Locke (15)

Locke (15)

Dir: Steven Knight

With: Tom Hardy, Andrew Scott

Runtime: 85 minutes

THE action in Steven "Peaky Blinders" Knight's British drama consists of a builder driving from Birmingham to London, so it takes quite an actor to make the film work. Luckily for Knight he has Tom Hardy playing a Welshman who has dug a deep moral hole for himself and is trying to do the right thing by his wife, his employers, and a relative stranger. It is hard to take all the chat about pouring concrete seriously, even if it is a thudding metaphor, but Hardy's performance, together with those of Ruth Wilson, Andrew Scott (Moriarty in TV's Sherlock) and the ever wonderful Olivia Colman as voices on the other end of the in-car phone, make this a road trip worth taking.

The Love Punch (12A)

Dir: Joel Hopkins

With: Emma Thompson, Pierce Brosnan

Runtime: 94 minutes

MEET Kate and Richard, a divorced couple who still quite like each other, and their daffy neighbours Penelope and Jerry (Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie). If this comedy from the director of Last Chance Harvey all sounds terribly Home Counties/Good Life that's because it is. Then again, The Good Life was played with the lightest of touches, while this caper about a lost pension fund and a diamond heist exacted in revenge is about as subtle as a nice bottle of Burgundy to the napper. Emma Thompson's hair is fabulous, though.

Magic Magic (15)

Dir: Sebastian Silva

With: Juno Temple, Michael Cera

Runtime: 96 minutes

MICHAEL Cera (Juno, Superbad) has been busy down South America way between the scattershot road movie Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus and this passable drama. Alicia (Juno Temple) has joined her cousin on holiday, only to be left alone with her relative's friends. She can't abide them and the feeling is mutual, especially where sarky Brink (Cera) is concerned. As the days wear on, what looks like a mismatch of minds turns into something more disturbing. Director Sebastian Silva conjures up a sinister atmosphere out of little, only to lose the plot in every sense as the picture goes on.

The Sea (12A)

Dir: Stephen Brown

With: Ciaran Hinds, Rufus Sewell

Runtime: 86 minutes

JOHN Banville's Booker prize winning novel arrives on screen in a sedate but satisfying fashion. Ciaran Hinds plays Max Morden, an art historian grieving for his lost wife. Believing that some comfort and answers might be found in the past, he travels to the coastal town where he spent many a summer in childhood. Director Stephen Brown, working from a screenplay by Banville, does well to capture the melancholy of the book, and Hinds is as reliable as ever playing a man who is burdened by the past and lost in the present.

We Are the Best! (15)

Dir: Lukas Moodysson

With: Mads Korsgaard, Mira Grosin

Runtime: 102 minutes

PUNK, bad haircuts, teenage angst, and some truly awful songs - it's all part of the fun of Lukas Moodysson's good natured coming of age drama. Bobo, Klara and Hedvig are three 13-year-old Swedes who decide they want to be like the boys and play in a rock and roll band, and so what if their classmates laugh? The young cast are hugely likeable while Moodysson keeps the mood light. A treat, even if the music is the stuff of migraines.

Cineworld, Renfrew Street, Glasgow, and Cameo, Edinburgh, from tomorrow; Glasgow Film Theatre and Belmont, Aberdeen, April 25-May 1.

Half of a Yellow Sun (15)

Dir: Biyi Bandele

With: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton

Runtime: 111 minutes

CHIWETEL Ejiofor, Oscar-nominated for 12 Years a Slave, stars alongside Thandie Newton in this drama charting both the birth of Nigeria as a modern state and the progression of a relationship. It is an odd combination, which works better in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel than it does on screen. Once the picture is done trying to be a soap opera and takes up political themes it becomes more impressive, with Newton more than matching Ejiofor in performance.

Glasgow Film Theatre, April 18-24.

The King and the Mockingbird (U)

Dir: Paul Grimault

Voices: Jean Martin, Pascal Mazzotti

Runtime: 84 minutes

THIS story is "absolutely true" says our narrator. Since he is a talking mockingbird, who are we to argue? Paul Grimault's animated delight, based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, features no end of fabulous animals. The king in question is a nasty sort who wants to marry a shepherdess, but she is in love with a humble sweep. When the king sets his police force on the pair, it seems only the mockingbird can save the day. Restored in time for the 30th anniversary of its release in Britain, The King and the Mockingbird has been an inspiration for many an animator who came after and is still a funny, sweet, exquisitely rendered French fancy. With subtitles.

Filmhouse, Edinburgh, tomorrow until 21; Glasgow Film Theatre, April 26, 28, 29; Eden Court, Inverness, May 3-4; Robert Burns Centre, Dumfries, May 24.