AN overly optimistic blockbuster drops this week, along with a grab bag of global cinema.

Kraven The Hunter comes from Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man Villains” franchise. (I apologise profusely, because I said earlier in the year that we wouldn’t have to put up with any more of these for a while.)

Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the tenth most interesting villain in Spider-Man comics, with a supporting turn from Russel Crowe as the character’s father who at least looks as though he’s getting paid well for this film.

Kraven is an Eastern Europe born survivalist/mercenary/hunter who is left for dead by his father after being attacked by a lion, and gains lion-powers… I think.

Director J.C. Chandor made one of my favourite films of the 2010’s in “Margin Call”, but it certainly looks as though the comic-book movie manufacturing machine has kept a tight reign on any sense of dramatic pacing or visual style.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim arrives with surprisingly little fanfare for a film that is very much intended to connect directly with the original film series by Peter Jackson.

An animated feature, it tells the story of Helm Hammerhand, a legendary ruler of the horseriding people of Rohan, almost 200 years before the events of “The Fellowship of the Ring”.

Produced in a Japanese style of animation, the film is a New Line/Warner Bros production that actually utilises some cast members from the previous films such as Miranda Otto and, thanks to the archive, Christopher Lee.

Now, I’m not typically one for comedies pitched at just-over-middle-aged men, but The Problem With People looks to be the type to win me over.

When Ciáran’s (Colm Meany’s) father begs him to mend a forgotten family squabble several generations old, the only relative he can find is Barry (Paul Reiser).

Barry travels to Ireland from the US, mainly out of curiosity, only to be present for the death of Ciáran’s father.

Problems of their own arise when it is revealed that Barry has been written into the fathers’ will.

Meany and Reiser are both criminally underrated performers who don’t get to play in nearly enough films.

Staying in Ireland, and likely appealing to the same over 50s male audience, is The Shamrock Spitfire, a biopic of Brendan “Paddy” Finucane, a legendary RAF Flying Ace.

The son of an Irish father and British mother, Finucane enlisted young and gained renown as a fighter pilot in WWII.

The film boasts earnest performances all round, though especially from lead Shane O’Regan.

Finucane did not live to see the end of the war, so fair warning that this film will likely have the “tragic though triumphant” conclusion.

The final release this week is also probably going to bring some people to tears… it’s a drama with a dog in it.

Black Dog is a Chinese film from director Guan Hu, starring Eddie Peng as Lang, a man newly released from prison for manslaughter.

Though a local celebrity years ago, Lang now faces an uncertain future as his hometown has been largely abandoned, his former friends and bandmates have moved on, his family business is worthless, and the local gangster wants retribution against Lang for his nephew’s death.

Set against the backdrop of the impending 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Lang gets work capturing stray dogs who have been left behind by families.

Though suspected of being rabid, Lang forms a bond with one particular black greyhound, and together they set out to find their second chance.

Great performances and beautiful cinematography create a very human and vulnerable perspective of China that is a little surprising.

By Lindsay HALL