Based on the children’s book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs by William Joyce, the story centres on a teenage girl named M.K. (Amanda Seyfried) who moves into the secluded forest home of her madcap professor father (Jason Sudeikis). He is obsessed with finding and studying a group of tiny soldiers he believes live in the forest with the use of surveillance cameras he has planted all over the place.

One day while out looking for the family dog Ozzie, M.K. finds herself mysteriously shrunken as she enters the perilous world of the miniature warriors known as the “Leaf Men.” She must then help them defeat an evil force who threatens to overtake the forest and destroy their way of life.

Epic never quite finds its feet as any sort of unique or particularly exciting piece of animation in its own right, misjudging the balance between silly humour and grand action, too often bringing to mind other similar animated and live-action works from the same studio and beyond. Exploring tiny worlds is not exactly a new thing and the film only seeks to evoke everything from The Borrowers and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids to FernGully and A Bug’s Life, to name but a few. That hodgepodge approach would be fine if the kid-friendly action sequences were anything more than mildly entertaining (it would be kind even to call them that) or if the characters weren’t so pedestrian.

Voice work from the likes of Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson and Colin Farrell are either generic or wildly out-of-place – only Christoph Waltz as the appropriately menacing baddie truly works – and characters range from the dull (M.K., for example) to the clichéd (her wacky yet caring father) to the frankly irritating; Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd as a slug and snail, respectively, are only there to deliver cheap and broad laughs that frequently fall flat.

For its target audience of the 8 and under crowd, Epic is sufficiently diverting stuff but it fades into a fog of similar films that play it safe with its characters, jokes and story. Only the gorgeous visuals and well-realized mini world make it worth a casual look but in the end it’s overly familiar, uninspiring fare. Epic? Far from it.

No one has exemplified excess in cinema in recent times quite like Baz Luhrmann, the Aussie who burst onto the scene with Strictly Ballroom more than two decades ago before going on to dazzle with the likes of his unique take on Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet and jukebox musical Moulin Rouge!.

After a disappointing slump in quality with Australia, the man with a singular handle on glittering spectacle is back with his take on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby. The story has been adapted many times over the years, notably in the ’70s when it starred Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, but never quite like this. What results here is a predictably over-the-top affair, with subtlety as far off the menu as you could get – there are no prizes for guessing this is a Baz Luhrmann picture.

Set during the Roaring Twenties, the story follows Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), an up-and-coming bond salesman who moves to Long Island where the only people he knows is his cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) and her husband Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). He discovers that he has in fact moved in next door to the mysterious and alluring Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), who throws lavish and extravagant parties usually attended by half of New York despite no one really knowing who he is. As Nick gets invited into the world of the allusive millionaire, he becomes more drawn in by his stories of being a war hero and world traveler, and before long Gatsby’s obsession for a long lost love comes to the forefront.

The Great Gatsby, here presented in overdone and rather distracting 3D, is a film of big successes and failures. Much of the former comes in the overall aesthetic of the piece – crisp, smooth, vibrant and eye-popping all at once, it’s a testament to Luhrmann as a director confident in his inimitable style that he achieves that sort of glitzy, all-encompassing atmosphere throughout. Sweeping shots in and out of the city lit up like a sparkling Christmas tree and bird’s eye views of the commute between bustling New York and the often livelier Long Island, all set to a genius thumping soundtrack by Jay-Z, makes it quite an experience to have.

Luhrmann’s glitzy view of 1920s New York

Just as its sumptuous visuals seduce you in, Luhrmann’s film is also terribly indulgent in the wrong ways as much as in the right. Well on its way to being two and a half hours long, there are large chunks that easily could have been cut short or removed altogether – a substance-fuelled party in the Big Apple is a notable example – and while it always gives you something interesting to look at, the visual style can sometimes suck some of the heart and emotional drama out of the story. To quote an earlier Luhrmann film, there are scenes that will have you “dumb with wonderment” while others may have you checking your watch or scratching your head.

