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Foxcatcher delves into the true story of the murky John du Pont, the endlessly wealthy yet under-achieving son of America's infamous du Pont dynasty, and whose obsession with the sport of wrestling sees him buy his own team with hopes of training them to Olympic glory. Channing Tatum plays Mark Schultz, an upcoming star keen to step out of his brother-come-coach David's (Mark Ruffalo) shadow and moves onto the du Pont estate as his prized trophy sportsman. But when Tatum fails to live up to du Pont's expectations, the unnerving millionaire brings his brother on board to whip the team into shape, but as David begins to take over the team and question the change in his younger brother, du Pont marks him as a disposable barrier to his reputation. Steve Carrell's transformation into du Pont extends beyond his sizeable prosthetic nose, with his dead eyes patrolling his staff and darkly irking those he desperately tries to impress and influence while Ruffalo, with his patient manner and humility, was the perfect choice to honour the memory of David Schultz. The real Mark Schultz's recent furore in the press was unneeded, with the film offering no real suggestion that his relationship with his wealthy benefactor was sexual in any way. In actuality, Foxcatcher comes down hard on Du Pont's distant mother, suggesting her life-long disproval of her son is to blame for his emotionless ambition and, ultimately devastating, disregard for human feeling.

Liam Neeson has been widely quoted on the press circuit for Taken 3 as having never supposed there'd be a third script good enough to persuade him to reprise his role as Bryan Mills and upon seeing the film it is not clear on what basis the actor made the decision to return for this poor excuse of a finale for the Taken trilogy.

Not that the former two films were cinematic triumphs by any stretch, but this third Takes the biscuit.

Writer, Luc Besson's, skills seem to have departed him in recent years, with his former glory days of The Fifth Element and Leon replaced by Jason Statham's Transporter series and now these sorry excuses for action films - a genre not requiring much by way of creative script writing at best and so, difficult to get wrong you would think.

A full review isn't needed for a film of this calibre - if you're interested in paying to see this sort of thing, no rationale would persuade you otherwise - but for everyone else's benefit... Neeson find himself in a new kind of pickle in this third and, thankfully, final instalment of the series in which is estranged wife is brutally murdered and it's down to his 'very particular set of skills' we've heard so much about to find her killers and avenge her death.

Possibly the worst stereotypical Russian villain tops off what surely must be a parody.

Joaquin Phoenix emerges from his professional hiatus in this groovy drug-fuelled crime caper by Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will be Blood).

Unconventional private investigator 'Doc' (Phoenix) is dragged into a sordid kidnapping and extortion plot via a soft spot for his troubled ex-girlfriend. Doc's well-placed friends in marine law (fantastic cameo by Benicio del Toro) and the district attorney's office (a surprising appearance by Reese Witherspoon) get him out of some sticky spots and help piece together what's up with his ex's boyfriend, his wife and her lover.

Yet another A-list bit-part went to Owen Wilson as the 'disappeared' husband of an old friend whose fate inadvertently helps to reveal the double, triple and quadruple crossing at the highest levels in 1970's California, but it turns out Doc is more connected than he imagined and may know more than he thought.

Narrated from on high by a celestially connected mutual friend of Doc and his lost soulmate, Inherent Vice takes you on a neon-lit psychedelic ride, leaving you at once wondering if you understood anything at all yet feeling as though everything played out as it should have. It's complex yet easily followed and stylishly substantial.

If only the Academy didn't have such a 'thing' against Phoenix-he'd be a front-runner at next month's Oscars.