LATEST ADDITIONS

Having found success directing a horror remake (Dawn of the Dead), a couple of high-profile comic book adaptations (300 and Watchmen) and a CG ‘toon based on a popular kids book (Legend of the Guardians), Zack Snyder has finally let his own imagination have free reign on the big screen and the results are… rather confusing.

Duncan Jones made quite a splash with his feature debut Moon, so it’s hardly a surprise that his next directorial outing arrived on a tide of expectations that would prove almost impossible to meet. While its reach outweighs its success, Source Code is still a very successful sci-fi thriller with a cracking Groundhog Day-like plot about a repetitive time travelling effort to discover the identity of a mysterious bomber before he strikes again. And while the pseudo-science driving the story sometimes becomes a little overbearing, excellent performances from the film’s two time-crossed leads, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan, give it all an emotional resonance that keeps pulling you back in.

Limitless stars Bradley Cooper as failed writer Eddie Mora, whose life is completely turned around when he gets his hands on an experimental drug that boosts his brainpower. Within days he’s not only finished his novel, but also made millions on the stock market and come to the attention of high-powered businessman Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro). Trouble is, the pills are leaving him with gaps in his memory, one of which might connect him to a murder, and if that’s not enough, there’s also a Russian gangster who wants to get his hands on the wonder drug.

There’s a world of difference between an ‘adult cartoon’ and a ‘cartoon for adults’. Director/co-writer Gore Verbinski’s Rango is a superb example of the latter – a cartoon aimed at an adult audience who will understand its in-jokes and satirical approach to the Western genre, but one that can still be enjoyed by folk of all ages. Playing out for large parts like a reworking of Once Upon a Time in the West enacted by anthropomorphised animals, the film stars Johnny Depp as the titular would-be gunslinger, a pampered pet chameleon lost in the wild, whose lies lead to him becoming sheriff of a town called Dirt.