Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse
Cast: Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth

This film tells the story of the beautiful and talented Tilly Dunnage (Kate Winslet). After years working as a dressmaker in Parisian fashion houses Tilly returns home to a small dusty town in the Australian outback and to a community that banished her as a child. She comes for revenge and to try and make peace with her eccentric and cantankerous mother.

Armed with nothing but her sewing machine and haute couture style Tilly transforms the women of the town, exacting sweet revenge on those who did her wrong.

“Delightful in its nuttiness” (Roger Ebert)

Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee

This is a foot-stomping celebration of the band QUEEN and their extraordinary lead singer, Freddy Mercury who became one of the most beloved entertainers in the world.

The film traces the meteoric rise of the band and their near implosion when Mercury’s life style spirals out of control. It recreates their triumphant reunion for Live Aid when Mercury knew he had AIDS.

Despite lukewarm reviews from the critics the film has been fantastically popular with the public becoming one the highest grossing films ever.

“It delivers moments of shameless air-punching joy” (Alex Needham - Guardian)

Director: Wash Westmoreland
Cast: Keira Knightley, Fiona Shaw, Dominic West

After marrying a successful Parisian writer, twice her age (Dominic West) the young Colette (Keira Knightly) is persuaded to ghost-write stories that he claims credit for. They are semi-autobiographical novels about a young girl from the country called Claudine and become best sellers. Colette and her controlling husband are the toast of Paris as the books become ever more popular.

Eventually Colette insists that her authorship is recognised and she begins to break away from the cultural and sexual constraints of the time, insisting on self-expression and independence.

“A gritty, glamorous biopic” (Mark Kermode)

Director: Marielle Heller
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells

Melissa McCarthy stars as Lee Israel a one- time best selling celebrity biographer who made her living in the 1970’s and 80’s profiling such people as Katharine Hepburn and Estee Lauder.

When her work failed to keep up with changing trends and she was unable to get published she turned her hand to deception, in order to make a living. Aided and abetted by her eccentric friend Jack (a gleeful turn from Richard E Grant) she forged celebrity letters, which together they sold to collectors.

“A brilliant performance from McCarthy” (Peter Bradshaw)

Director: Jon S. Baird
Cast: Steve Coogan, John C. Reilly, Shirley Henderson

This charming film pays tribute to a pair of beloved entertainers with an affectionate look behind the scenes. It movingly addresses the burdens and blessings of a creative partnership and the friendship between the two is marvellously recreated.

Steve Coogan (Stan Laurel) and John C. Riley (Oliver Hardy) are perfect in their roles and both have won a number of awards for their brilliant performances.

Shirley Henderson and Nina Arianda as the wives are also excellent and often very funny.

“What a lovely generous tonic this delightful movie proves to be” (Mark Kermode – Observer)

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Lolita Chakrabarti, Jack Colgrave Hirst

The year is 1613 and William Shakespeare is acknowledged as the greatest playwright of the age. But, disaster strikes when his renowned Globe Theatre in London burns to the ground. A devastated Shakespeare returns to his home in Stratford-upon-Avon to face his neglected family. He is haunted by the untimely death of his only son, Hamnet, and struggles to mend the broken relationships with his wife and daughters. In doing so he is forced to examine his own failings as a husband and a father.

“Impressively cast and beautifully filmed” (Rotten Tomatoes)