TOMORROWLAND: A WORLD BEYOND (12A)

3 stars

George Clooney doesn't really do summer blockbusters, which might seem surprising for a star of his magnitude. Sci-fi fantasy Tomorrowland: A World Beyond is his first stab at one the since The Perfect Storm 15 years ago, and it's hardly Clooney's fault that it's a bit of a disappointment.

It begins with Clooney telling the story of how he was a young boy visiting the World's Fair in New York in 1964. He's Frank, who fancies himself as an inventor and shows off his not entirely successful jetpack to an unimpressed Fair official (Hugh Laurie).

Frank's scientific mind attracts the attention of a young girl, Athena (Raffey Cassidy), and before he knows what's happening he's whisked off to the futuristic cityscapes of Tomorrowland, a shiny utopia where Athena and Laurie's Governor Nix live.

It's clear from early on that this is a visually upbeat movie, one that gets to play in various palettes, from the pastel 60s to the gleaming towers of Tomorrowland, but most of it takes place in the modern day real world once it gets going.

It's here that Frank then hands the narration over to Casey (Britt Robertson), a teenager with an interest in science and a talent for trouble. She's trying to sabotage the demolition of a NASA launch station and, after a night in jail, finds herself in possession of a mysterious badge that seems to transport her to what we know to be Tomorrowland.

The actual plot has been kept largely under wraps in the run up to the movie's release, and for once it's kept a few surprises up its sleeve, not all of them successful.

Before the plot kicks in it's a film driven first and foremost by its characters and they're engaging enough, as we learn how Frank and Casey meet.

But then it starts to creak, lumbering from one sequence to the next with nothing like the bonkers energy that the Wachowskis have brought to their recent sci-fi fantasies.

Director Brad Bird, an animation veteran making only his second live action film after the excellent fourth Mission: Impossible, brings an anarchic quality to the fight sequences, but doesn't seem to be in control of the big picture.

The main problem is a muddled script that only deals in the vaguest terms with what Tomorrowland actually is, and how what happens there affects us.

We're a world heading towards dystopia, hurtling blindly towards oblivion with the question still hanging of whether we can fix the future, and yet the film doesn't really manage to identify a specific force of antagonism or clear end game.

Inspired by a Disney theme park, it's a Young Adult adventure without the teen fiction origin. Ideas are tossed around that are alternately neat and daft, and there are loads of things it's reminiscent of in patches, which isn't to its credit.

It feels like an 80s tribute, albeit one with vastly superior visual effects. There's a bit of Back to the Future, Men In Black, Harry Potter and Dr Who all chucked in too, yet that vital sense of wonderment is mostly absent.

On the plus side are its ass-kicking heroines. We learn along with Casey what is going on, although it's sometimes hard to say what she actually brings to the story.

She's helped by the same young girl who took Frank to Tomorrowland, Athena, who comes across like a 12-year-old Terminator and provides many of the best moments.

If the movie seems quite kid-oriented at first, it pitches itself just a bit beyond that once the action starts, with many a battered and decapitated robot head.

The unobtrusive CGI makes it visually appealing without ever being truly gobsmacking, and if Tomorrowland isn't a rollercoaster, it's still an OK ride.

Director: Brad Bird

Running time: 130 mins

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (15)

3 stars

Quick, what's your favourite black and white Iranian vampire movie?

Chances are the highly original but not entirely successful A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night will make your top ten, a film that's moody and sinister enough to entice but ultimately finds itself with some serious pacing issues and without a clear destination.

In the town of Bad City, a young man in debt to the local gangster looks after his drug addict father, as meanwhile a female vampire leaves a trail of bodies and sets the pair on a collision course.

Cool and sleek, this is far more of a sensory experience than an emotional one, creating an incredibly stylish world of shadows and deserted streets.

Backed by a terrific soundtrack that often smacks of Morricone, it ends up having the vibe of a western, and it's not a surprise to learn it was actually filmed in the States.

Director: Ana Lily Amirpour

Running time: 101 mins

RETURN TO SENDEr (18)

2 stars

Rosamund Pike stars in this hopelessly ineffectual thriller as a nurse who suffers a brutal sexual assault by a stranger with whom she thought she was going on a blind date.

There's an alarming lack of focus to the narrative during the early stages that never recovers as it develops, alongside a whole lot of superfluous detail that continually sets up intriguing scenarios before abandoning them for the next daft subplot.

Save for a risible final 20 minutes it barely qualifies as a thriller, and as an examination of how Pike goes about rebuilding her life it plays its cards too sneakily.

In the end it's difficult to imagine that Return to Sender would have even received a cinema release if it hadn't been for the success of Gone Girl.

Director: Fouad Mikati

Running time: 94 minsogs

THE NEW GIRLFRIEND (15, 108 mins)

Director: François Ozon

3 stars

When her lifelong best friend dies, Claire (Anaïs Demoustier) makes a promise that she will do her best to look after David (Romain Duris), her friend's husband, and their baby.

This works for a while until the discovery that David has an overwhelming need to dress up in his late wife's clothes in order to tend to the baby, leading to situations that are alternately tender and farcical.

With solid performances, this glides along in that way the French do best despite a few stumbles and quite a bit of repetition, and there are certainly a few chuckles to be had. It's somewhat less convincing as a romance though, leading to an ending that's as ridiculous as it is unearned.