American politics, or any politics for that matter, are quite humorous on their own. So when a film decides to poke fun at the circus around such farce, it runs the risk of not matching up to the hilarity of the real thing. Luckily for The Campaign, it is successful by not seeming too concerned with making a difference. Instead it gives us a large amount of brilliant characters and funny situations. There's baby punching, wife boning, and other underhanded methods brought to life by the likes of Ferrell and Galifianakis. However, it is the supporting stars who turn in the best perofrmances. McDermott (or should that be Mulroney?) is the brightest star, as a campaign manager that can appear anywhere at anytime. He plays it straight and gets the biggest laughs, from the lines he delivers to a simple look. Sudeikis also hits high with the straight man to Ferrell's congressman, looking at Ferrell's ideas as absurd and unnecessary. Best of all is the running gag over the racist Brian Cox and how he forces his Asian made to speak like an old stereotypical black woman to make him feel more comfortable. Great laughs, but a little on the short side, which leaves iconic actors such as Lithgow, Cox and Aykroyd with nothing to do.

Looper is a film I purposefully stayed away from to avoid spoilers. The hype surrounding it was unbearable and so of course it wasn't as great as I'd heard. It's actually a very straightforward action film that doesn't take any real dangerous chances, other than giving us two conflicting characters, who are the same person. Looper is set in a world where time-travel is used to dispose of bodies. Only problem is, the hitmen known as loopers must one day face the fact they will have to kill their future self. You need to leave your brain at the door, or at least logic, to go along with the plot, which is engrossing but soon switches paths to deal with other science fiction conventions. Some of the effects are mesmerizing, and Gordon Levitt's Bruce Willis impersonation is spot-on. Seeing the two characters battle with their past and future, but knowing neither is written in stone makes for an intriguing tragedy that gradually builds. A great sci-fi yarn, but needed something a bit extra.

No idea what people's problem is with this film. I found it to be most entertaining as Stiller and Co. take on the role of Neighbourhood Watch in order to protect their small town. I mostly enjoyed it because the actors played very slightly different characters. Vaughan wasn't a slimy letch, but an overprotective father who was killing everyone else with kindness. Hill was a slightly disturbed outcast, and Stiller was genuinely concerned for his environment and wasn't a screw up. Ayoade worked well as the weird addition to the group. Great to see some practical effects given a lot of room to breathe life into the film. Funny lines, lots of great chemistry between the leads, and a story that was more engaging to me as opposed to the similarly themed Attack The Block.

And the animated family films just keep on coming. Now we join the herd which is ridiculously huge by this point, just as the continents split and families are torn apart. I enjoyed this plot device as it separated our awesome trio from their annoying baggage. However, they soon come across a bunch of animal pirates. Quite where this overuse of anthropomorphism came from is anyone's guess. Probably just lazy screenwriting. They'll probably be driving cars in the next installment. Despite my anger at turning the first sweet film about friendship and male bonding, into adventures with dinosaurs and pirates, at least this outing had the decency to be very funny at times, and it gives us the chemistry between Sid, Diego, and Manny that was missing from parts 2 and 3. The added characters are OK, and it's quite the enjoyable ride for the most part. Lord knows what will happen in the future. Probably genetically spliced animals/humans or something.

Madagascar continues to give us enjoyable and light comedic bites. The animals decide they must return to New York by hitching a ride with a circus that first travels around Europe. This time the penguins again steal the show, and not just because I love penguins. The big problem is, once again, the amount of flipping characters. It's seriously distracting as now the original gang and the circus gang have almost an equal amount of screentime. Some characters such as Schwimmer's Melman and Pinkett's Gloria are pretty much just background dressing now. I know I complained about each character having a separate character arc last time, but shouldn't they at least have something to do? Luckily, the jokes are better than before and some of the chase sequences add a new kind of caper comedy not seen before. McDormand as a member of animal control is a particular highlight. Fast and funny, the film should appeal to a wide audience, even those that weren't enchanted by the last two.