Catch-up reviews!

This week we caught up on a few films we missed at the cinema – today we have Youth, London Has Fallen and Pride, Prejudice and Zombies.

 YouthAfter going on holiday together, a semi-retired film director Mick Boyle (Harvey Keitel) and his best friend Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine) are forced to evaluate their lives and careers while weighing up the prospect of going back for one last try.With some beautiful direction from Paolo Sorrentino and some stunning performances from both the leads and supporting cast (Paul Dano, Rachel Weisz), the final product really brings to life the nature of story while really showing the strengths of cinematographer, Luca Bigazzi.The main hurdle however is the central narrative. While the tone fits the characters plight, its pretentious nature is hard to relate to and, as such, it’s much more difficult to connect to anything on the screen.With all this in mind, Youth looks great but a conceited tone stops it from being the film you want it to be - 2 out of 5 stars. London has fallenFollowing on from the somewhat successful Olympus has Fallen, Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is back protecting President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) after an assassination attempt on UK soil.Horrible direction, dreadful use of CGI and upsettingly disappointing performances from the main cast lead ‘London Has Fallen’ to be one of the more disappointing sequels to come out this year.In honesty, the less said about it, the better – a true sequel that was never really wanted - 0 out of 5 starsPride, Prejudice and ZombiesWith passable direction and a somewhat interesting cast, the real issue here comes from a confused tone and underwhelming action sequences. Stuck between drama and comedy, the final production cant quite make up its mind and as such, creates a real issue when trying to connect to its audience.The utterly bewildering thing about PPZ though was its lack of zombie filled action. Without even attempting to push the boundaries, the end result is a rather flat parody of a period drama with the odd fight scene rather than the extreme girl power moments the trailer would have us believe.With Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland having done it better, Pride, Prejudice and Zombies gets eaten by the rest – 2 out of 5.