Reviews by KarenStaring – Did James, Leslie Phillips, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor
This funny early Carry On film follows the members of a police station including some new recruits and the trouble they get into.
7/10
Staring – Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szstak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau, Ben Kingsley
Tony Stark remembers a New Years Eve party where he meets a scientist Maya Hansen who has invented Extremis which is a regenerative treatment to help recovery from crippling injuries. A disabled scientist Aldrich Killian who offers them a role at his company Advanced Idea Mechanics, but Stark rejects this and humiliates Killian.
In the present day (6 months after the events in the Avengers), Stark is having nightmares and panic attacks related to the battle. He spends a lot of time building Iron man suits rather then spending time with his girlfriend Pepper Potts.
There is a series of bombs which are claimed by a terrorist known as the Mandarin, but no one knows who he is. Starks chief of security Happy Hogan is seriously injured in one of the attacks which leads Stark to issue a televised threat to Mandarin. Starks home is then destroyed by helicopters. Pepper managed to escape by putting on an Iron Man suit along with Maya who came to warn them. Stark escapes separately in one of his suits but doesn’t tell them he alive, meaning most of the world believes he is dead.
Stark travels to Tennessee and meets up with a 10 year old Iron Man fan called Harley who helps him out by mentioning a local attack which is similar to the others. Stark discovers that the bombing as actually people combusting after they have been subjected to Extremis and the terrorist plot was used as a cover-up for Extremis’s flaws.
Harley helps Stark track Mandarin to Miami and Stark sneaks in to their HQ and discovers Mandarin is just an actor called Trevor Slattery who claims to be unaware of what is being done in the name of his character.
Killian then reveals he is the real Mandarin and captures Stark. He shows Stark that he has already kidnapped Pepper and is subjecting her to the Extremis treatment to force Stark to fix the flaws in the programme to save his girlfriend
Killian trapes James Rhodes (formerly War Machine now called the Iron Patriot) and steals the armour. Stark escapes and finds Rhodes. They discover that Killian wants to kill the President on Air Force One. Stark manages to use his suit to save a number of passengers before the plane crashes, but Killian gets the President.
Stark and Rhodes trace him to an oil platform, and Stark goes to save Pepper and Rhodes goes to save the President. Stark summons many of his suits and Rhodes saves the President. Stark finds Pepper who has survived the Extremis procedure, but before he can save her the rig starts to collapse and she falls into a fireball.
Stark manages to trap Killian into one of his Iron Man suits and makes it self destruct, but the Extremis means he survives and he then starks to attack Stark. Pepper who survived her fall due to Extremis hits Killian with a pole, killing him but saving Stark.
Stark orders his computer JARVIS to destroy each suit to prove he cares more about Pepper than he does about being Iron Man. Pepper’s condition is stabilised and Stark undergoes an operation to remove the shrapnel near his heart. he then throws the chest arc reactor into the sea but says that he will always be Iron Man.
There is a post credit scene with Stark talking to Dr Bruce Banner who has fallen asleep listening to the story.
DVD extras – behind the scenes feature and preview to Thor Dark World
7/10
Staring – Any Poehler, Rashida Jones, Paul Schneider, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Jim O’Heir, Reta
This third season of this very funny comedy continues from season 2 and has 16 episodes.
Everyone can go back to work but will only be able to keep their jobs if Leslie can organise a successful Harvest festival/fair to bring in more income.
Ann and Chris start dating, but he then finishes it with her in such as nice way that she doesn’t realise she has been dumped.
April and Andy finally start dating and marry soon after.
Chris becomes the City Manager and brings in a rule to stop co-workers from dating
Leslie and Ben start a relationship which they need to keep secret due to this rule.
Due to the success of her work Leslie is asked to consider running for public office.
Tom resigns from the department and sets up a company Entertainment 7twenty with his friend John-Ralphio.
10/10
The Kew Orchid Festival is back in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.
There is a Brazilian theme with Brazilian style music paying throughout the greenhouse and a lot of vibrant colours.
8/10
Staring – Toby Jones, Bill Nighy, Tom Courtney, Blake Harrison, Michael Gambon, Daniel May’s, Bill Patterson and Catherine Zeta Jones
This comedy is based on the TV series and is probably easiest to understand if you are familiar with the series as there are a lot of in jokes and not much of an introduction to the characters, their backgrounds or catchphrases.
It includes all the regular characters and most of the supporting ones too, including Mrs Pike, Mrs Fox, the Miss Godfrey’s and a first time appearance for the infamous Mrs Mainering. It also has cameos from the 2 surviving actors Ian Lavender and Frank Williams.
The platoon are told to be on the lookout for a Nazi spy hiding in Warmington on Sea at the same time most of the men are distracted by a female reporter who is keen to learn more about their work.
It is better than some of the other reviews suggest. It is different to the TV series as the cast are different and they have different locations and sets (although Jones’s van looks very similar – possibly identical) it is still funny and fans of the show will get a lot of the in jokes, some extra information about the characters and suspicions confirmed about some them too.
8/10
Staring – Sarah Gaddon, Bek Powley, Jack Reynor, Rupert Everett, Emily Watson, Roger Allam
This is a dramatisation of possible events during VE night in London 1945 when Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret were allowed outside to celebrate with the public.
