Movie #3572
Havoc
Barbara Kopple, 2005, USA
Kopple’s career has come a long way from Harlan County, USA. Here she tackles the overlooked plight of the bored high-schoolers who live in the Pacific Palisades, but act like Wiggas. Best of all is seeing Anne “Princess Diaries” Hathaway act all gangsta, singing hip-hop, bonding with Mexicans and in general trying very hard to act. The scenes where her and Bijou Philips rap and then roll around on the floor are particularly strong, as are three offensively gratuitous displays of Hathaway’s breasts.

Movie #3574
Veronica Guerin
Joel Schumacher, 2003, USA
Cate Blanchett’s passable Irish brogue is offset by some truly cheesy direction from Shades of Grey fave Joel Schumacher (who used to be a Costume Designer, an obvious precursor to directing features). Colin Farrell makes an unnecessary cameo as a football hooligan in this limp drama. Best Bit: Schumacher, unable to handle the complex multi-layered narrative intrinsic to a real-life account of political unrest, instead opts for the end credit “Chris Mulligan is a fictional composite character based in part on several different people, and certain events in which the character is depicted have been fictionalised for dramatic effect.” Laziness, or just an inherent lack of talent and intellect? Schumacher also made Dying Young, so you decide.