Be sure and tell 'em Large Marge sent ya!

Pee Wee's Big Adventure

(1985)

Tim Burton's first feature is all the more charming because he is called upon to solve problems through inventiveness rather than by hurling unlimited cash at the screen.

Paul Reuben's Pee Wee can be a tad grating during his extended (solo) introduction but, once he's out and interacting, the appeal of his slightly creepy man-child character is evident. Whether it's his encounter with Large Marge or his sojourn at the Alamo, the road trip format suits Pee Wee well and the movie love-in climax at Warner Bros studio is more the sort of thing you'd expect of Joe Dante (Godzilla riding in Santa's sled is hard to beat for surreal hilarity).

By the time we see the movie adaptation of his adventure, with James Brolin's stunning rendition of P W ("I know you are - but what am I?") it's clear we've been watching deranged genius at work.

****1/2

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She writes Twilight fan fiction.

Vampire Academy (2014)
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I can only presume there’s a never-ending pile of Young Adult fiction poised for big screen failure, all of it comprising multi-novel storylines just begging for a moment in the Sun. Every time an adaptation crashes and burns (and the odds are that they will) another one rises, hydra-like, hoping…

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That living fossil ate my best friend!

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Continuing a strong mid-season run, Brian Clemens rejigs one of the dissenting (and departing) Roger Marshall's scripts (hence "Brian Sheriff") and follows in the steps of the previous season's The Girl from Auntie by adding a topical-twist title (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum came out a year earlier). If this is one of those stories where you know from the first who's doing what to whom, the actual mechanism for the doing is a strong and engaging one, and it's pepped considerably by a supporting cast including one John Laurie (2.11: Death of a Great Dane, 3.2: Brief for Murder).

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Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
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Now In Full Color, with a Happier Ending

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