This is the film that pairs Jackie Chan and Jet Li, two of the most popular martial arts actors of all time. If that hasn't encouraged you to turn up, then shame on you, but I'll keep trying anyway.

A bullied kid from present day America, Jason (Angarano) is transported to ancient China. Here he joins forces with two monks, Lu Yan and The Silent Monk (Chan and Li respectively), and Golden Sparrow (Liu Yifei). He discovers that if he wants to go home he must find the Monkey King and fight the Jade Warlord. And so he's trained by the monks and finds affection with Golden Sparrow.

The good thing is the story doesn't take itself too seriously, but still manages to fit in some serious drama, and there is plenty of comedy here too. There are also lots of fantastic special effects and superb fight scenes. It's also nice to see a big budget western movie take on an eastern storyline. I'm glad hope I've convinced you to come, if not The Forbidden Kingdom has some useful tips if you ever accidentally get transported to ancient China. It could happen.

Daffy Duck sneaks into the Warner Brothers studio lot (disguised as an Oscar) in the hopes of landing a contract. While dodging the blockheaded security guard he impersonates several stars and meets several others (not the actual actors, of course, since this is a cartoon; and not the actual voices either, for that matter; but it's the concept that counts). In 1946 Daffy is still an earlier version of himself than the one we know - he more lives up to his name.

(This print provided courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive)

This is one of the classic comedies by W. C. Fields, an American juggler, comedian, actor, and drinker. The movie stars Fields as himself, or more precisely as his comedic persona, playing a hapless scriptwriter who is trying to sell a rather dubious movie script to a very sceptical movie producer. Most of the movie, however, is the script itself, as a movie-within-a-movie, as Fields imagines it or as he tries to describe it to the producer. I'm not sure. If this sounds like it's difficult to explain, it is; I'm not even sure how the title connects to the movie. It's been described as absurd, irrational, and surrealistic, as having no real plot, and being full of holes and loose ends without cohesion and continuity. That same reviewer also described it as a tour-de-force of Fields's offbeat humour, double-takes, broad comedy and comedy sketches, ; sending up Fields himself, his career, and the Hollywood industry in general.

It sounds to me like something between a Marx brothers' comedy and a Terry Gilliam fantasy. The humour is quite politically incorrect: there are lots of jokes about booze and sex and about Fields being a roguish, unscrupulous scoundrel and loser. If you like that sort of humour and weirdness I think it will be a great escape from the constraints of our real, sad modern world.

(This print provided courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive)