Episode 5: Blade Runner's back

Hi, I'm Ben Howard and welcome to Reel Weekend, your guide to the very best cinema and DVD releases out this week. Coming up on today's show, one of my all time favourite films gets a welcome re-release, Christian Bale is taken up the jungle by Werner Herzog and drug lords take over Miami, 80s style.

It might be 25 years old, but the most exciting cinema release this weekend is Blade Runner: The Final Cut. As the title suggests, this is the souped-up, definitive version of Ridley Scott's sci-fi masterpiece, a movie that has seen more alterations than Michael Jackson's face.

There was the original theatrical cut, the more violent European theatrical edit, the mid-90s director's cut and now this latest tweaking. All of these versions will appear on DVD in a deluxe Blade Runner box set next month, but in the meantime, here's the real deal on the big screen.

On the surface, the actual changes to the movie from the last version are fairly minimal – there are no dramatic new scenes or anything. But Scott and team have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to clean up the effects, sort out continuity issues, tighten the editing and completely revamp the picture and sound.

It's still a gripping, haunting and visually stunning sci-fi thriller and will never look – or sound – better. So if you want to remind yourself that effects-laden Hollywood movies can have a brain, and that Sean Young was once a star, treat yourself to this one.

Last time we checked in with off-beat director Wes Anderson, he was sending Bill Murray to the bottom of the ocean in The Life Aquatic. His latest movie, The Darjeeling Limited, involves a similarly epic journey, this time across India on a train with the title of the movie. Adrien Brody is joined by Anderson regulars Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman, playing three brothers all escaping from something in their lives.

There's little change to the Anderson formula here. We've got eye-boggling cinematography, a distinctive music score, quirky, troubled characters and a distinctly dead-pan sense of humour. Those who find his movies all style over substance are unlikely to be won over by this one, but fans will find plenty to enjoy. And although the film also stars Anjelica Huston and features a cameo from Bill Murray, the film's other star is the brothers' luggage that accompanies them on their travels. Designed by Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton, this collection of suitcases quickly makes the film seem like the world's longest, artiest luggage commercial.

Let's face it, being a movie star seems like a pretty cushy life – million dollar salary, thousands of adoring fans and sex and drugs on tap. But for a select few this is all tempered by having to work on a Werner Herzog movie. Rescue Dawn is the latest movie from the notorious German filmmaker, and stars the prolific Christian Bale as Dieter Dengler. Despite having a name like an Austrian porn star, Dengler was a real-life US fighter pilot who was shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War and organised a daring escape for a small group of fellow POWs from their captors.

Herzog is notorious for pushing his actors to their limits in the most extreme of circumstances, and Rescue Dawn is no exception. With the director's nemesis and favourite leading man Klaus Kinski no longer with us, Christian Bale is the unlucky thesp tossed into the jungle and forced to live the experience of the main character. Cue lots of battles with both the Viet Cong and nature itself, as Dieter fights for survival and Bale looks forward to picking up his cheque for the next Batman movie.

If I said Miami in the 1980s, then you'll probably think of a few things, including speedboats, Gloria Estefan, Don Johnson and cocaine. It's the latter that concerns the new documentary Cocaine Cowboys, also out this weekend. This is the true story of how this former retirement community became the centre of America's coke trade, as top-quality nose powder blew in from nearby Columbia.

It's a fascinating story, but what makes Cocaine Cowboys such a gripping piece of filmmaking is Billy Corben's direction and in particular David Cypkin's editing. The film moves along at a relentless pace, with a dizzying array of traffickers, cops, enforcers and reporters explaining how war erupted on the streets of Miami as rival gangs tried to gain dominance of the business.

With split screen, grisly real-life photography of crime scenes and even a Jan Hammer synth score, it hardly condemns the bloody trade it documents, but equally never fails to entertain.

Finally, and while we're all sick of pointless sequels, Kenneth Branagh's updating of classic thriller Sleuth is well worth a look this weekend. The original movie starred Laurence Olivier as the veteran crime writer locked in a battle of wits with an arrogant young actor played by Michael Caine, who has run off with his wife. In this version, Caine has moved up to the writer role, while Jude Law comes in as the determined young star.

This is a fairly radical reworking of both the original movie and the Anthony Schaeffer play on which it was based. Screenwriter Harold Pinter pares the film down by a third and updates much of the dialogue, while Branagh provides lots of clever stylistic flourishes to liven up what is essentially a two-hander.

This is, of course, the second time Law has played a role made famous by Caine – the first being the entirely pointless Alfie remake – and both men equip themselves very well in their roles. This is another quality performance from Caine, who in the last decade or so has been attempting to atone for the likes of Jaws 4 and Bullseye with a series of weightier, dramatic roles.

That's all for this week – until next time, enjoy the weekend.