Hi there.

So the nominations this week are:-

ALICE IN WONDERLAND 2-D AND 3-D

A composite of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and, oddly, Jabberwocky in which a 19-year-old Alice returns to the Wonderland she first visited 10 years before. It's in a bit of a mess, to be honest, and she's seized on as the heroine who can defeat the Red Queen - an excellent performance from Helena Bonham-Carter with a big head - by slaying the Jabberwocky. Yes, I know it should be the Jabberwock, but they don't. It's a dark affair, as you would expect from Tim Burton, and, as is his trademark, the evil court of the Red Queen looks stunning whereas the good White Queen and her palace are cold and anaemic. Amazing 3-D effects, a nice part for Johnny Depp as a flame-haired Mad Hatter and more British CGI thesp cameos than you could shake a vorpal sword at. As usual, ignore the reviews, park your memories of sweet little Alice outside and enjoy the film.

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE

A US diplomatic aide in Paris dreams of being given a proper assignment. His dream comes true, but he is saddled with a new partner. Stars a shaven headed John Travolta who looks uncannily like Bruce Willis, and a thin-lipped Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. The film tries hard to be Pulp Fiction 2 - it even namechecks the 'Royale With Cheese' running gag from the film - but lacks the wit and style of Tarantino's movie. A big body count, some fairly good dialogue, alarming car chases, courtesy of L'Equipe Julienne, a labyrinthine plot and that's your film.

LEAP YEAR

This is a sort of 'When O'Malley met Sally'. Amy Adams plays a New York career girl who wants to propose to her dull boyfriend who would have been played by Ralph Bellamy if this was a 1940 screwball comedy. Sadly it isn't, so our heroine comes to Old Oireland where she can propose as it's leap year and you can do that - exactly why you can't do that on any day of the year in New York isn't made clear. But there's bad weather, they divert via Wales (gosh) and a grumpy Irishman, played by Matthew Goode, whose accent veers from Killarney to Kilmarnock, offers to take her to Dublin for a fee. They hate each other, of course but soon....I think you know the rest. The first half is dire, but if you can stomach that it does sharpen up a great deal. Fun if you're a fan of shamrock and irritating omigawd Americans.

THE LOVELY BONES

A murdered girl watches over her family from a place between earth and heaven to help them come to terms with her death and to help them find her killer. Peter Jackson adapts Alice Sebold’s excellent novel and tries too hard to make it all things to all men. Whereas the novel was perfectly judged, Jackson instead can't decide whether it's a supernatural story, a thriller, a horror film or, disastrously, a comedy with Susan Sarandon as the alcohol fuelled granny. With some script editing and a firmer hand this could have been a much better film. Still, it has a great performance from Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon (like the fish).

INVICTUS

How Nelson Mandela united post-apartheid South Africa behind the Springboks' triumphant run at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. It stars Morgan Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as the Springbok's captain, and it's directed by Clint Eastwood who's still going strong at 79. Wisely, Freeman doesn't impersonate Mandela, but gives us the essence of the man. Not exactly subtle, but the rousing rugby scenes, which I am assured are well staged, and the ease of Freeman's performance make for a satisfying, if over-simplified, movie.

THE CRAZIES

The residents of a small town are plagued by insanity after a mysterious toxin gets into their water supply. Remake of the George Romero 1973 zombie film.

A student discovers that he is the descendant of Greek gods.

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG

A prince, transformed into a frog, has to get a princess to kiss him to break the spell. VALENTINES DAY

A bunch of couples and singles in Los Angeles break up and make up in the run-up to 14 February. Includes Shirley McClaine! Makes Love Actually look like Citizen Kane.

GREEN ZONE

Based on the book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran and set in the early days of the Iraq war, an army inspector dispatched to find WMD stumbles upon an elaborate cover-up instead.

And that's it! Enjoy the film.....

Glyn