RECORDED DELIVERY

Tomorrow Never Dies (12) MGM, rental, 1 Jun

The major downfall of Roger Spottiswoode's Bond caper is its striving for contemporary relevance. The adversary is Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), a meglomaniacal media mogul who prefers to stroke his modem rather than his moggy. And, disappointingly, he has no aspirations to take over the world, he just wants to take control of its news channels. Though in possession of the all-important 007 eyebrows, Pierce Brosnan's Bond is far more reluctant than his fruity predecessors, and ends up more an accessory to the events than being in command of them. Michelle Yoeh's karate-kicking heroine leaves him with little to do, though Teri Hatcher's Paris Carver is far better suited to his suave manipulations, principally because she doesn't say a lot. HH

Anaconda (15) Columbia, retail, 1 Jun

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 crew 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 deranged quest for the granddaddy of all reptiles leads the hapless group into the jaws of a 40ft snake. One by one they are squeezed, devoured and puked-up for afters. Extravagant, computer-generated effects fail to prevent the monster from resembling a plastic prop, though it certainly adds to the film's unintentional comedy value. HH

Grosse Point Blank (15), Buena Vista, retail, 1 Jun

Martin Blank (John Cusack) is a disconsolate assassin who returns to his high school for a 10-year reunion. Blank seeks to reintroduce himself to his ex-girlfriend, but he must first carry out an assassination in the area. There are heartfelt scenes as Blank revisits his past, only to find it irreversibly altered. Feeling the differences between his circumstances and those of his schoolfriends, he imagines the scenario: "I killed the president of Paraguay with a fork. How have you been?" An engagingly kooky black comedy, despite its silly title. HHHH

Fiona Sturges