This heart-pounding sci-fi thriller is brilliantly made by director Tony Scott and Denzel Washington makes a sterling hero

This heart-pounding sci-fi thriller is brilliantly made by director Tony Scott and Denzel Washington makes a sterling hero.

He plays a detective on the trail of a mad bomber (Jim Caviezel) who's blown up a New Orleans ferry with a huge loss of life.

Washington becomes convinced that a victim (Paula Patton) holds the secret to events and then he's given access to a nifty, hi-tech FBI gadget that allows him to travel into the past - but by only four days and he can only review an event once, meaning it's vital he doesn't miss any clues.

So, can he stop the bomb and save hundreds of lives..? The plot is, of course, outlandish but it isn't as baffling as it sounds and makes for an endlessly inventive and hugely exciting sci-fi mind bender, especially in the standout sequence - a brilliantly staged car chase that occurs simultaneously in the present and four days in the past.

A top-notch South African sci-fi starring Sharlto Copley

A top-notch South African sci-fi starring Sharlto Copley.

With its satirical tone and great plot, this is a much-needed breath of fresh air from the usual Hollywood blockbuster.

A giant alien spaceship has been hovering in the skies over Johannesburg for more than 20 years and over a million creatures - disparagingly referred to as 'prawns' - have set up in makeshift homes in the squalid shanty town of District 9.

Meanwhile, a sinister company is after the aliens' advanced weapons technology and sets about evicting the aliens.

Unfortunate local bureaucrat Copley is charged with supervising the task and he's initially unsympathetic towards the inhabitants’ plight. However, he changes his mind when he contracts an alien virus that starts changing his DNA and forces him to go on the run.

The effects are terrific and the documentary-style filming makes for a gripping thriller.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great as Frenchman Philippe Petit, who famously crossed between New York's World Trade Center twin towers on a high wire

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great as Frenchman Philippe Petit, who famously crossed between New York's World Trade Center twin towers on a high wire.

Robert Zemickis' dazzling drama puts us right in 24-year-old Petit's shoes and the famous 1974 walk is filmed with such breathtaking skill (originally in Imax 3D) that even viewers with a cool head for heights will break out in a cold sweat.

There is tension, suspense and humour in the build-up to the audacious stunt, as Petit first learns the ropes of wire walking from cranky veteran circus artist Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley, sporting a bespoke East European accent) and then assembles a band of misfits and oddballs - including girlfriend Annie (Charlotte Le Bon) - to bring off his highly illegal scheme.

The caper is an engaging mix of steely preparation, brass-necked cheek and plucky improvisation, with the gang posing as architects to gain entry into the World Trade Center - then still under construction - and using a bow and arrow to string up the cable between the towers.

We know what happened next. Not only Petit's walk, 1,350 feet and 110 storeys up, but also the terror attacks of 9/11 that brought them down. The knowledge makes The Walk doubly affecting - both as a celebration of Petit's fearless, life-affirming coup and as an elegy to the Twin Towers themselves.

This quirky comic fantasy stars Will Ferrell as an uptight tax inspector whose life takes a bizarre turn

This quirky comic fantasy stars Will Ferrell as an uptight tax inspector whose life takes a bizarre turn.

He suddenly begins hearing a soothing voice giving a running narrative of his workaday life, only to slowly realise that he is actually a character in a book that is in the process of being written by a famous novelist (Emma Thompson). And she’s planning to kill him off!

Ferrell plays it straight for most of the movie and delivers one of his best performances, and the film is most effective in the scenes where he embarks on a tentative romance with the baker (Maggie Gyllenhaal) his character has been sent to audit.

Dustin Hoffman, as a literature professor, and Linda Hunt, as a shrink Ferrell seeks help from, also make their roles count.

Thoughtful, clever and entertaining, this is a special little movie.

Hollywood's take on Stieg Larsson's brutal murder story, starring Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig, is every bit as gripping as the original 2009 Swedish film

Hollywood's take on Stieg Larsson's brutal murder story, starring Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig, is every bit as gripping as the original 2009 Swedish film.

With Fight Club director David Fincher at the helm, it was clear that Hollywood wasn't going to pull any punches with Larsson's work and, sure enough, Fincher's film is dark and twisted, bleak and brutal - everything the book's fans would want.

