The Founder (12A)

three stars

Dir: John Lee Hancock

With: Michael Keaton, Patrick Wilson

Runtime: 115 minutes

IF you are hungry for the tale of how McDonald’s went from small family concern to a global business, John Lee Hancock has the drama for you. Michael Keaton plays Ray Kroc, a salesman whose bright ideas usually turn to dust. On the road one day he calls in at a friendly local restaurant, run by two brothers by the name of McDonald. Wouldn’t it be great, says Kroc, if there could be one of these everywhere? The rest is fast food history. Hancock (The Blind Side) tells the story in an engaging enough fashion, and watching Michael Keaton is never a waste of anyone’s time. But as a look at big business versus small, the old America versus the new, The Founder is disappointingly bland fare.

John Wick: Chapter 2 (15)

three stars

Dir: Chad Stahelski

With: Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane

Runtime: 122 minutes

Chapter one being the story of John Wick (Keanu Reeves), a man who loves his dog, car, and wife and doesn’t mind killing people if the price is right. In chapter two, Mr W wants out of the life. But just as with Michael Corleone in Godfather III, “they” – a mysterious brotherhood of assassins and businessmen – keep pulling him back in. Blisteringly violent, fast-paced, utterly daft, John Wick is a rip-roaring piece of entertainment with Reeves still the king of cool as the man in black.