Jamal Malik, an orphan from the streets of Mumbai, is given the opportunity of a lifetime - the chance to win 20 million rupees on India's 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?'. As he sits down to answer the questions, everything goes his way, but when the show breaks for the night - just as he is one question away from the jackpot - the police arrest him on suspicion of cheating. The fuzz refuse to believe that an uneducated teen could possibly succeed where dozens of people who were better educated, had more life experience and greater wealth had failed. Jamal's only way to prove his innocence is to tell his life story, explaining how every question he had been asked ties back to the life he has led thus far.

Slumdog Millionaire is a densely layered drama that captures a bold feeling of hope from the slums of India. The film captures the heart of Mumbai like no western film has ever done before and manages to present it in a way that everyone can identify with. To say that it deserved the 10 Oscar nominations it received is an understatement. Slumdog Millionaire is exactly the kind of uplifting experience that we need to see in this day and age.

What do you get when you cross two hitmen, one crime boss, a dwarf, swans and a Belgian tourist town?

No, not the punch line to a bad joke but rather one of the most entertaining and overlooked films made last year: In Bruges.

Echoing films like Pulp Fiction and The Boondock Saints in its darkly hilarious look at the criminal life, the film opens with two hitmen arriving in Bruges, Belgium after botching a recent job. Ordered to lie low and wait for orders, Ray and Ken (Farrell and Gleeson) soon find themselves at a loss for things to do in the idyllic and picturesque tourist town. Their irascible, foul-mouthed boss (Fiennes) however has other things in mind for the death-dealing duo... but not before letting them take in the sights first, of course.

The Oscar-nominated script by first-time feature director Martin McDonagh is crackling with uproarious and strangely insightful dialogue that all involved have tremendous fun with. The small cast couldn't be more perfect for their roles either. Farrell can demonstrate serious acting chops whenever he's got the right material, here he absolutely shines as the guilt-ridden, suicidal and bored-out-of-his-wits Ray. Gleeson's fatherly Ken acts as mentor to the young prot((eacute))g((eacute)), but even his world-weary ways are soon changed when he begins to give Bruges a chance.

Whether you've seen it or not ((ndash)) and chances are that you haven't ((ndash)) this is one cinematic destination worth visiting. In Bruges simply couldn't come more highly recommended.