DON’T restrict your festive film viewing to what’s on the box. Get out and about to the region’s cinemas with help from MICHAEL GREEN who provides this round-up of what’s showing on the big screen over the Christmas and New Year period.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS (U) (All major cinemas)

ALVIN and the Chipmunks are something of a phenomenon in the States where they have managed to produce more than 10 albums of squeaky voiced pop. The philosophy seems to be that during school holidays, children will lap up just about anything - or at least parents will be desperate to get them out of the house. Just in case you’re interested, Jason Lee leads the otherwise unknown ‘human’ cast while Alvin himself is voiced by Justin Long.

STAR RATING: **

AMAZING GRACE (PG) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Friday only)

IN THIS year of the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade, Michael Apted’s film focuses on the life of William Wilberforce (Iona Gruffudd), the MP who fought to wake people up to the abominations of slavery, making what is widely considered to be one of the most powerful speeches ever heard in the House of Commons. Also starring Albert Finney, Michael Gambon and Rufus Sewell. STAR RATING: ***

AMERICAN GANGSTER (18) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)

SCARFACE, Serpico and Heat all spring to mind when watching Ridley Scott’s latest picture but there is enough originality to keep one watching for the excessive 157 minutes as Denzel Washington’s drugs kingpin pits his wits against Russell Crowe’s dogged detective. STAR RATING: ***

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (12A) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)

A THREE hour Western in which very little happens and where the end is given away by the title – boy, does this movie have its work cut out for it! OK, so it does have Brad Pitt as Jesse James and it is one of the best reviewed pictures of 2007. But with the best will in the world, this lyrical look at both the legend of the infamous outlaw and his unhealthy relationship with the obsessive teenager who kills him (played by Casey Affleck) is going to be of marginal appeal.

STAR RATING: ***

BEE MOVIE (PG) (All major cinemas)

JERRY Seinfeld returns to the limelight for the first time since his celebrated TV series ended and what does he play? A talking bumble bee! This animated family film has enough smart gags to keep adults happy and lots of colourful adventure to satisfy younger audience members. STAR RATING: **

BEOWULF (12A) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)

DIRECTOR Robert Zemeckis has taken the motion capture techniques he employed so well in The Polar Express and taken them to the next stage with remarkable results for this revival of what is regarded as the first ever novel. There are stunning likenesses of Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins while Ray Winstone has never looked so buff! Best seen in 3D where possible.

STAR RATING: ***

ENCHANTED (U) (All major cinemas)

ARGUABLY the best movie to come out of Disney since the first Pirates of the Caribbean picture. The central gimmick here is taking the staple diet of Disney fairy tales – sweetly innocent princess, dashingly heroic prince, wicked queen - and tossing them all into the real world of New York before watching cultures clash to compelling effect.

STAR RATING: ***

1408 (15) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Saturday-Tuesday)

JOHN Cusack and Samuel L Jackson star in this inventive if ridiculously far-fetched tale based on a Steohen King short story. Cusack plays a writer who specialises in debunking ghost stories but meets his match when he ends up staying in a notorious New York hotel room.

STAR RATING: ***

FRED CLAUS (PG) (All major cinemas)

VINCE Vaughn is on top form as the delinquent brother of Santa, the black sheep of the Claus family who is always full of slightly dodgy scams but has to shape up when his famous brother (played by Paul Giamatti) is sidelined and he has to take over. With Kevin Spacey reprising his Lex Luthor villainous gig and a supporting cast that includes the likes of Kathy Bates, Miranda Richardson and even Rachael Weisz, this may actually be more palatable that its premise suggests.

STAR RATING: ***

THE GOLDEN COMPASS (PG) (All major cinemas)

THERE are high hopes that this opening chapter in the scren adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials will turn into a trilogy of Lord of the Rings proportions. A great cast headed by Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig and newcomer Dakota Blue Richards is matched by some stunning settings and sequences.

STAR RATING: ***

GOOD LUCK CHUCK (15) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)

BAD luck anyone who mistakenly ventures into any cinema screening this puerile pond scum of a picture which seems to systematically set out to offend the entire female gender. Dane Cook is apparently a massively successful stand-up comedian in the States but he can forget transferring that appeal to the big screen if he chooses another vehicle where the main objective seems to be to break the record for greatest number of breasts on show outside the porn industry.

