Jakob the Liar has a hard road to travel, since--Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful aside--milking the Holocaust for laughs is a dangerous game. Even the blackest, most therapeutic humour turns queasy in the shadow of such monstrous evil: it's like dancing on a mass grave. Here the eponymous schlemiel plays out his semi-farcical adventures in the mean streets of the Warsaw Ghetto circa 1944. The skies are always leaden over Jakob's hometown, reflecting the comic climate that pervades this mostly unfortunate adaptation of Jurek Becker's autobiographical book (first filmed in 1975). Jakob Heym (Robin Williams in overbearingly earnest mode) gets tangled in a string of self-perpetuating lies about a hidden radio, supposedly broadcasting news that the victorious Red Army is nearing. His desperate attempts to convince a clutch of insistently idiosyncratic friends (clichés to a man: Liev Schreiber, Bob Balaban, Michael Jeter, Alan Arkin) and obligatory Nazi bad guys that the radio doesn't exist are complicated by the fact that he's stashed a fugitive kid (a dead ringer for Anne Frank) in his attic--and by abundant evidence that lies are the best medicine for the ghetto's skyrocketing suicide rate. Copious unfunny misunderstandings and pratfalls abound in this Holocaust rendition of Fiddler on the Roof (you expect Williams to break into "If I were a funny man... "). Ultimately, Jakob the Liar loses its way for good in some very ugly violence and a rather nasty final twist: the film's ending might just be rubbing our noses in another feel-good lie. --Kathleen Murphy, Amazon.com

It's generally acknowledged that the Master of Suspense disliked costume dramas and Jamaica Inn--a rip-roaring melodrama drawn from a Daphne du Maurier pot-boiler, set in 1820s Cornwall--is about as costumed as they come. So what was he doing directing it? Killing time, essentially. In 1939 Hitchcock was due to leave Britain for Hollywood, but delays Stateside left him with time on his hands. Never one to sit idle, he agreed to make one picture for Mayflower Productions, a new outfit formed by actor Charles Laughton and émigré German producer Erich Pommer.

An innocent young orphan (the 19-year-old Maureen O'Hara in her first starring role) arrives at her uncle's remote Cornish inn to find it a den of reprobates given to smuggling, wrecking and gross overacting. They're all out-hammed, though, by Laughton at his most corseted and outrageously self-indulgent as the local squire to whom Maureen runs for help. Since his star was also the co-producer, Hitch couldn't do much with the temperamental actor. He contented himself with adding a few characteristic touches--including a spot of bondage (always a Hitchcock favourite), and the chief villain's final spectacular plunge from a high place--and slyly sending up the melodramatic absurdities of the plot. Jamaica Inn hardly stands high in the Master's canon, but it trundles along divertingly enough. Hitchcock fanatics will have fun comparing it with his two subsequent--and far more accomplished--Du Maurier adaptations, Rebecca and The Birds. --Philip Kemp

Getting Away With It … Live is an electric souvenir of James' last ever live performance (before their new 2002 line-up), recorded in their home city of Manchester. The energy which bounces between the exuberant audience and the band crackles from start to finish. Tim Booth's bad language, particularly during the infamous technical breakdown at the start of "Out to Get You" just adds to the explosive atmosphere of the gig. The footage of these problems luckily remains in the final cut, exposing a more human side to the band, and highlighting James' long-term forte as a live band through their impromptu rendition of "Johnny Yen". Despite special appearances by former band members Andy Diagram and Larry Gott, Booth steals the show through his unique vocal talent and his trademark dancing style (when he gyrates round the stage like a possessed pipe cleaner). Featuring a sensible mix of old and new tunes, the concert concludes with an encore of break-through tracks "Come Home" and "Sit Down".

On the DVD: Getting Away With It … Live is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, and the sharp visual footage further enhance the excellent live show. Through the use of random transitions (short excerpts from the documentary), the DVD is fun and informative to navigate through, and the two bonus documentaries provide further added value. Discussion on the making of selected songs can be accessed at various points during the concert when the band's trademark flower logo appears in the top right-hand corner of the screen. As well as the promotional videos for three of their biggest hits from the 1990s ("Laid", "Say Something" and "She's a Star"); there's also a hidden section where the band discuss their nicknames. --John Galilee

Roald Dahl's modern classic for children becomes a delightful combination of live action and stop-motion animation by the team that made The Nightmare Before Christmas: director Henry Selick and producers Tim Burton (Batman) and Denise Di Novi. The story concerns young James (played for real and through voice-overs by Paul Terry), who is orphaned and left in the charge of two cruel aunts (Miriam Margolyes, Joanna Lumley). Rescued by a mysterious fellow (Pete Postlethwaite), James ends up inside a giant peach, drifting over the Atlantic Ocean in the company of a gentleman grasshopper (voiced by Simon Callow), a fast-talking centipede (Richard Dreyfuss), an anxious earthworm (David Thewlis), a matronly ladybug (Jane Leeves), and a sexy spider (Susan Sarandon). The collection of actors and their creepy-crawly alter egos are a delight, especially when some of the song-and-dance numbers (tunes are written by Randy Newman) get everyone going. --Tom Keogh