2007 was a great year for cinema with the blockbuster summer but January 2008 sees the award contenders fight it out for box office supremacy.Movie to watch out for come Golden Globe awards and Oscars include Charlie Wilson’s War, No Country For Old Men, In The Valley of Elah and Sweeney Todd.

P.S I Love You
P.S I Love You is an adaptation of Cecilia Ahern’s best selling novel . Holly and Gerry area very happy couple who envisage spending the rest of their lives together.But when Gerry suddenly passes away Holly’s world comes crashing down around her.However Gerry has prepared for Holly’s life without him writing a series of letters that will help her along with her grief and carry on alone.P.S I Love You boasts an all star cast of Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow and Kathy Bates.

P.S I Love You is released 4th January.

Charlie Wilson’s War

Directed by Oscar winner Mike Nicole Charlie Wilson’s War follows the true story of a playboy congressman, a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite who join forces to lead to the largest and most successful covert operation in history.

Their efforts contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

Charlie Wilson’s War has a great ensemble cast of Oscar winners Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Oscar nominee Amy Adams.

Charlie Wilson’s War is released 11th January.

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days is the best international release of the month.

The film follows college roommates Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) are planning a holiday.

But they are instead planning Gabita’s illegal abortion under the guise of a break away.

But they find themselves facing ugly truths and stark realities of the illegal abortion trade.

This film won the 2007 Cannes Palme d’Or and the Fipresci Prize for film of the year.

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days is released 11th January.

No Country For Old Men

The story begins when Llewelyn Moss (Brolin) finds a pickup truck surrounded by a bodyguard of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back. When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence that not even the law in the person of aging, disillusioned Sheriff Bell (Jones) can contain. As Moss tries to evade his pursuers in particular a mysterious mastermind who flips coins for human lives (Bardem) the film simultaneously strips down the American crime drama and broadens its concerns to encompass themes as ancient as the Bible and as bloodily contemporary as this morning’s headlines. Starring: Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Kelly McDonald, Woody Harrelson. No Country For Old Men is released 18th January.

The Good Night

Gary (Martin Freeman) was once a successful musician who has fallen on hard times and now finds himself writing commercial jingles.

His wife Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow) drives him crazy and his friend Paul (Simon Pegg) appears to be becoming more successful as each day passes.

Then he meets Anna (Penelope Cruz) she is smart, funny, sexy and she is in love with Gary.

Anna is quite literally the girl of his dreams - and that's the problem, Gary can only see Anna in his dreams.

So Gary has got to find a way to carry on the best and most rewarding relationship of his life while he is asleep.

But as he meets more strange characters in his dreams it causes him to re-examine his real life.

Starring: martin Freeman, Penelope Cruz, Gwyneth Paltrow, Danny DeVito, Simon Pegg and Michael Gambon.

The Good Night is released 18th January.

In The Valley of Elah
When model soldier Mike Deerfield (Jonathon Tucker) goes AWOL on his first weekend back from serving in Iraq. His father former military MP father Hank (Tommy Lee Jones) goes in search of his son. Hank and Joan (Susan Sarandon ) enlist the help of a reluctant police detective Emilt Sanders (Charlize Theron). As the evidence begins to grow the missing person's case starts to look like foul play as Sander finds herself fighting military bosses to keep control of the investigation. But when the truth about Mike’s time in Iraq emerges hank's world is challenged and in order to find his son Hank has to re-evaluate his long held beliefs. Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon, Jason Patric. In The Valley of Elah is released 25th January.
Release Of The Month

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) is a man unjustly imprisoned for fifteen years on the other side of the world who escapes back to London with a vow of revenge.

Adopting the guise of Sweeney Todd Baker returns to his old barbers shop above Mr Lovett’s (Helena Bonham Carter) pie premises.

He sets his sights on Judge Turpin, the man who imprisoned him and stole his wife and daughter who is now his ward.

With the help of Mrs Lovett Todd he gets revenge on anyone who ever wronged him to reach the Judge.

This is the sixth collaboration between director Tim Burton and leading man Johnny Depp and has landed a Golden Globe for Best Director, Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy and Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Sweeney Todd is released on 25th January.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw