BASED ON A CLASSIC: It's an Aston Martin I think but did you know that Michael Caine's first car was a Rolls Royce at the age of 50? No? Well, it was. So there.

Sitting back to take in the animation itself, however, is a different kettle of fish. Whether you see it in 3D or standard 2D, you can’t fail to be blown away by the sheer quality and attention to detail. Especially visually arresting are the film’s city scapes – in particular its realisation of London, which may not be strictly geographically accurate (some artistic license has been taken) but it’s a heartfelt ode to the UK’s capital city nonetheless.

The talented voice cast is impressive and includes names like Emily Mortimer, John Turturro and Eddie Izzard as well as racing driver Lewis Hamilton and cult actor Bruce Campbell – and this time round, the film is enlivened by the tones of Michael Caine as British spy Finn McMissile (an Aston Martin) in a role reminiscent of his early screen incarnation Harry Palmer.

There is no reason why Pixar shouldn’t make a film exclusively for children – but from the audience’s point of view, we are very much aware that a Disney-Pixar flick is capable of so much more and. as such, our awareness of the inferiority of Cars 2 is heightened. This one might be best left until it’s available on Blu-ray or DVD for the littluns to watch (alone) on a rainy day.

“I love girls.” That’s what Jennifer Aniston told me last week when I asked her just what is it about her that appeals to her legions of female fans.  “There, I said it,” she reiterated. “I love the girls!”

This is something that couldn’t be further from the truth for the character she plays in Horrible Bosses – a nymphomaniac dentist intent on seducing her very male dental assistant Dale Arbus (Charlie Day) who is engaged to be married and consequently dead set on spurning his boss’s increasingly forward advances. That sweet and lovely girls’ girl we’ve come to know and love she is emphatically not. Instead, she’s one of three vile bosses in this unambiguously-titled comedy that make their employees’ lives a living hell.

DENTISTRY: It ain't what it used to be

There’s Kevin Spacey’s power-crazed bully who continually humiliates underling Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman) and makes him work all hours, and then there’s Colin Farrell’s cocaine-snorting psycho-boss who gives Jason Sudeikis’s Kurt Buckman an unbearably hard time. It’s a bit of a coincidence that these three downtrodden workers are all friends but it’s probably true to say that everyone has a story about a nightmare boss. In other words, it’s not so far-fetched.  But what they choose to do about it is. Taking its lead from Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, the trio scheme to ‘off’ each other’s bosses – but this being a comedy, of course, nothing goes according to plan and ‘hysterical’ chaos inevitably ensues.

Aniston is magnificent at turning the popular perception of her on its head and although the character is a ghastly construction of a predatory female from a male perspective, Jen is finally able to prove her versatility. Here, she’s at her sexy best. The male leads (Bateman, Sudeikis, Day) also come out of it well. If it weren’t for the chemistry that exists between them and the sheer fun they’re clearly having, the film could well be a write-off – its biggest problem being that it revels in its own funniness.  

The resulting smug tone – a pervading sense that it thinks it’s both funny and cool – spoils much of the comedy, making for what is, at times, an unpleasant viewing experience. Director Seth Gordon seems to want Horrible Bosses to run in the same vein as a Judd Apatow or Todd Phillips comedy but sadly this film falls some way short. Stick to the real deal this summer and go see Bridesmaids instead.

I’ve got one. Have you? It’s highly likely. What am I talking about? I’m talking about a list of classic films you’ve never seen but always meant to. That’s what I’m talking about. Whether it’s the Godfather films or something you’re equally shamefaced about never having watched, it’s extremely satisfying every time you tick one off.

Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now is one of those films on my list, and now it’s been released on Blu-ray for the first time, it’s given me a perfect opportunity to give it the once over.

Known for its much-discussed sex scene in which, it’s speculated, the film’s stars Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland have actual real sex on screen, Don’t Look Now is a whole lot more than this one part.

That isn’t to say that the scene isn’t great. It is. In fact, it’s brilliantly and deftly shot and edited, touchingly conveying what it’s like when a couple rediscovers each other sexually within a marriage – doubly significant for this particular couple who have been grieving over the loss of their child. Intercut with scenes of the two of them getting dressed and ready for a dinner date after their lovemaking, Roeg delivers a fascinating and accurate portrait of a marriage, which he continues to sketch throughout. It’s particularly powerful in the subtly-drawn details.

So what’s the story? If you don’t already know, there’s a real benefit to ignorance. Watching events unfold, blind as it were, on-screen adds an intriguing – and important – dimension to the film’s carefully-constructed sense of unease and fatalism. But for those unable to watch without knowing anything, a brief summary: the premise centres on married couple John and Laura Baxter (Sutherland and Christie) who, in the opening sequence, lose their little girl (dressed, famously, in a red mac) in what appears to be a tragic drowning incident in the grounds of their home.

