"Donnie Brasco" (18)
In Mike Newell's taut, deeply involving, factually based gangster drama, Johnny Depp plays a daring FBI agent who reinvents himself in a meticulously elaborate scheme to infiltrate the Mafia in the late 1970s. Al Pacino co-stars as the minor gangster whose trust he wins and who warms to Donnie as a surrogate son and leads him into the inner sanctum of crime.
The tension which permeates the film accelerates in a number of scenes when Donnie's cover is threatened with exposure. The film is charged by the subtly developed chemistry between its principal characters: in his finest performance in years, Pacino is remarkably restrained and low-key and all the more effective for that, while Depp comes of age in a mature, intelligent performance.
"Everyone Says I Love You" (12)
The annual Woody Allen movie is an exuberant musical following the often interrelated romantic complications among different generations. Woody himself is joined by a very interesting cast that includes Goldie Hawn, Julia Roberts, Alan Alda, Drew Barrymore, Tim Roth and Edward Norton. The result is a beguiling entertainment which invests a great deal of fun into its singing and dancing numbers.
"When We Were Kings" (PG)
Winner of this year's Oscar for best documentary, Leon Gast's admirably researched and assembled film chronicles the heavyweight championship fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in 1974 in the country then known as Zaire. The articulate commentators include Norman Mailer, George Plimpton and Spike Lee. Highly recommended.
"Liar Liar" (15)
The elastic-faced Jim Carrey is on spirited form as a lawyer to whom lies and deceit come easily - until his despairing young son is granted a wish that his dad will tell the truth for a whole 24 hours. Carrey performs quite astonishing contortions of his face and body and seems more eager-to-please and over-the-top than ever before.
"Gridlock'd" (18)
This gritty, dark comedy-drama set in Detroit features strong performances from Tim Roth and the late Tupac Shakur as drug-addicted criminals undergoing a frenetic New Year's Day. With Thandie Newton. Written and directed by Vondie Curtis Hall.
"Scream" (18)
Wes Craven keeps his tongue firmly in with this knowing horror movie peppered with explicit references to other horror movies. The vigorous young cast is led by TV stars Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox, along with Skeet Ulrich, Drew Barrymore, David Arquette and Liev Schreiber.
"Love and Other Catastrophes" (18)
The 24-year-old Australian director, Emma-Kate Croghan, makes a lively debut with this sharply observed comedy of 24 hours in the complicated love lives of university students. Punctuated by on-screen quotations from, among others, Jane Austen, Alfred Hitchcock, Doris Day and the Bee Gees, Croghan's refreshing and very funny film is played with panache by an unfamiliar young cast.
"Private Parts" (18)
Betty Thomas's initially amusing curiosity piece charts the rise and rise of the notorious shock-jock, Howard Stern, played by himself in a shamelessly narcissistic exercise. Mary McCormack (from Murder One) co-stars as his wife.
