FILM OF THE WEEK -  THE INBETWEENERS 2

(15, 96 mins) Comedy/Romance. Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas, Emily Berrington, Belinda Stewart-Wilson, Tamla Kari. Directors: Iain Morris, Damon Beesley.Released: August 6 (UK & Ireland)

Some of the Inbetweeners may have bagged jobs. Some of them may have even found girlfriends, but thankfully The Inbetweeners 2, the comedy series' second foray onto the big screen, shows our fumbling foursome back on reassuringly awkward form.

And with three hugely popular E4 series behind them and the most successful British comedy of all time to their name in their first film, there's no need to change the discomforting formula here.

Although almost a year has passed since the lads' holiday to Malia, the four anti-heroes haven't matured in the slightest.

Despite getting a place at Bristol University, Will (Simon Bird) is still chronically uncool and is yet to make any real mates on campus; hapless Simon (Joe Cooper) isn't faring much better up in Sheffield where he's lumbered himself with a demanding girlfriend who destroys his hoodies; randy Jay (James Buckley) has moved to Australia but is working in a toilet and sleeping in a tent in his uncle's garden, and dim-witted Neil (Blake Harrison) has somehow landed a job in the bank but is still as gullible as ever.

Fed up with their lives and enticed by Jay's boastful emails about his conquests with Kylie and Dannii Minogue and five-star lifestyle, Will, Simon and Neil decide to surprise him by heading down under for a four-week break.

Predictably, Jay has been fibbing about his 'DJ' job and his bed posts have no more notches in them than before he left Blighty. In fact, it turns out that he actually misses his ex-girlfriend Jane (Lydia Rose Bewley), first seen in The Inbetweeners Movie.

Rather than kip on Jay's bullying uncle's lawn, the gang tag along with Will's prep school classmate, the popular and pretty Katie (Emily Berrington), who he bumps into, and head to the traveller paradise Byron Bay in a car that has a mural of Peter Andre's face on the side of it.

When it looks like Katie is interested in him, Will tries to woo her, giving a toe curling performance on an acoustic guitar and then racing beefed up love rival Ben (Freddie Stroma) in a stomach-churning water park ride complete with high-octane bodily functions.

The 'bants', as Jay and Neil would call them, come thick, fast and foul here and each of the four friends has their own tortuous meltdown, with varying degrees of putridity and penis jokes bandied around.

Gross, puerile and filled with playground gags, The Inbetweeners 2 is everything you'd expect it to be.

RATING: 5/10

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PLANES 2: FIRE & RESCUE 3D

(U, 84 mins) Animation/Family/Action/Comedy/Romance. Featuring the voices of Dane Cook, Ed Harris, Julie Bowen, Curtis Armstrong, Wes Studi, Dale Dye, Regina King, Corri English, Bryan Callen, Danny Pardo, Matt Jones, Stacy Keach, Teri Hatcher, Hal Holbrook. Director: Roberts Gannaway.Released: August 1 (Scotland); August 8 (UK & Ireland)

If the first Planes film, a spin-off from Pixar's Cars, appeared to be propelled by merchandising opportunities rather than creative necessity, this action-packed sequel attempts to stand on its own landing gear with a stirring tale of heroism and self-sacrifice.

As the title suggests, Planes 2: Fire & Rescue immerses us in the daredevil world of fire-fighting, honouring the men and women - and aircraft - who "fly in when others are flying out".

It's a touching sentiment and screenwriter Jeffrey M Howard engineers some moving exchanges between the characters, some of whom are a splutter away from the scrap heap.

Director Bobs Gannaway employs the 3D format to striking effect in aerial sequences and the animation of raging infernos is impressively realistic.

However, there's an inescapable feeling that this gung-ho adventure should have taken a flight path directly to the home formats rather than the big screen.

Soaring over Propwash Junction with his mentor Skipper (voiced by Stacy Keach), Dusty Crophopper (Dane Cook) suffers a malfunction.

Back at the hanger, trusted mechanic Dottie (Teri Hatcher) diagnoses a failing gearbox.

"From now on, you have to keep down your torque to less than 80 percent," she instructs Dusty, putting an end to his illustrious racing career.

Dusty angrily defies Dottie and careens into the town's airport, causing a small fire.

The incident casts doubt on the ability of veteran fire and rescue truck Mayday (Hal Holbrook) to service the airport's needs.

