Film Review

We all love film but the question stays the same: an evening at the pictures or on the sofa with a DVD?

AUBIN & WILLS CLASSICS

Breathless (A Bout de Souffle)

by Jean-Luc Godard (1960)

There's a reason the French are so smug, and it's not just their excellent cheeses. Jean-Luc Godard's New Wave classic about car thief (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his American girlfriend, Patricia (Jean Seberg) is so impossibly cool, it stills looks fridge-fresh half a century after its original release date.

Optimum, £19.99

Lawrence of Arabia

by David Lean (1962)

It takes two discs to tame David Lean's 218-minute dessert epic into DVD format - and no wonder. Starring Peter O'Toole as the adventurer TE Lawrence, this Boy's Own escapade paints Lawrence's WWI adventures against a backdrop so vivid, you'll probably find sand in your shoe.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, £24.99

Annie Hall

by Woody Allen (1977)

It is because of Annie Hall that Woody Allen can make dire films with Ewan McGregor, witter on about jazz and marry all the adopted daughters he likes and yet we'll still love him. Diane Keaton is adorably daffy as Annie, but it's all about Woody - his neuroses, his gags and his unique take on romance.

MGM Entertainment, £15.99

Kind Hearts and Coronets

by Robert Hamer (1949)

Alec Guinness, the big show-off, gives a virtuoso performance as eight different members of the same family in this, the best of the Ealing comedies. A distant relative of the Duke of D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by bumping off the line of succession. Evil never had such good manners.

Optimum Home Entertainment £12.99

Saving Private Ryan

by Steven Spielberg (1998)

The cast list included all the star power of Hollywood (Tom Hanks, Matt Damon...) but there's nothing glamorous about that harrowing D Day landing scene. If you can make it through those opening moments, Spielberg's masterpiece contains enough truth about war to make a pacifist of a patriot and visa versa.

Paramount Home Entertainment, £15.99

OUR PICK OF THE NEW RELEASES

Taken

(out 12 September)

Liam Neeson stars as an ex-spy who must put his skills to the test when his daughter (Maggie Grace of Lost) is kidnapped into the slave trade. Neeson brings his natural gravitas, while director Pierre Morel, combines French sensibilities with enough seat-edge thrills to keep the popcorn-munchers happy.

RocknRolla

(out 19 September)

Would you Adam and Eve it? After a few disastrous diversions, Guy Ritchie, it seems, is back on form with this old-fashioned cockney crime caper. Thandie Newton and Entourage's Jeremy Piven join a cast of Ritchie regulars in this tale of London's underworld vs. the Russian mob. Just don't mention Revolver.

Tropic Thunder

(out 19 September)

If you found Dodgeball and Zoolander a touch highbrow, this one's for you. Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. play actors who accidentally stumble into real warfare while filming a big budget 'Nam movie on location. It might be dumb, but the gags come at you faster than bullets from an M60.

Brideshead Revisited

(out 3 October)

Evelyn Waugh's classic 1945 novel has been transformed into a glossy bonkathon in this long-awaited movie adaptation. Featuring pitch-perfect performances from Emma Thompson as Lady Marchmain, Micheal Gambon as Lord Marchmain and talented newcomers Matthew Goode and Ben Whishaw as Captain Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte. Expect much cycling through Oxford and flouncing around stately homes.

Burn After Reading

(17 October)

No Country For Old Men saw them in a darker mood, but you can still rely on the Coen Brothers for a quirky comedy. Burn After Reading, about gym employees who stumble across an ex-CIA agent's memoirs, looks set to be just that. The impressive cast includes George Clooney and Brad Pitt.