Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is a very worthy sequel to the first film. I loved the first book but criticised the first film in the franchise for whizzing through the plot and not investing enough time in the characters and environment. The Scorch Trials plays with the events of book two but moves things forward considerably, ramping up the tension and setting the series apart from the relatively similar Hunger Games and Divergent franchises. Starting off like a zombie horr

American Ultra is destined to become a great little cult movie. Jesse Eisenberg follows on from Zombieland with a great comedy/action alternative spin on the action genre. His character was trained as a super soldier after being arrested for a drug-related crime. These feelings were repressed until he is 'activated' when he is hunted down by a new protection agency. Very funny, very violent and very personable this has that lovely low-budget but charming feel found in the afo

The Bad Education Movie is worth a watch if you're a fan of the TV series. You know exactly what to expect and, unfortunately, this doesn't beat the cliché of feeling like a longer episode. The basic premise is an obvious one. The class go on a field trip and chaos ensues but the chemistry between the characters and the banter flying between them keeps things funny throughout. The cliches do unfortunately keep coming. You know the class will fall out and then make up, you kno

It's early days but The Brighton Film Club's, perhaps controversial, opinion is that the new Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is the best of the lot. Veering the most towards Bond as the series has yet got, this story of MIA spies forming an undercover terrorist group could have easily been something for Daniel Craig to deal with. The film is broken down into four glorious set pieces starting with Ethan Hunt clinging onto the side of a plane as it takes off (apparently done f

Everyone's talking about Inside Out and the big question going in is whether it will live up to the hype. I'm pleased to say that this goes above and beyond everything written about it and (whisper it) might just be the best film that Pixar have ever produced. Perfectly balancing Pixar's classic line between over-complicated and perfectly simple, this follows a young girl through a life-changing year moving to a new city and changing schools. The USP is that this is split bet

Ant-Man is great and although this counts as the final stage of Marvel's Phase Two it actually stands as the best origin-story Marvel film yet (and I'm including Spider-Man here as well.) It's the perfect combination of humour and action and links nicely with the other films in the universe. Paul Rudd is excellent in the titular role and brings his charisma and likeability to the part of a thief who just wants to be able to spend time with his daughter (cliched but effective.

Jurassic World beat the Avengers record for opening box office takings which is actually quite a surprise. The fact that the British public are hungry for an old-skool blockbuster based on the past (but, obviously, set in the future, like the antithesis of Star Wars) suggests that the public are slightly nauseous with the over-saturation of the superhero market. This is a traditional, family blockbuster with all the Spielberg traditions intact: heart, thrills and brilliant vi

Mad Max: Fury Road. In a nutshell? Believe the hype, this is sublime. It's two hours of absolutely non-stop, no let up action. It doesn't allow you to pause for breath. The fact that the pace is sustained for that long and there's not a ounce of boredom you could possibly feel is testament to the sheer scale of the production. The hyper-stylised, post-apocalyptic landscape looks magnificent on the big screen and the effects go from white-out sun to blistering storms. It's jus

Pitch Perfect has never been a High School Musical-esque childish franchise. It's helmed by great writers and this sequel is directed by, and stars, one of modern comedy's best: Elizabeth Banks. Following The Barden Bellas' antics from the first film onto the national stage of a cappella, I thought this would roll out tired sequel clichés and pale in comparison to the first but was pleasantly surprised when this turned out to be funnier, ruder and more heartfelt than before.

Let's get the contentious stuff out the way first and, despite being told many times to the contrary, I think this bests the first Avengers film. Yes, it flies out of the traps without a regard for any of the events in the last MCU films (Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Solider) but the first set piece is a marvellous piece of action cinema and worth the IMAX entry price alone. You'll have to get over the fact that they seem to have tamed Hulk as well (he

Important to note that I haven't read Veronica Roth's Divergent series of books and that is likely to affect my score on this review. However, I did enjoy the first film in the series and this second, Insurgent, keeps up with the first. Of course, we've seen this all before (the similarities to The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner are extensive) but this is still entertaining enough to stand on its own two feet as a series. The reason this lags behind the other two is the plo

Chappie marks Neil Blomkamp's return to a pseudo-documentary style like his awesome debut District 9. Touching on much of the same themes as that movie (what it is be human, racial segregation and the South African class divide) and sticking with the 'realistic science fiction' approach, Chappie is set ten years from now where a robotic police force (think iRobot) patrol the streets. Crime is at an all-time low but Blomkamp does well not to paint this as a happy place. If any