This sharp yet sweet fantasy reaffirms the Disney/Pixar stable as world leaders in great animation. A story of life, dreams and fulfilments - eventually. An elderly widower, who had dreamed of being an explorer, but now faces eviction and the remaining years of his life in care, decides on radical measures … [more]

'War is a drug' declares this thrilling film, filled with the suspense of a real bomb squad. Set in the current Iraq conflict it is a film that will not embarrass any particular political faction. It looks at the nature, the psychology, the inner strain of being part of the conflict … [more]

Another wonderfully pictorial film from the master of serious kitsch - Almodovar. Another film with Penelope Cruz, one where she plays two (or is it three?) roles. A film which is easy to view, but then haunts with its allusions, whether they are to the Third Man, or to Audrey Hepburn … [more]

A failing symphony orchestra, in which the debt-ridden Daigo plays the cello, finally folds. With his wife, he returns to to his deceased mother's rural community to look for work. Desperate for employment, he answers an ad for work in what he thinks is a travel company … [more]

A lone astronaut (played by Sam Rockwell) and a robot (Gerty – spoken by Kevin Spacey) provide one of the more interesting and off-beat films of the season, directed by David Bowie's son, Duncan Jones. A sci-fi film with a human twist set in the possible near future. The astronaut is managing the mining of global energy … [more]

Swinging London in the early 1960's - this fascinating film finds the mark. A film about a schoolgirl and a society, based on the journalist Lyn Barber's memoir of growing up in Twickenham and beyond... On course to go to Oxford, she encounters infatuation for an older man, petty thieving, high society, jazz, suburban caricatures … [more]

This is a tour-de-force, a film which confirms Haneke as the European director. Set in the North German plain in a rural community just before the Great War, the film sits on various different levels. It could be just a thriller, a who-dunnit … [more]

A film for foodies and lovers of Meryl Streep and comedy. This is a trans-Atlantic conceit: two food memoirs, two cooks folded together. The New Yorker and call-centre worker Julie, in her pokey American kitchen, sets out to cook and blog her way all through ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ - Julia Child’s classic cookery book, written for Americans … [more]