Viola Davis

Air, director Ben Affleck’s look back at how a single sneaker was able to change sports and popular culture almost overnight, is a surprising crowd pleaser built around topics that aren’t usually this entertaining.

The Woman King is a fierce period drama, brought to life with epic performances, and a passion that can be felt in every scene. Set in the early 1800s, Viola Davis stars as General Nanisca, the leader of the Agojie, the elite, all-female warriors who serve the king, and she has a mission to free her people.

An electrifying and intimate look at cultural shifts within the black community at the height of Jim Crow and a mass exodus from the American south, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom bristles with intensity, anguish, and above all else, confidence.

One of the best crime epics of all time, Steve McQueen’s thrilling and richly developed Widows will leave viewers in speechless awe.

The Help took home top film honours at the 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which celebrated 2011’s best performances from movies and television on Sunday, January 29, with appearances by some of the biggest names in the industry.

Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari try to stay alive and rob a bank this weekend in the action-comedy, 30 Minutes Or Less; a new gang of pretty young 20-somethings take on death in the latest from the horror franchise, Final Destination 5; plus I take a look at The Help and Glee: The 3D Concert Movie.

New arrivals on DVD and Blu-ray this week: Jake Gyllenhaal stars in the sci-fi thriller, Source Code, by Moon director Duncan Jones; plus a look at the drama Trust, starring Clive Owen and directed by David Schwimmer.

Coming out this week on DVD and Blu-ray: Jay Baruchel and Nicolas Cage star in Disney’s live-action remake of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice; Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are on the run in Knight And Day; plus a look at Going The Distance, and the Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

This week’s new releases on Blu-ray and DVD include: Eat Pray Love, starring Julia Roberts as a woman trying to find herself in three very different parts of the world; and Sylvester Stallone’s action-adventure, The Expendables; plus I take a look at the Blu-ray release of The Complete Metropolis.

There’s a movie for just about everyone debuting this week in theatres. Julia Roberts stars in the romantic travel drama, Eat Pray Love; Sylvester Stallone and a cast of action heroes fight it out in The Expendables; and Michael Cera plays a would-be teenage hero in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.