MOVIES: It's all art and no soul

Although she is almost forgotten now, Edie Sedgwick was the young woman for whom the word "superstar" was first coined.

The word is much devalued by overuse these days and even when Andy Warhol came up with it he was speaking ironically. Nonetheless, Sedgwick was the superstar of Warhol's Factory, an underground film-making and artistic community. Really it was the equivalent of being the best dressed woman on radio.

Edie was mostly famous in New York, and even then only in certain circles, and as such she is a fairly slight engine to drive a whole movie vehicle. What she does do is give us a look at Warhol and his world, and a fairly self-regarding world it is too.

Not quite the Paris Hilton of her day, Edie was a wealthy and beautiful socialite who caught Warhol's eye. She was for a time his muse and became famous for being beautiful and outrageous, frequently at the same time.

Along the way she found love with a folk singer - who, according to the lawyers, is definitely not Bob Dylan, he just looks and sounds like him - but turned her back on him to remain with Warhol. The artist, consumed by jealousy, saw her dalliance as a betrayal and wanted nothing more to do with her.

Cruelly cast out from Warhol's inner circle, the increasingly fragile Edie descended into her own private hell of drink, drugs, sex, and poverty. Eventually, as the closing credits tell us, she died at the age of only 28.

Edie's life was a disaster but at the same time it's hard to be moved by the way this film tells it.

Halfway through the film Hayden Christensen as the folk singer tells Edie her heart is as empty as "one of your friend's soup cans", a reference to Warhol's most famous print. He could just as easily have been talking about this film which revels in the seedy surface glamour of this world without actually delving any deeper.

Sienna Miller's performance as Edie was hailed as Oscar worthy when in fact it is nothing of the sort.

Miller is a great beauty with a waif-like charm playing a great beauty who effectively patented the look. She gets to rant and rave later in the film but it never really convinces.

The real star of the film is Guy Pearce, whose Warhol has just the right air of distraction as he wanders through the movie like a man constantly in search of someone more interesting and diverting.

Hayden Christensen, who is absolutely not playing Bob Dylan, gives a strong performance that makes you miss him when he's not on screen.

The film looks great even if it is a little too clever for its own good at times but in the end it lacks the heart that it needs to make you really care about Edie. She emerges as nothing more than, as she says herself, a poor little rich girl instead of the tragedy you suspect she really was. Director: George Hickenlooper Running time: 90mins STOMP THE YARD (12a) A twist that's breathtaking

One of the things you need to do with this film is largely dispense with the plot, which is not too difficult because it is eminently disposable.

It's your standard Romeo and Juliet college romance with a twist, but it's the twist that makes it at times utterly breathtaking.

DJ (Columbus Short) leaves LA to get over the death of his brother in an incident he caused. He goes to college in the south on a working scholarship where he falls in love with April (Meagan Good).

The problem is April's father is the head of the college and doesn't want her having anything to do with a no-good like DJ.

So far so typical, even to the point where love conquers all for the obligatory happy ending.

What raises Stomp The Yard above the common herd is the backdrop of competitive stepping, a sort of ritualised dance. This stuff will leave you slack-jawed at the athleticism and energy.

Short isn't much of an actor but he is a terrific dancer and provides a virtuoso performance. Director: Sylvan White Running time: 114mins

SLEEPING DOGS (18) Rather a sweet surprise You can't fault the timing of this film's release, just a few days after all those dog lovers have gathered at Crufts.

Our heroine Amy loves her dog. In fact at the start of the film the implication is that she has loved her dog more literally than is advisable.

Amy keeps her guilty secret until a few years later when she is engaged to John. In the spirit of candour and openness she confesses to her youthful indiscretion and her life promptly falls apart.

What is surprising about this film is that such a disgustingly absurd initial premise should give rise to a thoughtful and occasionally rather sweet film about the secrets we keep and the lies we tell ourselves.

Bobcat Goldthwait was the loud irritating one in the Police Academy series. If that doesn't narrow it down then he was the loudest and most irritating one.

You would not have bet on him writing and directing a film like this. My money would have been on a full-blown gross out comedy.

The pity of it is that although the story works well, thanks to a plucky performance by Melinda Page Hamilton as Amy, the film looks just terrible. Goldthwait frankly couldn't direct traffic.

The film is flat and ugly and monotonous and would have been much better served by handing the material over to a more competent film maker. Director: Bobcat Goldthwait Running time: 88mins PREMONITION (12a) TV movie with a good cast

Sandra Bullock is 42. That's a dangerous age for an actress who has made her name in perky, fluffy romantic comedies.

Once you get past 40 in that genre things get considerably less perky and your career can vanish in an instant. Anyone remember the name of the last Meg Ryan movie?

Fortunately, although she plays kooks on screen, Sandra Bullock is a shrewd and savvy operator who has been quietly repositioning her career.

Since the unfortunate Miss Congeniality 2 we have seen her in Crash, The Lake House, and Infamous in roles that were neither silly nor comedic. She continues that trend with Premonition an initially interesting but ultimately confusing thriller which nonetheless moves her closer to conventional leading lady territory.

Bullock is a housewife whose day is interrupted by a policeman knocking at her door to tell her that her husband (Julian McMahon) has been killed in a road accident. The day after his "death", she wakes up to find him lying asleep in bed beside her.

Not surprisingly she is confused. She is even more puzzled to discover she now appears to be living her days out of sequence. Is she travelling back and forth in time and if so why? And if this is a premonition of her husband's death, will she be able to prevent it?

Some of these questions are answered, others are not, but the film runs out of steam towards the end by which time you're not really that bothered.

Bullock is quietly effective in a confused sort of way and McMahon is good enough with what little he has to do to suggest there is a career for him beyond Nip/Tuck and Fantastic Four.

Like last week's Freedom Writers, Premonition ultimately is a TV movie that has lucked into a half-decent cast. It might work well enough on a small screen but in the cinema it comes up short. Director: Mennan Yapo Running time: 96mins