Zero Dark Thirty
Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Mark Strong, Joel Edgerton - Dir: Kathryn Bigelow

Zero Dark Thirty starts with a blank screen and frantic voices from the World Trade Centre attacks. Then there's an overwhelming rush of technical information and spy talk. For the first ten minutes you're thinking 'what the hell is going on?” But, no need to worry. It all becomes clear soon and this is obviously a short-hand way of establishing 'authenticity”, by throwing you straight into the heart of operations.
Despite ethical considerations, this is a expertly made film. Why would you expect any less from someone of Katherine Bigelow's skill? She knows how to do action and how to do suspense (previous films include Near Dark, Point Break and The Hurt Locker), and here applies her skills to a riveting procedural thriller, almost the equivalent of Zodiac's precise investigative approach but with explosions and a big climactic ending.
Chastain is particularly impressive as the driven lead, carrying the film's emotional weight, but questions still arise about the impression given that torture yielded useful results (denied - the results not the torture - by the CIA after the film's release). And the film does show one suspect giving up information after torture. The problem is that there is no space here for the broader context – a thousand other innocents being tortured for no purpose.
The filmmakers quite rightly say they are just illustrating reality, but what you leave out is often just as important as what you show.

There hasn't been a good old City Hall political thriller for some time – excepting TV's brilliant Boss - and Broken City aims to fill the gap. Russell Crowe is the mayor here, bringing in an old mate, disgraced ex-policeman Mark Wahlberg, to investigate his wife (Katherine Zeta-Jones) possibly having an affair. Of course the truth is much murkier than that and Wahlberg uncovers the expected nest of corruption and double-dealing. It should be great, but the story is too simplistic and Whalberg's 'personal journey” keeps getting in the way. But Crowe and Zeta-Jones shine and there are some nice touches.

Thin Ice has three great main performances (and some enjoyable minor ones) but seems tonally lost at times. Word that the director was removed, 15 minutes cut and a new score inserted point to possible problems. In a scenario reminiscent of the Coen Brothers' Fargo, Greg Kinnear is a Mid-Western insurance salesman, pretty much a full-on cheat and liar fallen on hard times. Escape is offered through a new client (irascible Alan Arkin) who unwittingly owns a valuable old violin. Conning ensues, complicated by the arrival of Billy Crudup's eccentric and unpredictable security guy. Pleasant enough but hinting at more.

Oz: The Great and Powerful is a sort of prequel to The Wizard of Oz. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time and director Sam Raimi certainly has some fun with the design and some snappy visuals. But, fatally, the story of James Franco's small-town magician, who finds himself transported to a magical land and embroiled in its problems after meeting three witches, founders on Franco's weird performance. Two of the witches (Rachel Weiss and Michelle Williams) are good but the whole thing lacks depth and feels off-kilter despite some imaginative set-pieces.

Despite the genre's chronic overexposure, Cockneys Vs Zombies shows there are still fresh paths to explore on the undead's seemingly unstoppable wobble towards world domination. Snappily directed, with obvious Guy Ritchie nods, our heroes are a gang of gormless would-be bank robbers and the folk in a retirement home. The latter - with Alan Ford, Honor Blackman and Richard Briers leading the charge - prove a particular masterstroke, being that rare sector of the population immobile enough to be threatened by zombies of the slow shuffling variety. Funny, spirited, gory and sprinkled with absurd rhyming slang – a gem amongst the knock-offs.