Dom Hemingway (15)

Dom Hemingway (15)

Dir: Richard Shephard

With: Jude Law, Richard E Grant

Runtime: 94 minutes

JUDE Law chews up the screen and spits out the bones as the titular Dom, a London safecracker just out of the nick after a long stretch and looking for payback.

Richard Shephard's comedy drama revels in the regulation rough stuff of ex-cons, boozers and birdz, but there are plenty of visual and dramatic surprises thrown in to keep things interesting, and as a director with a background in American TV he knows how to keep a story rattling along.

While a little of Law ends up going a long way, Richard E Grant, old Withnail himself, all but steals the picture with an amusing turn as Dom's long suffering consigliere.

A picture that starts out OTT and believes the only way on from there is up, Dom Hemingway does not hit the heights it aspires to, but there are enough tasty moments to compensate.

The Butler (12A)

Dir: Lee Daniels

With: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey

Runtime: 134mins

LEE Daniels' historical drama claims to be inspired by the true story of late White House butler Eugene Allen, who served eight presidents from Truman to Reagan, but it actually has more in common with Forrest Gump.

It is a star-studded, lengthy trip through key moments in American civil rights history that places its central character, re-named Cecil Gaines and played by Forest Whitaker, on the periphery of some landmark decisions, while chronicling the trials of his eldest son at the frontline of the equal rights movement.

But much of what transpires in Gaines' own life is pure fiction, from the traumatic opening scenes to his depiction as a father of two sons - he had only one.

It is mildly engaging, if only to see the likes of Robin Williams, Alan Rickman and John Cusack as various presidents, but it aspires to an importance that it does not ultimately deserve.

Reviewed by Rob Carnevale

Don Jon (18)

Dir: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

With: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson

Runtime: 90 minutes

JOSEPH Gordon-Levitt's odyssey through the porn habit of a young buck should be subtitled: Having Your Cake And Eating It, so much does it beg the viewer's indulgence. The Inception star's feature debut as a director stars himself as the titular Don, a man who adores the ladies but loves his computer, and its access to porn, more.

He would like to prefer flesh and blood women, but the on-screen kind are just so, well, accessible.

Then along comes the woman of his dreams, Barbara, played by Scarlett Johansson, so is it happily ever after?

Presumably because it is set in New Jersey, Gordon-Levitt and Johansson do a lawt ah tawkin like dat, one more unconvincingly than the other. Far more tiresome is the subtle-as-a-laptop-to-the-face way that Don learns about real women.