There Will Be Blood
"Paul Thomas Anderson's movie about the scramble for oil is a masterclass in how the West was truly sold. It's a marvellously entertaining soap: a sort Dickens does Dallas, without the sex or swimming pools" - James Christoper

4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
"Every frame of this Romanian drama set in the 1980s about two female students trying to arrange an illegal abortion is brilliantly thought out" - James Christopher

Assembly
"Feng Xiaogang’s epic war film is just about the most impressive one since Saving Private Ryan" - Cosmo Landesman

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
"Nobody does self-loathing with quite the same dissolute panache as Philip Seymour Hoffman" - Wendy Ide

Cloverfield
"An hour in I started to sweat. And I nearly threw up trying to make sense of the increasingly chaotic and frightening scenes of the gripping climax" - James Christopher

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
"Julian Schnabel has taken the hoary old hospital/disabled drama and given it an art-house makeover, producing something moving and visually stunning" - Cosmo Landesman

Four Minutes
"Chris Kraus's second feature is a marvellous piece of cinema that hides its secrets like a Russian doll" - James Christopher

Half Moon
"The savage drama of the landscape, the indomitable optimism of the people and the passion of the ubiquitous music is universal in its appeal" - Wendy Ide

Juno
"A small, quirky teenage comedy that was all set to become a cult classic like Rushmore – then went and earned four Academy Award nominations" - Cosmo Landesman

Lust, Caution
"Only a director as revered as Ang Lee could have shot a story about China as explicit and raw as this. The sex is brutal. The history is taboo" - James Christopher

No Country for Old Men
"A tense thriller with a dusty Texan ambience and a melancholy tone, featuring a wonderful bit of casting: Javier Bardem in the bad-guy role" - Ed Porter

Out of the Blue
"The genius of the film is to draw the audience, almost immediately, into the community. These are ordinary people who could be living next door to any of us" - Wendy Ide

Redacted
"Not just a damning inside account of loud and bullish rednecks, but a virtuoso piece of experimental film from Brian De Palma" - James Christopher

Shine a Light
"Martin Scorsese’s homage to the Rolling Stones has some of the most stunning concert footage I’ve seen. The director and band chime perfectly" - James Christopher

The Spiderwick Chronicles
"The most enjoyable PG fantasy this side of Hogwarts, and the first worthy rival to J. K. Rowling’s mighty franchise" - James Christopher

Still Life
"A low-key meditation on the final days of a community through the eyes of two outsiders, it's a fascinating, understated masterpiece" - Wendy Ide

Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
"As the boat slips under a spooky London Bridge it becomes quite clear that Burton was born to film this strange and spooky chamber piece" - James Christopher

Under the Bombs
"Not the usual look at the Middle East: a love story, a road movie and an important piece of reportage that is angry, funny and deeply moving" - Cosmo Landesman

Water Lilies
"Captures the casual cruelty, paralysing uncertainty and exaggerated passions of teenage girls, conditioned to be decorative" - Wendy Ide

We Are Together
"Spiritually uplifting documentary about an institution that provides a roof, bed and a surrogate family for children who have lost their parents to Aids" - Wendy Ide

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