The Road is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where a global disaster has rendered the world into an endlessly dark and bleak war zone. People have turned themselves into heavily armed scavengers, some of which move in packs to hunt down other humans for the sake of their own survival. Some have even resorted to cannibalism due to the likelihood of starvation. Living amidst the chaos and struggling to survive is a nameless man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee). With the man's wife (Charlize Theron) already abandoning them, he decides to take it on himself to protect his son and make it to the coastline. They must avoid the bandits of the land and fend for themselves against insurmountable odds. Along the way they visit the man's childhood home and also meet a blind man (Robert Duvall). It is through a number of encounters that the boy begins to develop his own values for people, even though they are not aligned with that of his fathers.

This much anticipated adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel was directed by John Hillcoat, who previously made the Australian Western The Proposition. The decision to appoint Hillcoat as the director was a smart one because he thoroughly understands the concept of the frontier both visually and thematically. As with the Australian outback in The Proposition, The Road is set in a world that has been pillaged and decimated both physically and morally. Men, who are as rugged as the terrain they inhabit, have emerged and through the breakdown of law enforcement, rules and regulations, violence is now the only means of suitable justice. Both films are bounded by Darwinian principles of the 'survival of the fittest' and to kill or be killed. Given the similarities that Hillcoat's films share it surprising and thankful that the violence throughout The Road has been largely subdued. Where The Proposition was largely gratuitous, this film is more suggestive rather than explicit. The frequent visions of collapsed buildings, rubble and ominous grey skies, speaks volumes about the state of the world, without the need to show mindless acts of slaughter. The mere arrival of a group of armed scavengers or the dangling feet of strung up bodies, is both harrowing and suggestive in the same manner too. This is a film with a chilling and grim atmosphere, but it is within this darkness that a strange beauty emerges from The Road. Shot in Pennsylvania with a cold, lifeless and grey colour palette, Hillcoat and his cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe have resisted overusing CGI effects for the films art direction and instead they have relied mostly on real life industrial wastelands and poor weather conditions to define the look of the film. Aesthetically, this is a stunning piece of cinema that will really draw audiences in with its immersive atmosphere.

Given the very nature of the story, in being set in a wasteland that has no seemingly no future and with two characters that don't really know where they are going, the film's narrative is rather loose and pondering at times. There is no explanation provided for the decline of the world and the exposition attributed to the previous lives of the man and his son is minimal. In the present, the actual journey taken is less significant than the film's underlining subtext and the ethics of the new world. Smartly, it is innocence of the boy that provides the film with its conscience. He asks his father whether they are still the good guys and whether they will have to succumb to cannibalism. His father naturally gives him the answers that he wants him to hear but it becomes clear that the boy will have to make these decisions himself one day. The way that the boys begins to rebel against his father's values, like the way he treats strangers, is suggestive of the formation of his own views and ideals. An Australian film that explored quite similar territory much more thoroughly was Last Ride, where a criminal took his son on a road trip with him. It raised questions not only about heritage and identity but also whether the son would succumb to the same poor life choices as his father. In that film one was able to see the rejection of this lifestyIe. The boy in The Road is never shown to fend for himself. He is prepared to show kindness even when his father doesn't, but given the limitations of this film's narrative and its contrived, sentimental ending, we never see what sort of person he is independently and whether he would uphold his same innocent values when he is more aware of the world.

Despite the misdirected narrative, the film is regularly energised by a number of nail biting and suspenseful action sequences, skilfully handled to impose maximum tension levels. The sporadic placement of these action scenes ensures that they are all the more impacting than if they were to occur more frequently. One scene where the man and his son sneak into a seemingly empty house and check out what's in the basement deserves to be called more than simply just disturbing. It is a really scary and suspenseful scene that becomes one of the film's highlights. Given that we know very little about both characters it is testimony to the fine performances of the actors that we care so much about them. Viggo Mortensen is superb in a highly complex role, one where he not only immerses himself into the physically rugged look of the character, but he is also required to contrast the touching affection for his son, with a much more savage and callous attitude to the strangers he meets. He is extremely skeptical of anyone he meets because of his experience with the dangers of the world. Kodi Smit-McPhee, from the Australian film Romulus My Father, is also particularly good, restrained and believable, particularly towards his innocence and the questions he asks. It is through these two performances that this very bleak and nihilistic film retains a level of humanity and strikes a powerful emotional cord.

