Latest releases reviewed
MIAMI VICE ****
Directed by Michael Mann. Starring Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li, Luis Tosar, Naomie Harris, Ciaran Hinds, Justin Theroux, John Ortiz, Elizabeth Rodrigeuz, Barry Shabaka Henley 15 cert
In contrast to all the recent campy movie parodies of old TV series, Mann's movie, inspired by the cop show he produced in the 1980s, is deadly serious. Miami detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs (Farrell and Foxx) are assigned to go deep undercover, posing as drug dealers to gain the trust of a ruthless criminal. The screenplay is teasingly convoluted but astutely resolved, and Mann revels in orchestrating the action sequences, unleashing firepower with a merciless ferocity. - Michael Dwyer
CARS ***
Directed by John Lasseter. Voices of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Cheech Marin, Tony Shalhoub, Paul Dooley, Katherine Helmond, George Carlin G cert
Just when you thought the animations of Pixar couldn't get any better they, well, get somewhat worse. Lasseter's first film as director since Toy Story 2, in which Wilson's arrogant racing car learns moral lessons while stranded in a small desert town, inevitably features some stunning technical advances. But the story is very thin and, frankly, the cars look stupid. Nonplussed youngsters will be further disturbed to discover the initial release comes only in a single-disc edition. - Donald Clarke
GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES *
Directed by Tim Hill. Starring Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Billy Connolly, Lucy Davis, Roger Rees, voices of Bill Murray, Richard E Grant, Bob Hoskins, Sharon Osbourne, Tim Curry, Jane Horrocks, Rhys ifans, Vinnie Jones 77 min
Garfield goes to England. Life is too short for me to relate - and you to read - any more of the plot. Suffice to say, the orange cat swaps identities with a more posh feline and spends the film eating caviar and evading the homicidal intentions of the aristocat's human heir apparent. The first film wasn't great, but the lazy sequel really buries itself in the kitty litter and has a good roll around. Should you care, the DVD features an exclusive Garfield comic strip. - Donald Clarke
BLOOM ***
Directed by Sean Walsh. Starring Stephen Rea, Angeline Ball, Hugh O'Conor, Neilí Conroy, Eoin McCarthy, Alvaro Lucchesi, Maria Hayden, Patrick Bergin 113 min
The result of Walsh's brave attempt to refine Ulysses into a two-hour wad of wordy cinema will be of some interest to Joyce completists and lazy students revising for exams on the great man. Rea is solid as Bloom and Ball is a revelation as his lusty wife. But, labouring under mountains of voiceover and hampered by a dearth of forward narrative, this overly worthy entity fails utterly to live as a piece of cinema. Read the book instead. - Donald Clarke
