What Maisie Knew (15)

Four stars

Dirs: Scott McGehee, David Siegel

With: Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan

Runtime: 99 minutes

THIS updating of the Henry James' tale has Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan as the divorcing parents going to war with their daughter Maisie (Onata Aprile), stuck in the middle. In this version, Susanna (Moore) is a rock singer, and Coogan is an art dealer.

They are just as horribly irresponsible, though, as James's original characters, leaving others to pick up the pieces of their shattered family life.

Moore is excellent as ever, with Coogan showing he is no slouch at drama either, and Alexander Skarsgard and Joanna Vanderham also impress as Maisie's more responsible guardians. Quality performances all round, then, but the real star of the piece is the heartbreaking and hugely charming Maisie.

 

Paradise: Hope (15)

Two stars

Dir: Ulrich Seidl

With: Melanie Lenz, Verena Lehbauer

Runtime: 100 minutes

ULRICH Seidl's Paradise trilogy has been a watch through the fingers experience for the most part as he has explored sex tourism and religious fanaticism through the experiences of two Austrian sisters.

Here, the baton is passed to a younger character, Melanie, who heads off to a fat camp with hunger in her heart. While there and sharing a room with three other girls, she learns some lessons about friendship and being to thine own self true.

There is more humour, and much more humanity, here than in Love And Faith, but Seidl still can't resist walking on the weird side at times.

 

 

Jurassic Park 3D (PG)

Four stars

Dir: Steven Spielberg

With: Sam Neill, Laura Dern

Runtime: 121 minutes

SPIELBERG'S triple Oscar-winning modern classic is 20 years old, a birthday to make some of us feel like the dinosaurs so thrillingly depicted in his tale of an amusement park that pushes the boundaries of science and sense.

Remember that first sight of an ancient creature strolling across the screen? Well now you, and yours, can experience it all over again in 3D.

With a cast that includes Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough, Jurassic Park still rattles along, with spectacle matching story.

Watch out for those velociraptors. They can do marvellous things with door handles, you know.