Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, James Lovell.

Running time: 96 minutes.

. . . .

THIS hypnotic documentary made me nostalgic for the cold war. It tells the drama of America's Apollo programme and its astronauts . . . the only human beings to have visited another world. It is a film full of space poetry, assembled from Nasa footage of rockets taking off and images of the earth from the moon. The astronauts tell the story themselves. Now old men, then they were worldfamous explorers on a 240,000km mission to a brave new world. It was a closely-run thing, as the crew of Apollo 13 found out. The astronauts take us through the history of the programme, but also the sensations of going into space: the emotions that surfaced; the inherent danger; what it felt like during take off; the first sight of the earth, and what it is like to walk on the moon. Director David Sington assembles many of the famous men including Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin . . . but the reclusive Neil Armstrong is absent. Only 24 people have ever seen the circle of the earth in its totality . . . a vision that left Michael Collins wondering "how fragile it appeared". It's real heart-warming stuff. It will make your kids want to go to the moon.

30 Days of Night (David Slade):

Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Ben Foster, Mark Boone, Jr.

Running time: 113 minutes.

. . .

A REMOTE town in northern Alaska gets more than an annual 30 days of darkness when it is attacked by a breed of sadistic vampires. Taking advantage of blanket darkness, the undead also want to try out their new moves, nabbed from Danny Boyle's breakneck zombies in 28 Days Later.

Their leader, played by Danny Huston, growls the command:

"Dak la deek geek", which roughly translates as, "eat all the geeks".

They lay waste to the town, while the local policeman played by Josh Hartnett tries to lead a few stragglers to safety, including his estranged missus (Melissa George). It's directed with some style by David (Hard Candy) Slade from the graphic novel by Steve Niles, and looks like a saturated Guinness ad, with simple colour tones: night black, snow white and blood red. But it never deviates from template, becoming little more than Night of the Living Dead with vampires.

Death at a Funeral (Frank Oz):

Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, Andy Nyman, Ewen Bremner.

Running time: 90 minutes.

. .

FRANK OZ of The Muppets is responsible for much of my childhood happiness. But I needed an armful of morphine to make it through his last comedy, a remake of The Stepford Wives. This manic English farce fares little better. It's the classic set-up . . . a funeral at a large English house packed full of screwballs in which every calamity that can happen will. The wrong coffin is delivered, hallucinogenic drugs are taken by accident, and the dead man is ousted of his coffin, before being outed as a homosexual by a strange midget with photographs. Matthew MacFadyen plays the son with the stiff upper lip trying to hold it together;

Rupert Graves plays his brother, a celebrated New York novelist, who adds to the general problem, composed as he is, entirely of cliche. It reminded me of Fawlty Towers, but without the killer laughs and the genius of a John Cleese to hold it at the centre.

(Andre Techine):

Michel Blanc, Emmanuelle Beart, Sami Bouajila, Julie Depardieu, Johan Libereau.

114 minutes.

. . .

THE outbreak of Aids in Paris in 1984 is the backdrop for this sturdy drama by French auteur Andre Techine. It charts over the course of that year a group of selfabsorbed Parisians whose lives are disrupted by the disease. Lonely, middle-aged doctor Adrien (Michel Blanc) adores Manu (Johan Libereau), a promiscuous young man. But Manu has an affair with Mehdi (Sami Bouajila), a vice cop who enjoys an open marriage to wealthy writer Sarah (Emmanuelle Beart). She's particularly offensive . . . she wears ear plugs to ignore the wails of her infant child. The rest of the group aren't much more endearing. The film avoids melodrama almost to the point of detachment. Techine reminds us of the emotions of that period: the shame the many afflicted felt, and the determination of those around them to find a cure.

The Witnesses