It’s that time of year again! As the seasons turn, our adamant gaze pierces the mists of the future to tell you what you should be seeing next year. And, as usual, it’s mostly superheroes (not our fault the interesting little indie films don’t publicise themselves a year in advance, is it?). This year’s list is in order of release rather than assumed quality, because we keep putting crap films in the top 5 and then regretting it.

David O. Russell directs movies like he’s just snorted a big line of cocaine and been told the camera is a Grand Theft Auto controller – the actors in his scenes spend most of their time trying not to get run over. Intensity. That’s what Russell has in spades, and it’s again on show in…

American Hustle, the shiny retro mafia romp from The Silver Linings Playbook’s David O Russell, starring The Silver Linings Playbook’s Bradley Cooper, and The Silver Linings Playbook’s Jennifer Lawrence (and some other people) comes out next week. The title seems to suggest that there’s something particularly American about being a con artist in the seventies. As a full-on tea-drinking foul-mouthed middle class Brit, who am I to disagree with this? Here are five more titles which have taught me something about what it’s like to be from THE LAND OF THE FREE.

Britain’s famously drug-addled press has gone mental at the recent suggestion that Nigella Lawson may have developed a bit of a taste for Charlie over the last few years; apparently the fact that this charge is being levelled at her by her insane ex-husband / some ex-employees who she’s suing isn’t at all relevant. Go Daily Mail! We really like Nigella and we couldn’t care less what she puts in her face, so here’s some perspective.

Get those codpieces polished.

East of Panem?

Chasing Oscars won’t bring your parents back, Annie.

With Reagan’s biographers being all whiney about The Butler, and Naomi Watts apparently convinced that Princess Di’s been looking down on Watts as she plays her, thinking “Ooh, yes, lovely work there, Naomi,” we thought it was a good time to consider the nature of the biopic. Then we got a bit overwhelmed and decided to just harp on about a few that, for some reason or another, stood out to us.

Your short-cut to the important stuff.

This year Hollywood seems bent on exploring the possibilities for our future. Tom Cruise’s Oblivion (out now!), Matt Damon’s Elysium and Will Smith’s After Earth (both still pending) have their own special vision for what the world will be like. Never ones to be left out, here at BFF we decided that a Top 10 edition had to be devoted to the worlds we’ve already come across, drawing back the curtain to unveil all the utopian and dystopian fates that await us.