The casting is crucial when it comes to these sorts of adaptations and this, again, is where this particular Gatsby flourishes and falters. Maguire, quite the hit-and-miss actor, is decisively miscast and out of his depth in a role that needs much more of a confident, versatile actor. So much of the story is on his shoulders because it’s told from his perspective and Maguire is uninspiring in the role, perpetually left in the dust by certain others in the cast. Similarly Mulligan is rather bland and uninteresting as Daisy when she should be utterly beguiling, which is a real problem considering the importance of her character and storyline.

DiCaprio, on the other hand, is excellently cast as the puzzling Gatsby, encapsulating the character brilliantly by pitching the performance just right between drawing you in with swagger and confidence while still remaining largely a mystery. There’s also wonderful supporting work from Edgerton as Daisy’s controlling and cocky husband Tom and Jason Clarke in a small but pivotal role as George Wilson, the struggling husband of Tom’s mistress Myrtle (Isla Fisher). The cast is evidently a mixed bag but the good outweighs the bad.

The latest version of The Great Gatsby is many things: visually stunning, narratively indulgent, musically astute, well acted in places and woefully miscast in others. What it can’t be accused of is being lazy as it’s made by a passionate director who’s sure of what he’s doing and more importantly sure of what he wants. Those looking for subtlety might want to make a 180 turn and head straight for the door but as an exercise in excess and razzle-dazzle, Luhrmann’s very distinct take on Gatsby is a flawed but hugely enjoyable dose of spectacle.

Fast & Furious 6 introduces a new super villain in the form of Owen Shaw, played in slick, grimacing fashion by Brit actor Luke Evans. He is the often fast and sometimes furious baddie to lead all baddies according to Interpol, with Johnson’s Luke Hobbs offering Dom (Diesel) and his team a chance at full pardons if he helps him take down Shaw and his expert team of drivers.

The clincher for Dom is that Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), who was presumed dead by all, is apparently alive and well and working for Shaw. The draw of reuniting the family is then too much for Dom to resist – after all, this is a franchise about family sticking together… or so the ham-handed dialogue found throughout the series (but especially here) would have you believe. The family drama and loyalty thereof is easily one of the franchise’s weaker aspects and it continues not to work here especially with the way it rams it down our throats.

It works best when it sticks to the audience-drawing action and as usual it trots the globe throughout, though a large chunk of it is set in London. It’s one of many films in recent times to glamourise our nation’s capital for action purposes – others include Welcome to the Punch, Trance and G.I. Joe Retaliation to name but a few – and it makes use of those famous streets as it sees fit, crashing and smashing cars into buildings and barriers like there’s no tomorrow, all the while failing to pay much heed to the usual busyness of the place.

A preposterous chase sequence on a busy bridge, containing a moment that is so out there that it will have you chuckling as your jaw hangs agape, is only trounced by a spectacularly excessive finale involving evidently the world’s longest airport runway that throws logic and logistics out the window. It’s fun and funny in equal measure, though how much of it is knowingly funny and how much is funny for all the wrong reasons is unclear. For action junkies it certainly gives you your money’s worth.

Considering the rather sizeable cast at the forefront it doesn’t have the means, despite its unnecessarily lengthy runtime, to give them any proper sort of chance to show off – only Diesel, Walker and Evans get a good shot at it. Even Johnson, who was put to amazing use when he was introduced last time, takes a disappointing back seat. Much of the dialogue and acting is, of course, terrible but by this stage in the game that can not only be expected but sort of forgiven in a way. It’s all about the ridiculous action and in that respect it delivers.

Under the direction of Justin Lin, who has occupied the director’s chair for the last three installments, delivers another slick and robust outing for the franchise before he takes his bow and leaves it in the hands of Saw and Insidious director James Wan (stick around in the credits for a brilliant teaser of what’s to come). Despite that it feels almost like a send-off for the franchise as it brings back and incorporates elements that will be familiar to long-time fans. In the end it’s not reinventing the Nitrous-fueled engine, and isn’t even the best one in the series (Five will be hard to beat), but there’s loads of fun to be had.

