Gentlemen don't prefer blondes in Young Adult, a sharply observed black comedy about a faded talent who clings on to the past to avoid acknowledging the despair that hangs over her like cheap perfume.

Penned by Diablo Cody, the film reunites the Oscar-winning screenwriter with director Jason Reitman following their collaboration on Juno.

Charlize Theron fearlessly sinks her teeth into the deeply unlikeable lead role.

Mavis Gary (Theron) is a mediocre writer who lives in Minneapolis and has seen the popularity of her Waverly Prep novels for young adults wane.

Desperate for creative inspiration for the final book in the series, Mavis is distracted by an e-mail from old boyfriend Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) and his wife Beth (Elizabeth Reaser) announcing the birth of their daughter.

Convinced this is a sign that she should win back Buddy, Mavis travels to her home town of Mercury, where she flirts outrageously with her former beau.

Another old classmate, Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt), witnesses Mavis in action and becomes her unwitting accomplice.

Young Adult is distinguished by a stand-out performance from Theron, who relishes the ugliness of her character and doesn't try to soften Mavis's jagged edges.

Oswalt is an appealing and quirky sidekick and Wilson flashes a winning smile as the golden boy who seems naive to the destruction being wrought around his happy home.

Cody's script eschews sentimentality and is peppered with acidic one-liners.

When the going gets tough, the tough get soppy in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, an old-fashioned, gung-ho adventure based loosely on Jules Verne.

Directed with vim by Brad Peyton, this follow-up to the 2008 romp Journey To The Center Of The Earth continues the escapades of plucky teenager Sean Anderson.

Sean has sprouted into a truculent 17-year-old with scant respect for authority; not the police nor his muscle-bound stepfather, Hank (a game Dwyane Johnson).

Sean hides in his room trying to break a coded distress signal emanating from the South Pacific.

Navy vet Hank breaks the cipher, which seems to confirm the existence of a mysterious island.

He accompanies Sean to New Guinea, where they charter a helicopter belonging to wise-cracking pilot Gabato and his sassy daughter, Kailani.

The motley crew fly into a hurricane and are spewed on to sandy shores where Sean's gung-ho grandfather Alexander (Michael Caine) guides the newcomers through an amazing, surprising jungle.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island unfolds at a cracking pace, dispensing with characterisation to concentrate on thrills, including an airborne chase on giant bees.

The cast embraces the preposterousness.

Newcomer Dictynna Hood makes an impressive debut as the writer and director of this low-budget British drama, blessed with strong performances from a talented cast.

Dawn (Claire Foy) and husband David (Benedict Cumberbatch) move from the hubbub of the city to the close-knit village where he grew up.

It takes Dawn time to adjust but she gradually warms to the slower pace of life in the countryside.

As thoughts turn to raising a family, David's brother Nick, a soldier on leave who suffers from dark mood swings, arrives and has a profound effect on Dawn.

As she spends increasing amounts of time with her volatile brother-in-law, she learns secrets which paint David in a very different and unflattering light.

Wreckers screens at the Phoenix Square cinema from tomorrow.