1. An Education: Nick Hornby's sensitive adaptation of journlaist Lynn Barber's excellent memoir of her first boyfriend.
2. Tales From The Golden Age: Portmanteau film with five stories about the horrific final 15 years of the Ceausescu regime in Romania.
3. Fantastic Mr Fox: Wes Anderson’s take on Roald Dahl is full of quirky magic — with a sly George Clooney voicing Mr Fox.
4. Bright Star: Jane Campion's imaginative portrayal of the Keats/Brawne love affair.
5. Disney's A Christmas Carol: Starring Jim Carrey as Scrooge.

Critics' Choice

Fay Maschler

quote With a single dessert and just two glasses of wine our bill was kept in check - but the effort of doing so was not much fun quote

Babbo Film

Andrew O'Hagan

quote This is a film with beautiful performances and a visual style that urges you towards reflection quote

Bright Star Theatre

Henry Hitchings

quote Although the first half of Kwei-Armah’s production is pacy, funny and intelligent, the energy level then drops off quote

Seize The Day

Reader reviews

Film

Squiz, Islington

quote I loved this film from start to finish. Take the girlfriend, tell your mum - I'd see it again tomorrow and will buy the dvd. quote

An Education Theatre

Joe, London

quote I saw this last night and can't remember the last time I was so moved in the theatre. quote

This Much Is True Restaurants

Hiroshi Sugiyama

quote I have been to many of London's so-called best Japanese restaurants and none have been as good as the food that I've had at Aqua Kyoto quote

Aqua Kyoto

What our reviewer, a father of two, thought

By Jeremy Langmead, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 07.11.05

Add your view

Harry Potter: facing new terrors

The demise of one of Hogwarts' more wholesome (and handsome) characters and the darker air that pervades this film have landed director Mike Newell with a 12A certificate.

The rating seems just: we are subjected to the sight of Mad-Eye Moody torturing screaming spiders, a Hungarian Horntail dragon trying to tear poor Potter apart, Ron and Hermione drowning at the hands of some merciless merpeople, a hungry hedge that prefers flesh to fertiliser, and a severed limb.

I took my two sons, aged nine and 12 and neither said that they were bothered by the gloom and gore. Of course they were alarmed by the ferocious dragon, and no fan of Voldemort's antics, but I think the fact that one now teenage character was pulling gooey eyes at a girl was the most disturbing part of the movie as far as they were concerned.

Newell said the 12A certificate was a sign that he had succeeded. He argued that the children who had grown up watching the Potter films were now older and more sophisticated and that the movie needed to reflect that. He's right; and it does.

And at least there's an underlying morality. As well as the conflict between good and evil, Harry learns that friendship is more important than winning competitions, that weedy boys can get dates, and the importance of trust - all of which kept my mother-in-law, who also saw the film, satisfied that this was more than just a Harry House of Horror feature.