And it's not just the story's mood that he gets right. The casting is spot on, too. Mara, as punk-Goth computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace in the original), nails her character's spiky complexity. Her tiny frame adorned with multiple tattoos (including the one of the title) and piercings, her emotionally damaged Salander is both vulnerable waif and ferocious avenger.

Co-star Craig, as crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist (originally played by Michael Nyqvist), proves a worthy foil, with enough brooding masculine charisma to make up for the fact that he alone among the cast doesn't attempt a Swedish accent.

As compelling as they are on their own, the film truly takes off when the pair come together to investigate the 40-year-old disappearance of a teenage girl from an island owned by a wealthy, seriously warped Swedish family.

A comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and John Candy and scripted by John Hughes should have been a sure-fire winner

A comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and John Candy and scripted by John Hughes should have been a sure-fire winner.

However, despite a few belly laughs, this is too lackadaisical and content to simply coast along on the strength of its stars – and, to be fair, they are certainly worth watching.

Candy is on holiday in a Wisconsin lakeside resort with his wife, Stephanie Faracy, and kids. Aykroyd and Annette Bening are Candy’s insufferable in-laws who invite themselves along and keep spoiling things.

The very variable gags take in an (obviously model) bat, a 109-year-old man, Candy eating a huge meal and some wisecracking little animals who speak in subtitles.

An insipid teen romance involving Candy's son, Chris Young, slows things down, but if you hang around till the end there is a very amusing sequence involving a bald bear.

It's the 1930s, the era of the wireless, but future King George VI (Colin Firth) suffers from a debilitating stutter and stammer that render him speechless

It's the 1930s, the era of the wireless, but future King George VI (Colin Firth) suffers from a debilitating stutter and stammer that render him speechless.

He's just about given up hope but then his wife (Helena Bonham Carter), the future Queen Mum, visits eccentric Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) and talks the reluctant prince into going along.

With its superb script (beware the surprisingly strong language as Firth is encouraged to swear as part of his therapy), this instant classic is as moving, witty, clever, informative and dramatic as you could wish for.

Firth is word-perfect, as profoundly touching as he is effortlessly amusing, the warm and funny Bonham Carter offers brilliant support and Rush is a right royal scene-stealer.

The film won four Oscars, for Firth, director Tom Hooper, David Seidler's screenplay and Best Film, and was nominated for eight more.

Just-released jailbird Ben Affleck assumes the identity of his murdered cellmate when he meets the latter's pen pal, Charlize Theron

Just-released jailbird Ben Affleck assumes the identity of his murdered cellmate when he meets the latter's pen pal, Charlize Theron.

However, his disguise also means becoming involved in a deadly casino robbery caper with Gary Sinise's bungling gang as he's a vital part of the plot.

Affleck shows his star quality in this ultra-sour action comedy, in which he has to think fast and keep smiling to stay alive.

Playfully directed by veteran action movie maestro John Frankenheimer, the plot is often surprisingly vicious and there's at least one twist too many. Nonetheless, it's keenly acted by all concerned and full of jokey Christmas-time details - including sundry red Santa suits.

The scene in which Affleck puts on a bearded cowboy disguise in Dennis Farina's casino is a comic gem and the ending is great.

Also known as Deception.

Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt are among the star-studded cast of this screwball crime comedy from the Coen Brothers

Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt are among the star-studded cast of this screwball crime comedy from the Coen Brothers.

When drunken CIA man John Malkovich is fired, he starts to write his memoirs, but the disk's stolen and falls into the hands of gym workers Pitt and McDormand, who try to blackmail Malkovich for its return and to sell it to the Russian Embassy.

Then, McDormand meets married George Clooney online - and he's having an affair with Malkovich's ice-cold wife, Tilda Swinton.

With a clutch of funny performances and some hilarious sequences, it's smart, enjoyable and put over with great style and verve. So it’s easy to forgive the perilously thin material.

And the acting's peerless: Malkovich and Pitt are hysterical, Clooney and McDormand effective and touching and character actors JK Simmons, David Rasche and Richard Jenkins also sparkle.

Widowed ex-clergyman Mel Gibson has lost his faith in God, then believes he’s in the midst of an alien invasion

Widowed ex-clergyman Mel Gibson has lost his faith in God, then believes he’s in the midst of an alien invasion.

Strange lights in the sky, something creeping through the cornfields, a rash of bizarre crop circles – these are all signs of out-of-this-world activity to Gibson.

