ENDER’S GAME ***
THE FIFTH ESTATE ***
Dir: Gavin Hood (12A, 120 mins)
Another sci-fi franchise is launched from teen novel material as Orson Scott Card’s
quintet about gifted children fighting evil aliens gets the big screen treatment. Asa
Butterfield, last seen in Martin Scorsese’s plays Ender Wiggin. Ender is a gifted
child recruited by the military in the shape of Harrison Ford’s Colonel Hyrum Graff
and “Sir’ Ben Kingsley’s Mazer Rackham. The Earth has been ravaged by aliens
known as Buggers (tee hee) and awaits the next attack. Their only hope against
this technologically superior race are children like Ender. Ender, seperated from
his siblings, and sent to an orbiting school. Ender hones his skills as an empathetic
killer in this space-age militarised Hogwarts, but what will be the cost to his own
humanity? Director Gavin Hood hopefully will atone for X-Men Origins: Wolverine
with this ambitious epic packed to the rafters with CGI aliens and dogfights,
alongside teen troubles. Harrison Ford is on grizzly mode as the battle hardened
Colonel putting Ender through his paces, forming an awkward double act with Ben
Kingsley as the other tattooed adviser Rackham. Han Solo and Gandhi together at
last! Spectacle is guaranteed, whether satisfying storytelling will be remains open to
debate. I mean ‘Buggers’? Seriously, did nobody point that one out? Opens Oct 25
Dir: Bill Condon (15, 124 mins)
A solid retelling of the WikiLeaks saga that manages to make the machinations
of Julian Assange cohesive and understandable, if not really shedding any light
on the man himself. Benedict Cumberbatch is superb as the ambitious Assange
out to expose injustice, along with Daniel Berg played by Daniel Bruhl. Bruhl falls
under Assange’s charismatic spell when they meet and start their whistleblower
activism, hiding amidst technology to expose injustice. Assange is an egotist
however, as Berg gradually comes to realise when WikiLeaks grows. The film tries
to take an even view of the site over a five year history, showing the pair worthily
exposing fraud in the banking system, listing BNP members and recklessly putting
the lives of undercover operatives in danger. Cumberbatch is fascinating as the
enigmatic Assange, whereas Bruhl is left with the less showy, blander and trickier
part of Berg, on whose book the film is based. The film crackles along however,
despite some occasionally dodgy techno sheen and ropey dialogue. A film about
events that are still unfolding. The Fifth Estate remains compelling if not wholly
successful viewing. Opens Oct 18
ROMEO AND JULIET ***
SUNSHINE ON LEITH ****
ONE CHANCE **
Dir: Carlo Carlei (12A, 100 mins)
Yet another version of Shakespeare’s tale of doomed
young love, this time adapted by Downton Abbey
scribe Julian Fellowes. Fret not though for there’s no
controversial car crash, neither unfortunately are there
zingers from Maggie Smith. Love’s young dream, Douglas
Booth’s Romeo and Hailee Steinfeld’s Juliet, are born on
different sides of the tracks and trapped betwixt their
respective warring families. Can their love conquer all
however? Er... no, but they’ll look a bit Twilighty while
they suffer. This rendition is a faithful adaptation of
Shakespeare, if a bit of a dull one. Baz Luhrmann put
a fresh spin on the tale with his hyper kinetic, exciting
if often ludicrous, rendering and Carlei’s version can’t
help but suffer by comparison. The teen leads are callow
enough and the film is handsomely mounted but it battles
against over familiarity and ultimately adds nothing
new. A solid adaptation for a new generation of tweens
perhaps, a bit mmmmyeh for everyone else. Opens Oct 11
Dir: Dexter Fletcher (PG, 100 mins)
The music of The Proclaimers provides the soundtrack
for this winning Scottish musical from director Dexter
Fletcher, following up Wild Bill with an accomplished
and wildly different film. Ally and Davy are two soldiers
returning from Afghanistan following an attack, they
are out from the army and looking to restart and change
their lives. This impacts family and friends as they fall
in love, family secrets are exposed and one of them
contemplates going back to the front. Wearing its heart
firmly on its sleeve, this is an unapologetically upbeat
film. If you can go with the central characters launching
into the Proclaimers’ back catalogue at the drop of a hat
then there is plenty to enjoy. Peter Mullan plays happy
and upbeat Rab with able support from Jane Horrocks,
and Freya Mavor and Antonia Thomas appear as the
girlfriends to Kevin Guthrie and George Mackay’s central
duo. Feel good Scottish broth. Opens Oct 4
Dir: David Frankel (12A, 103 mins)
James Corden is Paul Potts! Alas, he’s not playing the
Cambodian dictator, instead he assays the part of the
opera singer who won Britain’s Got Talent. And oh my
God, there are some insultingly terrible Welsh accents in
this, from Mackenzie Crook as Potts’ best mate to Colm
Meaney as his Dad unable to lose his Irish lilt. Things
are made worse by Alexandra Roach being genuinely
Welsh and genuinely good as Potts’ internet girlfriend.
Corden doesn’t have to ‘do’ full Welsh as Potts but has
a tough time trying to sell sincerity amist the film’s
shamelessly cheesy emotional manipulations. This bio-pic
follows Potts from being bullied at school, his love of
opera despite those naysayers around him, his Carphone
Warehouse job in Bridgend and eventual audition for
Britain’s Got Talent. Formulaic and often insulting to
the intelligence, this underdog story has been seen many
times before and without so many annoyingly
bad accents. Opens Oct 25
massively as World War Three breaks out as Saoirse Ronan’s grumpy American teen holidays in Wales. Very good, harrowing and proper coming of age tale. METALLICA: THROUGH THE
NEVER (12A) The pop and rock combo do a documentary about themselves. No doubt very similar to the One Direction one. ENOUGH SAID (15) The late great James Gandolfini stars in
a winning comedy drama, with Woody Allen overtones, as Julia Louis Dreyfus finds a man, falls for him, only to discover he’s her new friend’s ex-husband. S ??????]?????????????????((