Those of you that saw (or rather, endured) 'Holmes & Watson' at the end of last year could almost be forgiven for dismissing 'Stan & Ollie', claiming that you are simply not ready to see John C Reilly back on the big screen so soon. However, that decision could just be your first mistake of the new year, as this film is quite frankly excellent. I would start by reassuring you that you do not have to be fan of the original 20th century duo in order to enjoy this film - admittedly I spent a few afternoons as a pre-ten year old round my Grandmother's house watching old re-runs whilst the grown ups chatted - but I would not say this enhanced my experience all that much. The film is exceptionally accessible and it takes plenty of time at the start to introduce you to the characters and their famous double act. We meet Mr Stanley Laurel and Mr Oliver Hardy on the set of one of their iconic films from the 1930s, during the height of their fame. The opening ...

Normally I would never encourage someone to read reviews of a film before seeing it themselves; the writer's thoughts (positive or negative) end up present in your head whilst you watch and make it very difficult for you to form your own opinion. However their are rare exceptions to this rule, most notably when a film turns out to be quite different in tone and genre to what you had expected having watched the trailers. This is one of those moments. Now I must start by confessing that I am not the biggest fan of Period Dramas; my taste in film tends to sway more towards the 'save the world' or 'defeat the bad guy' type of story, however I remain open minded and having viewed the trailers for this film I thought that it could be an enjoyable change of pace to my usual cinema. To me it seemed to be a rather typical example of its genre; some big names performing an emotional drama interspersed with some banter and comedy to keep the tone from becoming too dark....

To prepare myself for Travis Knight’s attempt at an adventure into the much loved Hasbro Universe I spent the majority of my downtime this holiday re-watching all 12 hours and 45 minutes of the Michael Bay blockbusters... time I will sadly not be getting back any time soon. Fortunately I am pleased to report that ‘Bumblebee’ was an excellent revisit to the world of the robots in disguise, free from the amateur plot holes and (for the most part) wooden acting of its predecessors. I assume that most of you reading this will be aware that ‘Bumblebee’ is set in the years prior to the explosive Decepticon plots a young Shia LeBeouf repeatedly found himself entangled with. The film opens rather unsurprisingly with scenes from the raging battle on Cybertron, and it is here that we are given our first glimpses of the new look Autobots. Fans of the 80s and 90s cartoons will be welcoming of this new re-brand, as the film takes us away from the ‘realistic’ looking metals in favour of a more ...

It is fair to say that when the first trailers dropped for Holmes & Watson there was a genuine feeling of excitement - a reunion of comedy legends Will Farrell and John C Reilly a decade after the undeniable success of Step Brothers, and the early clips teased more of their signature style of comedy that have made previous endeavours so successful. Couple this with a plethora of massively experienced British actors in the supporting cast (we are looking at you Ralph Fiennes) and it would be fair to say expectations of the quality of this tongue-in-cheek comedy were pretty high. If you saw and enjoyed the trailers (as I did) you may be tempted to go and see the film despite the widespread criticism it has subsequently received across social media (as I was). Instead I suggest you simply head on over to Netflix (other streaming services are available) in the warm and dry and watch Step Brothers again... everything funny in Holmes & Watson was included in the 2 minutes 25 sec...