Jamie Neish

★☆☆☆☆ A prequel to J.M. Barrie’s beloved Peter Pan, Joe Wright’s Pan (2015) takes the audience back to the war-torn 1940s before young Peter (Levi Miller) became the boy everyone knows him to be. Locked up in an orphanage where his mother left him as a baby, Peter (Levi Miller) survives on scraps, poorly treated…

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★★★☆☆ Adam Sandler’s still profitable career has been in decline in recent years with one critical admonishment after another. This downturn might just be momentarily halted thanks to Genndy Tartakovsky’s Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015), a modestly charming sequel that’s also the best thing Sandler has lent his name to in some time. The sequel picks…

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★★★★☆ The words of real-life residents involuntarily entwined with the horrific Ipswich serial murders of 2006 are uttered verbatim in the innovative and powerful London Road (2015). After a successful run as a National Theatre stage show, the musical drama has been adapted for the screen by British director Rufus Norris. The film blends elements…

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★★☆☆☆ Bogged down by a directionless narrative and pedestrian execution, David Blair’s The Messenger (2015) benefits slightly from a committed performance from rising Irish actor Robert Sheehan. But even that isn’t enough to hold the audiences attention, meaning scope for this film is limited. Jack (Sheehan) is a troubled soul. Ever since he was a…

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★☆☆☆☆ The second adaptation of the successful video game series, Hitman: Agent 47 (2015) is no good whatsoever. Everything about it feels tired and half-hearted, as if it exists purely for the studio to hold onto the rights and make as much money as possible with minimal effort. Living on the fringes of society, Agent 47…

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★★★☆☆ Amy Schumer emerges as MVP of Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck (2015), a funny but often imprecise comedy of half measures that provides her with the all-important platform to complete her transition from viral YouTube sensation to fully-fledged actress. Raised by her unfaithful father (Colin Quinn) to believe that relationships never last, Amy Townsend (Schumer) lives…

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★★★★☆ Mistress America (2015) – the latest collaboration between on-screen and off-screen partners Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig – is an uproarious screwball comedy of a type all too rarely seen in modern cinema. It makes up for a certain light-footed approach by scoring huge laughs with an on-point, witty script. Tracy (Lola Kirke) is…

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★★★★☆ Acquired by Vertigo Films after its glitzy Sundance premiere earlier this year, The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) – based on Phoebe Gloeckner’s comic novel of which was loosely inspired by her own life – is a provocative, candid and funny account of one self-aware teens awkward but liberating transition from childhood to…

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★★★★☆ Taking the step up from producer to director, with Love & Mercy (2014) Bill Pohlad successfully delivers a biopic like no other – a tale of endurance based on the turbulent life of Beach Boys member and solo artist Brian Wilson. The brilliant double-team of Paul Dano and John Cusack play Wilson at different…

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