FIFTY years after Glenn Ford and Van Heflin cocked their pistols in the original 3:10 To Yuma, based on a story by Elmore Leonard, director James Mangold saddles up for a fast-paced remake that reinvigorates the western genre.

A classic parable of good versus evil set in the mythic Old West, the new version relishes the stellar casting of Christian Bale and Russell Crowe as rancher Dan Evans and notorious outlaw Ben Wade, bound together on a perilous three-day journey to meet the titular train.

During that odyssey, Bale's kind, self-sacrificing father is forced to make terrible choices to safeguard his loved ones.

He stares evil, in the shape of Crowe's mean, conniving gunslinger, straight in the eye and hopes that his faith will carry him through, even when the odds are stacked overwhelmingly against him.

"Just remember, it's your old man that hauled Ben Wade to that station, when nobody else would," Dan tells his eldest son proudly.

Former Union Army officer Dan Evans has abided by the letter of the law his entire life, and now lives on an Arizona ranch with his wife Alice (Gretchen Mol) and sons William (Logan Lerman) and Mark (Benjamin Petry).

Drought has driven the family to the brink of starvation, so Dan agrees the sum of $200 to escort vicious criminal Ben Wade to the prison train, which leaves at 3.10pm from the town of Contention. The horseback journey to the station is fraught with dangers including attacks by Apache Indians and Wade's gun-crazy second-in-command Charlie Prince (Ben Foster).

Adding to Dan's woes, 14-year-old William runs away from home to join the posse, hoping for an adventure like the dime store novels, which fire his imagination.

3:10 To Yuma begins at a canter and slows only a couple of times to develop the fractious relationship between Dan and Ben, which morphs into something far more intense and complicated by the time they reach Contention.

Bale brings a palpable desperation to his family man, physically scarred by the Civil War and now worn down by the disdain of his wife and children.

Crowe embraces his role as the cold-hearted killer with gusto, exploiting the glimmers of human weakness in his captors, especially Dan, whose unerring love for his family is like a raw wound waiting to be picked.

Foster delivers another scene-stealing psychopath from the repertoire, while youngster Lerman acts many of his older co-stars off-screen with an intense, brooding portrayal of a boy desperate to become a man before he is ready. When he finally stares death in the face, Will's gung-ho facade cracks. "Call them off," he begs.

"Why should I?" replies Ben. "Because you're not all bad," says Will hopefully.

"Yes I am," responds the outlaw. "Kid, I wouldn't last five minutes leading an outfit like that if I wasn't rotten as hell."

Radcliffe shakes off Harry Potter tag

December Boys (12A) ***

IN a deliberate move away from his career-defining role as Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe plays an orphaned teenager, teetering on the brink of manhood, in the film version of Michael Noonan's novel, set in the Australian outback during the 60s.

Rod Hardy's film will no doubt be marketed heavily on its leading man and Radcliffe certainly has the largest and showiest role of the four, young leading cast members. However, as coming-of-age stories go, December Boys is a rather gentle and breezy affair.

An epilogue, set almost a lifetime later, shamelessly milks our tears, reinforcing the notion of the orphans as a dysfunctional family.

Radcliffe delivers a flawless accent, gelling effectively with his co-stars against the picturesque backdrops of Adelaide and Kangaroo Island. Misty (Lee Cormie), Sparks (Christian Byers), Spit (James Fraser) and Maps (Radcliffe) are the December Boys, so called because they share the same birth month, as decreed by the nuns who look after them in the Catholic convent they call home.

As the oldest member of the plucky quartet, Maps realises his chances of adoption are ever diminishing, so he takes solace in throwing a protective arm around his surrogate brothers. For a rare treat, the boys are invited to venture to the seaside for the summer, leaving behind their fellow outcasts and regimented life.

The spectre of terminal illness casts a fleeting shadow over the second half of the film, but Hardy doesn't dwell on the pain - not when there's the small matter of Fearless (Sullivan Stapleton) and Teresa (Victoria Hill) announcing which of the boys they hope to adopt.

Superbad's half good

Superbad (15) ***

THOSE tumultuous years, when hormone-addled teenagers cling onto the security of their high school cliques before striking out on their own at college, have been exploited endlessly for laughs and tears.

