Scary Movie 4 (David Zucker) A spoof of a spoof that has now become a spoof of itself has the last laugh by spoo"ng audiences to check it out, helping it to gross nearly $70 million in the US and over 1m in Ireland. Strictly for those addicted to movies that find it clever to quote other movies out of context.

Junebug (Phil Morrison) Impressive and wonderfully observed debut "lm from Phil Morrison about the push and pull of family life in North Carolina. Son George (Alessandro Nivola) returns home to visit his family for the "rst time in three years with new wife Madeleine (Emberth Davidtz).

She's a sophisticated art dealer from Chicago, but his mother Peg (Celia Weston) clings to her rural values and doesn't take to her. It boasts an exemplary cast, and Amy Adams, who plays a sunny daughter-in-law called Ashley, came from virtual anonymity to be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress award at this year's Oscars.

The Squid And The Whale (Noah Baumbach) Comedy about the deteriorating relationship between two New York intellectuals, writer parents Bernard and Joan, who have taken to using Walt and his 12-year-old brother Frank as pawns in their domestic warfare. Based somewhat on the adolescence of director Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale boasts excellent performances both from Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney, and suggests that American cinema may indeed . . . as the Oscars suggested . . . be "nding the courage to get up close and personal in the way true cinema should but too often doesn't.

The Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (Carlos Saldanha) Director Carlos Saldanha has come up with a clever twist for this sequel to the much-loved 2002 Chris Wedge digital animation hit about Diego, the sabre-toothed tiger, Manny the mammoth, Sid the Stoat and Scrat, the squirrel rat. It's sort of Noah's Arkmeets Jaws; looks terri"c, and Scrat again steals the show.

Transamerica (Duncan Tucker) A woman pretending to be a man who becomes a woman is perhaps the ultimate Hollywood "sh-out-of-water scenario but Desperate Housewives' Felicity Huffman makes the character of Bree touchingly believable. Writer-director Duncan Tucker picks up her story just a few weeks away from surgery when her feminine nature is already apparent even if she still walks more like a man. Her therapist insists that before anything can be "nalised she must meet a delinquent son she never knew she had.

Together they drive across America to visit her disapproving parents in a road movie of hilariously quirky encounters that shouldn't be missed.

Inside Man (Spike Lee) Clive Owen raids a Manhattan bank and holds staff and customers hostage . . . but nobody can "nd out why and he's not telling. As the New York cops lay siege, tainted detective Denzel Washington tries to resolve the situation while a mysterious corporate troubleshooter, Jodie Foster, hired by the bank chairman Christopher Plummer, uses political clout to intervene and do a deal . . . but why? Spike Lee keeps the audience guessing with teasing "ashforwards of police interviews with suspects and witnesses.

An American Haunting (Courtney Solomon) Supposedly based on real events, this supernatural thriller stars Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek as the parents of a wealthy Tennessee family in the early 1800s who are tormented by a malevolent demon. They believe the haunting is the work of a neighbour, a suspected witch who cursed the family over a land dispute. But a local teacher believes a rational explanation is to be found. The real ghosts, however, are The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror.

Worth going out for C.R.A.Z.Y.

(Jean-Marc Vallee) Imagine Velvet Goldmine shot in French-speaking Quebec in the 1970s pitting a rebellious cross-dressing glam rock son revelling in his ambiguous sexuality against a hilarious father who sings Charles Aznavour songs into a spoon on family occasions. Jean-Marc Vallee's beautifully shot C.R.A.Z.Y. is a deliciously subversive coming-of-age comedy, at once funny and smart, yet poignant in its exploration of Catholic themes of guilt and shame.