Any film with "autumn" in the title is likely to be a sappy tearjerker (usually involving a terminal illness), and "November" is close enough. Add the word "sweet" and the fact that Keanu Reeves stars, and you've got a sure-fire snooze. Actually, Reeves is not the worst thing in this absurd film; his mediocrity is far outpaced by the criminally awful story and script (a remake of an equally forgettable 1968 Sandy Dennis/Anthony Newley flop). A miscast (not goofy enough) Charlize Theron does her best opposite Reeves.

This beautiful period piece attempts the difficult task of comprehending, and then portraying on the screen, nothing less that the creative process.

James Joyce (Ewan McGregor) met Nora Barnacle (Susan Lynch) in 1904 when she was a maid in a Dublin Hotel, and the attraction was immediate and mutual. Joyce is said to be a writer who lived what he wrote, and Barnacle, throughout their volcanic relationship, was as much muse as lover. But at what point does a writer's obsessions, fears and jealousy cause a muse to become a guinea pig?

When you buy a product it's best to know what you're getting. With Islam on the rise - powered by the demographic tends of mass immigration and high birth rates - many parts of Britain are now facing the choice to accept Islam or not. For this reason, many people from non-Muslim backgrounds have taken to read the Koran for guidance not of the spiritual kind but of the practical kind.

Although I give this book only one star, I highly recommend it to all non-believers for the very same reason that I read it, to find out what Islam is about and what it has in store.

My impressions are that Islam is a religion with two main themes - the punishment of the enemies of Islam and the reward of its followers. It's very stick and carrot. There are countless passages describing torments in Hell, while the passages describing the joys of paradise have a naive literal quality. This seems to make Islam both risible at the same time as it is formidable.

The fact that they are often accused of being Neo-Nazis doesn't much bother me as lots of respectable people seem to win this 'accolade' nowadays, but what does bother me is their music - dull, droning, dank, and dark. The soundtrack of mold growing in a jackboot!

The kind of instantly forgettable, logic-free throwaway bit of entertainment that Hollywood makes every summer to get your money.

The now-ubiquitous James McAvoy plays Wesley, a loser accounts manager with an American accent he hasn't quite broken in yet, a mean boss and a cheating girlfriend.

One day he discovers that his recently murdered father was a member of a 1,000-year-old, highly secret fraternity of super-assassins headed by the ever-ubiquitous Morgan Freeman, and that he has been selected to take dear old dad's place.

Wesley receives this news via a dominatrix named Fox (Angelina "three-lips" Jolie). A long, somewhat sadistic training montage follows, involving a lot of hitting, when Wesley learns how to shoot bullets around corners, several ways to commit mayhem and murder and, possibly how not to get smacked up so much.

Wesley's teachers have names like The Butcher, The Exterminator and The Gunsmith. Why are you laughing? Probably because it's all hugely silly. It's slick and seductively made, and it ain't dull.

"The Herethereafter," Miranda Lee Richard's first album. The soft, psychedelic-tinged folk rock of the album makes it clear that her musical homeland is obviously the Sixties, Richards is nevertheless one of the freshest-sounding singer-songwriters out there.

With a soft, sweet, sirenesque voice that is both sensual and relaxing, adorning beautiful melodies, her music has obvious appeal, but how about her lyrics? Wistful, poetic, and intelligent, they skillfully set off the delicate aural textures of her music and voice.

While Richards' melodies are mellifluous there is also a strong strain of melancholy in her songs. The hypnotic "Folkin' Hell," is, according to Richards, about a woman whose strength and self-reliance ultimately leaves her feeling lonely. While the song she claims was the hardest to write, the wrenching "Seven Days," was her attempt to write about drug addiction in a way that didn't seem preachy.

Unless you're lucky enough to think life is a beach party, a beautiful blonde chirping away cheerfully about the joys of life can become rather irritating, so this element of melancholy in her music strikes just the right balance. After all, as she said in one interview, "I think that almost all the best songs have that melancholy factor."

You'd be quite right to expect some cliches from a book that fits right into the 'chicken soup for the soul' genre. Nevertheless "The Right Words at the Right Time" is a book that definitely has something for everybody.

The overall concept is to give 100 distinguished figures from various fields -- including sports, politics, and entertainment, as well as some of the less glamourous professions -- the chance to write about a moment when words changed their life for the better. Among those who participated in this charity project to raise money for a children's research hospital are such legends as Steven Spielberg and Paul McCartney, as well as household names from former President Jimmy Carter to the creator of the Simpsons, Matt Groening.

While the words may often be cliched - e.g. "If anything's worth doing, it's worth doing well" (Walter Cronkite) - it's not the words so much as their context and timing that gives them their impact.

Some might see this as a celebrity collection of Forrest Gumpisms. But although some of these short tales are too obvious or seem to be serving the purpose of self-glorification, most are sincerely written, reveal something interesting about the person, and may possibly provide you with your own inspirations.

Gripping, true-life tale of a pointless mission behind enemy lines by Britain's elite SAS special forces during the first Gulf War. Disgusting account of Iraqi torture methods. Strangely one is left with an impression of the SAS operatives as tough, souless mechanical beings, while the Iraqis, despite their obvious flaws, come over as somehow more human!!! Odd.

A belated scissors and paste attempt to cash in on the first Gulf War. It reads like 50 magazine articles stitched together with a bit of 'Jane's' thrown in to keep armchair warriors like myself engaged. Characters are not even one dimensional - they are zero dimensional. Vacuous but readable in a disposable way.

An excellent sci-fi action novel, written (and read) at breakneck speed. It instils heroism and the love of beautiful princesses where these values may be lacking.