Episode 4: American Gangsters, Norse Warriors and French psychos

Hi, I'm Ben Howard and welcome to Reel Report, bringing you the very best in cinema and DVD releases out this week. Coming up on today's show, gritty 70s crime drama in New York, love and loss in the east end of London and crazy psycho women of France.

We all love it when an actor used to playing heroes takes on a bad guy role. Denzel Washington scooped himself an Oscar for his villainous turn in Training Day, and his new movie American Gangster sees him take on a different but equally dodgy character. Denz plays Frank Lucas, a self-made drug lord who in the 1970s was responsible for importing a huge amount of top-quality heroin onto the streets on New York. Russell Crowe plays the troubled cop determined to bring Lucas down.

Director Ridley Scott clearly wants to make amends for his last movie, the woeful A Good Year, a film that proved that Russell Crowe should stick to throwing phones at hotel staff and leave comedy well alone. Luckily Crowe is much better here, and Washington delivers another dynamic performance making his character both sympathetic and morally corrupt.

The 70s detail is totally convincing, and although the film is over two and a half hours long, the relentless energy and absorbing story makes the time fly. Just say yes kids!

If you've ever wanted to see a naked, musclebound Ray Winstone fight Michael J Fox's dad from Back To The Future then you're in luck. The action fantasy Beowulf hits cinemas this weekend, and not only does it include that scene, it also features Angelina Jolie as a naked reptile queen, some 80s power balladry and any number of weird creatures and violent swordfights.

This is the latest film to mix live action and CG animation, and is director Robert Zemeckis' follow-up to his equally visually stunning family hit The Polar Express.

This is, of course, the legend of the Norse warrior who took on the evil monster Grendel. However, writers Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary have played fast and loose with the original story and conjured up a fast-moving and entertaining fantasy romp.

The animation is stunning – the actors performed their roles wearing motion capture suits and were then digitally manipulated to create some of the most realistic animated creations yet seen on screen. Not only that, but the film can also be seen on IMAX screens around the country in 3D.

Beowulf will probably appeal to Xbox-crazed teenagers more than anyone else, but if you enjoyed 300 you're going to love this. Let’s just hope Ray Winstone keeps his shirt on when he gets back to live-action filmmaking.

There aren't many streets in London that can claim to have a movie named after them, but Brick Lane is one of them. This famous East End street was the subject of Monica Ali’s best-selling but controversial 2003 novel and this weekend comes to the big screen courtesy of first-time director Sarah Gavron. This look at love, loss and community relations centres upon Nazeem, a woman in an unhappy arranged marriage who is tempted to stray from her husband by a local delivery man.

The novel caused uproar amongst London's Bangladeshi community for its criticism of their customs, and although Prince Charles refused to turn up to the film's premiere a few weeks back, this film downplays many of the more controversial elements.

It's still a intelligent drama however, with some strong performances and acute insights into this very traditional community. The gorgeous cinematography makes the East End look more like Notting Hill, but at least the makers didn't go the Richard Curtis route and populate Brick Lane entirely with white people.

From Polanski's Repulsion through Fatal Attraction to last year's arthouse hit The Piano Teacher, we all love crazy, obsessive ladies. Anna M is the latest addition to this list – a tense, sometimes scary exploration of madness and dangerous obsession.

Anna suffers from a condition known as erotomania, which causes her to fixate on a hunky doctor whom she believes is in love with her. What starts with Anna following the poor doc to work leads to harassing his wife, smashing up his car and getting a job as a babysitter in the flat above his.

Lead actress Isabelle Carré really is one scary chick – you wouldn't want to sit on the bus with her, let alone have her living in your building. Anna M takes the deeply uncomfortable stalker drama of Play Misty for Me and The King Of Comedy and amps it right up – it might not be a date movie, but it is a good one.

Finally, if you've got any James Bond fans in the family and have a spare £150, then someone is going to have a very happy Christmas – this week sees the release of the Bond Ultimate Collector's Set – an epic 42-disc set containing all 21 of 007's official adventures, from Dr No right up to last year's Casino Royale.

Whether you're a fan of Connery's hairy 60s misogynist, Moore's leathery 70s comedian or Brosnan's smarmy 90s beefcake, there's a Bond here for everyone. Each movie comes in an extras-packed two-disc set and although A View to a Kill may end up getting played a little less often than Goldfinger, the true fan will want them all. And that's not all – for an extra 50 quid you can buy the Ultimate Casino set, which comes complete with playing cards and poker chips. Rumours of a forthcoming Ultimate Martini set and Ultimate Bond Girl set are unconfirmed.

Okay, that's all for this week folks – we'll be back next week with more of the same. Until then, enjoy the weekend.