Armless?

One-Armed Swordsman (1967)

Directed by Chang Cheh this film stars Jimmy Wang, Angela Pan and Lisa Chiao Chiao. A kung fu student is hated by his peers for being the son of a servant and loses his sword arm to his master's daugther when she has a fit of rage at being beaten in combat by him.

Slightly surprising is how this film takes a stance against the violent lifestyle as well as the cycle of honour and revenge which dominate the way of martial arts. Mostly this is an average martial arts film but the theme of the piece runs as a nice undercurrent. The acting is decent as are the fight sequences.

4/5

The promise of tomorrow

Tomorrowland (2015)

Directed by Bard Bird this film inspired by part of the Disney theme parks stars George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy and Hugh Laurie. The daughter of a NASA engineer is given a pin that shows the promise of a magical land known as Tomorrowland.

I found this film surprisingly enjoyable, while it's not perfect and the final act in particular has a bit of a wobble there is a lot to enjoy here. The plot looks at some of the ideas of how we think about the future affects us (although the ending is a little simplistic) and some of the character stories were especially well done. Probably the best part of the film is the performance by Rafffey Cassidy who really stands out, giving a great performance for her age.

4/5

Hot Fuzz 1903 style

A Daring Daylight Burglary (1903)

Directed by Frank Mottershaw this short film stars local actors and firefighters from Sheffield. A boy spots a man breaking into a house and runs off to get the police.

This is a simplistic chase film from the very early days of cinema. While there is not much depth or complexity to this film it does what it sets out to do keeping the viewer entertained. Some of the image quality may not be amazing but it is not surprising for the age of the film.

3/5

Going nowhere

Just Before I Go (2015)

Directed by Courtney Cox this film stars Seann William Scott, Olivia Thirlby, Garret Dillahunt, Kate Walsh and Kyle Gallner. After his wife leaves him for another man our protagonist returns home to settle some scores then top himself.

The tone of this film is all over the shop and it's actually hard to have any sympathy for the protagonist at all as at times he seems to be completely oblivious to his actions. About the only decent part of the script is the nephew struggling with his sexuality and that might have been a better focus instead. Some of the cast do their best but there are parts of the story that are left annoyingly unresolved as the story plods on to the next part.

2/5

non-thriller

The Boy Next Door (2015)

Directed by Rob Cohen this film stars Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Guzman, John Corbett and Kristin Chenoweth. A school teacher who is separated from her husband has a one night stand with the 19 year old living next door and things go wrong.

Being about as subtle as getting smashed in the head with the brick makes it hard to enjoy much in this film. Unfortunately the script is not great and is more a paint by numbers than exploring anything of interest. It also does not help that the so called “boy” is played by someone nearly 30 years old.

2/5

Seven shades of shit

Seventh Son (2014)

Directed by Sergei Bodrov this film based on the novel “The Spook's Apprentice” stars Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Ben Barnes and Alicia Vikander. The last knight of an old order picks up a new apprentice after the death of his last one to help him defeat the evil witches.

For some reason Hollywood is pretty terrible at fantasy and this is another poor genre effort. The plot of this film is rushed, the characters not deep enough and really the script needed a major overhaul. There is a really good cast but they are largely wasted and Jeff Bridges appears to be doing a bad impression of his own performance in True Grit (2010).

2/5

Shaping up to not be much

Visual Variations on Noguchi (1945)

Directed by Marie Menken this short film explores the sculptures of Isamu Noguchi. We explore various strangely shaped sculptures with the accompaniment of jarring sounds and words.

Clearly this is an experimental film that will not be to the tastes of everyone. I found it very hard to pick anything out of the content beyond the superficial. Maybe genre fans will get more from this than I did but on it's on I found this one a bit impenetrable.

2/5