The Winslow Boy, General
Directed by David Mamet. Starring Nigel Hawthorne, Jeremy Northam, Rebecca Pidgeon, Gemma Jones, Gary Edwards
Mamet's elegant and respectful adaptation of Terence Rattigan's factually based play is set in 1912 and features an outstanding performance by Hawthorne as the London paterfamilias determined to clear his 14-year-old naval cadet son of the charge that he stole a five-shilling postal order. The film acutely catches the temperature of the times - and the reserve of its emotionally repressed protagonists who are galvanised into action - as it taps into the contemporary resonances of the play's theme: that it is easy to do justice, but not so easy to do right.
The Iron Giant
Directed by Brad Bird. Voiced by Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr, John Mahoney, Vin Diesel, Eli Marienthal
Based on The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, this visually striking and consistently engrossing animated feature from Warner Bros should appeal to all ages. It deals with the mysterious appearance of a huge metal-eating robot which is befriended by a young boy. The movie transposes the setting from England to New England - and back to the Cold War paranoia of the late 1950s. The animation is classically attractive but unshowy, and the film is refreshingly free of schmaltzy songs.
Taxi
Directed by Gerard Pires. Starring Samy Naceri, Frederic Diefenthal
Written and produced by Luc Besson, this fairly entertaining action caper, directed by veteran Pires, features Naceri as a Marseilles taxi driver who relishes driving at speed. He is coerced by a police officer (Diefenthal) - who has failed his driving test for the eighth time - into helping him catch German bank robbers who flee in powerful Mercedes from the scenes of their crimes. The likeable, unfamiliar young leading actors lend the formulaic proceedings a certain freshness in a movie where the driving and the stunts constitute its raison d'etre. A sequel, Taxi 2, is enjoying huge commercial success in France at present.