THIS MUST BE THE PLACE

Starring: Sean Penn, Judd Hirsch, Harry Dean Stanton
Dir: Paolo Sorrentino

It's been a while since we saw a truly transformative performance from Sean Penn but This Must Be The Place provides that in the form of his burnt-out rock star Cheyenne-looking like The Cure's Robert Smith, sounding like a stoned Gene Wilder, and living a reclusive Dublin life with a wonderfully down-to-earth Frances McDormand (his fire-fighter wife).

Then his father dying sends him back into the world for the first time in 30 years, to America, and a strange stumbling quest of a road trip ensues.

This could be seen as a comedy but certainly a fairly serious one, though never sombre. Penn's cautious inward-looking concentrated man-child, centres everything and director Sorrentino brings his very European sensibility to the pacing, but the film is still brimming with life: there's a great live performance from David Byrne, who also wrote the film's music; Will Oldham contributed lyrics, and the outsider's view of America is rich with vibrant colour.

There are constant small surprises and touching eccentricities – like a Jim Jarmusch film, but with added Italian freshness and heart.

Continuing with the wide-mouthed stop-motion look of their Wallace & Gromit outings, Aardman's new animated film is set in 1837. The Pirates! Band of Misfits hops on board the Caribbean galleon to bring us a not-so-dastardly crew led by chummy Hugh Grant. His desire to win the Pirate Of The Year award is thwarted by competition from not so rubbish pirates, and all looks hopeless until they run into Charles Darwin... It's a sweet-natured romp, heavily laden with gags, brimming with vocal talent, and it's hard not to be astounded by the skill (and sheer work-load!) of the animation.

Tim Burton is a consistently inconsistent film-maker and Dark Shadows points out both the strengths and weaknesses of his output. Based on a somewhat obscure sixties series, it centres on Johnny Depp's 200-year-old vampire Barnabas Collins, finally released from a coffin in the 1970s and attempting to restore the family's fortunes. As expected, the film looks wonderful, all Gothic touches and witty set design. But that covers the good stuff. The plot itself is a mess, both overcomplicated and under-thought, while the pitch-black humour seems jarring and most characters are woefully underdeveloped. The obvious comparison is with The Adams Family and this Dark Shadows loses out from every perspective.

All actors have roles they might not include on their resume. Gary Oldman's Elvis impersonator in Guns, Girls & Gambling probably fits the bill. Nonetheless, the trashy desert-set film is fast-paced and frequently very funny. In it, every eccentric man and their dogs, plus a poetry-spouting, six foot blonde, with double handguns (and she's a big plus) fight to find a priceless Native American mask stolen during a poker game. Christian Slater is the ‘everyman caught in the middle'. It's smart, silly, and has few redeeming social features, and with eclectic casting (Powers Boothe, Jeff Fahey) there's really nothing not to like.

Scandinavian crime fiction is on a roll. Following various versions of Stieg Larsson's books we have Forbrydelsen and the original Swedish Wallander on TV, a second Jo Nesbo film and now Last Will from a Liza Marklund novel. Closer inspection suggests it was made for TV and that there will be more. However, it's a handsome production, focused on murderous shenanigans at the Nobel prize awards. Plucky crime reporter Annika Bengtzon is the heroine and becomes a key witness after a Laureate is shot. As everyone follows Islamic terrorists she delves into the surprisingly murky world of the Nobels. It's not perfect but will satisfy fans of the genre.