DD 5.1

Director Paul Mayeda Berges adapts author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni magic realist tale about an enchanting Indian orphan who has leaned to harness the magical properties of spices. Orphaned by regional strife in her homeland of India, Tilo (Aishwarya Rai) is subsequently kidnapped by a vicious gang of bandits. A daring escape is quick to follow, and soon after washing up on mysterious shores the traumatized girl is sheltered by a benevolent old woman (Zohra Segal) who reveals to her the remarkable powers of common spices.

As a pleasant dose of holiday cheer, The Holiday is a lovable love story with all the Christmas trimmings. In the capable hands of writer-director Nancy Meyers (making her first romantic comedy since Something's Gotta Give), it all begins when two successful yet unhappy women connect through a home-swapping website, and decide to trade houses for the Christmas holiday in a mutual effort to forget their man troubles.

The spirit of Motown runs through the long-awaited film adaption of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls, which centers around a young female singing trio who burst upon the music scene in the '60s, complete with bouffant hairdos, glitzy gowns, and a soul sound new to the white-bread American music charts. Sound familiar? You aren't the first one to draw comparisons to the meteoric rise of the Supremes, and despite any protests to the contrary, this is most definitely a thinly veiled reinterpretation of that success story.

The most successful invigoration of a cinematic franchise since Batman Begins, Casino Royale offers a new Bond identity. Based on the Ian Fleming novel that introduced Agent 007 into a Cold War world, Casino Royale is the most brutal and viscerally exciting James Bond film since Sean Connery left Her Majesty's Secret Service. Meet the new Bond; not the same as the old Bond. Daniel Craig gives a galvanizing performance as the freshly minted double-0 agent.

First screened in Europe and scheduled for limited release in the U.S., Bandidas can now be viewed by all fans of the visually stunning duo, Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek. Set in Mexico 1888, Bandidas is a Western spoof about two women, Maria Alvarez (Penelope Cruz) and Sara Sandoval (Salma Hayek), who seek to avenge the tragedies befallen both their fathers under robber baron, Tyler Jackson (Dwight Yoakam). Jackson, employed by the Bank of New York, is sent to Mexico to buy land and open banks to the detriment of local culture.

Brilliantly conceived, superbly directed, and beautifully acted, Babel is inarguably one of the best films of 2006.

The otherworldly landscape of Iceland lends an appropriate touch of dark fantasy to this modern retelling of Beowulf, the oldest epic poem in the English language. Gerard Butler (The Phantom of the Opera) brings the right balance of physicality and world-weariness as the Swedish hero Beowulf, who travels to Denmark to fight the monstrous troll Grendel (Icelandic superstar Ignvar Sigurdsson), which has been plaguing the house of King Hrothgar (Stellan SkarsgÂrd, buried under a mound of prosthetic hair).

The fact-based mystery of Hollywoodland takes place in 1959, when the death of Adventures of Superman TV star George Reeves cast a pall over the waning days of golden-age Hollywood. As written by Paul Bernbaum, this intriguing whodunit effectively evokes the tainted atmosphere that surrounded Reeves' death (officially ruled a suicide but never conclusively solved), and speculates on circumstances to suggest that Reeves may have been murdered.

Vijay Singh Rajput (Amitabh Bachchan) is a dedicated, if eccentric bank-manager, who's served the Vilasrao Jefferson Bank in Bombay's crowded Dawa Bazaar area for a quarter of a century. The problem with Rajput is that he's given to uncontrollable rages - anyone who's caught shirking his duty or fiddling the procedures is beaten to a pulp. Well, this happens once too often and Rajput is given the pink slip by a petrified management. He promptly plots a diabolical revenge - a foolproof heist that will baffle the best brains in the world.

One Hour Photo may be more civilized than Taxi Driver, but it's just as effectively creepy. Like Martin Scorsese's classic, this riveting character study is so compassionately detailed that we sympathize with poor Sy Parrish (Robin Williams) even as he grows increasingly unhinged. Sy is a meticulously dedicated one-hour-photo technician, but the pictures he processes--particularly those belonging to the successful, seemingly happy family of Nina and Will Yorkin (Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan)--turn into the unhealthiest kind of obsession.