Films of the week

The Sweeney
The Sweeney is an action-packed British police thriller from the director of Football Factory. Jack Regan (Ray Winstone), a hardened cop who doesn’t play by the rules, is confronted with a criminal from his past. With sidekick George Carter (Ben Drew aka Plan B) they are put on the case of a jewellery store heist that ends in a killing. But is that killing really an execution in disguise? With pressure from his boss and the fact that Regan is having an affair with that boss’s wife, it’s not going to be easy for him to stay out of trouble. The Sweeney has charm, laughs and action aplenty.

Hope Springs
Hope Springs is a brilliant comedy about getting older from the director of The Devil Wears Prada. Having bought each other a cable TV package for their anniversary, Kay (Meryl Streep) realises that she and her husband Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) need something to reignite their relationship. Stumbling across relationship guru Dr. Bernie Field (Steve Carell), she decides to enrol herself and Arnold on his intensive marriage counselling course, which will be an eye-opener for both of them. Hope Springs is a high-class comedy that manages to mix laughs with a real message about long-term relationships.

Lawless
Lawless is a gripping thriller based on a true story from the director of The Road. Jack (Shia LaBoeuf), Forrest (Tom Hardy) and Howard (Jason Clarke) are the Bondurant brothers, a free-wheeling group of bootleggers cleaning up in prohibition-era Virginia with their illegal liquor and dancing girls. But their empire is about to be threatened by a Deputy (Guy Pearce) and a gangster (Gary Oldman), who both have an eye on the brothers’ business. And while the Bondurants of Lawless are no pushovers, when bad guys are willing to go to any lengths, surely it’s only a matter of time before they cave.

Dredd 3D
Dredd 3D is a visually spectacular take on the legendary Judge Dredd. Dredd (Karl Urban) is an extreme law enforcer operating in the nightmarish conditions of Mega-City One, a sprawling future metropolis, which is dangerously over-populated and where violent crime is soaring. With other judges being murdered, Dredd has the ultimate power to execute wrong-doers. Joined by a young trainee, Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), he is targeting a drugs gang warping minds with a narcotic known as SLO-MO. And he’s taking no prisoners. Dredd 3D takes the 2000 AD character to the next level and beyond.

Paranorman
Paranorman is a beautifully crafted and stupidly funny animated horror film for all the family. Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a little boy with an amazing gift: he can see and communicate with ghosts. When he discovers a witch’s curse that threatens his little New England town, he knows he is the only one with the ghost-whispering skills to protect everything he loves from a plague of zombies, witches and sundry nasties from beyond the grave. If only the stupid grown ups would get out of his way. Paranorman is a one-of-a-kind family film with gentle frights suitable for everyone.

Total Recall
Total Recall is a masterful reworking of the ’90s classic, jammed with enough suspense to keep you hooked till the very last frame. In a future world where holidays are replaced by “mind-trips”, virtual journeys into someone else’s memories, frustrated factory worker Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) takes just such a vacation. But when the procedure accidentally unlocks flashes of his own past, he begins to realise that his life is a charade. Hunted by forces desperate to kill him, he hooks up with rebel fighter Melina (Jessica Biel) in a frantic, action-packed race to discover just what, if anything, he can believe in.
Please note Total Recall contains flashing images and strobing.

Premium Rush
Premium Rush is a high-octane thriller directed by the writer behind some of cinema’s biggest hits. Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) thinks that an envelope he has picked up from Columbia University is just another package that needs to get to its destination on time. He soon finds out that there’s more to it than that. Having attracted the attention of a crooked cop, who wants him to hand over the envelope, he is about to be chased all over Manhattan and put into life-or-death situations – all for the contents of that consignment. Premium Rush does for bikes what Speed did for buses.

The Watch
The Watch is a beyond nutty comedy that pits suburban dads against invaders from outer space. A group of regular dads decide to set up a Neighbourhood Watch, so that they can ride around, feel important and escape their dull family lives, which is fine as long as they are dealing with petty crime. But when they stumble across an alien plot that puts the whole world at risk, they have to man up and take on the biggest challenge imaginable. The Watch is a star-studded masterclass in blokey comedy directed by a Saturday Night Live legend.

These films are showing at Dagenham Vue, Dagenham Leisure Park, Cook Road, Dagenham.