Superb drama with Costner in perhaps his best role as jailbreaker Butch Haynes, a career criminal who has to kidnap a young boy to escape the law. The drama unfolds with the relationship between the two, and the pursuing Eastwood. Great performances, particularly the boy (T J Lowther) and excellently directed. find out more...

In 2002 three skinheads beat a young gay man, Francois Chenu, unconscious and threw his body into a lake, where he drowned. The killers were quickly caught and the case gained both national and international notoriety. This documentary deals with the ordeal of Francois' family, their horror, anger, grief and, ultimately, forgiveness. Beyond Hatred is a powerful, moving and thought provoking tale, though like the recent Parisian riots and films such as ‘La Haine' it highlights a nation at serious find out more...

'Collateral', a new BBC drama, has been written by distinguisged playwright David Hare. Writing for the theatre, an author has to make great use of dialogue; they lack access to the inner monologue that a writer of fiction can call upon, or the camera and its access to varied surroundings of someone writing for TV or cinema. Hare has his own trademark style of dialogue; and he retains it even when television is his medium. So one thing one doesn't get is naturalistic find out more...

January 1966: in a Paris flat police discover the body of Georges Figon. A year earlier, tired of dodgy deals and petty scams, ex-con Georges Figon had gone in search of something big and, through his underworld connections, had got himself hired as producer for a documentary on de-colonialisation to be written by Marguerite Duras and directed by Georges Franju. The well-known Moroccan dissident Mehdi Ben Barka was to be the film's 'historical advisor', but the whole film project was an elaborat find out more...

Riveting stuff from Clint as the aging Fed desperate to prove he's not over the hill, and that JFK's death wasn't his fault! John Malkovich is superb as the laconic and devious killer out to get both the president and Clint in one go. Cliches aside, tight direction keeps up maximum pace. find out more...

After a one-night stand with a military officer, a cabaret singer is imprisoned by the secret police, without ever being informed of her alleged crime. For the next five years, she is subjected to harrowing torture and harassment, which she doggedly withstands in a struggle to maintain her dignity and sanity. Interrogation was banned by the Polish government for being 'inflammatory and dangerous'. Years later director Bugjaski smuggled a copy out of the country where it debuted at Cannes in 1990 find out more...

10 years have passed since war changed the face of Japan, which now burns with the fire of civil unrest, and a well armed anti-government group has risen amongst the people, which in turn has initiated the formation of an elite troupe of government soldiers, the feared 'Wolf Brigade', trained like dogs these men are to combat the rebels with extreme and severe prejudice. When Constable Fuse hesitates to kill a young suicide bomber, he is sent to a retraing camp where he is forced to face his own find out more...

Tense and engaging account of contemporary Parisian street life. The recriminations against the notorious police for an injured friend are realised by a documentary style of film making with voyeuristic undertones. Violently realistic and bitter drama. Excellent soundtrack. find out more...

Military dictator Augusto Pinochet calls for a referendum to decide his permanence in power in 1988, the leaders of the opposition persuade a young daring advertising executive - René Saavedra - to head their campaign. With limited resources and under the constant scrutiny of the despot's watchmen, Saavedra and his team conceive of a bold plan to win the election and free their country from oppression.

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This ambitious and addictive BBC drama, tracing thirty years in the lives of four working class friends from Newcastle starting in 1964, is at least as good as any of the current much lauded series emanating from the US. Mary's mistake, Nicky's idealism, Geordie's escape to London and Tosker's ambition are played out against a backdrop of social change, police corruption and swinging times. find out more...