Overdue reappraisal of mid-'60s Monk

Unusual but effective struggle-and-survival story

Tantalising if timid version of '80s TV landmark

Contrived whimsy from first-time Danish director

Dark, character-driven tale told from three angles

Drugged-up road movie set for instant cult status

OPENS NOVEMBER 14, CERT 15, 102 MINS Ann (Sarah Polley) is 23 and works as a night cleaner. She lives in a trailer home in her mother's backyard, along with two young daughters and an unemployed husband. She also, it turns out, has inoperable cancer, and a matter of months to live. And while on paper that might sound like Terms Of Endearment on a budget, this beautifully judged Canadian picture (produced by Pedro and Agustin Almodóvar) couldn't be further from the mawkishness of a Hollywood weepy. What lifts the film is the powerful, dignified performance from Polley.

DIRECTED BY Ridley Scott STARRING Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Hatry Dean Stanton Opened October 31, Cert 15, 115 mins Scott's franchise-launching 1979 future-shocker is one of those rare, pure, primal films that works as both highbrow modern myth and trouser-soiling midnight movie.

Tough yet intimate study of the immigration maze

Horror classic remade for post-Scream teens