Paul Newman and his Butch Cassidy director, George Roy Hill, made a very original comedy in this 1977 story of an over-the-hill player/coach (Newman) for a lousy hockey team who gets results when he teaches his players to get dirty. One of the most hilariously profane movies ever to come out of Hollywood, this is the kind of film that makes its own rules as it goes along. Newman is very good, and while Hill goes for the gusto in terms of capturing the violence of this world, his instinct for comedy has never been sharper. Great support from Strother Martin, Paul Dooley, and the rest. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

While too many films suffer the fate of creative bankruptcy, Being John Malkovich is a refreshing study in contrast, so bracingly original that you'll want to send director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman a thank-you note for restoring your faith in the enchantment of film. Even if it ultimately serves little purpose beyond the thrill of comedic invention, this demented romance is gloriously entertaining, spilling over with ideas that tickle the brain and even touch the heart. That's to be expected in a movie that dares to ponder the existential dilemma of a forlorn puppeteer (John Cusack) who discovers a metaphysical portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich. The puppeteer takes a job working as a file clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor of a Manhattan office building; this idea alone might serve as the comedic basis for an entire film, but Jonze and Kaufman are just getting started. Add a devious co-worker (Catherine Keener), Cusack's dowdy wife (a barely recognisable Cameron Diaz), and a business scheme to capitalise on the thrill of being John Malkovich, and you've got a movie that just gets crazier as it plays by its own outrageous rules. Malkovich himself is the film's pièce de résistance, playing on his own persona with obvious delight and-when he enters his own brain via the portal-appearing with multiple versions of himself in a tour-de-force use of digital trickery. Does it add up to much? Not really. But for 112 liberating minutes, Being John Malkovich is a wild place to visit. -Jeff Shannon.

When it was announced that Tom Cruise would play the vampire Lestat in this adaptation of Anne Rice's bestselling novel, even Rice chimed in with a highly publicised objection. The author wisely and justifiably recanted her negative opinion when she saw Cruise's excellent performance, which perceptively addresses the pain and chronic melancholy that plagues anyone cursed with immortal bloodlust. Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst are equally good at maintaining the dark and brooding tone of Rice's novel. And in this rare mainstream project for a major studio, director Neil Jordan compensates for a lumbering plot by honouring the literate, Romantic qualities of Rice's screenplay. Considered a disappointment while being embraced by Rice's loyal followers, Interview with the Vampire is too slow to be a satisfying thriller, but it is definitely one of the most lavish, intelligent horror films ever made. -Jeff Shannon When it was announced that Tom Cruise would play the vampire Lestat in Interview with a Vampire, the film adaptation of Anne Rice's bestselling novel, even Rice chimed in with a highly publicised objection. The author wisely and justifiably recanted her negative opinion when she saw Cruise's excellent performance, which perceptively addresses the pain and chronic melancholy that plagues anyone cursed with immortal blood lust. Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst are equally good at maintaining the dark and brooding tone of Rice's novel. And in this rare mainstream project for a major studio, director Neil Jordan compensates for a lumbering plot by honouring the literate, Romantic qualities of Rice's screenplay. Considered a disappointment while being embraced by Rice's loyal followers, Interview is too slow to be a satisfying thriller, but it is definitely one of the most lavish, intelligent horror films ever made. [+]

A red hot-air balloon floating gracefully over the green English countryside leads to a shocking death in Enduring Love, an eerie and hypnotic movie based on a novel by Ian McEwan. Two men tried and failed to help, and afterwards Joe (Daniel Craig, Sylvia, The Mother) finds himself being stalked by the hungry-eyed Jed (Rhys Ifans, Vanity Fair, Human Nature). Like a gangly wraith, Jed follows Joe and begs him to recognize the passionate love Jed feels certain was sparked by the balloon accident. Jed's obsession crawls into Joe's head and his life, clawing at his happy relationship with his girlfriend Claire (Samantha Morton, Morvern Callar, Minority Report) and derailing Joe into an obsessive spiral of his own. Enduring Love builds the taut delirium of a Hitchcock movie. Ifans, best known for his comic performances, curls his tall frame into a seemingly helpless but creepily aggressive shuffle; the haunted eyes of Craig and Morton make the crumbling of their relationship as suspenseful as Jed's stalking. Director Roger Michell (Notting Hill, Persuasion) uses fresh, jarring images and sinuous visual rhythms to craft a tight thriller with unsettling emotional layers. -Bret Fetzer.

Let's get this straight: Drew Barrymore started a production company to develop original scripts outside of Hollywood and the first project she chose to produce was this, a romantic comedy written by USC grads Abby Kohn and Mark Silverstein about a nerdy, virginal woman who returns to high school as an undercover reporter, finally gets to be popular, and falls in love. And Barrymore decided, as producer, that the perfect actress to play this virtuous, clean-cut, and downright annoying geek would be. Drew Barrymore? It's hard to believe that after The Wedding Singer Barrymore's not getting enough dopey, formulaic, predictable romantic comedies coming across her desk. The complete inability to buy Barrymore as unattractive, awkward, and unpopular ruins Never Been Kissed from the start, but it's doubtful a better actress could have saved it. The jokes fall flat, the romance between Barrymore and her English teacher (played by Michael Vartan) lacks chemistry, and the portrayals of high school and the newspaper newsroom is clichéd and uninspired (big surprise here: the director, Raja Gosnell, previously made Home Alone 3). Gosnell can't even give the gifted character actor, John C. Reilly, anything to do. Only David Arquette, who plays Barrymore's out-of-control brother, brings any energy to the film. [+]