Fast & Furious 6 is released in UK cinemas on 17th May.

Gravity is the latest film from writer and director Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. This one’s been in the works for a while (with the likes of Robert Downey Jr. Angelina Jolie, Marion Cotillard, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman all attached at various stages) and was actually supposed to come out before now but the producers decide to delay it in order to make sure the special effects were good enough – by the looks of this first teaser trailer that was a wise decision indeed.

Here’s the official plot for Gravity:

Dr. Stone (Bullock) is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney). But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone—tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they’ve lost any link to Earth… and any chance for rescue.

Sounds like it’s going to be in the vein of existential sci-fi like Moon and 2001: A Space Odyssey more than Star Wars or Star Trek, and apparently even if with Clooney’s presence it’s something of a one-woman show.

The main reason I’m looking forward to this (other than this trailer, of course) is because of Cuaron. He directed one of the most original, gripping and intelligent real world sci-fi flicks of the last 20 years with Children of Men and is responsible for kicking the Harry Potter franchise into serious shape with Prisoner of Azkaban. His latest offering looks to be one of the big films to look forward to for the rest of 2013.

Watch the astonishing teaser trailer below and let us know what you think of it in the comments section:

Gravity is released in the UK on October 18th.

Star Trek Into Darkness sees the crew of the USS Enterprise return home from a dangerous mission, soon finding themselves coming up against a formidable foe in the form of the mysterious John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), who has attacked Starfleet and fled to a dangerous planet in deep space. It’s then up to Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and the rest of the crew to go after and stop him.

It’s hard to talk about the plot of the film without entering in spoiler territory. Indeed some of the best parts of watching an Abrams project is not knowing any plot specifics and allowing the (fanboy-tinged) twists and turns to hurl at you like debris in space. And thankfully the Abrams mystery box is still in good shape as that’s where a lot of the fun comes from here. Abrams alongside screenwriters Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof are clearly having a lot of fun playing in the Star Trek sand pit where old and new ideas are gleefully mixed.

However, it’s in the ideas department that this particular instalment of the franchise falls shorter than its predecessor. Where that attempted weighty, heady ideas about time-travel and the like, this one seems much more content with throwing spectacle up on the screen in droves. It’s just a huge relief, then, that Abrams knows damn well how to put those scenes together and so it makes for a visually spectacular, viscerally enjoyable blockbuster even if it doesn’t fully deliver on an intellectually nourishing level.

One of the joys of the previous film was in seeing the newly cast characters spark dialogue off of one another, most of them immediately sinking into there roles in a way that made it seem like they’d been playing them for years. The novelty of that isn’t quite found here but the wit and charm hasn’t worn off, with the likes of Pine as Kirk and particularly Quinto as Spock (arguably the most perfect piece of reboot casting ever) all on top-form. The friendship between those two is paramount to the relatability of their continuing journeys and the two actors do a lot to sell that potentially hokey relationship among the often chaotic plot around them.

Zachary Quinto as Spock and Chris Pine as Kirk.

Zoe Saldana has a strong female character on her hands with Uhura and she continues to handle it well, with her expanded relationship with Spock being one of the films most moving aspects. John Cho as Sulu and Anton Yelchin as Chekov get the shorter end of the stick in terms of getting much to do while Simon Pegg and Karl Urban provide the sometimes overdone comic relief as Scotty and Bones, respectively . There’s strong support from the likes of Bruce Greenwood and Robocop himself Peter Weller, but new addition Alice Eve is shoehorned into the franchise. Her signature scene is a gratuitous shot of her in her underwear – it’s nowhere near the leering sleaziness of, say, Michael Bay and his Transformers movies but it’s unnecessary nevertheless.

