1. Tulpan: Remarkable romantic comedy set among a nomadic tribe in Kazakhstan.
2. An Education: Nick Hornby's sensitive adaptation of journlaist Lynn Barber's excellent memoir of her first boyfriend.
3. The White Ribbon: Michael Hameke's Palme d'Or winner at Cannes is set in a German village just before the start of the First World War.
4. 2012: Roland Emmerich's thrilling apocalypse movie with John Cusack as the hero.
5. Fantastic Mr Fox: Wes Anderson’s take on Roald Dahl is full of quirky magic — with a sly George Clooney voicing Mr Fox.

Critics' Choice

Film

Andrew O'Hagan

quote New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it quote

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Theatre

Henry Hitchings

quote A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion quote

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David Sexton

quote Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave quote

Kitchen W8

Reader reviews

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Adam, Harrow

quote Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects quote

2012 Theatre

Rob, London

quote This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws quote

The Habit Of Art Music

Bernard, London

quote Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor quote

Alexandra Burke

I can't believe my luck, says Eragon star

By Katharine Barney, Evening Standard 12.12.06

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Mind-blowing: Sienna Guillory with Ed Speleers, who beat hundreds to role

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The unknown star of the latest fantasy blockbuster has admitted he finds it "mind-blowing" to be able to call co-stars including John Malkovich and Jeremy Irons his friends.

Edward Speleers, 19, had only performed in school Shakespeare plays before he beat hundreds of young rivals to take the lead in Eragon.

Speaking after the UK premiere in Leicester Square yesterday, the British actor said: "My friends have all just finished their A-levels and are about to go on their gap years, and here I am acting in a film opposite some of my biggest childhood heroes."

He added: "I was appearing in Hamlet in my school play and I heard of this audition and knew I had to go for it.

"My father called me up and told me after the second round that I'd got the part. I didn't believe it then and sometimes I still don't believe it now."

Speleers, who grew up in Croydon and went to boarding school at Eastbourne College, stars as a 15-year-old farm boy who finds a dragon egg and embarks on an epic journey to save his home from an evil king.

The film, also starring fellow Britons Sienna Guillory and Robert Carlyle, is based on Christopher Paolini's bestselling debut fantasy novel.

Much of what appears on screen was added digitally after the shoot. "It was a very surreal experience making the film," he said. "For a lot of the time the dragon was basically an orange tennis ball."

Speleers' director Stefen Fangmeier said: "When I first saw him he was the third of 25 finalists and I knew he would be the one.

"I called up the casting director and I couldn't even remember his first name. I just said, 'That's Ed with the blond hair and piercing blue eyes.' He reminds me of the young Harrison Ford in Star Wars. He has a chiselled look and a determination. I'm sure he's going to be a star of the future."