Latest video releases reviewed
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE ***
Directed by Michael Radford. Starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes, Lynn Collins 12 cert
Solid, unadventurous adaptation of Shakespeare's problem play. Pacino vigorously works rage and pathos into his Shylock, the script is subtly pared down to manageable length, and the well-dressed sets and voluptuous cinematography are a treat. But, frankly, a theatrical production this conservative would be laughed off most of the world's great stages.
Donald Clarke
ENDURING LOVE ****
Directed by Roger Michell. Starring Daniel Craig, Rhys Ifans, Samantha Morton, Bill Nighy, Susan Lynch, Helen McCrory, Andrew Lincoln 18 cert
Michell's adept, thought-provoking film of the Ian McEwan novel gains in conviction from the performances of Craig and Ifans as strangers whose lives are entangled after they witness a tragic hot-air balloon accident - and one of them obsessively sets about stalking the other.
Michael Dwyer
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS ****
Directed by Stephen Hopkins. Starring Geoffrey Rush, Charlize Theron, Emily Watson, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Stephen Fry 15 cert
Rush gives a virtuoso performance as Sellers in this eerily fascinating biopic that never flinches from depicting the actor as anything other than a cold, horrible and deeply insecure individual, more at home in the skin of the characters he played than in his own self-pitying life. Michael Dwyer
BEYOND THE SEA *
Directed by Kevin Spacey. Starring Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, John Goodman, Bob Hoskins, Brenda Blethyn, Greta Scacchi 12 cert
Spacey doubles up as director and star for a biopic on singer-actor Bobby Darin, who died in 1973 at the age of 37. Spacey impersonates Darin's singing voice convincingly, but the rest of the movie is wildly misconceived, cliche-ridden and mostly overacted.
Michael Dwyer
TAXI *
Directed by Tim Story. Starring Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, Henry Simmons, Jennifer Esposito, Gisele Bündchen, Ann-Margret 12 cert
Some idiot from Saturday Night Live plays a cop who can't drive very well. Queen Latifah plays a cabbie with an attitude. When they meet, wow, laughter takes a front seat and fun climbs in the back. It's the hairiest, scariest, something-elsiest adventure to hit your screens since etc. A waste of HRH's charm.
Donald Clarke
