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Avengers II not as much fun
Age of Ultron feels less of an event than the first film, just a reasonably exciting instalment in Marvel's ongoing mega-franchise.

Movie review: The Age of Adaline
After a difficult start with the comings and goings of numerous directors and stars, including Katherine Heigl and Natalie Portman, this epic romantic drama about a woman who remains aged 29 for almost eight decades finally sees the light of day.

Conventional retelling feels like teaching aid
John Steinbeck's classic American tragedy-in-miniature has had five screen adaptations (including an Iranian film) but the only theatre version was the author's own, published and first staged in 1937, the same year as the novel.

Movie review: Woman In Gold
In the black-and-white photograph of her that appears briefly during the end credits of this true-life melodrama, Maria Altmann looks somewhat more interesting than her screen version.

Movie review: Samba
The new film by the writer-director duo behind the 2011 hit The Intouchables is not as formulaic and manipulative but it lacks the single-minded coherence that was so crucial to that film's success.

French comedy's meaty meaning
The patient, deeply humane tone that distinguished Conversations with My Gardener and My Afternoons with Margueritte is on show in the new film by veteran French director Becker.

Movie review: The Book of Life 3D
Nominated for a Golden Globe, The Book of Life is directed by Jorge Gutierrez but also carries the creative imprint of producer Guillermo del Toro.

Movie review: Dior and I
Frederic Tcheng, who co-directed Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel and co-produced Valentino: The Last Emperor, steps out with his solo directing debut, Dior and I.

Movie review: Insurgent
Following The Hunger Games was always going to be tough for the Divergent series, another young adult novel series set in a dystopian world.

Movie review: Home
Looking for light, cheerful entertainment for the littlies these holidays? Meet Home, the latest animated family film from DreamWorks Animation.

Movie review: X+Y
A loss of focus turns this small English feature from an excellent film into a routine and mediocre one about half-way through, but its opening reels have touches of understated genius about them and it is full of undeniably moving moments.

Movie review: Run All Night
Liam Neeson sure is making the most of his late career run as an action hero.

Movie review: Kidnapping Mr Heineken
A good kidnapping requires clever design, meticulous planning and a magician's sense of timing; so does a good kidnapping film. This isn't one.

Movie review: A Little Chaos
Free of the Harry Potter juggernaut, British actor and director Alan Rickman has finally returned to the director's chair, almost two decades after his directing debut with The Winter Guest.

Movie review: Still Life
Chameleon character actor Marsan has a long list of supporting-role credits in big films (Sherlock Holmes; Mission Impossible III) and small (X+Y), which releases here next week.

Movie review: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Just as warm and charming and with pretty much the same cast as the original, this sequel will delight its sizeable fan base, and leaves the door wide open for a third film.

Movie review: Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
Mike (Austin Powers) Myers' debut as director is a documentary about a talent agent. The choice of subject matter is perhaps the last word in self-referentiality, though it's not clear whether the titular Gordon ever represented Myers.

Movie review: Treasure Island
More theatrical than knuckle-whiteningly dramatic, this NT Live* production of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic 1883 adventure book is nevertheless an eye-poppingly brilliant display of stagecraft with a show-stealing turn from a remote-controlled animatr

Jupiter Ascending a melodrama on a galactic scale
The Wachowski siblings will always be known as the masterminds behind The Matrix series, and with Jupiter Ascending they deliver another ambitious and elaborate science fiction adventure.

Fringe Festival review: Grounded
Grounded is a superb example of how a play can challenge you to think more deeply.

Fringe Festival review: Away From Home
This excellent one-man show from Britain is an intriguing tale, well told.

Snowden film 'brave, bold'
About 20 minutes into this electrifying, often terrifying documentary, the film-maker shows for the first time the man we have come to know as Edward Snowden.

'Fifty Shades': Herald's verdict
If hype, 'likes' and advanced ticket sales are any indication of success, box offices around the world will get a boost this weekend with the release of the much anticipated adaptation of author EL James' "mummy porn" phenomenon, Fifty Shades of Grey.

Hawking film more romance than science
The media and public fascination with Stephen Hawking has, it seems to me, always been driven by a mixture of infantilising sentimentalism and morbid curiosity.

Oscar-snubbed Selma actor 'exceptional'
Given the civil rights subject matter, the greatness of Martin Luther King as the man at the centre of the story, and relevance today it's surprising Selma isn't a bigger, flashier film.

Movie review: Me, Myself and Mum
As french as croissants aux amandes and so extravagantly theatrical that you can practically smell the greasepaint in the cinema, this small and goofy French comedy follows the struggles of a young teenager to come to terms with his sexual identity.