Film Guide

Punch-Drunk Love (15) HHHH

A ravishing romance, from the director of Boogie Nights. Adam Sandler, below, employs his tried-and-tested child-man persona to disarming effect, playing a small-time salesman with a psychotic phone-sex operator on his trail. Emily Watson is lovely as the girl who helps him out of an obscure morass of trials and traumas.

Two Weeks Notice (12A) HHH

Formulaic rom-com salvaged by lovely performances from Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. Grant shuffles adorably, as a businessman with more money than morals; Bullock does her cute, self-effacing thing as a right-on lawyer trying to save him from himself. Such a sparky pairing merited a better script.

Narc (18)

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Punishing police corruption thriller, with narcotics agent Tellis (Jason Patric) following respected senior officer Oak (Ray Liotta) into some murky waters. A colleague has come

to a sticky end during an undercover stint, but is Oak pursuing the truth, or covering it up? And can Tellis - recovering from a drug problem of his own - keep his own weaknesses in check?

The Kid Stays in the Picture (15)

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Self-portrait or ego-trip? Former Paramount producer Robert Evans casts an admiring eye over his career, in an indulgent documentary one might expect to find propping up the schedules on the Biography Channel. If you want to know how the likes of Rosemary's Baby and The Godfather got made, better look elsewhere. If you want to know exactly how cool Robert Evans thinks he is, this is for you.

Final Destination 2 (15) HHH

Efficient follow-up to the admired teen horror Final Destination, in which survivors of an air crash were picked off one by one by a mysterious foe. Once again, a group of suitably attractive youths cheat death, evading a highway pile-up. Fate, however, will have its way. Reasonable effects and high tension prop up a fairly standard gorefest.

The Wild Thornberrys Movie (U)

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Pleasing kiddie fare, spun off from the American TV series. Eliza Thornberry is a little girl who can talk to animals; her parents are upper-crust wildlife documentary-makers. On safari in Africa, the family must stand up to profiteering poachers out to decimate a herd of elephants. Voice artists include Rupert Everett, Lynn Redgrave and Brenda Blethyn.

the 10 best films on general release

Irreversible (18)

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Grit your teeth and prepare to be thoroughly rattled by Gaspar Noe's nihilistic vision of fate and desire. Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel are the couple thrust into a living nightmare when she is attacked. Can his thirst for revenge be justified? Can the damage ever be undone? Whether you consider the ultra-realistic, unflinching violence to be justified or not, this is one of the most challenging and stylish films yet to surface in the 21st century.

Seul Contre Tous (18) HHH

And if Noe's visions are to your taste, keep the momentum going with a peek at his debut feature. As intense as Irreversible, this is the story of a butcher who loses his daughter, rejects his lover and takes out his frustrations on the world around him. Bleak enough to make the most morose viewer feel like a cock-eyed optimist, but forceful enough to shame a high percentage of current releases. Showing at the Cameo, Edinburgh.

Catch Me If You Can (12A) HHHH

Ravishing extravaganza, cobbled together by Steven Spielberg in

a mere two months. Leonardo DiCaprio is a dream as fresh-faced teen conman Frank Abagnale, who charmed his way through a fantasy existence. Spielberg enjoys the glamour of it all, but also probes for the man behind the myth, and comes up with his favourite catch-all explanation: family dysfunction.

Love Liza (15)

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A witty portrait of love and loss, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as a widower trying to adjust to life alone. Cast adrift, he regresses to a child-like state. Hoffman is brilliant, but it's the script - penned by the star's older brother Gordy - that really sets this apart from standard angsty indie fare.

City of God (18)

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Dazzling epic relating the destinies of a gang of street kids in Rio De Janiero. We first see them playing football in the streets; soon, they're gangsters, drug-dealers, rapists, or casualties of in-fighting. And yet Fernando Meirelles's film isn't without hope - it combines a fervent appreciation of the highs and lows of adolescence with a heartfelt lament for lives blighted by poverty and violence.

Gangs of New York (18) HHHHH

In pubs up and down the land, friendships are fracturing over whether Martin Scorsese's spectacular is a masterpiece or a mess. I'd posit it's a bit of both, with the emphasis on the former. Sure, it meanders, and the fingerprints of Miramax supremo Harvey Weinstein occasionally smudge Scorsese's intentions. But the film is so brave and magnificent, it still commands a rare degree of respect.

The Man Without a Past (15)

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Aki Kaurismaki has been Finland's premier exponent of warm-hearted indie whimsy for two decades now, and The Man Without a Past is an excellent introduction to his worldview. A simple tale of a businessman who gets beaten up, loses his memory and reinvents himself amid homeless people and Salvation Army volunteers, it's a gentle, deadpan joy.

Metropolis (PG)

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A 75th anniversary rerelease for Fritz Lang's sci-fi classic. Society is separated into workers, who toil below ground, and thinkers, who live aloof above them, toying with ideas. When a leader, Maria, emerges from the ranks of the workers, change seems inevitable. With a digitally restored print and soundtrack, this is the most complete version of the film that has been screened since its release in 1927.

The Good Girl (15)

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Like Love Liza, The Good Girl encapsulates much of what is good about US independent cinema. Acerbic without being misanthropic, it paints a dourly funny portrait of smalltown apathy, through the eyes of Justine (Jennifer Aniston). She begins a risky affair with an intense young man (Jake Gyllenhaal),

but who's saving who?

The Banger Sisters (15) HHH

Loveable comedy starring Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon as girlhood friends who meet again in middle age. Suzette (Hawn)

is still a big-haired hellraiser,

but Lavinia (Sarandon) is a respectable suburban matron, and doesn't want her family to know just how much fun she had in the 1960s. Cue much shouting, hugging and dancing, and a valuable lesson in life, love and acceptance for all concerned.

Best Avoided: Irreversible (18)

I know I've recommended this above, but it should be noted that Irreversible is best avoided if you have anything but the strongest of stomachs. The hip Euro casting and stylish poster campaign may draw casual viewers, who should be aware that this level of screen violence is pretty much unprecedented.

If you covered your eyes during Reservoir Dogs, you do not stand a chance. Brave and stylish though it is, Irreversible may also make you physically sick. You have been warned.