Playwright turned filmmaker Martin McDonagh follows his Oscar-winning short Six Shooter with a firecracker first feature so savvy it almost makes Belgium seem cool.
From the writer of Training Day comes another expedition into the LAPD’s murky recesses. This time it’s Keanu Reeves playing against type as the cop finding it hard to toe the line between right and wrong.
Who knows why Donald Sutherland agreed to star in this tedious adventure comedy? Not only is he subjected to a script so awful it hurts, they make him adopt a British accent straight out of Noel Coward.
Showered with prizes in its native Germany, Chris Kraus’s drama offers bleak, intense viewing. Monica Bleibtreu is the aged Miss Kruger, who teaches piano at a women’s prison.
Most modern comedies offer a philosophical experience in that they leave you questioning the very point of life. This weird, sometimes wonderful absurdist comedy by Roy Andersson is the real deal.
Kit Ryan’s comedy-horror is a case of too much ambition, too little budget and talent. Stephen Dorff, whose previous horror experience extended to playing Britney Spears’s boyfriend in a music vid, is Ritchie, a small-time thief sent on a job by a Russian Mr Big.
The titular blockhead in Baillie Walsh’s debut feature is none other than Daniel "007" Craig, previously licensed to thrill, here at liberty to get in and out of a movie pronto.
Shine a light (12A): At a rough count, Scorsese’s film is the 19th documentary to feature the Rolling Stones. Jean-Luc Godard, Peter Whitehead, the Maysles brothers, Hal Ashby – all have tried to capture their essence. Now it’s Scorsese’s turn to fail.
Son of Rambow (12A): Son of Rambow shamelessly transports viewers back to what was, for some of us anyway, the good old days of the early eighties. Others, having watched it, will leave the cinema trying to recall the last time a film made them feel so cheery.
Naomi Watts, once to be found in the grip of King Kong, is in the clutches of more sinister forces in Michael Haneke’s horrifying thriller. A contented little family, with Watts and Tim Roth as the parents, have driven to their Long Island holiday home in search of R&R.
Daniele Luchetti’s family epic has as many strands as a bowl of tagliatelle and is almost as satisfying. Based on the novel by Antonio Pennacchi, it traces the fortunes of siblings Accio (Elio Germano) and Manrico (Riccardo Scamaricio) against the backdrop of Italy’s turbulent post-war times.
Fancy the pictures tonight, dear? What would you like to see: action, comedy, romance, open heart surgery? Catering for
that ultra-specialist market that likes to watch operations and lose themselves in utterly unbelievable plots is Joby Harold’s medical thriller.
Fight Club meets The Karate Kid in Jeff Wadlow’s punch-up of a movie that manages the not so neat trick of being both action packed and tedious. Tom Cruise-lookalike Jake (Sean Faris) is a hot-head high school student and athlete who has recently moved to Florida.
27 dresses (12A):
Bette Midler, taking aim at fuddy-duddy Britain, once joked that if it’s three o’clock in New York it’s still
1938 in London. Anne Fletcher’s old hat of a romantic comedy tries to pull a similar stunt with time
Undeterred by her previous experiences, plucky Paris Hilton again ventures before the cameras. In Tom Putnam’s depressing comedy the celebutante is Cristabelle, glam pal to ugly bug June (Christine Lakin).
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