Something 4 The Weekend by Paul Bullock

Welcome ladies, gentlemen and film fans everywhere to entertainment manchester's weekly feature 'Something for the Weekend'. If, as Forrest Gump once might have said were he a film fan, cinema really is like a box of chocolates, then think of us as your mini-menu, steering you away from the coffee creams and towards the Turkish delights of the movie world.

The first potential blockbuster of the year roars its way onto our screens this weekend as Ghost Rider is released. Based on the Marvel comic, it follows Johnny Blaze, a motorbike stunt rider who, in a bid to save his dying father, sells his soul to the devil. Bad idea, because, in true comic book fashion, Blaze is then forced to roam the streets at night as the Ghost Rider, a demonic beasty with a flaming skull for a head and nice line in fiery motorbikes.

Nicholas Cage, with the assistance of CGI of course, fleshes out the eponymous Rider and depending on which Cage turns up the film will either be very, very good or very, very bad. If the gurning, disinterested Cage who's taken the gig simply because he likes the character and fancies riding about on a flaming hog is the one we see, it's unlikely to set the world on fire. If, on the other hand, it's the Cage who appeared in Adaptation and actually wants to act, then the film could be an entertaining little B-movie. Eva Mendes as Blaze's girlfriend Roxanne Simpson and a brilliantly cast Peter Fonda as THE DEVIL HIMSELF round off the cast, but ultimately it all rests on Cage and director Mark Steven Johnson who previously brought us the abysmal Daredevil.

Despite some truly terrible reviews, the film was a hit with American audiences, but could face some box office fight this weekend from The Illusionist, a film which was released Stateside all the way back in August of last year. The delay will almost certainly work against it though since The Illusionist will evoke memories of the brilliant The Prestige, as, like Christopher Nolan’s film, this also follows magicians at the turn of the 20th century. The magician in question is Eisenheim (Edward Norton) and the film follows him as he gets involved with Sophie van Teschen (Jessica Biel), fiancé of the powerful Crown Prince Leopold. Hardly original then, but with a cast as winning as this, The Illusionist could be worth catching.

But if neither magic or mystery interests you this weekend, you could watch Hilary Swank be inspiring to a load of ghetto kids in Freedom Writers. Based on a true story, it follows teacher Erin Gruwell as she attempts to encourage a group of Black, Jewish, Latino and Asian hoods to reject violence and embrace education in a film that in no way at all sounds like a cross between Dead Poet's Society and Dangerous Minds.

Another true life tale is also released this weekend in the shape of A Guide To Recognising Your Saints, which follows Dito (Shia LeBeouf), a young man growing up in a rough part of New York who believes he is spared the violence, drugs and imprisonment his friends suffer through by the saints. Rosario Dawson and Robert Downey Jnr star with the real-life Dito writing and directing.

Finally, in the rubbish-looking British films which should never have seen the light of day category is Popcorn, a cinema-set rom-com starring Jack Ryder and Jodi Albert, who used to star in Eastenders and Hollyoaks respectively. Now there's credentials for you!