Vue Birmingham

• 1988
• Japan
• 124 min
• 12

• Directed by: Otomo Katsuhiro
• Cast: Animated by Nakamura Takashi, with the voices of Iwata Mitsue, Sasaki Nozomu, Koyama Mami, Ishida Taro.

Based on the multi-volume graphic novel by Otomo, Akira is a mythical, futuristic tale of post-holocaust Tokyo, where pill-popping biker kids begin to unearth a government project designed to exploit the psychic and telekinetic powers of a group of laboratory-bound children. Superbly animated, with a fantastic visual and narrative imagination, but you'd be well advised to know something of the plot before you see it.

• 81%
• 76%
• 87%

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• 2016
• Czech Republic / UK / France
• 120 min
• 15

• Directed by: Sean Ellis
• Cast: Jamie Dornan, Cillian Murphy, Charlotte Le Bon

In WWII Czechoslovakia, two Czech soldiers (Dornan and Murphy) plot the assassination of high-ranking SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. With compelling performances and solid filmmaking, it's a powerful and poignant homage to the bravery and determination of the Czech resistance.

• 77%
• 59%
• 60%

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• 2016
• India
• 147 min

• Directed by: Nitya Mehra
• Written by: Sri Rao, Nitya Mehra
• Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Katrina Kaif, Sayani Gupta

An Indian love story told through a series of flashbacks and flash forwards. The film is directed by Nitya Mehra and it marks her debut in Hindi cinema.

• 77%

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• 2016
• US
• 2016-08-19
• 15

• Directed by: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
• Cast: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Annie Mumolo, Jada Pinkett Smith, Christina Applegate

Soccer mom Amy (Kunis), thwarted by the controlling PTA, befriends repressed Kiki (Bell) and outrageous Carla (Hahn). Rude, crude and raucous but nevertheless rather pleasing feelgood froth, championing bad behaviour as a solution to social repression.

• 67%
• 60%
• 60%

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• 2016
• US
• 123 min
• 12A

• Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov
• Cast: Jack Huston, Morgan Freeman, Toby Kebbell, Nazanin Boniadi

Judah Ben-Hur (Huston) is a wronged nobleman who does a lot of stuff but chiefly races in a chariot against adopted brother Messala (Kebbell). Forgettable and largely pointless remake of the 1959 classic, heavy on the action but light on plot, characterisation or entertainment.

• 57%
• 38%
• 26%

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• 2016
• US/UK
• 117 min
• U

• Directed by: Steven Spielberg
• Written by: Roald Dahl (novel), Melissa Mathison (screenplay)
• Cast: Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Bill Hader, Rebecca Hall

Eight year old Sophie (Barnhill) looks out her window one evening to discover something terrifying – the Big Friendly Giant (Rylance), who unlike his giant brothers doesn't actually want to eat her. Magical, funny and surprising stuff from Spielberg, lacking only some of the menace of Dahl's original, but genuinely heartwarming.

• 67%
• 66%
• 75%

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• 2016
• USA
• 89 min
• 15

• Directed by: Adam Wingard
• Written by: Simon Barrett
• Cast: James Allen McCune, Corbin Reid, Wes Robinson

James and a group of his friends head in to the forest to search for his long lost sister after discovering a video of her in the woods of the Blair Witch.

• 
• 100%

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• 2016
• US
• 123 min
• 12A

• Directed by: Paul Greengrass
• Cast: Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Julia Stiles

Jason Bourne (Damon) is back with a vengeance, literally this time, as information about the death of his father leads him to go up against CIA Director Dewey (Jones) and new nemesis Heather Lee (Vikander). Stonking action, high stakes, amazing chases, Damon is sensational: the perfect 'soft reboot'.

• 70%
• 58%
• 57%

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• 2016
• UK
• 123 min
• 15

• Directed by: Sharon Maguire
• Cast: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey

Bridget (Zellweger) is back, and pregnant, either by handsome American Jack (Dempsey) or Mark (Firth), the ex she never got over. Cue babymaking shenanigans. Bridget's fretting about being a 'spinster' comes across as self-hatred, and the men don't deserve the poor treatment she gives them. Not cute, not charming; just awful.

• 74%
• 67%
• 100%

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• 2016
• UK
• 104 min
• 15

• Directed by: Noel Clarke
• Written by: Noel Clarke
• Cast: Noel Clarke, Ashley Thomas, Olivia Chenery

Sam (Clarke) is settled with a wife and baby, and is working two jobs to pay the bills, when his violent past comes back to, yes, haunt him. The final part of Clarke's trilogy has gripping momentum, some astute casting and a more mature attitude towards women, despite a silly honey trap narrative.

• 64%

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• 2016
• US
• 108 min
• 12A

• Directed by: Peter Berg
• Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Gina Rodriguez, John Malkovich

The real-life tale of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, in which an oil rig explosion killed eleven men and caused the largest oil spill in American history. Berg touches on issues of corporate negligence and recklessness, but the real focus is on the courage of individuals such as Wahlberg's blue collar engineer. A solid nailbiter.

