GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD

Dir: Martin Scorsese. Starring: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Olivia Harrison

Martin Scorsese follows his excellent documentary about Bob Dylan's early career with a three and a half hour crack at the life of George Harrison.

It may lack the visceral charge of the previous effort, but it is still a fascinating record of fascinating times and will be lapped up by fans of the late musician and the Beatles.

Ironically, given his handle of the ‘Quiet Beatle', George gets almost overshadowed in the first part's 90 minutes which focus on the Beatles.

As he develops as a songwriter and discovers the music and mysticism of India, he moves more into the spotlight; though little is really revealed about the inner character of this young man caught in the intense glare of unprecedented worldwide adulation.

The second section has a lot more on Harrison's spiritual beliefs, though never tries to reconcile them with his gargantuan intake of brandy, cocaine and women.

This is, after all, a film produced by his widow (who makes brief reference to 'difficulties”).

Terry Gilliam and others scratch the surface when talking about a deep-seated darkness and anger, but these threads aren't really explored.

So there are few revelations, but the rare footage (yes, even more ‘previously unseen' stuff!) and interviews with the likes of Phil Spector, George Martin, Eric Idle, Jackie Stewart, Tom Petty and, of course, Paul and Ringo make for an interesting watch.

The Hangover Part 2 follows in the footsteps of Men In Black 2, Evil Dead 2 and others by simply telling the same story again and changing around the details.

So, for Las Vegas substitute Bangkok, for the tiger substitute a monkey, for the missing tooth substitute a tattoo.

The structure is even the same, the film opening with the dazed central trio ringing up battered and bruised to say that a wedding is off, before flashing back to the start of their misadventures.
That said, the film is colourful, the central characters as enjoyable as before and there are many laugh out loud moments.

With the success of TV's Sons Of Anarchy (also available on DVD) biker-themed flicks are likely to spike and first sign is The Violent Kind, set in the world of motorcycle club The Crew. Focal point is young member Cody.

After celebrating at an isolated country house the gang have to fight more than cops and competition when an evil supernatural – not to mention very weird – force attacks.

The aptly named Butcher brothers wrote and directed and are more than happy to plunge over the top at the slightest provocation.

There's also a cracking indie soundtrack. Sick twisted fun, R18 ‘natch'.

Director Julie Taymor is noted for an extravagant visual imagination.

She won awards for her stage adaptation of The Lion King and her last film was the fantasia of Beatles' songs Across the Universe. She also does Shakespeare.

After Titus Andronicus, with Anthony Hopkins, which like this was illogically art-directed to death, comes The Tempest with Helen Mirren inexplicably cast as Prospero (here Prospera). Perhaps Mirren's King Lear is next. The powerhouse cast (Chris Cooper, Alan Cummings, Tom Conti, Alfred Molina, David Stratham) is supplemented by Russell Brand, who appears to have wandered in from a different film. A bit of a mess really.

In Knife Edge Natalie Press' hot-shot Wall Street trader relocates to an English country mansion complete with son and rich new French hubby.

Within minutes, story implausibilities are mounting, the five-year-old has an imaginary friend and spooky music dominates.

So… woman and child in big creaky house, strange noises, weird visions and a mysterious nanny... Despite the pile-up of clichés there's something oddly compelling about the film, partly stemming from characters' frequently illogical behaviour, but also from an increasingly complex web of plot strands.

Not great filmmaking by any stretch, but I had fun.