Were you one of the people at high school who never fitted in; who spent most of their time observing what the 'cool' people did and wondering how they could be so boring?

Enid (Birch) and Rebecca (Johansson) spend their time wandering around in the dull urbanity of their particular part of middle America, providing an ironic and sarcastic commentary on the lives they find themselves in. One day, out of boredom, they decide to play a cruel practical joke on a man called Seymour (Buscemi) who places a lonely-hearts advert. Seymour is a perennial loser ((mdash)) an obsessive collector of rare 78rpm records and obscure memorabilia. Despite herself, Enid finds herself drawn to Seymour (as she says, 'he's the exact opposite of everything I hate') and starts trying to help him find happiness ((mdash)) whatever that may be. Don't think that this leads to a conventional 'happily ever after' ending. The film is much more intelligent than that.

Based on a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes (who also co-wrote the screenplay) and directed by Terry Zwigoff (Crumb), Ghost World is an acerbic take on middle-class life. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who prefers their cinema with more acid and less schlock than the average Hollywood blockbuster.

Tank Girl is the domesticated love child of the cult comic series 'Tank Girl' by Martin and Hewitt, and some would argue that this is reason enough to go and see it. The comic strip, admittedly slightly predictable as far as titles go, is about a girl, her tank, and their quest to do whatever they please. This generally entails killing, violating, eating, and then exploding anything they encounter, occasionally in that order; when you have a tank, there are very few people who will argue with you.

The comic strip is renowned for its graphic sexual deviance and gratuitous use of ((mdash))sorry, reliance upon ((mdash)) violence. If you are familiar with the strip, then you'll find the movie a lot tamer, which is unfortunate but necessary due to laws concerning bestiality and the fact that there are some things actors won't do no matter how much money is involved. The movie is hardly violent, most of the stunts are done in cartoon (actually it DOES work), and the sexual deviance is subtly implied.

I won't bother to explain the plot, because it is not the movie's greatest asset; its greatest assets are the tank and Petty's ability to look sexy while wearing it, occasionally as lingerie. For those of you out there who might be feeling a little inadequate, fear not, 'Tank Girl' is not a feminist movie ((mdash)) if you like big guns, tanks, violence, weird mutations, pseudo shower scenes, torpedo bras, and strip shows, you'll like Tank Girl. The combined talents of Lori Petty and Ice-T (who does a surprisingly good job of acting like a giant mutated kangaroo man) and an exceptional soundtrack featuring tracks by Bush, Portishead, Devo, Bjork, The Magnificent Bastards, and (of course) Ice-T ensure that the movie has as great a cult following as the comic strip.