"The General" (18)Shot in striking black-and-white and accompanied by a terrific jazz-based score from Richie Buckley, John Boorman's thoughtful, compelling Dublin crime movie features a riveting performance by Brendan Gleeson as Martin Cahill in an exemplary cast which notably includes Maria Doyle Kennedy and Angeline Ball as the women in Cahill's life; Adrian Dunbar, Sean McGinley and Eanna McLiam as key gang members; and the only non-Irish actor involved, Jon Voight as Cahill's soft-spoken but zealous nemesis in the Garda.

"Kundun" (15)

Martin Scorsese's ambitious and respectful film of the present Dalai Lama follows its subject from his childhood in rural Tibet to his exile in 1959, at the age of 24. He is played at different ages by four non-professional Tibetans in this often fascinating picture of another culture, and the film is greatly enhanced by the magnificent cinematography of Roger Deakins and a stirring score by Philip Glass.

"Afterglow" (15)

Fresh from its recent cinema release, Alan Rudolph's latest film, which features a fine central cast, is an emotional and melancholy account of two couples from different generations whose lives become interconnected: a former B-movie actress (Julie Christie in a glowing comeback) and her handyman husband (Nick Nolte), and a wealthy, young executive (Jonny Lee Miller), and his frustrated wife (Lara Flynn Boyle) who longs to have a child.

"Breakdown" (15)

Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan play a troubled couple travelling from Boston to San Diego in the hope of a new life when their car breaks down in a desolate desert area and they fall prey of locals who kidnap Quinlan. Playing one of his malevolent screen characters, the late J.T. Walsh oozes menace in this taut, keenly paced thriller which rarely releases the accumulating tension.