Turns out the hope we held out for Brothers wasn’t unwarranted. This tragic portrait of the effects of war on young lives brims with real emotion and powerhouse performances from its lead actors, particularly Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman. For the most part, despite the potential for cheese in its subject matter (man goes off to war, brother steps in to fill his shoes on the home front, man turns out not to be dead and returns to awkward situation in family), the narrative avoids cliche and leaves you with a real, confronting sense of heartbreak. It’s a harrowing film experience that hits you right in the guts, and it could well be the resurrection of Maguire’s post-Peter Parker career.

Ever wondered how films really should have ended? Like if Bruce Willis hadn’t been dead all along, or that chick in the Crying Game really was, y’know… a chick? Yeah, we lie awake at night worrying about that stuff too. So much so, in fact, that we found a bunch of animations that just might answer those burning questions and cure that chronic insomnia…

Based on the Danish film Brødre (no prizes for guessing the translation there) and taking its inspiration from Homer’s Odyssey, Brothers is an all-star drama, perfect if you don’t fancy the more action-orientated releases this week.

From Brit-grit gangsters in 44 Inch Chest to hard-hitting drama in Brothers, Best For Film looks at all the upcoming releases and lets you know what’s worth the price of admission. Also up this month we’ve got the hotly anticipated crime drama A Prophet, rom-coms from Sandra Bullock, The Book of Eli, Up in the Air and heist action in Armored.

Speculation on who will direct Sony’s Spider-Man reboot is already rife. The front runner so far? 500 Days of Summer’s Marc Webb.

It’s not good news for fans of the webhead. After rumblings around the net seemed to suggest that trouble was brewing for the fourth instalment of the ever-popular Spider-Man franchise, it’s now been revelead that the whole project is in danger of collapsing totally and – perhaps – irrevocably.

Tobey Maguire has denied rumours that he will be playing Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo Del Toro’s forthcoming adaptation of the Tolkien classic. The rumour – which we reported two days ago – originated on Latin Review.

Casting rumours for the new film adaptation of The Hobbit are a daily occurrence. The latest from the rumour mill is that Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man) might play protagonist Bilbo Baggins.