Suddenly, his cynicism has to take second place to protecting his children (Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin) with help from his brother (Joaquin Phoenix).

So they board up their house, don tin foil hats and wait, until the reality of what they're up against comes knocking at the door…

Writer-director M Night Shyamalan's movie makes every word, gesture and unnerving moment count, and also has a great line in humour, though it fizzles out badly towards the end.

Pierce Brosnan is on convincing form as an ex-CIA man in this cloak-and-dagger thriller

Pierce Brosnan is on convincing form as an ex-CIA man in this cloak-and-dagger thriller.

The plot sees Brosnan running up against his one-time protégé (Luke Bracey) after he steps out of the shadows to shield a vulnerable war crimes witness (Olga Kurylenko) from scores of murderous supporting players.

The plot has more holes than a string vest, but it’s entertaining hokum and Brosnan proves his spry spy veteran has still got what it takes.

This is the gripping story of Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who famously pulled off a daring high-wire walk between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center in 1974

This is the gripping story of Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who famously pulled off a daring high-wire walk between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center in 1974.

Director Robert Zemickis' dazzling drama is filmed with such breathtaking skill (originally in Imax 3D) that even viewers with a cool head for heights will break out in a cold sweat.

There is tension, suspense and humour in the build-up to the audacious stunt, as Petit first learns the ropes of wire walking from cranky veteran circus artist Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley, sporting a bespoke East European accent) and then assembles a band of misfits and oddballs - including girlfriend Annie (Charlotte Le Bon) - to bring off his highly illegal scheme.

The caper is an engaging mix of steely preparation, brass-necked cheek and plucky improvisation, with the gang posing as architects to gain entry into the World Trade Center - then still under construction - and using a bow and arrow to string up the cable between the towers.

We know what happened next. Not only 24-year-old Frenchman Petit's walk, 1,350 feet and 110 storeys up, but also the terror attacks of 9/11 2001 that brought them down. This knowledge makes The Walk doubly affecting, both as a celebration of Petit's fearless, life-affirming coup and as an elegy to the twin towers themselves.

Will Smith is in his element as superhero Hancock, who may save many lives but is hugely unpopular with the public

Will Smith is in his element as superhero Hancock, who may save many lives but is hugely unpopular with the public.

He’s grumpy, hard-drinking and causes destruction wherever he goes and people are fed up with him. However, things start to look up when he rescues grateful PR guru Jason Bateman, who offers to smarten up his image.

Hancock's soon a hit with Bateman's son - but his wife Charlize Theron inexplicably proves a lot harder to win over…

This film starts off as a witty comedy and then explodes into a more serious action blockbuster. The two halves don’t always sit well together, especially when Hancock discovers the tragic story behind his origins, and for a 12 certificate it is a bit free and easy with the bad language and violence.

There are also some bizarre continuity errors, including what appears to be a giant robot in the background of one sequence, the presence of which is never explained.

However, Smith, Theron and Bateman are appealing and it is still hugely entertaining.

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon give dynamic performances as country and western singing legend Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon give dynamic performances as country and western singing legend Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter.

In this heartfelt bipoic, a must-see movie for music fans especially, the stars give their all. They prove they can sing and, in the process, deliver some skin-tingling duets - not least the long sequence in which Cash proposes to June in the middle of a song!

Cash's story of childhood poverty touched by tragedy, his success, drug addiction and romancing of love-of-his-life Carter is told with feeling and humour.

The movie's opening flashes back from Cash's groundbreaking 1968 concert at Folsom Prison and its explanation of just how he wrote the classic song Folsom Prison Blues is just one of the film's many magic moments.

Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara nail their roles in this tense, bleak and gritty US remake of Stieg Larsson's Swedish bestseller

Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara nail their roles in this tense, bleak and gritty US remake of Stieg Larsson's Swedish bestseller.

With director David Fincher at the helm, it was clear that Hollywood wasn't going to pull any punches in remaking the original.

Sure enough, Fincher's film is dark and twisted, bleak and brutal: everything fans want. And it's not just the story's mood that he gets right. The casting is spot on, too. Mara is every bit as good as Noomi Rapace's iconic performance as punk-Goth computer hacker Lisbeth Salander in the original, perfectly capturing the character's spiky complexity.

Her tiny frame adorned with multiple tattoos and piercings, Mara's emotionally damaged Salander is both vulnerable waif and ferocious avenger.

