John Nash is a brilliant, though socially awkward, mathematician and with his latest work he has achieved the acclaim that he so needed, but John is also prone to delusional behaviour, and when a mysterious stranger asks him for his help to thwart a conspiracy against the Stars and Stripes, John becomes increasingly obsessive, a state of mind that begins to push away all those he holds dear, even his loving wife. Very loosely adapted from a true story "Beautiful Mind" is the bog standard slickly find out more...

Michael Peterson was born in 1952 into a well off Luton family, "As a boy he was a lovely lad. He was obviously bright and always good with children. He was gentle and mild-mannered, never a bully – he would defend the weak" (comments from his aunt). Somehow something went seriously wrong and he has spent 34 years incarcerated at Her Majesty's pleasure, 30 of them in solitary confinement. He has renamed himself Charles Bronson and is proud of the one thing he has in his life: his reputation as t find out more...

Robert Downey Jnr demonstrates his prowess by giving a riveting performance as the little master. The cast delivers despite a disjointed narrative, and Chaplin's fall from grace, brought down by McCarthyism is very moving. Kevin Kline is excellent as the flamboyant Fairbanks Jnr. find out more...

Superb biopic of legendary country singer Loretta Lynn. Sissy Spacek, who incidentally has a belting voice, deservedly won the Best Actress Oscar for her moving portrayal of the naive Kentucky farm girl who became a singing superstar against all the odds, while Tommy Lee Jones is dynamite as her husband Doolittle. Beverly D'Angelo is also a revelation as Loretta's close friend, the late great Patsy Cline. An inspirational rags-to-riches story, only to be avoided if you have a strong aversion to find out more...

Christy Brown was an Irish cerebal palsy victim who overcame his severe handicap to become a talented painter and author with just the use of his left foot. Daniel Day Lewis is totally and utterly convincing as Brown - using method acting he became Brown and his thoroughness makes the film a great one. find out more...

A typical Stone epic, tracing the rise and fall of the US's most unpopular president. Opening with the Watergate break-in, we flash back in time for an in-depth study of the bastard, played with riveting charisma by Sir Anthony. I can't say it's often I speak ill of the dead but watch with malice... find out more...

Based on a true story, the film charts the troubled life of Barbara Daly, who married into the American Baekeland dynasty (the inventors of bakelite). Despite the melodramatic nature of the plot, the performances of the three leads are subtle and engaging. These are not characters to like, but they are fascinating nonetheless. Exquisitely shot, 'Savage Grace' is a harrowing, moving and disturbing dramatisation of faded love and familial obsession - events that ended with a brutal murder. find out more...

A brilliant biopic of Quentin Crisp the self-styled "Stately Queen of England", an effeminate gay, a flamboyant exhibitionist, sparkling wit and a character who gave more pleasure to the world than the world gave to him. Played brilliantly and with pathos by the versatile Hurt. find out more...

The legend that is Dewey Cox, a rock and roll god whose name is uttered in the same breath as Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash, a man who embraced hedonism more than most of his peers, but at heart was simple and kind. Idolised for his music and nearly destroyed by the many temptations such adulation brought, this is the myth, a subtle, beautifully performed, lushly visualised, cleverly scripted lampoon of every poe-faced, rose-tinted Oscar hungry biopic that's graced our screens over the last couple find out more...