Be Kind Rewind – 2008 – Michel Gondry

Mos Def and Jack Black are the village idiots left in charge of a falling down video shop – allegedly the birthplace of jazz legend Fats Wallace. In a bid to rescue the joint they remake video classics like Robo-Cop, the Rush Hour franchises and Driving Miss Daisy. In parts hilarious but disjointed, occasionally flirts with being a cheesy community movie. JJ

Johhny Gadar – 2007 – Sriram Raghavan

 

A great thriller about five gangsters involved in a heist. One of them is a traitor with big plans to pocket all the money and elope with his girlfriend. While the traitor is revealed in the beginning, the twists and turns in the movie keep you engaged until the end. Neha Kumar

Dus Kahaniyan – 2007 – Various

This Bollywood movie is a compilation of 10 different stories, which have a flavour of thrill, action, suspense, romance and the occasional morality tale. It’s very different from the regular Hindi-movie format and very beautifully done. Most of the stories are enjoyable, but you may find the odd dud. Neha Kumar

The Hunting Party – 2007 – Richard Shepard

Set in Serbia during and after the war. Richard Gere is a love-lost journalist in need of the biggest story of his life; capturing an infamous war criminal modelled on Radovan Karadžić. Gere’s character manages to find him after only two days, which raises the question, why isn’t Richard Gere on the the UN payroll? Brian Murray

Bewoulf – 2007 – Robert Zemeckis

Semi-animated tripe with the ever-beautiful Jolie in the wrath-of-the-witch role. Apart from that, a pointless re-enactment of the classic novel; your time and money would be better spent getting the Penguin Classics’ version and reading it. Brian Murray

Happy Feet – 2006 – George Miller

Taking up where March of the Penguins left off Hollywood gets one more play from the century’s most overused celluloid creatures. Mambo is an Antarctic outcast who much like Billy Elliot eventually wins everyone, especially his father’s approval, by dancing on ice. Cheesy ending to a cheese filled movie. Minus 10. JJ

Trade – 2007 – Marco Kreuzpaintner

Rarely does a movie disturb me or touch me, and never does one do both; that was, until this one. I watched this tale of sex trafficking with a knot in my stomach knowing that this, although fiction, is a reality for thousands of boys, girls and women all over the world. If you are of conservative or of delicate constitution, stay away. Compelling but gruesome. Brian Murray

The Brave One – 2007 – Neil Jordan

I read somewhere that every story has already been told, and that is the case with this movie. It’s like Charles Bronson on estrogen and aired just before Oprah, minus the juicy parts. As my mother says: “They ruined the action with a love story.” Go and watch Death Wish for vigilante justice. Brian Murray

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints – 2006 – Dito Montiel

This powerful biopic traces young Dito growing up in New York. He and his friends are victims of the same crimes the commit; their lives are violent and their families are broken. As consequences pile up, Dito becomes torn between loyalty to friends and family and finding his own path. William Hilderbrandt

The Russian Dolls – 2005 – Cédric Klapisch

In its attempt to portray modern Europe’s sexy young people as a cutely disoriented bunch caught up in vaguely ‘globalised’ stumblings and jumblings, this film annoys with an advertising-like aesthetic. A suspiciously good-looking cast in a plot so anemic that TDR might as well be a commercial for light beer. Sabine Wolf