5/10
Staring – Any Poehler, Rashida Jones, Paul Schneider, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Jim O’Heir, Reta
This second season of this very funny comedy continues from season 1 and has 24 episodes.
Ann and Andy have broken up and she is now dating Mark.
Tom reveals that his marriage is a sham as his wife just needs a Green Card (although Tom does have feelings for her these are unrequited and they eventiaully divorce.
The pit is filled in.
April begins to have feeling for Andy but he still has feelings for Ann and doesn’t realise Aprils true feelings.
As Mark decides to propose to Ann, she tells him she no longer has feelings for him and he leaves for the private sector.
There is some peril for the department as the council has run out of money. State auditors Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) and Benn Wyatt (Adam Scott) temporarily shut down Pawnee council which delights Ron but upsets Leslie.
Andy eventually develops feelings for April, but by this time she is concerned he only cares about Ann. When Andy is involved in an accident Ann treats him at the hospital and kisses him, but he tells her he no longer has feelings for her. April then arrives and also kisses him and he reciprocates, but he then reveals that Ann kisses him too and April runs off.
10/10
Staring – Lily James, Care Blanchett, Richard Madden, Stellan Skarsgard, Holiday Grainger, Derek Jacobi, Helena Bonham Carter
This is a live action version of the original Disney but without the songs.
Ellis mother dies but she never forgets her mothers advise to have courage and be kind. Father remarries Lady Tremaine who has 2 daughters Drisella and Anastasia. When her father dies unexpectedly Ella’s mother and stepsisters and decide to treat her as a servant.
One day when she is walking in the forest she find a man who is the Prince but she doesn’t realise it. He is under pressure to find a wife and his father the King hosts a ball for all eligible women to come to so that he can find a wife.
Ella’s stepmother and step sisters refuse to let her go but her fairy godmother arrives and helps her go to the ball. Ella dances snd falls in love with the prince but the magic runs out snd she has to leave by midnight just leaving her shoe. The Prince searches the Kingdom to try to find the woman who fell in love with he eventually finds her and they get married.
7/10
Staring – Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgård, Samuel L Jackson
Loki meets with the other who is a leader of a race called the Chitauri in exchange the Tesseract energy source, the other Loki an army to try to defeat Earth.
SHEILD Director Nick Fury and his lieutenant Agent Maria Hill visit a research facility which is being evacuated. They see Dr Erik Selvig (unaware at the time that he is under Loki’s control). SHEILD Agent Phil Coulson tells them the Tesseract has begun radiating an unusual form of energy. It suddenly activates and opens a wormhole, and Loki comes through it. Loki takes the Tesseract and uses his scepter to control Selvig and a couple of agents, including Clint Baron /Hawkeye to help him escape.
Fury reactivates the Avengers Initiative. Agent Natasha Romanoff recruits Dr Bruce Banner/The Hulk due to his expertise with Gamma Radiation. Coulson recruits Tony Stark/IronMan and Fury gets Steve Rogers/Captain America.
They manage to capture Loki, but then his brother Thor arrives to free him hoping he can convince him to stop his plans. Thor then agrees to take Loki to SHEILDs flying aircraft carrier (the Helicarrier) where he is imprisoned.
The Avengers start to argue about what to do about Loki. Barton and Loki’s other possessed agents attack the Helicarrier, causing Banner to transform into the Hulk. Stark and Rogers try to repair the carrier, and Thor attempts to stop the Hulk’s rampage. Romanoff fights Barton, and knocks him unconscious, breaking Loki’s mind control. Loki escapes after killing Coulson and ejecting Thor from the airship, while the Hulk falls to the ground after attacking a SHIELD fighter jet. Fury uses Coulson’s death to persuade the Avengers into working as a team. Loki uses the Tesseract, with a device Selvig built, to open a wormhole above Stark Tower to the Chitauri fleet in space, launching his invasion in New York.
The Avengers start to defend New York , but quickly realize they will be overwhelmed as wave after wave of Chitauri descend upon Earth. Banner arrives and transforms into the Hulk, and together he, Rogers, Stark, Thor, Barton, and Romanoff battle the Chitauri while evacuating civilians. The Hulk finds Loki and beats him into submission. Romanoff makes her way to Selvig now freed of Loki’s control, reveals that Loki’s scepter can be used to shut down his invention. Meanwhile, Fury’s superiors launch a nuclear missile at New York to try to stop the war. Stark intercepts the missile and takes it through the wormhole toward the Chitauri fleet. The missile detonates, destroying the Chitauri mothership and disabling their forces on Earth. Stark’s suit runs out of power, and he falls back through the wormhole just as Romanoff closes it. Stark goes into freefall, but the Hulk catches him and Stark suggests they all got to a shawarma restaurant . In the aftermath, Thor returns Loki and the Tesseract to Asgard, the other Avengers and SHEILD agents go their own ways and Fury is confident that they will return when they are needed again.
There is a mid-credits scene, where the Other discuses with his master about the failed attack on Earth. In a post credit scene, the Avengers eat in silence at a shawarma restaurant as suggested by Stark.
There is a behind the scenes extra.
8/10