Movie clips

BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE

(Cert 12, 98 mins)

FBI agent Malcolm Turner (Martin Lawrence) is used to going undercover to get the bad guys, often donning elaborate costumes to ensnare his prey. Following another successful bust, Turner and partner John (Paul Giamatti) are assigned to capture serial killer and bank robber Laster (Terrence Dashon Howard) who has recently escaped from jail. Hidden beneath the layers of Francine Jamison-Tanchuck's rather fine costume, Lawrence is more bearable than usual, forced to forego his smug, wise-cracking antics in favour of physical comedy and the odd smart oneliner.

CHICKEN RUN

(Cert U, 80 mins)

The team behind Wallace and Gromit provides its first feature film in Chicken Run, starring a cast of claymation Yorkshire fowl.

The voice of Julia Sawalha steals the show as the strident heroine who lays her own life on the line to rescue the flock while Mel Gibson's boisterous wise-cracking matches the energy of Park and Lord's direction. Well-written, looks great, a bit of a curate's egg - but worth a watch.

FREQUENCY

(Cert 15, 118 mins)

If you were given the opportunity to travel back in time, and change just one event from your past, what would it be? New York cop John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel) knows exactly which moment he would choose: the day his fire-fighter father Frank (Dennis Quaid) died in a blaze. Parallel universes and time travelling have been the subjects of countless films, and like many of its predecessors, Frequency is fatally flawed in its logic. However, Toby Emmerich's script does have its moments. Quaid has rarely been better; Caviezel is equally good, tapping into the anger, wonderment and joy of a man suddenly given a second chance to be close to his hero.

GLADIATOR

(Cert 15, 150 mins)

British director Ridley Scott's sword-and-sandals epic is a muscular and bold combat film threaded with scenes of gore. The hero of the day is Maximus (Russell Crowe), a popular general in the army of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), who is adored as much by his men as he is by the Emperor. The Emperor's weasel-like son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) is not best pleased by this show of family disloyalty and murders the old man. He assumes the throne and orders the immediate execution of Maximus, the sole threat to his rule. Barely escaping death, Maximus is forced into slavery and is trained as a gladiator by Proximo (Oliver Reed).

THE GREEN MILE

(Cert 18, 189 mins)

The Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont returns to Stephen King-penned prison stories, and comes up with another belter: Tom Hanks starring as the chief guard on the Cold Mountain Penitentiary's Death Row, who forms a relationship with John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a giant, convicted killer who nevertheless seems strangely gentle and holds a staggering secret. A well-told, expertly played and wonderfully absorbing genre-buster, also starring James Cromwell, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt and Michael Jeter.

UNE LIAISON PORNOGRAPHIQUE

(Cert 15)

Having placed a contact ad to fulfil a long-cherished fantasy, Natalie Baye meets Sergi Lopez in a Parisian cafe. Confiding intimate details about their feelings, but refusing to divulge the nature of the act, they take an off-camera interviewer through the weekly rendezvous that eventually lead to romance and, thus, allow us (at last) into their hotel room to witness their love-making. Impeccably performed, neatly staged and endlessly intriguing, this is the kind of intelligent adult film at which the French excel and which Hollywood should further explore.

MAYBE BABY

(Cert 15, 104 mins)

Sam and Lucy Bell (Hugh Laurie, Joely Richardson) are bright, thirtysomething media darlings who want a baby but can't make one, so they deliver themselves into the hands of Dr James (Rowan Atkinson) who suggests sperm tests and possibly IVF as the way forward. Unfortunately, the endless medical tests soon take their toll on the couple's relationship. Writer-director Ben Elton strikes a pleasing balance between the comedy and drama, fleshing out Sam and Lucy in broad though intimate strokes and slowly gaining our affection and sympathy for them. The laughs are frequent and evolve from the couple's predicament.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2

(Cert 15, 124 mins)

Special agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back to face an international crisis of terrifying magnitude. Former colleague Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) has stolen a deadly, genetically-engineered toxin and is threatening to sell the technology to the highest bidder. Disappointing, but leaves room for director John Woo to dazzle the audience with his little bag of tricks slow-motion motorcycle chases, balletic fight sequences, and Cruise performing all sorts of flying kicks and somersaults as if he's been watching too much of The Matrix. With the addition of a booming, gravelly voice-over, Mission: Impossible 2 would make a fantastic two-hour movie trailer. But not much more.

THREE TO TANGO

(Cert 12, 99 mins)

Oscar Novak (Matthew Perry) is a young architect frustrated by his bachelor lifestyle. He is handpicked by Chicago tycoon Charles Newman (Dylan McDermott), who believes that Oscar is gay and consequently assigns him to spy on his mistress, Amy (Neve Campbell). The setup of Three To Tango is reminiscent of the 70s sitcom Three's Company in which a would-be chef pretends to be gay in order to secure himself an apartment with two young women. Campbell is arguably the film's one saving grace, and far more than Oscar deserves.

THE TIGGER MOVIE

(Cert U, 77 mins)

The adorably spring-loaded Tigger finally gets his first ever film (as if we needed reminding of what a cheery chappy he is). Some 17 years since the last Winnie The Pooh film was released in theatres, as well made as The Tigger Movie is, it really would be better suited as a straight-to-video film, that families can settle down and dip into together.