With five films out this year, Hollywood disagrees with Liam Neeson's view he might be past his sell-by date. The chatty star of Schindler's List tells Gill Pringle about his new nautical role – and the time he serenaded Paul McCartney with a Beatles medley...

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'War of the Worlds' hires Kaiser Chief

A full-scale Martian invasion will be enacted at arenas across Britain when Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds returns in a new stage show starring Ricky Wilson, the Kaiser Chiefs singer.

New year's Eve (12A)

Starring: Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Sarah Jessica Parker

DVD: The Hangover: Part 2 (15)

Todd Haynes's first, hugely successful Hangover caper was innovative, crude and funny, the lead characters – decent Doug (Justin Bartha), indecent Phil (Bradley Cooper), unhinged Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and neurotic Stu (Ed Helms) – were obnoxious but still endearing, particularly Helms's bullied dentist.

Unknown (12A)

This so-so amnesiac thriller is guilty of a memory slip of its own. Its star, Liam Neeson, at one point flashes a passport with a date of birth indicating he's 46 – he's actually 58, and looking it. He plays a scientist who wakes up from a coma in a Berlin hospital bed without any means of identification: is he the victim of a fraud, or has he actually lost his mind? Diane Kruger plays an illegal immigrant who helps him piece the puzzle together, and Bruno Ganz adds some melancholy class as an ex-Stazi officer-turned-private eye. As a psychological teaser it has nothing on Memento, and the denouement is the daftest imaginable, but there's a serviceable urgency even once plausibility is knocked out cold.

Unknown: Exclusive interview with Liam Neeson

Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson, TAKEN) awakens after a car accident in Berlin to discover that his wife (January Jones, MAD MEN) suddenly doesn't recognise him, and another man has assumed his identity.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (PG)

Starring: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes

DVD: Clash of the Titans (12)

Ralph Fiennes tries his hammy best (channelling a heady mix of Richard III, Fagin and Rigsby) as miffed Hades, god of the underworld, in this humourless and noisy Greek-myth actioner.

Album: The Chieftains feat Ry Cooder, San Patricio (Concord)

This is how those Irish champs the Chieftains see their music folding into the tropes of Mexico, rough-riding on the story of the Irish "San Patricio Battalion", who fought in the US/Mex war of 1846.

Ondine, Neil Jordan, 104 mins, (12A)<br/>Chloe, Atom Egoyan, 99 mins, (15)<br/>Legion, Scott Stewart, 100 mins, (15)

Haddock, maybe. But you don't get many selkies in your average EU fishing quota

Chloe (15)

Julianne Moore stars in this (uncredited) remake of the erotic thriller Nathalie, playing a Toronto gynaecologist who fears that hunky lecturer husband Liam Neeson is playing away.

Liam Neeson quits film as grief for late wife Natasha Richardson overwhelms him

Since the death of his actress wife Natasha Richardson in a skiing accident last year Liam Neeson has immersed himself in work, finding some sort of comfort in his hectic schedule.

Liam Neeson bids final farewell to Natasha

Friends and family of Natasha Richardson yesterday bid a final farewell to the actress at a private funeral service in upstate New York.

Taken (15)

The only puzzle of this toxically stupid Europhobe thriller is that its director (Pierre Morel) and producer (Luc Besson) are both French.

Liam Neeson - an Irishman in New York

He hit the big time in 'Schindler's List' but Liam Neeson is still drawn to complex characters
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David Rodigan: An MBE for reggae

David Rodigan on an MBE for reggae

The DJ from Oxfordshire and his obsession with the sound of Jamaica which is shared by Prince Charles
An artist who maps the human body

Mapping the human body

Angela Palmer: Life Lines picture preview
Crossrail: Celebrating 60 years in transport

Jubilant Crossrail

Celebrating 60 years in transport
Grace Dent: If you were on your first foreign trip for 24 years, would you want Bono to be a part of the package?

Grace Dent

If you were on your first foreign trip for 24 years, would you want Bono to be a part of the package?
Ireland's austerity D-Day: How much pain can it take?

Ireland's austerity D-Day: How much pain can it take?

After years of savage cuts, the Irish now face a stark choice: do they hand over control of their economy to Europe – or go it alone without the safety net of future bailouts?
Is doctors' fixation on treatment making us ill?

Is doctors' fixation on treatment making us ill?

Advances in medicine have made the impossible, possible. But an over-reliance on healthcare threatens to bankrupt the world – and make all of us sick
The most complained-about advertisements of all time

The most complained-about advertisements of all time

The ASA has received 430,000 complaints during its existence, with a record 31,548 in 2011
Olympians: They're fit and don't we just know it

Olympians: They're fit and don't we just know it

From Tom Daley's six-pack to scantily clad volleyball players, Olympic athletes are being sold on their sex appeal. Why can't we appreciate talent, not totty?
Return of the unacceptable face of capitalism?

Return of the unacceptable face of capitalism?

Sir Richard Needham's resignation from the board of Lonrho brings back bad memories of the group's controversial past
Off the rails in Bermuda

Off the rails in Bermuda

Best known for beaches, it's also home to a stunning hiking trail that follows the route of an old railway line
Get ready for a royal good time

Get ready for a royal good time

There are plenty of events to help you fly the flag during the Diamond Jubilee long weekend and half term
Spain: World football's marathon men

Marathon men: Are Spain running out of puff?

They have every right to be exhausted after four taxing years of almost non-stop action but the chance to claim a unique treble is spurring them on
Usain Bolt: The Bolt show runs on

Usain Bolt: The Bolt show runs on

Friday's 'slow' 100m has done nothing to dent Jamaican's supreme confidence he will triumph in London
The weirdest and most wonderful Diamond Jubilee memorabilia

Weird and wonderful Jubilee memorabilia

Coronation Chicken ice cream and Jubilee jelly moulds
'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'

'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'

Being a teenager is hard enough – for those with hearing loss, it can be even more complicated