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21 Jump Street (15)

(Phil Lord, Chris Miller, 2012, Us) Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson. 109 mins.

As with comic books, now that all the big titles have gone, it's down to TV's B-list to feed Hollywood's appetite for ready-made movie concepts. Based on the show that first traded on Johnny Depp's youthful good looks, it stars Hill and Tatum – a great odd-couple anchor – as two low-flying cops who are sent back to high school to infiltrate a drugs ring. The premise is an almost pitifully obvious excuse to aim for broad-appeal paydirt with a mix of fratboy crudity, teen-movie romance and crime-flick action, but for all the box-ticking, it has intermittently hilarious results.

Contraband (15)

(Baltasur Kormákur, 2012, Us) Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi. 110 mins.

Mark Wahlberg sticks to what he's good at, which is muscled, breathy and slightly high-pitched posturing in a brooding action thriller. Here he plays a smuggler lured...

★★★☆☆ Debut director Ross Ashcroft offers up an independently-produced documentary in the form of Four Horsemen (2012), a film that attempts to explore the consequences of modern western practices that have resulted in the current financial crisis. The 'four horsemen' of the title are a series of chapters exploring social inequality, organised violence, debt and poverty control. The central thesis of the film is that these four factors are propelling the world into a meltdown of monumental proportions for future generations.

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Norwegian film Kompani Orheim (The Orheim Company) was awarded the Dragon Award for the best Nordic film at the 35th Göteborg International Film Festival held from January 27 to February 6,2012. Directed by Arild Andersen as part of a trilogy about a personage named Jarle Kepp,the film is a dark, but warm, humorous, and moving tale of Jarle’s childhood at the hands of an alcoholic and brutal father. Strongly in contention for the award were 10 Timer Til Paradis (Teddy Bear), a Danish feature directed by Mads Mattheisen, about a mature adult trying to escape the imposing presence of his mother, and Pojktanten (She Male Snails), a documentary feature directed by Ester Martin Bergsmark, which won a special mention from the jury as well as the audience award for best Nordic feature.

The Göteborg international film festival held in Sweden’s second largest city is a mecca for films from Norway,...