Review

The Kids Are Alright gets a real-life spin in this documentary following a beach-bum sperm donor and his many, many children as they prepare to meet for the first time. If your tolerance for that weird American language of self-actualisation is at even average levels, chunks of this will drive …

Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson are bearers of bad tidings in this Oscar-nominated drama, an Iraq story that counts the cost of the conflict on the home front. Putting a face on the “angels of death” whose grim duty it is to notify the loved ones of soldiers lost in …

Sean Bean and Danny Dyer are outlaws of a different kind in this corny World War II actioner about ‘30 Commando’, an “elite smash and grab unit” set up by Ian Fleming (who he?) for search-and-destroy missions behind enemy lines. Whether the real regiment would have recruited an insubordinate lout …

In 1976, a film examining the redemptive power of violence won Oscars for Best Film and Director, albeit not for its committed star. Shame the winner was Rocky, not Scorsese’s masterpiece of urban alienation, which turns 35 this month. Though its iconic elements – De Niro’s unstable cabbie, Jodie Foster’s …

Boxing clever

Russell’s been getting the review ready for Saturday and is so bubbling over with enthusiasm for the episode he couldn’t help but come up with some more snippets to get you excited as well

Blame Michael Flatley for this post-Riverdance documentary about hoofing children heading to Glasgow for the 40th Irish Dancing World Championships, each with hopes of becoming the year’s finest high-kicker. Yet while it’s easy to sneer at the tweens and their scary parents, you can’t ignore their dedication to their dying …

The British ‘hood movie has gone from near-the-knuckle realism (Kidulthood) to fist-in-the-face parody (Anuvahood) of late, but Attack The Block beams in from a whole new angle. Billed as ‘Inner City vs. Outer Space’, this feature debut from Joe Cornish (yes, he of The Adam And Joe Show) offers a …

Natalie Press (My Summer Of Love) is Nikki, a former tearaway who arrives on a remote Scottish island seeking revenge on the mother who abandoned her. Naturally, things don’t pan out as she planned when she finds her mum (Janet McTeer) and her half-brother (a revelatory Colin Morgan from teatime’s …

Without a doubt, Mortal Kombat’s heyday was the mid ‘90s, a time when it and Street Fighter ruled not just arcades, but home consoles as well. It enjoyed a brief resurgence in the mid 2000s with sequels like Deadly Alliance and Deception, but with each new game came more goofy …