A Congolese immigrant gets mixed up in the world of gangland crime in Irish flick The Front Line, while in You, Me and Dupree, Owen Wilson just can't get the message that the honeymoon is over. By Declan Burke

Keanu Reeves battles against himself in A Scanner Darkly while Christian Bale returns from war bent on destruction in Harsh Times. By Declan Burke

M Night Shayamalan's attempts at irony fall flat in The Lady in the Water, but Monster House has a healthy sense of fun about its own genre of animation. By Declan Burke

Ken Loach doesn't make films for Hollywood. He makes controversial films which challenge the status quo. In his 70th year, he has been rewarded by a Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his latest film on the Irish civil war. By Declan Burke.

Self-absorbed Jack is on the look-out for an anonymous actress who will make him look good on screen; Isabel, who can twitch her nose like the actress in the original sit-com, seems perfect for the part. And so the real-life witch finds herself playing a pretend witch who was pretending to be a witch pretending not to be a witch.

Friendly rivalry between bands turns poisonous in DiG!; a drug addict fights to put her demons aside for the sake of her child in Clean; and Tom Cruise struggles with aliens and his own children in War of the Worlds. By Declan Burke

Is lean, mean hard-boiled Irish fiction out to kick the ass of 'chick lit?' Declan Burke chews the fat with crime writer Ken Bruen