It’s with Cumberbatch’s terrorist-like character of John Harrison that the film really excels. Intimidating, menacingly charismatic and utterly fascinating, Cumberbatch is a massively welcome addition to the already brilliant cast, bringing an immediacy and unpredictability to the proceedings. It’s worth seeing for his performance alone.

The real stroke of brilliance of the rebooted Star Trek was how it satisfied both the hardcore Trekkies out there and those who have never watched Star Trek in their life, leaning just enough on what had come before while not leaving anyone out of the loop, well, out of the loop. Can the same be said for Into Darkness? Perhaps the balance has tipped a little more into Trekkie territory, especially when it comes to a second act reveal, but it’s never enough to derail the mission as a whole. Overall it builds well on the last film, deepening the character relationships and elevating their personal danger, as well as continuing to tip the hat to the old Trek canon.

Contrary to what the title suggests, Abrams approaches the material with energy, passion and even light-heartedness, where characters and their banter are as much as the forefront as the space battles and shootouts. The latter is a strength throughout but the film ultimately survives on strong characterization above all else. It papers over the pacing issues (it’s very stop, start, stop, start in nature) with a commitment to making this iteration of the franchise, filled with characters we actually care about, something we can take seriously without sacrificing its sense of fun.

The plot centres on Victor (Colin Farrell), a Hungarian immigrant who has infiltrated the mob organization of the merciless Alphonse (Terrence Howard), the man responsible for the deaths of his wife and daughter. While plotting his revenge, Victor falls for his beautiful but troubled neighbour Beatrice (Noomi Rapace) who threatens to tell the police about a murder she witnessed him committing if he doesn’t help her kill the man who left her physically scarred.

The film starts out with a gung-ho action sequence inside a drug and mobster-filled house, with bullets and bodies flying about in a manner that’s John Woo-esque but without the finesse. From then it grinds to a near halt as it becomes more a character drama but never one that truly compels in the way you’d hope.

There are solid performances from its main cast, with Farrell and Rapace ever-watchable and intriguing performers. Farrell is a lot more toned down than we’ve come to expect from him while Rapace, working with Oplev again after playing Lisbeth Salander for so long, is alluring as the emotionally and physically scarred Beatrice. The trouble is they are ill-served by disappointingly flat characters who are given surprisingly little to do under the circumstances. Their relationship and chemistry crucially never sparks in the way it should.

Some of the key supporting players are either misused or underused including Terrence Howard playing against type as a self-righteous mobster and Brit actor Dominic Cooper disappearing into the role of his scuzzy, ruthless right-hand man. It’s nice to have such acting weight in the mix but you’re left with good actors doing their best with weak characters and an underwhelming by-the-numbers script.

Oplev and screenwriter J.H. Wyman (The Mexican) attempt to weave together an intricate crime tale with added themes of revenge and redemption but it falls at numerous hurdles. It’s never convincing as an action-crime film, despite its best efforts with bombastic and rather out of place scenes bookending the film, nor fully satisfying as a deliberately paced character drama. It’s not without merit as the performances are good and there’s the occasional thrilling sequence to be found – the mobsters chasing Victor without knowing who it is they’re chasing is a particularly highlight – but it’s never enough to justify the bloated runtime. A terrible title leads way to an at best mediocre thriller.

Dead Man Down is released in UK cinemas May 3rd.

The plot, is thin as it is, centres on a couple of old high school friends, Miller (Miles Teller) and Casey (Skylar Astin), who decide to help their friend Jeff Chang (Justin Chon) celebrate his 21st birthday in style. The trouble is Jeff has a big job interview the next morning on the request of his controlling father. So what starts out as a few beers with friends turns into a night of mayhem and debauchery.

