Movie catch-up

30 Days Of Night - as a remote Alaskan town heads into seasonal darkness, it finds itself under attack from vampires. A group of inhabitants, led by the local sheriff (Josh Hartnett) and his ex (Melissa George), must hold out for 30 days until the sunlight returns. A superior, refreshing take on the genre that's never less than entertaining, visually inventive and rather gory - 4/5

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead - two brothers (Ethan Hawke and a supremely odious Phillip Seymour Hoffman) plot to rob a jewellery store, only the heist doesn't go according to plan. Veteran director Sidney Lumet takes the tried and tested heist gone wrong genre and attempts to breathe new life into it by changing the film's structure to one which reveals the events from the perspective of the various characters by way of flashback and flashforward. It makes the film an interesting watch, but there's no escaping that it's actually just a generic example of it's genre, presented in an original way. Wouldn't be nearly as good if it were told in a linear fashion - 4/5

Sicko - Michael Moore takes aim as the US health insurance industry. Moore eschews most of the stunt-pulling that characterised Fahrenheit 9/11, wisely deciding that the shocking stories of those who were screwed over by their HMOs were effective enough by themselves. By way of contrast, Moore ventures to Canada, the UK, France and Cuba to examine how their free social healthcare systems manage to look after everyone without ushering in communism or bankrupting their citizens. Moore does indulge himself a little at the end when he tries to obtain free healthcare for 9/11 rescue workers by putting them on a boat and taking them to Guantanamo Bay, but it's easy to forgive this when the rest of the film is such an effective and damning indictment of healthcare in the US - 4/5

The Escapist - another genre stalwart, the prison escape movie, is reworked by up and coming director Ruper Wyatt. Brian Cox plays an inmate plotting an escape so he can try and be with his drug-addicted daughter. We join the story from the start of the escape and through the film, its progress is shown parallel with flashback to its planning. The two strands twist together at the end of the film. The prison Cox finds himself in is a grim affair, devoid of natural light, aging and crumbling, resounding with the hard-edged sounds of keys in heavy metal locks and heavy prison doors, and the wailing, jeering and shouting of other inmates. Interesting, the backstory of the inmates is never revealed, so we have no idea why they're inside. The audience finds itself in the position of willing them on to escape, without ever considering if they should escape. Overall, it's passable entertainment, but it is a bit drawn-out in places. Also, once you know the twist, you realise that it won't be worth watching the film again, rather like doing the same jigsaw for a second time - 3/5