This is a film that really ponders at times and does not seem to have a completely developed arch for its youngest protagonist. Despite these issues with the narrative though, The Road is still worth seeing because it is such a visually and atmospherically defined experience, certain to be accentuated in quality on the silver screen. The richly suspenseful but infrequent action scenes, along with the smart performances, make this difficult and grim parable a fascinating journey for those who are willing to look deeper.

Precious is set in 1987, with an obese sixteen-year-old African American girl named Claireece 'Precious' Jones struggling in school. Claireece lives with her single mother Mary (Mo'Nique), a tyrant who verbally, and sometimes physically, abuses her daughter and forces to cook food for her while she smokes and watches television. At a young age Precious was abused and impregnated by her own father and when she discovers that she is pregnant again with his child, she is suspended from school. A glimmer of hope emerges in Precious' life when she is invited to the Each One Teach One remedial cIass. Ms. Rain (Paul Patton) is a kind-hearted teacher who educates Precious and the other misfit girls by encouraging them to read and write every day. Precious, who is initially illiterate, begins writing in her notebook and also finds further sympathy from both her teacher and a welfare councillor (Mariah Carey), who uncovers her family secrets.

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, was directed by Lee Daniels, with Oprah Winfrey as one of the films executive producers. Her interest in the project is personal because like Precious she was abused and impregnated as a child. With this emotional investment in the film, few comprises have been made with the subject matter. This is a gruelling and sometimes ugly slice of life, certainly not the rags to riches story or the redemptive feel-good movie that cynics might be expecting. Despite its urban casting, this is a film that will speak to a much wider audience because the moral and human issues present, from obesity to child abuse and teenage parentage, are universal and timeless. Daniels has painted an ugly picture of America here, one that is light-years away from the 'greed is good' mentality of the 1980s. Filmed with grainy textures, the film does not shy from visualising this as the complete failure of the American Dream with rundown apartment blocks and graffiti stained slums. While Daniels' direction is gritty it should not be mistaken for being entirely nihilistic either. He contrasts the grim reality of Precious' life with her sometimes misguided imaginings of her mind. She envisions herself as a glamorous star and sees her pictures coming to life to tell her sweet things. In perhaps the most significant of these fantasies though, Precious sees a reflection of herself in the mirror as a beautiful white woman. These brief moments do not feel jarring because they provide, what would be an almost unbearably bleak film, with some light and suggest that Precious has a sometimes funny and imaginative mind, filled with hope for a better life, no matter how unrealistic it might seem to us. For much of the humour that is drawn from these fantasies and Precious' cIassmates though, the film could never be called sentimental. It remains crushing in its emotion because of the contrast between our hopes for Precious and the setbacks she faces.

For Gabourey Sidibe this is an extraordinary debut as an actress and the film rests pivotally on her character to provide an emotional pull for the audience. She succeeds remarkably, not only because she physically possesses this character as few performers could, but also because the emotion she shows is true. The situations, like the domestic abuse she suffers at the hands of both her parents, are delivered with such a force, that we can understand her grief and her pain when it emerges externally. The use of the flashbacks and Precious' voice-over, also help us to understand her internally as well and we feel for her when her ambitions are broken once more. The only fault in her performance is that sometimes it is difficult to understand what she is saying because of her accent. For as good as Sidibe is though, Mo'nique, who has worked mostly in television and as a comedienne, is frighteningly powerful here, matching her co-star with an equally grand performance. While Mary might initially seem like a caricature, with an excessive use of four letter expletives, there is something significantly deeper in both her dialogue and her characterisation. There is a level of jealousy and contempt within her that unleashes onto her daughter because of the sexual abuse and the sexual attention that Precious endured from her father. Even more interestingly, Mary is virtually powerless in front of other adults and it becomes somewhat symbolic that she must don a wig and desperately try to act nice when a social worker comes to visit the apartment. In the final climax too, her desperation with her choked up voice makes her an almost pitiful monster. Mo'Nique is certainly deserving of her favouritism for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar this year. There are also smaller and quieter performances from Paul Patton, very sincere as Precious' teacher and Mariah Carey, surprisingly believable as a social worker.

