The latestes releases reviewed

OZ: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON ****

Directed by Darnell Martin, Nick Gomez, Alan Taylor, Jean de Segonzac, Leslie Libman. Starring Ernie Hudson, Terry Kinney, Harold Perrineau, Eamonn Walker, Kirk Acevedo, Edie Falco, Rita Moreno, Tony Musante, JK Simmons, BD Wong, Leon 18 cert

Whereas series on US network TV are invariably sanitised, productions made for US cable channels have the freedom to go extremes of language, sex and violence. Few have pushed the boundaries further than the edgy HBO prison drama Oz, devised by Tom Fontana, the mind behind Homicide: Life on the Street. No holds are barred in its candid, convincingly realistic picture of inmates and guards at the fictional Oswald maximum-security prison known as Oz.

The opening season in the series, which ran from 1997 to 2003, is now available on DVD for the first time on a two-disc, eight-episode set. It's tough, provocative and compelling as it tackles issues of religious, racial and sexual prejudices on both sides of the law, and the cast is exemplary. The second season will be released here on DVD in May, followed by the third in September. MD

STRANGER THAN FICTION ****

Directed by Marc Forster. Starring Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Emma Thompson, Tom Hulce, Linda Hunt 12 cert

Ferrell plays a lonely US government tax auditor whose precisely ordered world is turned upside-down when he discovers he is a character in a novel, and that the author (Thompson) plans to kill him off in the last chapter. The cast is impeccable in this smart, entertaining postmodern serious comedy. MD

FLUSHED AWAY ***

Directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell. Voices of Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, Shane Richie, David Suchet G cert

We hear that Aardman's first digital feature, in which a posh mouse gets flushed down the loo, did so poorly at the box-office that it caused a divorce between the Bristol-based cottage industry and mighty DreamWorks. Go figure. Though not a patch on Aardman's Wallace and Gromit, this remains the funniest digimation of the last year. The DVD features even more singing slugs. Hooray! DC

AKEELAH AND THE BEE ***

Directed by Doug Atchison. Starring Angela Bassett, Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne, J R Villarreal PG cert

Given the deserved success of the documentary Spellbound, it was perhaps inevitable that somebody would put together a feature about a kid from the ghetto who, defying parental resistance and class distinctions, makes it to the US national spelling bee final. Here it is: Spell It Like Beckham. Thanks to a nice central performance by Palmer, the film is more than bearable. DC

THE PAGE TURNER/LA TOURNEUSE DE PAGES ***

Directed by Denis Dercourt. Starring Catherine Frot, Deborah François, Pascal Greggory 15 cert

Decent cuckoo-in-the nest thriller which finds a young pianist growing up to visit revenge on the famous musician who spurned her at an audition. The film is layered with tension, but the script is more than a little trite, with a denouement too unlikely even for a film in this heightened genre. The DVD includes a long interview with the director. DC

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM *

Directed by Shawn Levy. Starring Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney PG cert

Stiller blandly plays the new night watchman in New York's Museum of Natural History, where the exhibits come to life by night. The movie fails dismally in stimulating the willing suspension of disbelief, and it appears to have been made with more money than sense. MD

JACKASS NUMBER TWO *

Directed by Jeff Tremaine. Starring Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius, Wee Man 18 cert

In the belief that nothing succeeds like excess, the sequel strings together another succession of disgusting, witless short sketches with no linking narrative as the regular team engage in copious exhibitionism, gross stunts and reckless endangerment. MD