Entertaining adventure with macabre touches

Released: September 29 (UK & Ireland)

Eccentrics and oddballs have always been grist to the creative mill of writer-director Tim Burton.

In Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, adapted from the debut novel by Ransom Riggs, the quixotic filmmaker is in his element, surrounded by a madcap menagerie of misfits.

A cherubic girl whose tumbling blonde curls conceal a mouth with razor-sharp teeth on the back of her head; a blue-eyed boy who has a hive of bees living inside of him; a pint-sized poppet who possesses strength beyond her years.

There's plenty of weirdness, but not quite enough wonder to complement Burton's directorial flourishes and the glorious costume and set design that allows the time-travelling narrative to ricochet between 1943 and the present day.

The emotional crux of the picture is British actor Asa Butterfield, who was mesmerizing as Martin Scorsese's Hugo.

He portrays another lonely outcast here, and exudes an endearing awkwardness and vulnerability in the role.

Eva Green slinks with wide-eyed intent as the titular headmistress and there are strong supporting turns from a young cast, who embrace their characters' peculiarities with gusto.

Jacob Portman (Butterfield) has always been close to his grandfather Abe (Terence Stamp).

When the old man perishes in mysterious circumstances, the grief-stricken teenager turns to psychiatrist Dr Golan (Allison Janney) to come to terms with his loss.

She approves a visit to Cairnholm island off the coast of Wales - population 93 - where Abe claimed he spent his formative years in a home for gifted children.

Accompanied by his birdwatcher father Franklin (Chris O'Dowd), Jacob makes the long journey and visits the derelict home alone, searching for some tenuous connection to his grandfather.

Amongst the rubble, Jacob encounters a girl called Emma Bloom (Ella Purnell), who wears lead shoes to stop her floating away.

She helps him to enter a magical time loop set to September 3, 1943, which is controlled by Miss Alma LeFay Peregrine (Green), headmistress of the school.

Other students include pyrokinetic teenager Olive (Lauren McCrostie), prophetic dreamer Horace (Hayden Keeler-Stone), invisible boy Millard (Cameron King) and the masked twins (Thomas Odwell, Joseph Odwell).

Miss Peregrine and her charges are being hunted by gnarly, undead creatures called Hollows, led by the menacing Mr Barron (Samuel L Jackson).

Jacob promises Emma that he will return to the home the following day to help the outcasts evade a grim fate.

"There's no hurry," she replies sadly. "I'm here forever."

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children is an entertaining and briskly paced adventure with some lip-smacking macabre touches.

Style doesn't trump substance, but it's a close run during some key sequences.

Thankfully, Jane Goldman's script always finds its way back to the heartrending growing pains of the children, and that's an oddness all of us can appreciate.

:: NO SWEARING :: NO SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 6.5/10

DEEPWATER HORIZON (12A, 108 mins) Thriller/Action/Romance. Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O'Brien, Kate Hudson, Ethan Suplee. Director: Peter Berg.

Released: September 29 (UK & Ireland)

On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, located in the Gulf of Mexico, resulted in the deaths of 11 platform workers.

When the structure eventually sank, oil continued to gush from the sea floor for almost three months.

Pivotal moments from this harrowing real-life disaster are recreated with testosterone-fuelled swagger by director Peter Berg in the action-packed thriller Deepwater Horizon.

Based on a newspaper article about the platform's final heart-stopping hours, the film reunites Berg with leading man Mark Wahlberg after their successful collaboration on wartime drama Lone Survivor.

The sense of dread that pervades early scenes - the calm before the digitally enhanced storm - is palpable.

Scriptwriters Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand hastily sketch characters so we have emotional ties to several rig workers before the initial devastating blast.

Wahlberg looks stoic in the face of certain death, flexing his muscles as an action-packed second half demonstrates Berg's brio behind the camera.

Co-star Kurt Russell has excellent form with on-screen pyrotechnics - he valiantly battled the raging inferno of Backdraft back in 1991 - and forges a pleasing onscreen partnership here.

Engineer Mike Williams (Wahlberg) kisses his beautiful wife Felicia (Kate Hudson) goodbye before he boards a helicopter to the BP-owned and operated drilling platform Deepwater Horizon located approximately 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

Other passengers include installation manager Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell) and third mate Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez).

"This is the well from hell, girl," a co-worker tells Andrea, half joking.

Once they land, Jimmy becomes concerned that BP officials, including well site leader Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich), have not carried out sufficient checks to ensure the drill is operating safely.

Jimmy orders a test, which brings back concerning yet inconclusive results and reluctantly he gives the go ahead to continue drilling.

Crew members including Jason Anderson (Ethan Suplee) and Caleb Holloway (Dylan O'Brien) attempt to make up for lost time, but a massive blowout tears through the 121-metre long rig.

Survivors of the initial blast race against time to lower lifeboats into the water before flames engulf the entire structure.

Deepwater Horizon captures the chaos of that fateful day, and the courage of men and women who risked their lives to save friends and coworkers from the rig's twisted metal.

During some of the big set pieces, it's hard to discern one figure from another in the smoke and flames, and frenetic camerawork could induce motion sickness especially in the IMAX format.

The surprisingly brisk running time doesn't allow for huge amounts of character development before the special effects department takes over, but our heartstrings are certainly plucked when key characters die in the inferno.

A heartfelt tribute to the lost crew over the end credits brings the film to a sombre close.

:: SWEARING :: NO SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 6/10