A nicely deep and dark conspiracy thriller, State of Play makes a wise directorial choice in Kevin Macdonald. While moved to Washington, it retains some British feel through tough-talking, very English editor Helen Mirren, in a part played by Bill Nighy on TV. But it's a good watch and well led by a very relaxed Russell Crowe as the slob reporter at the heart of the story. This is a welcome reminder of Crowe's hot streak of a decade ago, when he was at the heart of another conspiracy in The Insider, directly before his breakthrough role in Gladiator.

Review by Rob Mackie. Rent dvds at theguardian.com/sofacinema