Boyz n the Hood (1991)

The lives of three young males living in the Crenshaw ghetto of Los Angeles.

Slice-of life approach with a great cast achieves both authenticity and heartfelt drama.

Halliwell**: "Episodic in form and over-schematic in its depiction of social difficulties, particularly those caused by absentee fathers, but it holds one's interest throughout."

Maltin***: "Sober, thoughtful look...Impressive debut...; longish, and not always on-the-money, but overall quite potent and effective."

Heist (2015)

A father is without the means to pay for his daughter's medical treatment, and as a last resort, he partners with a greedy co-worker to rob a casino.

Fairly effective thriller with some good (albeit improbable) twists; cast is good, and De Niro gets the opportunity to play a tough, but complex wiseguy character.

Kick-Ass 2 (2013)

Following Kick-Ass' heroics, other citizens are inspired to become masked crusaders, but Red Mist leads his own group of evil supervillains to get revenge, kill Kick-Ass and destroy everything he stands for.

Lacklustre sequel comes along as a tired attempt (and miss) to revive the original's charm;  and there's a disagreeable, imbalanced mixture of humour and violence.

Maltin*1/2: "The purpose and momentum of the original film are gone, along with some of its most compelling characters. What's left is a vulgar, violent look at Hit Girl...and a lot of obnoxious posturing by egomaniacal villain Red Mist...Carrey is wasted as a newly introduced vigilante leader and Taylor-Johnson's role is reduced to meaninglessness. Comic-book moviemaking at its worst."