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Adam McKay is in the midst of a career reinvigoration. Will Ferrell couldn't be further from the deadly serious satire of his newest effort Vice, a biopic charting the rise of Dick Cheney, attempting to account for the stupendous amount of power he managed to secure through shrewd. cloak and dagger bureaucratic tactics. To play the portly and grunting Cheney, McKay has enlisted Christian Bale, who once again proves his deftness at changing his body for a role, here sporting a formidable gut. Bale is occasionally arresting as Cheney, his reserved head sways and deep throaty voice exuding a subtle magnetism that spearheads the tale, especially in a memorable fourth wall breaking scene towards the close of the film wherein he assures the audience of his moral integrity. The other main players are competent, as you'd expect from Oscar bait fare of this nature, but barely approach the degree of nuance Bale commands- Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney though proficient in her portrayal can feel slightly one note (which is more a reflection of a script which doesn't afford her very complex characterisation. Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell as Donald Rumsfeld and George W Bush, while entertaining and occasionally amusing, see the potential of great character actors somewhat squandered in favour of caricature. This brings us to the main issue with Vice - a clumsy sense of brio with regards to tone and structure. McKay's feature is almost never boring, but no one would accuse it of subtlety or discipline, especially in comparison to McKay's far superior preceding effort The Big Short. Vice shares that film's kinetic, non-sequitur laden editing style, but is far less complimentary with the narrative at the film's core in Vice's case. The Big Short boasted an immediacy that Vice's decade spanning story can't hope to recreate, and by consequence, the insertion of absurdist humour and archival footage can compromise the actual narrative and render the film more than a little indulgent. It also seems slightly hypocritical; McKay's enthusiastic and hyperactive style is at odds with Vice's "cradle to grave" seemingly conventional biopic structure. While McKay swinging for the fences is occasionally chuckle inducing (the use of narrator in the film is inspired even if it feels laboured at times, and a scene in which the Cheneys recite Shakespearean soliloquys is deserving of recognition) it ultimately leaves Vice feeling far more scattershot and less nourishing as a narrative. Even so, Bale's entertaining performance and McKay's sardonic and gleefully nihilistic energy behind the camera ensures Vice is at the very least constantly diverting and unpredictable.

Gaspar Noe is an infamous filmic provocateur, who has inspired the kind of aggressive derision and accordant lofty praise that would be the envy of most other directors. With Climax, he is as dynamic, acerbic and occasionally pretentious as ever, resulting in a film that could be made by no one else, and an experience that is utterly harrowing and genuinely original. His ensemble is uniformly believable, giving the scenes of utter chaos a sense of gruelling horror the likes of which I haven't quite experienced in any other film. The soundtrack is booming, the cinematography dizzying, the narrative utterly insane and brazen... an absolute must see, albeit not for the faint of heart.

I wasn't looking forward to this film particularly. The whole "Groundhog Day" gimmick seems to have already exhausted most of its potential, and the premise of this "horror Groundhog Day" was hardly inspiring, especially considering Blumhouse's growing credibility as a genuine producer of great horror after Get Out and Split storming the box office. This is why I was surprised to have enjoyed

Happy Death Day for a good while... until it totally falls on its face. Fresh face Jessica Rothe is solid, managing to be charismatic and repellent in equal measure. The satire of college life, while in unmistakably broad, is funny for a good while, as are the repeated vignettes that greet Tree (10 points to Hollywood for that name) along her torturous cyclical "death day." It's all very fast and entertaining, with a handful of genuinely funny moments (mostly due to game performances from an ensemble clearly having good fun). Even the scares are decently done, with ample tension and genuinely unpredictable moments.

The problem is when the movie tries to hit you with its message. There are early signs the movie is dumbing it down (a few times extraneous flashbacks are employed to remind the audience of plot details they may have forgotten) and the bloodless, profanity-less (yes, "fricken" is uttered) PG-13 pander is not ideal. I understand the value of the under 17s in boosting the box office for a film like this, but the audience shouldn't so obviously be aware that a certain rating is trying to be achieved. Once the third act character arc hits its emotional peak, where Tree inevitably sees the error of her ways, the screenplay goes from fun and occasionally witty to lowest common denominator soap opera, with lines so heavy handed, complemented by a ridiculously oversentimental score punctuating each beat, that you can't help but feel the studio thinks you're stupid. A few admittedly implausible but nonetheless engaging twists towards the end help things a bit, but overall Happy Death Day while entertaining is severely undone by its willingness to dumb everything down.

Everyone loved Get Out, Blumhouse, you don't need to assume your audience is stupid to enjoy a film!