Finding the ideal partnership for a romantic comedy is like cracking a safe. There are infinite combinations but only one opens the door to greatness. Take Cameron Diaz
and Ashton Kutcher. Two young, gorgeous, fun-loving sorts with all their all own teeth and in Diaz’s case considerable comedy chops. Put them together and they should click.
The Wachowski brothers of Matrix fame go wild with the paint box and SFX in this live action adaptation of the Japanese cartoon. Imagine a highly stylised, hyper-caffeinated cross between Wacky Races and The Jetsons with ninjas and a chimpanzee thrown in and you’re almost there.
John Sayles’s Oscar-nominated storytelling talents lend a rich glow to this slight tale about the birth of rock and roll. Danny Glover plays Tyrone Purvis, owner of the Honeydripper bar where the music is live and fabulous, but no-one wants to hear it when there’s a new-fangled jukebox in the joint next door. Desperate to lure the punters back, Tyrone allows Sonny (Gary Clark Jr) to plug in his electric gee-tar.
The environmental price of progress is laid bare in a fascinating if treacle-paced documentary on the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky. Jennifer Baichwal follows the Canadian through the factories and industrial sites of China.
This Argentinian drama, a prizewinner at Cannes, tackles a difficult subject with astonishing ease and grace. Ines Efron is Alex, a hermaphrodite. Her parents have taken her as far away from society as they can manage, but tough choices are now closing in on the trio as Alex hits puberty.
It’s petticoats, carriages and duels at dawn in this portrait of a love affair set in 19th-century Paris. Having established a reputution for sex scenes so explicit they frightened any passing horses clean out of their shoes, director Catherine Breillat takes a relatively coy approach to the story of a rich young fop (Fu’ad Ait Aattou) and his tempestuous squeeze Vellini (Asia Argento).
The filmmaker who lit a flame under the fast food industry turns his camera on the war on terror. Inspired by the birth of his first child (and the need to provide a little cinematic brother or sister to Super Size Me), Spurlock heads to the Middle East to ask
Sean Ellis turns his 18-minute, Oscar-nominated short into a feature length film. The leads are the same: Glasgow’s Sean Biggerstaff as the sensitive youth floored by the loss of his first love, and Emilia Fox as the girl who helps him to his feet again.
Iron man (15):
There is meant to be just one superhero in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr, donning the shiniest suit in Marvel’s comic universe, is the picture’s main provider of thrills and spills.
When New York playboy Tom (former teen heartthrob Patrick Dempsey) decides to turn his back on a life of womanising and propose to best pal Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), he finds himself pipped to the post by charming Scotsman Colin McMurray (Kevin McKidd).
After 24 Hour Party People and Anton Corbijn’s superb Control, cinemagoers must be close to bagging a collective PhD in the life and times of the titular Manchester band. When placed beside its dramatic predecessors Grant
Gee’s documentary is a fairly
hum-drum business, but the
story is one that
can bear retelling.
Jodie Foster, last seen pounding New York’s meaner streets in vigilante thriller The Brave One, takes a break from reality in this likeable fantasy adventure. The double-Oscar winner plays author Alexandra Rover, creator of an Indiana Jones-style fictional hero.
Franck Khalfoun’s shlock horror is the latest in the rapidly growing young-women-being-terrorised-by-striplight genre. Rachel Nichols is the blonde simply asking for trouble by being hard-working, ambitious, and parking her car under the office on Christmas Eve.
Persepolis (12A): Persepolis won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year, then cleaned up at the box office across France and was subsequently nominated for Best Animated Film at this year’s Oscars.
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