Satirical Gulf War movie in which George Clooney and a trio of other US soldiers head into the Iraqi hinterlands hoping to 'liberate' a stockpile of stolen gold and find themselves getting caught up in a bloody and confusing civil war. Director David O Russell lets the brutal battle scenes speak for themselves, showing the bloody reality of bullets ripping through flesh. But there's more to this film than fighting - the dialogue is humorous and highly satirical, while the farcical confusion of who's fighting whom and why presents a strong anti-war message.

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Virginia McKenna shines as the English girl who marries a handsome young French soldier during the Second World War. Soon after, she receives word that he has been killed in action in North Africa. McKenna is then herself approached to help the war effort, by becoming a secret agent, and get the chance to avenge the death of her husband. Keep your eyes peeled for a glimpse of the young Michael Caine as an uncredited extra in this stirring account of gung-ho wartime exploits.

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Peter Weir's highly effective retelling of the Anzac attempt to take control of Gallipoli in Turkey during the First World War is amongst the most moving of war films. Mel Gibson and Mark Lee are two sprinters who join the Australian army and become involed in their disasterous campaign to take control of the Dardanelles. Weir's film intelligently places equal importance on the friendship of the two men, which increases the tragedy of the film's stunning denoument when the troops go over the top - a shot that transcends cliche.

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Originally commissioned by the wartime Ministry of Information to bolster relations between Britain and the US, Powell's compassionate and technically superb film about a pilot who cheats death has come to be regarded as a masterpiece in its own right. David Niven is Peter Carter, an RAF pilot (and poet) who bails out of his plane over the Channel. By a clerical error on the part of the angel (Marins Goring) due to escort him to heaven, Peter survives long enough to meet and fall in love with a young US woman (Kim Hunter), with whom he had been in radio contact in his fateful, fatal flight. As his life hangs in the balance, Peter appears before a celestial court to plea for another shot at life.

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Russell Crowe stars as the captain of a British warship, obsessively hunting down a superior French vessel in this nautical 19th century adventure directed by Peter Weir. Russell Crowe stars as "Lucky" Jack Aubrey, captain of HMS Surprise, a Royal Navy ship patrolling off the coast of Brazil. Her orders are to "intercept French Privateer Acheron", which has been harrying British interests in the area. Weir and his special effects team have done wonders with the battle sequences, which are terrifying, tense and evocative.

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