Web body White House Down (12A, 131 mins)

Web body White House Down (12A, 131 mins)

Director: Roland Emmerich

In a year in which two big-budget Hollywood movies featuring attacks on the White House have been released, the latest being this one with current red-hot star Channing Tatum, you mightn't have thought the Gerry Butler effort would turn out to be the good one.

But Olympus Has Fallen has not only stolen the thunder of White House Down by coming out several months before, it actually pips it in quality terms as well, emerging as the most purely satisfying action movie.

Because, unlike Olympus Has Fallen, White House Down has designs on being something more than an unfiltered action blast. It's one keen on liberal point-scoring, with the president (Jamie Foxx) having announced that all US troops will be withdrawn from the Middle East, a piece of window dressing that adds almost nothing to the story.

This time around the hero is Channing Tatum, a security officer who really wants to join the Secret Service. Tatum's John Cale is set up as the clichéd inattentive father who misses his daughter's talent show and, to make it up to her, he uses a contact to get them onto a White House tour. But their tour coincides with the day that a team of infiltrators take over the building, taking his daughter and others hostage and leaving John to save the day.

As well as John working to foil the baddies, it also puts its stars together for long periods, as Tatum and Foxx team up for a buddy double act, one which unfortunately only leads to tired banter. The whole thing has a jokier tone than Olympus that just isn't very funny, and this cheesier, dopier option is often more cringeworthy than engaging. And, as was the case in Olympus, the Die Hard references are off the scale, from the diversion tactics to the overly loquacious tech guy to John's white vest.

There's certainly some well orchestrated rough and tumble though, and it's the sort of silly thing that director Roland Emmerich is generally quite good at (he memorably blew up the White House in Independence Day all those years ago).

But with its CGI-heavy destruction and swooping helicopters in place of truly imaginative action, it's all been seen before, and just when you think it's done, on and on it goes.

Insidious Chapter 2 (15, 105 mins)

Director: James Wan

The first Insidious a couple of years ago wasn't the most sophisticated piece of horror cinema ever made, but it was a relentless scare machine. This sequel deepens the mythology with an awful lot of backstory, but dilutes the scares, beginning with the teenage version of Patrick Wilson's Josh back in 1986 when his family first encountered the evil forces that still haunt them. We then pick up immediately after the events of the first film, with Lin Shaye's medium murdered and Rose Byrne wondering whether she can trust her husband or if he's possessed. Slow and creepy is the order of the day, and director James Wan's skill with the frame and woozy angles still generates a handful of chilling moments, though not as many as you might think amidst a surfeit of spooky toys. This second chapter is clumsily structured, which would be less bothersome if the scares were more forthcoming, and there's a stretch in the middle spent wandering round an old hospital that's really sort of dull. But it's rescued by a clever final third.

42 (12A, 128 mins)

Director: Brian Helgeland

Baseball, that most evocative of American sports, is the microcosm at the centre of this well intentioned true-life story of Jackie Robinson, the first black Major League baseball star. In a country that still faced segregation after WWII, every single MLB player is white, but Brooklyn Dodgers chief Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) wants to bring in a player from the Negro Leagues ("every dollar is green" being his philosophy), and so signs up Robinson. They know the reaction will be largely negative, with abuse from opponents, teammates and fans alike, and these racial tensions make for convincing, if perhaps slightly sanitised, dramatic conflict. As Robinson, Chadwick Boseman has the presence and poise of Denzel Washington, and a nicely gruff Ford is more credible than he's been in years, while a beautiful glow to the cinematography makes it a stand-out period piece. It can be a little earnest, but that's forgivable considering the subject matter.

Justin and the Knights of Valour PG, 96 mins)

Director: Manuel Sicilia

Antonio Banderas produces and appears in this atrocious Spanish animation, dubbed into English with one of the most lacklustre voice casts ever. Young Justin (Freddie Highmore) wants to be a knight, but knights have been outlawed by lawyers, so he heads off on a quest to find his grandfather's sword before evil types take over the kingdom. This all takes place in a Shrek-style medieval world, but one that's utterly lacking in wit or engaging characters, with lifeless and cheap animation that looks like it's been knocked up on a Macbook. This really is abject stuff, and in a world where Sir Billi didn't exist, it would easily be the worst animated film of the year.

Rush (15, 122 mins)

Director: Ron Howard

It's 1976, and the rivalry between Formula 1 stars James Hunt and Niki Lauda is in full flow. This slick biopic takes us there from the early 70s, with Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) building up his racing experience and wanting to be famous, and Lauda (Daniel Brühl) leaving behind a life of privilege in Austria to pursue his dream. It does take a while to find its stride, with the early stages given a Carry On vibe in their attempts to portray Hunt the womanising heartthrob, before zipping through major events like marriages and affairs. But the spotlight is on their F1 battle, so where the behind-closed-doors stuff can be clichéd, the track sequences come alive, used sparingly but excitingly with some CGI-augmented trickery. Hemsworth is magnetic as Hunt the playboy, and Brühl skilfully embodies a very forthright Lauda, a driven and hard-nosed character who's unpopular and doesn't care. It's a very narrowly focussed story but one that paints a fascinating picture, largely because these two clashing characters butt against each other in such a compelling manner, making Rush gripping to the extent that it doesn't really matter which of them wins. And if you don't know or remember who wins, then that only adds another layer of excitement.

Sir Billi (U, 76 mins)

Director: Sascha Hartmann

What have audiences done to deserve animated movies of the standard of this and Justin and the Knights of Valour in the same week? The first full length computer animation made entirely in Scotland, and with a voice cast lead by Sean Connery, Sir Billi has been in production for several years and finally makes it to a tiny handful of cinemas. What's surprising is that it will be seeing the inside of a cinema at all, because this is stunningly misguided and woefully executed in every conceivable way. Even leaving aside the uglyanimation that wouldn't pass muster on CBeebies, there's not a moment of storytelling competence, with what plot there is involving Connery's highland hero Sir Billi trying to rescue Scotland's last beaver. Characters appear at random to take part in jaw-droppingly daft and arbitrary events, and an embarrassing script consists largely of Bond references and inappropriate innuendo. It would be great if Scotland could produce decent animated movies, but Sir Billi is an insult to animation, and it's an insult to Scottish film.

In a World... (15, 93 mins)

Director: Lake Bell

Lake Bell writes, directs and stars in this credible indie as Carol, a voice coach in Los Angeles who wants to break into voiceover work, a world in which her father is the star player. Tapping into that Lena Dunham underachievement thing, this at first lightweight comedy finds its groove after a sketchy first half that doesn't promise much; some nice moments in search of a cohesive whole, with only the odd amusing or cute event to make up for the plot being all over the place. But stick with it because it improves as it starts to come together, Bell is great, and as a portrait of a competitive and cutthroat industry, with plenty to say about women in a male-dominated Hollywood and life in general, there's real value here.