Ladder 49

Hollywood at its best....... High drama, great special effects, sentimental and overly sloppy script. Excellent lol. Despite the (deservedly) bad reviews, I enjoyed this film. If you like your 'men to be men', all tough guys out saving lives, drinking beers and all the time looking out for their buddies, their wives and their kids, you'll like this film. Yes you can see every twist and turn in the so called plot about a mile before they happen - but that didn't detract from the sheer entertainment of the film for me.

Watch This If: you've got a thing about firefighters

Watch Out For: Joaquin Phoenix looking amazing as a big burly hero

Closer

Despite not really being a Jude Law fan, the pull of Julia Roberts and multiple Oscar nominations proved too much and I succumbed. This is not your typical Hollywood story. It's messy and the characters are life-like. Natalie Portman and Clive Owen are simply mesmerising and more than deserving of their supporting actor nominations. One of the sexiest movies I've seen.

Watch This If: you like your films with a strong dose of reality

Watch Out For: the scene in the strip club

Vera Drake

Mike Leigh's story of a 50s housewife turned abortionist. Put simply Imelda Staunton is superb. This is not a cheerful film with a happy ending - it is thought provoking and down to earth. The attention to detail from the casting to the writing to the directing is breath taking.

Watch This If: You've ever wondered what life was like in the 50s.

National Treasure

Possibly the worse movie I've ever seen...... What a load of nonsense. Cashing in on the current trend for breaking ancient codes to discover hidden secrets, the film is a bad Da Vinci Code rip off. Nicholas Cage is the unconvincing historian who's devoted his life to searching for treasure hidden by his ancestors, given his ability to decipher hints, clues and puzzles during the duration of the movie you could be forgiven by wondering why he hadn't found the treasure far earlier in his life.

The highlight of the movie for me was the kids behind us throwing hard boiled sweets onto the couple next to me. Childish though it was I found it immeasurably amusing until one of the sweets hit me....... Damn those pesky kids!

Watch This If: you like torturing yourself