Cardboard Gangsters and The Emoji Movie reviews
THERE is a grim inevitability to the sickening violence and death at the heart of Cardboard Gangsters, an Irish thriller that mimics the energetic swagger of a Martin Scorsese classic.
Cardboard Gangsters seems a little too fond of his brutality and casual misogyny
CARDBOARD GANGSTERS (Cert 18; 92mins)
Darndale in Dublin is a lawless frontier where only the toughest survive. Jason (John Connors) is barely getting by when he decides to muscle in on some of the area’s biggest drug dealers. It is a plan that seems destined to end badly.
But Connors’ compelling performance creates a degree of sympathy for Jason however the film seems a little too fond of his brutality and casual misogyny.
THE EMOJI MOVIE: EXPRESS YOURSELF (Cert U; 86mins)
EMOJIS might as well be hieroglyphics as far as some of us are concerned.
And animated feature The Emoji Movie is so charmless that it does nothing to endear the little symbols to us. Gene (voiced by T J Miller) lives in Textopolis, a city inside a schoolboy’s smartphone where all the emojis live.
The Emoji Movie is so charmless that it does nothing to endear the little symbols to us
Facing the threat of being deleted, Gene and friend Hi-5 (an irritating James Corden) go on the run seeking the help of a mysterious hacker.
Their adventures require trips through Candy Crush and Just Dance that feel more like cynical marketing ploys than a storyline. Sad faces all around.
VERDICT: 2/5