weak and the voice cast unmemorable.”

And Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian lambasts the film in rhyme: “Top Cat! Now, I just want to plead: Stop that!”

Ratings
IMDB: 4.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
Empire Magazine: N/A

The Boss (2016)
Genre: Comedy
Certification: 15
Duration: 99 minutes
Directed by: Ben Falcone
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage, Ella Anderson, Kathy Bates
KRS Releasing Ltd

The Boss is the second movie actress Melissa McCarthy has made with her husband, Ben Falcone, the first being Tammy.

The actress plays the main character, Michelle Darnell, the “47th richest woman in the US”. An early montage shows Michelle being returned to an orphanage after being rejected by a series of foster families, and how she has changed her life and now proudly revels in her wealth and abuses everyone in her orbit, including her stressed personal assistant Claire (Kristen Bell).

But it all takes a turn for the worse after she is confronted by a bitter tycoon called Renault, who turns out to be the former paramour Michelle climbed all over to get ahead.

Although the film has received generally negative reviews, critics acknowledged McCarthy’s performance.

The critic’s consensus on Rotten Tomatoes it reads: “The result is unsubtle, rarely funny and forgettable but McCarthy is a force of nature and a very good comic actress.”

This is supported by The Daily Telegraph critic, Tim Robey, who said: “McCarthy is stranded, salvaging only what she can through the stray excellence of her timing, which is more or less infallible.”

Ratings
IMDB: 5.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 22%
Empire Magazine: 2 stars