Son of Babylon marches to a different drum than usual narrative fare; this documentary-style Iraqi road movie will more than likely appeal only to hardcore world cinema buffs, dragging its heels even in its relatively short ninety minutes running time. For those that can stick it out, there is much to enjoy in this sparse tale of a young boy and grandmother searching for their lost family, but its sedate pacing may bore some to tears.

This Indian drama deals with love and loss without the help of a Bollywood soundtrack. Whilst the tensions between British and Indian culture are interesting, some poor performances and overly sentimental flashbacks result in a grief that seems staged.

The subtle, unexpectedly deft début feature from Alejandro Gomez Monteverde combines big themes with a New York slice-of-life approach that manages to charm and intrigue, accompanied by three commendable central performances.

Things start to get all twisty-turny for the mourning Sarah when she happens across a young man running for his life. Tuck yourself in for this French Horror/Thriller from the sibling directors Caroline and Éric du Potet. Who said that subtitles ruin a good bit of tension? Well, buy them a drink from me, because they were right. But don’t worry, hardly anyone says anything.

Tamsin Greig is the only high point in this mediocre thriller about a woman’s hallucinations.

Boxing drama The Fighter stomps all over Million Dollar Baby in its epic portrayal of Micky Ward and his rise from Massachusetts nobody to WBU champion.

Edward Norton continues his string of underwhelming films that threatens to undermine the legacy of perhaps the finest American actor of the 90s. Writer-director Tim Blake Nelson apes the Coens with this tale of quirky criminals, but can’t match the Brothers Grim for inventiveness and assurance.

The pure range of emotions one experiences when watching Dawn of Evil: Rise of the Reich!
Shock, disgust, hilarity and awe all flit among the shadowy recesses of your mind in this ‘biopic’ of a young Adolf Hitler, which manages to be both stupid, and offensive.

Biutiful covers a lot of ground in its 147 minutes. It’s about spirituality, and family, and love, and poverty, and oh, too many other things to list. And the reason there’s such a plethora of subject on offer is down to Biutiful‘s central character Uxbal (Javier Bardem); a man with more layers than your average onion.

The old dog tries out some new tricks – to mixed results. It has its moments, and treats its potentially sensational subject matter with the respect that, really, it deserves, but it feels very one-note, despite Eastwood’s attempts at innovation. After this and the strangely underwhelming Invictus, let’s hope Eastwood’s creative flame hasn’t ‘died’ out just yet. Arf.