So Dusty agrees to abandon his racing dreams in order to earn his certificate as the town's fire-fighting plane.

The plucky crop duster heads to Piston Peak National Park to train under helicopter Blade Ranger (Ed Harris), who was once a TV star, and his team including scooper Lil' Dipper (Julie Bowen), helicopter Windlifter (Wes Studi) and ex-military transport plane Cabbie (Dale Dye).

As Dusty masters the art of airborne fire-fighting, he also learns valuable lessons about friendship and endurance.

As Blade reminds him, "If you give up today, think of all the lives you can't save tomorrow."

Planes 2: Fire & Rescue is geared towards younger viewers, hammering home the importance of team work and the valuable contribution of emergency services.

There are a handful of verbal and visual gags to engage older audiences: a front cover of industry magazine Cariety; a bar patron drunkenly confiding, "She left me for a hybrid. I didn't hear it coming!"

A spoof of the long-running motorcycle police series CHiPs includes a cameo for Erik Estrada as Blade Ranger's partner on air patrol.

On the whole, though, Gannaway's sequel lacks the sophistication and emotional richness of yesteryear's Frozen or recent Pixar fare.

Animation is crisp and colourful and the vocal performances are similarly warm so audiences feel a toasty glow before the first plumes of smoke from the computer-generated blazes.

RATING: 6/10 

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ALSO RELEASED

GOD'S POCKET

(15, 89 mins) Released: August 8 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

Philip Seymour Hoffman makes one of his final screen appearances in John Slattery's indie drama, based on a novel by Pete Dexter.

He plays Mickey Scarpato, a hard-drinking gambler and family man, who lives in the working class community of God's Pocket.

Mickey is married to Jeanie (Christina Hendricks), whose son Leon (Caleb Landry Jones) works on a local construction site and doesn't realise how much trouble his big mouth can get him into.

The young man speaks out against the wrong person and is killed with a swift blow to the head.

The other construction workers cover up the crime and attempt to pass off Leon's death as a tragic accident.

However, Jeanie suspects something is amiss in God's Pocket and she pleads with Mickey and best friend Bird (John Turturro) to investigate.

However, Mickey has other problems: he's heavily in debt from gambling on horses and isn't sure he'll be able to raise enough money to pay for Leon's funeral conducted by Smilin' Jack Moran (Eddie Marsan).

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WELCOME TO NEW YORK

(18, 125 mins) Released: August 8 (UK, selected cinemas)

Inspired by the case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) who was accused of assaulting a hotel housemaid, Welcome To New York is a blistering portrait of excess and sexual desire, directed and co-written by Abel Ferrara.

Businessman George Devereaux (Gerard Depardieu) works out of an office in Washington DC but is usually travelling the world, checking into hotels where he sates his carnal desires with an endless parade of prostitutes.

Back home, his wife Simone (Jacqueline Bisset) tolerates his manifold indiscretions and he occasionally engages with his daughter Sophie (Marie Moute). Unable to recognise when a woman is repulsed by his sexual advances, George forces himself upon a hotel maid (Pamela Afesi) and is subsequently arrested and charged with assault.

Stripped physically and emotionally bare, George is compelled to justify his actions as his entire world threatens to collapse around him.

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WAKOLDA

(12A, 94 mins) Released: August 8 (UK, selected cinemas)

Argentina's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar earlier this year is a historical drama based on Lucia Puenzo's novel of the same name.

Porcelain doll maker Enzo (Diego Peretti) and his wife Eva (Natalia Oreiro) open a boarding house in 1960 Patagonia and they are delighted to welcome a doctor as the first guest.

The medic turns out to be Josef Mengele (Alex Brendemuhl), the Nazi collaborator, who famously conducted experiments in human genetics as part of Hitler's plan to engineer a master race.

Mengele becomes transfixed by Enzo and Eva, who are expecting twins, and by the couple's young daughter Lilith (Florencia Bado), who is small for her age.

Hidden from the people who want him to answer for his crimes, Mengele senses an opportunity to continue his work by using the family members as guinea pigs for his research and treatments.

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LILTING

(15, 86 mins) Released: August 8 (UK, selected cinemas)

London-based filmmaker Hong Khaou's feature-length directorial debut is an elegiac portrait of grief and longing, blessed with a stellar performance from Ben Whishaw.

He plays Richard, a sensitive yet broken man, whose lover Kai (Andrew Leung) died recently.

