A round-up of this week's new releases 

Alice Through The Looking Glass (PG) Empire, Odeon, ABC **

Released in 2010, Tim Burton's descent down the rabbit hole of Alice In Wonderland was a triumph of eye-popping style and weirdness over substance.

Audiences didn’t care about flimsy narrative and his quixotic journey of self-discovery became the second highest grossing film that year behind Toy Story 3, with box office takings in excess of one billion US dollars.

Curiouser and curiouser...Alice Through The Looking Glass is a topsy-turvy jaunt too far for Lewis Carroll’s iconic characters.

Johnny Depp, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter compete to see who can scene-steal with the greatest abandon.

New director James Bobin’s film feels considerably longer than 113 minutes.

Love & Friendship (U) Empire **

BOSOMS heave, corsets strain and venomous one-liners land with marksman-like precision in Whit Stillman's delicious period romantic comedy, based on Jane Austen's novella Lady Susan.

The acclaimed New York-born writer-director polishes a very British tale of stifled emotions and rigid etiquette to a glorious lustre.

Love & Friendship is a rare tonic.

Period detail and costumes are impeccable, but it is Stillman’s riotous reinvention of Austen’s little-known novella that glitters brightest.

Kate Beckinsale oozes butter-wouldn’t-melt sweetness as she runs rings around the male of the species by exploiting her sex’s bountiful charms.

Every back-handed compliment lands like a sharp slap to the chops, eliciting so much laughter in some scenes that a couple of zinging one-liners are lost in our mounting delirium.

A perfect excuse to savour a second helping.

Money Monster (15) Empire, Odeon **

MONEY talks - and it says exceedingly ugly things - in Jodie Foster's tense hostage thriller, which unfolds largely in real time during a live television broadcast.

Anchored by strong performances from George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Derbyshire-born rising star Jack O’Connell, Money Monster overcomes some preposterous plot twists and a noticeable lull in the middle act to keep us on the edge of our seats.

Money Monster is a cautionary tale about the get-rich-quick mentality of a modern society that blindly trusts in technology to deliver rewards at the tap of an app.

George Clooney and Julia Roberts generate molten screen chemistry, even though she is just a voice in his ear for the majority of the film.