Movies to watch out for

A round-up of other films to look out for in 2008

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN(January 18th)

Brothers Joel and Ethan Coen are back on prime form with their visceral thriller based on Cormac McCarthy's novel. The setting is west Texas in 1980, when a Vietnam veteran (Josh Brolin) finds and escapes with $2 million. On his trail is a cold-blooded killer played with menace - and very bad hair - by Javier Bardem.

CLOVERFIELD(February 1st)

The hyperkinetic trailer has fuelled anticipation for this disaster movie set in Manhattan. Produced by JJ Abrams (Lost, Mission: Impossible 3) and directed by TV veteran Matt Reeves, it features Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel and Lizzy Caplan.

JUNO(February 8th)

Following his assured debut with Thank You For Smoking, Jason Reitman nimbly directs a serious comedy sparkling with wit and warmth as it charts the experiences of a 16-year-old schoolgirl (the excellent Ellen Page) when she becomes pregnant by a classmate (Michael Cera).

THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY(February 8th)

Based on the bestselling 1997 book by Jean-Dominique Bauby, Julian Schnabel's admirably unsentimental film features Mathieu Amalric as Bauby, who was 43 and the editor of Elle magazine in Paris when his body was paralysed by a massive stroke. He used his only form of communication, by blinking his left eyelid, to dictate his book.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD(February 29th)

Daniel Day-Lewis is riveting as a self-made tycoon who strikes oil in the early 20th century and makes a fortune, regardless of all those he exploits in his acquisitive greed. The film is directed with tremendous, accumulating power by Paul Thomas Anderson.

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL(March 21st)

Gifted Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) plays the painfully shy Lars, who astonishes his local community when he introduces a life-size doll as his girlfriend. Australian director Craig Gillespie sets up hilariously oddball scenes in this serious comedy.

IN BRUGES(March 28th)

Playwright Martin McDonagh makes his feature-film debut as writer-director with an offbeat thriller starring Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell as hit men hiding out in Belgium after a difficult job. With Ralph Fiennes.

PERSEPOLIS(April 11th)

Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's alternately poignant and uproariously funny animated feature is based on Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novels about a precocious girl growing up in Tehran after the Islamic revolution.

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL(May 22nd)

Steven Spielberg's fourth film featuring Harrison Ford as the archaeologist-adventurer remains shrouded in secrecy. Now 65, Ford is joined by Shia LaBoeuf, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, Jim Broadbent, John Hurt and Cate Blanchett, who could only tell us: "There's a lot of action." Thanks for that, Cate.

WANTED(June 27th)

James McAvoy (Atonement) turns action hero, co-starring with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman in a thriller (with a cracking trailer) from Timur Bekmambetov, the Russian director of Night Watch and Day Watch.

MAMMA MIA!(July 11th)

In the musical featuring Abba's greatest hits, Meryl Streep plays the mother of a bride-to-be (Amanda Seyfried) who summons three men (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård) to a Greek island in the belief that one of them is her father. Streep and Brosnan duet on SOS.

VALKYRIE(July 11th)

Wearing a black eye patch, Tom Cruise plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who led a plot to kill Adolf Hitler. This factually based thriller, directed by Bryan Singer, features Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp and Carice van Houten.

THE DARK KNIGHT(July 25th)

Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan reunites with star Christian Bale (in the dual role of Batman and Bruce Wayne) for an adventure in which they team up with Gotham City's new district attorney (Aaron Eckhart) to take on the Joker (Heath Ledger).

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED(September 12th)

First filmed for an 11-hour TV series in 1981, Evelyn Waugh's novel is condensed to feature length with Ben Whishaw (Perfume) as Sebastian Flyte and Matthew Goode (Match Point) as Charles Ryder. With Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Greta Scacchi and Michael Gambon. Directed by Julian Jarrold.

FROST/NIXON(September 12th)

Ron Howard directs the movie of Peter Morgan's acclaimed stage play dealing with the landmark 1977 TV interview between David Frost (Michael Sheen) and Richard Nixon (Frank Langella). With Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell and Matthew Macfadyen.

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS(Autumn)

Vera Farmiga and David Thewlis feature in Mark Herman's film of Dublin author John Boyne's bestselling novel set in wartime Auschwitz as a friendship forms between two boys on opposite sides of the concentration camp fence.

CITY OF EMBER(October 10th)

Filmed in Northern Ireland, Gil Kenan's elaborate fantasy adventure is set in the future. Two teens try to save an underground city where people have fled from the toxic atmosphere. It stars Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Saoirse Ronan and Martin Landau.

BOND 22(November 7)

Marc Forster (The Kite Runner) directs the latest 007 adventure. Daniel Craig is back as Bond, but little else is known, not even the title.

LE SILENCE DE LORNA(Winter)

Palme d'Or winners for Rosanna and L'Enfant, Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are poised for a Cannes hat-trick with their drama featuring Arta Dobroshi as a young Albanian willing to marry a drug addict (Jeremie Renier) to obtain permanent residence in France.

AUSTRALIA(Winter)

Baz Luhrmann's western epic is set in the late 1930s. Nicole Kidman plays an English aristocrat who inherits a ranch in Darwin. Hugh Jackman plays the stockman who helps her to fend off a property takeover as Japanese forces prepare to bomb Darwin.

*Release dates are subject to change