Richard is struggling to come to terms with the loss and his isolation is exacerbated by the knowledge that Kai's mother Junn (Cheng Pei-pei) knew nothing of their relationship and always thought that he and Kai were room mates.

Eventually, Richard visits Junn in her retirement home. She doesn't speak any English so Richard brings along a friend, Vann (Naomi Christie), who is fluent in Mandarin and English and can translate conversations between Junn and an ardent male admirer called Alan (Peter Bowles).

Over time, Vann also becomes an intermediary for Richard and June as they reminisce about the man they shared and loved in different ways.

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TO CATCH A THIEF

(PG, 102 mins) Released: August 8 (UK, selected cinemas)

Re-released almost 60 years after it originally graced the big screen, To Catch A Thief is a beautifully crafted thriller from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, which was nominated for three technical Oscars and won the statuette for Best Cinematography.

John Robie (Cary Grant) is a reformed jewel thief, once known as The Cat, who has turned his back on crime.

His reputation precedes him so when a wily thief targets a series of luxury hotels on the French Riviera, the finger of suspicion points at John.

Determined to clear his name, John seeks out his friend HH Hughson (John Williams), who reveals that the most expensive jewels currently on the Riviera belong to Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis).

John hatches a plan to flush out the real culprit by baiting him - or her - with Mrs Stevens' gems. In order to get close to his target, John befriends her daughter, pampered heiress Frances (Grace Kelly), but his cunning plan backfires in spectacular fashion.

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ALL THIS MAYHEM (15, 104 mins)

Released: August 8 (UK, selected cinemas)

During his youth, filmmaker Eddie Martin frequented the same skate park in a western suburb of Melbourne as skateboarding brothers Tas and Ben Pappas.

The siblings were propelled to the top of their sport, where they battled valiantly against the dominance of Tony Hawk and his vast marketing machine.

Ranked number one and two in the world at their peak, Tas and Ben succumbed to the allure of drugs and began their heartbreaking fall from grace, culminating in tragedy.

Director Martin uses his personal connection to the family to offer a cautionary tale of the perils of fame, interspersed with home videos of the era and interviews with some of the key protagonists.

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MOEBIUS

(18, 89 mins) Released: August 8 (UK, selected cinemas)

South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk courts controversy again - and tests his audience's stomach for violence - in this twisted and darkly comic drama about a dysfunctional family torn apart by a senseless act of disfigurement.

Filmed without a single line of dialogue, the story centres on a father (Cho Jae-hyun), who has been having an affair with a younger woman (Lee Eun-woo), who works in a nearby store.

His wife (Eun-woo again) has discovered the adultery and intends to exact her revenge by taking a knife to her spouse's nether portions while he sleeps. When the husband manages to evade her blade, the mother castrates their teenage son (Seo Young-ju) instead then flees the home. T

he father is consumed by guilt that his son has suffered for his sins so the old man investigates the possibility of a transplant to help restore his boy's self-confidence.

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THE EXPENDABLES 3

(12A, 126 mins) Released: August 14 (UK & Ireland)

Patrick Hughes sits in the director's chair for the third instalment of the popular Expendables franchise, which initially blitzkrieged the big screen in 2010 with leading man Sylvester Stallone at the helm.

It's yet another outlandish mission of hand-to-hand combat, deafening explosions and pithy one-liners.

Many years ago, Barney Ross (Stallone) founded mercenary group the Expendables with his good friend Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), who eventually turned his back on the team to become an arms dealer.

Barney was ordered to kill his friend for the greater good but Conrad survived the assassination. When Conrad resurfaces, Barney realises he needs to bolster the ranks of the current crew to overcome an adversary with unlimited supplies of state-of-the-art weaponry.

He travels the world and assembles a fearless new crew comprising bareknuckle brawler Smilee (Kellan Lutz), nightclub bouncer Luna (Ronda Rousey), hacker Thorn (Glen Powell), weaponry specialist Mars (Victor Ortiz) and infuriatingly talkative former Spanish Armed Forces operative Galgo (Antonio Banderas).

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UK FILM TOP 10

1. Guardians Of The Galaxy

2. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

3.  How To Train Your Dragon 2

4. Hercules

5. The Purge: Anarchy

6. The Nut Job

7. Back To The Future

8. Transformers: Age Of Extinction 

9. Step Up 5: All In

10. Earth To Echo

(Chart courtesy of Cineworld.co.uk)