Episode 2: Buscemi, Bruce and brain worms

Hi, and welcome to Reel Weekend. I'm Ben Howard, here to guide you through the essential flicks hitting cinemas and DVD this week. Coming up on today's show, zombies invade Planet Terror, Ashley Judd is bugged and Jack Nicholson takes us down to Chinatown.

For horror and cult movie fans, one of 2007's most anticipated movies was Grindhouse, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodgriguez's double-bill homage to 70s exploitation cinema.

Unfortunately for us Brits, the film flopped in the US, and the decision was made to chop the film in half and release the two films separately. So we had Tarantino's killer-in-a-car thriller Death Proof in September, and this weekend Rodriguez's zombie epic Planet Terror arrives in cinemas.

This tale of a small town infected by a military virus which turns its population into slavering zombies is a deranged slice of splattery comedy, which mixes fast-moving action, lashings of gore, movie in-jokes and some criminally over-the-top performances.

The cast features A-list stars such as Rose McGowan and Bruce Willis alongside 80s B-movie survivors Michael Biehn and Jeff Fahey and cult figures like FX whiz Tom Savini.

If the film is less faithful to its 70s origins than Tarantino's effort, it's still a must see for fans of horror, even if Tarantino does pop up to perform another of his excruciating, scene-killing attempts at acting. Just don't expect to see Paul McCartney queuing up to see any movie in which the main character is vengeful stripper with a missing leg.

Sean Penn is surely one of the most serious men ever to work in Hollywood – he oozes so much self-righteous worthiness he makes Christian Bale seem like Rob Schneider. Into The Wild is his fourth film as a director, and although the idea of a two-and-a-half hour movie written and directed by Penn about an unlikable man trying to discover himself in the Alaskan wilderness doesn't exactly sound like a thrilling night at the cinema, it actually turns out to be his best film to date.

It's the true story of a young man called Chris who gave up all of his material possessions to go walkabout, encountering a variety of strange people before eventually arriving in Alaska.

Thankfully Into The Wild isn't just solitary wandering and indulgent soul-searching, with a number of enjoyable supporting roles scattered throughout the movie. There's Vince Vaughn in a rare straight role as a boozy grain farmer, Catherine Keener as a hippie survivor and Hal Holbrook as ageing belt maker, all of whom teach Chris some sort of life-lesson.

At the centre is Emile Hirsch's committed lead performance and if this moving, reflective film isn't exactly bursting with belly-laughs, it's still funnier than Shanghai Surprise or We're No Angels.

Like other directors who made a huge impact in the 1970s with their first few films – think also of Francis Ford Coppola and John Carpenter – William Friedkin has spent 30 years trying to recapture the magic of The French Connection and The Exorcist.

Bug is his latest movie, and sees him returning to his original theatrical roots. It's a dark, claustrophobic study of paranoia that stars Ashley Judd as Agnes, a lonely woman living in a scummy motel room, convinced her abusive ex-con husband is going to find her at any time. Into her life comes a schizophrenic soldier, who soon has Agnes convinced that the room is infested with genetically-altered aphids, planted there by the government.

Part creepy horror film, part disturbing psychological drama, Bug starts slow and restrained, but soon goes into crazy psycho overdrive. Ashley Judd spends most of the film either shrieking or rolling her eyes in a particularly disconcerting fashion, while housewives' favourite Harry Connick Jr again proves that when he's not crooning the hits of the 50s he makes for a particularly scary redneck thug. It's not subtle, but it is Friedkin's most striking film for many years.

If you've ever stood in front of the bedroom mirror, rocking out with an invisible guitar, Air Guitar Nation is the movie for you. It's a documentary that follows the progress of the Air Guitar Championships across the world, where would-be axe heroes show their prowess to whooping crowds. These guys have the passion and balls to rock out with their heroes – all they lack is musical ability and actual guitars.

The film focuses primarily on two air guitarists at the top of their game, flamboyant favourite David Jung and perennial trad-rock runner-up Dan Crane, as they progress through the different stages to the international showdown in Finland.

Air guitarists are definitely an odd bunch, but thankfully most of these would-be rock gods seem to be in on the joke – except for the uber-competitive Crane, who spends his own money to go to Finland when he is knocked out in an earlier stage. As one invisible fretboard mangler says: "To err is human, to air is divine!"

Finally, if you're going to buy one DVD this week, then you could do a lot worse than the Chinatown Special Edition. Chinatown is, of course, Roman Polanski's classic detective movie, originally released in 1974 and starring Jack Nicholson as private eye Jake Gittes, who is hired by sultry Faye Dunaway to prove that her husband is having an affair, leading him into a murky world of corruption, incest and murder.

Chinatown remains one of the best films of the 70s, and the quality of the writing, acting and direction means that it has aged incredibly well. It plays with detective and film noir conventions but still remains faithful to the genre, right down to featuring The Maltese Falcon director John Huston in a key supporting role.

The plot is complex and multiple viewings are required to clear up every loose end, making it the perfect movie to own on DVD. Admittedly, this special edition isn't quite as a special as it could have been – there's no commentary and a just quartet of short featurettes – but the brilliance of the film itself make it a must-buy.

Well, that's all for this week, join us same time next week for more cinematic treats. Until then, enjoy the weekend.