Based on a novel by Susan Isaacs, Shining Through is uncomfortably close to Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious. This World War II drama concerns a love affair between a spy (Michael Douglas) and a secretary (Melanie Griffith) that goes south when duty turns him cold and pushes her into dangerous, behind-the-lines intelligence work.

THE NOTEBOOK’s Nick Cassavetes directs another tear-jerking literary adaptation with this drama based on Jodi Picoult’s novel. When married couple Sara and Brian learn that their baby daughter has a serious illness, they make a surprising choice that has ramifications for years to come. MY SISTER’S KEEPER stars Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Alex Baldwin, and Joan Cusack.

Ricky Gervais directs himself in The Invention of Lying, a comedy in which everyone in the world tells the truth except for one misfit in the film industry, who after discovering the act of lying, milks it to become the world’s most phenomenal performer. When Gervais’s character realises he doesn’t have to always tell the truth, things begin to change with inevitably hilarious results.

Paul Rudd plays Peter Klaven, a real estate agent with a blossoming career and an imminent marriage to Zooey (THE OFFICE’s Rashida Jones)--basically, he’s lucky in all things except male bonding. The narrative arc centres on his quest for platonic man-love--as opposed to, say, finding the girl of his dreams--and follows the boilerplate dictates of a standard rom-com with a subversive wink.

George is a very successful stand up comedian who learns that he has an untreatable blood disorder and is given less than a year to live. Ira is a struggling up-and-coming stand up comedian who works at a deli and has yet to figure out his onstage persona. One night, these two perform at the same club and George takes notice of Ira. George hires Ira to be his semi-personal assistant as well as his friend.

The Soloist is an emotionally soaring drama about the redemptive power of music. Journalist Steve Lopez (Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr.) discovers Nathaniel Anthony Ayeers (Oscar winner Jamie Foxx), a former classical music prodigy, playing his violin on the streets of L.A.

TWO FOR THE MONEY, featuring Al Pacino, Rene Russo, and Matthew McConaughey, provides a most unexpected twist in its thrilling tale of high rolling bookie cons and sports gamblers.

Based on two true stories, Julie & Julia intertwines the lives of two women who, though separated by time and space, are both at loose ends... until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible.

Based on two true stories, Julie & Julia intertwines the lives of two women who, though separated by time and space, are both at loose ends... until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible.

Director Frank Darabont’s second adaptation of a Stephen King prison tale (the first being 1994’s nearly flawless THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION) is a hopeful charmer with a hint of the supernatural. The story focuses on Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), a Louisiana security guard who works on death row during the Great Depression.