Out this weekend
Becoming Jane (PG) (Julian Jarrold, 2007, UK/US)
Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell. 120 mins.
An Austen biopic that plays like an Austen adaptation, which makes this a sort of cross between Pride And Prejudice and Shakespeare In Love - with Hathaway doing a Bridget Jones-style accent. It's historically flimsy and very predictable, but there's nothing us Brits love more than a good costume drama, is there?
The Good German (15) (Steven Soderbergh, 2006, US)
George Clooney, Cate Blanchett. 105 mins.
Soderbergh pays respect to 1940s thrillers, using vintage equipment to make Clooney and Blanchett look like vintage stars. The plot would never have passed muster in the 1940s, though. Following Clooney's journalist in freshly postwar Berlin, it doesn't grip like it should.
After The Wedding (15) (Susanne Bier, 2006, Den)
Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen. 120 mins.
Despite the very modern scenario, this is an old-fashioned melodrama at heart, and a skilful one at that (it earned an Oscar nomination). Mikkelsen is an aid worker returning from India to schmooze a wealthy Danish benefactor, only to discover that the fat cat's new wife is his old flame.
Gone (15) (Ringan Ledwige, 2007, UK/Aus)
Amelia Warner, Scott Mechlowicz, Shaun Evans. 88 mins.
Another gap year nightmare as a couple of British travellers hook up with a quiet American in Australia, and come to regret ever giving him a lift. It's done well enough, but it's not difficult to guess how it's going to pan out.
Norbit (12A) (Brian Robbins, 2007, US)
Eddie Murphy, Thandie Newton, Terry Crews. 102 mins.
Murphy raids the special effects closet once again to play three different characters (or rather caricatures): a geeky loser and his gargantuan wife and a stereotypical Chinese man. The humour is almost too low to describe as such.
Duelist (12A) (Lee Myung-se, 2005, Korea)
Ha Ji-won, Gang Dong-won. 108 mins.
Lashings of style win out over a thin drizzle of substance in this Korean historical action movie, which follows a detective on the trail of counterfeit coins. It's all about the action scenes.
Outlaw (18) (Nick Love, 2007, UK)
Sean Bean, Danny Dyer. 104 mins.
War vet Bean teams up with a bunch of like-minded geezers to mete violent vigilante justice to lawless, hoodie-run Britain. Someone's gotta do it, right?
Inland Empire (15) (David Lynch, 2006, US)
Laura Dern, Justin Theroux, Jeremy Irons. 180 mins.
Mulholland Drive looks like a stroll in the park compared to this: a mind-melting maze of a movie that makes no concessions to audience comfort. It's a disorienting experience - cryptic bunnies, Polish criminals, dancing prostitutes, nightmare surrealism and tying it all together, Laura Dern as an actress trying to make a cursed movie, perhaps. There's no suggestion of how to put it all together, instead you're left grasping for some meaning that's just beyond your reach - a mainstream turn-off, but exactly what Lynch fans have been waiting for.
Out from Friday
Sleeping Dogs A pet-related indiscretion comes between a couple in this edgy romcom.
Factory Girl Sienna Miller gets to prove she can really act in this Edie Sedgwick biopic.
Fur Wilfully inaccurate and primly kinky portrait of Diane Arbus, played by Nicole Kidman.
Funny Ha Ha Casual low-budget US indie following a group of noncommittal twentysomethings.
Stomp The Yard Dance-heavy teen movie set among black US fraternities.
Eden Food-related romance from Germany.
Premonition Sandra Bullock engages in some small-scale time travel.
The Family Friend Stylish Italian thriller.
Coming soon
In two weeks ... Stylised Spartan battle epic 300 ... Ioan Gruffudd is William Wilberforce in abolitionist saga Amazing Grace ...
In three weeks ... Rowan Atkinson returns to his clowning ways in Mr Bean's Holiday ... Acclaimed French war drama Days Of Glory ...
In a month ... Danny Boyle's deep space adventure Sunshine ... Will Ferrell on ice in skating comedy Blades Of Glory ...
