Review: Hugo

Mis-marketed as Scorcese's first family film - instead of having the widest appeal, Hugo is arguably Marty's most niche film to date, focusing on French film-maker Georges Méliès and the birth of cinema rather than the character from which the film takes its name.

At times you feel like Hugo actually gets in the way of things, with his hijinks trying to escape from Sasha Baron Cohen's 'Allo 'Allo style station master sitting uneasily amongst Scorcese's love-letter to early cinema. Kids won't like the second half and adults will struggle to stay with the by the numbers chases and pratfalls that make up most of the opening act.

Hugo deservedly won 5 Oscars for its sumptuous design, but its telling they were all for its technical prowess as the sets always outshine the script.

Review: London Boulevard

A real mis-match of a film, half the cast give performances like they're in the gangster version of Love Actually, whilst the other half seem to think they're in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 2.

Neither half is up to much to be honest, Colin Farrell looks the part, but his London accent lets him down badly. Kiera Knightley phones it in as the reclusive young actress Charlotte and you never sense any type of chemistry between the pair that's needed to carry the story off successfully. Ray Winstone is reliably great as the threatening gangster trying to drag back Mitch to a life of crime - but the rest is just the usual British Gangster traits of violence and swearing.

Writer/Director William Monahan was involved in Scorcese's The Departed, a remake of Infernal Affairs, by the time you get to the end of this film, you'll wonder why he's decided to try and remake Layer Cake this time around.