"Commandments" (18)
The sleeve for this misfired black comedy is emblazoned with a quote from US magazine - "Thou shalt not miss Commandments". If you do, you'll miss a flaccid, heavy-handed effort featuring Aidan Quinn as a doctor who, after his young wife drowns, loses his faith in God and sets out to break each of the Ten Commandments. Anyone expecting another Seven or Dekalog will be sorely disappointed by this mish-mash written and directed by Daniel Taplitz. Quinn and his co-stars, Courteney Cox and Anthony LaPaglia, try valiantly to make the feeble material work.
Cinema to video
"Men In Black" (12)
Wittily scripted and with a slew of eye-catching special effects, Barry Sonnenfeld's entertainingly offbeat live action treatment of a little known comic-strip stars droll Tommy Lee Jones and hip Will Smith as agents working for a super-secretive, unofficial US government and taking on the case of an interstellar terrorist on a deadly mission. Soon the clock is ticking, as is de rigueur in such scenarios, and they have only minutes to save our planet from nothing less than annihilation. No bother to 'em.
"Grosse Pointe Blank" (15), from Monday next
This entertaining black comedy from Miami Blues director George Armitage has a perfectly droll John Cusack as a cool-as-ice professional assassin who returns to Detroit to attend his high school reunion - and to carry out a killing. With Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin and Dan Aykroyd.
"Addicted To Love" (15), from Friday next
In this dark-toned romantic comedy directed by actor Griffin Dunne, Matthew Broderick and Meg Ryan play jilted lovers who, when they discover their respective ex-partners (Kelly Preston and Tcheky Katyo) living together, begin to monitor them in a voyeuristic way with a view to wreaking revenge. The leading players are solid in what is essentially a four-hander, with Meg Ryan refreshingly burying her sweet natured persona under punky make-up and forthright malice.
"The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (12)
The dinosaurs are back on the rampage in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster sequel which retains Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough from the cast of the original and adds Pete Postlethwaite, Julianne Moore and Vince Vaughn. The humans are as cardboard as ever, but the set pieces are more elaborate and much more entertaining. Inevitably, much of its visual impact will be diminished on the small screen.
"Unhook The Stars" (15)
The son of Gena Rowlands and the late John Cassavetes, Nick Cassavetes makes his directing debut with a sensitive and melancholy study of a widow (the luminous Rowlands) who befriends a physically abused young neighbour (Marisa Tomei) and her young son (Jake Lloyd). With Gerard Depardieu.
"A Further Gesture" (15)
From an original idea by Stephen Rea, and a screenplay by Ronan Bennet, Robert Dornhelm's political thriller stars Rea as a fugitive Provo who gets involved with Guatemalan political exiles in New York. It opens with a protracted and impressively staged break-out from the Maze, but is later weakened by narrative contrivances which render it politically simplistic and ultimately over-ambitious.
Videos to buy
"Peter Pan" (General)
Fully digitally remastered, Disney's 1953 animated feature makes gorgeous use of Technicolour as it relates J.M. Barrie's enchanting tale of the boy who never grows up. Some of the songs don't stand up, but this remains a far more satisfying treatment of the story than Spielberg's over-the-top IT]Hook.
"William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet" (12)
Strictly Ballroom director Baz Luhrmann gives the play a radical and vibrantly cinematic - and swooningly romantic - treatment as he relocates it to a contemporary American setting, while retaining Shakespeare's dialogue. The fine cast features Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the principal roles, with Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo and Pete Postlethwaite. Available on widescreen and fullscreen, this could make an ideal St Valentine's Day gift.