Now comes Greg Mottola's foul-mouthed coming of age tale, a $100 million-plus sleeper hit, which confirms the teen sex comedy is very much back in fashion.

Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Superbad is a surprisingly sentimental story of two socially inept friends who live in each other's pockets, but must now contemplate the divergent paths their futures must take.

Accepted into different colleges, pals Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) try to ignore their impending separation by getting trashed at a party hosted by beautiful classmate Jules (Emma Stone). A generous slice of filthy-minded fun, mixes salty humour with sweet emotion.

Hitchcock's Rear Window gets a modern twist

Disturbia (15) ****

Thanks to our hectic lives, we rarely get to know the people who live around us. Even in the most idyllic corners of suburbia, neighbours can be like strangers, exchanging a fleeting smile of recognition as they pass in the street, but never taking the time to get past the pleasantries.

These people could be anyone or anything and it is only when tragedy brings the news cameras out in force that we are reminded of the dark secrets that can be hidden behind the net curtains.

It's always the same - shell-shocked residents offering inane sound bites about the monster who lived next door.

"He always kept himself to himself," they say shaking their heads, police tape fluttering in the background, "He seemed like such a nice man. Always polite, never any bother".

Behold the ordinary face of evil.

Disturbia is a slickly engineered, paranoia thriller sparked by the febrile imagination of an electronically-tagged, housebound teenager, Kale (Shia LaBeouf).

Spying on the locals to pass the time, Kale entertains the outlandish notion that the loner across the street, Mr Turner (David Morse), is a serial killer.

The youngster plants seeds of suspicion in the minds of sexy neighbour Ashley (Sarah Roemer) and goofy best friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo), who train binoculars and a video camera on the Turner residence and even break into his car.

"This is a lot harder than it looks on the internet," grimaces Ronnie as he duels with the central locking.

Once Turner senses he is under surveillance, he confronts Ashley and issues a chilling warning: "You're not the only one that's watching. Feel free to pass that along."

Disturbia disorients us with a bravura opening set piece that we don't see coming, and director DJ Caruso sustains the tension through the myriad twists.

Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth's screenplay is well-oiled, with all the usual double-bluffs and red herrings, lending a 21st century, high-tech gloss to a central premise borrowed from Hitchcock's Rear Window.

LaBeouf is a likeable teenage rebel, well versed in sarcasm, as when Kale's mother (Carrie-Anne Moss) looks despairingly around the pigsty that has become her home and demands, "Clean up your room and clean up the kitchen", and Kale retorts lazily, "Let me just check my schedule."

We see most of the film through his eyes and LaBeouf ably conveys his troublemaker's mounting frustration that no-one in authority will listen to his fantastical allegations of murder most horrid.

The romantic subplot with Roemer's babe-next-door simmers gently and Yoo plays goofy to the hilt, applauding Kale's time-wasting endeavours with food: "Oh my God, you made the tower of Twinkies!"

Morse and Moss compliment the young leads with solid supporting performances, their two-dimensional characters coming to the fore in the film's frenetic final act, which batters logic to a bloody pulp.

Also showing

THE SERPENT (LE SERPENT) (15) French thriller based on the novel by Ted Lewis, revolving around blackmailer Plender (Clovis Cornillac), who milks married victims by photographing them in compromising positions with his pretty accomplice.

IN THE HANDS OF THE GODS (15) In summer 2006, five young men from the UK freestyle circuit - all with a passion for the beautiful game - decided to chase their dream of meeting their idol, Diego Maradona, paying their way by busking across America.

Source

Police investigators in Las Vegas questioned former football star O.J. Simpson early today in connection with a break-in of a casino hotel room, according to news services and local media reports.

He was not arrested, but is reportedly remaining in the city pending the outcome of the investigation.

The break-in was reported at the Palace Station casino late Thursday night, news services and local media outlets reported, citing Jose Montoya, a police spokesman. People staying in the room reported that Mr. Simpson and some companions took several items, described by as sports collectibles.

Mr. Simpson said the items belonged to him, police said.

Mr. Simpson lives near Miami and has been in and out of the news since he was found not guilty of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, in 1994. He was subsequently found liable for the killings in a civil wrongful death lawsuit.

Police were scheduled to turn over evidence in the case to local prosecutors, and said they would release more details at a new conference.

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