RECORDED DELIVERY

Anaconda (15) (Columbia, rental, 12 November) In a horror-adventure set in the jungle, a sweaty Latin muscleman with a huge knife, a West Coast homeboy (Ice Cube) and an English toff straight from the Carry On closet make up three of the incongruous film crew who glide down the Amazon river in search of an elusive South American tribe. They encounter a priest turned snake-hunter (Jon Voight) - with an accent worthy of its own anthropological study - who pledges to lead them to this lost tribe. But the snake-hunter's own quest for the grandaddy of all snakes leads the hapless group into the jaws of a 40ft snake (an anaconda by the way) and one by one they are squeezed, devoured and later digested. The film certainly has its moments, particularly as the snake gulps down one of its victims and then, thinking better of it, spits him out. Sadly, expensive computer-generated effects failed to prevent the monster from resembling a plastic Halloween prop and simply adding to the comedy value.

Liar Liar (12) (CIC, rental, 14 November) Jim Carrey's usual persona of the loud-mouthed, gurning and excruciating egotist is on display in Tom Shadyac's equally moronic comedy. Carrey plays an aspiring attorney who, after a magical birthday wish from his neglected son, finds himself unable to lie for 24 hours. This inevitably hampers his career as well as his love life and familial relations. Spitfire Grill (12) (Columbia, rental, 12 November) Percy (Alison Elliott) is released from prison and finds herself at the centre of attention in the small community of Gilead, Maine. As the town starts to get to know her, the inevitable secrets come to the surface and much bonding takes place. This well-intentioned film endeavours to assess small-town philosophies but handles them with such sickly wholesomeness that it fails to sustain interest. Fiona Sturges