Paper Planes (U)
Directed by Robert Connolly
4/5

Three cheers for co-writer director Robert Connolly for a charming, funny children’s adventure designed to delight uncynical youngsters and, happily, prove a pleasure for all too frequently unkindly “entertained” accompanying adults.

The 12-year-old hero Dylan, sweetly and convincingly played by Ed Oxenbould, lives in rural New South Wales with his father Jack (Sam Worthington) who, having lost his wife in a car accident five months previously, is traumatised, doesn’t work and simply sleeps or watches TV.

Forced to be self-sufficient, Oxenbould gets on with life as best he can until one day at school a guest shows the pupils how to build paper planes.

Hooked, Oxenbould persuades his father to take him to regional trials for the World Paper Plane Championships in Sydney and, after more success and burgeoning teen romance with a Japanese contestant, competes in the World Championships in Tokyo.

The story could all too easily simply have turned into fairy-tale mush.

Instead, thanks to Connolly, Oxenbould and an attractive cast of youngsters and adults — most memorably, Terry Norris as Oxenbould’s former flier grandfather (“Cautioned, not arrested” when he steals an ambulance to drive his grandson to an aircraft museum), Paper Planes flies high as genuinely appealing and immensely pleasurable family entertainment.

Review by Alan Frank

Mississippi Grind (15)
Directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden
3/5

This road trip film about two poker players is as smooth and gentle as the Woodford bourbon they keep drinking along the way.

The pair bond over the expensive tipple which becomes an intrinsic part of the drama and a character in its own right. It is insidious yet genius product placement.

The film captures the gritty and slow pulsing rhythm of the south as down on his luck gambler Gerry (Ben Mendelsohn ) persuades his newfound friend and lucky charm Curtis (Ryan Reynolds) to gamble their way down to New Orleans for a high-stakes poker game which he is convinced will save him from financial ruin.

Mendelsohn is wonderfully affable as the totally-in-denial Gerry and imbues him with a likeability and compassion that he doesn’t deserve. While Ryan is uber charming and engaging as the charismatic and free spirited Curtis.

Their growing friendship is heart-warming to watch but you can’t help thinking this is a car crash waiting to happen.

However there are no clever twists or turns. This is a slow-burning character study of gambling addiction in which Mendelsohn and Reynolds prove a winning combination.

Review by Maria Duarte
 
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (15)
Directed by Stanley Nelson
4/5

This is a riveting history of the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party whose fight against racial violence, oppression and equal rights still resonate today.

Veteran filmmaker Stanley Nelson with consummate skill interweaves rare archive film footage with interviews with some of the key members of the movement along with FBI informants, former police officers and journalists who were there at the time to give a gripping insight into this complex and controversial organisation.

The group was formed in 1966 to initially monitor police behaviour and challenge the increasing police brutality against black people in Oakland, California.

But as their numbers and influence grew it was targeted by FBI director J Edgar Hoover, terrified that a black messiah would emerge. He had it infiltrated, had its members harassed, followed, their phones tapped and some, reportedly, killed.

Despite their angry and violent reputation the film shows the inordinate amount of work the party carried out in the community with the free breakfast for kids programmes and local health clinics.

What is still horrifying is that almost 50 years after the party’s inception black people are still fighting for equality and against police brutality despite a black president residing in the White House.

Review by Maria Duarte

Spectre (12A)
Directed by Sam Mendes
3/5

With Skyfall being the highest grossing Bond film in history the burning question is can Sam Mendes pull off a double whammy with Spectre — his swan song?

Unfortunately, he made a rod for his own back by setting the bar and our expectations so inordinately high.

In 007 fashion Spectre is hugely entertaining with stunning explosive set action sequences, which takes James Bond (Daniel Craig) globetrotting from Mexico City to London, Rome, Austria and Tangier on the trail of a sinister secret organisation called Spectre.

Monica Bellucci at 51 flies the flag for the older woman while 30-year-old Lea Seydoux (The Lobster) plays Bond’s main love interest.

Craig is firing on all cylinders if looking a little more frayed and weary around the edges.

The main problem lies in that Spectre lacks the emotional pull and core of Skyfall with a villain Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) who is too enigmatic and mysterious to be a seriously menacing presence despite Waltz’s best efforts.  
It is exquisitely shot and is masterfully directed by Mendes again with nods to past Bond films.

Like Mendes this could be Craig’s swan song too after revealing recently in an interview that he would rather slash his wrists than do another Bond movie.

Review by Maria Duarte

Animal Kingdom: Let’s Go Ape (PG)
Directed by Jamel Debbouze
1/5

This mostly irksome monkey business is being released in time for half term.

It’s just possible that extremely tolerant youngsters sated with ice cream, popcorn and sugar-saturated fizzy drinks might enjoy the animated antics of the silly simians in French actor-turned-first time director Jamel Debouzze.

But I wouldn’t bet on it.

Many more sophisticated youngsters (ie those kids who assume the cartoon series Scooby-Do is art) would need a heavy dose of some soporific in their fizzy drink to prevent them from tearing up their seats.

We are in the forest two million years ago where strangely humanoid (the female apes possess breasts) primates live in the trees under the rule of the Monkey Monarch.

Our hero turns out to be the king’s oldest son who, seemingly a tad too tiny and feeble to inherit the crown, is raised in the desert where he learns to walk on two legs without bruising his knuckles on the dirt, discovers fire and — oh, damn, you guessed! — turns out to be man and has to make his mark…

The animation isn’t up to much, the film feels longer than it is. Mind you, if kids need punishing….

Review by Alan Frank