Co-star  Craig, as crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist, proves a worthy foil, with enough brooding masculine charisma to make up for the fact that he alone among the cast doesn't attempt a Swedish accent.

As compelling as they are on their own, the film truly takes off when the pair come together to investigate the 40-year-old disappearance of a teenage girl from an island owned by a wealthy, seriously warped Swedish family.

And as they begin unravelling this tangled mystery, the film becomes as gripping on screen as it was on the page.

Oscar-nominated Meryl Streep is a hoot as celebrated 1950s American cook Julia Child in writer-director Nora Ephron's delicious foodie comedy

Oscar-nominated Meryl Streep is a hoot as celebrated 1950s American cook Julia Child in writer-director Nora Ephron's delicious foodie comedy.

The film cleverly interweaves the parallel stories of Child's life in post-war France with that of 21st-century blogger Julie Powell (Amy Adams) as she attempts to cook her way through the 500-plus recipes in Child's classic book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in a year.

Streep is at her most mannered and camp, gleefully impersonating Child's eccentric demeanour and hooting voice. Yet her performance brims over with such joy, mirth and love that it's impossible not to be won over - and Stanley Tucci is also a delight as her diplomat husband.

A shame, then, that the movie's second course - featuring the insipid romcom woes of Powell - is less appetising. Still, Adams is appealing despite her character's obsessive nature and Chris Messina is personable, though underused, as her husband.

Although it plays out like a typical screwball comedy, this scathing political satire starring Tom Hanks is actually based on a strange-but-true story

Although it plays out like a typical screwball comedy, this scathing political satire starring Tom Hanks is actually based on a strange-but-true story.

Hanks enjoys himself as roguish Texan congressman Charlie Wilson, whose main preoccupations were loose women, alcohol and political chicanery.

Then, in the 1980s, Wilson suddenly developed a conscience about the plight of the mujahideen in Afghanistan, who were fighting against the occupancy of their country by Soviet troops.

With the help of a Bible-thumping Southern heiress (Julia Roberts) and a cynical CIA agent (Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was nominated for an Oscar), Wilson brokered an improbable deal between Pakistan, Israel and America to covertly begin shipping hi-tech Russian weaponry to the Afghans.

It's a story that's so far-fetched, you really couldn't make it up. The sting in this tale is that it was the US government's total lack of understanding as to the situation in Afghanistan that eventually led to the rise of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Fine performances and a witty script from The West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin provide veteran director Mike Nichols with one of his sharpest and funniest films and they’re helped immensely by the spot-on cast.

Widowed college lecturer Jeff Bridges thinks that his nice new neighbour Tim Robbins is planning a terrorist attack

Widowed college lecturer Jeff Bridges thinks that his nice new neighbour Tim Robbins is planning a terrorist attack.

The further he delves into Robbins' past, the more suspicious he becomes – but is Bridges just being paranoid?

Right until the end, the film keeps us guessing as to what is really happening. Is it about Bridges reading too much into circumstantial evidence, or about his not reading enough?

That’s the crucial, teasing question in a smouldering storyline that starts to become very far-fetched in the middle, but then almost out of nowhere pulls off a devastatingly perfect twist with one of cinema’s all-time great endings.

Bridges’ sweaty performance makes it all seem real, while Robbins’ poker face is unreadable almost through to the end. Joan Cusack, as Robbins’ genial wife, also makes her mark with her part in one of the movie’s cruellest surprises.

Intelligent, sophisticated and full of edgy suspense, this is a conspiracy theory to savour.

Kirsten Dunst and brother Bradley Pierce play an old board game that brings the inhabitants of an African jungle to life

Kirsten Dunst and brother Bradley Pierce play an old board game that brings the inhabitants of an African jungle to life.

Discovered in an old box under a building site, the board game is Jumanji and, for anyone foolish enough to play it, absolutely anything is liable to happen.

After being trapped in the Jumanji jungle for 26 years, a grizzled Robin Williams comes back to help  its two latest players cope with its crazy rules.

In short order, bats, scorpions, a trigger-happy hunter and a stampede of elephants are just some of the unwelcome visitors who enthusiastically trash their home and the local area.

Moving at a breakneck pace and jam-packed with state-of- the-art special effects, this is more fun than a barrel-load of monkeys--literally so in the scene in which a troop of the little terrors take over.

