The King's Speech (M)

The King's Speech is an endearing biographical account of one man's fight to be heard.
Part of Prince Albert's (Colin Firth) role within the royal family included speaking publicly across the country.
But his debilitating stammer haunts him, causing embarrassment and frustration, preventing coherent expression when speaking both to the nation, and to his wider family. The king must overcome his impediment with the help of unconventional yet charming speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) in order to effectively lead the country forward.

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Never Let Me Go (M)

In an alternative 1990s Britain, Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightley) have an idyllic childhood. Growing up at the beautiful Hailsham boarding school, their lives are barely even marred by the news given by their teacher (Sally Hawkins) about the dark fate that awaits them in adulthood. Far more real to them are the everyday concerns of friendship and budding romance. But as the years pass and their limited time slips away, everything becomes more urgent. The three of them must face up to their mistakes and regrets, and try to salvage something worthwhile from their lives before it’s too late.

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The Adjustment Bureau (M)

Rising politician David Norris (Matt Damon) is inspired on election night by a charismatic contemporary-ballet dancer named Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt). Three months later, David serendipitously boards the same bus as Elise and acquires her phone number. But Elise does not feature in David's plan, it's not part of the predestined path The Adjustment Bureau has set out for him. In spite of the grandeur of his fate, David cannot abide the thought of a future without Elise. He risks everything in a bid to choose the woman he loves. 

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The Social Network (M)

The Social Network charts the creation of the phenomenally successful social-networking website Facebook. Having just split up with his girlfriend, computer-programming genius and Harvard undergrad Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) throws himself into a new project. In one night he codes a programme called 'Face Mash' that allows people to rank headshots of all the girls at Harvard. As a result Mark receives six months of academic probation, and a reputation among his peers.

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Inception (M)

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a very unusual sort of criminal. Along with his sharp-suited sidekick Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), he breaks into other people's dreams and 'extracts' their secrets. After what seems to be a failed job, he is approached by businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe), who has a startling proposition. Instead of stealing information, he wants Cobb to plant information in the mark's mind - an untested and near-unfeasible process called inception.

Assembling a new team, including talented architect Ariadne (Ellen Page) and wisecracking forger Eames (Tom Hardy), Cobb sets about doing the impossible. The mark is unsuspecting young business heir Fischer (Cillian Murphy). The method is a bafflingly complex subconscious heist. And, with the shade of the mysterious Mal (Marion Cotillard) lurking in the wings, the stakes are far higher than Cobb's letting on.

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Toy Story 3 (G)

The end of Toy Story 2 saw Andy's toys - Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen) and the gang - make peace with the knowledge that their beloved owner would one day grow up and leave them behind. But in Toy Story 3, that remote future prospect has become the alarming reality. Andy (John Morris) is off to college, and after a string of mishaps, his toys are accidentally donated to the innocuously-named Sunnyside Daycare Centre.

Presided over by the strawberry-scented Lotso Huggin' Bear (Ned Beatty), Sunnyside seems at first like toy heaven. But when a creepy conspiracy comes to light, Woody's gang stage a daring prison break. Their adventure takes them to darker places than ever before as they struggle, for the last time, to find their way back to Andy.

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Four Lions (MA)

Loosely based on the 7 July 2005 London bombings, Chris Morris's debut feature film follows five jihadis from Sheffield. The pride consists of ringleader Omar (Riz Ahmed), an ordinary family man who works in a shopping mall; infantile Waj (Kayvan Novak), who relies on Omar to tell him what to think; militant Caucasian convert Barry (Nigel Lindsay), who wants to create a Muslim army by bombing a mosque; timid bomb-maker Faisal (Adeel Akhtar), who tries to train crows to make suicide attacks; and newcomer Hassan (Arsher Ali), a rapper who threatens to blow up a community meeting with a belt of party poppers.

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The Book of Eli (MA)

The Book of Eli is set 30 years after the world has been ravaged by nuclear war. Law and order have collapsed, fresh water and food are scarce; few people remember the world as it once was. The story follows Eli (Denzel Washington), a lone traveller with a mission. He is carrying a copy of the Bible, believing that he has been charged by God with protecting it. It is probably the last copy in the world, after people destroyed all the Bibles they could find, blaming it for causing the war.

Only those alive before the war remember the book and its power. Carnegie (Gary Oldman) is one of these survivors. Using hired thugs, he has established himself as ruler over a small town. He searches tirelessly for a copy of the Bible, hoping to use it to tighten his control on people. When he realises that Eli has what he has been looking for, he does everything he can to try to get it from him. But Eli will do anything to protect the book, even to the point of killing those who try to take it from him.

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Avatar (M)

Keywords: Empathy, incarnation, greed, environment, colonialism

In a future where the human race has set off into space in search of new worlds to plunder, a paraplegic marine called Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is posted to the forest moon Pandora. Here the natives, the tall blue-skinned Na’vi, have long resisted the miners trying to plunder their home for the valuable mineral Unobtainium. Jake joins a team of scientists led by the tough Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) on an unusual mission. Inhabiting an artificially-grown alien body or ‘Avatar’, he must go among the Na’vi, learn their ways, and win their trust.

Under secret orders from Colonel Quaritch (Sam Lang) to manipulate the Na’vi into leaving their home, Jake is determined at first simply to get the job done. But as he immerses himself in his new life, he begins to fall in love - with his Avatar body, with the Na’vi way of life, and with chieftain’s daughter Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). As tensions escalate between invaders and natives, Jake must decide once and for all where his loyalties lie.

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The Road (MA)

The Road immerses us in a world which has been reduced to a desolate wasteland by an unidentified cataclysmic event. It follows the journey of a nameless man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) as they traverse this wasteland, trying to stay alive.

In this world, the sun has been obscured by thick clouds of ash and all animal and plant life is either dead or dying. The Man and the Boy survive by picking through ruined homes and shops, taking whatever food they can find. In desperation many of the survivors have turned to cannibalism. Sinister gangs travel the roads, capturing anyone they find. The Man and the Boy live in fear and uncertainty, with only a few momentary pleasures, which serve to sharpen the contrast between their daily lives and the world of luxury and comfort we live in.

The Road deals starkly with issues of human nature and morality, exploring the very best and worst that people are capable of.

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Precious (MA)

Keywords: self worth, abuse, redemption, community, transcendence

Set in Harlem in 1987, it is the story of Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), a sixteen-yearold African-American girl born into a life no one would want. She’s pregnant for the second time by her
absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother (Mo’Nique), a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write.
Precious may sometimes be down, but she is never out. Beneath her impassive expression is a watchful, curious young woman with an inchoate but unshakeable sense that other possibilities exist for her.
Threatened with expulsion, Precious is offered the chance to transfer to an alternative school, Each One/Teach One. Precious doesn’t know the meaning of “alternative,” but her instincts tell her this is the chance she has been waiting for. In the literacy workshop taught by the patient yet firm Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins a journey that will lead her from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination.

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