Classy tale is so up to date; DVDs.

Byline: GRAHAM YOUNG

THE DUCHESS (12)

VERDICT: *****

MY OSCAR tip for best costumes came good this year.

But the other good news is that if, like me, you often find 'costume dramas' a little bit stuffy, then The Duchess is a high-energy revelation throughout its 105 minutes.

Keira Knightley illuminates the screen as Georgiana Spencer, the Duchess of Devonshire.

Married in 1774 at the age of 17 to a 26-year-old husband, Georgiana's extravagant tastes and fashion icon status make her more than a blueprint for Diana, Princess of Wales.

Especially when you add in other related factors such as Georgiana's doomed affair with Earl Grey (Dominic Foster), a decade long menage-a-trois involving her husband and Lady Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell) and, of course, her real-life Spencer bloodline.

This story might be 230 years old, but its tagline that 'there are three people in this marriage' gives it an irresistible topicality.

Saul Dibb, who directed the low budget urban rites of passage drama Bullet Boy, has a bright future in Hollywood on this evidence.

EAGLE EYE (12)

VERDICT: *****

AFTER Transformers and Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, this is another high profile release for 22-year-old Shia LaBeouf.

It's also a warning that even when the biggest studios start to believe in you as one of their youngest talents, not everything will go to plan.

Mourning his cleverer brother, Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) finds his life turned upside down by a visit to a cash point machine.

Suddenly 'activated' by mysterious forces, he's about to be thrown together with a mother called Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan).

Controlled by a female voice which can telephone strangers sitting next to you on a train, control traffic lights to a split-second degree and even activate cranes in a scrap yard, the pair go on the run for their lives.

Eagle Eye is set firmly on Earth, but this 112-minute thriller feels too far fetched for its own good.

HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS & ALIENATE PEOPLE (15)

VERDICT: *****

FRESH from his successes with Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Run Fatboy Run, Britain's own Simon Pegg comes back down to Earth with this comedy.

Based on the book by Toby Young, he plays Sidney Young, a British writer joining a US magazine run by Clayton Harding (the brilliant Jeff Bridges).

Trouble is, not only does Sidney constantly annoy all those around him, his unpalatable behaviour is likely to infect every British living room, too.

High points include a priceless definition of Brad Pitt and a neat reference to Bridges' film The Big Lebowski, but the plot never seems willing to progress beyond a series of embarrassing, thirdform incidents.

Co-star Kirsten Dunst is wasted and How To... never threatens to be a male version of Meryl Streep's 2006 hit, The Devil Wears Prada.