Everybody knows Bolt, the superheroic dog who, with the assistance of his human sidekick Penny, defeats the diabolical Dr. Calico on a weekly basis as part of his hit TV series. Except, because he's lived his life on a soundstage, Bolt doesn't know that it's just a TV show - he thinks his superpowers are real, and that Penny's on-set conversation with Dr Calico means she's being kidnapped. When his attempt to rescue her ends in an accidental journey from L.

A. to New York, he embarks on a heroic quest to return home and rescue Penny; with the assistance of streetwise cat Mittens and overenthusiastic fanboy hamster Rhino.

A fun romp with minimal sentimentality and maximum good gentle humour, Bolt suggests that the Disney studio is starting to get its groove back again after a few years in the animation doldrums. It's a funny, feel-good story; big on character and with a little bit of a gentle moral at the end.

This probably isn't aiming for "greatest animated feature ever" territory, but it's good-natured, un-cynical fun, perfect for anybody who is, or was ever, a child. Or even if you've been a dog in a previous lifetime.

In 1964, a small Catholic School in the Bronx is troubled by rumours. The charismatic Father Flynn (Hoffman) has been spending time in the company of one of the younger boys and Sister Aloysius (Streep) is suspicious. In the middle is the young Sister James (Adams), through whose eyes we follow the story, as complication builds on complication and uncertainties run rife.

Shanley directs and adapts his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play with a top notch cast - all four key performers deliver powerful performances and keep us on the edge of our seat as we are never quite sure just who is right. With 5 awards under its belt and at least 15 more nominations, the film has Oscar nominations in all four acting categories this year (the lesser-known Davis even manages, with aplomb, the difficult task of stealing a scene from Streep). If you want to know why the film has attracted so much attention, come and see it... and even if you're not concerned about awards, if you're interested in a thought-provoking piece of cinema, this is well worth your time.