The latest releases reviewed

STARDUST **

Directed by Matthew Vaughn. Starring Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Ricky Gervais, Peter O'Toole, Sienna Miller PG cert

Moving between parallel universes in a 19th-century setting, Vaughn's film of Neil Gaiman's novel is a tongue-in-cheek romantic fantasy. Danes is charmless as a fallen star, Cox passably bland as the young hero, and De Niro camps it up as a cross-dressing pirate captain. It's left to Pfeiffer, as a wicked witch, to inject vitality into the whimsical, mildly diverting yarn. MD

THE WITNESSES/LES TÉMOINS ****

Directed by André Téchiné. Starring Michel Blanc, Emmanuelle Béart, Sami Bouajila, Johan Liberéau, Julie Depardieu 18 cert

Set in mid-1980s Paris, Téchiné's film follows the complicated relationships of four characters as the spectre of Aids looms. The central cast is exemplary in this honest, thoughtful and deeply involving moral drama. MD

THE LAST LEGION **

Directed by Doug Lefler. Starring Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Peter Mullan, Aishwarya Rai, Rupert Friend, Thomas Sangster, Iain Glen, John Hannah Kevin McKidd 12 cert

This puzzling, though undeniably diverting, adventure follows a gang of brave Romans as they seek to restore the last emperor to the throne. Sounds big and important, but actually it's just a sloppy mix of Xena: Warrior Princess and Asterix the Gaul. The actors are all fine, but the picture is too silly for its own good. DC

INTERVIEW ***

Directed by Steve Buscemi. Starring Steve Buscemi, Sienna Miller 16 cert

Buscemi, a cynical journalist, is forced to interview Miller, a star of bad films, in this interesting, if rather flat and uncinematic, remake of a Dutch film by the late Theo van Gogh. Miller is surprisingly good and Buscemi reliably sat-upon, but the arch mind games quickly become tedious. DC

RAZZLE DAZZLE: A JOURNEY INTO DANCE ***

Directed by Darren Ashton. Starring Kerry Armstrong, Ben Miller, Nadine Garner, Denise Roberts, Tara Morice PG cert

Imagine Little Miss Sunshine crossed with Strictly Ballroom and you get the measure of this exuberant mockumentary, set on the Australian contest circuit for pre-teen dancers as it charts the misadventures of its highly competitive young performers, pushy parents and anxiously insecure teachers. MD

TRANSYLVANIA ***

Directed by Tony Gatlif. Starring Asia Argento, Birol Ünel, Amira Casar, Alexandra Beaujard, Marco Castoldi, Beata Palya 15 cert

Characteristically baggy film from a veteran chronicler of gypsy life, following Argenta's jilted nutter as she makes friends with a travelling Romany trader. The musical sequences are infectious, but a little more order to the narrative would not have gone astray. The female lead is reliably deranged. DC