Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant seethed with Catholic despair as Harvey Keitel’s unnamed, unmoored cop drank, drugged and gambled his way through a nightmarish New York.

Fat, illiterate and pregnant by her father for the second time, 16-year-old Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) catches a break when she’s sent to an alternative school so she can learn to read.

The best thing about New Moon, the second film in the Twilight series, is that the producers have replaced original director Catherine Hardwicke with The Golden Compass’s Chris Weitz, who at least has a basic understanding of directing actors, editing action and creating mood.

You know you’re in trouble when the backgrounds are more interesting than the characters. Planet 51 looks lovely, a movie version of small-town America circa 1959 made alien by a visual design based on extensive and eccentric use of circles.

Sacha Baron Cohen reminds me of Steve Irwin, who made a career out of pestering wild animals on his popular nature show, Crocodile Hunter. Baron Cohen’s satire is about as penetrating as Irwin’s nature lore – that is, not very – and I keep waiting for the animals to turn on him.