BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (12A)
IT’S August 12, 2011, and capitals around the world are under attack from a mobilised otherworldly force. We rewind 24 hours and follow events leading to first contact and the subsequent bloodbath. Marine Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) is drafted to spearhead Second Battalion, Fifth Marines based at Camp Pendleton under Second Lieutenant William Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez) – a rising star, who has no active combat experience. Nantz is told to lead his platoon along the coast to a police precinct where survivors are barricaded inside the building, awaiting rescue. Air Force Tech Sergeant Elena Santos (Michelle Rodriguez) joins the search and rescue, and she helps Nantz to shepherd veterinarian Michele (Bridget Moynahan), father Joe Rincon (Michael Pena) and his son Hector (Bryce Cass), plus two children (Joey King, Jadin Gould) to safety.
STAR RATING: ***
THE EAGLE (12A)
IN 120 AD, the entire Ninth Legion disappears without trace in Scotland and its standard, a golden eagle, is lost forever to the eternal shame of Rome. The commander of those soldiers also vanishes and 20 years later, his son, Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum), accepts a posting in Roman-occupied southern Britain in order to learn the truth about his father’s demise. The young soldier is badly injured protecting his men and he recuperates with the help of his uncle (Donald Sutherland) and slave boy Esca (Jamie Bell), whom Aquila saves from certain death in the gladiator’s ring. Once he has regained his strength and mobility, Aquila heads north in search of answers accompanied by Esca, a member of the tribe of savages responsible for slaying the Ninth.
STAR RATING: ***
HOP (U)
EB (voiced by Russell Brand) lives on Easter Island with his father (Hugh Laurie). The young rabbit is destined to ascend the throne as master of all that is sugary and ovoid but EB harbours dreams of becoming a drummer in a rock band. So he runs away from the warren and heads for Hollywood, where he finds an unexpected ally in eternal loser Fred O’Hare (James Marsden), who glimpsed the Easter Bunny delivering baskets when he was a boy. Having revealed his true identity to Fred, EB auditions for Hoff Knows Talent in front of judge David Hasselhoff (playing himself). Meanwhile, Fred struggles to win the approval of his parents (Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins), who dote on his goody-two-shoes, adopted sister (Tiffany Espensen). Thankfully, older sister Sam (Kaley Cuoco) helps Fred to achieve his potential.
STAR RATING: ***
LIMITLESS (15)
EDDIE Morra (Bradley Cooper) has been wrestling with writer’s block for weeks and now his girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) has finally given up on him. At his lowest ebb, Eddie meets his former brother-in-law, Vernon (Johnny Whitworth), who furnishes the struggling writer with a wonder pill called NZT, which reportedly increased brain activity and unleashes untapped creativity. Eddie swallows the clear pill and the next morning, he discovers he has furiously churned out the first 40 pages of his magnum opus. As Eddie becomes addicted to the medication, he metamorphoses from hopeless bum into a suave, ultra-confident and charming man about town, winning back Lindy and earning the respect of powerful Wall Street mogul, Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro). However, Eddie’s supply of pills is finite and in order to continue his meteoric rise, he must acquire a new stash.
STAR RATING: ***
RANGO (PG)
A LONELY chameleon (voiced by Johnny Depp) is stranded in the Mojave Desert, where he meets a desert iguana called Beans (Isla Fisher). She takes him to the town of Dirt, which is on the brink of collapse because the water supply is running dangerously low. Wandering into the saloon, the chameleon re-christens himself Rango and pretends to be a famous gunslinger, who killed several critters with a single bullet. The townsfolk are thrilled to have found themselves a hero and Rango becomes the town sheriff, who must protect the locals from predators including Rattlesnake Jake (Bill Nighy). A mouse called Priscilla (Abigail Breslin) believes that Rango will find water and save the community from extinction.
STAR RATING: ***
SOURCE CODE (12A)
HELICOPTER pilot Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes on a train, sitting opposite Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan). Confusingly, she calls him Sean and a visit to the ballroom reveals that he is trapped inside the body of a teacher called Sean Fentress. Colter wakes almost instantly in a top secret facility under the control of Dr Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright), who needs Colter to identify the bomber. Rutledge orders uniformed officer Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) to send the pilot back into the ‘source code’, which has been culled from the real Sean Fentress’s memory. Each time Colter is transported back into the parallel reality, he gathers intelligence about his fellow passengers including businessmen Max Denoff (Russell Peters) and student Derek Frost (Michael Arden).
STAR RATING: ***
A TURTLE’S TALE: SAMMY’S ADVENTURES (U)
A GREENBACK sea turtle called Sammy (voiced by John Hurt) proudly looks back on his life. He takes us back to the late 1950s, when the young Sammy (Dominic Cooper) emerged into the world on a Californian beach and struggled to clamber out of the egg chamber. He discovers the love of his life, the beautiful Shelly (Gemma Arterton), only to lose her to the strong tides. Drifting on the currents, he meets a leatherback turtle called Ray (Robert Sheehan) and they become best friends. As the turtles circumnavigate the globe, they encounter deadly piranhas, a scavenging fish eagle and a Parisian cat called Fluffy (Kayvan Novak), who resents being usurped in his hippy owner’s affections.
STAR RATING: ****
