Minions (G) ***
They are the movie megastars who have contributed to a box-office success of almost $1.5 billion. But can the minions – the breakout stars of the Despicable Me movies – succeed in going it alone.
The answer is likely to be a resounding yes. Sure, this family-orientated film plays it unimaginatively safe – but there's enough colour and personality to attract young viewers and make it a global smash. Love 'em or hate 'em, the minions aren't going anywhere.
This is a slight and silly prequel with enough great sight gags to make up for the film's flaws.
Through an origins story (is there any other kind from Hollywood these days?) we discover that the minions have been serving baddies throughout the history of the world. But following a botched effort where they destroy all of their despots, they move to isolation in Antarctica.
By the late 1960s, they're gloomy and bored, so three minions – Stuart, Kevin and Bob – decide to find themselves a new nasty employer. They track down the evil Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock) who along with her husband (Jon Hamm) tasks them with stealing the Crown Jewels she has always wanted.
Following a convoluted opening half hour, Minions settles down and finds its rhythm, and the 1960s London setting is particularly inspired, leading to some lively animation sequences.
It’s not the most imaginative of films and the minions, funny and cute as they are, never really develop beyond the sidekicks that made them so popular in the other two films. Not that your kids will care.
Slow West (15A) ****
He's already enjoyed musical success as a member of cult group The Beta Band, now John MacLean shows promise as a great filmmaker too.
In his debut feature, MacLean manages to breathe new life into the Western, not a bad feat for a genre that can be tired and clichéd.
He does so with the help of two Irishmen - Michael Fassbender, displaying cowboy swagger in the lead role, and the acclaimed cinematographer Robbie Ryan, who has done a stunning job here.
Set in the late nineteenth century, young actor Kodi Smith-McPhee plays Jay Cavendish, a Scottish teenager who has fallen in love with the sparkling Rose (Caren Pistorius). When she and her father head to the US to make new lives for themselves, the lovesick teenager follows, unprepared for what he is about to meet in this lawless country.
Along the way, he falls under the wing of the mysterious lone traveller Silas (Fassbender) who may have agendas of his own.
It's a striking, well-acted film that throws up some surreal surprises that will hold you until the very end.