As the couple attempts to come to terms with her death, John’s work takes them to Venice where he is restoring a church and where Laura meets two elderly ladies, one of whom claims to be psychic and in touch with her daughter. John is plagued by apparent visions, and when the old woman makes a startling prediction that threatens to tear the couple apart, they ignore it at their peril.

Nicolas Roeg’s main aims seem to be threefold: to present a study of grief, to portray a realistic representation of a marriage, and to unsettle the audience.

To these ends, he constructs an extremely rich film in which his techniques and storytelling finesse weave together like a tapesty to successfully achieve all three. For example, the camera frequently lingers a little longer than we would normally expect on the familiar – ordinary objects are often unusually framed and shot in close-up. This focuses us on the domestic and the everyday, which in turn highlights raw feelings of grief by shining a spotlight on normality and giving a sense that time stands still for those affected by grief. And with the gaze of the camera fixed unwaveringly and at length on doors, lamps, drinking glasses and so on, an eerie atmosphere builds, which ebbs and flows throughout until the unbearable tension reaches a crescendo at the film’s astonishing finale.

Uncertainty and disquiet are key to the film’s success – you never know which direction it will take – and with touches of red throughout serving as a warning, the mix of ambiguity and an oppressive sense of foreboding is extremely powerful. Don’t Look Now is an enthralling assault on the senses and it is without a shadow of a doubt a film to include on your own must-see list.

Don’t Look Now is available now as a special edition on Blu-ray, and includes a condensed version by Danny Boyle, a making of feature and director’s commentary as well as other interviews and features.

Now comic book adaptations are ten-a-penny (if only), you may well wonder what’s left to plunder, but there is still plenty of untapped material out there based on the infinite permutations of the superhero versus supervillain premise – even if the good stuff has already been taken. And if it has, of course, there’s always the good old ‘re-boot’, as they’re about to do with Superman.

And so we find ourselves presented with The Green Lantern.

RYAN: He has pretty big hair through most of the film that must look ridic in real life and also his CGI green body makes him look kind of odd #justsayin'

What works in a comic book doesn’t always translate to the big screen; The Green Lantern’s problems start with its title and then move on to its premise. Superman, you get. He’s a man from another planet who is more than a man: he’s super. Spiderman too – you can buy that. A tantalising man-spider hybrid with special spidey skills. But The Green Lantern. What the heck is that? Sure, if you’re a comic book fan it might make perfect sense but to a wider film audience it’s just a little hard to grasp.

Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is just another ordinary guy – albeit a test pilot and super-hot – when one day, out of the blue, he is chosen as one of the guardians of the universe, an elite group of superheroes furnished with special powers and plucked from all over the galaxy to uphold peace. A ring, which takes its power from a glowing green lantern, is the source of Hal’s newfound abilities which include a combination of super-strength and the power to make anything he imagines out of thin air – extremely helpful in the fight against super-villainy and any threat to the equilibrium of the galaxy. When arch-rival Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) also by chance acquires special powers, he plots to use them for evil deeds meted out against Hal – and those he deems to have crossed him – at the same time as securing glossy Gossip Girl Blake Lively for himself. Can Hal rescue childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Lively) from the twisted clutches of his foe and save the universe at the same time?

If you’re seven years old, this probably all sounds like great fun. It isn’t. The ever-likeable Ryan Reynolds does his best with inferior material, delivering feeble jokes with charm but he can’t breathe enough vitality into the humdrum screenplay to fire our interest. The film’s biggest crime is arguably Blake Lively as Carol Ferris – a double whammy of mediocrity with a badly-drawn, instantly-forgettable, two-dimensional girlfriend character brought gaspingly and fleetingly to life by the meagre talents of an unremarkable small screen actress.

Ferris isn’t a patch on the Lois Lanes of superhero-dom and is consequently a huge factor in undermining the integrity of Hal’s character and, indeed, the whole film. He pursues her simply because she’s quite attractive – at least, it seems that this is the case as there’s little else to her from what we see. She has none of the feistiness or sparkiness of Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane and as such it’s difficult to see why she would continue to be important to Hal, or the film. He’d be better off leaving well alone, not least because the evil dude wants her and looks set to unleash a whole heap of trouble.

Peter Sarsgaard, meanwhile, is the film’s highlight, playing as he does the villain with such glee and influence that you’ll find yourself siding with Hector and his superior wit. Despite borrowing heavily from films like Watchmen, Superman and its sequels, The Hulk and Spiderman, The Green Lantern remains uninteresting and instead of being thoughtful, insightful or just plain thrilling, it’s just another cynical ploy to extract our cash. Don’t fall for it.