THE TERRORIST
Dir: Mahsun Kirmizigul. Starring: Danny Glover, Robert Patrick, Hailuk Bilginer.

The original and overseas title was Five Minarets in New York, which was probably a mistake. But it's also a mistake to think of this as another post-9/11 examination of American grief and paranoia. For a start it's not an American film and, ultimately, it's not really a film about America.
The Terrorist is Turkish and sees – after a dramatic raid attempting to take down a radical Islamic cell in Istanbul – two police officers from that country sent to New York to extradite the possible leader of the group. There they confront typical American prejudice, and complications when the convoy is ambushed and the suspect escapes en route to the airport.

Filmed half in Turkey and half in America this is a ravishing-looking film, a slick action job, which at the same time, pauses to allow thought and discussion.

The subtext (and later explicit theme) of revenge and the difficulty of letting go old wounds tempers the regular thriller conventions and if there's a tendency to be a bit ‘message heavy' it doesn't get in the way of the story. Kudos to writer/director Kirmizigul, who also has a pivotal acting role.

Looking at the IMDB reviews, some seem to regard this as Muslim propaganda, since it posits the (radical only in the states) opinion that Islam is a peaceful religion subverted by extremists. Which only seems to reinforce the idea that films like this need to be seen more widely.

Some films are what they call ‘critic-proof' and Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides is one of those. If you liked the previous Pirates films you'll watch this; if you didn't, you won't. Nothing I can say will make any difference. For the record, I thought this was as pleasant and harmless as any fourth film in a franchise based on an amusement park ride can expect to be. Johnny Depp is doing the same shtick as before, Geoffrey Rush is back, Penelope Cruz is the love interest, and Ian McShane joins the shenanigans as Bluebeard. Yo-ho-ho!

Vampires seem to be on the wane but more zombies are arriving on DVD shelves every week, this time in the form of The Dead. Three things distinguish this particular zombie outing: it's set in Africa; it returns to the old ‘slow-moving' zombies; and it uses beautiful widescreen cinematography. Gore, suspense and almost a buddy story ensue in a film that stands apart from others in the genre while honouring the usual conventions. Directors the Ford brothers have made a classy and distinctive entry into the genre and will clearly be worth following in the future.

French director Francois Ozon has a fondness for an unusual seam of retro-kitsch, but Potiche (Trophy Wife) came as a surprise to everyone, updating a play from France's unfashionable ‘boulevard' genre (light comedies regarded by critics as passé, escapist and conservative) and capturing the French box office. Revelling in its ‘70s origins – witness the kitsch cookie-box opening – this smartly plays on feminist themes and subtly subverts social conventions while uniting two veritable icons, Catherine Deneuve (quite magnificent) and Gerard Depardieu (fat and fun) in the story of an industrialist's wife and the ‘liberation' that comes when she takes over running her husband's factory. Delightful.

The Chinese have a history of earthquakes that make the Christchurch shakes seem like a slight nudge. Aftershock follows a family torn apart in the aftermath of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in which some quarter of a million people were killed. With two small children caught in the rubble a mother must decide whether to save her son or daughter. She picks the son (this is China after all), but both survive and we follow their separate lives until they are reunited – ironically – by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. This is epic emotive stuff, well worth braving the subtitles for.