Latest releases reviewed

STEALTH *

Three fighter pilots with attitude are called upon to track down and destroy a computer-controlled plane that has gone bonkers. Contrary to promises made in the title, this psychedelically moronic action film can be both seen and heard. Though why anybody would pay for the privilege is a mystery. Bargain bins lick their imagined lips greedily.

LORDS OF DOGTOWN **

Why, exactly, would anybody seek out this ho-hum dramatisation of the rise of skateboarding in LA's west side while the superior documentary, Dogtown and Z-Boys, is available in shops? Well, Ledger is OK as a mentor figure and Hardwicke does a decent job of capturing the grungy locations. But the doc still rules, dudes.

ASYLUM ***

The wife of a psychiatrist falls for one of her husband's more dangerous patients in this adaptation of Patrick McGrath's novel. The lust and passion certainly seem a deal more overpowering when translated to the screen. But, if you can bear the rolling eyes, heaving bosoms and unlikely plot turns, the film works perfectly well as old-fashioned, penny-dreadful melodrama.