Munster Express Online

Coraline is a marvellous fantasy animation featuring a little girl (Dakota Fanning) and her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) who move into a disused boarding house that boasts a host of hidden characters and an intriguing secret door. Behind lies a parallel world where Coraline’s every wish is catered for. So far, so ideal, but unfortunately there’s a dark side. Exhilarating, brilliantly-executed tale.

Red Cliff is a stylish John Woo film set in third century China, where the land of Wu is invaded by the warlord Cao Cao and an army of one million soldiers.

A thoroughly spectacular piece of work, Red Cliff mixes documented history and imagined events. And while the results are over-the-top in typical Woo style, he manages to pull things together beautifully in what turns out to be something of a masterpiece.

Drag Me to Hell is a gripping, if camp, supernatural horror. Alison Lohman plays a young bank clerk who falls victim to a wicked curse when she refuses an old woman a mortgage. Directed by Sam Raimi, this is great fun throughout and while it avoids excessive gore, there’s a rollercoaster ride of shocks all the way to the surprise ending.

The Hurt Locker follows the lives of a bomb disposal squad in Iraq struggling to accept a new sergeant as they prepare for a dangerous assignment. This powerful thriller paints a vivid picture of the terrors of life on the front line. The nerve-shredding action sequences, in particular, are stripped of any showy bravado, and are all the more gripping for that. One of the finest ever war movies.

The Hangover features three groomsmen who wake up with a massive headache the morning after a bachelor party to remember. Or not, as the case may be, because the groom’s missing and nobody can recall quite where the night began to unravel. Cue a genuinely hilarious and unpredictable retracing of steps as the party gradually realises just how much trouble they are in.

Moon is a sci-fi treat, albeit an eccentric affair. Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is an astronaut sent on a three-year stint to mine the moon for the solution to Earth’s energy crisis.

This one small step for mankind turns out to be lonely one for Sam and he inevitably looks forward to the day he can return to his wife and young daughter. But just before he is due to return, a series of strange events shake Sam from his isolated cocoon.

Looking For Eric has former Manchester United bad boy Eric Cantona appearing in visions to a depressed postman who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Ken Loach’s film is full of gentle humour, sprinkling familiar comedy drama themes with a magical unpredictability. Steve Evets is excellent in the lead and his morose despair provides an unlikely backdrop for one of the feel-good films of the year.

Katyn is a troublingly bleak account of how 15,000 prisoners were massacred by the Soviet army at the beginning of World War II – told through the eyes of a young Polish army captain and his young wife and daughter who await his return home. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev finally admitted his country’s responsibility for the killings, which formed part of Stalin’s plan to eliminate resistance to Soviet control among Poles.

American Gangster is a compelling crime thriller with Denzel Washington delivering a towering performance as real-life druglord Frank Lucas.

Russell Crowe is also at his brooding best as good cop Richie Roberts who is determined to bring down a 1970s Harlem drugs empire.

Frost Nixon chronicles the great four-round interview battle in the summer of 1977 between disgraced US president Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) and British TV host David Frost (Michael Sheen). Sheen once again underlines his credentials as the great chameleon with a wonderful turn that highlights both the brashness and vulnerability in Frost. Gripping fare.