Andrew Shepherd

IN A a recent article Emma Thompson spoke out against creating films aimed at the ‘grey pound’, arguing that a good film should appeal to all ages regardless as to the age of the cast or storyline of the film.

PHILOMENA (12A) The last time the issue of young, unmarried Irish mothers being forced to give up their babies and working in virtual slave labour conditions, was shown on screen came for the harrowing Magdalene Sisters.On paper it would come as some surprise that Steve Coogan, better known for his more comic incarnations such as Alan Partridge, is a major force behind a new film dealing with this subject. He has co-written the screenplay and plays the journalist Martin Sixsmith in the story of an elderly lady trying to track down the son she gave up 50 years previously in Ireland.

THOR: THE DARK WORLD 12A When Marvel Studios announced its plans for adapting a range of its comics for the big screen, at the time one of the hardest adaptations to imagine was Thor. While a lot of the superheroes were based on Earth – Thor’s universe was on another realm. There was some scepticism about how successful it would turn out, but in the hands of Kenneth Branagh the resulting first film was a big hit and enabled the titular character to be part of the Avengers ensemble. The film also gave Marvel one of its most popular villains, Loki, and made a star out of English actor, Tom Hiddlestone. Both Thor and his brother Loki return in Thor: The Dark World.

You can understand when a film does really well, gets rave reviews and has a storyline that can be extended that the film makers would consider a sequel, which one hopes will be better than the first. What is of increasing frustration to a reviewer is seeing films which were pretty ropey in the first instance getting a sequel just because the box office numbers look good. There used to be a really good avenue for this kind of film – straight to video, but these days they get a big cinematic release which inevitably crowds out really great smaller films which don’t have a chance of breaking through if they are up against big budget 3D films, even if they are a bit rubbish.

FILMS about magic range from the “what if magic was real” canon, such as Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, to trying to debunk the myth of a magician, usually with some sort of romance thrown into the mix.

WORLD WAR Z

THE PURGE Once a year all crime is legal. It's a great pitch and one that you can see grabs the attention of a film studio. You hear time and time again about films being made because of a brilliant 30 second pitch. The problem is you then have to come up with a 90 minute plus film which not only explores this great idea, but creates a plausible story, characters and an engaging film. Time and again, the brilliant idea runs out of steam after about 30 minutes. It is of course hard to predict the success of a film - who would have thought that a character piece about a man overcoming his stutter to deliver a two minute piece to radio would make an award winning drama, but the King's Speech did all that. It did it because the script, characters and execution were superb - not because the idea was really cool.

SIDE EFFECTS (15) This film is allegedly the last film that Oscar winning director Stephen Sodbergh is doing before retiring at the age of 50. He has directed 26 films in 24 years, and that seems to be enough for him. He is one of the most versatile directors around, which is why his work ranges from the low budget: sex, lies and videotape, to the Oscar winning dramas of Erin Brockovich and Traffic with the Ocean's Eleven Trilogy showing he could make commercial films along with the best of them. Apart from a TV film about the life of Liberace, starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, his swansong is a Hitchcockian thriller, Side Effects.

SONG FOR MARION (PG) It's a testament to the quality and talent of an actor that, in their youth, they can wow you with their intensity and striking looks - and some 40 years later continue to give compelling performances which, though tempered with age, remind you of the reason you found them so extraordinary in the first place. Two actors, in relation to this film, have trod this path in different guises. Vanessa Redgrave, from acting royalty, who has distinguished herself on stage and screen since she first arrived, and Terence Stamp - who is not often given the chance to shine as a lead in his own right - putting his quiet authority on a film exploring the effects of losing a long term partner and dealing with the aftermath.

HITCHCOCK (12A) Alfred Hitchcock was a curious conundrum. Hailed by many as the greatest director of the 20th century, he was notoriously difficult to please. He is said to have referred once to his actors as "cattle", but no one can back it up as fact. Earlier this year the actress Tippi Hedren who starred in The Birds claimed he was a predator who ruined her career when she turned down his advances, and yet Kim Novak, star of Vertigo countered those claims in a recent interview saying nothing could be further from the truth, as did a number of other actresses who also worked with him. One almost wonders if Hitchcock cultivated this air, in order to get the best out of his actors and crew. This film focuses on the development of Psycho and his relationship with his long suffering wife Alma.