'Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa' directed by Declan Lowney

Alan Partridge, for those of you that are unfamiliar with his small screen outings, is an egotistical, seedy and unsympathetic fictional radio DJ. He is nonetheless portrayed in altogether more generous terms by this film adaptation, which, to my relief, also maintains the wonderfully crap veneer of the TV series.

In truth, a character such as Alan (played by Steve Coogan) could only emerge from a country as self-loathing as Britain. He is a man who channels many of the anxieties and petty concerns of the Daily Mail reading section of our population. Yet, he is so harshly drawn that he always verges on caricature, which is where the humour of the absurd hostage thriller plot of this film comes into its own.

On a normal day at North Norfolk Digital (Alan's Radio Station), Alan finds out that the station is about be taken over by a ruthless corporation. In swift order, he locates a list of possible targets for redundancy. Distressed to find that he is on it, he instead targets the other man on the list Pat Farrell (played with a kind of unhinged menace by Colm Meaney) who, unaware of this betrayal, strikes up a kind of bonhomie with Alan regarding his coming dismissal.

It is at this point, during a launch party for the re-branded radio station, with the shockingly meaningless post modern new name 'Shape: The Way You Want It To Be' that Pat Farrell takes several hostages at gunpoint. This is an attempt to blackmail the new owners into giving him his job back. He decides that he will only communicate with the police through Alan as a mediator. This, of course, is an opportunity for publicity that Alan cannot resist.

What follows is an hour of the pithy one liners and public humiliations that the TV series had previously mastered. Alan, not naturally acclimatised to the sensitivities of others, offers his usual mix of haughty derision and contempt for the general public when forced to continue his show at the point of a gun by Pat Farrell.

All of the other hostages are a mixture of the ignorant and the foolish as only Steve Coogan could come up with. They include the new owner of the radio station, Jason Tresswell, who gnaws at Alan's ego as he praises him for the way that he is handling Farrell. Appealing to the better part of Alan's nature is his agent Lynn (Felicity Montagu) who, as always, is patient to a fault with Alan's ill treatment.

Another series regular, Michael (Simon Greenall) makes his usual strange cameo appearing from a cupboard and Phil Cornwell offers an excellent turn as Dave Clifton, a drug addled DJ in permanent rehab. It is a testament to how well written the script is that Alan Partridge often comes across as one of the lesser grotesques on display.

So, this excellent British film is really very entertaining. I do not believe it will necessarily travel well, given the low tech nature of the comedy and the local jokes in the film. Nonetheless, it deserves box office success in the UK for adding an altogether more sympathetic dimension to the wonderfully understated awfulness of the world of Alan Partridge.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the picture used in this article and will remove it at the request of the rights holder.

'Man of Steel' directed by Zack Snyder

Without wishing to put too fine a point on it, I suspect that this film has garnered at least part of its box office success from the appearance of its leading man - Henry Cavill - a man so muscular that in the words of my date for the evening 'his chest kind of looks like a butt.'

So, despite some reservations about what the content of Man of Steel would actually consist of, it turned out that there was some very interesting, and previously unexplored, back story to take a look at, which was handled well by Russell Crowe as Jor-El (Superman's father) in full Gladiator mode. Essentially, Russell's sub plot involves a lot of shouting and looking serious, which he executes with his usual aplomb.

Zack Snyder handles these scenes quite delicately, which was an unexpected bonus given that his filmography contains some efforts that lack coherent structure and emotional depth (Watchmen, anyone?). This prelude on Krypton leads eventually to some slightly less apocalyptic episodes from Superman's childhood on earth.

By this point, he is of course known as Clark Kent, under the care of loving parents. Unfortunately for Clark, his classmates and neighbours do not share such understanding. Clark, well aware of what he is capable of, has to stop himself at every turn from using his powers to hurt those who upset him. Although, it is good fun to see him using them more passively on a trucker who acts inappropriately towards a girl Clark carries a torch for.

As he enters adulthood, it becomes harder for Clark to hide his true nature. Rumours abound regarding his powers and, soon enough, he finds himself the subject of a pursuit by Lois Lane, a fearless and often feckless reporter.

Amy Adams' take on Lois is a refreshing one given that she is usually a damsel in distress figure in most screen adaptations of Superman. She is ruthless about getting her story yet she has enough moral direction to realise the damage that she could do if knowledge of Clark Kent's powers was to become more widely known.

And unfortunately, Lois Lane is not Clark's only pursuer. Enter the malevolent General Zod, played with a wonderful moustache twirling villainy by Michael Shannon. His performance is nonetheless frightening as a character whose sole intention is genocide for the human race.

It is upon Zod's arrival that Clark realises who he must become. Their fight is one that will define the future of the human race and yet, for the most part, humans are essentially bystanders to the all powerful aliens doing battle in their midst.

These scenes are well executed as Superman realises that he must breach his own moral code in order to beat Zod. Henry Cavill, whose performance is for the most part fairly wooden, comes alive as his character's limits are tested.

Cue various ridiculous CGI special effects that are a bit disorientating. This is, however, a superhero film, so that be forgiven. It was also impressive to observe that Zack Snyder and his team were brave enough to examine how humanity as a whole would react to the presence of Superman. This was quite refreshing in that it was honest enough to acknowledge that his reception may not be universally positive.

That is the perhaps the strongest part of what is a very watchable blockbuster which, whilst a bit inconsistent in terms of quality from one scene to the next, was nonetheless worth the ticket price.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the photograph used in this review and will remove it at the request of the rights holder.