Rampart (US, 2011)

Woody Harrelson as an old-style hard man LAPD cop cut adrift by family and colleagues after dishing out one savage beating too many.

There are too many pots on the boil here and the overall sensation is one of indifference, which in itself tends to weigh more towards negative than positive.

The Woman in the Fifth/La Femme du Vème (FR, UK, 2011)

An American writer arrives in Paris in a bid to take custody of his estranged daughter. So begins a series of episodes, with several borderline-deranged "who did what - and did it actually happen?" moments.

Kirstin Scott Thomas is, as ever, very watchable, and the director admirably captures something of the atmosphere of an ordinary, downbeat Paris.

While it's not in the same league as The Double Life of Veronique (which it vaguely reprises thematically), it is a good film and another example of an undeservedly low rating on IMDB which merits being bumped up.

Romanzo Criminale (IT, 2005)

Lengthy, credible, interesting, well-made account of the Banda della Magliana grip on Rome's criminal underworld for over a decade.

Flashes of key contemporary strategy of tension events - Aldo Moro's assassination, the 1980 bombing of Bologna rail station, assassination attempt on Pope John II - do not serve a needless "meaningful" "historical context", but rather hint at the Banda's possible/likely involvement in them, peripheral or otherwise.

A worthy, substance-over-style Italian export.

Coriolanus (2011, UK)

Overall, it works and doesn't work; while the action is good in places, the dialogue can be difficult to absorb, and it's not as entertaining as other faithful Shakespearean film adaptations (Romeo & Juliet, Titus) which also utilise modern props and/or costumes and settings.

Carnage (DE/ES/FR/PL, 2011)

An altercation between 2 schoolboys leads to both sets of parents meeting to discuss compensation and punitive/reconciliatory measures. It starts off almost amicably but soon becomes niggling, tetchy and narky. The action takes place almost entirely in an apartment. Will the 2 boys ever make up?

It's a light film with some funny moments, and good performances, particularly from Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet.

Edmond (US, 2005)

An account of one ordinary middle-aged American man's seedy existential crisis and another movie with a well-engineered trailer. Some of the set-pieces may seem a little sudden, facile or swervy, but it's well filmed with a few "I know I shouldn't be laughing at this but I can't help it" moments and extraordinary enough to make it likeable in its own right.

The Descendents (US, 2011)

It's a good film - as one would expect from Alexander Payne - but not not earth-shatteringly brilliant.