DAWN OF THE DEAD (18, 100mins) Starring Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer. Now showing at UGC and Cineworld, Swindon

Zack Snyder directs this snappy and largely faithful remake of George O Romero's gory cult classic in which an invisible plague has decimated the world's population, transforming the survivors into the walking dead.

A ragtag bunch of survivors of the holocaust from the Wisconsin town of Great Lakes City seek refuge from the zombie onslaught in the Crossroads Mall. Only a daring escape plan can help them now.

With thrilling action sequences, and well-maintained pace, this is surprisingly compulsive stuff, assuming you can suspend your disbelief at some of the wilder plot twists.

OUT! Rating: 7 out of 10

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (12A, 102mins) Starring The Rock, Seann William Scott, Christopher Walken. Now showing at UGC and Cineworld, Swindon

Travis (Scott), the son of a powerful underworld kingpin, travels deep into the Amazon in search of a priceless artefact.

He disappears soon after and his worried father hires retrieval expert Beck (The Rock) to bring his son back home.

Sure enough, Beck finds Travis deep within the rainforest, before the pair encounter Hatcher (Walken), the evil head of a gold-mining corporation, who intends to gets his mitts on the artefact and will gladly kill anyone who gets in his way.

Welcome To The Jungle doesn't take itself too seriously, encouraging the cast to poke fun at themselves and the wafer-thin screenplay.

Unfortunately, much of the comedy falls flat. Action sequences are well choreographed if lacking in originality or thrills.

OUT! Rating: 4 out of 10

UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN (12A, 112mins) Starring Diane Lane, Sandra Oh, Vincent Riotta. Now showing at UGC and Cineworld, Swindon

Following a messy divorce from her husband, author Frances (Lane) is struck down with a seemingly terminal case of writer's block.

Lesbian best friend Patti (Oh) offers Frances the chance to embark on a magical 10-day trip to Tuscany in the heart of Italy, and against her better judgement, she goes.

On impulse, she buys a run-down villa and sets about relocating to it.

Soon drawn into village affairs, Frances is also being wooed by a hot-tempered local.

If lush scenes of Tuscan countryside are enough to hold your interest for two hours, you might like it, but the story is very insubstantial.

OUT! rating: 5 out of 10

AGENT CODY BANKS 2: DESTINATION LONDON (PG, 100mins) Starring Frankie Muniz, Hannah Spearritt, Keith Allen). Now showing at UGC and Cineworld, Swindon

Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz) looks and behaves like your average American teenager accomplished at school, passionate about skateboards, and painfully shy around girls.

However, Cody harbours a dark secret he is actually part of a top secret CIA young agent program, operating under the aegis of the Director (Keith David).

Having thwarted the attempts of megalomaniac Brinkman (Ian McShane) to build a deadly nanobot army in the first film, Cody returns to active duty, joining forces with his new handler Derek (Anthony Anderson) to outwit rogue CIA agent Diaz (Keith Allen), who has stolen a powerful mind control device.

Cody hopes to pose as a boarding school student to infiltrate Diaz's ranks.

However, the mission is compromised when Cody meets beautiful and resourceful British Secret Service agent Emily (Hannah Spearritt, of S Club fame), who also wants to bring Diaz down.

OUT! rating: 3 out of 10