Independent cinemas are bloody brilliant. Nobody’s wearing a uniform more elaborate than a black t-shirt, the bar has drinks which aren’t carbonated or soft, and if anyone tries to fumble for an Orange Wednesdays text-ticket they’re cast into the outer darkness. Cracking. This week we’ve been to another one – the unique and spectacular Prince Charles.

Over the years we’ve seen plenty of comics turned into films, which normally entails lifting the characters and plot and leaving everything comic-specific behind. Fair enough. But what about a comic that’s turned into a bigger, brighter, flashier comic with, like, Michael Cera and moving bits? Edgar Wright’s extraordinary film is more fun than waking up and discovering you’re Mario.

There are 150,000 endangered tigers in the world – and one is in your house. Classy low-budget action thriller Burning Bright is more than just a tiger action movie. It’s a heartstopping ride with human interest and genuine surprises in store…

A Paris outsider seeks to hurl himself off a bridge, buckling under the weight of a debt as huge as the chip on his shoulder. His plan is foiled by a mysterious Amazonian beauty who walks around changing his life and being tall. Is the allegory behind Angel-A as heavy-handed as its title suggests?

Russians, eh? Just when you think there’s no more Hollywood mileage to be had out of their sinister accents and evil shirts, along comes Salt. With a plot straight out of a Cold War thriller, twists that don’t bear any scrutiny whatsoever and set action pieces that have been done countless times before, Salt shouldn’t be that good. So why did I enjoy it so bloody much?

If you thrilled to the charming bumblings of M Hulot and gazed spellbound at the visual feast of Belleville Rendez-vous, then brace yourself. Based on a Jacques Tati script adapted by director Sylvain Chomet, The Illusionist has the best of both directors’ vision.

Someone needs to stop Sly Stallone before he wastes any more celluloid. An overblown, overacted mess, watching The Expendables is like liquidising all your Rambo DVDs, pouring the resulting testosterone-laden gloop into a shotgun with a generous slug of protein shake, and shooting yourself in the face.

Nicolas Cage with crazy hair and a rawhide trench coat – can you ask for much more from an afternoon of cinematic entertainment?

To celebrate the Blu-ray & DVD release of Star Wars™: The Clone Wars ™ Season Two, we are offering 3 lucky readers the chance to win a DVD, retailing at £39.99.

The lunatics are taking over the asylum, or that’s what Martin Scorsese’s impeccably crafted Shutter Island would have us believe. But then perception and reality are completely blurred in this 1950s-set mystery, adapted by screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis from the best-seller by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone).