Film

DIRECTED BY Edward Zwick STARRING Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Hiroyuki Sanada, Timothy Spall Opens January 9, Cert 15, 154 mins Very loosely based on the development of trade links between the US and Japan in the 1870s, signalling the end of Shogunate rule and the beginning of Japan's Meiji Restoration era, The Last Samurai details the exploits of fictional cavalry hero Captain Nathan Algren (Cruise). Dispirited by the violence he's inflicted on the Indian nation, Algren accepts a lucrative assignment to train Japanese riflemen.

Taut, nasty German thriller

Final helping of the Wachowskis' techno-shock triptych

Two nautical novels brought brilliantly to life in one action stunner

Dancing Dracula doesn't suck

Godard salvages shorts collection

Candid look at America's drug-loving teen queens

Oddball two-dimensional anti-hero Harvey Pekar comes to the big screen

OPENS DECEMBER 12, CERT 15, 106 MINS In 1985, British mountaineers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates made a bold assault on the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They became the first (and so far only) climbers to conquer it, but their triumph turned to purgatory as they tried to get down again. After Simpson broke his leg, Yates tried to lower him down the mountain by rope. They'd almost made it when Simpson slithered over a precipice, forcing Yates to cut the rope to save himself. Fantastically, Simpson survived and crawled back to base.

Smart, shocking B-movie thrills