THE BOURNE IDENTITY (12A, 118mins)

GRIPPING spy thriller that puts most recent Bond movies to shame - see review.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (U, 98mins)

Writer-director Oliver Parker once again takes a walk on the Wilde side - see review.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDLANDS (15, 104mins)

AN attempt to translate the spaghetti western up north with lots of UK names, including rising star Rhys Ifans of Notting Hill fame, Robert Carlyle, Ricky Tomlinson and the always priceless and accomplished Kathy Burke as well as the very talented newcomer Finn Atkins - see review.

INSOMNIA (15, 118 mins)

Christopher Nolan's follow-up to Memento is another intense journey into murder and madness. This is a remake of a little-seen Norwegian thriller. Veteran police officer Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and his young, ambitious partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) travel to a fishing village to hunt down a devious murderer. During a stake-out, Will accidentally shoots Hap, and he is then blackmailed by the killer who witnessed the murder. This film is an intense thrill ride.

THE SWEETEST THING (15, 88 mins)

Sexy young thing Christina (Cameron Diaz) has navigated the dating scene without ever having a meaningful relationship, until she meets latest conquest Peter (Thomas Jane), that is, and is smitten. Unfortunately, he has left town and Christina and her friends embark on a mission to track him down in this effervescent comedy that, sadly, lacks originality.

WINDTALKERS (15, 134 mins)

Action movie director John Woo reunites with Nicolas Cage on this World War II drama, focusing on the 1945 Battle of Saipan. During the conflict, the US forces turned to the Navajo to encode their messages to prevent the Japanese intercepting information. Cage and Christian Slater play marine sergeants enlisted to guarantee the safety of two code talkers who have to make a live or death decision.

REIGN OF FIRE (12A, 101 mins)

IT is the year 2020 and dragons once again rule the Earth, which means dragon slayer Denton Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) must join forces with British survivor Quinn Abercromby (Christian Bale) to wipe out the solitary male of the species with the help of plucky pilot Alex (Izabella Scorupco).

THE GURU (15, 94 mins)

New Age mysticism provides the backdrop for this romantic comedy that sees a happy marriage between the best traditions of Bollywood and Hollywood to produce Jollywood. Indian dance instructor Ramu (Mistry) travels to New York in search of fame and stumbles into the adult film industry, where he falls for porn star Sharonna (Heather Graham) and is then mistaken for a sex guru by a young socialite (Marisa Tomei).

SPY KIDS 2: THE ISLAND OF LOST DREAMS (U, 100 mins)

AS exhilarating as the first adventure. Pint-sized agents Carmen and Juni Cortez (Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara) clash with rivals Gary and Gerti Giggles (Matthew O'Leary, Emily Osment) but then get together to retrieve a device from an island overrun by wondrous creatures created by scientist Steve Buscemi.

THE SUM OF ALL FEARS (12, 123 mins)

This finds Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) at the beginning of his career as terrorists threaten global peace by detonating a nuclear bomb in Baltimore and blaming the Russians. Ryan, under CIA director Morgan Freeman, smells a rat, however...

MEN IN BLACK II (PG, 88 mins)

Jay (Will Smith) and Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) return as the alien-busting secret agents in an action-packed sequel that co-stars Lara Flynn Boyle and has a laughable finale.

AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER (12, 94 mins)

Austin Powers (Mike Myers) again faces his nemesis Dr Evil (Myers) and alter ego Mini Me who join forces with Goldmember (Myers) to kidnap Austin's father Nigel (Michael Caine). So Austin heads back to 1975 to join forces with old flame Foxxy Cleopatra (Beyonce Knowles) and thwart Dr Evil.

STUART LITTLE 2 (U, 77 mins)

A charming and heart-warming sequel about the talking mouse (voiced by Michael J Fox) 'who' lives with his adopted family, the Littles (Hugh Laurie, Geena Davis, Jonathan Lipnicki). Life changes forever with the arrival of Margalo (Melanie Griffith), a beautiful canary who steals Stuart's heart, but our hero's happiness is jeopardised by the dastardly Falcon (James Woods). This is a great family film with superb special effects and wonderful dark humour.

COMING NEXT WEEK

Mel Gibson discovers the truth about crop circles in M Night Shyamalan's chilling SIGNS... a jealous classmate (Josh Hartnett) poisons the mind of his best friend (Mekhi Phifer) in the modern take on Shakespeare's Othello, simply called O... and Mandy Moore and Shane West fall in love in the teen romance A WALK TO REMEMBER.