Jupiter Ascending

More accessible than their recent Cloud Atlas and more enjoyable than those Matrix sequels, the Wachowski siblings' latest sci-fi epic concerns ordinary Earth girl Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), who discovers she's a genetic "recurrence" of the powerful matriarch of an intergalactic dynasty, and consequently the legal heir to their fortune. This of course upsets the eldest son, Balem (a hilarious Eddie Redmayne), who makes it his mission to destroy her. With a genetically engineered dog soldier (Channing Tatum) as her guardian, Jupiter's ascension proves to be quite convoluted affair. This is one of those big, dazzling, FX-laden and overly ambitious science fiction films whose erratic tone alternates between serious and screwball - often in the same scene. And like the similarly bonkers The Fifth Element and The Adventure of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, the Wachowski's space opera is destined to attract its own cult following. Watch it a second time and it actually make sense.

 

Tomorrowland

When you are the director of one of Pixar's greatest achievements in The Incredibles, the pressure to deliver another box office smash is well and truly on.

With this, his second live-action feature, writer-director Brad Bird pulls out all the old-school 'kid's own adventure' stops and thankfully delivers an action romp with far more bravado than a mere feel-good family sci-fi.

George Clooney plays Frank Walker, a former child-genius with a heart full of dreams whom we witness in the intro of the film being lured by a mysterious young girl into a Twilight Zone-style alternate future through the 'It's A Small World After All' ride at the 1964 World Fair (well, this is a Disney film!)

This utopian paradise is eons ahead of our current reality, and young Frank, complete with his very own self-designed jetpack, eventually fits right in.

Flash forward to present day and teen rebel Casey (Britt Robertson), hellbent on sabotaging the demolition of her father's place of work (an abandoned NASA launch station), is soon in possession of pin similar to the one Frank acquired 50 years ago.

A chain of events leads Casey to realize this acquisition has not only put her life in danger, but when introduced to Frank today, his conspiratorial paranoia (that has seen him reclusive and holed up in a techno fortress) is well founded and the danger is very, very real.

Packed with in-jokes, action aplenty (at times extremely violent for a kids flick) and a wicked sense of humour that dances between Back to the Future escapism and Goonies meets Da Vinci Code outlandish disbelief, Tomorrowland is a perfectly formed adventure romp for ages 10 and above.

Smart, fun and full of naive wonder, this plays to the smarter end of town at that delicate age between packing up the Lego and moving into role-playing games.