The Lego Batman Movie

(PG) ★★★½Director: Chris McKay.Cast: (voices of) Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes.Is that Christian Bale or Ben Affleck? I can't keep up.How much Batman is too much Batman?The correct answer is "there is no such thing as too much Batman". But you could be forgiven for thinking we could be close to Peak Bat.Including his role in The Lego Movie (and definitely counting The Lego Batman Movie), by...

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Beauty & The Beast: 1991 vs 2017

1991 version(G) ★★★★★Director: Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise.Cast: (voices of) Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Angela Lansbury, Bradley Michael Pierce, Rex Everhart, Jesse Corti, Hal Smith, Jo Anne Worley.The age old story of one woman's love for a buffalo.Upon its release in 1991, Beauty & The Beast marked a turning point for Disney.Buoyed by the success of The Little Mermaid two years earlier...

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Manchester By The Sea

(M) ★★★★Director: Kenneth Lonergan.Cast: Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, C.J. Wilson, Kyle Chandler, Michelle Williams, Gretchen Mol.Definitely not a film about a coastal shop selling bed linen.When films claim big awards for their actors as opposed to the film itself, the film tends to live on in the shadow of the actor.As great as you might think The Revenant is (personally I thought it was overblown and pretentious), it will forever be the film...

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REWIND REVIEW: Footrot Flats - The Dog's Tale (RIP Murray Ball)

(PG) ★★★★Director: Murray Ball.Cast: (voices of) John Clarke, Peter Rowley, Rawiri Paratene, Fiona Samuel, Peter Hayden, Dorothy McKegg, Billy T. James, Brian Sergent, Marshall Napier, Michael Haigh.Pets should rarely be kept in the fridge.America had Charles M Schulz and Peanuts, France had Goscinny & Uderzo and Asterix, and New Zealand had Murray Ball and Footrot Flats.As representations of their respective nations, each is telling. Peanuts...

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Kong: Skull Island

(M) ★★★Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts.Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Terry Notary, John C. Reilly, Shea Whigham, Toby Kebbell, John Ortiz, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Thomas Mann, Jing Tian.David Attenborough's Planet Earth II is packed with surprises.Like Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and Batman, King Kong never dies - he just gets rebooted every once in a while, ready to be wheeled out once again for...

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Logan

(MA15+) ★★★★Director: James Mangold.Cast: Hugh Jackman, Dafne Keen, Patrick Stewart, Boyd Holbrook, Richard E. Grant, Stephen Merchant, Eriq La Salle, Elizabeth Rodriguez."You've got some red on you."Given this is supposedly Hugh Jackman's last outing as Logan AKA Wolverine, it's worth remembering how close we came to having someone else in the role.In an alternate universe, Mission: Impossible 2 didn't run over schedule and Dougray Scott retained...

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