Review: Super

Kick Ass is always a bit of a red herring when compared to a film like Super. Working outside the usual Hollywood model, Matthew Vaughn managed to bring together the money needed to make something that could stand up visually to the likes of Marvel and DC's latest action efforts - but just one look at the trailer for Super shows that despite sharing a DIY crime-fighter storyline, they really are completely different beasts.

Last year's Defendor is more suitable watermark for Super - and for me it falls short of that, opting after a promising start to just end up in a sprawl of increasingly violent deaths - so most of the impressive cast end up being wasted in more than one sense of the word.

In the end, its more average than Super.

Review: American - The Bill Hicks Story

Charting the life and death of the influential comic, it's the archive footage of a young Bill Hicks and the innovative, animated way in which its brought to life that sets American out from the usual talking head documentaries.

The majority of contributes are either friends or family, so its not exactly the most rounded discussion of Hicks and his ups and downs - plus it spends a bit too long making the point that most of America didn't get his shtick, but taken as a tribute to the man, its and absorbing experience throughout.

Review: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

If you're a fan of monkeys jumping through glass, this is the film for you!

I'm not sure whether this counts as a remake, a reboot or a prequel, but whatever Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is it's definitely good - John Lithgow is the highlight of the human cast, it's his performance of an Alzheimer's sufferer and his bond with young ape Caesar that shines more than lead James Franco, who still gives a fine performance Brian Cox, David Oyelowo and the one out of Harry Potter manage to get all they can out of some pretty unsubtle villain roles. Freida Pinto is basically just there to look pretty and unsurprisingly she does this very well.

In the end any Planet Of The Apes film comes down to how well they do the apes themselves - and thanks to excellent mo-cap work from Andy Serkis and team this is almost a total success, even if the hard work that went in to making them as realistic as possible is spoiled by the amount of times they fling themselves through glass windows several times to many.

Unlike may recent blockbusters, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes takes its time building up to the action , making you wait till the final set piece before the Man vs Monkey action kicks off in earnest. and is all the better for it giving it real impact. Not going for overkill also means that you leave the cinema actually wanting to see the sequel that is blatantly teased at the end of this surprising summer hit.