Aaron Johnson stars as an ordinary New York teen who takes his comic-book obsession to the max and becomes a superhero

Aaron Johnson stars as an ordinary New York teen who takes his comic-book obsession to the max and becomes a superhero.

Calling himself Kick-Ass, he buys a daft green and yellow suit and mask off the internet and starts crime fighting despite his lack of superpowers.

Inspiring copycats, he's hunted by violent lowlifes, meeting up with a pair of crazed vigilantes, 11-year-old, sword-wielding Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her dad, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) - and makes friends with another novice superhero, Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).

They soon find a nemesis in Red Mist’s dad, evil mob boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong).

Based on a comic by Mark Millar and John S Romita Jr, this has a dazzling, constantly surprising, brilliantly edgy and unusually challenging script by Jonathan Ross' wife Jane Goldman and director Matthew Vaughn (who worked together on the much less spectacular or well achieved Stardust).

Vaughn directs like a man inspired and obsessed but, be warned, the movie crosses the line when it comes to the violence and bad language involving Moretz.

Abigail Breslin is a little star as a would-be beauty queen

Abigail Breslin is a little star as a would-be beauty queen.

The Oscar-winning script of this hilarious, bittersweet comedy sees Breslin’s dysfunctional family heading off to the West Coast in a clapped-out camper van to fulfil her ambition to appear in a kids' beauty pageant.

Alan Arkin won a deserved Oscar and gives a brilliantly exuberant turn as her hippyish, sex-obsessed granddad, Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear are excellent as mum and failed self-help guru dad, Steve Carell is Breslin’s suicidal uncle and Paul Dano her brother who refuses to speak.

A special, laugh-out-loud treat.

NASCAR race car champ Ricky (Will Ferrell) is on top of the world, thanks in no small part to his pal Cal (John C Reilly)

NASCAR race car champ Ricky (Will Ferrell) is on top of the world, thanks in no small part to his pal Cal (John C Reilly).

However, after a spectacular crash Ricky loses his nerve and has to claw his way back to the top.  Reilly's star starts to rise and along comes a Formula One ace, gay Frenchman Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), to try to make a fool of him.

The comedy is very silly and a bit patchy, yet there are lots of big laughs scattered through this belated parody of 1990’s Days of Thunder.

Ferrell's a funny man and Reilly, as his dimwitted best buddy, and Gary Cole, as his layabout dad who only stays around long enough to insult him before disappearing again for years at a stretch, are comic gems, while Cohen gleefully steals the show.

This sparkling romcom is a joy as widowed US president Michael Douglas falls for lobbyist Annette Bening

This sparkling romcom is a joy as widowed US president Michael Douglas falls for lobbyist Annette Bening.

Love wasn't in the manifesto of Douglas, but then Bening argues her way into his life...

Both as a sleek romantic comedy and as a sophisticated political satire, this is a landslide victory for the two stars.

Bening glows with good nature and her initial courtship scenes are exquisite. Douglas' calm authority is the perfect foil for her and the film also does well by Michael J Fox and Martin Sheen as his key spin doctors and Richard Dreyfuss as his main political rival.

The super-sharp script ('We had a nice couple of minutes: she threatened me; I patronised her') is spot-on, the plot's feelgood factor couldn't register any higher and the fact that Douglas always seems far too trustworthy and decisive to be playing a politician only adds to the fun.

Great entertainment.

Madonna gives the performance of her career as Argentina's most powerful woman, Eva Peron, in this scintillating adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's hugely successful 1970s stage musical

Madonna gives the performance of her career as Argentina's most powerful woman, Eva Peron, in this scintillating adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's hugely successful 1970s stage musical.

After pleading for years to star in the movie version, Madonna pulled off a major acting coup, and won a Golden Globe for it.

Inspired director Alan Parker does the story full justice, with lavish visuals and stunningly orchestrated crowd scenes. The film begins blindingly well, and though it dips after half an hour or so, largely sustains this inspiration and momentum.

The songs are glorious throughout, beautifully handled by Madonna, while Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce are ideal in the other star roles as Ché Guevara and Juán Peron.

A plush, impressive musical treat.

Denzel Washington is the cop on the case when clever crook Clive Owen and his gang take hostages while carrying out a slick robbery at a New York bank

Denzel Washington is the cop on the case when clever crook Clive Owen and his gang take hostages while carrying out a slick robbery at a New York bank.

