real-life, rio drama; Guns, gangs, drugs and chickens? Brazilian

There's a feeling I get when I realise that the movie I'm watching is likely to become one of my all-time favourites. It affects us all differently, but any critic who doesn't experience that sudden breathless rush of exhilaration once in a while is in the wrong job. For me, it's not unlike a panic attack - I start to fidget, my hands turn clammy and I fear that I might have to go to the loo before the end of the movie. I'm probably the last person you'd want to sit next to in the cinema. That makes the feeling sound decidedly more unpleasant than it is, but my reaction to potentially great cinema is about 80% mounting anxiety that something, somehow will ruin it before the end. Which is why, on the rare occasions that a film doesn't disappoint in some small way, I get very excited.

Take Brazilian movie City Of God. It literally explodes onto the screen with a glint of steel blades and brandished firearms, as a mob runs through the streets of Rio's most dangerous slum, to a frenzied Latin beat. This is no gang fight - the mob is chasing a chicken which has escaped from a rooftop barbecue. It's a brilliant opening sequence, a real adrenaline jolt. The question you ask of both is: how on earth can they sustain this? The answer is that the electrifying energy is maintained effortlessly, stylishly and with confidence throughout the film. It would be a remarkable achievement for any director, but it's all the more impressive given that this is the first feature from Fernando Meirelles.

It was one of the surprise hits at Cannes, with pundits heaping praise on the film. One writer described it as "the Brazilian GoodFellas" and found himself quoted all over the Croisette. But the comparison is too neat not to borrow. Both are based on true stories, both stretch over three decades - the 1960s to the 1980s; both have huge ensemble casts and both chart the journey of criminal gangs into the drugs trade.

City Of God is based on a novel by Paulo Lins, himself a former resident of Rio's favelas. The book has over 300 characters, but it is successfully condensed via narration from the central character, Rocket, a boy who grows up on the fringes of hoodlum culture. Even more helpfully, each discrete story that makes up the epic tale is preceded by a heading which helps the viewer marshal the immense amount of information into a coherent narrative. It's one of several stylistic flourishes that seem almost calculated to annoy cinematic traditionalists. There have been accusations that City Of God is too stylish to serve the brutal, unflinching source material. But it's evident that a lot of thought went into every aspect of the film- making process - for example the use of different film stocks and processing techniques to evoke each era. There's not one slick piece of editing or camera work that doesn't serve the story.

It's a dazzling film, but it's also extremely violent, and at times deeply disturbing. But it tells the story of how Rio became one of the most dangerous places on Earth so the graphic, casual violence is appropriate, if uncomfortable. And to avoid it on those grounds would be to overlook one of the best films made in the last ten years.

It's pointless to draw comparisons between City Of God and Star Trek X: Nemesis. It is made specifically for those who like that kind of thing. Not being an aficionado, I took a friend who, while not a full-blooded Trekkie, could be described as a sympathiser. Worryingly, he chuckled along with the rest of the weirdoes.

In layman's terms, it's an entertaining sci-fi space romp, a futuristic spin on the nature/nurture debate. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart in wonderful form) comes face-to-face with his clone, Praetor Shinzon (Tom Hardy). They are genetically identical, but differ in the fact that Picard aspires to be better than he is, whereas Shinzon wants to destroy Earth and humanity. It's that old theme of the duality of good and evil. The message is that humanity is an ideal state and those non-humans who try to learn about it are morally superior to those that don't. Interesting philosophical issues are raised, and we get to see the Enterprise's crew drive really fast in space pods. What more could you want?

More sci-fi is on offer with Avalon, which, although visually interesting, is tedious. It is steeped in references to Arthurian legend and there are chunks of dirge-like opera, during which the story grinds to a halt. Despite spectacular live action, it is a suicidally boring experience.

All films are released on Friday reviewed city of god (18)fernando meirellesHHHHH star trek: nemesis (12A)stuart bairdHHH avalon (12A)mamoru oshiiHH

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