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• 2016
• US
• 88 min
• 15

• Directed by: Fede Alvarez
• Cast: Jane Levy, Daniel Zovatto, Dylan Minnette, Stephen Lang

Rocky (Levy), Money (Zovatto) and Alex (Minnette) rob rich people's houses, but when they break into the house of a blind Iraq War veteran (Lang) they get more than they bargained for. Nerve-shredding home invasion thriller with great control of suspense, surprise and pace.

• 77%
• 71%
• 88%

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• 2016
• US
• 103 min
• U

• Directed by: Andrew Stanton
• Written by: Victoria Strouse
• Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Ty Burrell, Willem Dafoe

In the sequel to the much-loved Finding Nemo, annoyingly forgetful Dory goes on an adventure to find her family, crossing three oceans to get to them with Marlon and Nemo just a swish behind her.

• 78%
• 77%
• 94%

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• 2016
• India
• 120 min
• PG

• Directed by: Sohail Khan
• Written by: Sohail Khan
• Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Arbaaz Khan, Amy Jackson

A debt collector turns his life around when one day collecting extortion. After waiting hours for the man to give him money whilst he finishes his game of golf, Ali confronts the man saying golf must be easy. He is then invited to play and discovers a new found talent.

• 55%

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• 2016
• US

• Directed by: Tate Taylor
• Cast: Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux

Mystery thriller based on the enormously popular novel by Paula Hawkins.

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• 2016
• UK/US
• 111 min
• 15

• Directed by: Colm McCarthy
• Cast: Gemma Arterton, Sennia Nanua, Glenn Close, Paddy Considine

A scientist and a teacher living in a dystopian future embark on a journey of survival with a special young girl named Melanie. Moving, visceral and surprising sci-fi horror, asking questions about what it means to be human.

• 70%
• 54%

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• 2016
• 100 min
• U

• Directed by: Mike Thurmeier/Galen T. Chu
• Cast: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Simon Pegg, Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah

Same story as always: global catastrophe threatens Sid, Manny and Diego and they have to get to safety. It manages to be relatively fresh, thanks to the increased amount of time given to accident-prone Scrat and his Tex Avery-ish antics in defence of his giant acorn; surely the lovable rodent has earned his own franchise.

• 58%
• 34%
• 12%

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• 2016
• UK
• 127 min
• 15

• Directed by: Brad Furman
• Cast: Bryan Cranston, John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger

Robert Mazur (Cranston) is a US Customs official who goes undercover to infiltrate the drug cartels and take down the notorious Pablo Escobar. Every cliché of the genre is present, from the resentful wife (Aubrey) to the impulsive assassinations, but Cranston is consistently sympathetic and Furman delivers the occasional sharp jab.

• 73%
• 66%
• 66%

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• 2016
• 133 min
• 12A

• Directed by: Azfar Jafri
• Written by: Osman Khalid Butt
• Cast: Hania Aamir, Saad Zia Abbasi, Bilal Ashraf

Romantic comedy about a young woman living in Canada who travels to her homeland in Swat, Pakistan for the wedding of her cousin and finds out her family are planning to marry her to another of her cousins.

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• 2016
• US
• 102 min
• PG

• Directed by: Travis Knight
• Cast: Art Parkinson, Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron, Rooney Mara, Ralph Fiennes, Brenda Vaccaro, George Takei

One-eyed origami expert Kubo (Parkinson) joins forces with no-nonsense Monkey (Theron) and goofy human/insect warrior Beetle (McConaughey) on a quest to defeat the Moon King (Fiennes). Breathtakingly beautiful stop-motion animation, maybe too scary for young kids, but with plenty of humour, fine voice performances and a story full of heart.

• 83%
• 84%
• 96%

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• 2016
• US
• 80 min
• 15

• Directed by: David F Sandberg
• Cast: Maria Bello, Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman

Sophie (Bello), a woman with a history of mental health issues, finds herself stalked by an entity that only comes out when the lights are turned off. Skilfully-made if bleak debut by Swedish writer-director, with convincing work from Bello and some grippingly tense sequences.

• 67%
• 58%
• 76%

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• 2016
• US
• 132 min
• 12A

• Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
• Cast: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun, Manuel Garcia Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Peter Sarsgaard, Haley Bennett

Sam Chisolm (Washington) is a bounty hunter tasked with ridding Rosewater Creek of evil prospector Bogue (Sarsgaard) and his goons, so he recruits the titular seven-minus-one. Unsubtle remake of the 1960 original; the stunt work may have improved but it's all a bit empty

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• 2016
• US

• Directed by: Tim Burton
• Written by: Jane Goldman (screenplay), Ransom Riggs (novel)
• Cast: Asa Butterfield, Eva Green, Ella Purnell, Chris O'Dowd, Allison Janney, Terence Stamp, Kim Dickens, Rupert Everett, Judi Dench, Samuel L. Jackson

Jacob stumbles across a strange island after following a trail of clues. He finds Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children and discovers that the former inhabitants have remarkable powers. And they could well still be alive.