This tense heist movie turns into a suspenseful battle of wits between Owen and Washington and turns in some surprising twists once tycoon Christopher Plummer and shifty fixer Jodie Foster become involved.

Director Spike Lee gets top performances from his stars and the script is sharp and witty with a fiendish sting in its tail.

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon give dynamic performances as country and western singing legend Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon give dynamic performances as country and western singing legend Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter.

The stars give their all in a heartfelt biopic in which they prove they can sing and, in the process, deliver some skin-tingling duets - not least the long sequence in which he proposes to her in the middle of a song!

Cash's story of childhood poverty touched by tragedy, his success, drug addiction and romancing of love-of-his-life Carter is told with feeling and humour.

The movie's opening flashes back from Cash's groundbreaking 1968 concert at Folsom Prison and its explanation of just how he wrote the classic song Folsom Prison Blues is just one of the film's many magic moments.

In a made-to-measure role, Joe Pesci goes flamboyantly to town as the fast-talking man in question

In a made-to-measure role, Joe Pesci goes flamboyantly to town as the fast-talking man in question.

He’s a hopeless attorney who's taken six years to pass his law exams and Ralph Macchio is his hapless New Yorker cousin who summons him to be his lawyer after being mistaken for a murderer in small-town Alabama...

Pesci's loud taste in clothes is often just as much fun as his slippery way with words, though the film's rambling script and direction do mean that he has to work hard to keep it in shape.

Wining an Oscar for the role, Marisa Tomei steals the film as Pesci's flashy girlfriend and Fred Gwynne gives a delightfully deadpan turn as the judge.

Young navy lawyer Tom Cruise is brought in when a case of bullying on a US marine base in Cuba results in one dead soldier and two others on trial for his murder

Young navy lawyer Tom Cruise is brought in when a case of bullying on a US marine base in Cuba results in one dead soldier and two others on trial for his murder.

Cocky hotshot Cruise has a reputation for plea-bargaining, but lieutenant Demi Moore persuades him to take the case to court.

Neither of them is particularly convincing in uniform, but Kevin Bacon is every inch the military man as the prosecuting lawyer and Jack Nicholson is on scene-stealing form as the colonel in charge of the base in Guantanamo.

A slick, well-paced courtroom drama, with some cracking dialogue and a well-focused plot that, thankfully, avoids any romantic entanglement between Cruise and Moore.

Leaving their good-for-nothing menfolk behind, Thelma and Louise (Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon) jump into their convertible and head off for a weekend away

Leaving their good-for-nothing menfolk behind, Thelma and Louise (Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon) jump into their convertible and head off for a weekend away. However, their carefree vacation quickly turns sour when Louise shoots a man to protect Thelma.

From then on, we're into a different kind of road movie altogether, as the two women go on the run, leaving a robbed store, an exploding petrol tanker and assorted skidding cop cars struggling in their wake - not to mention Harvey Kietel’s police chief and Brad Pitt’s drifter.

An exuberant comedy-drama in which the gals get to express themselves and the guys get what they deserve, director Ridley Scott's landmark feminist fable combines two faultless central performances, acres of spectacular desert scenery (note especially the extraordinary chase sequence in which the helicopter is flying below the level of the car) and a witty script that speeds, swerves and switches gear with aplomb.

There are well-staged fights and comedy a-plenty when The Rock and Seann William Scott team up in this exuberant action comedy

There are well-staged fights and comedy a-plenty when The Rock and Seann William Scott team up in this exuberant action comedy.

In his second starring role (following The Scorpion King), The Rock brings some granite-like authority to a knockabout story that has only one aim - to give him a major spot of bother every 10 minutes or so.

In the opening nightclub scene (spot Arnold Schwarzenegger in a cameo), he floors an entire squad of bodyguards and then he's off to the Brazilian jungle, where his mission is to trace his boss's son, treasure-hunter Scott.

But things soon prove a lot more complicated, with the locals, led by bar-girl Rosario Dawson, battling the iron rule of a corrupt mine-owner (a scene-stealing Christopher Walken), who's paying the peasants peanuts as they dig for gold.

Also known as Welcome to the Jungle.

Recently widowed Tom Hanks makes an emotional appeal on a phone-in radio show and, by next morning, the nation's women are in love with him – including journalist Meg Ryan

Recently widowed Tom Hanks makes an emotional appeal on a phone-in radio show and, by next morning, the nation's women are in love with him – including journalist Meg Ryan. However, she lives 3,000 miles away and is engaged to Bill Pullman...

