This dramatic history of Chicago's Chess Records has a superb soundtrack(though it consists almost entirely of covers) and its insights into the relationship between white money making businessmen and poor black talent back in the stifling '50s more than makes up for its overwrought melodrama, historic inaccuracies and poor script. find out more...

A big, stylish, booming story about three young girls, a Supremes-like band The Dreamettes, singing their way to superstardom. Undoubtedly a nod to the meteoric rise of the ‘Three Degrees', or could it just be any Motown band?, Dreamgirls is a smooth well performed pseudo biog and Jennifer Hudson is truly hypnotic in her Oscar (best support actress) winning performance. find out more...

A working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South.

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A mesmerising dramatisation of one of the kings, Ray Charles. Unsurprisingly the soundtrack is pure bliss, but it is Jamie Foxx in the title role that pulls everything together, an hypnotic performance of a music legend, through all his highs and lows, and one of those increasingly rare examples of a leading actor Oscar that actually makes sense. find out more...