• 79%

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• 2016
• US
• 87 min
• PG

• Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld
• Cast: Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Garner, Robbie Amell, Christopher Walken

Tom Brand (Spacey) is a Trump-style entrepreneur who gets swapped into the body of a cat: one week before change irreversible, must learn life lessons, etc. Dim-witted children's comedy with a ridiculous premise, rubbish effects, heavy sentiment and a phoned-in voice performance from Spacey.

• 43%
• 11%
• 10%

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• 2016
• US
• 103 min
• PG

• Directed by: David Lowery
• Cast: Oakes Fegley, Oona Laurence, Robert Redford, Bryce Dallas Howard, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban

Forest ranger Grace (Howard) discovers orphaned Pete (Fegley), who has lived in the woods for six years with a mysterious dragon named Elliott. Lowery uses old-school charm and a sense of place to make a genial fable of grief and growth pains; one of the best kids' movies of the summer.

• 73%
• 71%
• 86%

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• 2016
• US
• 109 min
• 15

• Directed by: James DeMonaco
• Cast: Elizabeth Mitchell, Frank Grillo, Mykelti Williamson

In 2040, the sole survivor of a Purge killing is now a US senator (Mitchell) running for President, and she and her head of security find themselves out in the streets on Purge night. Exciting, brutal and dumb in equal measures, although it runs out of steam in its final act.

• 61%
• 55%
• 54%

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• 2015
• US
• 89 min
• 15

• Directed by: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon
• Written by: Evan Goldberg, Kyle Hunter, Seth Rogen, Ariel Shaffir
• Cast: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, James Franco

Frank (Rogen), a sausage, lives in a grocery store where he and his fellow foods excitedly look forward to life after being bought; but then he and hot-dog bun girlfriend Brenda (Wiig) learn the horrible truth. Rude, funny and unexpectedly profound, the best slice of adult animation since South Park.

• 68%
• 66%
• 82%

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• 2016
• US
• 91 min
• U

• Directed by: Chris Renaud, Yarrow Cheney
• Written by: Ken Daurio, Brian Lynch
• Cast: Louis CK, Eric Stonestreet, Ellie Kemper, Jenny Slate

Little Max (Louis CK) is a small dog who gets very lonely when his beloved human Katie (Kemper) leaves each day. But then she brings home a huge, shaggy rescue mutt (Stonestreet) and hijinks ensue. Undeniably derivative but cute and energetic comedy sustained by its fine voice cast.

• 68%
• 61%
• 75%

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• 2016
• US
• 82 min
• 12A

• Directed by: Justin Lin
• Written by: Simon Pegg
• Cast: Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho

Third film in the rebooted sci-fi series.

• 74%
• 68%
• 83%

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• 2016
• US
• 123 min
• 15

• Directed by: David Ayer
• Cast: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ike Barinholtz, Scott Eastwood, Cara Delevingne

A group of incarcerated supervillains is recruited to undertake dangerous missions. The result is so conventional, it's twee: Deadshot (Smith) just wants to be a good dad, Diablo (Hernandez) spends the whole film moping and Harley Quinn (Robbie)'s idea of bad behaviour is breaking a window. With unconvincing effects and cliché-ridden dialogue, it's plain awful.

• 67%
• 40%
• 26%

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• 2016
• UK
• 122 min
• 15

• Directed by: Mat Whitecross
• Cast: Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher

A documentary about the band Oasis.

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• 2016
• UK
• 97 min
• PG

• Directed by: Philippa Lowthorpe
• Cast: Rafe Spall, Andrew Scott, Kelly Macdonald, Jessica Hynes, Harry Enfield

Lake District, 1930: the plucky Walker siblings go up against fierce local gels Nancy and Peggy for possession of an island, while reclusive uncle Jim (Spall) is stalked by a sinister foreigner (Scott). Charmingly nostalgic kids' adventure, subtly modernised, with well-cast kids and Macdonald a pleasure as always. Sweetly satisfying as a cream tea.

• 65%
• 66%
• 92%

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• 2016
• US
• 114 min
• 15

• Directed by: Todd Phillips
• Cast: Miles Teller, Jonah Hill, Ana de Armas, Bradley Cooper

Miami massage therapist David (Teller) hooks up with old schoolfriend Efraim (Hill), and the pair go into arms trading. Frenetic, foul-mouthed and frequently hilarious, and loosely based on a true story; Hill and Teller are utterly watchable, even if it's clear that the filmmakers are a little too in love with them.

• 72%
• 57%
• 60%

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