Shia LaBeouf is a fascinating young actor whose star has been steadily on the rise. After an adolescence of small but strong support roles in movies like I, Robot and Bobby, at the age of 23 he got a lead role in the thriller Disturbia, which came out in 2007. The film was formulaic in most ways except for young LaBeouf.

His character Kale is a troubled teen under house arrest for punching out a teacher and who, with so much time at home, starts spying on his neighbours. In spite of all of Kale's repressed teenage horniness, he's a likeable, multi-faceted guy and Shia plays him with such nuance and intelligence that an average movie becomes a quite good one.

Transformers followed, where his acting chops were tested against some rather large and noisy computer-generated machines, but for me the real revelation was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Up against iconic greats like Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, John Hurt and of course, Harrison Ford, Shia not only held his own, he acted his ass off. Not a word is wasted. When he says, "You're a teacher?" to Indiana Jones, the line is brimming with humour, disbelief and is pitched perfectly. He reminds me a bit of Ryan Gosling - they're both rich in talent.

The forgettable film Eagle Eye starred LaBeouf in 2008. It was a big-budget thriller with a shoddy premise that in spite of its inability to hold water, was entertaining and made Shia even more bankable.

So how does his ascent hold up against the about-to-be critically derided sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? In short, Shia LaBeouf is fine but the movie could've used him more and the machines less. If there's a lesson to be learned from Alien VS Predator (and believe me, there are many lessons to be learned from that film. And from Rambo), it's that action gets boring when it doesn't involve a human. Who can we relate to? The Alien or the Predator? Who cares?

I had to interview Megan Fox two years ago and the only time she cracked a smile was when she was talking about her Transformers co-star Shia LeBeouf ("He's wonderful") and when I asked her if the Team America song about how crap her director is ever ran through her head. ("Pearl Harbor sucked and I miss you. / Why does Michael Bay get to keep on making movies? / I guess Pearl Harbor sucked, just a little bit more than I miss you").

Look, if you've got a case of the winter doldrums, you could get worse therapy than a lobotomy via the latest romantic comedy to star Sandra Bullock, The Proposal. Her plastic surgery seems to have calmed down a bit since Premonition (terrible film, co-stars Aussie actor Julian McMahon who, let's face it, is no Shia LaBeouf) and she's actually great. I know! Crazy, huh? Look, the film follows the rom-com formula beautifully, the romance is believable and cute and even though actor Ryan Reynolds has never actually done anything good, he's lovely in this. Yuh, no jokes. I liked it. It's like cinematic comfort food this winter.

If you need somewhere to take kids on a rainy day this season and the aquarium is too crowded, and you've already had everything pierced, and you've been banned from the art gallery, and all your friends hate you, the new Will Ferrell comedy Land of the Lost is not too scary for kids and not too painful for adults. You may even enjoy the subtle drug references. Ferrell's co-star Anna Friel is a refreshingly normal girl who doesn't play bimbo and Danny McBride as the redneck buddy is also fun.

Finally, a quick word about the new French film to star Amelie's Audrey Tautou - Coco Avant Chanel. If I don't tell you this, no one else will: It's boring. Sorry!