Cinema

General Release

Amelie From Montmartre (French) (IIB): A massive hit in France from the man who brought the surrealistic fantasy world of Delicatessan (1991) to life. Amelie Poulain (played by Audrey Tautou) works in a quirky cafe, The Deux Moulins, and seems content to get on with her life until the death of Princess Diana and a chance discovery turns her world upside down. From that moment on, Amelie decides her true vocation is to help people turn their lives around with acts of kindness. Brilliantly warm and funny.

American Pie 2 (IIB): Having completed their first year at university, those bawdy boys and gals from the original film are back. They rent a beach house for the summer, hoping for a sun-kissed, sex-filled vacation. Dripping with 'in' jokes from the original, gags about summer camp, online sex, crushes on friends' mums and foreign-exchange students are renewed afresh. The high point in this low-brow comedy is a scene featuring the misapplication of Superglue. Say no more. Strictly for fans of the original.

Apocalypse Now Redux (IIB): With 53 minutes of additional footage, this much-heralded director's cut of the film, originally released in 1979, hits the big screen. For those who missed it the first time around, US Army intelligence officer Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is sent to Cambodia to terminate renegade Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who has been waging war on his own terms. There is a multitude of stories surrounding director Francis Ford Coppola's visually stunning Vietnam War version of the Joseph Conrad novel, Heart Of Darkness. It went massively over-budget, pushed Martin Sheen to a heart attack and drove almost everyone else involved crazy. But it remains his most fully realised work.

Blow (IIB): Based on the true story of George Jung (played by Johnny Depp), it traces his life from small-town hick to big-time drug peddler. Jung is widely considered the man responsible for making cocaine the drug of choice for the 1970s in-crowd. Watching his father (Ray Liotta) fail at everything while his mother (Rachel Griffiths) keeps abandoning him and then returning, George finds the easy-money life of drug trafficking the perfect way out of suburban mediocrity.

The Caveman's Valentine (IIB): Samuel L Jackson stars as Romulus Ledbetter, a schizophrenic homeless man who lives in a cave in a New York City park. He believes his nemesis is trying to control the world by projecting mind-control beams from the Chrysler Building. When Romulus finds a young homeless man frozen to death outside his cave, he decides to investigate. This bizarre piece is elevated by Jackson's performance, without whom you have confused, pretentious pulp.

Don't Say A Word (IIA): Michael Douglas stars as a psychiatrist who has 24 hours to probe the mind of a mentally ill teenager (Brittany Murphy) to discover the whereabouts of a rare jewel. The information will secure the release of his kidnapped daughter. After setting up an interesting premise, this pedestrian thriller plods along to a predictable conclusion.