Campion may not be the role that Peter Davison is most famed for, but his take on the period sleuth is nonetheless extremely watchable, in a production skilfully adapted from the writing of Margery Allingham. Starring as Albert Campion, Davison's adventures are more relaxed and less extreme than the kind of detective dramas that make up the schedules of contemporary television. But Campion is all the better for it, allowing good writing and quality production values to shine, rather than opting for cheap shocks. The episodes have enough time to explore and weave a their narratives, and it's hard not to be engaged by them. Aided by his servant, Lugg (played by the late, great Brian Glover), Campion's full adventures are brought together in this set. Set in the 1930s, there are eight lengthy investigations to enjoy here, and plenty to get your teeth into. The cases cover the likes of an ancient chalice, a man who seems to have passed away more than once and the unravelling tale of trying to protect and American judge from being assassinated. Davison is excellent as Campion, comfortably fitting the role, while Brian Glover too puts in sterling work. Yet it's the production quality and scripts that help the programme excel, and ensure that these stories are set to be enjoyed time and time again. -Jon Foster.

Something got lost in translation from 1996's critically acclaimed Japanese comedy, but the American remake of Shall We Dance? is not without charms of its own. In being transplanted from Tokyo to Chicago, the original version's subtle humor is shaken out of its cultural context, but this is an otherwise faithful adaptation in which a weary lawyer (Richard Gere) battles his mid-life crisis with ballroom dancing lessons, while his wife (Susan Sarandon) hires a private detective to see if he's cheating. Those expecting a Jennifer Lopez showcase will be disappointed; her role as the melancholy dance instructor keeps the beautifully lovelorn J-Lo on the sidelines, while a cast of standard-issue supporting characters (especially Stanley Tucci's clandestine faux-Latin dance lover) provide a generous dose of Hollywood-ized comic relief. All of this gives Shall We Dance? a polished sheen of mainstream entertainment that many viewers-and especially ballroom dancers-will find delightfully irresistible. -Jeff Shannon, Amazon. com.

An unconvincing exercise in moral complexity, 21 is based on Ben Mezrich's book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M. I. T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) plays brilliant blue collar scholar Ben Campbell, whose doubts that he'll win a scholarship to Harvard Medical School compel him to join a secret, M. I. T. gang of math whiz kids. Under the silky but chilling command of a math professor (Kevin Spacey), Jim and the others master card counting -the statistical analysis of cards dealt in blackjack games. The team lives a humdrum existence during the week, but on weekends in Sin City the students are rolling in cash, frequenting exclusive clubs and feeling on top of the world. [+]

The Squid and the Whale follows the divorce of Joan (Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me) and Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels, The Purple Rose of Cairo) as it wreaks havoc on the emotional lives of their two sons, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg, Roger Dodger) and Frank (Owen Kline, The Anniversary Party). Though there's no plot in the usual sense, the movie progresses with growing emotional force from the separation into the bitter fighting between Joan and Bernard and the hapless, floundering behaviour of Walt and Frank, who act out through plagiarism, sexual acts and drinking. Some viewers may find the ending too diffuse; others will appreciate that writer/director Noah Baumbach (Mr. Jealousy) doesn't wrap up the messiness of life in a false cinematic package. Either way, viewers will appreciate how the specificity of the personalities makes The Squid and the Whale so compelling, as Baumbach has drawn the characters with such detail, both engaging and off-putting, that they leap off the screen. Naturally, he's greatly helped by the cast: Linney, Eisenberg, Kline and especially Daniels bite into these often unsympathetic portraits and give fearlessly honest performances, interlocked in both painful and funny ways-rarely have family dynamics been captured so vividly. If there was an ensemble Oscar, this cast would deserve it. -Bret Fetzer.

And so Woody Allen picks up his camera and moves the location of his latest film across the channel to London. In the process? Match Point becomes one of his finer efforts of recent times. Jonathan Rhys Meyers leads the cast as Chris Wilton, a former professional tennis player, who quickly lands himself a job as a coach. As he goes about his business, he meets Chloe (Emily Mortimer), and a relationship soon ensues, much to the delight of her family. With some speed, he quickly finds himself working for her father (Brian Cox), and wedding bells aren't too far away. Yet there's a fly in the ointment, in the shapely form of Chloe's brother's girlfriend, played by Scarlet Johansson. Johansson's powers of attraction-and bluntly, she looks terrific here-aren't lost on him, setting the stage for an intriguing mix of thriller and drama that comes very much alive in the final act. Allen wisely utilises London not just to give his film a different feel to usual, but also to embellish it with a strong cast of primarily British actors. And while Match Point doesn't deliver the clever humour and wry laughs you find in the majority of the prolific writer-director's work, this is still very much an engaging film. Ironically, those likely to warm to the film the least are Allen's most loyal fanbase. [+]

In We Own the Night, Joaquin Phoenix, whose eyes burn with sullen anger even when he's looking at the woman he loves, plays Bobby Green, a nightclub manager in the 1980s who gets caught between his blood family he tried to leave behind-a long line of police officers-and his chosen family of friends and business partners, who turn out to be drug dealers. His father (Robert Duvall) and brother (Mark Wahlberg) want Bobby to help their investigation, but Bobby resists-until the conflict takes a brutal turn. Writer/director James Gray wears his influences on his sleeve; he's clearly seen every movie that Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola ever made and aspires to follow in their footsteps. The familiarity of the movie's territory dilutes its impact, but the plot of We Own the Night remains unpredictable, the performances have a clean vitality, and Gray's moody visual style brings some life to the genre. Phoenix (Walk the Line) dives into his role, sifting through layers of guilt and familial resentment; Wahlberg and Duvall play parts they've essentially played a dozen times, but do so with commitment and integrity. Also featuring Eva Mendes (Ghost Rider) as Bobby's devoted girlfriend, who questions just how much she'll have to give up for him. -Bret Fetzer.