What If (15)

What If (15)

Dir: Michael Dowse

With: Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan

Runtime: 102 minutes

AFTER baring all in Equus, the actor formerly known as Harry Potter shows he is even more all grown up now with this risque rom-com.

Michael Dowse's picture poses the old When Harry Met Sally question of whether a man and a woman can truly be friends.

In the case of Wallace and Chantry (Radcliffe and the likeable Zoe Kazan), the picture is muddied by long-term boyfriend (Rafe Spall).

This is a very modern rom-com, in as much the humour goes very near the knuckle before the central characters manage to win you over with a one-two punch of sweetness.

Given the chance to show off his comedy chops, Radcliffe gives his best screen performance yet.

God Help The Girl (15)

Dir: Stuart Murdoch

With: Emily Browning, Olly Alexander

Runtime: 112 minutes

NEVER mind the titular girl, Scottish filmmaking needs a serious talking to if it cannot do better than this offering from Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch.

Set in Glasgow, this romantic-comedy-musical with a barrel full of mental anguish on top is the tortured tale of Eve (Emily Browning), a young woman with a propensity to sing about her pain and wear wacky hats. When she meets two friends who also like hats, the stage is set for street to street tweeness as the trio make their way through the city singing plinky-plonky songs and patronising the locals as they go. Strictly for B&S fans.

Hide Your Smiling Faces (15)

Dir: Daniel Patrick Carbone

With: Nathan Varnson, Ryan Jones

Runtime: 80 minutes

DANIEL Patrick Carbone's American indie drama is a handsomely shot affair but takes an age to play itself out. While the heart of the story - a tragedy in the local community - beats strongly for a while, it is difficult not to become exasperated by the languid pace as the central characters, two brothers and their friends, meet to shoot the breeze over life, death and much else.

Glasgow Film Theatre, August 22-28

Into The Storm (12A)

Dir: Steven Quale

With: Sarah Wayne Callies, Richard Armitage

Runtime: 89 minutes

PUNISHING wind, lacerating rain, death to hairdos: not a summer day in Glasgow, just the start of the weather carnage unleashed in this by-the-numbers actioner.

The scene is an ordinary mid-west small town and the central characters are a familiar bunch of storm chasers, anxious parents, and crazy locals, all of whom emit a steady stream of phrases along the lines of "Are you seeing this?" and "I've never seen anything like this."

While the visuals are thrilling enough, the drama is about as electrifying as the weather forecast

Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For (3D) (18)

Dirs: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller

With: Josh Brolin, Jessica Alba

Runtime: 102 minutes

NINE years after audiences paid the first visit to the mean, comic book streets of Sin City, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller deliver the sequel.

It is business as usual visually and verbally, with the noir palette enlivened by shocks of colour, and the noir stories given lashings of sex and violence.

The formula still has its moments, and there are some welcome new faces around, such as Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a gambler and Eva Green as the femme fatale of the title.

However, after a while the one note tone becomes wearying.

Previews at selected cinemas, including Cineworld Renfrew Street and Cameo, Edinburgh, from August 24; on general release, August 29

Lucy (15)

Dir: Luc Besson

With: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman

Runtime: 89 minutes

LUC "La Femme Nikita" Besson finds another girl in a short dress wielding a long barrelled gun to fall in love with.

Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is a student who has been forced to become a drugs mule. Her cargo: an experimental narcotic.

When the enterprise goes wrong, only a kindly old professor played by Morgan Freeman (who else?) can help her.

For Besson, all of this is a chance to enjoy himself with guns, nature clips, and SFX.

Enjoyably far-fetched until it inevitably goes Besson bonkers.