An amusing exercise in '90s nostalgia, The Wackness is anything but wack...

It's New York in 1994; Cobain has just shot himself, Biggie and Tupac are still friends and Giuliani has only just been elected mayor. Experiencing it all is Luke (played by former child star Josh Peck) a self-confessed loser in his last year at high school - and also a part-time pot dealer.

We meet him in the office of one of his clients - and best friend - Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley), a self-medicating psychiatrist. The film then follows the pair through one long, hot, life-changing summer.

It's the often hilarious script that stays in the mind. Kingsley generally gets the best lines (when Luke tells him he feels down, he asks "is it because of Kurt Cobain?"), and despite a wavering New York accent, shows a real flair for comedy. OP



Standard Operating Procedure is essential viewing, but often difficult to watch. Master documentary maker Errol Morris (who won an Oscar for his Robert McNamara interview The Fog of War) sits down with (almost) all of the prison guards responsible for the sickening scenes of prisoner humiliation and torture that emerged from Abu Ghraib prison in the aftermath of the Iraq war.

You may find Morris' empathy with his subjects, almost all of whom show little remorse for their heinous acts, hard to bear, but it's arguable that by simply letting these individuals have their say they damn themselves far more than any liberal commentator could. Documentary at its most powerful and timely. OP



Imagine the basic conceit of Groundhog Day -- a man is forced to relive the same day over-and-over again - re-imagined as an atmospheric, jolly creepy Spanish horror film and you'll be somewhere near to Timecrimes.

This superbly sinister effort follows Hector -- an ordinary suburban guy who one night glimpses a naked woman through the trees. He goes outside to investigate, but finds himself attacked by a rather angry and aggressive man with a bandage head.

The movie is at its most effective in the opening scenes in the woods, with director Nacho Vigalondo proving adapt at conjuring scares and making guys with bandaged heads look very creepy indeed. Timecrimes, along with the similarly well-produced Spanish-horror-thriller [Rec], proves the Iberian peninsula a fertile breeding ground for brilliantly made frighteners with brains. OP



After the success of This is England, Shane Meadows returns with Somers Town, a smaller-scale but still hugely affecting film again revolving around adolescents on the margins of society.

Thomas Turgoose (spectacular as the young skinhead in England) plays Tomo, a teenager from Nottingham who -- for reasons that are never explained -- arrives by train in London despite not knowing a soul and having nowhere to go. After he's mugged and loses all his money, he befriends Marek, a Polish boy living with his builder father. They soon become close friends, and both lust after the hot French waitress who works in their local cafe.

It's a simple, almost plotless story, but one that is made immensely powerful by the characteristically superb and naturalistic performances. The simple shooting style - the film is shot in black and white and features little camera movement - amplifies the bonhomie and natural chemistry of the two young leads as they embark on a series of hilarious scrapes. OP



A spectacularly silly, amusing and gory examination of the world's problems with fossil fuels, Blood Car is set to become a cult favourite.

Set in the near future - with cars rendered almost non-existent by the scarcity of oil - this low budget effort centres around Archie; an ultra environmentally conscious vegan kindergarten teacher who has been trying to build a car that runs on vegetable juice.

One day, with the car engine refusing to run on the fauna-based liquid, he accidently cuts his hand, a drop of blood dripping into the contraption and immediately starting the motor. The result? Green fingered Archie has inadvertently invented a car that runs on human blood.

It's a hilariously dark stuff that feels like it could have evolved from a Grindhouse fake trailer. A deliciously tasteless scene towards the end of the film, featuring a trigger-happy government agent and Archie's kindergarten class, is worth the price of admission alone. OP