Plastic (15)

Plastic (15)

Dir: Julian Gilbey

With: Will Poulter, Ed Speleers

Runtime: 102 minutes

BEING the tale of a gang of British students embarking on a credit card scam in America, Julian Gilbey's drama has ambitions to be Oceans 11, albeit with acne. In reality, it's more TV's Hustle with halitosis.

Sam and Fordy (Ed Speleers and Will Poulter) are the brains behind an operation which lies, cheats and steals because capitalism has not provided enough graduate entry level jobs to go around. The poor lambs. That's about as sensible as it gets as all concerned play at being con artists only to find themselves out of their depth. Gilbey's picture has many flaws, from the youth of the characters to the story, but the chief problem is these likely lads are not likeable.

A Thousand Times Good Night (15)

Dir: Erik Poppe

With: Juliette Binoche, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Runtime: 117 minutes

JULIETTE Binoche stars in a tale of a war photographer that manages to be as thrilling as it is moving.

Rebecca (Binoche) is one of the best in the world at the sometimes dangerous job she does, but back home in Ireland (yes, the Irish Film Board put dosh in) her daughters and husband (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) have had enough of waiting for a phone call in the middle of the night. Can Rebecca change? Should she change?

Directed by Erik Poppe, a former news photographer, A Thousand Times has an air of authenticity about it which makes up for some of the overly earnest dialogue.

Reigning supreme, however, is Binoche, her face made for a movie screen, its every emotion laid bare as the story demands.

Glasgow Film Theatre, May 2-8; Filmhouse, Edinburgh, May 9-15

Tarzan (PG)

Dir: Reinhard Klooss

Voices: Kellan Lutz, Robert Capron

Runtime: 99 minutes

EDGAR Rice Burroughs' creation is given a hit and miss animated reboot.

When it comes to the human characters, and the way mouths move when they talk, Reinhard Klooss's picture does not have much of a clue.

It is just as well, then, that the apes and other creatures are done so skilfully.

The modernised story, the domain where Tarzan was raised by apes is under threat from an energy conglomerate, is something of a clunker too, but any picture that features a combination of apes, crocodile wrestling, and helicopters is sure to keep young cinemagoers interested.

After the Night (15)

Dir: Basil Da Cunha

With: Pedro Ferreira, Susana Maria Mendes da Costa

Runtime: 99 minutes

LIFE is hardly working out for Sombra, between the drug dealing, the spells in prison, and the fact that the only thing waiting at home for him is an iguana.

Previously existing on the fringes of Lisbon's gang scene, Sombra (Pedro Ferreira) is forced by indebtedness to take on bigger and uglier tasks.

Ferreira shines in a low key way as a man drifting into further catastrophe, and the alternative look at a Lisbon rarely seen has its fascinating moments, but a slow pace and not much of a story does a long haul make.

Ilo Ilo (12A)

Dir: Anthony Chen

With: Angeli Bayani, Koh Jia Ler

Runtime: 99 minutes

ANOTHER winner from last year's Cannes, Ilo Ilo plays out in Singapore as the global financial crisis of the late Nineties starts to bite. Teck and Hwee are having their own mini meltdown: she is heavily pregnant and their son, Jiale, is proving a handful. Hiring a maid from overseas seems the answer, but Jiale is just as awful to her. Fate, or in this case financial pressure, soon finds a way of closing the divides all round in this sad, funny, finely judged drama.

Glasgow Film Theatre, May 2-8; Filmhouse, Edinburgh, June 16-18

Brick Mansions (15)

Dir: Camille DeLamarre

With: Paul Walker, David Belle

Runtime: 91 minutes

THE late Paul Walker is the star of this action thriller set in a future Detroit where the city is divided into two zones of haves and have nots.

The member of the Fast and Furious crew plays an undercover cop sent in to deal with a potentially catastrophic threat.

Helping him in that task is Lino, a Parkour merchant who prefers to use gymnastics rather than his fists when it comes to fighting.

Stupendously daft in a way only a film written by Luc "Transporter" Bresson can be, Brick Mansions has all the depth of a shoot em up video game.

Pompeii (12A)

Dir: Paul W S Anderson

With: Kit Harington, Emily Browning

Runtime: 104 minutes

ONE to file under S for "so bad it's half way good, if you are in the right mood", Pompeii is a sword, sandals and lava epic that leaves no cliche unturned.

Kit Harrington is Milo, a slave from "northern Britannia" who somehow makes his way half way across the world in search of revenge.

While busy plotting vengeance, and falling in love with a rich, beautiful lady, a nearby volcano is rumbling.

Between the general hokiness and Kiefer Sutherland acting hammier than a side of pork, Paul W S Anderson's picture makes Frankie Howerd's Up Pompeii look like a BBC4 documentary.