Burn After Reading (Cert 15, 92 mins, Universal Pictures UK, Comedy/Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: George Clooney, Richard Jenkins, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, JK Simmons, Tilda Swinton.

CIA agent Osbourne Cox (Malkovich) loses his job and decides to bide his time, when he’s not drinking, by penning his memoirs.

An electronic copy of the manuscript ends up in the possession of gym employee Chad Feldheimer (Pitt) and co-worker Linda Litzke (McDormand), who attempt to blackmail Osbourne.
Unfortunately, the former agent refuses to accede to their demands so Chad and Linda head to the Russian embassy, intent on selling Osbourne’s insider secrets to the enemy.

Meanwhile, Osbourne’s hard-nosed wife Katie (Swinton) revels in an extra-marital affair with serial womaniser Harry Pfarrer (Clooney), who has also begun dating Linda.

Unbeknownst to all of them, the CIA is monitoring every twist and turn.

After the nerve-racking tension of the Oscar-winning No Country For Old Men, writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen return to comedic territory with this pithy tale of espionage and infidelity.
Burn After Reading is peppered with colourful characters we love and loathe in equal measure.
Malkovich relishes his role as a hard-drinking curmudgeon, who cannot believe the incompetence of his would-be blackmailers.

Clooney essays another charming oddball, while Pitt steals every scene.
Whether Chad is dancing goofily to music from his MP3 player or attempting to conceal his identity on the telephone by adopting a risible, raspy voice, we cannot help but chuckle at his comical misadventures.
The unlikely double-act with McDormand’s cosmetic surgery-obsessed spinster is a joy to behold.
Not classic Coen brothers fare but there are enough flashes of insanity and brilliance here to keep us smirking for almost the entire 92 minutes.

DVD Extras: none stated.

Rating: ****

Taken (Cert 18, 89 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Action/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £28.99)

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Olivier Rabourdin, Katie Cassidy, Xander Berkeley, Holly Valance.

Former government operative Bryan Mills (Neeson) has turned his back on top-secret missions to work bodyguard detail instead for vulnerable celebrities.
Hoping to rebuild bridges with his spoilt, 17-year-old daughter Kim (Grace), Bryan reluctantly bows to pressure from ex-wife Lenore (Janssen) to allow the girl to visit Paris with best friend Amanda (Cassidy).
Midway through a telephone call to Kim, to check the girls have arrived safely, Bryan’s worst fears are confirmed.

Albanian thugs break into the girls’ city centre apartment and drag away Amanda and Kim while Bryan listens across the Atlantic.
Boarding the next available flight, the former operative seeks out old contact Jean Claude (Rabourdin) who impresses upon Bryan the severity of his mission: “You have a 96 hour window from when she was grabbed.to never finding her.

” Taken puts the pedal to the metal from the moment the girls are snatched, barely pausing for breath as Bryan wreaks havoc in the French capital, leaping through gaping plot holes against a backdrop of the Champs-Elysees and the Seine, where a climactic night-time boat trip goes overboard on wanton bloodshed.
Neeson is an unlikely choice for Pierre Morel’s adrenaline-pumping action thriller.
He is imposing in the thuggish and somewhat two-dimensional lead role, bludgeoning anyone or anything that dares to get in his way, including common sense.

Action set pieces are well choreographed including a breakneck car chase and some bone-crunching fist fights that recall Jason Bourne’s recent forays for ferocity and slick editing.
The skirmishes ultimately become rather repetitive, without any droll humour to leaven the relentless brutality.

DVD Extras: “Making Of ” featurette, “The Premier Launch” featurette, Inside Action segments (Peter Dies, Bryan Escapes Construction Site, Good Luck, The Interrogation, Bryan At St Clair’s, Boat Fight); Blu-ray: “Making Of ” featurette, “The Premier Launch” featurette, Inside Action segments (Peter Dies, Bryan Escapes Construction Site, Good Luck, The Interrogation, Bryan At St Clair’s, Boat Fight), Real Time Mission Intelligence BONUSVIEW mode.

Rating: ***

Nights In Rodanthe (Cert PG, 93 mins, Warner Home Video, Romance/Drama, also available to buy DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £26.99)


Starring: Diane Lane, Richard Gere, Viola Davis, Scott Glenn, Christopher Meloni, Mae Whitman, James Franco.

With her marriage in freefall, Adrienne Willis (Lane) takes time out from her wayward husband (Meloni) and resentful, teenage daughter (Whitman) to spend a weekend in the North Carolina coastal community of Rodanthe, looking after the beachside inn run by her good friend, Jean (Davis).
Only one guest has booked in for the weekend so Adrienne should have lots of time to contemplate her future.

The promise of peace and quiet is short-lived with the arrival of the inn’s solitary guest, Dr Paul Flanner (Gere), who has unfinished business with local resident Robert Torrelson (Glenn).
As a storm descends on Rodanthe and rocks Jean’s guesthouse to its foundations, Adrienne and Paul cling to one another for emotional and physical comfort, sparking a passionate dalliance that will change the course of their lives forever.