While for many this film might seem as though it is yet another grim and depressing picture, there are a number of qualities that make Precious compulsive viewing. This is a compelling and daring film because of its ambition to explore such tough and painful subject matter, with very few compromises. Those who are willing to brave the film and be challenged by its themes will be rewarded with an emotional experience because of the truthfulness of the performances and the touching nature of the narrative as well.

Invictus is set during the early 90s as Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) is released from prison and then elected into office as the President of South Africa. South Africa at this time is divided by the contempt the blacks and whites hold for each other. Despite the objections of his office, Mandela pursues the game of Rugby as a means of uniting the country again. The national team is a disgrace though, lacking the ability to compete in matches, despite the best efforts of the captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon). Before he can address the issues of crime and poverty, Mandela views the game as a means of establishing an initial platform of unity for blacks and whites to live peacefully together again. He meets with Francois to inspire him to lift his team so that they can compete with some pride for the 1995 World Cup.

As an American filmmaker, Clint Eastwood came into this project with very little knowledge of Rugby Union. He stated that he had an uncle who played in the twenties but he insisted on researching the game himself by watching the students at The University of California at Berkeley practice. Invictus, the word meaning invincible in Latin, is far more than just a sporting film though. Rather, it is a examination of a country torn by conflict and the need for a passive resolution. When Mandela is told by a staff member that it is just a political calculation he states sharply that 'it is a human calculation', reflecting his concern for the lives of the individuals of his nation and the hope that the game can inspire. As with his most recent films, the skill that Eastwood brings to Invictus is indicative of his talent and experience in filmmaking. The film was photographed on location in Cape Town and Johannesburg by Eastwood's regular cinematographer Tom Stern and it looks particularly magnificent. The beautiful clean shots, long associated with Eastwood as a cIassicist filmmaker, have an expansive quality to them, projecting the harsh landscapes and the impoverished shanty homes. Eastwood has paced the film impeccably too, as despite the scope of the subject matter, it rarely lulls in its compelling nature, detailing the removal and reinstatement of the colours of the Springbok, the tension between Mandela's own security staff, Mandela's health and imprisonment and the gradual progression of the football team itself.

One of Eastwood's greatest assets as a director is the relationship he holds with his selection and control of his actors. Both Freeman and Damon are fine choices here. The former has a particular resemblance to the real Mandela and brings his physical fragility to the foray as well. His performance displays passion for his country but also smaller details, like the kindness and warmth he shows to his staff, to make him a more rounded reflection of Mandela. As this is not a autobiographical film about Mandela though, the relationship between his family is only hinted at and his voice is said by some to not be quite as accurate. Others have felt that his dialogue is too reflective of the films messages of liberating the country. Regardless, it is still highly contextual for Mandela to demonstrate to his plans and his vision for the country to his staff and doubters alike. Matt Damon has a near-perfect South African accent and he too physically enhances his role by bulking up to look like a Rugby player. He is surprisingly credible in this film, which along with The Informant! last year, demonstrates his range as more than just an action star.

The sporting scenes throughout Invictus have thankfully been filmed with as much precision as the rest of the film. Even if one does not understand the rules of Rugby, the frequent glances at the scoreboard during the matches ensure that it is still easy to understand. All of the matches are filmed with ferociousness, capturing the crunching tackles and thunderous hits. It is pleasing that Eastwood has shown his maturity here but not overloading these scenes with shaky handheld cameras that distort ones view, like in other films. The tension here and the spectacle of some of the rapid passes and tries scored makes one question why the current state of Rugby isn't as fun or as exciting as this. Regardless of whether this seems like a conventional sporting rags to riches story, the themes and the message that are generated from this story are more significant than those regularly associated with the sporting genre. The way that an impoverished black child is allowed to move closer and closer to the radio of a white officers cop car over the course of the match is reflective of the excitement and national pride that the game brings to the country. It is certainly about more than just winning and coming out on top.

Invictus might not be as powerful or as hard-hitting as some of Eastwood's more challenging and devastatingly emotional films of recent years, but its heart is still firmly in the right place. The messages here are ones of universal interest, stressing Eastwood's more liberal views of recent years and the ability of nations of conflict to resolve their differences peacefully. This is a film that so many people will relish and respond to if they are willing to view this as more than just a film about Rugby. It is so much more thought provoking and politically aware than it may seem on the surface.