Persepolis *** - Stylish, educational but flawed analysis of the move to ultra-conservatism in Iran, as seen through the eyes of one young woman. The animation is impressive but, by concentrating on one individual's story, many of the implications of the regime change are missed: the fact is that she escapes the worst of the oppression and so her opinion of it is inevitably softened.
Hancock ** - Irritating extension of the tired vogue for superheroes-as-flawed-humans, in which Will Smith plays the eponymous rebellious, thoughtless, drunk man of steel, who undergoes an image transformation at the hands of a marketing consultant. From the theme to the pointless plot twists to the very name of the film, nothing quite works as it should. Unlike the travails of Bob "Mr. Incredible" Parr, or Peter Parker, there is little to empathise with in Hancock.
