Calendar Girls (12)

Rating: 4/5

This terrific tale about a group of enterprising Yorkshire WI members who dared to reveal far more than simply their liking for jam and Jerusalem is already the stuff of legend.

Crammed with comic moments and shamelessly milking the feel-good factor, Calendar Girls should bring a smile to everyone's face with its depiction of ordinary women suddenly thrust into an extraordinary situation.

From the Chardonnay-fuelled photo shoot and touching plea for support at a national WI conference, to the resulting media circus and TV appearances on both side of the Atlantic, the film charts the ladies' progress from humble housewives to overnight celebrities.

Director Nigel Cole plays his cards right virtually from start to finish, only falling flat in his attempt at a warts-and-all portrayal of the fall-out from the ladies' brush with fame.

He's helped along by a strong cast of British actresses of a certain age.

Helen Mirren takes the showy role of Chris, the brains behind the calendar who confirms her maverick credentials early on by winning a best Victorian sandwich show prize with an entry bought in Marks and Spencer!

She's aided and abetted by best friend Annie, played by Julie Walters (pictured above), who agrees to the charity calendar as a way of raising money in memory of her husband (John Alderton) after he succumbs to leukaemia. Walters underlines her status as an accomplished actress by creating a warm-hearted character who grieves for the loss of her husband, yet becomes caught up in the fun surrounding the calendar and the subsequent rise to fame.

Inspired by the true-life exploits of Rylstone WI members, Calendar Girls is truly hilarious and a real gem of a film.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment

Out to rent or buy on video and DVD

Ned Kelly (12)

Rating: 3/5

Heath Ledger stars as the eponymous Australian outlaw, who set a trend for countless future Pommie bashers by daring to challenge the colonial establishment.

The film depicts Kelly as a Robin Hood-style folk hero who, wrongly accused of shooting a policeman, vowed revenge by going on the rampage, leaving a trail of devastation in his wake.

A brooding Ledger portrays Kelly as a strong, silent type, rather than a charismatic leader, who is inspired by a burning sense of injustice. He plays it dead straight as Australia's most wanted man, who uses his brain as well as his brawn to lead the authorities on a merry dance across the country before finally being out-foxed by an unusually astute police chief (Geoffrey Rush).

The Kelly gang includes a goatee-bearded Orlando Bloom, a brother who has an eye for the ladies, while Naomi Watts co-stars as Ledger's love interest, though in truth she has very little to do.

The film plays a bit like Australia's answer to Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, as the outlaws go on the run with the law in hot pursuit.

While the Kelly gang appears to have posed a genuine threat to the authority of the ruling colonials, the film prefers to focus on the adventures of the outlaws rather than an increasingly desperate establishment.

Universal Pictures Video

Out to rent on video and DVD