Adapted from the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook), Nights In Rodanthe is a slushy romance about two lost souls gifted a second chance at love.
Comparisons to The Bridges Of Madison County are inevitable but George C Wolfe’s love-in possesses none of that picture’s deep, emotional resonance, shamelessly tugging the heartstrings with its contrived tale of chance encounters.

Lane and Gere look beautifully windswept against the picture postcard locations, while Glenn delivers a memorable supporting turn as a husband scarred by grief.
James Franco is wasted in a minor role as Flanner’s son, who bathes in the glow of his old man’s newfound lust for life.

There’s an inevitability to the tears of the final act, accomplished with surprisingly little fanfare.

DVD Extras: none stated.

Rating: ***

The House Bunny (Cert 12, 93 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Comedy/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Anna Faris, Emma Stone, Colin Hanks, Dana Goodman, Katharine McPhee, Rumer Willis, Kiely Williams, Kat Dennings, Kimberly Makkouk, Monet Mazur.

Playboy bunny Shelley Darlingson (Faris) is one of the most popular residents at Hugh Hefner’s mansion, winning the affections of all the other girls – except jealous rival Cassandra (Mazur), who schemes to get rid of Shelley so she can take her place at Hef’s side.

Made to believe that Hugh no longer requires her services, Shelley tearfully heads into the great unknown and lands a position as house mother to the Zeta Alpha Zeta sorority, which is threatened with closure unless it can attract 30 pledges by the end of the semester.

So Shelley inspires the dowdy house residents – Carrie Mae (Goodman), Harmony (McPhee), Joanne (Willis), Lilly (Williams), Mona (Dennings), Natalie (Stone) and Tanya (Makkouk) – to pull out all the stops to ensure Zeta Alpha Zeta doesn’t fall to the bulldozers.

Blessed with a tour-de-force performance from Faris, The House Bunny is a guilty pleasure – a harmless piece of comic fluff that tickles our fancy despite myriad, glaring shortcomings.

Screenwriters Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith’s use Legally Blonde as a framework for the ditzy heroine’s metamorphosis, even copying the grandstand finale, which falls a little flat here.
Director Fred Wolf relies on musical montages such as that old chestnut, the makeover, to pad out the running time.

Yet, whenever the leading lady totters merrily into shot on outrageously high heels, we can’t help but smile, falling head over heels in love with her bona fide innocent, who believes that “the eyes are the nipples of the face!” Now you know ladies!

DVD Extras: 12 behind the scenes featurettes (”House Bunny Style” “The Girls Of Zeta”, “Calendar Girls”, “Anna Faris: House Mom”, “The Girls Upstairs”, “Colin Hanks: Mr Nice Guy”, “House Bunny Memories”, “From Tour Bus To Trailer: Tyson Ritter”, “From Song To Set: Katherine McPhee”, “Look Who Dropped By”, “Zetas Transformed”, “Getting Ready For A Party”), Katherine McPhee “I Know What Boys Like” music video.

Rating: ***

The Escapist (Cert 15, 97 mins, Contender Home Entertainment, Thriller/Drama/Action, also available to buy DVD £15.99)

Starring: Brian Cox, Dominic Cooper, Liam Cunningham, Joseph Fiennes, Seu Jorge, Damian Lewis.

Frank Perry (Cox) is a lifer content to spend the rest of his days behind bars as punishment for his sins.
An unexpected piece of correspondence from his wife shocks Frank back to life.

“My first letter in 14 years telling me our little girl’s a junkie, her heart stopped twice.

“he confides in trusted friend Brodie (Cunningham).
“I’ve got to see her, I’ve got to make things right.
” So the lifer concocts a plan to break through the panelling at the back of the chapel confessional then descend into the bowels of the building, out-running the guards in the dark.
Brodie agrees to help and Frank enlists the services of bruiser Lenny (Fiennes), cellblock drug dealer Viv (Jorge) and new boy James (Cooper), who have vital roles to play if the group is to stay under the radar of effete top dog Rizza (Lewis) and his goons.

The Escapist is a prison break thriller that breathes new life into the well-worn genre.
Director Rupert Wyatt and co-writer Daniel Hardy have a narrative ace up their sleeve that they confidently play in the film’s dying moments.

It’s a daring though ultimately disappointing final flourish.
Director of photography Philipp Blaubach employs different colour palettes to distinguish between timeframes: cold grey/blue for the break out and a jaundiced tinge for flashbacks.
Cox brings a brooding intensity to his role but other members of the escape team aren’t sketched in any detail.

Fiennes in particular should be sent down for a woeful accent.

DVD Extras: Director and actor commentary, “The Making Of The Escapist” featurette, behind the scenes featurette, storyboard comparison, theatrical trailer.

Rating: ***

Blu-Ray RETAIL TOP 10

* Hancock
* Wanted
* Dark Knight
* Wall-E
* Hellboy 2 – The Golden Army
* Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
* Iron Man
* Kung Fu Panda
* Tropic Thunder
* There Will Be Blood

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