King of New York is a low-budget crime thriller has the feel of a major blockbuster and owes its roots to the hard-edged crime movies of the 1930s. Christopher Walken stars as a drug kingpin who is released from prison and vows to use his position and influence-and criminal enterprise-for charitable means. But a core group of New York cops are all over him and his gang, determined to go to war, whatever the cost, to bring him down. Eventually his empire-headquartered at, of all places, Donald Trump's Plaza Hotel-crumbles under the weight of double-crossing and a body count of open warfare with the cops. This is one of the most stylish films of the last decade, with a strong supporting cast (including Lawrence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, and David Caruso) and some truly enthralling set pieces, including a stunning car chase and gunfight across a rain-soaked Queensboro Bridge. The film's tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top style offsets its nihilism; and its riveting visuals will have audiences hooked from beginning to end. -Robert Lane.

A lush retelling of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Excalibur is a dark and engrossing tale. Director John Boorman (Deliverance) masterfully handles the tale of the mythical sword Excalibur, and its passing from the wizard Merlin to the future king of England. Arthur pulls the famed sword from a stone and is destined to be crowned king. As the king embarks on a passionate love affair with Guenevere, an illegitimate son, and Merlin's designs on power, threaten Arthur's reign. The film is visually stunning and unflinching in its scenes of combat and black magic. Featuring an impressive supporting cast, including early work from the likes of Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne, Excalibur is an adaptation of the legend both faithful and bold. -Robert Lane.

The ideal starter movie for those who wish to familiarise themselves with the work of the paradoxical Japanese auteur, Hana-Bi (the word means "fireworks" in Japanese) is an echt example of "Beat"'s Takeshi Kitano's distinctive brand of existential crime thrillers. Like Violent Cop, Boiling Point, Sonatine or his LA-set Brother, Hana-Bi juxtaposes shocking bursts of violence with reflective moments of lyricism, setting up a slap-caress-slap rhythm that's as disquieting as it is addictive. Kitano himself plays weary Tokyo cop Nishi, an impassive-faced detective in hock to yakuza mobsters, toughened by a career in violence (at one point he takes out an attacker's eye with a chopstick, an assault so swiftly edited one barely has time to register it). Nishi's Achilles-heel is his love for his wife Miyuki (Kayoko Kishimoto) who is dying of cancer, following their late daughter to the grave. When Nishi leaves a stakeout to attend to her in hospital, a colleague, Horibe (Ren Osugi) is paralysed in the ensuing shootout. Nishi, guilt-stricken, goes on the run with Miyuki, taking her to beauty spots to enjoy simple pleasures like kite-flying and picnics before she dies, although the yakuza are never far behind. Meanwhile, Horibe takes up painting, and discovers in the process a calming new vocation (the na&239;ve, disturbing and strangely beautiful images are by Kitano himself, painted after he had his own near-fatal experience in a motorcycle accident). The cumulative effect is a profoundly moving and enigmatic movie, one that discreetly withholds many of the narrative crutches-backstory, motivation-you would expect from a conventional Hollywood movie with the same story. It's not surprising Kitano is so drawn to characters teeming with contradictions, given that his own career seems so bi-polar on paper: he started out a television presenting clown, and his move into glowering policiers represented an image volte-face as surprising to Japanese audiences as it would be if Dale Winton had started making Scorsese-style gangster movies. His comic sensibility shines through in spots in Hana-Bi, even more so in the broad comedy Kikujiro. [+]

Salvador recounts the conflict between the peasant revolution and the US-backed death squads in El Salvador in the early 1980s as seen through the eyes of American journalist Richard Boyle. Telling unpalatable truths condensed into intense fiction, Oliver Stone's film is typically confrontational, the real Boyle writing the source material for Stone's savage screenplay. The journalist is brought to life by James Woods in a brilliant hyper-kinetic performance: his powerful commitment to the truth balances his self-destructive, drink, drugs and danger-fuelled personality. Providing excellent support is James Belushi as partner in debauchery Dr Rock, while Stone delivers the most spectacular $4 million movie imaginable by conning the El Salvadorian military into lending tanks, planes and helicopters for a film which brands many of their leaders as war criminals. Genuinely radical cinema, Salvador blisters with moral fury, setting it beside The Killing Fields (1984) as a modern classic. On the DVD: Without spoiling the plot, the original trailer is so compelling it makes you want to watch the film again even if you've just seen it. The are four deleted/extended scenes which add a little more political background-unfortunately the legendary orgy/severed-ears seen is not among them. Parts, though not the whole of this scene, appear in the exceptionally good 62-minute retrospective documentary which covers the extraordinary making of the film and the horrors of the political background in depth (a technical advisor was shot dead on a tennis court). Oliver Stone delivers the best commentary tracks around and this is no exception as he presents a masterclass in gonzo-guerrilla filmmaking. There is also a gallery of 46 behind-the-scenes stills. [+]

Despite Nemesis bearing strong echoes of the Star Trek franchise's 1982 zenith, The Wrath of Kahn, the tenth film in the series sadly lacks Kahn's enormous conviction and resonance. That aside, Nemesis is still a strong, enjoyable effort containing all the Trek hallmarks, while making few concessions for non-fans. Following the wedding of Riker and Troi, the Enterprise is called to negotiate peace with longtime Federation enemies the Romulans, now led by the mysterious Reman, Shinzon (a malevolent Tom Hardy), who bears an unnervingly close link to Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart). At the same time, Data's (Brent Spiner) surprise discovery of an inferior prototype of himself leads him to make to some harsh human decisions. Certainly, the film has a comfy familiarity to it, and there are no shocking changes of direction, but scriptwriter John Logan (Gladiator) and director Stuart Baird (Executive Decision)-both franchise newcomers-make some fine contributions. Logan imbues some scenes with fine seething drama, particularly between Picard and Shinzon, and introduces, in a psychic assault on Troi (Marina Sirtis), a hitherto unseen darkness in the Trek universe. Baird, meanwhile, offsets the series "talkiness" with some superbly realised-and brutal-action sequences. Should this indeed be the final voyage for The Next Generation Enterprise, then it could have been far worse. -Danny Graydon.