In 2009, cinéastes will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the nouvelle vague - that new wave of stylistically audacious films by a cabal of young French auteurs that had an incalculable impact on both mainstream and arthouse cinema. But a number of directors are getting their tributes in early. Already this year, we've had the portmanteau picture, Paris, Je t'aime, while Christophe Honoré is soon to follow Dans Paris with his enchanting musical, Les Chansons d'amour. However, the City of Light has been best served by Julie Delpy, whose directorial debut, 2 Days in Paris, both celebrates and castigates the French capital, as a nebbish New Yorker meets his prospective in-laws for the first time.

Delpy was clearly taking notes while starring opposite Ethan Hawke in Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise (1995) and its sequel, Before Sunset (2004). She's also seen her share of Woody Allen pictures. But, in the true spirit of hommage cinema, she doesn't simply copy their smart-talking, romcomic approach, but couples it with freewheeling visuals that not only capture the exuberance of the city, but also reinforce the brittleness of her sight-impaired photographer's relationship with Adam Goldberg, who is still recovering from the bout of explosive diarrhoea he endured in Venice when confronted with the colourful past that Delpy had somehow omitted to mention.

Adorably ditzy behind her thick black glasses, Delpy breezes through encounters with her eccentric parents, Marie Pillet and Albert Delpy (her real-life folks), and former lovers Adan Jodorowsky and Alex Nahon. But their insouciant teasing and boasting only deepens the kvetching Goldberg's sense of inadequacy, which is consistently exacerbated by Delpy's amusement at his cultural and personal discomfort. It's Annie Hall and Alvy Singer, Jess and Céline all over again - only, this time, from a knowing female perspective.

There are missteps along the way, most notably Goldberg's backstreet misadventures after he breaks up with Delpy at a party. But, otherwise, this is a magnificent first outing from an always intelligent actress, who not only wrote and scored the film, but who also directs with a nouvelle vague panache that never lapses into pastiche.

The dialogue may not be as sharp and the situations may be more contrived, but Jemaine Clement and Loren Horsley make another engagingly odd couple in New Zealander Taika Waititi's first feature, Eagle vs Shark. Neither possesses much in the way of intellect or pulchritude, but burger waitress Horsley makes an admirable Sancho Panza for Clement's twentysomething game store clerk, as he seeks revenge on the kid who bullied him at school. Wince-inducing set-pieces abound, such as Clement's awkward suggestion that they have sex after Horsley excels at a violent fighting game and his ludicrous martial arts training camp for the big showdown. But this is more about minor moments of ungainly affection and deadpan gravitas that produce smiles rather than belly laughs.

The occasional animated interlude enhances this offbeat tone, but they feel more like a 'why not' inclusion than anything more essential. Waititi earned an Oscar nomination for his delightful short, Two Cars, One Night, and while this may not be as consistently well-judged, it still takes its place alongside such celebrations of geekiness as Gregory's Girl (1981) and Napoleon Dynamite (2004).

The pleasingly old-fashioned air that informs Eagle vs Shark is even more evident in Mee-Shee: The Water Giant, which feels like something the Children's Film Foundation would have produced in the 1970s. Jim Henson's Creature Shop devised the special effects, which are an uncomfortable mix of animatronics and computer generation. But, setting aside its rather quaint technical limitations, this is a rousing adventure that should make a late-holiday treat for youngsters more in thrall to Enid Blyton than Walt Disney.

The action centres on tweenager Daniel Magder, who is visiting oil-drilling father Bruce Greenwood when an expensive piece of equipment is lost at the bottom of a deep lake. Teaming up with Native Canadian girl, Jacinta Wawatai, Magder tries to warn Greenwood about the activities of rival riggers Charles Mesure and Joel Tobeck, who are not only out to steal the missing drill bit, but who are also intent on destroying the aquatic habitat of Mee-Shee, the fabled prehistoric creature that Magder and Wawatai have befriended. But since when have grown-ups listened to a word their kids tell them?

Director John Henderson bullishly refuses to shy away from stereotype and cliché. But this is a vast improvement on his 1996 misfire, Loch Ness, and only the hardest heart would begrudge the story its joyously sentimental denouement.