FILM REVIEWS

• Burton updates 'Alice in Wonderland' in typical style

  One of cinema’s most-filmed stories is updated by Burton in magnificent manner – as only he can – by sending the now 19-year-old Alice (Wasikowsky) back to Wonderland, there to meet up again with her odd-ball friends and battle the evil Red Queen (Bonham-Carter).

• 'Ondine' a beautiful and lyrical story

  Farrell, turning away as he is from the lurid, hell-raising headlines of recent years, is producing some quite excellent performances, none better than in this charming fantasy (or might it be fact?) set in Ireland.

• Fine performances in 'The Father of my Children'

  Successful film producer Gregoire Canvell (Lencquesaing) has a good, even wonderful, life, with a loving wife and happy family and a career that goes from strength to strength.

• 'Legion' too slow and low-budget

  In 'Legion', God finally arrives at the obvious conclusion … humankind is the pits and deserves a good, bloody kick up the rear end, sending Michael (Bettany) and a Host of Angels to do the kicking.

• Neeson underused as 'Chloe' falls short

  Sometimes it’s best to leave things alone, as Catherine (Moore) discovers when she suspects her husband (Neeson) of cheating and hires a hooker (Seyfried) to lure him into an affair and report back on all the sordid and erotic details … all of which leads, naturally, to

• 'Case 39' much too predictable

  Zellweger doesn’t quite convince as a social worker in what turns out to be a lazy, seen-it-all-before, sort-of horror film.

• 'Micmacs' a great rollercoaster of a film

  Leading French actor Boon, a modern-day answer to Chaplin and Keaton, is at his best in this quirky and utterly mad, tumbling film, one that races from one outstanding cinematic delight – and surprise – to another.

• 'From Paris With Love' a great mindless thriller

  It’s wonderful how Travolta keeps reinventing himself, here as a Bruce Willis-'Die Hard', swaggering, wise-cracking action man.

• Hits and misses in 'Capitalism: A Love Story'

  The evil money men who have brought the world to its knees get the usual in-your-face treatment from documentary maker Moore, who never passes over the opportunity to get the wrongdoers in his sights … even if sometimes he misses his shot.

• 'The Crazies' a poor and pointless remake

  It seems pointless to have remade the 1973 George Romero low-budget cult classic horror – reckoned to be the forerunner of the many following ‘deadly toxins in the water turning the locals into fruitcakes’ – but somebody went and did it anyway.