MD - No

Gael Garcia Bernal, fast becoming the go-to Artistic Everyman, is as watchable as ever mixing melancholy and bravado with assured restraint.

His journey mirrors that of the populous - with fearful, tentative and ultimately assured steps towards understanding the meaning of the opportunity he has been given.

This intriguing tale proves once again that history is the best predictor of future events. When Toby Jones pops up playing Beppe Grillo in a few years time all would do well to study the style and narrative approach of 'No'.

The brave and rewarding device of filming on old video immerses us in both a vintage techie nerd fest (relive the astonishment of your first encounter with the microwave) and a contextual understanding of just how groundbreaking the No campaign was. 

Smart, grainy and subtle. 'No' es un grande "Si".

8/10

Queen of Versailles

Its a 2012 movie - but is now available on the i-player catch up within the Storyville programme episodes. Go watch its fascinating

GM - The Paperboy

Only late Feb, and already I've found the turkey of the year. There may be worse movies released, but not with such talent involved. Nicole Kidman the only one to come out of it with any credit, another impressive performance from her. Macy Grey decent as the maid. As for the rest - John Cusack playing an oleaginous uber-intense masturbatory killer on death row with whom Kidman has an inexplicable relationship with, Zac Efron pining after Kidman, Matthew McConaughy playing a self-hating closeted gay man in sixties and David Oyelowo the journo who may or may not be from London. The violence silly, the romance ridiculous, the interplay between characters ham-fisted and all of it camp as hell. Has to be seen to be believed so I must thoroughly recommend you give it a look.

2/10

GM - NO

Third in the director's series set in the Pinochet era, not seen the first but Tony Manero chillingly great. The protagonist from that, Alfredo Castro, also performs well in this as the head of the advertising firm that supports Pinochet in the plebiscite in 1988 that will determine whether the General can have eight more years in power. His employee, Gael Garcia Bernal, works for the centre-left that are pushing for a NO vote to remove Pinochet from power. Filmed on low-definition magnetic tape, of the type used by 1980s TV news crews, means that real footage is easily fitted in with what Pablo Larrain has directed.
The outcome is known, but the build up to the vote, the pressure put on the campaigning team and the advertising techniques used all make for great entertainment in the midst of a serious political movie examining the effect on a populace of fascism in the eighties.

8/10

MD - Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph announces itself in a maelstrom of gamer geek goodness - all nods, winks, whistles and icons. The set up and our introduction to the backstage world of these characters after a hard days work in the arcade borrows shamelessly from Monsters Inc. and Toy Story, and that's no bad thing.

Its inventive and fun as Ralph shares his disillusionment with the Big Boss support circle – kudos to Bowser for his cameo. His nemesis Fix It Felix Jnr is an equally fleshed out character becoming aware of their interdependence when Ralph goes on his personal crusade for a medal. And crucially, like Toy Story, the characters never forget that they are the vessels for the whims of children.

The first act is fab. However the action becomes stuck in "Sugar Rush" a teeth-rotting confection of a gaming landscape where despite the fast cars and primary colours the narrative begins to drag and the action falls far short of the underrated Speed Racer to which it pays more than a passing nod.

The biggest issue is Vanellope the ‘glitch’ in both the machine and the movie. The bastard child of a Spice Girl and a Powderpuff Girl (spice-powder?) she is no doubt a new heroine for the under-tens but it doesn’t make her any less annoying.

And this exemplifies both the strength and weakness of the movie. It tries to balance coming to terms with a thirty-year unfulfilled career and knowing nods for old gamers alongside a hyperglycemia empowerment for little girls and boys, and it doesn’t quite pull it off. It’s still racing ahead of much of the pack but, in comparison to those two pillars of the genre, doesn’t reach the final level.

7/10

MD - Warm Bodies

Nicholas Hoult does good kleptomaniac zombie in this star-crossed lover flick as he and his cold pals stumble around Stansted dodging flesh-eaters. The opening scene is an amusing treatise on modern life where we are all zombies to The Man. The first act has some fun lines – well mumbling – and a nicely pitched un-humanity.

Then the humans arrive, love intervenes warming both bodies and hearts (even crusty old John Malkovich) and everyone lives happily ever after.

6/10

MD - Hitchcock

Drama about the making of my favourite movie ever – check.

Fantastic cast list –check.

Great movie full of insight and humour – oh-er

Hitchcock isn’t all bad – its just not as good as it should be. This could have been a study of the moviemaking mind of a great director and how he inspired and cajoled performances that genuinely surprised and astounded the audiences of the time.

Instead its ham.  The characterisation is all over the place with a passive aggressive Hitch giving us no insight into his motivation other than sensationalist nocturnal Ed Gein visitations – a clunking device that wouldn’t have made the second draft of one of Hitchcock’s own movies. And there is an annoying subplot which seeks to test Mrs H’s fidelity with the dullest man alive.

Watch “The Girl” instead

A shame

4/10

MD - Hyde Park on The Hudson

Showing that disability and affliction are no bar to both great power and ill character; the highlight of this stagey costumed nonsense - a randy President being visited by an old Queen - is wedged between some rambling first-person whinging and cousin shagging.

Olivia Coleman carries the movie. Bill Murray is just carried around.

4/10