A very text-book example of two actors better than the material, Crystal and Williams do their best but can't elevate this far.

Inferior teen drugs-drama, lacking depth and a point.

The great thing about Breakdown is simply that what you see is what you get. Want 90 minutes of edge of the seat tension? You got it. Want an unravelling nightmare that stays with you long after the movie? You got it.

Ultimately, Irma Vep doesn't quite have the courage of its convictions, but still provides plenty of scathing satire on the state of French cinema.

But for anyone willing to swallow a large pinch of salt there is much to enjoy in the film's numerous nail-munching, white-knuckle set-pieces variously employing firetruck ladders, subway trains and a finale so ridiculous that it just... might... work.

Though it might charitably be described as "a load of old cods", there is a certain entertainment value to Murder At 1600.

With such strong acting support from Paxton and Margulies, Green could have produced a dynamic drama. With muddled characterisation, a slight script and an over-the-top ending, it emerges as an ill-conceived attempt to make a thriller out of almost nothing.

A damp squib of a movie.

The movie provides a fair number of laughs, even if you can't help wondering how many of them were actually intentional.

Shohei's journey from unhappy worker bee - the early scenes are cleverly sketched to show his mundane routine without ever themselves being boring - to rejuvenated free spirit is credible, actually earning the film's final emotional wallop. Irresistible.

What lifts this at key moments is the outstanding Phoenix's simpatico performance and we can add to the credit side happy casting that for once has assembled actresses and actors who really do resemble each other and present plausible siblings.

There's no lack of style or pace from Noyce, just the sense that it isn't quite gelling together.

Croghan accurately illustrates the frustrations of a charismatic bunch of characters who are frank, funny and full of life.

The emphasis on character in Rambo scribe Kevin Jarre's screenplay (aided by Vincent Patrick and David Aaron Cohen) gives the film unexpected maturity.

It's worth hanging on for the spice of the closing credit outtakes, which effectively rounds off a reliably entertaining slice of comic nonsense.

However, as with Dead Ringers, Cronenberg approaches a touchy concept with a mixture of icy tact and cinematic daring, always informing the wilfully perverse material with a penetrating intelligence and (almost subliminally) very black wit.

Love Jones is fun, at least for the first hour, after which the melodrama takes over and the characters stop being witty and become schmaltzy instead.

Director Thomas applies the deft comic touch which made The Brady Bunch Movie (similarly ignored outside the US) such a hoot, to make for a deliriously funny, frequently outrageous romp.

It does become marginally less cringe-making in the latter half, but aside from a hilarious set piece involving a cat/tranquilliser dart interface and a vaguely entertaining Russian Mafia subplot, this is tired stuff which should have stayed at home.

The Daytrippers is an assured debut which engages the brain as well as tweaking the laughter lines.

After the disastrous "The House Of The Spirits," Bille August should know from experience to leave good novels well alone.

This is delightfully bonkers; an eerie and edgy outpouring that makes Twin Peaks look like Moonlighting.

A film that is entertaining but not seriously absorbing.

It has a tendency to drift aimlessly and, having said all there is to say on the subject long before the two hours are up, loiters around when it really ought to have gone to bed.

This is yet another one of those mindlessly enjoyable outings which eschews such unimportant details as plot or characterisation in favour of the biggest, flashiest special effects money can buy. Twister with lava, if you will.

The tension revs along nicely and - if you're not heisted out already - there's some suspense to be had.

Well below anything else Eddie did before it. Needs a tighter script and a more confident performance.

Unpretentiously and likeable Peter Hyams is one of the few hacks still working at this budget level, and he relishes the chance to make an audience jump, not only with some neat monster effects and a pile of mutilated corpses but also with some subtleties of editing and lighting, plus one of the loudest jump-out-of-your-seat soundtracks in a recent memory.