It’s very much apparent that this is directed and written by the same writers of The Hangover, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, as it attempts to replicate the bromance of that staggeringly successful franchise. That aspect sort of works because it at least has likeable leads in Teller and Astin, a double-act mix of immature and slightly less immature. The funniest moments of the film come not from the wild antics caused by alcohol consumption and increasingly unbelievable messes they find themselves in but rather in the small in-between moments of banter. Conversations about Joseph Gordon Levitt’s career turnaround from 3rd Rock From the Sun to big movie star, for example, are highlights.

Of course when it comes down to it’s a movie about extremity and debauchery but missing the ironic target so astutely hit by Harmony Korine and his Spring Breakers recently. It does try to sneak in a thematic thread about being your own person and not just doing what others tell you but it doesn’t really pull it off when just an hour before we were watching someone be sick in slow motion on a mechanical bull.

Problematic humour involving casual racism and sexism can be found throughout 21 & Over, a film that doesn’t aim very high and only just about achieves it. It covers bases already done so by Will Ferrell and Co. in Old School a decade ago – running drunk and (almost) naked down the street for example – but this one at least has sympathy for its characters. It functions as a sort of Diet Hangover and has its funny moments that’s only just enough to sustain through an escalating set of brash, immature set pieces.

21 & Over is released in UK cinemas on May 3rd.

This particular doc is clearly aiming for the heart, or specifically the heartstrings, more than it is the head and thus we come away with that warm hug feeling rather than feeling like we’ve learned anything particularly new. It crucially never feels like a thorough exploration of the chimps’ way of life but its surface “aww!” moments are abundant.

It’s nicely narrated by none other than Tim Allen, perhaps a little too nicely, ever-keen to add in little jokes about the chimps’ cute actions or boxing those actions into a narrative at odds with the rest of the documentary feel. Although evidently aimed at a younger audience it would have benefited from a little more subtlety when it comes to explaining what’s occurring on-screen.

However, it’s an affable and welcoming watch, with much of the pleasure coming from simply observing these chimps in their natural habitat, albeit in a heavily edited and therefore relatable story form. Filmmakers Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield make impressive use of their cameras – it took over four years of shooting to get the footage they needed – and they’ve moulded a genuinely compelling, pleasant watch even if it skims on some of the very real danger that befalls our protagonist.

There’s a rather forced subplot involving a rival gang of monkeys that veers into the realm of the ridiculous –without a word of a lie they’ve nicknamed the baddie leader Scar – that’s somehow both a major threat and frustratingly pushed aside as if hampered by not being able to show anything graphic.

Nevertheless Chimpanzee is a cute, winning film that sits half way between documentary and coming-of-age narrative. There’s undoubtedly something fascinating about watching the chimps go about their daily lives and the film finds some much needed humour in that (scenes of Oscar trying to copy the adult chimps when cracking open nuts is particularly funny). But a bit more probing into the scientific aspect wouldn’t have gone amiss as it would have made it a vital watch rather than the endearing, visually beautiful diversion it ultimately is.

Chimpanzee is released in UK cinemas on May 3rd.

Of course this is a joke video (created for the 2013 White House Correspondents dinner) but it’s great to see that Spielberg can poke fun at himself and his previous ultra-serious project. The best thing about the video is that President Obama himself has participated, poking fun at himself, too, including his appearance and way of speaking. It shows both men have a real sense of humour and that it’s not all about serious, uplifting speeches.

Check out the very funny video below and let us know what you think of it in the comments section:

So how could Shane Black, taking over Iron Man directing duties from Jon Favreau, possibly top that Avengers triumph with the third film? The truth is he hasn’t but it pleases this reviewer greatly to say that it’s not that far off.

Picking up not long after the events of The Avengers, we follow Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) as panic attacks caused by those events hinder his ability to get on with life with his now-girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). At the same time he is faced with a dangerous new foe in the form of The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley), the tyrant head of an international terrorist organization wreaking havoc wherever he goes.