STAR RATING: *

HITMAN (15) (All major cinemas)

THE latest movie based on a computer game gives Die Hard 4.0 villain Timothy Olyphant a chance to show his quality as a leading man but to be honest, to portray Agent 47, Olyphant’s talents do not need to be tested beyond the ability to look cool in a suit while wielding powerful weapons in both hands. There is an attempt at a plot: Agent 47 is set up to execute a Russian leader which puts his own survival at risk. He has a hooker tagging along for the ride and Dougray Scott as an Interpol agent trying to bring him to justice. And that’s as much story as director Xavier Gens needs to provide him with enough excuses for a huge amount of gun play.

STAR RATING: **

I AM LEGEND (15) (All major cinemas)

WILL Smith stars in this remake of the classic 1970s science fiction thought-provoker The Omega Man, which starred Charlton Heston, about the last human survivor on Earth. The rest of the species has either been wiped out by a mysterious virus or turned into inhuman zombies which means a lonely but still perilous existence for our hero.

STAR RATING: ***

MR MAGORIUM’S WONDER EMPORIUM (PG) (All major cinemas)

ALTHOUGH Zach Helm was responsible for writing the weird and wonderful Stranger Than Fiction, his directorial debut is a little sickly sweet to achieve that movie’s cult status. Dustin Hoffman plays a wonderfully optimistic 243 year old owner of a magical toy shop who is genuinely looking forward to the next adventure that awaits him – dying! Before he heads off into the great unknown, he is keen for his only staff member, Natalie Portman, to take over running the emporium but she has significant confidence issues which her aged mentor is determined to put right.

STAR RATING: **

RATATOUILLE (U) (All major cinemas)

PIXAR back on top form with this Paris-set comedy about a rat with gourmet taste buds. This could just be the best reviewed mainstream movie of 2007 to date with critics positively gagging on their superlatives as they rush to outdo each other in their praise of Brad Bird’s first entry into the genre since he brought us The Incredibles in 2004.

STAR RATING: ***

STARDUST (PG) (All major cinemas)

FIRST real stab at adapting the works of writer Neil Gaiman brings us his fairy tale for adults - saddled with a family certificate. Even so, there are welcome touches of Monty Python to spice up the feisty plot about a young hero who sets off on a quest to find a falling star and discovers it in the form of argumentative Claire Danes. STAR RATING: ***

ST TRINIAN’S (PG) (All major cinemas)

THE decision to update the creaky St Trinian’s series from the 1950s for the 21st century comes as something of a surprise. The story of this anarchic bunch of young ladies having to find ways to save their school from bankruptcy is merely an excuse for everyone to ham it up and overact to their hearts’ content. The idea of Rupert Everett dressing up in drag to take over the role of headmistress Miss Fritton from the legendary Alastair Sim is predictable beyond belief. Less so is Russell Brand in George Cole’s old role of Flash Harry but as popular as he may be, subtlety is hardly his speciality. The gimmicky tone of the picture is best summed up by the high profile cameo by Girls Aloud which will date this picture so fast it will seem past its sell-by as soon as it comes out on DVD.

STAR RATING: **

12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST (15) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Wednesday-Thursday)

THIS dry satire, written and directed by Corneliu Porumboiu, won the Camera D’Or at Cannes. The Romanian dictator Ceausescu was toppled from power at 12:08pm on December 22, 1989. But 16 years later, a provincial town starts to ponder just how revolutionary its townsfolk really were.

STAR RATING: ***

WE OWN THE NIGHT (15) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)

ECHOES of The Departed resonate through this crime drama which pits the kinetic acting skills of Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg against each other. Phoenix is the boss of a club owned by the Russian mafia in Brooklyn who has a background that would get him killed if it was revealed: dad Robert Duvall and brother Wahlberg are both cops. But when his family becomes the target of the underworld where he has made his home, Phoenix is forced to decide exactly where his loyalties lie.

STAR RATING: ***

COMING SOON

January 4: PS I LOVE YOU (Hilary Swank)

January 11: CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR (Tom Hanks)

January 18: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Javier Bardem)

January 25: SWEENEY TODD (Johnny Depp)

Dates subject to change.