The films to watch ...

Michael Dwyeron the movies in the can - or on their way into it - and ready to roll in 2009

MILK (Jan 23)

Sean Penn, never more impressive, plays gay San Francisco official Harvey Milk, who was murdered by a colleague (Josh Brolin) in 1978. Gus Van Sant's timely, politically charged film features James Franco and Diego Luna as Milk's lovers.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (Feb 6)

In David Fincher's film of F Scott Fitzgerald's short story, Brad Pitt plays a man born in his 80s and then reversing in age. The cast features Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Taraji P Henson, Julia Ormond, and Jared Harris (son of Richard) as a boozy Irish tugboat captain.

DOUBT (Feb 27)

Director John Patrick Shanley's moral drama, set in 1964, is based on his awardwinning play. Meryl Streep is on virtuoso form as a nun suspecting a Catholic priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of molesting a schoolboy. With Amy Adams and Viola Davis.

THE CLASS/ENTRE LES MURS (Feb 27)

Winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2008, Laurent Cantet's enthralling film is based on a novel by teacher François Bégaudeau. Featuring a cast of non-professional actors, it follows a year in the lives of a teacher and his class of 14-year-old pupils at a Paris school.

THE DAMNED UNITED (Mar 27)

Having played Tony Blair (twice), Kenneth Williams and David Frost, Michael Sheen portrays Brian Clough during his turbulent 44-day tenure as Leeds United manager in 1974. Based on David Peace's book, the film features Timothy Spall (as Peter Taylor), Colm Meaney (Don Revie), Jim Broadbent (Sam Longson), Stuart Graham (Billy Bremner) and Peter McDonald (John Giles).

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (April 17)

Taking its title from a Morrissey song, Tomas Alfredson's widely-admired Swedish vampire movie is reputedly dripping in blood and visual style. The protagonist is a shy 12-year-old Stockholm boy bullied at school and befriended by the enigmatic girl next door.

TRIAGE (Late spring)

Colin Farrell plays a war photographer coming home to Ireland after a dangerous assignment in Kurdistan in this drama from Bosnian writer-director Danis Tanovic (No Man's Land). With Paz Vega, Kelly Reilly and Christopher Lee.

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE (Late spring)

Robin Wright Penn portrays a woman facing upheaval in her life after she turns 50. Rebecca Miller's film features Keanu Reeves, Julianne Moore, Winona Ryder, Alan Arkin, Maria Bello and Monica Bellucci.

LOOKING FOR ERIC (June 12)

Originating in conversations between Eric Cantona, Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty, Loach's film observes a football-loving Manchester postman (Steve Evets) dealing with his chaotic family and a broken heart.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (June)

In Quentin Tarantino's yarn, set in wartime France, Brad Pitt leads US soldiers against the Nazis. The eclectic cast includes Mike Myers, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, BJ Novak and Michael Fassbender.

PUBLIC ENEMIES (July 3)

Michael Mann's gangster drama features Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, who was killed outside a Chicago cinema in 1934, with Marion Cotillard as his lover and Christian Bale as a dogged FBI agent.

BROKEN EMBRACES/ LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS (August 28)

Pedro Almodóvar reunites with Penélope Cruz, the star of his movie Volver (pictured on today's cover), for a feature he says "touches on many genres", as a thriller and "four-person love story" shot in film-noir style.

SHUTTER ISLAND (Sept 18)

In their fourth film together, Martin Scorsese directs and Leonardo DiCaprio plays a US marshal searching for a killer after she escapes from an island mental institution. It features Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer and Michelle Williams.

BROTHERS (Sept)

Jim Sheridan directs the US remake of Susanne Bier's powerful 2004 drama, with Jake Gyllenhaal playing a feckless man drawn to his sister-in-law (Natalie Portman) after his older brother (Tobey Maguire) goes missing in Afghanistan.

PERRIER'S BOUNTY (Autumn)

Written by Mark O'Rowe, Ian FitzGibbon's dark comedy-thriller is set in present-day Dublin. Brendan Gleeson plays Perrier, a gangster tracking the killer (Cillian Murphy) of one of his lackeys.

THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR PARNASSUS (Autumn)

Terry Gilliam's film of a travelling theatre company stalled when Heath Ledger died last year. His character accesses three separate dimensions, in which he is played by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell.

PEACOCK (Autumn)

Cillian Murphy again - this time as a character who fools his Nebraska neighbours into believing that his alter egos are man and wife. Michael Lander's psychological thriller co-stars Ellen Page (Juno) as a young mother who holds the key to his split personality.

ONDINE (Autumn)

Neil Jordan's intriguing new movie features Colin Farrell as Syracuse, a west Cork fisherman whose life is transformed when he finds a young woman (Alicja Bachleda) in his net. With Stephen Rea and Dervla Kirwan.

NINE (Dec)

Daniel Day-Lewis makes his musical debut in Rob Marshall's movie of the Broadway show inspired by Fellini's 8½. He plays a famous film director coping with his mother (Sophia Loren), wife (Marion Cotillard), lover (Nicole Kidman), protégé (Penélope Cruz) and agent (Judi Dench).

AVATAR (Dec 18)

James Cameron's first narrative feature since Titanic is a hi-tech futuristic epic featuring Sam Worthington as a paraplegic ex-marine undergoing an experiment to exist as an avatar, another version of himself.