One of the best films of 2002, Alexander Payne's About Schmidt follows the confused and muddled attempt by 66-year-old Insurance Vice President Warren Schmidt (Jack!) to come to terms with his life when it suddenly changes following his retirement.

Nicholson is superb as the title character, and, in my view, deserved the Best Actor Oscar that went to Adrien Brody. Schmidt isn't the one-dimensional character Nicholson has rolled out frequently in recent features. Instead, Schmidt is an exposed, sad old man, cut adrift from what he knows and confused by the world he finds himself in. He is a man lost, trying to find himself and salvage some worth from his life, which he fears has so far been worthless.

Payne, a native of Omaha, cuttingly captures the sense of banality and inwardness in the US Mid-West in a lightly satirical manner. However it is the characters who make this film. Look out for Kathy Bates' superb portrayal of Schmidt's daughter's mother-in-law-to-be.

Although dealing with disappointment and regret About Schmidt is packed with lighter moments that lift the tone, and make for a subtle and brilliant must-see film about identity and reconciliation

Gotham City is suffering under the rule of powerful mob bosses and street gangs. Meanwhile, rumours of a strange bat-like figure are beginning to circulate. When gangster enforcer Jack Napier (Jack!) runs afoul of Batman and falls into a vat of chemicals, subsequent plastic surgery turns him into the deadly lunatic.

This is the iconic Batfilm ? introducing the later-to-be-abused black-rubber version of the suit, with Michael Keaton playing the sinister, whispering Batman and the socially inept Bruce Wayne to perfection. Meanwhile, Jack Nicholson takes the film as a chance to play up his hammy egomaniac side a little as the ultimate in tasteless villainy.

As for the film as a whole, it's got most of director Burton's strengths ? great production design, and a love of unconventional characters ? and only a few of his weaknesses (the plotting is a little ropey if you try to make sense of it in retrospect). While perhaps a little dated by the occasional appearance of some dodgy Prince tunes (although the film doesn't include the hit of 1989, the Bat-Dance), the film holds up as a pretty decent action-adventure