Tears were welling in my eyes as the end credits rolled on Almost Famous, and not because this is a sad story, though it is often bittersweet — no, these were tears of joy for a film that is so complete and perfect and full of life that it swept me up into its world and held me there, and I never wanted it to let me go — and even when it did finally let go, I was happy and satiated. ‘It fills you up’ was my friend’s apt description of Almost Famous.

Like a millennial Wizard of Oz, Nurse Betty is about the power of an all-consuming fantasy to help us cope with life’s disasters. Alternately startling and funny, melancholy and bizarre, this ardently black comedy is nevertheless the most lighthearted work yet from director Neil LaBute, whose previous films are the grimly misanthropic In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors.

War is hell, we’ve learned by now. But what about not-war? The 1999 BBC-TV film Warriors — an unsentimental and heartbreaking story of British peacekeepers in Bosnia — demonstrates that any kind of armed conflict is devastating, even to those not in the immediate line of fire.

Imagine Romeo and Juliet without the chipper bounce, and you’ve got Solomon and Gaenor. Tragedy looms for these two star-crossed lovers from the opening frame of Paul Morrisson’s gloomy and melancholy film — tragedy you know they’ve no hope of escaping — and yet this isn’t a relentless bummer of a story. Instead, it’s a wonderfully morose, rainy-day kind of movie, one to watch curled up on the couch with a cat and a cup of tea. Classical and literate, it lets you pretend you’re edifying yourself while you have a good cry. Kinda like a Bronte novel.

Directed by schlockmeister Russell Mulcahy, Highlander ain’t Braveheart, but it has its own cheesy charm. Darkly stylish, it cops a feel off The Terminator, with lots of electrical energy literally charging the atmosphere, as the immortal lifeforce the losers of sword duels give off is sucked up by the victor (but not before breaking every window in the vicinity).

If it’s not Scottish, it’s crap! And sometimes even when it is Scottish, it’s still crap. I was prepared for crap — I was expecting it, and yes, even looking forward to some good laughs. And *Highlander: Endgame,* like its predecessor sequels to the sneakily charming Highlander, does not disappoint.

Bernie McPhelimy (Julie Walters) doesn’t consider herself political, but in Belfast’s explosive atmosphere, speaking out for peace is tantamount to treason — if she’s asking the IRA to stop shooting, she must be pro-British. Bernie is the heart of Titanic Town, based on Mary Costello’s autobiographical novel and directed by Roger Michell, and her story is full of the tragic ironies of the Irish struggle for independence.

If you’re someone who thinks you can choose your family, and that family is what we make it, then you’ll love this wonderfully charming dramedy. Harold and Dolores Williams (Paul Winfield: Strange Justice, and Mary Alice) adopted Mai (Lauren Tom) and Dwayne (Chi Muoi Lo) when they were only 10 and 6. That the Williamses … more…

On the seedy side of Yokohama, Maiku “Mike” Hama (Masatoshi Nagase) — “that’s my real name” — runs a detective agency out of a rundown movie theater. He doesn’t seem to do much investigating — instead, he gets into a lot of trouble, gets called “punk” by the local cops, and gets beaten up quite … more…