The latest releases reviewed

EASTERN PROMISES ****

Directed by David Cronenberg. Starring Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sinead Cusack, Jerzy Skolimowski 18 cert

Cronenberg follows A History of Violence with another edgy, tight and violent thriller starring Mortensen, this one set among Russian gangsters in London. When a 14-year-old prostitute dies in childbirth, a midwife (Watts) is drawn into a sinister underworld of corruption and exploitation. The tension never slackens as the film exerts an unsettling fascination. MD

ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE **

Directed by Shekhar Kapur. Starring Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen, Samantha Morton, Rhys Ifans 12 cert

What's gone wrong with the sequel to Kapur's enjoyable treatment of Elizabeth I's early years? This overblown mess - focusing on the repulse of the Spanish Armada and an unlikely romance between Queen Cate and Owen's wooden Sir Walter Raleigh - is so taken up with looking fabulous that it forgets to tell us a lucid story.

EVENING **

Directed by Lajos Koltai. Starring Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Vanessa Redgrave, Patrick Wilson, Natasha Richardson, Eileen Atkins, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close 12 cert

This achingly dull picture, adapted by The Hours' Michael Cunningham from a novel by Susan Minot, follows the life and death of a wealthy woman from some corner of New England. It's all very pretty, but the film's only notable achievement is to coach so many bad performances from such a distinguished array of actors.

MR BROOKS *

Directed by Bruce A Evans. Starring Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, William Hurt, Dane Cook 18 cert

Costner plays a businessman leading a secret life as a serial killer, egged on by his alter ego (Hurt), and with a millionaire detective (Moore) on his trail. This implausible yarn aspires to being clever and quirky, but nothing can conceal its sheer daftness as it crawls along. (exclusively available at Xtra-Vision)

RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION *

Directed by Russell Mulcahy. Starring Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr, Ashanti, Iain Glen 16 cert

Zombies continue to stomp across the world in the third film derived from the hugely influential video game. Jovovich never says anything you couldn't imagine being said with more feeling by a Speak-Your- Weight machine. It ends up looking like the aftermath of an explosion in a teenage boy's brain. Predictably lavish extras.

DADDY DAY CAMP *

Directed by Fred Savage. Starring Cuba Gooding Jr, Paul Rae PG cert

Unless Ellen Burstyn has secretly been running a cockfight, this cosmically atrocious sequel to Daddy Day Care must constitute the greatest professional indignity yet visited upon an Oscar winner. Yes, this singularly terrible film does misuse Gooding that sorely.