Superheroes are back on screen for major mission

Thor’s evil brother Loki (Hiddleston) plots to exterminate mankind by harnessing the power of the Tesseract cube. Aided by an army of aliens, Loki steals the artefact from the subterranean headquarters of peacekeeping agency SHIELD and enslaves scientist Selvig (Skarsgard) and marksman Hawkeye (Renner). Desperate times call for innovative measures and Fury scours the globe for the ultimate team of superheroes, uniting the inflated egos and rippling muscles of Iron Man (Downey Jr), The Incredible Hulk (Ruffalo), Thor (Hemsworth), Captain America (Evans) and Black Widow (Johansson). Avengers Assemble is a special effects-laden amalgamation of four Marvel Comics franchises, which deftly knits together plot strands from earlier films, threaded with tongue-in-cheek humour. Joss Whedon’s frenetic romp doesn’t scale the dizzy heights of the original Iron Man, but we’re thoroughly entertained and energised by his distinctive vision of the Marvel universe. Since the cast and script don’t take anything too seriously, nor do we. The 3D version of the film is available on Blu-ray and a six-disc box set comprising Avengers Assemble, Captain America, The Hulk, Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Thor is also available.

Jeff, Who Lives At Home (15, 79 mins) ****
Starring Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon, Judy Greer, Rae Dawn Chong, Evan Ross

Thirty-something layabout Jeff (Segel) lives in the basement of his mother’s home, where he rhapsodises about the Mel Gibson sci-fi thriller Signs, convinced that the universe has big plans for him. A wrong caller asking for someone named Kevin sparks Jeff’s febrile imagination and the waster becomes convinced that the intended recipient of the call is pivotal to his destiny. During a city-wide search for the elusive Kevin, Jeff helps his brother Pat (Helms) to patch up his marriage to Linda (Greer) with a spot of covert surveillance. Meanwhile, their mother Sharon (Sarandon) hunts for a secret admirer at her workplace, who keeps instant messaging compliments to her. Jeff, Who Lives At Home is an engaging portrait of lives in a rut that mines a rich vein of earthy humour, distinguished by flowing, naturalistic dialogue and winning performances from an impressive ensemble cast. Segel and Helms are extremely well matched as brothers from opposite ends of a shallow gene pool. In the hands of another director, this bold, romantic overture might have jarred, but it works beautifully here, illuminated by Sarandon’s warm and unselfconscious portrayal.

Glee – The Complete Season Three (12, 924 mins) ****
Starring Matthew Morrison, Darren Criss, Chris Colfer, Jane Lynch, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith

Six-disc box set of 22 episodes of the award-winning teen musical comedy, chronicling the trials and tribulations of staff at pupils at William McKinley High School. This series, teacher Mr Schue (Matthew Morrison) needs to recruit more singers for the club and he is delighted when Blaine (Criss) transfers to the school so he can be with boyfriend Kurt (Colfer). Acid-tongued Sue Sylvester (Lynch) continues her skullduggery, attempting to sabotage the glee club as she runs for congress. Meanwhile, Rachel (Michele), Finn (Monteith) and the gang rehearse for the 2012 National Championships in Chicago, where they will be judged by a celebrity panel including blogger extraordinaire Perez Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. A 20-disc box set comprising series one to three is also available.