Director Nora Ephron's sharply observed script is both funny and truthful and she keeps her stars tantalisingly apart for most of the film.

Ryan positively glows as the hopeless romantic, who watches too many old films and who really wants 'to be in love in a movie', Hanks is an irresistible mix of vulnerability and humour and Ross Malinger (as his young son) is a real little character.

There are many incidental pleasures, too, including Rob Reiner's dating advice to an out-of-practice Hanks and Rita Wilson's tearful description of the plot of the 1957 weepie, An Affair to Remember.

Hilariously funny and unashamedly slushy, this is exactly what a really good romantic comedy should be.

High-powered US politician Ralph Fiennes checks into the New York hotel where Jennifer Lopez works as a chambermaid

High-powered US politician Ralph Fiennes checks into the New York hotel where Jennifer Lopez works as a chambermaid.

On a whim, she decides to try on some designer clothes while cleaning snooty Natasha Richardson's room and, no sooner has Fiennes seen her, than they're out for a romantic stroll in the park...

Written by John Hughes, the story's  contrivance is all part of the charm of this cute modern Cinderella story. Fiennes brings real warmth to his role and Lopez makes her character a fetching blend of ambitious grit and wide-eyed tenderness.

The script also has some tart fun at the expense of rich guests who tend to behave as if their servants don't exist – though she sends up the role something rotten, Richardson's condescending character is all too believable. And, as Lionel the hotel butler, Bob Hoskins makes his every wise word count.

This old-fashioned and charmingly played feelgood romcom is much better than expected.

Al Pacino delivers an Oscar-winning turn as a blind, loud-mouthed and irascible ex-US Army officer

Al Pacino delivers an Oscar-winning turn as a blind, loud-mouthed and irascible ex-US Army officer.

In this salty coming-of-age drama, he's determined to have a weekend on the town in New York and, hired as his minder, student Chris O'Donnell is dragged along with him.

Their tartly amusing adventure takes in a huge amount of colourful banter, one great tango dance sequence with Pacino and Gabrielle Anwar and such essential accessories as a Ferrari sports car and a stretch limo.

An entertaining star showcase, and Pacino is a treat to watch.

Antonio Banderas has a gun in his guitar case, CIA agent Johnny Depp doesn't care who he kills and Willem Dafoe, Mickey Rourke and Salma Hayek are all trigger-happy, too

Antonio Banderas has a gun in his guitar case, CIA agent Johnny Depp doesn't care who he kills and Willem Dafoe, Mickey Rourke and Salma Hayek are all trigger-happy, too.

In his third El Mariachi-Desperado movie, director Robert Rodriguez shows he certainly knows how to stage an uproarious action scene, even if his storytelling skills are a shade muddled.

Still, Depp's performance is a hoot and Banderas stylishly barges his way through the crazy plot.

An unforgettable, explosive action thriller, this is a fast, loud and sometimes extravagantly violent roller-coaster ride.

Giving arguably his best performance, Tom Cruise is ideally cast as Ron Kovic, a patriotic young man whose life changes forever when he's wounded in the Vietnam War

Giving arguably his best performance, Tom Cruise is ideally cast as Ron Kovic, a patriotic young man whose life changes forever when he's wounded in the Vietnam War.

Beginning in the 1950s and moving through to 1976, this biopic's epic sweep is often breathtaking. Battle scenes in Vietnam, anti-war demonstrations in the US, the blissful innocence of small-town America and the ugly squalor of a war veteran's hospital are just some of the key sequences.

The incisive way in which writer-director Oliver Stone explores the shattering of American ideals in the 1960s cuts right to the bone.

Cruise is outstanding and also memorable are Willem Dafoe, as a fellow disabled ex-soldier, and Tom Berenger in a cameo as a recruiting sergeant.

Brad Pitt stars as a baseball maverick Billy Beane in this enthralling sports drama based on a true story

Brad Pitt stars as a baseball maverick Billy Beane in this enthralling sports drama based on a true story.

The general manager of the hard-up Oakland A's, he's sick of seeing his team of also-rans continually lose out to richer rivals. He needs a new strategy - and finds it in the unlikely form of number-crunching brainiac Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), whose grasp of the sport's statistics enables Beane to turn the team's fortunes around...

