An undeniably bleak snapshot of adolescence in ‘Broken Britain’, the critically acclaimed and BAFTA award-winning Fish Tank is a thoroughly captivating experience from start to finish. Centred upon the character of Mia Williams, Fish Tank offers much more than the usual gritty portrayal of teenage life in urban Britain.

In American Football – the opening credits of The Blind Side inform us – the highest paid player is the Quarterback. The second highest player is the Left Tackle – as the first bill you pay might be the mortgage, but the second is always the insurance. Now for anyone not American (a spectrum that very much includes us), this poignant opening message is kind of lost. But what emerges in the preceding film is an uplifting true story that emphasizes a message of the importance of protection, loyalty and trust. Which we’re pretty sure is what the Left Tackle thing is about. Yeah, we totally speak Football!
Kick-down, touch-up and homoerotic falling down!

We join Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and the gang in the sixth instalment of J. K Rowling’s seven part story of sorcerers and spells. Lord Voldermort has returned in full glory and both the wizarding world and the muggle world are in turmoil.

Based on two memoirs set more than 50 years apart it’s a story about self-discovery, relationships, the art of French cuisine and how to boil the perfect egg. We cut between the 1950’s and 2002 where Meryl Strepe and Amy Adams show us the way around a kitchen and how food can make or break a relationship.

After the gross exercise in smug self-indulgence that was Kill Bill and the sadly inconsequential tackiness of Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino looks to be back on form in the utterly demented joy that is Inglourious Basterds.

Zombieland comes lurching out of the same genre as that of 2004’s Shaun of the Dead, a film which set the bar for the zomcom, and it set it pretty high. Luckily, Zombieland has still got enough going for it to compare favorably with the yardstick.

The Fourth Kind has been endlessly marketed as the next big thing in the docu-drama niche, touting its real-to-life credentials with all the po-faced gravitas of a clinically depressed geography teacher. A cursory glance, let alone a detailed investigation, is all you need to discover that somebody, somewhere, is covering up the truth regarding their background material…

It’s always refreshing when a thinking person’s rom-com comes around. An Education is not only beautifully constructed, but with wonderful performances, a tight script and questions of love that are difficult to wriggle out of, it’s a film that really grips its audience. Charming, sleek and funny, it’s hard not to be won over by this twisted romance. Just be careful, if we’ve learnt anything, its the danger of the power of seduction.

Love blossoms when a father least expects in Neil Jordan’s modern day fairytale. Blessed with pretty shots of the Irish coast and a close-knit fishing village where everyone pokes their noses into their neighbours’ business, Ondine is a picture postcard to the Emerald Isle. British audiences who struggle with a thick accent would probably benefit from subtitles when characters chew the fat, so some of Jordan’s script is lost to the Atlantic breeze. In truth, it’s not a great loss because for all the blah blahrney, we learn very little about the protagonists or their passions, and the central romance is rather wet – like the actors after a tumble in the briny.

A small-time crook is given a week to rustle up the money he owes to a serious big fish, or else his loved one gets it. It’s not exactly a premise of shocking originality, but Dead Man Running is a perfectly enjoyable beat-em-up ask-em-later romp that will satisfy those just looking for a bit of fun, innit gunva.