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MaryAnn’s quick take… There is such kindness here, such humanity, such warmth and optimism. This is a fantasy of unique scope and astonishing emotional depth beneath the silliness. I’m “biast” (pro): adore the first movie, love the cast

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have read the source material (and I am indifferent about it)

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Is Paddington 2 actually better than its predecessor, a feat of sequelism that is shockingly rare? Or is it simply that the world has gone so much to sh– well, an angry, naughty word that a polite young bear such as Paddington would never use — in the three years since the first film was released that 2’s gentleness and optimism is so much more necessary, so much more welcome, so much greater a contrast to reality?

Coming soon to a theater near...

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Pirates of the Caribbean, Alien trailers and more make our weekly round-upMarvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Pirates of the Caribbean, Alien trailers and more make our weekly round-upGarrett McCormick3/3/2017 5:45:00 Pm

Check out our weekly round-up featuring this week's most buzz-worthy movie news!

Table 19

It's your modern day/grown-up Breakfast Club with the upcoming film, Table 19.

Eloise (Anna Kendrick) is invited to a wedding where her ex-boyfriend (who dumped her) is the best man. The average person wouldn’t still go to the wedding…but Eloise is anything but average. Placed at table 19 way in the back, Eloise and her new “table-mates” realize they’re the pity invites and form a misfit bond.

Lisa Kudrow, Craig Robinson, June Squibb, Stephen Merchant, and Wyatt Russell join Kendrick at the dreaded table 19.

Table 19 opens in Cineplex theatres March 3rd - Watch...

Colin Firth, star of Kingsman and Bridget Jones’ Baby, has entered talks to join Mary Poppins Returns, the long-rumored sequel headed up by director Rob Marshall.

Variety has the scoop, revealing the British thesp is in line to land the role of William Weatherall Wilkins, president of Fidelity Fiduciary Bank. On board to craft what Disney hopes to be a super-cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious screenplay is David Magee, with Marc Platt and John DeLuca attached to produce.

Meanwhile, Sicario star Emily Blunt will takes point as the magical caretaker, headlining a story that “will take place in Depression-era London (when the books were originally written) and follows a now-grown Jane and Michael Banks, who, along with Michael’s three children, are visited by the enigmatic Mary Poppins (Blunt) following a personal loss. Through her unique magical skills, and with the aid of her friend Jack (Miranda), she helps the family rediscover the joy...

'About a Boy,' with Hugh Grant and Baby 'About a Boy' movie review: Some men should remain islands On the surface, Chris and Paul Weitz's 2002 movie About a Boy has a profound, affecting premise. No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. With the above statement, seventeenth-century English poet John Donne reached beyond the apparent isolation of each individual by affirming the invisible oneness that encompasses all of humankind – and, why not, all living creatures.

Before Jerusalem, a 24-year-old Jez Butterworth electrified British theatre with a swaggering story of pill-popping Soho gangsters. Nearly two decades on, he tells Ryan Gilbey why it's time to put it back on the jukebox

Theatrical monster hits of recent years don't come much bigger than Jerusalem, which bounced from the Royal Court to the West End and on to Broadway, scooping awards and prompting all-night camp-outs for tickets. But more than a decade earlier, Jerusalem's writer, Jez Butterworth, and director, Ian Rickson, had launched another stage phenomenon at the Royal Court.

The rock'n'roll thriller Mojo, Butterworth's first play, was set amid the pill-popping frenzy of 1950s Soho where two gangland bosses are locked in a power struggle over the pretty young heartthrob Silver Johnny. The reviews were glowing: this paper's Michael Billington called it "the most dazzling main-stage debut in years", while the Telegraph's Charles Spencer said of the...

Ian Rickson directs Brendan Coyle Mickey, Rupert Grint Sweets, Daniel Mays Potts, Colin MorganSkinny, Ben Whishaw Baby and Tom Rhys Harries Silver Johnny in a major West End revival of Jez Butterworth's award-winning Mojo, reuniting director and writer who previously collaborated on the play's world premiere at the Royal Court in 1995. Mojo will preview at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 26 October 2013 with press night on 13 November and is booking to 25 January 2014. Designs are by Ultz with lighting by Charles Balfour, music by Stephen Warbeck and sound by Simon Baker. Check out the rehearsal photos below...

Harry Potter actor to make first stage appearance in production of Jez Butterworth's debut play about rival gangs in 1950s Soho

Rupert Grint is to make his first stage appearance in an all-star West End revival of Jez Butterworth's hit debut, Mojo.

Ben Whishaw, Daniel Mays and Brendan Coyle, best known for playing Mr Bates in Downton Abbey, will join the Harry Potter star in Butterworth's play about rival gangs in 1950s Soho and its nascent rock'n'roll scene.

The play has almost as much draw as the cast. When it premiered in 1995, Mojo was the first main-stage debut at the Royal Court for 40 years, the last being John Osbourne's Look Back in Anger. It subsequently transferred to the West End, before being made into a feature film two years later. Butterworth's commercial clout has only grown with his 2009 global success Jerusalem.

Former Royal Court boss Ian Rickson,...

Because you demanded it, true beli– no wait, that’s the other guys.

But we’re here with the solicitations for DC Comics for Novemeber, coming soon to a Previews catalog near you. The New 52 keep rolling along, and we have the Sergio Aragones version of Batman immortalized in a statue.

So let’s take a look!

Details? Yes, we have details…

Justice League #5

Written by Geoff Johns

Art and cover by Jim Lee and Scott Williams

1:25 Variant cover by Eric Basaldua

1:200 B&W Variant cover by Jim Lee

On sale January 18 • 40 pg, Fc, $3.99 Us • Rated T

Combo pack edition: $4.99 Us

Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for more information.

Now, with the teenaged powerhouse Cyborg at their side, this group of individual heroes must somehow put their differences aside to face the terror of Darkseid!

This issue is also offered...

We hold in our hands the covers for DC Comics this December. As a child of four can plainly see, these envelopes have been hermetically sealed. They’ve been kept in a #2 mayonnaise jar under Wikipedia’s porch since noon today.

Shall we? Surely!

As usual, spoilers may lurk beyond this point.

Justice League #4

Written by Geoff Johns

Art and cover by Jim Lee and Scott Williams

1:25 Variant cover by Andy Kubert

1:200 B&W Variant cover by Jim Lee

On sale December 21 • 40 pg, Fc, $3.99 Us • Rated T

Combo pack edition: $4.99 Us

Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for more information.

The superstar team of Geoff Johns and Jim Lee continue the origin of the Justice League as The World’s Greatest Heroes face the might of Apokolips – and find aid in an unlikely hero, as Cyborg is created!

Plus, Andy Kubert...