As sporting dramas go, Moneyball is as unconventional as its protagonist: the main action takes place in back offices and corridors rather than on the baseball field. And it's all the better for it.

The charismatic Pitt, well-cast Hill and the heavy-hitting supporting cast, including Philip Seymour Hoffman as the A's stubborn coach, perform wonders with the film's smart script and the result is absolutely gripping.

Jim Sturgess is a poor student recruited by university professor Kevin Spacey to try to beat the odds in Las Vegas

Jim Sturgess is a poor student recruited by university professor Kevin Spacey to try to beat the odds in Las Vegas.

Based on the true story of a group of students at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology who developed a card-counting system to accrue a fortune at blackjack, this movie gets off to a great start but is too long and doesn't always convince.

However, Sturgess makes an appealing hero, Spacey is a great bad guy and Laurence Fishburne entertains as a casino worker who's onto them. And, once the film gets to the casino tables, it hits the jackpot with some edge-of-seat tension.

Anna Faris is hilarious as a ditzy Playboy bunny who's ejected from Hugh Hefner's mansion and is taken in as the house mother by a bunch of dowdy and clueless sorority girls

Anna Faris is hilarious as a ditzy Playboy bunny who's ejected from Hugh Hefner's mansion and is taken in as the house mother by a bunch of dowdy and clueless sorority girls.

Faris shows the girls how to be sexy and sassy, while they teach her that boys like brains as well as beauty, landing her nice Colin Hanks. The plot's as light as air and as thin as a size zero model, but there are lots of first-class one-liners, expertly delivered by Faris, and this is a likeable, fun movie.

Emma Stone, Rumer Willis (daughter of Bruce and Demi) and American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee score well among the gals and there are a couple of good moments for Beverly D'Angelo as a snotty old house mother and Christopher McDonald as the prissy dean, plus a cameo from Hefner, playing, hysterically badly, himself.

This gorgeous romantic fantasy stars Brad Pitt as a mysterious stranger who visits tycoon Anthony Hopkins and tells him his time is almost up

This gorgeous romantic fantasy stars Brad Pitt as a mysterious stranger who visits tycoon Anthony Hopkins and tells him his time is almost up.

Then he hangs around long enough to fall for Hopkins' daughter Claire Forlani, while Hopkins embarks in a last-ditch bid to save his business.

At more than three hours long, this movie sometimes seems to last an eternity but the first half, particularly, is full of surprises and there are some killer lines at the end that raise the tears.

The two sparring stars make a great double act and Marcia Gay Harden is a standout as the lesser-loved of Hopkins' two daughters.

David Cronenberg's grisly thriller stars Jeff Goldblum as a scientist whose teleportation experiment goes horribly wrong

The definitive film you can't watch between meals without ruining your appetite, David Cronenberg's grisly thriller stars Jeff Goldblum as a scientist whose teleportation experiment goes horribly wrong.

A fly is caught inside the machine with him and this chiller takes that nightmarish idea of a man merging with the creature to its absolute limit.

In this superior remake of the silly 1958 original, Goldblum's scientist  gradually develops both the insect's ruthless nature and its ugly looks.

Along with an ominously hairy back, he soon discovers he has some incredible athletic powers and a craving for sugar.

His new table manners certainly leave a lot to be desired and the film's Oscar-winning make-up effects are nothing short of revolting.

As well as enduring a truly hideous childbirth scene (spot the director in a cameo), girlfriend Geena Davis also gets the most famous line ('Be afraid. Be very afraid!') and it's the way in which the insect and human dimensions mesh in Goldblum's truly manic performance that gives the story its special quality.

Tom Cruise puts on an Irish accent and a cloth cap as a young farm labourer in 1892 Ireland, who dreams of owning his own piece of land

Tom Cruise puts on an Irish accent and a cloth cap as a young farm labourer in 1892 Ireland, who dreams of owning his own piece of land.

How he meets his landlord's daughter, Nicole Kidman, and what happens to them after they run off together to the US makes up the content of this romantic drama.

It may be gushing and incredibly corny, but it looks spectacular, the climactic Oklahoma land-rush sequence is handled with tremendous verve and it is full of wry humour and telling details about being poor, hungry and ambitious.

Cruise's usual brand of high energy pluck is ideally suited to a plot that sees him at one pivotal point making a living as a bare-knuckle fighter and Kidman also acquits herself ably with a headstrong performance ('I'm running away because I'm modern!').