Much of the success of this third Iron Man outing – the series’ most ponderous, meaningful and weighty installment – is how Black and co. treat it as its own beast. Unlike Iron Man 2, which felt rather like one huge set-up to the big team up movie, this is a singular affair with a point.

It still carries things on from what’s come before, with even repeated mentions of what happened in New York and how the wormhole Tony fell through may have affected his well-being, but is very much focused on its own plots. You might wonder why he doesn’t just call on the help of his newfound super-powered buddies but that would be missing the point – this is Iron Man’s story, not The Avengers 2 (that comes later!).

The presence of Black (well-loved for the Lethal Weapon franchise and the quick-witted Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) is extremely evident on both a directorial and a script-writing front. While a serious, even solemn feature at times, his action sequences are inventive, exciting and genuinely awe-inspiring with each one there for a purpose rather than just as spectacle in the way that was detrimental to the second film. An aerial rescue just about steals the show while a fairly early sequence involving Tony’s idyllic, high-tech home getting attacked by the tyrannical Mandarin is as visually fantastic as it is genuinely threatening. Rather surprisingly you feel like Tony just might not get out of this one intact.

Speaking of which, a big theme of the film is Tony’s mental state. To paraphrase, he is a billionaire who has the perfect life keeping people safe with his super-powered suit – so why can’t he sleep? He’s a reflective, damaged hero completely out in the open, quite literally bringing danger to his own doorstep because of his showiness. Much of why the film pulls off this rather bold move is Downey Jr’s performance, who really steps it up from the first two to go beyond the simple quips and cocky charm that have become his trademark.

Nevertheless the film never forgets to have fun both with its action sequences and dialogue infused with just the right amount of humour and references (including a running gag about Downton Abbey of all things) without going overboard. Along with co-writer Drew Pearce, Black has delivered a rather brilliant superhero script that finds the right balance between a lot of things; humour and action, (soap-opera) drama and spectacle, continuing the larger story and making it feel a film all its own. Even the potentially cheesy inclusion of a boy who acts as a sort of sidekick to Tony for a chunk of the movie feels justified – on paper that shouldn’t work but it does.

The film is also pleasingly free of predictability. Even in its seemingly straight-forward villains and the inevitable twists-and-turns thereof it has the amazing ability to catch you by surprise. That’s no easy feat considering this is the third in the series and the umpteenth Marvel sequel, including the follow-up to what was the superhero movie to beat all others. It’s not the best Marvel effort but it comes a close 2nd.

Filling its supporting cast with genuinely great actors, it rarely skips on giving the characters a meaningful reason to be there. Kingsley is something of a wonder as The Mandarin, menacing and charismatic as a character prescient if not entirely realistic (but hey, who needs realism?). Superhero movies are almost always only as strong as their villain and on that front this is a rousing success.

You can just tell that Guy Pearce is having an absolute ball playing the half charming-half slimy Aldrich Killian, a rival scientist who enters the story in flashback as a weedy man trying to get Tony to help his company. Don Cheadle is a lot of fun as Colonel Rhodes-turned-War Machine (or Iron Patriot as he now likes to be called), donning a stars-and-stripes version of the Iron Man suit. Even Paltrow, relegated to light-hearted scenes with Tony in the previous films, gets a lot more to do here and the film is all the better for it. Only Rebecca Hall, playing one of Tony’s former associates, doesn’t serve as much of a purpose as you’d hope. It’s not Hall’s fault, who is fine, but rather a case of her character getting lost in the shuffle. But this is ultimately a minor quibble in an otherwise brilliantly realized superhero adventure.

Marvel continue their winning streak and stay on the Avengers high with an Iron Man installment that is as fun as it is dramatically mature. Black’s presence is felt in every aspect of the slick, polished sequel even managing to carry on the astute mix of humour and spectacle so perfectly conjured by Whedon last summer. Iron Man 3 is loud and bombastic but also measured and lean, making for a thoroughly entertaining romp with a lot of meat on the bone.