Constantine's strengths are in its visuals. Director Lawrence comes from the music video business, and he develops a vivid palette. Hellfire-tinged mirror image of Los Angeles, innards of a nightclub that caters to those of both angelic and demonic persuasion. The film looks so good that it's almost possible to ignore some of the screenplay's ludicrousities. Source material is "Hellblazer", a series of graphic novels. Reeves filmed after being immersed in the Matrix sequels, is therefore in Neo mode, just less likable and more cynical. The supporting cast is eclectic with Swinton at her most androgynous as Gabriel. The movie fails to take direction and stays loose the longest between several collateral genres.

The Assassination of Richard Nixon offers a compelling title. Director Mueller, making his debut, takes us to 1974, when Watergate was preparing to take down the President. Samuel Bicke (Sean Penn) is a furniture salesman who can do no right. His boss is losing patience with his inability to close sales; his wife, Marie (Naomi Watts), is desperate to get a divorce; and his plans for a new business with his best friend (Don Cheadle) are at risk because the bank is reluctant. As Sam's life disintegrates, he gropes for someone to blame, and he decides that the source of his woes is the President of the US. Sam comes up with a plan: hijack a plane and fly it into the White House, killing Nixon and making himself a martyr. But, as with everything else, Sam screws it up. The Taxi Driver influence is unmistakable. The dissociation from society of the main character is the same. The need to lash out through violence is the same. Where The Assassination of Richard Nixon fails is in its inability to make Sam a compelling character. An irritating loser and whiner who is intent upon abdicating personal responsibility for his failures, preferring instead to blame others or society. It's a trial to spend 90 minutes with this man. Penn provides a great performance with a lot of his mannerisms.

The Statement, a strong cast and some fascinating ideas are enough to keep us glued to this political-religious thriller. One of those odd films where everyone speaks in clipped British accents, even though everyone's French. The story is set in 1992 and centres on Pierre (Caine), a 70-year-old who as a young man in the 1940s was a member of the Vichy Milice, a French police force that carried out Nazi orders. For nearly 50 years he's been in hiding, protected by a secret Catholic society. Now a Jewish organization has found him at just the same time as a French magistrate (Swinton) and her military assistant (Northam) have caught his trail as well. The Jewish radicals want to bump him off, the French government wants to try him as a war criminal. How long can he keep hiding? It's a sharp tale. The cast is very good, with Caine commanding sympathy as a seriously unsympathetic character, Swinton and Northam adding off-beat touches, and Charlotte Rampling excellent as usual in an extended cameo as Pierre's estranged wife.