“The new economic conflict in our society is between creditors and debtors,” Michael Hudson, economic historian, says, in a new documentary film, In Debt We Trust, by Danny Schechter.

If only there were more Republicans like Clint Eastwood. Apart from his transformation from cowboy in Rawhide to spaghetti western star, he has become an award-winning film director and successfully contradicted his political persona.

The German film The Life of the Others (Das Leben der Anderen) has a one-in-five chance of winning an Oscar next week. The film is cleverly written, well directed and well acted. So, why do I hope that it does not win a valuable little statuette?

A young girl arrives with her debilitated pregnant mother in a Spanish hillside garrison of Franco's fascist army to live with her new stepfather, the commander of the outpost. It is 1944, and though the civil war has subsided, armed guerrillas – mostly communists and other freedom and democracy-loving people – still harass the Spanish government forces.

This year, in a rare moment for the Academy Awards, Black, Latin American, and Asian actors and filmmakers will be strongly represented.

Mother nature has given up on humanity. The evolutionary process has ceased, and the world of human beings has become a "failed state." This is the background for Children of Men (directed by Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón and based on a P.D. James novel).

As the Scottish nationalists stand poised to take power at Holyrood after 300 years of the UK union, it seems somewhat ironic that this week sees the release of a film called The Last King Of Scotland.

After four years of war, 2006 proved to be profitable for those producing films that question the values of war perpetuated by the lickspittles of the White House.

Winter was the perfect season for the release of "The Good Shepherd" which exacerbated December's icy chill and masterfully depicted the bloodless, emotional vacuity of CIA cold warrior, Edward Wilson.

A sword and sorcery saga, Eragon has all the ingredients to make this another money spinner for it's creator Christopher Paolini, who was only 15 years old when he wrote the original novel.

IN THE publicity material for this documentary about John Lennon, Yoko Ono is quoted as saying: "Of all the documentaries that have been made about John, this is the one he would have loved." It deals with Lennon's life between 1966-76, the decade in which he became politicised and made his very vocal stand against the Vietnam war in 1972.

Not only does it appear that right-wing movie critic Michael Medved lacks imagination, but one also wonders if he even watches the movies he reviews.

THEY say that there is no such thing as a surefire success in Hollywood. However, if you have got Scorsese as your director, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson as your lead stars and a script based on a previously successful film, then you are a long way down the track to a box office success.

A new DVD puts the spotlight on the post-punk/indie band the Minutemen, three working class youth from San Pedro, California who were one of the least known yet most influential bands of the early to mid 1980's.

Disillusioned and alcoholic, Michael Seeley, an intellectual property lawyer on the verge of losing his position in his firm, is about to be disbarred for verbally assaulting a judge.

Morningstar Online reviews: Tideland, Innocent Voices, Lady in the Water, Monster House, Nacho Libre

Super soppy. Superman Returns to discover that the world is still in need of a superhero in an age when the second coming of Christ has been widely predicted by the supporters of President Bush.

JOHNNY Depp returns to camp it up as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the second swashbuckling instalment of an incredibly successful franchise.

The Da Vinci Code has been condemned by a number of religious leaders including leading figures in the Catholic Church, and, ironically, no less a personage than ultra-right religious TV personality Jerry Falwell.

As a New Yorker who lived eight tough years during under Giuliani I wondered how could Kevin Keating and his documentary team capture what it meant to live in New York then and make it credible without going over the top with rage and anger?