April Ritzy cinema round-up

If you’re grumbling about losing an hour of sleep to the changing of the clocks, then prepare to be placated. For the dawning of British Summer Time also signals the arrival of blockbuster season on the big screen. Adam Marshall‘s pick of the highlights from the Ritzy’s April programme is a blinder – the perfect excuse to hide from that horrible sun thing.

For starters, those Marvel Avengers – they are once again assembling. In Avengers: Age of Ulcron, the unfeasibly large gang of comic book heroes join together to take on ne’erdowell Ultron – a self-aware human despising artificial intelligence program. Joss Wheddon is in the director’s chair, so it’ll be a crowd pleasing combination of hitting, kicking and quipping from the likes of Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and The Hulk…and Hawkeye…and Black Widow…and, well you get the idea.

If you prefer your big budget cinema a little less green screen-y and a tad more Stalin-era Soviet Union-y, then Child 44 may be a better fit. The always exceptional Tom Hardy leads this chilly thriller as a Russian agent trying to solve a grizzly flurry of child murders. Expect grit, unbearable tension and elaborate Eastern European accents.

Taking the plaudits for ‘Best film title of the month’ – A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. The whimsical Swedish festival and critic pleaser centres around two door-to-door salesmen trying to flog novelty wares. It’s a bit odd, utterly original and might just be a belter.

Do you, like me, have an annoying friend who continually tells you how good Blade Runner looks on Blu Ray and if you haven’t seen it then your years on earth effectively amount to nought? Yes? Then vengeance is within grabbing distance – you can go one better when Ritzy screens the restored 30th birthday version of Ridley Scott’s dystopian masterpiece.

And if you’ve got a lust for early Harrison Ford (and, frankly, who among us hasn’t?) then Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam-flick-to-end-all-Vietnam-flicks Apocalypse Now offers a double dose. The seminal adaptation of Francis Conrad’s novel witnesses Captain Willard’s (Martin Sheen) journey down the hellacious Nung river to capture Marlon Brando’s insane Colonel Kurtz. The horror! The horror!

Your littluns not quite ready for the smell of napalm in the morning (wimps)? Then Home may be a better option for Easter holiday entertainment. The latest animation from Dreamworks – those creative megaminds that brought us Shrek, How to Train your Dragon and, er…Megamind – it follows Oh, a member of an alien race called the Boov (stay with me), which has invaded planet earth. You can bet that, when Oh befriends a sassy human girl Tip, all manner of hijinks will ensue. The film’s predictably impressive visuals will be enough to keep the nippers engrossed, while you work out whether that really is that guy from The Big Bang Theory voicing Oh.

And with high-octane car chases (Fast and Furious 7), music documentaries (Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck) and Ben Stiller (While We’re Young) also abound, it’s all almost worth losing an hour for.

Written by Adam Marshall