One to steer clear of

"Crash" (18)

The coldest and most clinical film to date from David Cronenberg - and the most extreme and disturbing - is this adaptation of J.G. Ballard's novel dealing with characters sexually excited by being in or witnessing car crashes. The result is a technically accomplished film which rings singularly hollow. An arid and austere experience, its calculated outrageousness is so relentless that it eventually provokes merely numbness and often turns risible. The adventurous cast features James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Unger and Rosanna Arquette.

"Starship Troopers" (18)

Dutch director Paul Verhoeven follows his infamous Showgirls with a characteristically over-thetop, violent and dark-humoured action movie in which an elite infantry corps battles to save the human race from giant alien insects. With Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey and Neil Patrick Harris.

"George Of The Jungle" (PG)

An engagingly deadpan Brendan Fraser stars in this witty Tarzan spoof which makes for good-humoured slapstick entertainment with a keen sense of the absurd. The knowing, self-referential tone of the humour explains its crossover appeal to adults as well as children.

"The Jackal" (18), available from July 14th

In a very loose spin on The Day Of The Jackal, Richard Gere (with a ropy Irish accent) plays a Provo who helps the FBI track down a ruthless chameleon-like assassin played by Bruce Willis. With Sidney Poitier and Diane Venora. Directed by Michael Caton-Jones.

"Fools Rush In" (15)

Matthew Perry (from Friends) plays a Manhattan executive and Selma Hayek is a Mexican-American photographer in this tepid and tiresome would-be romantic comedy which follows the unexpected consequences of their one-night stand. Andy Tennant directs.

"Father's Day" (15)

Ivan Reitman's US remake of the 1984 French comedy, Les Comperes is an uninspired star vehicle which fails to raise much of a smile, much less a laugh. It features Nastassja Kinski as a woman who convinces two of her old boyfriends (Billy Crystal and Robin Williams) that each of them is the father of her runaway teenage son.

"Home Alone 3"(PG)

Macaulay Culkin is replaced by young Alex D. Linz, and Joe Pesci by a bunch of European "terrorists" in the latest instalment of John Hughes's by-the-numbers comedy series. But there's an awful lot of waiting around before we get to the slapstick, causing younger audiences to get very restless.