What is it about the familiarity of old movies that makes them impossible to turn off

In Joseph Heller's Catch-22, one of the doomed pilots reads long, interminable books, reasoning it will prolong his life. Burlesque and The Green Hornet (see above) would have worked just as well.

The cold snap is expected to reduce cinema ticket sales by a quarter this month, losing the industry up to £24m. December is typically a big month, and with films such as the Christina Aguilera flick Burlesque, above, on release, cinema owners had high hopes for this year.

Starring: Christina Aguilera, Cher

Can two new movies about burlesque strip away the tacky legacy left by the excruciating 'Showgirls'? Kaleem Aftab finds out

Duncan Ward's muddled satire about the London art world has a strong cast mugging for all their worth.

Most parties at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) are prim and held in hotels – but not director Shane Meadows' party. After the screening of his new mockumentary, Le Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee, the party on Tuesday night at St Peter's Church Hall was just plain silly. Invitations were sent out from Le Donk, a rock roadie, played in the film by Paddy Considine, inviting everyone to his credit crunch party. Considine, in character, arrived at the party in a rickshaw, while the Nottingham rapper Scor-Zay-Zee (aka Dean Palinczuk), who plays himself, pulled up in a pink limousine. Guests paid 75 pence to get into the party and the BAFTA-winning director Meadows took on the role of DJ. The tombola had a variety of prizes, including a hamburger in a can and a blow-up banana.

Fans were treated to all the hits belted out in style, while across town rockabilly got a modern twist

'I don't think I ever arrive; life is a constant journey'

Directed by Douglas McGrath

Can crop-powered cars make a difference in the fight to stop climate change? The ex-chairman of Shell thinks so

What Is It?

PLUNKETT & MACLEANE (15) DIRECTOR: JAKE SCOTT STARRING: ROBERT CARLYLE, JONNY LEE MILLER, LIV TYLER, KEN STOTT 101 MINUTES

The Mask of Zorro (above) is refreshing after a summer dominated by soulless, special-effects-driven blockbusters. In this sweeping, gleefully old-fashioned swashbuckler, the actors and the stunt artistes are the stars, not the backroom boys and their computers. A dignified Anthony Hopkins and a spirited Antonio Banderas are the ageing Zorro, masked defender of the oppressed, and the Mexican outlaw he moulds into his successor respectively. And in a star-making turn, Catherine Zeta Jones plays the film's sultry heroine, whose encounter with Banderas in a stable combines swordplay with seduction. Martin Campbell (Goldeneye), meanwhile, directs with a sure hand, only indulging in overkill (and arguably contextually dubious imagery) at the end. Under his deft guidance, a much-loved hero is thrillingly reborn.